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.
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