Gavin B.

It's true... Howard Jones was nothing without his face-paintin' bondage mime. New Song was one of the few new wave songs that didn't make me want to bite down on a cyanide capsule.

I never thought of Human League and Heaven 17 (which was originally an offshoot of Human League) as part of the "new wave." Human League and Heaven 17 were highly conceptual bands that grew out of the experimental British Electric Foundation. Both bands also had a left leaning situationist political view and modernist Eno-influenced approach that was typical of other post punk Sheffield bands like Cabaret Voltaire.

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt

Urban Hat€monger ?

Frankie Goes to Hollywood : Relax
As far as I am concerned this this the greatest single ever released in my lifetime. And I love my Grandfather for buying it for me and my mother for letting me own it even though she knew it had been banned by the BBC even though the subject matter went over their heads and they didn't see anything wrong with it, and mine for that matter.
I think this is where my love of not listening to conventional records began.

Eurythmics : Here Comes the Rain Again
I always place the Eurythmics in the same bracket I would put the Pet Shop Boys in, in that I wouldn't call myself a fan of either band but I could quite happily listen to them all day because they both write pretty decent pop songs. I think this is one of their better ones. I like this.

Howard Jones : What Is Love?
I totally forgot he had a hit with this. This isn't bad but I prefer him throwing off his mental chains.
The fake synthesised brass instruments are really setting my teeth on edge, literally.
A perfect example of weak tinny 80s production that becomes really abrasive as soon as you try to put any volume onto it.

The Smiths : What Difference Does It Make?
I had no idea The Smiths were on any of these, I wish I'd known sooner I could have got into them a decade earlier. You've all heard this song.

Fiction Factory : (Feels Like) Heaven
Echo & The Bunnymen lite
I feel like I've heard this song 50,000 times in my Dads car.

Re-Flex : The Politics of Dancing
This could be any band from this era, A Flock Of Seagulls, That band with Ricky Gervais, China Crisis, or pretty much anyone else really.

Thomas Dolby : Hyperactive!
Sadly this isn't She Blinded Me With Science and doesn't have the legendary Magnus Pike in the video so I'm skipping it.

China Crisis : Wishful Thinking
If there's one thing I can't wait to get past 1987 or 88 on these compilations it's so I don't have to listen to any more of this bland adult contemporary synthpop that my Dad loved at the time.
In fact I can just visualise this being on Top Of The Pops 4 guys in black trench coats and big hair. the two ugly ones behind a drum kit and a keyboard, no bass player and a guy swaying side to side gently while pretending to pluck a chord every 5 minutes as the singer looks wistfully into the middle distance cradling the microphone with his fingertips and an audience of teenage girls sway side to side with the guitarist looking bored as sin wondering when this crud is going to end and something they can dance to will start.

David Bowie : Modern Love
After the Ziggy period, the White boy soul period, The Thin White duke period and the Berlin period we got the shit period.
Actually of all of Bowie's shit period songs the singles he put out were still pretty good and this has always been my favourite of those singles.

Culture Club : It's a Miracle
It's another Culture Club song and I'm still not going to say a bad word about them.
Jesus, all my secrets are coming out now. I knew this was a bad idea.

Rolling Stones : Undercover of the Night
The 3rd best song the Rolling Stones released in the 1980s
£10 to whoever gets the first 2 in order

Big Country : Wonderland
A friend of mine once gave me a Big Country cassette because he didn't want it.
I used it to record Ozzy Osbourne's 1986 appearance at the Monsters Of Rock festival off the radio because I didn't have any blank ones. I don't feel as though I lost out in any way.
I always get these Scottish mid 80s U2 cloned stadium bands mixed up, they all sound the same to me.

Slade : Run Runaway
After Quiet Riot had a massive hit in the U.S. with a Slade cover the previous year it was obvious that someone would stump up the cash and put the real thing back in the studio off the back of it.
This song sounds like exactly what Slade were at the time, a novelty 10 years past it's sell by date.
I'd sooner listen to Merry Christmas Everybody than this again.
This got to No 7 in the U.K. & No 20 in the U.S. so I guess the gamble paid off. Not that I'm ever going to play this "rocky Scottish jig" ever again.

Duran Duran : New Moon on Monday
I can't ever remember hearing this song ever before, then I put it on and now I know why...
It's awful.
This is Duran Duran trying to be a serious band and it's just dull.

Paul McCartney : Pipes of Peace
Oh, fuck off



Highlights
1. Frankie Goes to Hollywood : Relax
2. Frankie Goes to Hollywood : Relax
3. Frankie Goes to Hollywood : Relax

Lowlights
1. Paul McCartney : Pipes of Peace
2. Paul McCartney : Pipes of Peace
3. Paul McCartney : Pipes of Peace

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The Batlord

Now you know how I feel reviewing all those ****ty break up songs for my High Fidelity journal.

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Trollheart

You should listen to that Thomas Dolby song: it's great! Also has some flute in it if I recall. I'm with you 100000000000000000000 percent on Paul McCartney though: fuck him and fuck his pipes of profit, sorry peace.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Urban Hat€monger ?

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Dr_Rez

I didn't really care about the interview but that was the worst display of instrumental talent I have ever seen. Even for a punk band.

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*Best chance of losing virginity is in prison crew*
*Always Checks Credentials Crew*
*nba > nfl crew*
*Shave one of my legs to pretend its a girl in my bed crew*

Screen13

Although the ITV outburst was short and sweet, it still looked like a wanna-be Grundy moment (John's "Rude word" bit), but I'm sure that at the moment it was quite fun to see. Loved the host's nervous approval - "Now There's an interview". I still liked the Tomorrow interview found at the collection of suggestions at the end more as the dumb questions dropped like water torture and PiL at least stuck around.

The McCartney review of "Pipes of Peace" is agreed - it's also my opinion on what I felt is one of his most bloated 80's songs. Lucky you were not reviewing videos as it made the experience of hearing that song even worse.

Urban Hat€monger ?

It's 30th July 1984 and time for...


Duran Duran : The Reflex
I don't seem to hate this as much as I remember. It's still not a patch on the singles they were putting out with their first couple of albums.

Nik Kershaw : I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
This is actually a pretty decent song that I seemed to enjoy when it was released.
I've already learned not to make fun of Nik.

Sister Sledge : Thinking of You
For some odd reason I have some 7 minute techno remix of this that sounds like it was done in the late 90s rather than 1979 original. Thankfully I have the album the original song was taken from for my 'Albums of 1979' journal.
It's weird that I seem to becoming a reluctant Sister Sledge fan. I've heard a few of their earlier singles on some Northern Soul compilations and this song is just as good as any of those.
Although I'm totally sick of the song 'We Are Family' I can see me looking forward to hearing the album.
Something I would have thought impossible just a few weeks ago.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark : Locomotion
There's something about Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark I have never really liked.
I don't know if it's the overly pretentious name, Andy McCluskey having a really punchable face, or the fact that we was responsible for putting together, writing songs for & managing Atomic Kitten.
So the next time you see Kerry Katona trying her very best not to vomit over a daytime TV host blame Andy McCluskey.
I do.

Ultravox : Dancing with Tears in My Eyes
I keep meaning to listen to those early Ultravox Glam Rock / Bowie / Roxy / Krautrock inspired albums when John Foxx was their lead singer but I never seem to get around to doing it. Sadly this is when Midge Ure was their lead singer and this sounds about as dull as his solo career. And not even your tenuous Thin Lizzy connection can save you from this Midge.

Howard Jones : Pearl in the Shell
OK Howard that's your 15 minutes you can go now.

Blancmange : Don't Tell Me
Blancmange were signed to 'Some Bizarre' who had just had a lot of success with Soft Cell so it's obvious that the record company would try to repeat the formula of the 2 man synthpop thing, and here it is.
I can't ever recall hearing any other Blancmange songs other than this one, and then there's the name Blancmange which is terrible and just reminds me of the Monty Python sketch of the tennis playing blancmange.
I think that's probably the most times I'll ever write the word 'Blancmange' in one and a half minutes ever in my entire life time.

Phil Collins : Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)
Phil, I hate you enough already, does it really have to a fucking ballad?
Even your terrible reworkings of 60s classics are a joy compared to this shit*.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood : Two Tribes
OH FUCK YES!!!!!
I've owned this song as a 7" single, a 12" single, on this very 'Now That's What I Call Music' cassette, as well as the Welcome To The Pleasure Dome album on vinyl, CD & MP3.
Even when I turned my back on pop and went to metal for a few years I STILL listened to this song, I must have heard this song at least 20.000 in my lifetime and you know something ?
It still sounds as fucking amazing as it did the first time I heard it.

Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel : White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
fuck me this compilation is really beginning to deliver. 2 bona fide genuine classics from my pre-teen years in a row.

Special A.K.A : Nelson Mandela
I've never really liked this song much but you can't really argue with the sentiment behind it. And it least it's upbeat & sounds more of a celebration of him rather than some mawkish ballad that these things in someone else hands may have turned out as.

Womack & Womack : "Love Wars"
If this was recorded in 1973 with more organic instruments this would be a pretty decent song.
Unfortunately it was recorded a decade later on nothing but tinny 1980s synths that just make annoying farting noises.

Style Council : You're The Best Thing
You probably have to feel sorry for The Style Council, breaking up a band as much loved by fans & critics alike as The Jam and then go on to write adult orientated soul influenced pop that most of them would probably hate takes some balls. Even I hated them for a long time until I realised just how many great songs they wrote long after they broke up. This could almost be classed as easy listening but it's not a boring easy listening and I quite like it.
So there.

Bob Marley & The Wailers : One Love, People Get Ready
Never been a Bob Marley fan and it's hard to comment on a song you've heard being used to sell anything from margarine to cars to god knows what else.

Bronski Beat : Smalltown Boy
Jimmy Somerville is like the King Diamond of gay themed disco pop. I'd love to get them to reverse roles and sing on each other's stuff.

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The Batlord

Pretty much any Johnny Rotten video on Youtube is gold. He is quite possibly the most entertaining man/narcissist/wackadoo ever put on film. The man could condescend to the Dalai Lama and tell him exactly why he was a ****ing retard.

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Screen13

Ultravox - Always liked the John Foxx albums, although sadly the only one I have is the Three Into One comp, although it's a damn good listen. Had the debut on cassette, but that one went into the long line of tapes that my car's machine munched on like burgers. "Dancing" is the over-dramatic stuff of the Midge years with an actual storyline that keeps on reminding me that they were better off screaming about the "Sound of The Voice", how they "All Stood Still" or some other pretentious nonsense that never made sense but at least you could laugh at it instead of telling him to STFU. Almost down with Macca's "Pipes of Peace" in the well-meaning but still ultra crap, but at least you might dance to it or make fun of the overwrought singing.

Blancmange - They were only with Some Bizarre in The UK with the Compilation, then they went to London. In The US, they shared the same label with Soft Cell on Sire, though. "Living on the Ceiling" is the good hit for me, "Lose Your Love" is my pick of the post-fame stuff, but other then them and "That's Love (That It Is)" it's starting to come close to "Meh!" for me for Blancmange.

Phil Collins - A C/O recent find is "Against All Odds". I'm still daring myself to subject myself to hearing this over-produced ballad through headphones - that means having his yelling that forces me to scream "Get it over with!" going right to my ears (I live in an apartment, I decided to listen to music only through headphones). Lucky for me, that's only one song off the album and then there's a Peter Gabriel track later as well as one by Big Country. Review in Ghost Mall Music possibly soon along with the ST for Playing for Keeps, also with another Phil track.

Special AKA - Great song, shame about the album that it went on some time after. My Ska loving friend bought In the Studio one day and had a "WTF Is THIS?!!!" Party. Me and my friend had debates over More Specials (Me on the Pro side), but In the Studio was our Zombie Killing Record Agreement moment.

Style Council - Me and my Punk Friends always had debates over them - Me on the Pro side only...talk about being out-numbered. Loved Our Favorite Shop/Internationalists (depending on what side of the Atlantic you're on), respected Cafe Bleu and even Confessions of a Pop Group. "You're the Best Thing" along with Weller's "Above the Clouds" were played on some Muzak service that specialized in better music than usual that fitted the "Not Boring" side very well - More like a Pop from The 80's kind of thing.

Bronski Beat - Jimmy Sommerville singing "Don't Break the Oath"? I can imagine that.