vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Apr 2, 2014 10:15:23 GMT 1
Thought I'd throw this in...
HMHB's unique take on "Song To The Siren".
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Post by raliverpool on Apr 2, 2014 19:25:56 GMT 1
05 Propaganda - Duel (1985)
My all time favourite ZTT single is by the German Synth pop act, taken from their A Secret Wish album produced by Stephen Lipson. Written by the band comparing the whole history of a relationship to a knives/sword duel, this track only peaked at UK #21 despite Claudia Brücken fantastic vocal delivery; but it faired far better in mainland Europe peaking at Italy #3, The Netherlands #5, Sweden #7, etc.. as well as going Top 20 in New Zealand & Top 40 in Australia. Interestingly enough, there was a track on its 12" single called "Jewel" which was an angrier/aggressive/more industrial version of the original composition: link Since then the instrumental bed has been frequently used in TV shows such as Channel 4's American Football coverage, and the BBC's Rally Report (later Top Gear Rally Report) for Rally Car racing. PS. To see how utterly awful PWL could be here is Mandy Smith's SAW produced 1987 cover version link
the first cut won't hurt at all the second only makes you wonder the third will have you on your knees you start bleeding I start screaming
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Post by raliverpool on Apr 2, 2014 19:49:34 GMT 1
04 The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (1986)
Recorded for Manchester's finest (3rd studio) album The Queen Is Dead, this was not released as a single despite all concerned believing it was strong enough due to its "explicit glamorisation of suicide" (after Morrissey's lyrics took inspiration from the James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause, in which Dean (an idol of Morrissey's) leaves his tortuous home life, being the passenger to a potential romantic partner) as they thought daytime radio would boycott it. Despite that, it topped the 1986 Radio 1 DJ's John Peel Festive 50 year end poll, and was released as a single in 1992, five years after The Smiths split up peaking at UK #25. Since then there is a chapter in Irvine Welsh's novel Trainspotting named after this song, which mentions the song directly; and in 2012 in the opening ceremony for the London Olympic Games, there is a part named after the song's title in which the seven young athletes lit the torch before converging to create the cauldron.
And if a double-decker bus Crashes into us To die by your side Is such a heavenly way to die And if a ten-ton truck Kills the both of us To die by your side Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Apr 2, 2014 23:21:17 GMT 1
Not my favourite of Propaganda's. It sparkles only fitfully. To me they reached their acme in 1990, by which time almost the entire group had been recycled. "Heaven Give Me Words"...beautiful. One of many acts buggered up by a cancerous record deal, theirs with ZTT.
I would adopt these tactics in a duel.
The Festive 50 one of the years - was it 1986? - was ridiculous, it was almost entirely Smiths. And given one had to vote for three tracks it smacked of a (heh) propaganda campaign with fans deciding to spread their votes everywhere.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Apr 3, 2014 12:56:22 GMT 1
2 brilliant songs at 4 and 5 , I agree that 'heaven Give Me Words' is underrated but 'Duel' is my favourite as well although 'P Machinery ' is great as well but it wouldn't make my top 200 of the 80s
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Post by raliverpool on Apr 3, 2014 19:25:17 GMT 1
03 ABBA - The Day Before You Came (1982)
After their final album 1981's The Visitors, the band return to Polar studios for ill-fated sessions for a forthcoming album that was never completed. During that time they recorded six tracks of which this six minutes icy synth track with no chorus was the last thing Sweden's most famous musical export ever recorded. When recording this track the group were not sure which direction to take with Björn Ulvaeus' lyrics, but the Agnetha lead vocal used was of a take when she was asked to sing as if "something bad" had happened to her (the narrative), as in the "You" being her killer. Then afterwards Bjorn & Benny got Frida to add the "ghostly, atmospheric" harmonies. When culled as a single late in 1982 it shamefully (for the Great British Public) was only a minor hit charting at UK #32, breaking a string of 19 consecutive top 30 hits which started in 1975 with "S.O.S."), something that Ulvaeus retrospectively puts down to the song being "too different and ahead of its time for the ABBA fans". Elsewhere, it was more successful peaking at #3 in Sweden (their biggest hit there since "The Winner Takes It All"), #3 in the Netherlands, #5 in Germany & Norway; and went Top 20 elsewhere including #12 in Ireland. Despite, its omission from ABBA Gold, time has been very kind on this recording: In 2010 it finished 3rd on ITV's "The Nation's Favourite ABBA song" (behind The Winner Takes It All & Dancing Queen); in 2012 NME did a "The Greatest Pop Songs In History" Top 500 in which it finished 6th; and Pitchfork ranked it the 7th Best Song of the 1980s.
And turning out the light I must have yawned and cuddled up for yet another night And rattling on the roof I must have heard the sound of rain The day before you came
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Post by raliverpool on Apr 3, 2014 19:40:39 GMT 1
02 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (1985)
Originally titled "A Deal with God", representatives at EMI were hesitant to release the song as titled due to possible negative reception due its use of the word "God". Bush relented and changed the title; however, the album version of the song is listed as "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)". (Just like The Kick Inside album campaign) The executives of EMI initially wanted to release "Cloudbusting", as the lead single from the album. Bush successfully persuaded them to release "Running Up That Hill" first, citing that it was the first song to be written for the album, and felt that it better represented the broader feel for Hounds of Love. With regards the self penned and produced song Kate said "I was trying to say that, really, a man and a woman, can't understand each other because we are a man and a woman. And if we could actually swap each other's roles, if we could actually be in each other's place for a while, I think we'd both be very surprised! [Laughs] And I think it would lead to a greater understanding. And really the only way I could think it could be done was either... you know, I thought a deal with the devil, you know. And I thought, 'well, no, why not a deal with God!' After a near three year sabbatical, it returned Britain's finest singer/songwriter to the top end of the charts peaking at UK #3 & USA #30 (her biggest ever hit there); #3 in Germany, #4 in Ireland, #6 in Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium .... and it became a UK #6 hit in 2012 in remixed form (with a new vocal) after its inclusion during the 2012 London Olympics Closing Ceremony.
It doesn't hurt me. Do you want to feel how it feels? Do you want to know that it doesn't hurt me? Do you want to hear about the deal that I'm making? You, it's you and me.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Apr 3, 2014 23:26:24 GMT 1
I like it but I agree with the record company 'cloudbusting' is even better probably my fave Kate Bush , I have no idea what your number one is will check the list for an obvious emission but I don't think you are that predictable , I am expecting a curveball at the top.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Apr 3, 2014 23:36:30 GMT 1
Ok I have a guess based on it not being here already and they have so many entries in the upper section of your list I think it's The.. will pm you not spoiling this if I'm right
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Post by raliverpool on Apr 4, 2014 19:41:38 GMT 1
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Apr 4, 2014 20:31:43 GMT 1
Ah, "Red Scab", another one of those Antsongs that introduced little vas to the world of masochism. I don't think my favourite single of the 1980s has come up; a quick squiz suggests it's not actually on youtube any more. "Running Up That Hill" was used as the theme tune to one of those godawful BBC1 kids' dramas that was on at 4.40ish, I think about a girl whose dad was a taxi driver and who had been used as an unwilling getaway driver. The bad guy was played by the bloke who was the voice of Dunk in the Weetabix adverts. I can't remember if that was contemporaneous with the single release and helped it up the charts. But I also can't imagine something similar happening today - Joan As Policewoman doing something for CITV?
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Post by raliverpool on Apr 4, 2014 20:57:33 GMT 1
NUMBER ONE - Crowded House - Better Be Home Soon (1988)
This slightly maudlin country-folk hymn was released as the lead single from the Australasian band's second album Temple Of Low Men. It peaked at USA #42 (40 places lower than "Don't Dream It's Over"), and failed to reach the UK Top 100. However, it was a moderate hit single in Europe, reached #8 in Canada; but was a huge hit single in Australia & New Zealand getting stuck at #2 in both countries (behind the same track ... more of which later). However, it won Song Of The Year at the 1989 ARIA's. It's lyrics refer to the guilt of being away from home (in the case of New Zealand's finest songwriter Neil Finn) to pursue his dream as a musician, and to say it became an anthem for Australians & New Zealanders away from their home country would be an understatement. Having seen the band & Neil Finn live on a number of occasions in the UK I can tell you that this is THE song which the hardcore knows is their anthem, as it was never a hit with the mainstream public unlike "Weather With You", "Don't Dream It's Over", "Distant Sun", etc.
So far so unremarkable, now for the surreal information regarding this song linking it to one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th Century ....
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Post by raliverpool on Apr 4, 2014 21:52:10 GMT 1
The "fifth dimension" is often used to refer to unexplored or unknown aspects of the universe. For example, the opening narration of The Twilight Zone begins: "There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man."
.... (The story behind it is courtesy of one of the monthly the much missed The Word magazines, this information does not otherwise appear to be easily Google/Bing/etc searchable).
It was written by Neil Finn on the first, and to the date it was written about in 2008/9 the only time Neil woke up with a self formed song (just like Paul McCartney's Yesterday), which he was able to finish off before breakfast. A couple of days earlier he had watched a documentary on the legendary British mountaineer George Mallory, and what had obviously attracted his subconscious was the letters his long suffering wife Ruth, had written to her absent husband during World War I, and on the three expeditions to Mount Everest in the 1920s to which she finished her letters "Be Home Soon".
As you may recall George Mallory along with his younger climbing partner Andrew Irvine disappeared from view below due to cloud cover, when on their summit attempt to climb Mount Everest on 8 June 1924. Both disappeared on the North-East ridge during their attempt to make the first ascent of the world's highest mountain. The pair were last seen when they were about 800 vertical feet (245m) from the summit. Mallory's ultimate fate was unknown for 75 years, until his body was discovered on 1 May 1999 by an expedition that had set out to search for the climbers' remains. Whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit before they died remains a subject of speculation and continuing research.
The track which denied it the #1 position in Australia & New Zealand was Fairground Attraction's "Perfect" (#146 on my countdown). "Perfect" had been written by Mark E. Nevin who went to Cambridge University to study history at Magdalene College where George Mallory studied 70 years previously. It was sung by Glasgow born Eddi Reader who due to overcrowding the family was re-housed 25 miles from Glasgow, in the council development of Irvine, Ayrshire. "Too many people take second best, but I don't take anything less ...."
In the 21st Century "Better Be Home Soon" has taken on a hymn like quality. It has been covered live by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Sheryl Crow, The Flaming Lips, & Pearl Jam. Whilst it has been recorded by Tim Minchin, The Corrs, Kasey Chambers, The Sleepy Jackson, Donny Osmond, and been a US Country chart hit for The McCarters, and George Canyon. And it has been sung on numerous Australian & New Zealand TV talent shows.
At the 2005 ARIA Awards program, Neil Finn emotionally performed the song as a memorial to Paul Hester.
In 2007 Crowded House performed it as the final song at the Sydney Live Earth concert; and in 2011 as the finale of the Christchurch Earthquake benefit concert in Auckland; but most notably it was performed (upon a personal request made in 2006) at the state funeral of Sir Edmund Hillary 22 January 2008, where upon the track re-peaked at New Zealand #2 (this time behind another British artist, Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love).
Somewhere deep inside Something's got a hold on you And it's pushing me aside See it stretch on forever
I know I'm right For the first time in my life That's why I tell you You'd better be home soon
Stripping back the coats Of lies and deception Back to nothingness Like a week in the desert
I know I'm right For the first time in my life That's why I tell you You'd better be home soon
So don't say no Don't say nothing's wrong Cause when you get back home Maybe I'll be gone
It would cause me pain If we were to end it But I could start again You can depend on it
I know I'm right For the first time in my life That's why I tell you You'd better be home soon That's why I tell you You'd better be home soon
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Apr 4, 2014 22:32:01 GMT 1
Wow well I couldn't understand why 'better be home soon ' was practically ignored in the Uk , the only radio station that I remember hearing it on was Radio Luxembourg. Maybe too similiar to 'don't dream it's over ' ? What was even more curious was the attention they reclaimed with 'wood face' . Crowded house were very big in my chart 'don't dream it's over ' was a number one ' something so strong ' number three and. 'Better be home soon' was top 10 but then I didn't like 'chocolate cake' and then they got so overexposed with 'weather with you' . But a great number one and a real surprise
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Post by thehitparade on Apr 4, 2014 22:33:26 GMT 1
Wow, I'd never have guessed that but a very good choice. I assume a lot of Brits have heard it on the Recurring Dream album now though.
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Post by thehitparade on Apr 4, 2014 22:40:22 GMT 1
"Running Up That Hill" was used as the theme tune to one of those godawful BBC1 kids' dramas that was on at 4.40ish, I think about a girl whose dad was a taxi driver and who had been used as an unwilling getaway driver. The bad guy was played by the bloke who was the voice of Dunk in the Weetabix adverts. I can't remember if that was contemporaneous with the single release and helped it up the charts. But I also can't imagine something similar happening today - Joan As Policewoman doing something for CITV? Well, Ms As Policewoman did appear on a recent episode of Loose Ends where she heard Bobby Crush singing about having a threesome with Nicholas Parsons and John Prescott. Not the same thing but no less bizarre. I remember that TV show as well, at least I remember it was called Running Scared (and as a result I thought the song was too) and the bloke who played Burnside in The Bill (Chris Ellison?) was in it. I think I was too young to understand the plot.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Apr 4, 2014 23:23:10 GMT 1
Yeah, he was Dunk's voice. It seemed to revolve around a bank robbery, he escaped by taxi at gunpoint, but his glasses ended up in the taxi and were used to link him to the robbery. The girl found the glasses and so Dunk tried to intimidate her into not giving evidence. The era when everyone on kids' TV came from London. Apart from Ziggy.
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Post by greendemon on Apr 5, 2014 13:07:59 GMT 1
wow, really didn't expect that number one - but a great choice. 'together alone' was always my favourite crowded house album but actually they haven't made a bad one.
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Post by thehitparade on Apr 5, 2014 13:30:38 GMT 1
I have to admit I wasn't much taken by Intriguer the one time I listened to it. Maybe it'd be a grower.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Apr 10, 2014 20:22:09 GMT 1
Oops, never commented on the number 1. I don't remember it at the time, and it doesn't really grab me now. Definitely prefer the number 2 over it. Anyway, thank you, raliverpool, for a real nostalgia trip, and a reminder of some terrific tunes from an experimental decade. I wouldn't dare even to think about a top 1,000, I would surely find part-way through I had forgotten something that ought to be at 186 and the whole thing would be bolsheviked. Are you going to put an alphabetical list of artists on here? I don't think my favourite single from the 80s turned up here, and I can't remember if anything by them is on here either. Then again, it's not on youtube...although you can hear a clip of it here.
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