Sardonicus reviews a bunch of old 45s (1 Viewer)

Shirley said:
OH MY LIFE

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Now wait a minute

Dj Khaled Dancing GIF by BET Awards
 
Their version of KUMBAYA is too much even for ME

GOD BLESS the INSANITY of RALF RENE MAUE
 
I do, however, and probably more obviously, own The Ten Commandments of Dance. There’s not much beyond the singles really, but Requiem and London Nights are top drawer.

You’re the love of MY LIFE!
MY LIFE!
MY LIFE!

AND it must have sounded so much better in a popper fuelled nightclub haze :disco:
 
Requiem IS art. It transcends what they were as an act, really. High camp of the highest order. It's also got a surprising place amongst my group of straight mates who all absolutely ADORE it, though if I try a drunken 1-2 with London Nights, generally that gets skipped unless me and OLD ELLEN are quick enough to get to the NEWLY FANDANGLED IPOD MACHINE first.
 
It also remains hilarious how ASTONISHED people are told that they were straight, as I was when I first found out, to be fair.
 
Having said all this, I've just thrown KUMBAYA on and I might just be throwing it on my gym playlist- I can see me GOING OFF to this on the PARALLEL BARS...
 
The Cure - Boys Don't Cry (Remix) b/w Pillbox Tales (1986)

UK chart peak - Number 22

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From maybe the sunniest, cheeriest LADS LADS LADS in pop history, to the group with a (not always) fair reputation as gothic MUSICAL MISERIES.

Now, OK, I can see how The Cure have ended up with that perception over the years. As brilliant as their album "Pornography" is, it's also an unremittingly dark, bleak howl of anguish from a man in the middle of a full on breakdown. As a SINGLES ACT, though, The Cure have had tons of upbeat pop goodness, from the origins of indie dance in "The Love Cats" to the breezy drivetime commerciality of "In Between Days".

"Boys Don't Cry" isn't one of those moments though. Their debut single in 1979, it flopped on release & this version is a little faster, a little more polished, a little better mixed & sung from the perspective of someone with a few more years experience of the UNIVERSITY OF LIFE behind them. Recorded again to promote a Greatest Hits compilation in 1986, this version only exists on this single as the compilation contained the original. So potentially this random pile of OLD 80s SHITE may well have thrown up a single that's worth a FEW BOB. Its tale of a man trying to disguise his real emotions at the end of a relationship still rings as TRUE A NOTE in 2025 as it did back then, but I've never got fully on board with it - chiefly as it's a little too MAUDLIN but also not that MUSICALLY INTERESTING. It's a simple song that's very much the sound of a band finding their feet - I just always want to jump on ahead to the more interesting MUSICAL AVENUES The Cure were exploring shortly after.

It's the same with the B side, another recording of a song previously unreleased - it's a not bad but bland run through of various Cure concerns that would be honed to better effect as the 80s progressed.

Trying to summarise the career of a band with a now nigh on 50 years together would be ludicrous & impossible (unless @octophone wants to give it a try as a distraction from today's unfortunate news) but The Cure have long ago proven themselves as one of the greatest British bands, ploughing on through ups & downs, countless personnel changes, from in trend to out of fashion, always there, doing their own thing, a massive back catalogue of fantastic music that's still being rediscovered by new generations. Their latest album "Songs From A Lost World" is amongst their best, a truly astounding achievement from a band who could have long ago slipped into the Rolling Stones approach of soundalike albums & lucrative tours - instead they're still here, still doing their bit to remain musically fresh & still have something to say 40 odd years in - there's not many that could do the same.
 
Sheena said:
Having said all this, I've just thrown KUMBAYA on and I might just be throwing it on my gym playlist- I can see me GOING OFF to this on the PARALLEL BARS...
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It does actually adapt SURPRISINGLY WELL. I am adding the album to the list of MUSICAL NONSENSE I must track down & own :disco:

Also I happen to LOVE every COMMANDMENT on "The Twelve Commandments Of Dance" even beyond the singles. WHAT A (FIERCELY HETEROSEXUAL) DUO :disco: :disco::disco:
 
Yeah, you're right. On another day I might have been able to rattle off some words about the majesty of The Cure but I'm too distracted. I'm in a "The Figurehead" mood, rather than a "Friday I'm In Love" mood.
 
octophone said:
Yeah, you're right. On another day I might have been able to rattle off some words about the majesty of The Cure but I'm too distracted. I'm in a "The Figurehead" mood, rather than a "Friday I'm In Love" mood.
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Please do come back when you're in a better frame of mind, octy, as I'd be intrigued to get your insight on The Cure's long career. Obviously other worries at the moment *hugs*
 
The Cure's lows are truly low, it must be said. There's a couple of later albums when they are a pale photocopy of a parody of themselves. I had low expectations for Songs Of A Lost World but it's a genuinely excellent album.
 
The Cure are brilliant and their albums have done surprisingly well here in the States unlike their singles on the charts.

Boys Don’t Cry is a pretty well played song here radio wise but I don’t see that the original or the updated version charted here. Though they really don’t have a lot of chart success with the bulk of their singles here.

Looks like Friday I’m In Love is their last charting song here and it only hit number 18 apparently.

Spain seemed to love them in 2008 as they had a run of 3 #1s and a #2 singles
 
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Sardonicus said:
Sheila E - The Belle Of St Mark b/w Too Sexy (1985)

UK chart peak - Number 18

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Confusingly, the label to this single credits only Sheila E as the songwriter, but Wikipedia also lists Prince - perhaps @Ellie can clarify? Either way, this unsurprisingly bears the HEAVY INFLUENCE of the PURPLE ONE, as Sheila E, maybe the most legendary percussionist in the industry, was a key member of Prince's backing band for many years & also, I believe, in a relationship with him for at least some of that time.

Between her Whitney-esque looks, chic fashion sense & amazing percussion skills, OUR SHEE was an obvious candidate for Prince to groom for solo stardom, but unlike some of his other proteges, she had immense musical skills in her own right, so I'm unsure if the PURPLE ONE took the lead on her early solo work, or if Sheila was more in control, or if there might have been a bit of a POWER STRUGGLE going on. Regardless of the background, :disco: debut single "The Glamorous Life" sailed into the US Top 10, but unfathomably completely bombed in the UK at a desultory #94.

This follow up was a more minor success at home (#34), but gave her her only chart entry in the UK, reaching the top 20. Like with other big American successes at the time, I do wonder if the relative floppage here was due to a lack of time available to promote overseas. Accompanied by fab live performances by OUR SHEE & her backing band with them all sauntering around the stage in unison, "The Belle Of St Mark" is all about some FEY, ANDROGYNOUS, ETHEREAL yet SEXY type (it's giving a male Enya) who OUR SHEE falls for, although he sounds a bit MINCY to me, Sheila - watch out & GOD HELP US IF THERE'S A WAR ON.

The zippy backing music is Prince through & through, but it's all done in a more upbeat, cartoony fashion. Absolutely one of the best works related to Prince from that decade & CRIMINAL it wasn't a bigger hit - it's just great! B side "Too Sexy" doesn't seem to have Prince's involvement, but the influence is still all over it, with this mainly instrumental percussion led tune featuring lots of heavy breathing & hints of NAUGHTINESS.

Sadly, despite still regularly releasing albums, Sheila's chart career didn't last much longer after this, but even after her association with Prince ended, she's worked & performed with every big name UNDER THE SUN over the years - her percussion skills have remained in constant demand & she's by far the most well-known musician associated with the percussion. Despite being iconic & pioneering though, has any other female musician of note followed on & cited her as an influence? I can't think of anyone myself, which is a real shame.
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We didn't get enough SHEILA chat

"His Paris hair, it blows in the warm Parisian air
That blows whenever his Paris hair is there" :D

I CAN
I CAN HELP
I CAN HELP YOU
:horny:
 
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Morrissey - The Last Of The Famous International Playboys b/w Lucky Lisp (1989)

UK chart peak - Number 6

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:ToneNervous:

I think you might have a few CHOICE WORDS to say about THIS ONE, @octophone!

"Everyone grows out of their Morrissey phase, except Morrissey" quipped the late Sean Hughes & it was funny because it's TRUE. I will cover the FALL FROM GRACE of someone who I think many of us may have idolised over the years, but first, I will be fair & give the record the proper overview just as I've done with everything else.

An in between his debut & second albums release, this is actually a TOP TIER MOZZA solo single. Without Marr around to add a touch of genius, & also the friction that i think spurred both on to greater creativity in The Smiths, his solo stuff displayed varying quality from the start - the best stuff easily imagined as being able to fit on to a Smiths album & the lesser stuff, which veered from average to terrible, BETTER BEST FORGOTTEN. "Playboys" is definitely in the former category - it's musically interesting rather than plodding like some of his other solo work, the chorus is catchy & the more easy to parody elements of Mozza solo work, from his vocal inflections to his lyrical subject matter, are instead kept within check. I was surprised to find out that Smiths colleagues Andy Rourke & Mike Joyce both played on this record as I'd always thought they'd had no contact after The Smiths split in 1987, other than Joyce's infamous court case several years later. Maybe this provided him with the push he needed to not be musically complacent & it resulted in one of his best songs. The lyrics refer to the media glamourisation of violent criminals, in particular The Kray Twins & along with the punchy but slightly more forgettable B side "Lucky Lisp" showed a concern for topics somewhat WEIGHTIER than boy meets girl. "Lucky Lisp" urges young gay men to feel empowered by prior gay icons & to see being gay as a positive thing - no easy subject to tackle at a time when the AIDS panic & Clause 28 saw the vilifcation of gay men by the Murdoch dominated media at an all-time high.

This sort of intelligent, well thought out & lyrically witty ripostes to the nasty bullshit spewed by many of the tabloids at the time are a reason why many people, myself included, held Morrissey up as not just a musical icon but as a heroic & principled man taking a stand against the damaging policies & the prejudices of the right wing. I admired & respected him as bringing a voice to the voiceless, the oddballs & the disaffected but it wasn't to last.

Despite ending his debut album with the disdain for Thatcher that was "Margaret On The Guillotine", album track "Bengali In Platforms" displayed a somewhat PROBLEMATIQUE lyrical concern of life being hard enough "when you belong here", with further songs like "Asian Rut" & "The National Front Disco" approaching issues of racial tensions in a way CLUMSY at best. Flag draped live gigs drew heavy criticism for possible racist connotations, but it was handwaved away by fans who didn't want to see the growing problem - that Morrissey was becoming entrenched in biased & myopic views that would eventually curdle into a world view both unpleasant & within line of the sort of politics he'd once railed against.

Having descended into tired music & crappy puntastic song titles by 1997, his 2004 comeback album saw several big hit singles & a status as a NATIONAL TREASURE was within touching distance, but as he's got older, his views have become more repugnant & extreme, from describing Chinese people as "less than human" to throwing his support behind far right party For Britain. Fans deserted him in droves, & although he's releasing new material still, it's to a dwindling fanbase as his shift to the right wing has tainted so much of his work. EH WELL - this is why you should never have heroes.
 
It has to be said, Moz did come absolutely roaring out of the traps, post-Smiths. Viva Hate was a great album, the singles came with ace b-sides and when he made his best solo single to date with everyone except Johnny Marr, it felt like he'd really proved himself to be the 'True Talent' of The Smiths. In retrospect, we now know that this was circumstantial. Marr finished the Smiths out of exhaustion - having been left with writing all the music, managing the band and even producing them, he was taking on far too much of the work of keeping a successful band going. This was because Morrissey kept firing their managers, an early sign of his inability to trust in people, his victim complex and his willingness to just jettison people over the most minor of infractions, many of which were unknown to the other party. He came back fast and brimming with material because he could; he was essentially doing no more work than he was before.

The Last Of The Famous International Playboys is a hinge point in his career. A genuinely great huge glam stomp of a single with an actual point to make - not only that a point which has the room to resonate powerfully now in the age of Andrew Tate and his ilk. Wonky synths sit alongside a terrific vocal performance and, of course, Joyce and Rourke doing What They Do. Moz later claimed that he hoped to lure Marr back by essentially reassembling The Smiths without him. Marr, rightly, spotted the powerplay involved and found it pathetic.

A hinge point, you say? Oh aye. Not only was follow-up single Interesting Drug obviously lesser fare, it was also the start of him using live tracks as other such padding as b-sides. This was partly because he'd managed to annoy Stephen Street by lowballing his royalties - Street had his lawyers intervene and Morrissey dumped him immediately, the first major public demonstration of his inability to take even the slightest pushback. The decline in the quality of his music was immediate and he was soon on the slide in the charts. Once the sheen was no longer dazzling, people began to look a bit more closely and find him wanting. Fair questions around some of his lyrics were rebuffed with childish anger, leading to him, essentially, capitulate by brandishing a union flag on-stage in front of an away crowd (a 30,000 strong London audience for the newly reformed Madness, no less) while singing "The National Front Disco". What was an awkwardly pitched satire on an album, or played at his own gigs, took on a different, ugly hue and people began to reconsider other songs that had previously been excused as clumsy, especially "Bengali In Platforms". His truculence caused him to withdraw and his commercial stock went into decline after the unexpectedly great "Your Arsenal". He split with EMI and made one album each for RCA and Island before disappearing. As @Sardonicus points out, his 2004 comeback was met with genuine enthusiasm and contained his last great single, "First Of The Gang To Die".

Since then, he has made some of his most infamous remarks and ping-ponged around record labels, annoying them beyond redemption because they couldn't somehow magic paying customers out of the ether for his albums - this peaked with the "Fuck Harvest" fandango less than 2 weeks after they'd released his album. Today, he is beyond parody - unsignable, obsessed with 'cancel culture' and with a slew of frustrated ex-managers all of whom came within a hair's breadth of getting him back on vinyl before he pulled the plug, opened his blabby mouth or otherwise fucked it.

He could have been one of those elder statesfolk of music whom we respect regardless of how much we enjoy the music (such as, say, Robert Smith). Instead, he grumbles in splendid isolation, his extraordinary brain throttled by his small mind.

TL'DR - Morrissey? What a prick.
 
There is definitely a piece to be written about how someone who was seen as anti-establishment and, to a degree, a champion of the oppressed became such a hateful figure but I'd rather read it than write it. I'm sure someone has it in hand.
 
'Lucky Lisp' is nice enough but really it's all about 'Michael's Bones' on the 12"
 
I'm aware of how big The Smiths were, my first crush was very into them (I remember his face of HORROR when I told him I was more into Wilson Phillips and Mariah :eyes:), but I don't think I ever played any of their songs. And same for Morrisey, I only got the single for his solo US hit (I think in 94?), which I quite like.

Edit: wait, I just checked and I have another 2 cd singles and a Greatest hits + a live concert :confused: I'm confused, where and why did I get all that? Never played them, nice decoration on the shelf :)
 
alla said:
I'm aware of how big The Smiths were, my first crush was very into them (I remember his face of HORROR when I told him I was more into Wilson Phillips and Mariah :eyes:), but I don't think I ever played any of their songs. And same for Morrisey, I only got the single for his solo US hit (I think in 94?), which I quite like.

Edit: wait, I just checked and I have another 2 cd singles and a Greatest hits + a live concert :confused: I'm confused, where and why did I get all that? Never played them, nice decoration on the shelf :)
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Stolen from the crush. Along with his underwear.
 
Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme (Original b/w TV Theme & 12 Inch Edit)

UK chart peak - Number 5

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I was too young to appreciate the 80s PHENOMENON that was the "Miami Vice" TV show, although I did watch the DULL AS SUPER SERIOUS film remake with Colin Farrell & Jamie Foxx. The only thing I remember is thinking that the film had suctioned all the life & fun out of what has to be one of the defining shows of the decade. The fashions as displayed on the sleeve are certainly looking like a CHOICE these days, but this look was copied the world over as the show gripped viewers in the mid 80s, with Don Johnson as Crockett getting the girls & gays THIRSTING as he was catapulted, alongside Bruce Willis in "Moonlighting", to TV heartthrob status.

Unlike Bruce though, poor old Don's solo efforts got nowhere, as the Czech keyboardist & producer Jan Hammer scored a rare instrumental number 1 in the USA with the theme in 1985. There can't have been many TV themes to top the charts over the years (I can only think of "Eye Level" by the Simon Park Orchestra, which was a UK number 1 in the 70s as the theme to detective show "Van Der Valk") - so it shows just how much impact the show had from the get go. The soundtrack & fashions seem to have been as integral part of the show's appeal as the storyline & regular car/boat/helicopter chases, so if any theme tune was going to take off as a hit, it was going to be this one. Just like the show, it's the mid 80s in a musical nutshell, all urgent, driving synths, dramatic keyboard stabs & a notably funk/R&B influence. I wouldn't say it's as catchy as I might have expected, but it's got a definite commercial appeal & as the 1 minute TV version on the B side shows, it's an addictive enough theme to leave you wanting a bit more, which OUR JAN amply provides with extended versions for radio & 12 inch mixes.

I was AGOG to discover that Jan Hammer is a true one hit wonder in the USA, topping the charts with this & with no further entries on the top 100 afterwards - chiefly because his follow up single, "Crockett's Theme", is by far his better known song here in the UK. Soundtracking the aftermath of Crockett's wife being killed, it's a genuinely emotional, affecting instrumental synth piece that's basically the sound of Tangerine Dream deciding to have a commercial hit single. Only The Bee Gees kept it off the top in late 1987, although I actually know it, as many others from my generation will, as the soundtrack to various NatWest bank adverts throughout the 90s. Thankfully the song is strong enough to overcome its long affiliation with commercials, although I still get images of the wedding cake ad in my mind when I hear it.

Jan would have joined Starship in 1987 as acts to have seen their last charting hit reach number 1 if "Crockett's Theme" had gone one place higher, as subsequent follow ups got nowhere as interest in "Miami Vice" peaked & tailed off, with the show being cancelled in 1989. Other than a re-release in 1991 to cash in on the NatWest adverts (peaking at #47) he's never been seen again on the charts, although, you guessed it, he remains writing & composing to the present day. He's as associated with the 80s as the show is, no bad thing, although hopefully the pastel shirt & white suit look remains firmly at the back of the wardrobe these days.
 
My favourite TV theme. I am genuinely perplexed why it was never released, it sounds like a hit to me. It needs to be this version with the dirty guitars though, some of the re-recordings don't have the same POWER.

 
I didn’t know that was released and was a hit lol

I used to love that show as a kid
 
U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name b/w Silver & Gold & The Sweetest Thing (1987)

UK chart peak - Number 4

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A copy in such appallingly bad condition that I ended up giving up & just listening to the 3 songs on Spotify. At times almost certainly the biggest band in the world throughout the 80s & 90s, arguably even into the 2000s, U2 (in particular, Bono) have long ago appeared to have been chalked up by many as out of touch, overblown, bombastic & pretentious - the epitome of a sort of INSINCERE stadium rock designed to appeal to the masses & sell millions.

No doubt there's definitely some elements of truth in that analysis, but here we see U2 hitting their stride with a career defining album, "The Joshua Tree", & 3 singles from it including this one that - love or hate them - are indeed all iconic. With a clear focus on wide-screen Americana, they set out for world domination with the album, & they achieved it quickly. I loved "The Joshua Tree" album as a teenager, but I never spin it (or U2 at all in general these days) - it feels like a bit of a relic from my earlier days of exploring new types of music, & I just don't have the desire to listen to it anymore. It DID ITS JOB, did it well, but the appeal hasn't lasted as I kept on discovering newer stuff. Nonetheless, it's an expertly constructed work, it's got a coherent focus through the whole album & it captures a band at the peak of their powers, encapsulates the "big rock" music of the era more than any other album, & left Simple Minds seething into their pints (presumably).

"Streets" opens the album & sets out the stall for their vision straight away, with a shifting, identifiable guitar hook repeating a sort of GLIMMERY progression during the whole song, an insistent drum beat, a stirring beginning that immediately brings to mind the desert heat, & wide eyed lyrics & vocals from Bono that can be given a few different interpretations - it could be about love, religion, the American Dream, you can put your own perception on it & it was a major reason in U2 upping their level to a band that could fill stadiums worldwide. I admire the construction & the ambition, although I don't LIVE FOR IT - but the hook is undeniable & whatever your opinions on U2 are now, it's easy to see why they took off the way they did.

2 B sides in 1 is a generous bit of BANG FOR YOUR BUCK from the lads - the anti-apartheid "Silver & Gold" one of many U2 songs in this era with a firm political bent. Recorded with a couple of Rolling Stones, it's a decent if a tad forgettable blues rock number that later showed up in live form on 1988's "Rattle & Hum" album. "The Sweetest Thing" was later remixed & reworked into a top 3 hit in 1998, but to me always represented the point when U2 tipped over into parody, with the video throwing in Boyzone etc for vaguely "ironic" reasons & its stop starty piano riff, while catchy, has always grated on me. The original version is just a little less polished than the remix, & although I can see why the band revisited it in 1998 as it's definitely got the sound of a potential hit here, it's NOT FOR ME THANKS.

Probably more interesting was just how musically FLEXIBLE the 3 hits from this album proved to be later - "With Or Without You" providing the riff for the dancey LMC song "Take Me To The Clouds Above" & The Chimes hitting the top 10 in 1990 with a brilliant soulful cover of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". The Pet Shop Boys showed the underlying disco roots of "Streets" with their gay as you like FUN FOR EUROPE disco cover in 1991, hitting the UK top 5 & presumably sending the REAL MUSIC peeps APOPLETIC with rage. I've always enjoyed it more than the original, it shows how the song is strong enough that it can be reintrepreted into an entirely new genre, & part of me enjoys how pissed off the U2 FANBOYS must have been.

Possibly all of these new musical approaches to their work was what influenced U2 to produce by far their most interesting work during the 90s, I've a lot of time for the "Achtung Baby", "Zooropa" & "Pop" albums, but "Pop" saw them get a bit of a backlash, with neither critics nor public really CLICKING with it (I still think it's amongst their best & most interesting work albeit flawed) & subsequently, they stopped being so musically adventurous. The 2000s saw them continue to score numerous huge hits, but with a more TYPICAL U2 sound & I personally lost interest quickly, with the nadir reached when one album was sent to all iTunes users in 2014, like it or lump it. A backlash ensued & between this & some of Bono's rock star BALONEY, they've never been seen as particularly credible since, although still capable of filling stadia playing the classics. It's a shame that a band exploring more curious musical avenues appeared to run back to the FAMILIAR so quickly, but I think the intention was always for them to be the biggest band in the world above all else. Regardless of what you think of them, it can't really be argued that in 1987, they were.
 
I have little interest beyond Pop, but up to then, U2 were (often) great.

The Joshua Tree is probably their best loved work overall, and a recent vinyl find has made me love it again, but Achtung Baby is their best. It’s start to finish fantastic. I love Zooropa as well. Amazing how off a cliff it all went, for me at least. Bono’s horrible rich man saves the world attitude, the terrible, bland stadium rock. Awful.
 
You’ll struggle to find an album with a bigger trio of singles than the Joshua Tree. Personally my fave is “Still…” but I love all three, and hadn’t actually realised that all 3 would eventually be covered in successful pop songs!

I also don’t care for The Sweetest Thing, there’s something annoying about it.

I remember Pop coming out while I was working at Woolworths and just being bemused by U2 releasing dance tracks. I don’t think I’ve ever actually explored any of it though. I’m sure I would recognise the singles but i haven’t bothered with any of them since they came out and you don’t exactly hear them out and about the way you do with the singles from Joshua and Achtung.
 
funky said:
You’ll struggle to find an album with a bigger trio of singles than the Joshua Tree. Personally my fave is “Still…” but I love all three, and hadn’t actually realised that all 3 would eventually be covered in successful pop songs!

I also don’t care for The Sweetest Thing, there’s something annoying about it.

I remember Pop coming out while I was working at Woolworths and just being bemused by U2 releasing dance tracks. I don’t think I’ve ever actually explored any of it though. I’m sure I would recognise the singles but i haven’t bothered with any of them since they came out and you don’t exactly hear them out and about the way you do with the singles from Joshua and Achtung.
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I do think as well their time as a radio staple act had gone by the point of Pop, though. It was only the subsequent u-turn into the aforementioned bland radio friendly rock that gave them a couple more radio hits.
 
David Bowie - Underground (Edited Version b/w Instrumental) (1986)

UK chart peak - Number 21

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It's impossible to sum up the career of David Bowie that led up to this 1986 single in a paragraph - unless our @octophone is willing to give it a BASH. I certainly can't, other than to say as an artist that needs no introduction, after a few false starts in the 60s, starting from the early 70s, his influence on music, popular culture, public perceptions of androgyny & bisexuality, an artist capable of drastic image changes from album to album (Marge freely admits to taking NOTES from a young age), there's all sorts of ways he permeated, influenced & brought about changes to the world, & I place him right up there with the likes of The Beatles, Marge, etc in that regardless of your opinions on them personally or musically, it's very difficult to imagine what the world would be like without them having become successful.

"Underground" comes in the middle of a rather fallow period for Bowie, creatively. He'd ran a hot streak throughout the entire 70s, leaping from every genre from soul to German inspired synth instrumentals to traditional rockier stuff & all sorts in between, with each album creating a new persona to inhabit. It's not surprising that it was too high a standard to keep up over & over, & after the poppier "Let's Dance" album gave him several deserved big hits, much of the rest of his output that decade fell off a cliff.

This one is a bit of an anomaly as it was used to soundtrack his role as the Goblin King in the Jim Henson film "Labyrinth" & I never see it on compilations presumably due to licensing issues. I loved this film as a child, but I've never watched it since as I suspect it won't have the same MAGIC, however I distinctly remember this being sung as he juggled the kidnapped child about while surrounded by a bunch of CHEERY YET SINISTER Fraggle type creatures. It's got a lot of the typical for its time feelgood synth sounds that places this firmly in the mid 80s, & although it's obviously nowhere near his most PEERLESS works, it's a fun, catchy & upbeat little pop tune that works perfectly for the film. I'm surprised it didn't hit a little bigger but I'm not sure how your average Bowie fan might have perceived OUR DAVE dancing about in FULL REGALIA in a kids movie while singing something quite commercial & poppy, so maybe that didn't help. As the instrumental B side proves though, it's actually another example of how David Bowie changed & adapted his style to take on board the prevailing musical TRENDS, something he continued his entire career, & years removed from its release, with the film holding a nostalgic childhood appeal to many of my generation, it's more than decent, if not hitting the spectacular musical highs of prior achievements.

I do think Bowie was well suited to the eccentricity of the Goblin King role, & his occasional acting forays (he later played Nikola Tesla in "The Prestige") all were pretty decent too. His musical NADIR seems to be the godawful Tin Machine collaborative album in 1989, but he finally pulled things back into line with "Black Tie White Noise" in 1993, & remained a beloved elder statesman of music ever afterwards, revered by many who came after, & never willing to sit still or repeat himself, experimenting with drum & bass, dance, electronica & dozens of other genres right up until his final album "Blackstar" - a remarkable achievement from a man dying of cancer. There's very few out there who could turn their impending death into art the way he did, but that was Bowie - a unique artist tinged with an odd genius. The world seems to have tipped into the shit since he died in 2016, & while "Underground" probably isn't the top Bowie song for most, its poppy style is just another colour from one of pop's true chameleons.
 
Bowie in the 80s was enough to make you think cocaine wasn't a bad thing. Off his nut: "Young Americans" - clean as a whistle: "Never Let Me Down". No thanks.

His best song of the 80s is also a non-album single but it's the sublime "Absolute Beginners". No decade with that, Modern Love, Time Will Crawl and Loving The Alien can be considered a write off but he also used to make album sides with 4 songs as good as those.
 
The Pointer Sisters - Automatic b/w Nightline (1984)

UK chart peak - Number 2

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For some reason my dad had taped a 1984 top 40 countdown on blank cassette that included "Automatic" & so for many years I always thought this was the Pointer Sisters duetting with some uncredited bloke. I was ASTOUNDED when I saw the video years later to discover that it was all actually sang by one of the sisters (Ruth perhaps? - I always get confused which one is which) & I'm still not convinced that some of the deeper voiced bits aren't actually a man, or at least the result of some sort of early Autotune type studio vocal trickery.

It's a remarkable & unique vocal performance regardless, but although the novelty of "that's a WOMAN??!!" might have garnered it a few additional incredulous respins on the radio, "Automatic" was always going to be a smash hit, as it's what the KIDS THESE DAYS would call a BANGER & what the :disco: emoji was intended for. Although "I'm So Excited" seems to have been the hit that lasted for them, soundtracking tons of adverts & film scenes over the years, "Automatic" was their overall biggest success, reaching a deserved top 5 on both sides of the Atlantic, with only "The Reflex" by Duran Duran denying them a number 1 in the UK.

It's a feelgood summery tune with synths that ZOOM & TWINKLE over the whole track & it's got the feel of a song that would have been a bit of a floor filler in 1984. It mixes in the newer synth & keyboard sounds that define this era of music, with the Pointer Sisters adding in their soulful touch from previous albums along with a noticeable nod to funk & the disco classics of CHIC :disco: It blends everything together perfectly & the only bad thing is it doesn't seem to have lasted beyond its era - even the 80s stations don't seem to play it much, but it seems RIPE for a revival on TikTok or THE LIKES. 13/10 stone cold classic.

B side "Nightline" is co-written by Glen Ballard, future collaborator with Alanis, Wilson Phillips, Sheryl Crow & a stack of others, but unlike these later successes, it follows the "Automatic" playbook, with one of the other sisters taking lead on a catchy chorus with a backing track that reminds me strongly of old Nintendo games - it's another fantastic pop/soul/funk/disco combo that could have easily been another hit, & shows the quality of the material the Pointer Sisters had at their fingertips at this point that it was thrown on to a B side.

The group came to MEGA SUCCESS fairly late - a GOING CONCERN since 1969, the accompanying album "Break Out", was appropriately titled as it was their tenth. The only single I'm not too FUSSED ON from this period is "Slow Hand" which I've always thought a bit of a DREARY DIRGE, but everything else up to & including "Dare Me" is a CERTIFIED BOP.

"Dare Me" was given another lease of life in the 2000s when sampled on "Stupidisco" by Junior Jack, but perplexingly was their last ever UK hit & their last success of any note in the USA. I've always wondered why things came to an ABRUPT HALT, whether it was a dip in the quality of the material, issues with June Pointer struggling with drug addiction or something else entirely. The influence of their hits can be heard in the likes of Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Donna Allen & tons of others so I'm not sure why things fell off a cliff.

June sadly passed in 2006 & Anita a couple of years ago, although Ruth keeps a version of the band going with other relatives. I haven't seen or heard of them in forever so I can only assume it's strictly nostalgia circuit these days, but that late stage run of GOLDEN HITS, while brief, stands up to the run of hits by any girl group as a true IMPERIAL ERA.
 
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