I was at that concert! I lived in NYC at the time. Incredible show, and what I liked about it is that we saw them play a more "traditional" pop/rock show, with Neil playing guitar. It's true what you said about Madonna ("Like A Prayer" was actually '89, but anything she put out past '85 had almost no synths) and that acts in general had abandoned synth pop; note the difference between the debut Go West album and their subsequent releases. The one act I can think of with hits that was really pushing the synth thing in the late '80s was Information Society. To a lesser extent, there were "token" instances such as Figures On A Beach, Kon Kan, Anything Box, and The Beloved. Oh, and Jane Child - keyboard-tastic!
Yeah, I shoulda said True Blue. Even by '86 Madonna had largely abandoned synth-pop. You still had the occasional synth pop or synth-poppy hit after '86 (T'Pau's "Heart And Soul" is an example, driven by that insidious synth riff, although there were also guitars and such in the mix), but nothing like the '81 - '84 boom where folks like Thomas Dolby, Depeche Mode, Yaz, Eurythmics, Thompson Twins, Trio, Taco and the rest were charting top-ten hit after hit after hit.
I have a bunch of cds by The Beloved, and recently discovered one of their peers called Frasier Chorus. I would add that Erasure was still doing synth pop and they still are!
Agreed on "Love Comes Quickly." It's a great song. And some of the remixes are great, too, because it's a mid-tempo number and it doesn't lend itself to just a straight "dance mix." I'm thinking especially of the PSB/Stephen Hague remix on the "Further Listening" disc, the Shep Pettibone remix on Disco, and the totally beats-free ambient mix by Blank & Jones that was on the Pop/Art/Mix collection.
Sorry to temporarily interrupt the PSB discussion, but I just have to say... FIGURES ON A BEACH!!!!!!!
Picked up Standing On Ceremony lp last week, funny Sire never released a cd of it (Wounded Bird did in 2008), the b-side to No Stars "Eternal Repetition" is fantastic
Morgan, have you heard the live version of this great song that was included as a b-side to one of the Release singles ("I Get Along" perhaps?). It has a nice late 90s techno vibe to it. Jeff
I was a huge fan in the 1980s when I was a teenager. I had so many remix EPs . I own the Further Listening companion CDs but there are many versions I'm still missing (It's a Sin Remix, Always On My Mind Remix, Heart Remix, Domino Dancing Remix) on CD.
Please was among the very first CD's I bought back in 1986. I liked the album immediately and still play it now and then. "West End Girls" is a classic slice of 80's pop. I like both recordings of "Opportunities" although I favor the original version. I absolutely love the "Full Horror" remix of "Suburbia".
y Ya, it's on the I Get Along CD single, which is out of print and not available digitally. I'm gonna try to track that down and see if i can get it up on YouTube, cause it is a really nice version of the song.
That would be awesome! I haven't heard it. I have relied primarily on the Further Listening sets and Alternative and Format for my PSB b-side fix, but I know I am missing some good stuff because of that.
I have the 12"mix of All the Girls love Gloria...good tune, also The Anything Box 12" mix, Living In Oblivion.
Careful, Warner Germany bammed me with 3 infringements right in a row, My yt account is no more, , the funny thing, I was show casing how good the vinyl pressings were
Cloud 9 and Soul Kitchen. They also do a cool cover of the Sex Pistols Anarchy In The UK. It's on a ep cd.
Yep got em, the singles are tough to find here, and to import them gets quite pricey, luckily Qobuz had most of them in lossless , I agree that cover is great! The re-issue of Sue contains it also, a nice sounding cd
Nightlife was still a good album and a few other albums into the 2000's, I think they had a fantastic run.
Yes, count this as an album for me that I owned on CD originally (as opposed to LP or cassette). That was a rare thing to do back in '86! That's also when CDs still came in long boxes...and for about a year there, cassettes did as well My love for them goes back to this wonderful 12" single from 1984:
I'm a huge fan of all their albums, but I'd like to put in a good word for Elysium. If you can get past the rather melancholy tone of the songs, what you find is one of the best pop albums ever made about what it's like to be gay and/or famous and growing older in the world, and finding that in many ways, you've aged out. The songs ring true, they are biting and funny, rueful and accepting, but hopeful in the end.. One of the truly great things about them is that they managed to inject gay themes and subtext into the world of pop music while actually being popular. No small thing.
I will share my thoughts about that album when we come to it, but I will say that I love the front and back ends of that album, but HATE the middle third of it. I can't say that about too many PSB songs, but there are three in a row that I absolutely can't stand and it sinks the album for me. Similar to U2's No Line On the Horizon album in that way.
I guess that would mean you are including Breathing Space and/or Give It a Go in that "hate list". I think those are two of the best songs they have ever done. I think the only true missteps on Elysium are Winner and Hold On. Everything else is fine by my ears (with some being better than others, of course)
First off, I totally respect your opinions and music tastes are so subjective. I love "Breathing Space" - that is a gorgeous song. The songs I loathe are "Ego Music/Hold On/Give It A Go" and if they were spread out I would probably like Elysium more, but the way this album was ordered made it tough for me to embrace it.
I'll save most of my comments until we get to Elysium, but I agree, this is a fantastic album. The general consensus among PSB fans (at least over at the PSB Forum) is that Elysium was a bit of a misstep while Electric was a bold return to form. But I feel the opposite. I think Elysium is the near-masterpiece while Electric is only so-so. I love the mellow, wistful, melancholy tone of Elysium. It's a triumph.
