I was really in two minds if to include this as you just can't hear it anywhere, not even YouTube. But I let the debut album from the Scottish band in as I have heard this, I had a copy a long time ago. You can still hear a few tracks from this of their Best Of but thats it. It doesn't take 35 years past to remember that this record is nowhere close to the quality of its follow-up, but I do remember liking it quite a bit. A more soulful and funky album than that record. It failed to chart even though "Candybar Express" was a minor hit.
Sometimes record companies are their own worst enemy, It Bites had their first hit "Calling All the Heroes" after extensive airplay over the Summer holidays, it was one of the feel good hits of that year. But it, and even the follow-up single "Whole New World", did not reflect the band one bit. This is a prog pop/rock album through and through. They are not a pop band. It Bites will make their genre clearer with future releases but they will never be more than a cult band. This album reached #35 in the UK.
The last album from them in the 80s and it is not going out on a high but it is still pretty great but although I still give it 4 stars, it is the weakest of their 80s albums. This was their 9th album, and it reached #4 in the US and #22 in the UK.
The fourth album from the English new wave and synth pop band. Struggling to have any success in the UK, they are still relaesing great music and have their biggest hit yet in the US with "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". I still wonder to this day, why it failed it make the top 75 here although as I suggested in my tracks list, it was probably timing and momentum, this should have been on the shelves when it made the top 10 in the US, not 3 months earlier. What suprised me though wa how good thsi album was easily on par with their alst album with standouts "Hypnotize Me" and "Let's Go!". The record peaked #41 in the US.
Top 40 time and I have maybe been too obscure for a lot of this, now a record I am sure a lot of the forum own
40 Five Star - Silk & Steel
Now wait for it, what was the first record I bought with my own money, well it was this!! I was at one time very much a pop fan especially if they were pretty girls and Five Star had those for sure. 'System Addict' brought them to my attention but it was "Rain or Shine" that got me to buy this and it is stuffed full of hits, think there are six singles on this album. It is crazy to think what a big deal they were for these two years anyway. It was a number one album in the UK and reached #80 in the US where I feel they should have been bigger. The album sold over 1.2 million in the UK alone.
Their fourth album and I pretty much missed this one at the time, It does have one song I do remember now "No Promises". It is a pretty solid album not their best, that is arguably the next one but it is as good as just about any other release they have had. So moderate success it peaked #55 in the US but didn't chart here.
Already starting to make big waves in the US but in the UK, hair metal really hit the mainstream with the success of the Swedish band's third album and Bon Jovi's third album also, still to come of course. It is in incredible to think that Bon Jovi had all the momentum with their massive success in the US but it was Europe who get a number one single here, something Bon Jovi have never done to this day. If I had time an album of the year list in 1987, this would probably have been in my top 10 but time changes. It is a really good album but side 2 is a bit samey, it doesn't quite have the magic of 'Slippery When Wet' which still sounds brilliant today. The album reached #8 in the US and #9 in the UK and sold roughly 5 million worldwide.
Although released in 1986, this album will not chart in the UK until next year. John Farnham was a huge star in his native Australia but he had not had a hit record of any magnitude for a long time. One top 20 album in Australia with a cover of 'Help!' in 1980 and before that it was many years since his heyday. Sometimes all it takes is one brilliant song to capture your country's imagination, and that song was "You're the Voice". It was a chart topper in Australia and the song then spread across the world and eventually topped the charts in multiple countries, it was another slow burn in the UK but once it made the top 40 it flew up the charts to #6 here. As for the album it was an Aussie chart topper, to this day one of the highest selling albums ever in that country, 24x platinum almost 2 million sales. It charted at #35 in the UK, his only hit here but his career was revived at home to this day where he was number one there as recent as 2016. As for the album itself, I love it still, and I was a fan of the next few years. A wild story it is like Cliff Richard turning into Bruce Springsteen.
Now we have maybe the most marmite album in their catalogue. This was their fifth album and due to the lesser success of the previous album and losing band members they took up an offer of handing production to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Now if you are going to hand it to anybody in 1986 that was a great decision but I feel it does mean Human League did sacrifice what made them unique. What saved them with fans was possibly their best single yet "Human", a gorgeous masterpiece of production and Phil's voice which was a US #1. The rest of the album, although consistently good, is quite samey until you get to "Love Is All That Matters" which shakes things up at last. The record reached #7 in the UK and #24 in the US.
3.5/5
I do have all their albums including this one, quite a lot I like on this, Human is sublime, but I also like Are You Ever Coming Back, I Need Your Loving, Love On The Run & Love Is All That Matters.
Their fourth album and maybe my least favourite so far, but still a lot to love on it. Their previosu records though surprised me at the quality of the album tracks, this one not so much it is quite ordinary. The two singles are amazing "Don't Get Me Wrong" and "Hymn to Her" but I just wasn't blown away by this one. It reached #6 in the UK and #25 in the US.
3.5/5
I have their first 5 albums,including this one. The 2 singles are great, I know what you mean about the other tracks, good but not great.
I had expected their 12th album to do better than it has, some brilliant singles like "One Vision" and great songs from the 'Highlander' soundtrack like "Who Wants to Live Forever". But for every one of those is a filler song or a dodgy soundtrack song. So from brilliant to patchy.The record reached #1 in the UK and #46 in the US.
3.5/5
Have nearly all their albums, got this one, I like nearly all the tracks, but then I'm a huge Queen fan so what do you expect.
I said it was a big one. His seventh album and I have to say in general I am not a fan or even like him usually, S&G are even worse sorry. The thing is you just couldn't ignore this album, launched with the brilliant single and video "You Can Call Me Al" but then once you listen to the rest it is basically world music but he just does it so well, the songs are all so catchy and well-made. It is one of the few 80s albums that I knew so well, I can hear the next song coming. I found it very hard to access, how much do I love this record or is it so engrained in my brain, I have to rate it high. So I went for somewhere in-between. One of the top end of albums of the year, but not one of my favourites. The record is by far his biggest solo success reaching #1 in the UK and #3 in the US and selling 14 million worldwide.
Their fourth album and I know this is their lowest entry on the lists so far but it is just the way things fell, it is still a really great album especially "Bizarre Love Triangle' which maybe overshadows most of the record. The CD version includes "State of the Nation" which does boost things but the album jsut doesn't excite me as much as previous albums, think they need to shake things up a bit. The record reached #9 in the UK and #117 in the US.
As well as Five Star, I loved Janet Jackson as well. It was my favourite poster in my room. Who is this person?? Yes pre personal chart me, was all over the place. This was her third album and the one that really made her a star approaching the level of her brothers. Thinking now I should have listened to them at least her previous album but when making these lists, it often took a big record for me to add them and I forget to go back. Although her 2nd album wasn't a total flop, it was dwarfed by this one. Six singles! and five of them are brilliant. There really isn't a weak song on this record. My favourite, I would say, is "When I Think of You". The record reached #1 in the US and #8 in the UK and sold over 10 million worldwide.
Their third album and the first one that I actually liked music from at the time, I am not a 'Stranger Things" poser but I don't deny that has helped. The standout tracks for me are "Master of Puppets" of course and the epic "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" but to be honest these days, I really enjoy the whole album well as much as you enjoy Metallica or metal. Sometimes it is just what you need. For some this is their masterpiece and I get that but I think it is number two for me. It reached #29 in the US and #41 in the Uk and has sold 8 million in the Us alone and nearly 2 million in the rest of the world.
4/5 (Yes this is the same grade I give their new album, but it is a low 4/5 maybe a 3.75 really)
Her second album and I had this at 10 in my initial list but sadly it wasn't as brilliant as I hoped. The title track is my favourite Cyndi song, in fact it is one of the songs of the year and the rest of side one is amazing as well, just think it drops off a bit on side 2, and we don't need another cover of "Iko Iko", the last track is bad as well. But take those two away or even better, listen to the first 6 tracks and brilliance is restored. The record reached #4 in the US and #25 in the US and sold 7 million worldwide.
Now a debut album from a Scottish band who I think have been forgotten. They were, for a moment, a big deal. If you havent heard them imagine a cross between Simple Minds and Duran Duran. Their third single "The Honeythief" was a bona fide international hit, reaching #19 in the US and charting in many countries, including #17 here. Apart from the big two Simple Minds and Big Country, no other Scottish band in this era managed a top 20 hit in the US. It was no fluke either as the album had other brilliant singles like "Ask the Lord" and "Long White Car", But if you are Scottish the most famous song maybe more so even than "The Honeythief" was "Tinder" which featured in a McEwans Lager ad, a big deal at the time, the lager was pish though and still is. The album did not do amazing though, reaching #42 in the UK and #66 in the US.
4/5
Bonus video
Last Edit: Jun 1, 2023 12:42:41 GMT 1 by TheThorne