Anybody Seen A Cactus In The Desert?

For years I've been busting my ass trying to get hold of a copy of a very elusive album (well, around these parts, the album is practically non-existent). While I have managed to download three excellent songs from said album, I really would want to have the whole album. I got a list of the titles in the album, but I've managed to hear only those three songs off said album.

I'm talking about the album Urban Beaches by almost-made-it-to-the-top Irish band Cactus World News.

Released in 1986, Urban Beaches contained ten songs. Having heard only three of them, I guess it would be safe to presume that the rest of the titles are equally rivetting. The songs in the album are as follows:

1. Worlds Apart

2. In A Whirlpool

3. Promise

4. The Bridge

5. State of Emergency

6. Years Later

7. Church of the Cold

8. Pilots of Beka

9. Jigsaw Street

10. Maybe This Time

The only three songs I've managed to hear from this line-up are Worlds Apart, The Bridge, and Years Later.

History says that the band submitted a demo to U2 frontman Bono in 1985, and it was U2 who gave them a much needed push. Listening to those three tracks, one would recognize how heavily U2 influenced Cactus World News. I mean, listen to the guitar riffs on those three tracks, man: ethereal, howling, melodic, and echo-drenched. And the vocals - it has the same impassioned delivery as Bono during U2's early days.

Now the U2 comparisons shouldn't be taken as put-downs because they're not. I mean, both bands are Irish so that probably explains things a bit: as fellow Irishmen, they may inherently have similar ideas on how to launch their respective sonic assaults. And while Urban Beaches received very positive reviews, it's just sad that they didn't get to eventually follow in U2's steps towards a well-deserved superstardom.

But hey, at least they remain one of the great should-have-beens of rock music and didn't end up as one those middle-aged bands trying unsuccessfully to regain old glories by acting like their still 21.

You can try singing along:

The Bridge (Live at Self Aid 1986)
Cactus World News
(Urban Beaches - 1986)

I, within walking distance of your heart
I'm just within earshot to a fresher start
I get the feeling that somebody else is thinking about me
I'm this close, I can touch it with my hands

Going up and over, over the bridge
Springtide will lift me and take me across

I'm looking down and I should be collapsing
Since the earth underneath us long since opened up
Do you see me falling? Do you see me die in my own way?
When I give up, you always go on

Going up and over, over the bridge
Springtide will lift me and take me across

Bring me down, down on the wings of heaven (heaven)
Bring me down the wings of heaven and on my life
Bring me down, comeback is so wonderful

I will cross to the other side

Here we are now in the strangest of all possible circumstances
I don't understand it but I know that if feels so good
But there's one thing that I do know when I sing this song for you
I'll go across to the other side

Going up and over, over the bridge
Springtide will lift me and take me across