The Boomtown Rats - A Tonic for the Troops (1978)

The Boomtown rats took a shift from their punk debut to a quirky new wave sound on this second album. The band played well and Bob Geldof wrote pleasant songs, but their rather stiff arangements made those music dated pretty soon. Two outstanding songs here are the opening "Like Clockwork", a new wave classic, and the UK chart-topper "Rat Trap" at the closing. "Rat Trap" is an atypical, big-band style track that recalls Bruce Springsteen's "Rosalita". C