Tonic for the Troops [UK]

by William RuhlmannBob Geldof had revealed a taste for the seamy side of things in his lyrics for the Boomtown Rats' first album. On their second record, he fantasized about being Hitler in the person of the "Leader of the Pack" ("I Never Loved Eva Braun"), romanticized tropical suicide ("Living in an Island"), and identified with a certain wealthy recluse ("Me and Howard Hughes"). The band retained a punk energy on the album's U.K. hit singles, "Like Clockwork," "She's So Modern," and "Rat Trap" (another of Geldof's Springsteen homages), but musical identity was still a song-by-song affair. [In the U.S., Columbia replaced "Can't Stop" and "[Watch Out For] The Normal People" with "Mary of the 4th Form" and "Joey's on the Street Again" from the first album.]