Gezza's Review of Every Number 2 Single 1985-1989

[Gezza]

It's time for part two of our review series taking in the second half of the decade 1985-89, I can't promise it will be as good as the first half- I'm beholden to the songs......

[Gezza]

26TH JANUARY 1985- 1999/ LITTLE RED CORVETTE- Prince (1 week)


I know this isn't a popular point of view but Prince and I haven't really got on. I'd love to be in on the Prince fanclub, to "get it", to view him along with Madonna and Jacko in the pantheon of 80s greats, but I just can't for the life of me. As a popstar I was too young really to buy into him when he first started producing hits (I've just turned 9 by this point remember), there are some songs of his that are quite good, my problem with him therefore is as a popstar. He has a tangible sense of ludicrousness, self importance, pomposity, and general pretentiousness, it's all this that turns me against him, his name change in 1993 was the nail in his coffin for me and him. Don't get me wrong I know that Madonna and Jacko also have that sense of self importance, I suppose you have to to be able to convince your audience, after all if YOU don't think you're something special then why should anyone else, and the mid 80s was period when not only did you blow your own trumpet but you hired an entire brass section to join in with you, but with Prince he never had the consistancy to warrant it

LITTLE RED CORVETTE- You know I don't actually mind this track, a tale of sleeping with a promiscous lady who Prince urges to "slow down", it benefits from being relatively underplayed over the years so still sounds quite endearing and sweet and simple, a reminder of when his music was more important than his persona. Of the two sides this is the far better one in my opinion and must be up there with my favourite Prince songs ever.

1999- As opposed to this song which has been truly overplayed. It must have had some charm at some point I Suppose but now it's a bland track, I recall it being played on New Year's eve in both 1998 and 1999 in various clubs I was at- all well and good in a party kinda way "Lemme tell ya somethin/ If u didn't come 2 party/ Don't bother knockin on my door" he sings, it's an attempt to throw off the shackles of the working week I suspect and just party. I can see it's appeal in a drunken context.

In a way this review is symbolic of what is wrong with Prince, hard to talk about the records and easy to write about the star- the inbalance is hard to address....

[Gezza]

9TH FEBRUARY- LOVE AND PRIDE- King (3 weeks)


Ever considered spray canned Doc Martins as a fashion accessory? Well if you have then chances were you were a King fan in 1985, their name teken from the lead singer Paul King, who the younger members may know better as being a VH1 presenter for many years since the 90s. The band were from Coventry (Specials apart, not a city known for it's musical heritage) and really hit the big time for about a year with "Love and Pride" being their biggest hit, and I'm not going to lie it isn't a fantastic record, but neither is it awful, a staple at disco's of that time (I sound so old now) and I do actually recall this from the time when I attended a school friends party one sunday afternoon , presumably in 1985. The video is incidently unintentionally humourous, I suspect the band may have wanted to start off a fad amongst the youngsters, I can recall from my school days that that was a FAIL if it was their intention.

A likeable enough song, if no great shakes, a phrase which pretty much sums up the No 2 hits of 1985 really, we're starting the run in to quite a bland period of the 80s.....

[evansabove]

80s Prince was near on perfection. From 1999 to Lovesexy he was on the top of his game and if sometimes the songs weren't quite up to scratch you couldn't deny the innovation behind them

[Gezza]

I'd like to agree with you, I know I should like him but honestly i just Don't get it.....

[Earl Purple]

Prince really made it in the UK in 1984 with "When Doves Cry" so the record company re-released some earlier songs as a double A-side which were 1999 (which had been a top 40 hit in 1983) and Little Red Corvette. So these songs pre-dated the Purple Rain album.

I didn't always get him but at least he was original. Sometimes covers of his songs sounded better than him singing on them as he wasn't a great vocalist, thus Chaka Khan, The Bangles and Sinead O'Connor and even Tom Jones's version of "Kiss" show him up as the great songwriter he could be.

The general feel of 1985 was that it was made up of individual songs rather than major forces in artists, and you see that with King who only managed a few much smaller hits after Love & Pride and I can't even recall the name of their album, let alone know whether it sold that many.

We will come across one major act of 1985 at #2 whose first hit was in 1982 and who never had a #1 single of their own but their first hit was #1 much later on for another artist as a cover version. We will also come across a band who had never appealed to me up to this year but had a big smash that reached #2 and subsequently had my top album of the year (and possibly the decade) and would have a string of #1s in my chart.

And there will be an instrumental song from a film that didn't sound too bad at the time but was later a #1 in a very nauseating cover version.

And another #2 by a band who got to #1 with the follow-up even though this was potentially their best known song, and the song itself was covered by a boy-band sometime later and would get to #1 for them.

[Gezza]

23RD MARCH- THAT OLE DEVIL CALLED LOVE- Alison Moyet (2 weeks)

Some singers could sing the phonebook and make it interesting- Moyet is one of those singers. Proving that she could do solo whatever she did with Vince Clarke, she similarly peaked at No 2 with her cover of a 1944 Billie Holliday track, which is enticing. Moyet's vocal is suitably smouldering, you can imagine being in a smokey jazz club back in the 1940's pretty much the biggest compliment you could pay to Holliday's memory, and it's not an easy trick to pull off, but Moyet manages it through her sheer classiness. In a year of much mediocrity this is a like a beacon of light, so much more the injustice that it should be held off the top by the two Phil's with "Easy Lover" a bland piece of AOR that should have been maybe a top 10 hit at a push.

Moyet would never get that UK chart topper making this her highest placed single, she pours heartbreak into a three minute pop song and convinces the listener of her plight, you also get a sense of an artist in control here, this is isn't just a cover done at the behest of the record company, or to fill a gap between albums (which this was), but a cover chosen with care and with love, their is respect there, if only all covers were done with such blatant affection....

[Gezza]

6TH APRIL- WELCOME TO THE PLEASUREDOME- Frankie Goes To Hollywood (2 weeks)


It was an attempt to break a 22 year old record, back in 1963 a fellow Liverpudlian band successfully placed their first three singles at No 1, no not the Beatles, but a group called Gerry & The Pacemakers. Their fourth Single "I'm The One" peaked at No 2 in early 64, and so too FGTH's fourth single (that record wouldn't be beaten until the Spice Girls did it in 1997). However that didn't stop FGTH promoting this record as "Their 4th No 1", now you may think that's big headed but the truth is that they promoted "The Power Of Love" as their third No 1 and it actually turned out to be just that.

Another expensive video was commissioned to promote the song featuring the band hijacking a car and driving to the "Pleasuredome" where they all come a cropper after being enticed into various traps. The song is essentially a re-telling of the "Canterbury tales" with a bit of Coleridge thrown it "Using my power/ I sell it by the hour/I have it so I market it/ You really can afford it-yeah" it's a song which mixes the dizzy highs of modern capitalism and consumerism with a warning that all is not as it seems (the "Vanity Fair" angle). In message it's a curiously subtle tale in comparison to their first three hits which bludgeoned with the message, but the same bombastic production carries it through. It's all heady stuff, but remember FGTH were on a roll with a cracker of a debut album and a period where they could do little wrong, but within just 2 years of this the band were on their last legs with a poorly received second album and a split imminant, still though a great record with a funk beat and as good as anything produced in 1985....

[Earl Purple]

"Welcome To The Pleasuredome" reached #1 in my chart and is generally credited as the longest song ever to do so. The album version was about 13 minutes long and I consider that the "proper" version. No doubt there was a 12" that had a version that long. That it did not reach #1 may have been part of the "already have it on the album" reaction, whilst I think TPOL had appeal to an audience that didn't like other FGTH songs and therefore wouldn't have bought the album, which wouldn't apply to this song. The album did not actually sell as many as they had hoped.

I'd disagree with Alison Moyet, I would rather she had reached #1 with "All Cried Out" or "Is This Love" than this song, particularly the latter as it was charting in the quiet start of 1987 when "Jack Your Body" was #1 and would have been a far better choice. I wouldn't call "Easy Lover" MOR, it was better than the other "one-off" duets who topped the chart in 1985, of which there were loads. (Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson, Phillip Bailey & Phil Collins, UB40 & Chrissie Hynde and David Bowie & Mick Jagger. That's 4 which is a lot really). Ok, yeah, I know UB40 & Chrissie Hynde collaborated again later for another hit.

[Gezza]

I didn't call it MOR i called it AOR

On a serious note I'd agree it would have been better had she got to No 1 with one of her own songs (which were nearly always fantastic) but as this one was the only one that was even within a whisper of doing it better this than nothing. It's certainly better than "Easy Lover" at any rate

[Whitneyfan]

Alison Moyet should have reached #1 with every single she released in the 80's (solo and with Yazoo). Ordinary girl is my favourite, and that didn't even make the top 40.

[evansabove]

That Ole Devil is a fantastic version by Alison Moyet. I have seen her perform it twice live and each time she gives it a new twist and arrangement to keep it sounding better than ever

[vastar iner]

I think Pleasuredome was the best FGTH track. Relax was abysmal and deservedly disappeared without trace until that idiot Read banned it. Two Tribes had a visceral charm, Power Of Love was excellent, but post Pleasuredome they dropped alarmingly. Holly Johnson did some good solo stuff, and he was the real talent in that act.

Gerry & The Pacemakers though...total tripe. Anaemic cover band.

[PurpleCareBear]

Jul 12, 2011 12:51:40 GMT 1 Gezza said:

23RD MARCH- THAT OLE DEVIL CALLED LOVE- Alison Moyet (2 weeks)

...her highest placed single, she pours heartbreak into a three minute pop song and convinces the listener of her plight, you also get a sense of an artist in control here, this is isn't just a cover done at the behest of the record company, or to fill a gap between albums (which this was), but a cover chosen with care and with love, their is respect there, if only all covers were done with such blatant affection....

Awww that's really lovely. I wish Alison Moyet was a forum member,so she could read that

[thehitparade]

Agreed with most of what's said about Ms Moyet here - except that I think 'Ole Devil' is a better record than 'All Cried Out' because the production sounds a lot less dated. It's easy to forget as well that covering a song from the pre-rock era was probably a more radical idea for a major pop star in the mid-80s than it would be now.

I'd better go now before I clog up the lost tracks of the 90s thread with her stuff.

[Gezza]

Jul 12, 2011 21:51:29 GMT 1 PurpleCareBear said:

Jul 12, 2011 12:51:40 GMT 1 Gezza said:

23RD MARCH- THAT OLE DEVIL CALLED LOVE- Alison Moyet (2 weeks)

...her highest placed single, she pours heartbreak into a three minute pop song and convinces the listener of her plight, you also get a sense of an artist in control here, this is isn't just a cover done at the behest of the record company, or to fill a gap between albums (which this was), but a cover chosen with care and with love, their is respect there, if only all covers were done with such blatant affection....

Awww that's really lovely. I wish Alison Moyet was a forum member,so she could read that

she is and she owes me a fiver!

[vastar iner]

I really liked "It Won't Be Long" in particular, with Ocean Colour Scene when they were still good.

[Gezza]

20TH APRIL- EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD- Tears For Fears (2 weeks)



It's a song which is good just for it's simplicity. A beat that chugs along with occasional key changes, though simple, it's simply brilliant, and again, like Prince, King, and Alison Moyet, the nearest they got No 1 here though of course they were rivalling Wham! in the US with a string of Chart toppers including this track. It's there most recalled hit with good reason, it seems more structured, more layered than their earlier hits 82-83 (this in part obviously to do with chaging musical fads and production techniques) but it seems to be that this is an attempt at anthem rock.

During this period 85-86 was a fantastic time for that (assuming you like it) when appealing to the masses was the new challenge, Tribalism was all quite 1984, (we'll discuss this more in the next post) but this TFT record is emblematic of that, the time of Dire Straits, Simple Minds, U2 and another example that we'll come across very shortly. Lyrically however the message (assuming there is one) is blunted, there is yearning there and a desire to reach out to the listener but meanings are neither explored nor described with any kind of clarity, however as with anthem rock what that allows the mass audience to do is to place their own meaning on it, interpret as they wish, and so a song becomes everybody's. It's a clever trick, to sing about something that sounds important yet reading the lyrics doesn't really hint at what it is.

No matter, a very catchy song that deserves its place, now I think i've already written good reviews for more records in 1985 than I did in 1984 so i've contradicted my earlier statement- hey ho- more good things to come!....

[Gezza]

25TH MAY- A VIEW TO A KILL- Duran Duran (3 weeks)



Now about that Tribalism. Duran Duran perfectly in tune with times do an about face and transform from the tribalism of "Wild Boys" to the mass appeal of "A View To A Kill", in part through necessity- being part of a film franchise means of course compromising their normal style and adjusting it to suit the "bond theme" requirements, to be honest it's almost seemless, and it's probably the best bond theme in my opinion. Moreover it meant opening the band to an audience that may not be used to hearing the band, or in countries they may not have broken, the Durannies are up for the challenge though and pull the whole thing with admirable panache, in truth nothing much was beyond them at this point.

The "False note" at the Live Aid concert that summer is popularly described as the moment that the pop world moved against the band, now I was too young to recall that, but if true then they reached their absolute height before the fall, an element of the tragical about the affair, but this was the end of Duran Duran as a provider of regular top 10 hits, the end of the golden period. In all honesty their golden period was longer than most bands entire career so it's still a fantastic story and "View to A Kill" is shining illustration of a band at the height of their powers....

EDIT: I've had a thought as to why 1985 seems so much duller and less "glossy" than 84 and it's to do with Band Aid. Pre Band Aid individualism was a good thing, to be distinctive, self interested, to propel the cult of personality, yet post this it becomes far more about collectivism and pulling together, Band Aid left it's mark on the psyche of the UK chart, interestinlgy allowing "Individualism" to be something cultivated and exported from the US (hence the rise of Madonna in the second half of the decade as the biggest star)- just my thought........

[Earl Purple]

What Band Aid might have destroyed, Live Aid attempted in many ways to resurrect but the New Romantic wave had gone and whilst there were a few new bands and some still going, this was very much a transitional period. In some ways we were lucky it wasn't as bad as other transitional periods, just that the music scene as we knew it would never pick up again.

In the USA they describe this period as the "mini-invasion" after what they called the "British Invasion" of the 1960s, which means really they liked our music too. As you mentioned, Tears For Fears had #1s there, as did Wham!. We didn't see that with Britpop at all.

Of the new British UK bands to emerge in 1985 most of them were not big really, e.g. King and Go West who both peaked with their first hit then had a few smaller ones before disappearing into obscurity. The only UK band I can think of that had their first hit in 1985 and went on to be huge are Simply Red, really a solo artist more than a band. They were also successful in the USA, as were Fine Young Cannibals who had their first hit in 1985 but were not really "new" as they were formed out of The Beat.

Bowling For Soup liked this year in particular and wrote a song about it.

1984 had a lot of million-selling singles, 1985 had one and it would take 6 years before another one would come about. CDs really came in this year.