Dynamic Duos

My last blog entry on Go West got me thinking about 80's music duos,I didn't have to think too hard about a Top Ten and most of theses bands came straight to mind:

Blancmange

China Crisis

Eurythmics

Go West

OMD

Pet Shop Boys

Soft Cell

Tears For Fears

Wham

Yazoo

Go West Young Man

The 80's produced a number of great duos{possibly enough for me to make a Top Ten list}one of whom were Peter Cox and Richard Drummie aka Go West.
Go West won me over from the gate,their debut single "We Close Our Eyes" released in February 85 went to #5,I remember when it first broke into the Top 20 Go West were quoted as saying they would celebrate this w/ "a nite of serious drinking".....I knew then they were a band I could like!!!

They're follow up single "Call Me" reached #12 in May of 85,I'm not sure what came next their self titled debut album or their third single "Goodbye Girl"...I do know I loved both!
"Goodbye Girl" will always hold a special place in my heart,in January of 85 I met my now ex wife while she was visiting London,that August I came here to Philly to visit after seven months apart{this was pre Internet/Skype}it was great to spend actual time together but inevitably I had to leave and return to London,leaving Erica behind was one of the toughest things I'd ever done and surfice to say "Goodbye Girl" was a song that captured all of those emotions,even now some 28 years later I get choked up when I hear it,now that we're sadly divorced another Go West song off their debut album "Missing Persons"  also holds certain memories and emotions.
"Eye To Eye" was released here in the US as single while "Don't Look Down" would give them another Top 20 hit back in the UK.

As a stop gap between their 85 debut album and 87's follow up "Dancing On The Couch" 1986's "Bangs And Crashes" was an album of remixes,live tracks and also featured "One Way Street" a song from the "Rocky  IV" soundtrack, a few years ago I was finally able to get hold of a reasonably priced cd copy of it,I have to say it's a cd that gets "heavy rotation" on my ipod,the live version of "Ball Of Confusion" featuring the unmistakable vocals of Carol Kenyon makes it worth owning.
From a personal opinion I think "Dancing On The Couch" was as good as their debut.....sadly judging from the chart positions of the singles off the album "True Colours" and "I Want To Hear It From You" #48 and #43 respectively the British record buying public didn't feel the same way,although the remix of "Don't Look Down-The Sequel" gave them their first US Top 40 hit.

Proving yet again how fickle the music industry can be three years later they scored a  US Top 10 hit w/ "King Of Wishful Thinking" a song that feature on the "Pretty Woman" soundtrack and also their third album "Indian Summer" an ironic title given that all three UK releases off the album went Top 20 in the UK,#18 for "King Of Wishful Thinking" #13 for "Faithful" and #15 for "What You Wouldn't Do For Love".
The last hurrah for Go West would come in 1993 on a Greatest Hits collection"Aces And Kings" a cover of the Smokey Robinson classic "Tracks Of My Tears"  reached #16 in the UK.
As is often the won't of a once popular 80's band a comeback album in the guise of 2008 "Futurenow" was released,sadly as of yet I haven't gotten hold of it nor have I been able to track down "3D" a trilogy of EP's released in 2010,2011, and 2013, 5 songs per EP w/ a  new recording of an old Go West classic on each one,"Call Me" "We Close Our Eyes" and "King Of Wishful thinking" proving you can't keep a good band down.

Happy Days Are Here Again

I missed out on Bauhaus in their first incarnation,"Bela Lugosi's Dead" had been a huge influence on my early clubbing days but by 83 Bauhaus as we knew and loved them were no more.....
Pete Murphy launched a successful solo career while Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins formed Tones on Tails b4  David J then made them Love And Rockets.....
Fast forward to 1998 and the reunion of Bauhaus I was lucky enough to catch them at The Electric Factory on that tour and could now add Bauhaus to my list of Goth bands seen live in concert
However the often volatile relationship w/in Bauhaus broke them up again by 2008 and once again "The Gothfather" Pete Murphy was touring solo,I caught his 2011 "Ninth" tour at The Troc where he closed the show w/ the Bauhaus classic cover of  Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" a song Bauhaus have made their own over the years.

Maybe that's where Pete Murphy got the idea to have his current touring band perform Bauhaus songs for the "Mr Moonlight" tour and while the purists may cry foul that it's not really Bauhaus,is it really Inxs w/out Michael Hutchence? is it really Queen w/out Freddie Mercury? and yet these bands tour so why shouldn't Pete Murphy celebrate 35 years of Bauhaus w/out the guys from Love & Rockets????
Anyone who thought they were getting Bauhaus Lite after the acoustic opening of "King Volcano" and "Kingdom's Coming"  were in for a rude awakening as Pete and co amped it up w/ a triple shot of Bauhaus classics "Double Dare" ''In The Flat Field" and "God In An Alcove" as their 90 minute set not only built up momentum but went straight for the jugular.

For me there's always a risk seeing a band w/ a substantial back catalogue,if you go in w/ the mindset"I want to hear".....{submit ones own laundry list of songs}chances are you'll end up being let down as seldom have I been to show where the band/artist has performed  everything I  wanted to hear,easier said then done I try to limit the songs I want to hear and then hope for the best.....
The full set list
King Volcano
Kingdom's Coming
Double Dare
In A Flat Field
God In An Alcove
Boys
Silent Hedges
Kick In The Eye
Adrenalin
Three Shadows Part 2
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
Bela Lugosi's Dead
The Passion Of Lovers
She's In Parties
Stigmata Martyr
Dark Entries
Severance
Burning From The Inside
Ziggy Stardust

Surely something to please most people{cos you can't please all the people all of the time!} w/ this set list,"Bela" was a no brainer and I did say I'd go ape shit if "Dark Entries" made it into the set list....
"Kick In The Eye" "The Passion Of Lovers" and "She's In Parties" all delighted me but sadly no "Spirit" or "Lagartija Nick" neither of which have shown up on previous sets lists so far from the tour,and "Telegram Sam" which has been in and out of the set list didn't make The Troc show either.
Not sure why "Ziggy Stardust" ended b4 the classic line "and Ziggy played guitar" Peter was already stage right and heading to the dressing room followed by his band mates and no encore,always leave them wanted more eh Pete?

Double Speak

In the almost 33 years since I saw my first concert{OMD at Hammersmith Odean Dec 16th 1980}I've learned that sometimes it's worth getting there early to catch the opening act.
Granted over the years there have been some opening acts who were instantly forgettable but also some who were really good but never quite took off......and then there are those who became headliners,Talk Talk fall very much into the latter category.

I'll go out on a limb here and guess that someone at EMI thought it would be a good idea to have Talk Talk open for Duran Duran on their 1981 pre Christmas UK tour,whatever the logic behind that choice I hereby wholeheartedly endorse that decision!
Even though I didn't know who Talk Talk were and didn't know any of their songs that nite they left a huge impression on yours truly in Dec 81 and when they released their debut single ''Mirror Man" the following February I was quick to rush out and buy it.
Two months later the single "Talk Talk" was released,like "Mirror Man" it failed to make the Top 40 but it did pave the way for their debut album"The Party's Over" in July which I still rate as one of the best 80's debut albums.
"Today" finally gave them a Top 20 hit and then they re released "Talk Talk" which at the second time of asking was a hit.
It didn't hurt their success any when they were asked to open for the Genesis reunion show at Milton Keynes in  October,I suspect many a Genesis fan became overnite Talk Talk fans

I just listened to their second album "It's My Life" the other day,it's as good as if not better than "The Party's Over" and while it yielded three great singles,"It's My Life","Such A Shame" and "Dum Dum Girl" for me it's  a track like "It's You" that makes me sit up and take notice in the same way the title track "The Party's Over" had the same effect on me on their debut album.
By 1986 things had come full circle,I was back at Hammersmith Odean to see Talk Talk only this time they were headlining in support of their third album "The Colour Of Spring"
This album would mark a significant change in Talk Talk's future,their commercial success ended w/  the singles "Life's What You Make It" and "Living In Another World".

Two years later when "Spirit Of Eden" was released Talk Talk had seemingly abandoned their "pop" roots and gone for a more improvised sound w/ elements of  jazz,classical and ambient music making up their sound,to this day I don't own a copy of "Spirit Of  Eden" and I've probably only listened to it's follow up "Laughing Stock" once since buying it in 1991,if you listen to tracks like "April 5th" and "Chameleon Day" on "The Colour Of Spring" you can hear the shift in their musical direction,the fact there was no tour for "Spirit Of Eden" pretty much marked the beginning of the end for Talk Talk as we'd come to know and love them but as the years have gone by their final two albums have been often cited as influential to the likes of Sigur Ros,Mogwai,God Speed You Black Emperor and later work of Radiohead while artists like Catherine wheel,Sarah McLachlan and Doves have heaped praise on "Spirit Of Eden".

A Fine Bromance Part One

I have no problem admitting that "back in the day" I had somewhat of a "mancrush" on Inxs lead singer and all round rock God Michael Hutchence.
What wasn't to be in awe of? the consummate front man "Hutch" had it all,great voice,unbelievable stage presence,oozing sensuality and sexuality all the things you want from a lead singer,Michael was like a "chick magnet" also the list of ex girlfriends read like a who's who of the worlds most beautiful women, Elle McPherson.Kylie Minogue, and Helene Christensen so it's small wonder in the pantheon of singers I most wanted to be Michael Hutchence came out a resounding first

Aside from a love of "all things Inxs" I could lay claim to being in the minority of people who'd actually seen his 1986 movie "Dogs In Space" and owning a copy of his first solo project 1989's "Max Q' which I'll review in another post{hence the title A Fine Bromance Part One!}
"Dogs In Space" is NOT the greatest film ever made,lets not kid ourselves set in Melbourne in 1978 it features a group of music fans living in a house together including Sam played by Michael Hutchence the singer of a band called Dogs In Space and traces the day to lives of the inhabitants of the house.
The soundtrack features songs by Iggy Pop,Gang Of Four,Brian Eno and a couple of Michael Hutchence tracks,the keeper of which is "Rooms For The Memory"
Since I'm devoid of the roughly $100 the soundtrack goes for these days I make do w/ the You Tube clip when I want to hear it,I still consider it a crime that "Rooms For The Memory" didn't find a way onto  his posthumous solo album "Michael Hutchence" that was released in 99 two years after his tragic suicide,maybe the length of time between "Rooms" being recorded in 86 and the releases of his solo album 13 years later meant it's exclusion,more's the pity "Rooms For The Memory" is a great reminder of the awesomeness that was,is and always will be Michael Hutchence.

Collaborations

Buoyed by the news that the Pet Shop Boys are coming to Philly in September I feverishly dug out my copy of "Discography" to refresh my memory of Pet Shop Boys classics from back in the day
The classic "What Have I Done To Deserve This" w/ Dusty Springfield got me to thinking about classic 80's duets/collaborations so here off the top of my head{ie not resorting to the internet!!!} is an impromptu top ten.

Pet Shop Boys-Dusty Springfield What Have I Done To Deserve This
UB40-Chrissy Hynde I Got You
Peter Gabriel-Kate Bush Don't Give Up
John Lydon-Afrika Bambatta-Time Zone
Phil Oakey-Georgio Moroder-Together In Electric Dreams
Inxs-Jimmy Barnes-Good Time
Fun Boy Three-Bananarama-Our Lips Our Sealed
Marc Almond-Bronski Beat I Feel Love
Phil Collins-Philip Bailey Easy Lover
Terri Nunn-Paul Carrick Romance