"there's not, I think, a single episode of 'Dallas' that I didn't see"
It was tough growing up in the late 70s/early 80s as an ABBA fan in America.
Y’see, while the Swede popsters were next to the Beatles and Elvis in pop chart dominance worldwide, in the States they were relegated to the occasional Top 10 or Top 40 hit, with many, many more singles falling far short of that. “Mamma Mia,” a single that everyone now retroactively adores? Peaked at a wimpy #32. “Money, Money, Money”? #56. “Voulez-Vous”? #80. As a young, ahem, homo I proudly called ABBA my all-time favorite group, much to the puzzled stares of my grade school classmates, most of whom were mocking and/or clueless.
Sure, each new ABBA album would have one or two hits here, but as the group aged, the hits got smaller and smaller – “When All Is Said And Done”, the lead-off single from the group’s final studio album The Visitors, peaked at a paltry #28, hardly the way to introduce the American public to what may be your most mature, cohesive album.
That’s right – The Visitors was a big step for ABBA, as the quartet finished off their first decade as a group and their second album of the 80s. The title track was an immediate declaration that the band was moving in a new, grown-up direction. Gone were the Dancing Queens and Ring Ring campiness, replaced by a dark, synth-driven New Wave number about the terror faced by Russian dissidents of the time. It was a thematic turn for ABBA, which makes the fact that it was chosen as a second single from the album in America baffling and/or encouraging (the rest of the world got “One of Us” as the first single and “Head Over Heels” for the second). I’d like to think Atlantic, the group’s U.S. label, was behind this mature direction. They supplemented “The Visitors” single release by releasing a 12” to the clubs, where it got considerable play. Joe. My. God. was kind enough to forward this ultra-rare, DJ-only Disconet Remix.
The Visitors LP was a relative stiff worldwide, especially coming off the hugely popular Super Trouper. ABBA was feeling creative fatigue as well, so they took a break before working on their tenth studio album. A few tracks in, malaise set in again, so the group stopped recording and culled two of the new tracks for inclusion on a career-spanning greatest hits collection called The First Ten Years. Both songs were released as singles, and the first of those, “The Day Before You Came”, was, despite the group’s feelings about the proceedings, another leap forward into adulthood for the group, both in subject matter and presentation. It was 1982, and ABBA finally entered the MTV age, as the single was accompanied with a full-blown film production, complete with an aerial helicopter shot and artful direction, as opposed to the videotaped “stand in front of this backdrop and mime the lyrics” style of their earlier promo clips:
Perhaps it was the dour tone of the song (which is actually quite upbeat if you listen to it carefully – it’s the day before [he] came, so it has a happy ending, see) or the length (it tops out at just under six minutes), but “The Day Before You Came” fared poorly on the charts worldwide (to be fair, it was a huge hit in some smaller territories) and didn’t even chart in the States. Were people over ABBA, or just not on board with “adult” ABBA? More importantly, was ABBA over ABBA?
The second new single to be pulled from The First Ten Years, “Under Attack”, did even worse. Atlantic didn’t even bother to release it in the States. It wasn’t bad per se, it just wasn’t anything Olivia Newton-John wasn’t doing slightly better at the time. It’s interesting to note the prominence of synthesizers in both new songs – this was truly synthpop. “Huh, wha, huh?” you exclaim? Think about it – synth-based pop = synthpop. Ask the Human League about ABBA’s influence and I rest my case.
I love ABBA’s late videos. Agnetha (the “pretty one”) started to hit the wall and wasn’t so bubbly cute anymore and I swear to God, Frida smelled blood and pounced, cutting her bad perm into a punky, spiked mulletish do, and dear Lord, in the “Under Attack” video sporting pink and purple streaks in her hair:
It was like after ten years of being ignored, the shy, plain, brainy girl who used to draw Hello, Kitty on all her Trapper Keepers in the back of the class went totally goth her sophomore year.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to watch ABBA enter their full-blown adult New Wave phase. Creatively beat and disillusioned by the muted response to their last few releases, the group took a sabbatical, from which it never returned. The remainder of the aborted tenth album's songs have trickled out here and there – “Cassandra” and “Should I Laugh Or Cry” were used as b-sides for the final two singles, the somewhat bizarre “I Am The City” finally surfaced as a track on More Gold and "You Owe Me One" and a snippet of “Just Like That” (which remains unreleased in its full form) appeared as part of the Thank You For The Music box set. Benny and Bjorn went on to fulfill their dream of writing a hit musical (?) by penning Chess with Tim Rice and Agnetha and Frida went on to release solo works which we’ll definitely cover here in the future (guess who was more successful? It’s always the quiet ones…).
What would an ABBA reunion be like? Awful. I think any momentum would be lost and we’d get a nostalgia show, nothing more. What do you think? Comment away.
”The Visitors” peaked at #63 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart and at #8 on the Club Play Chart in 1982. Neither “The Day Before You Came” nor “Under Attack” charted.
"Superman had come to town to see who he could rock /He blew away every crew he faced until he reached the block"
Newcleus had been bouncing around the early hip-hop/breakdancing scene since 1977 when they were part of a DJ crew calling itself Jam On Productions, but it wasn’t until 1983 and a chance encounter with a sped-up tape machine that they stumbled upon a hit.
While many members came and went, the, uh, center of Newcleus (sorry) was Ben “Cozmo D” Cenac, who had some extra time to fill on a mixtape. Together with some family members, he recorded a favorite rap from their block parties, only this time with some of the vocals sped up, a la the Chipmunks. “Jam On’s Revenge” was born, blazing up cardboard breakin’ squares all over New York. Pop radio wasn’t having it, however. That would change with the release of the follow up, “Jam On It”.
Hard to believe now, but yes, Virginia, there was a time when Top 40 radio was scared shitless of rap. Mainstream radio programmers weren’t coming anywhere near this emerging musical force out of fear of offending listeners and advertisers. Besides, there was no side money from independent promoters coming in to justify adding rap singles to a Top 40 format. Why add Grandmaster Flash's “The Message” or “Basketball” by Kurtis Blow when you were getting hookers and another kind of blow from labels pushing Journey’s latest piece of crap? But who could hate a song about Superman coming to the block to get served by Cozmo D and his crew of funky sounding aliens? Despite the near-total embargo of rap on Top 40 radio in 1983, “Jam On It” broke thru, garnering significant sales and airplay, but not enough to crack the Top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100.
This song should have been at least a Top Ten pop hit – it was everywhere in my high school, and I was stuck in bumfuck Elyria, Ohio, so I can only imagine how popular it was elsewhere. But alas, Newcleus were destined to release a few fallow follow-ups, another full-length LP, and then get pushed aside by more aggressively commercial rap stars such as Run DMC, Kool Moe Dee and LL Cool J, who were just waiting in the wings for unprecedented mainstream acceptance.
But do we still get to say “Wikki, wikki, wikki, wikki?” Hell, yeah.
”Jam On It” peaked at #56 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"...but the trial separation worked / and ended up / in a divorce case"
Is getting married young a mistake? Do we really know what we want when we're only 17?
Those are questions posed in Fun Boy Three's single, "Tunnel Of Love". After shedding most of The Specials, Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staples formed Fun Boy Three in 1981, discovered Bananarama, and had a few UK hits. In 1983 the band teamed with producer David Byrne (yes, that one) to record their second LP, Waiting. You may have heard Waiting's first single, "Our Lips Are Sealed", a song co-written by The Go-Go's Jane Weidlin. Unlike their version, Fun Boy Three's came nowhere near the Top 40 in America.
The young-married-couples-in-turmoil follow-up single stood even less of a chance. That doesn't stop "Tunnel Of Love" from being a classic single, though, with its unique ska-tinged tango beat and darkly humorous lyrics of romantic despair. Hardly the stuff Top Ten hits are made of.
Alas, Waiting would be the final Fun Boy Three project, as Hall disbanded the trio just as they were gaining traction in the U.S. Hall would go on to form the more traditionally pop Colourfield.
25 years ago, no one expected a little side project from the bassist and drummer of art-rock/New Wave combo Talking Heads to be much of a hit, much less become a touchstone in dance music, or be sampled over and over. But that's exactly what happened to Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth's debut Tom Tom Club album and its immortal party single, "Genius of Love". It may seem strange now but keep in mind, when the first Tom Tom Club album was released in 1982 Talking Heads had one minor mainstream hit under their belts and were still considered avant garde. Tom Tom Club's success was significant since they topped the dance charts, crossed over to Top 40 and watched their disc go gold. A year later, the Heads would release Speaking In Tongues, go platinum and lose the cult band tag - I think the mainstream success Tom Tom Club enjoyed had a lot to do with that.
Of course that same year, Tom Tom Club had to follow up that breakthrough, which they did with Close To The Bone and its leadoff single, "The Man With The 4-Way Hips". A huge dance hit, "Hips" was very similar to what the Heads were doing at that time, but with shinier synths and more fun. Unfortunately, it didn't translate into another Top 40 hit. And is it me, or does New Order's "Perfect Kiss" begin the same exact way ("Kiss" was released in 1985)?
The album's second single, "Pleasure Of Love" was much better, mining a lot of the same ground as "Genius of Love", but I actually like "Pleasure's" melody and verse structure a bit more. It didn't hurt that it came accompanied with a brilliantly animated video, much like the clip for "Genius of Love" - the famous "oopsza mamma" dog even returns:
MTV played the hell out of that clip, but again, Top 40 wasn't interested. Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club both continued to release albums, the Heads to more and more success, but Tom Tom Club would never reach the heights of their debut again. Close To The Bone has yet to be released on CD. Meanwhile, Chris & Tina continue to bring out Club projects every few years, even touring in the early '90s and around 2001. I'd love to see David Byrne remove the stick from his ass, reunite with the Heads for a massive tour with Tom Tom Club as openers. How hot would that be?
"The Man With The 4-Way Hips" peaked at #106 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Chart and at #4 on the Billboard Club Play Singles Chart in 1983. "Pleasure of Love" peaked at #23 on the Club Play Chart that same year.
And I can't let this post go without sharing this performance of "Wordy Rappinghood" from an Italian Top of Pops-like show - check out Tina just sitting at the back of the stage, just chillin':
Here's one that someone requested in the comments section waaaaaaaayyy back, but I held out, trying to scrape together some more info about it. No luck.
This one's a bit of a mystery. Cee Farrow may have been a former model who may have been formerly known as Chris Farrow - problem here is there's not much biographical info about ol' Cee out there. No Allmusic page, not even a wonky Wikipedia page. Googling his name brings up a few scraps...some MySpace pages of musicians who claim to have played on his records, some lyrics pages, even a New Wave Outpost forum message that claims he passed away, etc.
What's for sure is that Farrow had a gorgeous New Romantic underground dance hit in 1983 (Best Year for Music Ever!) with "Should I Love You", an excellent synthfunk workout with a hilariously disaffected vocal. Should I love you? Meh. I guess.
And Farrow must have been a model based on the video - he's giving serious Zoolander. BLUE STEEL!
Farrow returned in 1991 with a single called "Imagination" that I've never heard, but apparently caused a tiny stir on the dance charts. But he'll be forever known as the guy who did that song you never heard of when someone tells you the title, but when they play it for you, you totally go "OMIGOD, I REMEMBER THAT SONG!"
"Should I Love You" peaked at #82 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart and at #91 on the R&B Singles Chart in 1983.
"you're slipping away, but give me one more try / one more chance to wipe these tears from my eyes"
Dave Edmunds took a few years off between hits. Like, 12 of them.
Rockabilly fueled guitar twanger Edmunds hit the Top 5 in 1971 with his cover of "I Hear You Knocking", a song that was as forward thinking as it was retro, with its megaphone vocal effect and grungy production. But it wasn't until 1983 (The Best Year for Music Ever!) that Dave returned to the Top 40, once again looking forward by mixing some New Wave into his Eddy twang.
But first, Edmunds did some time with Nick Lowe in the influential New Wave By Default combo Rockpile, where they amassed a few UK hits, but came up short Stateside. After Rockpile dissolved, Edmunds meandered along with some low-charting solo work until hooking up with Electric Light Orchestra mastermind turned producer Jeff Lynne for two tracks on Information.
The album's first single, the Jeff Lynne penned and produced "Slipping Away", was a huge MTV hit, with the channel pounding out the video in heavy rotation, but all that heat didn't help it burn up the charts. "Slipping Away" barely squeaked into the Top 40, spending a solitary week at #39. You'd think it was a Top 10 hit the amount of airplay the video got:
"Slipping Away" is a great tune, though, sounding like an ELO/rockabilly/Duane Eddy mashup, retro and contemporary at the same time. Edmunds followed up that success with the album's title track, the only other Lynne-produced song on the set. "Information" is even more awash in synths and drum machines, but that familiar Edmunds twang is there, along with an infectious chorus. Again, MTV adored the clip for a short while, but Edmund's chance at a big hit was, er, slipping away:
A year later, Edmunds didn't want to rock the boat too much, bringing Lynne back to produce half of Riff Raff, including its first single, the Holland/Dozier/Holland classic "Something About You". I love the sound on this one because while it's definitely a Jeff Lynne production, he makes it sound like it's coming from a mono AM radio speaker - with synths!
While I dug it, no one else seemed to, since the single didn't chart and Riff Raff sank without a trace. Afterwards, Edmunds retreated into production work (he produced Squeeze, The Stray Cats and k.d. lang for starters) and occasional solo work, but his 12 year-span of bookend hits are all he has to show for his mainstream solo efforts. Hey, that's two more than you have.
"Slipping Away" peaked at #39 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart in 1983. "Information" peaked at #106 on the Bubbling Under Chart that same year. "Something About You" did not chart.
When New Wave Happens To Old Artists - Robert Plant
If Led Zeppelin fans were taken aback at the increasing number of synthesizers on the final proper Zep album In Through The Out Door, a product of vocalist Robert Plant and bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones huddling together at the exclusion of guitarist Jimmy Page, they may have completely revolted when faced with Plant's early '80s solo output. Awash in keys, synth flourishes and even some drum machines, Plant's solo work edged closer and closer to New Wave with each release, culminating in 1985 with a straight-ahead synthpop single, "Little By Little", complete with club mixes.
Ever the trailblazer, Plant dabbled in Emo way back in 1984
But first (there's my Julie Chen impersonation for you!), Plant had a breakthrough on the Top 40 charts with a couple of singles from 1983's (Best Year for Music Ever!) The Principle of Moments, starting with the plodding, Zeppelin-ish "Big Log", but it was the lazy-sunshine-y, sublime, synth-soaked "In The Mood" that made non-Zep fans' ears perk up. As a black-hair-dyed in the wool New Waver, I normally wouldn't be caught dead with a Led Zep LP, but "In The Mood" made me buy a cassette of Principle... and crank it in my Walkman daily during my paper route.
And the rest of the album didn't disappoint. Far from squealing bluesy guitar workouts, the disc is full of evocative mood pieces like a particular favorite, "Thru' With The Two Step", which swings from a dark synth intro to an AOR guitar ballad to a near waltz within 5:32, all held together by a enjoyably restrained Plant performance. It's quite a feat.
Plant went even further into New Wave territory with his next album, Shaken & Stirred, but that's another story for another time...
"In The Mood" peaked at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #4 on the Mainstream Rock Charts in 1983. "Thru' With The Two Step" was an album track.
Get Robert Plant music, all recently re-mastered, at Amazon or on
"i like / when they talk real loud, try to tell you what they know"
Montreal's Men Without Hats have an unfair reputation as one hit wonders ("Men Without HITS! Har!"), but people tend to forget they had another fair-sized hit in 1987 with "Pop Goes The World", a fantastic candy concoction just as catchy as "The Safety Dance". Brothers Ivan (he of the booming voice), Stefan and (occasionally) Colin Doroschuk teamed with an ever-revolving lineup for four albums and two EPs in the '80s, and their catalog is surprisingly strong on hooks.
After "Safety Dance" conquered the charts, the band went with "I Like" as the follow-up single, a move I never quite got. While it's a fun song, it's much more an album track to my ears. I would have gone with "I Got The Message" instead, but hey...
The band tried their best to ride the "Safety Dance" momentum by bringing back the little jester and medieval wench who were so memorable in that video to co-star in the clip for "I Like":
...but it didn't help. Not a lot of people liked "I Like".
The Men pressed on and scored another minor club hit a year later with "Where Do The Boys Go?", then it was some dry times until "Pop Goes the World" hit in 1987. Two years later, the band released "Hey Men", a suprisingly guitar-based, T-Rex-ish glam rocker with some very enlightened lyrics. It was a more mature sound, and while it got some radio play on the more progressive radio stations like San Francisco's KITS, "Hey Men" ultimately failed to spark a return to the charts for the group. I dig the tune, but it's a little disconcerting to see them all with bandanas, mullets and guitars:
The band struggled on for one more import-only album, Sideways, which was even more guitar-oriented than its predecessor, before calling it a day. The Men returned in 2003, however, with a another new album, No Hats Beyond This Point, which marked the band's 20th anniversary.
Not bad for a "one-hit wonder".
"I Like" peaked at #84 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart in 1983.
"and walk away! / from the greatest lover you have ever known!"
Before Hairspray, the musical...before Hairspray, the movie...Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine, aka John Waters' original muse, was best known for eating dog poop.
But we're not here to talk about Divine's unparralleled (still!) cinematic acheivements (although Female Trouble beats Pink Flamingos any day), but rather Divine's surprisingly successful music career.
¿Que?, you say? That's right. Divine always did a bit of dancing and singing in his movies, including performing the theme song to the aforementioned Female Trouble, but he never cut an album or single until 1979, when he released the single "Born to be Cheap" on the Wax Trax label (yes, that Wax Trax, home to Ministry, Front 242, etc. It was the label's second ever release). It was another three years until Divine hit the dance charts by teaming up with notoriously sonic-sticky-fingered producer Bobby O to release the single "Native Love". A year later, Bobby O performed another one of his acts of musical thievery for Divine, completely ripping off New Order's "Blue Monday" to create "Love Reaction". New Order didn't sue, but in fact once covered "Love Reaction" live. Here's Divine, some cavemen and a monkey in a junkyard - enjoy:
"Love Reaction" solidified Divine as a gay disco mainstay (imagine that), so when it came time to follow up, Divine partnered with a fledgling young production trio known as Stock/Aiken/Waterman. The result was "You Think You're A Man", which sounds like it could have been a Bobby O ripoff of Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)", only that came out a year after Divine's single with the S/A/W team at the helm. Hmmm...CATFIGHT!
"You Think You're A Man" was a smash overseas, hitting #16 in the UK charts, bringing Divine ever closer to the mainstream, even performing on Top of the Pops. Divine and S/A/W followed that up with "I'm So Beautiful", another dance floor stomper that may have been a little too self-knowing and winking to be as successful as "You Think...". Divine kept recording for a year or so afterwards to diminishing returns before reuniting with John Waters for Hairspray. He died shortly after, the night before he was to start as a regular on Married With Children. We still miss you, Dawn Davenport!
Here's a bonus - John Candy as Divine from The Dusty Towne Sexy Holiday Special on SCTV:
"Love Reaction", "You Think You're A Man" and "I'm So Beautiful" did not chart.
No, don't you dare click to the next blog. Seriously, you're going to like this one a lot more than you think you will.
The quintessential one-hit wonder, Toni Basil seemingly came out of nowhere and blasted the charts with the still-irresistible "Mickey" (a remake of a song called "Kitty" by the UK band Racey), then seemed to vanish into vapor almost just as instantly. That's a shame, because while Basil was not only a music video pioneer, she was an accomplished choreographer, actress (she was in Easy Rider!) and hip-hop pioneer - her breakdance troupe The Lockers (featuring Rerun from What's Happening!) were featured on Saturday Night Live as early as 1975, just as that scene was beginning to bubble up in New York - Basil should have had a few more hits in her.
It wasn't for lack of trying. Her debut, Word of Mouth is a stone-cold New Wave classic, featuring enough songs and musical contributions from Devo, that it could almost be considered a lost Devo album (it comes as no surprise that Basil and Devo's Jerry Casale were an item at the time). First off, you have a pretty faithful remake of "Be Stiff", complete with a video featuring cross-dressing poppers and lockers and the anarchistic dance stylings of one Spazz Attack on "bass", whom you may remember from the Devo "Satisfaction" video:
Word of Mouth also featured "Space Girls", a re-imaging of an early Devo tune, "Space Girl Blues". Here's Toni and Spazz Attack yet again (Basil also released Word as a "Video LP", featuring a music video for each song on the album):
Rounding out the Devo-ness is "You Gotta Problem", a nearly straight-ahead remake of Devo's "Pity You", released just a year before on Devo's New Traditionalists album - LOVE the pink French Poodles in the video:
When it came time to follow-up "Mickey's" huge pop success, all the Devo tracks were sidelined in favor of "Shoppin' A to Z", a fun novelty track that just didn't seem to catch the mass public imagination like "Mickey". A few weeks in the Hot 100 and "Shoppin'" disappeared from view - but that won't stop us all from shouting "X = NOTHING!" (and U="undies"??? At the grocery store? Eww.):
By the way, Basil conceptualized, choreographed and directed every video from Word of Mouth. I love Word and it's a shame that this seminal New Wave album that got all the way to #22 on the album charts has never been released on CD. You can grab up most of the tracks piecemeal from several Greatest Hits compilations, but I'd love to see the original album remastered and reissued someday. Love it or hate it, you can't deny Basil's debut's place in pop history.
Her self-titled followup? Not so much. Toni Basil seemed to be one of those attempts to take a borderline novelty artist and make her more "mature". That apparently included draining all the fun out of her, judging from the more "rock" sound of the album's leadoff single, "Over My Head" (featured here in its extended club version). Where Basil once demanded "I want your mechanism!" in a Space Girl voice, we now find her singing more typical love songs over generic 80s pop/rock. Luckily, the videos stayed fun:
Basil's label Chrysalis tried to breathe life into Toni Basil by working two more singles, "Street Beat" and "Suspense" (again, here in its rare club mix), but no one bit. Basil called it a day on her recording career and renewed her focus to choreography and directing. Fun fact: Basil did both those tasks for Talking Heads' "Once In a Lifetime" video.
For old time's sake (which is the purpose of this blog, I suppose!) here's Toni performing "Mickey"..with the SOLID GOLD DANCERS!!!!
"Shoppin' A to Z" peaked at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. "Over My Head" peaked at #81 on the same chart in 1984.
"it happens every time i'm near him / i revere him from the start"
Stacy Lattisaw was a mere 16 years old in 1983 (the Best Year for Music Ever!) and had already notched two Top 40 hits and a number one Dance Club hit, along with seven hits on the Black Singles Chart. Working with future super-producer Narada Michael Walden, the two set their sights on fully crossing over to the pop charts with her fifth album, the appropriately titled Sixteen.
"Million Dollar Babe" was the first single (provided here in its superior 7" mix, yet to make it to CD), and on paper it seemed like a can't miss. Over an updated Motown beat, Stacy delivers a comfortable, fun vocal that belies her true age. In retrospect, it's a tad syrupy and over-synthesized, but it should have nestled comfortably on the pop charts next to Irene Cara, Michael Jackson and Hall & Oates. However, it didn't even chart. That would have to fall to Sixteen's second single, "Miracles", and even that limped to #72. Here's Stacy performing "Miracles" in front of some plywood:
Stacy continued recording through the 80s, signing to Motown and updating her image, with continued success on the R&B charts, including some memorable duets with Johnny Gill. She retired after her final album in 1989 to raise her family. Narada Michael Walden would go on to learn from his work with Stacy and notch huge hits for the likes of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Aretha Franklin.
"Million Dollar Babe" peaked at #52 on the Billboard Black Singles Chart in 1983.
Breaking out the USB turntable and encoding some odds & ends - thought I'd share!
• Boomtown Rats - "Drag Me Down (U.S. Version): The Rats were the focus of this blog's second-ever entry, so head over there to read about their convulted history when it comes to their American releases. "Drag Me Down" was a single from their ill-fated final LP, In The Long Grass, which had several songs remixed for American sensibilities. This version has different lyrics, a completely different, very Springsteen-esque bridge, even a different ending. This version did not make it onto the recent remaster, which is regrettable. I sorta prefer this one to the original...must be the American in me.
• Tina Turner - "One of the Living (Special Dance Mix)": This Holly Knight/Mike Chapman gem was the second single from the Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome soundtrack. It never shows up on any Tina compilations and its only CD appearance to date has been confined to the soundtrack only, which is puzzling for a song that won the 1985 Grammy for Best Female Rock Performance. This 12" version has never been issued on CD, as far as I know. Bonus: Conan the Barbarian on sax!
• Real Life - "Under the Hammer": An album track from Heartland, the Aussie band's debut that gave them the smash "Send Me An Angel". I always thought this would make a killer third single after "Catch Me I'm Falling", but alas, it was not meant to be. When David Steery sings I can't stannnnd iiiiiit!, you can hear his little heart shatter. Posted 'cuz I like it.
More vinyl treasures to come this week!
"Drag Me Down" did not chart. "One of the Living" peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #6 on the Dance Music/Club Play Chart in 1985. "Under the Hammer" was not released as a single.
"somewhere the sun is shining / on this world, but not for me"
Here's what we know, PowerPoint style:
• Singer/guitarist Tim McGovern left the Motels in 1982 to start a new group, this one focused on fusing World rhythms with New Wave and Rock. • The new group, dubbed Burning Sensations, released a four-song EP featuring the titular single, the calypso-infused "Belly of the Whale". • The "Belly of the Whale" video got some seriously heavy play on MTV, but the song still failed to chart, despite being totally awesome (pay special note of the Motel's Martha Davis look-a-like pushing McGovern down the slide just as the line "Got thrown off the boat before the trip was done" is heard - any hidden meaning there, y'think?):
• A full-length, self-titled LP followed in 1983 (the Best Year For Music Ever!), a half-decent, half-forgettable affair - one of the standout tracks was the racy "Beat Temptation", which attempted to beat (har) the English Beat at their own game. • The following year, the band covered Jonathon Richman's song "Pablo Picasso" for the Repo Man soundtrack. • Then they disappeared, never to be reissued again.
Too bad, because any band that can work the word "bouillabaisse" into a single deserves recognition.
"Belly of the Whale" did not chart. "Beat Temptation" was not released as a single.
Issued in the United States only, this four-track EP was released in 1983 (The Best Year For Music Ever!) to capitalize on INXS' breakthrough earlier in the year with the single "The One Thing". That song is included here in a nice extended version, along with longer remixes of Shabooh Shoobah tracks "Black and White" and my fave, "To Look At You".
A re-recorded, moodier version of "Here Comes" (also originally from Shabooh) fills out the EP. Dekadance has been out of print for 24 years, but here it is for your grooving pleasure today. Enjoy!
"so, she took me home / told her I wouldn't sleep with any of her friends if she didn't sleep with any of my friends"
Sometimes I'm a little more than taken aback by something that comes back into print - especially when said release sold little to nothing the first time around. The latest re-release to reaffirm my faith in mankind is Wounded Bird's re-issue of the first and only Ebn-Ozn album, Feeling Cavalier.
Is Ebn-Ozn's 1983 (Best Year for Music Ever!) single, "AIEOU Sometimes Y" really Lost in the 80s material? Debatable, since it's hardly a long-lost forgotten track and still gets some fair airplay on 80s shows and clubs. Yet no one under the age of say, 30, seems to have heard it. Ned Liben and Robert Rosen (get it? EBN-OZN?) got some MTV and club action with the single, made even better on the 12" version (which I've provided - "I dare you to play this record!"). Please - do not let the appearance of Ozn's man-pris (that would be Man Capris) frighten you:
Their label Elektra seemed pleased with the single's response, so a full-length platter followed in 1984. Feeling Cavalier may not be what fans and Elektra were expecting, though. It's all over the stylistic map, with a salsa tune ("Video DJ"), mushy synth-ballads ("Stop Stop Give It Up"), a truly wretched remake of "Rockin' Robin" (with the vocal completely processed thru a vocoder), and straight ahead guitar-based rock with the album's first single, "Bag Lady (I Wonder)". "Bag Lady" may have been picked as the single to show some range, but mostly it confused a lot of folks...it was dancey, but not too dancey...there were synths, but more guitar solos. What happened to all the wry irony? What was this preaching about the homeless? And how did they score Imogene Coca for the video?
"Bag Lady" did garner a smidge of club play and some college radio action, but not nearly as much as their debut single. Elektra basically shrugged, issued a promo-only single for "Stop Stop Give It Up", then the duo called it a day. Sadly, Liben died from a heart attack in 1998, while Rosen went on to work in film. I wonder if either ever thought their forgotten album would be re-issued 22 years later?
"Bag Lady (I Wonder)" peaked at #36 on the Billboard Club Play Chart in 1984.
Get Ebn-Ozn's Feeling Cavalier at Amazon, but hurry - they only have three copies left!
* All songs are for sampling purposes only. If the album is currently in print, you'll see an Amazon link to purchase it. Supporting artists is a good thing, since labels are run by soulless whores. I KEED! Sorta. Look, if you like it, and it's in print, support 'em. If you're the artist or copyright holder, a quick e-mail to me will bring the song down ASAP. But compliment my writing first.
* Don't e-mail me asking me to repost dead links or to send you a song you can't find. Believe it or not, I have a life outside my blogging. I KEED! But don't do it.
* One more, and this is a biggie -- do NOT hotlink directly to my audio files and post them on your site, big shot. That's just disrespectful, rude, and a theft of my hard-earned bandwith.
Now, get readin', get downloadiN', and play nice. I loves me some comments. Bring it!
Those are questions posed in Fun Boy Three's single, "Tunnel Of Love". After shedding most of The Specials, Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staples formed Fun Boy Three in 1981, discovered Bananarama, and had a few UK hits. In 1983 the band teamed with producer David Byrne (yes, that one) to record their second LP, Waiting. You may have heard Waiting's first single, "Our Lips Are Sealed", a song co-written by The Go-Go's Jane Weidlin. Unlike their version, Fun Boy Three's came nowhere near the Top 40 in America. 
Of course that same year, Tom Tom Club had to follow up that breakthrough, which they did with Close To The Bone and its leadoff single, "The Man With The 4-Way Hips". A huge dance hit, "Hips" was very similar to what the Heads were doing at that time, but with shinier synths and more fun. Unfortunately, it didn't translate into another Top 40 hit. And is it me, or does New Order's "Perfect Kiss" begin the same exact way ("Kiss" was released in 1985)?
This one's a bit of a mystery. Cee Farrow may have been a former model who may have been formerly known as Chris Farrow - problem here is there's not much biographical info about ol' Cee out there. No Allmusic page, not even a wonky Wikipedia page. Googling his name brings up a few scraps...some MySpace pages of musicians who claim to have played on his records, some lyrics pages, even a New Wave Outpost forum message that claims he passed away, etc. 
But first, Edmunds did some time with Nick Lowe in the influential New Wave By Default combo Rockpile, where they amassed a few UK hits, but came up short Stateside. After Rockpile dissolved, Edmunds meandered along with some low-charting solo work until hooking up with Electric Light Orchestra mastermind turned producer Jeff Lynne for two tracks on Information.
But first (there's my Julie Chen impersonation for you!), Plant had a breakthrough on the Top 40 charts with a couple of singles from 1983's (Best Year for Music Ever!) The Principle of Moments, starting with the plodding, Zeppelin-ish "Big Log", but it was the lazy-sunshine-y, sublime, synth-soaked "In The Mood" that made non-Zep fans' ears perk up. As a black-hair-dyed in the wool New Waver, I normally wouldn't be caught dead with a Led Zep LP, but "In The Mood" made me buy a cassette of Principle... and crank it in my Walkman daily during my paper route. 
"Love Reaction" solidified Divine as a gay disco mainstay (imagine that), so when it came time to follow up, Divine partnered with a fledgling young production trio known as Stock/Aiken/Waterman. The result was "You Think You're A Man", which sounds like it could have been a Bobby O ripoff of Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)", only that came out a year after Divine's single with the S/A/W team at the helm. Hmmm...CATFIGHT!
"You Think You're A Man" was a smash overseas, hitting #16 in the UK charts, bringing Divine ever closer to the mainstream, even performing on Top of the Pops. Divine and S/A/W followed that up with "I'm So Beautiful", another dance floor stomper that may have been a little too self-knowing and winking to be as successful as "You Think...". Divine kept recording for a year or so afterwards to diminishing returns before reuniting with John Waters for Hairspray. He died shortly after, the night before he was to start as a regular on Married With Children. We still miss you, Dawn Davenport!
It wasn't for lack of trying. Her debut, Word of Mouth is a stone-cold New Wave classic, featuring enough songs and musical contributions from Devo, that it could almost be considered a lost Devo album (it comes as no surprise that Basil and Devo's Jerry Casale were an item at the time). First off, you have a pretty faithful remake of "Be Stiff", complete with a video featuring cross-dressing poppers and lockers and the anarchistic dance stylings of one Spazz Attack on "bass", whom you may remember from the Devo "Satisfaction" video:
Her self-titled followup? Not so much. Toni Basil seemed to be one of those attempts to take a borderline novelty artist and make her more "mature". That apparently included draining all the fun out of her, judging from the more "rock" sound of the album's leadoff single, "Over My Head" (featured here in its extended club version). Where Basil once demanded "I want your mechanism!" in a Space Girl voice, we now find her singing more typical love songs over generic 80s pop/rock. Luckily, the videos stayed fun:
"Million Dollar Babe" was the first single (provided here in its superior 7" mix, yet to make it to CD), and on paper it seemed like a can't miss. Over an updated Motown beat, Stacy delivers a comfortable, fun vocal that belies her true age. In retrospect, it's a tad syrupy and over-synthesized, but it should have nestled comfortably on the pop charts next to Irene Cara, Michael Jackson and Hall & Oates. However, it didn't even chart. That would have to fall to Sixteen's second single, "Miracles", and even that limped to #72. Here's Stacy performing "Miracles" in front of some plywood:
Issued in the United States only, this four-track EP was released in 1983 (The Best Year For Music Ever!) to capitalize on INXS' breakthrough earlier in the year with the single "The One Thing". That song is included here in a nice extended version, along with longer remixes of Shabooh Shoobah tracks "Black and White" and my fave, "To Look At You".
