Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jun 8, 2011 0:33:48 GMT 1
Yes to be completely honest I think the same- even the stuff that is terrible you know something amazing is about to come along and be utterly brilliant. As I say in the Kim Wilde post, it is, in my view, one of the most creative times in UK Pop history when we did our own thing with the occasional US hit thrown it- 2nd invasion is just around the corner too!
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vya
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Post by vya on Jun 8, 2011 7:17:11 GMT 1
Oh I think 1981/82 is maybe the best time for pop music ever! New electronic influences, new romanticism, the end of new wave, it's all there.... Got agree that Kim Wilde is brilliant - somewhat overlooked in the UK,a bit, I think. "Cambodia" is another fantastic early track of hers that I still love....
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jun 8, 2011 7:26:38 GMT 1
I think the Starturn on 45 Pints one must be the worst of them all, though! Their 1988 comeback singles (there were at least 2, both flops, after their hit "Pump Up The Bitter") were rather atrocious too....flat beer. You have to respect Whitley Bay's finest. "Give the lad a chance, I've paid him thirty poond..." As I pointed out in the "That's Not My Name" thread, I deny that Tight Fit went on to better things. Their sixties medleys were a totally different line-up to their Wimoweh cover. They should be split for chart purposes - indeed, the latter ought to be included in chart books under City Boy, who made up 40% of the second Tight Fit.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Jun 8, 2011 7:57:31 GMT 1
I think the Starturn on 45 Pints one must be the worst of them all, though! Their 1988 comeback singles (there were at least 2, both flops, after their hit "Pump Up The Bitter") were rather atrocious too....flat beer. You have to respect Whitley Bay's finest. "Give the lad a chance, I've paid him thirty poond..." "e; Mrs Pattel is having one of her funny turns!!" sorry it was comedy gold
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jun 8, 2011 12:12:38 GMT 1
3RD OCTOBER- INVISIBLE SUN- The Police (1 week)You can tell Sting wanted to write this kind of song from the start. He was probably held back by the other members of the band "no let's write the commercial stuff first, we don't want to kill off our career before it's started". By 1981 The Police were an established big hitting band, only they, along with the Jam and Adam & The Ants, had had singles debut at No 1 by this point in the 80s, and "Invisible Sun" was a first single off a brand new album ("Ghost In The Machine"). Lyrically it's a song about the secterian troubles in Northern Ireland which, when the video was first seen, was promptly banned by the BBC for it's content- but is it any good as a song? Well I don't think it's that far from 1980's "Don't Stand So Close To Me", the same brooding verses heavy with seriousness and sense of foreboding, some great stuff- but I have to say I think the chorus is shockingly bad, it's a song in search of a chorus as the cliche goes. It marks the point that Sting starts to become a political figure and stops singing about walking on the moon and about non sensical child rhymes like "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da", that's not to say that nothing good came after "Invisible Sun" in the Police cannon (83's "Wrapped Around Your Finger" is a killer I think) but just that his focus altered, from this moment on the Sting solo career kind of becomes inevitable...
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jun 8, 2011 12:14:44 GMT 1
10TH OCTOBER- THE BIRDIE SONG- The Tweets (2 weeks)
The victorians believed that nothing good ever came from the continent and the charts of 1981 provide many reasons to believe them. Not only did Dutch stars Starsound inflinct medley's on us but here's the "Birdie Song". Apparently this is based on a 50s Swiss tune which a Belgian producer (Rijmenant) heard and released as a b-side, and although the A Side bombed the Dutch (them again) picked up on it and started to play it and in 1981 it was released much to the joy of returning holiday makers who had heard it all over the disco's of Europe (is this really how Ibiza started out?)
Of Course I recall this- who wouldn't, even as a 5 year old (and I think I must have been who it was aimed at) I can recall dancing to this at kids parties and the playground (believe me we all did it) and along with Ottowan always takes me back to holidays on the Costa as a youngster, we were posh and always went to the Costa's in August...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jun 8, 2011 19:36:32 GMT 1
"Invisible Sun" was banned by the Beeb, which led to the disastrous rush-release of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" to pick up the album promotion.
"The Birdie Song" was by the Electronicas, and was a massive Eurohit in 1980, but didn't get released in the UK at the time. It made the lower 30 under the name "Original Bird Dance" whilst The Tweets were in the top ten. The Tweets were a KWS-esque spoiler; a bunch of sessionistas flung together to get the sales in before the original was released.
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Post by evansabove on Jun 8, 2011 19:50:13 GMT 1
"Invisible Sun" was banned by the Beeb, which led to the disastrous rush-release of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" to pick up the album promotion. "The Birdie Song" was by the Electronicas, and was a massive Eurohit in 1980, but didn't get released in the UK at the time. It made the lower 30 under the name "Original Bird Dance" whilst The Tweets were in the top ten. The Tweets were a KWS-esque spoiler; a bunch of sessionistas flung together to get the sales in before the original was released. Never had you down as a Birdie Song Expert! What do you mean disastrous re-release? ELTSDIM got to #1 didnt it?
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jun 8, 2011 21:35:28 GMT 1
Yes, that's what was so disastrous about it.
Without looking it up, can anyone name the Tweets' follow-up song?
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Post by thehitparade on Jun 8, 2011 23:39:33 GMT 1
It wasn't something like "Let's All Dance The Birdie Dance" was it?
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jun 9, 2011 7:30:18 GMT 1
Replace "dance" with "sing" and throw in a like somewhere and you're pretty much there. It makes the Tweets incidentally one of the select band of acts who had hits with instrumental and vocal releases - only in the most efficient way possible as they only had two chart hits. Whereas the likes of Elton John and Fleetwood Mac had to have loads...
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Post by evansabove on Jun 9, 2011 7:34:15 GMT 1
Replace "dance" with "sing" and throw in a like somewhere and you're pretty much there. It makes the Tweets incidentally one of the select band of acts who had hits with instrumental and vocal releases - only in the most efficient way possible as they only had two chart hits. Whereas the likes of Elton John and Fleetwood Mac had to have loads... I bet you know all the moves to the Birdy SOng by heart
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jun 9, 2011 10:43:02 GMT 1
24TH OCTOBER- O SUPERMAN- Laurie Anderson (1 week)Now there's two ways to look at this. It's either a case of WTF is this? THIS is why the 80s is thought to be s**t by some people, OR isn't it marvelous that it's probably the only one decade where you could get Stevie Wonder, the Tweets, and Anderson all after one and other (a symbol of it's diversity). I'm going to go for the latter, yes the song is weird, I mean seriously weird, and I have no recollection of it at the time but I think if I had witnessed Legs & Co "Interpretation" of it on TOTP i'd probably have been scarred for life. Laurie Anderson is a "Performance Artist" who broke out from the art world via this single which remains to this day her sole hit single, what's more it only spent 6 weeks in the chart disappearing as quickly as it arrived. I must have to comment on the TOTP performance, back in the days when Legs & Co (the TOTP in house dance troupe who performed when a band was unavailable) always did literal interpretation of the song- please watch it- I can't give you back the three minutes of your life but for randomness I haven't seen it beaten yet....
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jun 9, 2011 10:46:13 GMT 1
31ST OCTOBER- HAPPY BIRTHDAY- Altered Images (3 weeks)
Altered Images were a band championed by Radio one DJ John Peel, and were, for a brief spell, indie darlings. Front woman Clare Grogan found fame early as one of the lead roles in "Gregory's Girl" which came out earlier in 81, and doubtless contributed to the success of "Happy birthday" their first hit, though their third release. The single is famous for missing out on the No 1 spot by just 17 copies to the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" which was the closest race (known of) ever to have happened in the charts and would remain so for 9 years. Grogan would of course to go on to more TV roles post the demise of Altered Images in 1983 including Red Dwarf, Being Ian Beale's girlfriend in Eastenders in the 90s, and recently in Skins.
The song is itself is a catchy little number, more cute than punk, more cheeky than sneering, it's one of my favourites of the No 2 records of 1981, even though I don't recall it from the time, I can see its appeal though. Grogan pouts through her TOTP performance coquettishly selling sex in a rather subtle way, all told, a nice little pop package which should by rights have been a No 1...
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jun 9, 2011 10:50:55 GMT 1
12TH DECEMBER- DADDY'S HOME- Cliff Richard (4 weeks)
What's going on? Cliff has a christmas hit and he only ends up at No 2? It's true whilst the Human League were ruling the roost at No 1 Cliff lay in waiting for 4 weeks with his cover of Shep & The Limelights 1961 US hit "Daddy's Home" which bombed over here so was relatively unknown when Cliff got his hands on it. It's a typical piece of syrupy pop from him, but what is disappointing is that, in general, Cliff was pouring out some pretty good stuff 79-82 the great "We Don't Talk Anymore", "Wired For Sound" "Carrie" are all cracking good records, and the latter probably deserved to do better and maybe be on this list, but they aren't.
60s Americana is actually something we lapped up in the UK in the 80s, Percy Sledge, Ben E King, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, admittedly all utilised by Levis, were used to push a certain type of America which proved lucrative through the decade so perhaps Cliff was onto something, but all in all far too sacharine for my taste buds and just a whiff of Cliff on autopilot....
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jun 9, 2011 10:51:18 GMT 1
That's it- I'm all done with 1981!- looking forward there are 5 records that I absolutely love in 1982- and they may not be the ones you think!
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Post by evansabove on Jun 9, 2011 11:36:20 GMT 1
I love Oh Superman but you need to listen to the whole 8 minute version to fully appreciate it. Hard to believe it ever charted let alone made #2
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jun 9, 2011 11:51:52 GMT 1
Oh i've listened to it in the 8 minute version- but I had to comment on the TOTP performance- which is unintentionally hilarious. But I suppose what else could you do with such a record?
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Post by thehitparade on Jun 10, 2011 0:32:51 GMT 1
I've just bought a couple of Altered Images albums. I do like them but I must say that 80 minutes of them is about as much as I could stand in one sitting.
I've also seen the clip on YouTube of Clare Grogan's one and only solo single. I could put it in the Lost Tracks thread but I have to say, it's one that probably deserved to be lost.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jun 10, 2011 7:44:18 GMT 1
Ooh, no, I love "Love Bomb". Should have been a gigantic hit. Was co-written by a couple of members of Win, who are most famous for the soundtrack for a very memorable McEwans advert.
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