A Tonic For The Troops
(24/100 Greatest Irish Albums)

By the time the Boomtown Rats’ second long-playing opus appeared, the band had established themselves among the leading lights of the British and Irish new wave scene. Tonic For The Troops was a revelation, nonetheless, bringing a new melodic sophistication to the Rats’ basic pop punk blueprint. The hits flowed: ‘Like Clockwork’ and ‘She’s So Modern’ both hit the top 10 – but it was ‘Rat Trap’ that gave the album its chief selling point.
As a single, it went to No.1, infamously knocking John Travolta and Olivia Newton John off their perch at the top of the charts. A neo-Springsteen-ish urban drama, along with ‘Me And Howard Hughes’ and ‘I Never Loved Eva Braun’, it confirmed that Geldof was a real songwriter, capable of slugging it out in the heavy weight division. His singing had improved hugely too, as had the band’s playing generally. They might have reserved their finest moment ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ for the follow-up, The Fine Art Of Surfacing – but A Tonic For The Troops remains the Rats’ most consistent and challenging record.