Pleasure Victim (2020 Remastered and Expanded Edition)

Originally released by the fledgling Enigma Records in 1982 and picked up by Geffen in early 1983 when the lascivious novelty single "Sex (I'm A...)" started picking up radio attention, Pleasure Victim is a frankly exploitative little slab of synth pop cynicism, so baldly crass in its positioning of lead singer Terri Nunn as a sex kitten (posing her in the nude on the inner sleeve, listing her contributions as "vocals, bj's" in the liner notes) and lyrically obsessed with the seedy side of the Los Angeles demimonde that criticism becomes nearly beside the point. Lyrical obsessions aside, Pleasure Victim actually holds up quite well as a piece of early-'80s synth pop, with two very good tunes ("Tell Me Why" and "Masquerade") and one masterpiece of the genre, the gimmicky and atmospheric "The Metro," the one song where Nunn's limited vocal abilities are put to their best use. The other three songs (not to mention the tiresome eight-minute remix of "Sex" on the cassette and CD versions) are much weaker, but surprisingly, for a record that was completely unfashionable seemingly within months of its initial release, Pleasure Victim actually has more to offer than many might remember. ~ Stewart Mason