The U.K. 80s Singles & Albums Chart General Discussion Thread.

Wasn’t he a former footballer? Perhaps I’m mixing him up with someone else.

 

Icehouse...loved Crazy and Electric Blue.
Fergal Sharkey....the #1 was good but I preferred You Little Thief.

This thread is great. Age etc means it was probably '83 before I was really clued in. And money meant it was the radio and recording onto tape from chart shows rather than buying much...hence knowing a few songs by a lot of artists rather than having all their albums.

 

I am glad you have such excellent taste. I like the odd - sometimes very odd - Barbra Streisand song, but this is the only one of her albums I play all the way through, and enjoy each and every song. (Though I do like her second Gibb album as well.) Apart from those, I am more than happy with just a "Best Of" from her. Although I do need "Queen Bee" from the "A Star I Born" soundtrack as well. I don´t think that was ever on her compilations.)

Someone sneered at Jeff Wayne´s "Eve of the War" above. If this was directed at the Ben Liebrand remix, then I get it. Not my cup of tea. But the original double album is one of my most treasured possessions. I truly love it, and have done since around 1980. I respect that others don´t like it.

Sort of.

 

I have the complete series - a huge collection. The sound quality is not bad, the selection mostly OK. And the price was perfect back in the day.

The artwork? Not great...

 

There were 3 albums that got played to death at house parties when I was 18 in 1979- Bat Out Of Hell, War of the Worlds & the CHIC album. Happy memories of those last few months at school before we all wen't our separate ways to Uni/college & work- some the gang I haven't seen since our final day at school. Now here I am age 61 and retired with my entire working life and all those hopes and dreams- most unfulfilled- behind me. Where did the time go? It seems like it was just yesterday!

 

That bloody vest!

R1 played this song into the ground in the summer of 86. I was royally sick of it.

EG.

 

It's kind of a perfect album and I was very happy to see it performed in its entirety in 2017. Even though some of the songs might not be first rate, just about everything sounds magnificent!

Producer Paul Staveley O'Duffy seemed to be stealing Trevor Horn's crown for a while in that his work was similarly punchy and immediately recognisable... Curiosity Killed The Cat, Danny Wilson, Barry Manilow, Swing Out Sister and one of my all-time faves which hasn't been mentioned yet, Was (Not Was), whose What Up Dog album is another lost gem. The highly memorable but very annoying Walk The Dinosaur was the big hit that I could live without, while Spy In The House Of Love, which just missed the Top 20 in the UK (#16 US), is probably their finest.

 

It was one of those annoying pop songs that got played to death on every UK pop radio station. He was on TOTPs loads of times of course. He was from Glasgow and I remember there was a link to some other singer/band either as a relation, songwriter or former member or same manager.

 

That´s life, my man. Brutal.

 

I remember seeing this one afternoon - I think I'd just left school ironically enough as the bold Owen was a famous ex-alumni - complete monitor failure.

His brother is Brian McGee, ex Simple Minds drummer.

 

To my great shame I've never heard the full album, which I'll need to rectify. Forever Autumn is class though.

 

It surely is. (Apart from the edited single version - everything is hunky dory - eh... - until the final thirty seconds or so. The edit is painful.) Both the song and Justin Hayward are fantastic. IMO, of course.

 

Sorry Jarleboy, to my great chagrin I actually bought, so have only heard, the single version.

 

I've just checked out wikipedia. He is not a former Footballer. But his brother Brian was one of the original members of Simple Minds (as a drummer).

 

He, he... And the single version omits all the story elements and the narration of the album version. So in that respect, it´s just what you need if you want to hear the song as a song, not part of the narrative. The only thing I dislike about it is the ending and that awful edit. But the single version is perfect - up to those final repetitions of "´Cause you´re not here". Otherwise - pure bliss.

(When I use this on compilations, I always put Tom Waits´ "Heartattack & Vine" before "Forever Autumn". The contrast really works.

 

I think he was at Celtic for a while but never made the first team. Not to be confused with Owen Archdeacon of course.

 

I hadn't heard anything by Furniture until their She Gets Out The Scrapbook compilation was released in 1991.

Such a highly fascinating and talented band that met with such an unlikely amount of mishaps and bad luck! As it happened, their debut album The Wrong People and follow-up single Love Your Shoes received zero promotion and sank without trace when Stiff Records folded in 1986, while album number two, the more jangly Food Sex & Paranoia, which was helmed by Soft Cell producer Mike Thorne in New York, wasn't released until 1990 after being picked up by Arista. But of course by then all momentum was lost and the album suffered a similar fate as the first. I loved both albums almost equally, especially the hypnotic Slow Motion Kisses.



Main singer and soon-to-be music journo Jim Irvin resembled a cross between Dave Gahan and Tony Hadley but came across as more emotional and dramatic than either. Useless fun fact: he was the subject of the third and final Gay Dad single "Oh Jim!".

 

He wasn't, but he had that naff unconvincing kind of vibe about him.

 

I didn't like Owen Paul so much that I now have two versions of his flop album on CD!

EG.

 

I don't know why that doesn't surprise me!

 

Which one is best?

 

The original CBS disc is obviously the winner. But I couldn't help picking up the Cherry Pop reissue last year for a couple of quid.

EG.

 

Cherry Pop will reissue anything, won’t they? I’m still staggered they put out that 6 CD Nick Kamen boxset!

 

Which I also have!

EG.

 

And according to Wiki, he seems to play in a band with Simple Minds bassist Derek Forbes and their repertoire includes songs by Propaganda.