Well.......as much as I love Big Country, I think its weird & totally unexpected that an album should reach the no.1 spot, yet alone enter directly to that spot and the band didnt ever have a Top-15 single taken off the album - and there were three singles released.
I really like it, especially when it explodes at the 2:30 mark. The only Spear of Destiny song I know is 'The Wheel' single from 1983. It was on a CD compilation of "UK alternative" I bought in the 90s.
I guess it was the anticipation of a new album after the success of The Crossing that propelled Steeltown straight in at #1. I know a lot of people love Big Country but they're a singles band for me. I struggle to enjoy a full album of their (very unique) sound. 'Chance' is my favourite of all their singles, although I think the album version is superior to the re-recorded single version. It hit #9 in the UK.
Always enjoyed this one, although I never bothered seeking out any of their other material so I'm pretty sure this is the only song of theirs that I've ever heard. Kind of like a (very slightly) harder ABC... I know they had two albums and a few more singles - this one did better than I remembered, reaching #5 UK and even making #17 in the US (their only top-40 hit here). Living In A Box: Living In A Box (1987)
Wish I'd seen this post first! I had to scoot off to Wiki for some validation and thankfully I did. Rated 4..5/ 5 stars on Allmusic
I remember the singes Down To Earth and Misfit - were played here a bit - can't check if they charted, but they stuck in my head. However I picked up the CD of Keep Your Distance a couple of years ago in the $2 bin. Terrific album and sounds amazing on disc. Audiophile in my view.
What a highly skilled bunch! They all looked like models but weren't your average boy band, as they all played their instruments extremely well. Unlike Eric Genetic, I never tired of Down To Earth. In fact it was this, Wet Wet Wet's Wishing I Was Lucky (wish they'd stuck with this direction) and Swing Out Sister's Surrender that competed for my personal top spot in 1987. Down To Earth was such an unusual song, certainly not Top 3 material. For some reason, I didn't get the album until 2016 and it's a record I regularly come back to. I usually skip Misfit, which must have got the most airplay and now feels a bit too jolly and straightforward for my liking. The cassette and CD had some great 12" mixes. The reggae-fied Free was probably the wrong choice for the fourth and final single, containing the immortal lines: All we want is our lifes to be free If we can't be free Then we don't want to be we It was the only track produced by Sly & Robbie, who were supposed to do the whole album, but apparently the band didn't get on with them. And then there was the follow-up album Getahead, which I heard and bought well before the debut and which barely charted, despite containing the Top 20 single Name And Number. It's a bit of a snooze - very muso, largely tuneless and too Adult Contemporary.
Surprised to see a boxset being released for such an obscure album. I'd love to get a copy of the single CD, $300 is a bit steep
Blancmange are underrated in the world of 80's synth-poppers. "Running Thin" is one of my fav B-Sides ever. Listened to it almost as much (well not quite but a lot) as "Living On The Ceiling"
For my money, it contains Mick Karn's most Japan-esque and possibly best bassline in A Subway Called You. Guitarist Rob Dean, who also plays on the album, recently remarked that, typical of Numan's way of working, Dance was too much of a rush job, but I'd argue that Numan was able to coerce some of Karn's best basslines that are high enough in the mix so they can be properly heard, which isn't always the case with Japan.
I can still remember hearing All Around The World, their second single for the first time...and that was it for me, I'd found my next favourite band for the next 6 years!!! I was 14 years old and I picked up every single and album as they were released after that. A great band. I could never warm to The Style Council though...I think in part due to resentment due to Weller breaking The Jam up. BTW... I played This Is The Modern World going into work this morning. Underrated for me.
I think I'm about the same age as you and my first exposure to the Jam was "A Town Called Malice". The Jam never really bothered the charts down under with the exception of that single. The Style Council on the other hand were a hit from the get- go with the brilliant "Speak Like A Child"
Happy Families and Mange Tout are outstanding albums. I don't own Believe You Me. I should get it because I really like 'What's Your Problem?' but every time I see it in a secondhand store I'm put off by the disappointing cover. I know this is a stupid reason not to buy it but it just looks so cheap and nasty compared to the previous two (fantastic) album covers. Anyway... here's 'Waves', a wonderful single that only reached #19 in the UK but should have gone Top 5.
In which ABC receives the most damning critique of all — the suggestion that they should've worked with Stock Aitken Waterman. Good grief.
Excellent review of Music For The Masses And surely that review of Tunnel Of Love was written by Bruce himself. Blimey
It was just great to see Depeche Mode getting better and better with every passing year/album, and against all the odds…
One of the best and well written Springsteen reviews, positive at a time when most Springsteen reviews were negative, an annihilation of Yes based apparently on no more than reading its biography and the album credits, a panning of ABC, a complete swing and a miss at George Michael apparently written by a fundamentalist Christian high school guidance counsellor, the obligatory "boring U.S. rock band - go away (Rush)" and an album by one of the worst band names I have ever heard (I never heard the band): Bogshed (those wacky northerners...). I rest my case.
I think ToL received mostly positive reviews anyway, but the NME one is well put together. George Michael’s Faith got a better review in NME than it did in Smash Hits and Record Mirror!