The U.K. 80s Singles & Albums Chart General Discussion Thread.

I don’t think I’ve even heard Help! without F&S…

 

It reminds me of the cover of Relax by FGTG

 

'Don't Stand Me Down' is a hard like. I must have played it 15 times before it actually clicked. It's certainly the poorest of Dexy's output, yet I've seen glowing reviews on occasions. It does have some saving graces, but not enough. When reaching for Dexy's it's always 'Soul Rebels' or the live Projected Passion Review material I enjoy the most.

 

Lots of mixed reviews of Don’t Stand Me Down back in the day. Like this one from NME. I think Record Mirror liked it though.

 

Don't Stand Me Down is a fascinating example of an artist determined to do his own, almost self-sabotaging, thing and being allowed to do it by a major label. I don't think anyone expected it to fail as badly as it did though (the highstreet shops were on board as much as anyone, WH Smith and Our Price had it high on their instore charts ahead of actual release).

I love it.

EG.

 

Bobby, that album is just great and there certainly was great talent in the instrumentation having spent much of 1983 listening to it to point I almost wore my tape of it out.

 

Don't have many from '85, but then it was a tricky year. Our first onslaught of smelly nappies and sleepless nights. Music definitely took a back seat at that time.

From your list a few did make it through the chaos:

01 Dexys Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down
07 The Smiths – Meat Is Murder
08 Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love
17 R.E.M. – Fables Of The Reconstruction
21 Phil Collins – No Jacket Required

Marillion's Misplaced Childhood and Midge's The Gift also rec'd airplay when the firstborn was well and truly zonked.

 

But.....but.....but....I loved her so.

Just me then.

 

Hats off to anyone who took to Cave as early as that.
I have to admit I wasnt on board until The Good Son in 1990 and then I realized - hey wait a minute,
this guy didnt always sound like that.
I saw him performing live in Wings Of Desire from 1987 and that was pretty impressive and certainly different that this.

Nestled in-between came Tender Prey and featured some wonderful gems like Watching Alice or the title track.

 

This just arrived in my mailbox from Cherry Red. It may have already been posted here.

Heaven Sent - The Rise Of New Pop 1979-1983, Various Artists 4CD Box Set (cherryred.co.uk)

 

DISC ONE

1 M - Pop Musik (Full Length Disco Mix)

2 The Flying Lizards - Money

3 The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star

4 Godley And Creme - An Englishman In New York (Single Version)

5 The Korgis - Young & Russian

6 New Musik - Living By Numbers

7 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Red Frame/ White Light

8 Toyah - Bird In Flight

9 Grace Jones - She’s Lost Control

10 Pauline Murray And The Invisible Girls - Dream Sequence (One)

11 The Clash - Hitsville U.K.

12 The Passions - I’m In Love With A German Film Star

13 The Human League - Boys And Girls

14 China Crisis - African And White (Inevitable Version)

15 Fad Gadget - Make Room

16 Department S - Is Vic There?

17 Japan - The Art Of Parties

18 Altered Images - A Day’s Wait

19 Heaven 17 - I’m Your Money

20 Thomas Leer - Letter From America

21 The Associates - Q Quarters

DISC TWO

1 Eurythmics - Never Gonna Cry Again

2 Thomas Dolby - Urges

3 The Slits - Earthbeat (7” Version)

4 Monsoon - Ever So Lonely (Indipop version)

5 Hazel O’Connor - Hanging Around

6 Anthony More - World Service (Single Version)

7 A Flock Of Seagulls - Telecommunication

8 Simple Minds - Sweat In Bullet

9 Soft Cell - Bedsitter

10 Chas Jankel - Questionnaire

11 The Creatures - Mad Eyed Screamer

12 Tears For Fears - Suffer The Children

13 Haircut One Hundred - Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)

14 Dexy’s Midnight Runners - Liars A To E (Single Version)

15 The Teardrop Explodes - Tiny Children

16 Rip Rig And Panic - Bob Hope Takes Risks

17 Mari Wilson - Beat The Beat

18 TV21 With The Cannizarro Strings - All Join Hands

19 The Undertones - Beautiful Friend

20 Blue Rondo A La Turk – Klactoveesedstein

21 John Cooper Clarke - The Day My Pad Went Mad

DISC THREE

1 ABC - Poison Arrow

2 Fashion – Streetplayer-Mechanik

3 The Fun Boy Three - The Telephone Always Rings

4 Culture Club - White Boy (Extended Mix)

5 Scritti Politti - Faithless

6 Elvis Costello & The Attractions - You Little Fool

7 Haysi Fantayzee - John Wayne Is Big Leggy

8 The Apollinaires - The Feeling’s Gone

9 Weekend - Past Meets Present

10 King Trigger - River

11 Swamp Children - Taste What’s Rhythm

12 Dead Or Alive - The Stranger

13 Paul Young - Iron Out The Rough Spots

14 Wide Boy Awake - Chicken Outlaw

15 Comsat Angels - After The Rain (Single Remix)

16 The Higsons - Tear The Whole Thing Down

17 The Pale Fountains - Thank You

18 Set The Tone - Dance Sucker

19 The Jam – Shopping

DISC FOUR

1 The Cure - Lets Go To Bed

2 Malcolm McLaren And The World’s Famous Supreme Team - Buffalo Gals

3 The Stranglers - European Female

4 Madness - Tomorrow’s (Just Another Day)

5 Tracie - The House That Jack Built

6 Hey! Elastica - Suck A Little Honey

7 Paul Haig - Heaven Sent

8 Eyeless In Gaza - New Risen

9 The Style Council - Headstart For Happiness (Single Version)

10 JoBoxers - Johnny Friendly

11 The Kane Gang - Brother Brother

12 The Special AKA - Bright Lights

13 Dislocation Dance - Show Me

14 Friends Again - State Of Art

15 Ian Dury - Really Glad You Came

16 Colour Box - Shotgun

17 Furniture - Robert Nightman’s Story

18 Swallow Tongue - Animation

19 The Art Of Noise - Moments in Love


Some comments -

Not impressed with the cover art at all.
Looks like Corrine Drewery checking out some Blue Note sounds for her turntable ..... hardly anything to do with "New Pop".
Thinking back to the Swing Out Sister set - maybe even she did the drawing herself. Who knows ?

Anyway - as far as track listing is concerned - its a mixed bag.
Other than some interesting versions - discs one & two have nothing new to offer.

Then on disc three we find the fabulous gem that is Faithless.
I wish I could say its finally the 12" 10-minute version getting its premiere showing,
but its obviously not.

The Apollinaires / Weekend / King Trigger / Swamp Children / Wide Boy Awake / The Higsons / Set The Tone - this looks promising and quite appetizing.

I wish I could get that Higsons 3CD set but its really hard to find.
Set The Tone were also a wonderful Scottish outfit with quite unexpected electro funk sound for their neck of the woods.

On disc four we get Hey Elastica / Dislocation Dance and Eyeless In Gaza selected from those who have already been featured or have had their own releases out recently.

 

It has.
Just a minute or two after you posted yours.

 

Einstein Express: When it absolutely has to get there yesterday.

SNL, 197?

 

I'm liking the new Pet Shop Boys album on first listen. And with only 10 tracks over 43 minutes it suits me just fine.

 

I know dont if having such a short CD running time is a good thing, especially when it comes to the PSB.
They could easily fill the remaining space with either remixes, alternate versions, especially instrumentals of any kind.

 

Well having just come from the mammoth Taylor Swift 31 tracks 122 minutes extravaganza it's a light relief.

 

Do you want to hear any 0f those Taylor Swift songs a second time?

 

Aaah that Kajagoogoo is a grand piss take of the old order, no one would write that these days. However, White Feathers is a bloody great album imho.

 

I can't listen to the whole anthology edition, it's basically a triple album.
I do like the songs and the album as a listen, but I can't make out the individual songs. To me it's almost like an Enya album, in that it could almost be one long track.
It's interesting what Neil Tenant has been saying, Taylor Swift is a huge phenomena, yet he doesn't know one of her songs.
And I think the same, I got into her in lockdown with the Folklore/Evermore albums, but I wouldn't recognize one of those songs o the radio.
And yet that Harry Styles single everyone must know it.

 

Isn’t it track 1 or 2 on that Bunch box set Help! cd single?

 

I don't really "do" new music (even by established artists) and playing some tracks off Nonetheless, I know why.

I should have stopped automatically buying PSB albums a long time ago. This will be the first one I don't get (unless I find it for £2 in a charity shop in 2027).

They've run out of things to say, and it's just sub-standard re-runs of post-1993 PSB which was never really my thing at the best of times. At least back then they often had the songs and decent lyrics.

EG.

 

I think I was fully onboard at Night Life but stopped right after the Release - which was quite interesting to hear as an attempt to do something different, although it proved to be an exception in their discography.

I think the 4-minute pop song format simply does not work for them in the current environment,
unlike the soundtrack or original music recorded for a play, performance or ballet - generally speaking - instrumental long-form works
which they have already proved themselves in - for example Battleship Potemkin was great OST:


They have reached a certain age and should behave accordingly.

 

Agree 100%.

Still sounds wonderful and charming and will remain a classic in my world.

 

Dexys - well Mr Rowland - Sounds & Smash Hits Oct/Nov 1985:





I've always had huge respect for Kevin; an ambitious auteur who tacked every which way, yet seldom pandered to anyone. From punk (Killjoys) to horn-drenched, donkey jacketed, Northern soul, onto string-laden, dungareed, Celtic knees-ups, arriving at the suited & booted f*** you Don't Stand Me Down. Dexys '80s swansong LP is, IMO, their masterpiece. Rowland channels General Johnson & Al Green midst a myriad of 'experiments'. It's bonkersly brilliant; defiantly chart unfriendly. And despite him dissing Mr Weller in the above interview, there's more than a touch of The Jam in DSMD's gonzo musical stew.

Only single released from Don't Stand Me Down. reached the giddy heights of UK #78.

 

On Discogs it says both tracks are with Lananeeneenoonoo. Is that incorrect?