“Nowhere Girl” / “Scare Some Life Into Me” (Some Bizzare BZZ 8) March 1982
B. Movie | Nowhere Girl (Some Bizzare) 1982 | Haunting popsicle by newly-matured Mansfieldians, a revamped, meated-out version of their early Dead Good song, much more confident in all depts from bouncy keyboards and hunky harmonies to lavish production.
A neat. pleasantly rounded song that lives up to the mouthings-off from twin mentors Stevo and Rusty. At last, worthwhile bedfellows for Soft Cellers. (Sounds, 20/03/82)
Acceptable stuff from the Soft Cell stable. A bit like Duran Duran with flow instead of stomp – the acceptable face of futurism. (Record Mirror, 20/03/82)
B-Movie plough much the same furrow with much less style or charm. “Nowhere Girl” sounds like a song which got written by default; the only idea that was hanging around at the time.
It starts off in finger-wagging reproof, telling this Nowhere Girl what’s wrong with her. By the chorus, it seems that what’s really wrong with her from the singer’s point of view is that she’s not having anything to do with him.
Bowie tackled this subject deftly in “What In The World”, with real sympathy for both the woman and himself. The sleeve image is also a bloodless cliche; a monochrome high-contrast shaded woman’s face. It’s a distilled ideal of beauty.
For all one knows, the actual model may be beautiful or she may not, but the idea of beauty here can be approximated using clever lighting and makeup on almost any woman. (The Face, May 1982)
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