And so we arrive at the dark heart of the eighties. Much maligned as the era of bland corporate rock, it was soundtracked in my student world anyway by New Order, The Sisters of Mercy, The Smiths, The Cramps,The Fall and The Pogues. I think in the original Word magazine I mentioned in the obits to Lux Interior about club The Coven next to Oxford Ice Rink, when on goth night we would tot up the Cramps v Sisters plays. Happy days indeed for indie fans, and for Def Leppers (see below). Oh and a certain Prince Rogers Nelson became a global superstar with Purple Rain. Frankie goes to Hollywood ruled the UK charts and scandalised the nation. Some headlines from the NME Rock N Roll Years to get you going, and the rules as ever are anything and everything from the year in question.
And finally, people who appeared on the Band Aid single included Jody Watley and Kool and the Gang. David Bowie provided a spoken-word message on the B-side.
As Christmas approaches, the British charts become a battle ground for television-promoted albums. Mega-labels CBS and WEA alone are promoting ten albums between them this year, while television specialists Telstar pitch in with heavyweights Stevie Wonder, John Denver and chris De Burgh.
More controversial however are the compilations ‘Now That;s What I Call Music 4’ from EMI and ‘The Hits Album’ from WEA and CBS.
These collections of singles are the highest climbing albums of the month and seem likely to be symptomatic of a trend where compilations will monopolise the top places in Christmases to come – not to mention the possible adverse effect on singles sales.
Going Def for A Living
Sheffields’s heavy metal heroes Def Leppard may be popular in their native land – but they’re even bigger in the States.
The Gallup YOuth Poll, a nation wide gauge of opinion, recently revealed that they are the most popular group in Merida, finishing higher than The Rolling Stones, The Jacksons and Culture Club. What’s more, their ‘Pyromania’ album has sold nearly 7 million copies and rising in the States alone. The band are currently in Holland recording the follow-up – and it can be revealed tat the producer they are working with is none other than Meatloaf Svengali Jim Steinman.
Video A Go Go
After Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ directed by John Landis and The Stones’ ‘Undercover’ by Julian Temple comes the video to top them all ‘Screaming Lord Byron’ a 22-minute promo based around David Bowie’s ‘Blue Jean’ single. Its release prompts the question: where do videos go from here?
The answer is the cinema, where the video will be shown as the support feature to The Company of Wolves from September 14. Its drug scenes are unlikely to endear it to television, which makes the raisin d’etre soemwheat unclear.
Directed by Julien Temple, the video sees Bowie playing two distinct roles – the rock idol of the title and a fan who tries to attract the girl with the promise of meeting Lord Byron himself.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Two Tribes, is described ‘as the first genuine protest song for eight years, picking holes in the Official Secrets Act’.
Echo and the Bunnyment have frequently gone about things the unconventional way. The Liverpool quartet have been known to send coachloads of fans to mysterious mountain venues, tour Scotlands Outer Hebrides and other distinctly non-rockiest venues.
To promote their fourth album ‘Ocean Rain’ , they decided on an all-day extravaganza in their home town of Liverpool, including a boat trip on the river Mersey (as popularized by another famous group, Gerry and Pacemakers).
The Crystal day, as it was known, included a cycle ride around Liverpool, an organ recital at Liverpool Cathedral and drama from the local Chinese community Centre.
Thankfully, most fans had the energy left for the concert in the evening at the St George’s Hall, where the last rock band to play was…the Beatles.
The 24th National Rock Festival, due to be held at Reading, was cancelled after a proposed move to Lilford, Northamptonshire fell through.
Heads were shaken and tears shed at Milton Keynes Bowl on 21 July when Status Quo finally said goodbye to live performance.
And here it is. Apparently its an Easter Egg on the Best of Bowie DVD – which I have. Anyone know how to get at it?
And fact facts, Wikipedia tells us this won best video at the Grammys in 1985, the only ‘Competitive Grammy’ of Bowie’s career.
In the Blue Jean video itself there’s a pub scene I think – there’s a glowing picture on the wall. IIRC it’s a Russell Harty interview.
If there’s an Easter Egg on the DVD it’ll probably be a menu option that looks a bit mysterious – but select it and Dave’s your uncle.
I’ve just found this info for all the easter eggs – looks a bit of a faff though. Not sure I’ve even watched all the easily accessible stuff, so should watch that before digging.
Bonus Tracks and Interview:
Insert disc one, then go to track 8 and push left to se an interview with Russel Harty.
Go to next page and track 10. Push right to highlight the lightning symbol for a advert about the upcoming Ziggy Stardust dvd.
Go to the 3rd page and track 25. Push right, then press your Enter button, and then right again for the 20 minute version of jazzin’ for blue jean
Insert Disc two
Select the tracks manually.
This is the tracks to choose from.
title 23 Miracle Goodnight (Remix)
Title 24 Day In Day Out (Dance mix)
title 25 Seven Years in tibet (Mandarin version)
Bonus Features:
1. “Oh You Pretty Things” Alternative Take
Disc 1
Press Up then Right
2. Interview with Russell Harty & David Bowie
Disc 1
Tracklisting
Go to “Drive-In Saturday”
Press Right and select the “_”
3.Ziggy Stardust DVD Ad
Disc 1
Tracklisting
“Ziggy Stardust” Press right and select the lightning bolt
4.Jazzin’ for Blue Jean (Full Promo Video)
Disc 1
Tracklisting
Got to “Blue Jean”
Press Right and select the “)”
Picture of the bottom left of the screen will change
Press Right
5. Blue Jean (Alternate Version for MTV)
As above
When the “Jazzin’ for Blue Jean” video gets to 1 minute 42 seconds David Bowie will appear on the TV in the pub
Press Enter and the TV will be selected
6.Day In Day Out (Dance Mix)]
Disc 2
Every 2nd time you select “Day In Day Out” the exteneded mix will play
7.Miracle Goodnight(Remix)
Disc 2
Tracklisting
Leave page 1 alone for 5 minutes
8. Seven Years in Tibet (Mandarin Version)
Disc 2
Select “Seven Years in Tibet”
Press select again when the Mandarin subtitles appear at the bottom of the screen
9.Survive (Live in Paris)
Disc 2
Every second time you click Play all the live version will play
Reported by: Mike Cookman
Okay đ that is genuinely funny. Well done Dave. Can I get a URL link please?
Having seen the success of the Now albums, CBS/WEA get in on the act and release their own Hits Album.
Invariably, theses albums would be released around the same time and fighting for top spot in the Album Chart.
Mike Read takes offence at the lyrics of a song and promptly refuses to play it.
The song, Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, was originally released in November 1983 and had been hanging around the lower reaches of the Top 40.
The “banning” ensures that it sells by the truckload and is at Number One by the end of January.
And it wouldn’t go away …
The follow-up single, Two Tribes, is released in June and goes straight in a at Number One.
Relax starts to sell again and climbs back to Number 2
I am pretty sure T was high in the charts when Read took offence.
… it was high in the charts. (no. 6 actually)
Debut Magazine er, debuted, in 1984. This thick glossy 12″ (steady) pop mag was accompanied by a compilation LP of 11 tracks for the first seven issues, then no.s 8 and 9 came out as a single issue, cramming eight songs onto each side of the LP. https://www.discogs.com/Various-Debut-LP-Magazine-Issue-89/release/1102677
The format was then changed to a 10″ disc containing 10 songs for the final two installments. I picked up Issue 5 earlier this year for a quid. It has some good articles, but I find the advertisements the most interesting.
You should be able to zoom in on the articles with your device* and have a read, if you care to.
*fnarf!
Looks like Photof**kit has rendered the images too fuzzy to read when zoomed in on. They were crystal clear when I tweeted them a while back. Why does Photobucket always mess with resolution?
A fair few of my favourite albums are from 1984:
Pros & Cons Of Hitchhiking, Brilliant Trees, CafĂ© Bleu, Eden, Itâll End In Tears, CrĂȘuza De MĂ€, Mirror Moves, The Curse Of The Higsons, and The Smiths.
I had a bit of iPod synchronicity this morning. 4:30 am (Apparently They Were Travelling Abroad), the first track on Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking, came up on the iPod and was immediately followed by Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing. So it went like this:
And the sun shown down on her lovely young limbs
I thought to my myself, “She’s much to too good for him.”
I lay down beside her with tears in my eyes
She said …
(Woman’s voice, whispering):
Get up, get up, get up, get up.
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up.
That ain’t no woman dude, that’s Marvin.
Elton John gets married … to a woman
Spinal Tap is released to little or no commercial success.
The original 20 minute demo film can be found on YouTube
Some of my favourite albums came out this year, among them TWO by Orange Juice – and this one (Texas Fever) is to this day in my top ten, no make that top FIVE favourite albums EVER:
EDIT: Of course, the original album isn’t anywhere near one hour long, so this is the “…Coals to Newcastle” version with (unnecessary) bonus tracks.
Another one I played to death; Prefab Sprout – Swoon (and I belong to the minority who still think it’s their best album). Here’s “Don’t Sing”:
As the results of the U.S. Presidential election unfolded, and all that they implied began to sink in, my brain filled with a sickening combination of horror and disbelief. As well as a further, even odder sensation: the thought that I’d felt something just like this before…?
I realised it was how I had felt in 1984, as I watched U2 transform from plucky local lads showing us up on Top Of The Pops to The Biggest Band In The World in waiting.
Just as reactions to Trump’s victory have ranged from “It will be over before you know it – a swing in this direction just makes as big a swing the other way inevitable” to “don’t you understand? Trump’s Supreme Court selections could leave America shafted for a generation!”, our belief that U2’s lumpen, cacophonous flag waving bombast would blow over as quickly as Hurricane Frankie proved naively optimistic as these four unloveable mullet-tops remained, decades later, the unshiftable tuneshy monsters of our waking nightmares.
Treasure by The Cocteau Twins – that was good…
I had a very, very busy year. Too busy to listen to much music and when I wasn’t busy, I was too drunk. Looking back now, I don’t think I missed much.
My top three (and I struggle to think of many more): Purple Rain – Prince & The Revolution, Climate Of Hunter – Scott Walker and The Wonderful & Frightening World Of The Fall.
Best movie: Stop Making Sense.
Best live gig: Sade in a small venue in Manchester.
Album that sounds so much better now than it did then: Miles Davis – Decoy.
That’s Right
INXS ! The Swing! It’s good. It is . Of course I didn’t hear it till about 1987 but still.
https://g.co/kgs/XI15xH
The title track.
I was 14 in 1984.
I’d got 3 paper rounds to support my ever growing record buying habit.
Most (nearly all) went over the counter of the local second hand record shop (Our Price were probably in a lowly second place).
My initial thoughts were “1984 was a ber-illiant year. Plenty of stuff to post about”.
But I’m struggling – there aren’t many nailed on classics, and I think most of the stuff I was buying was at least 5 or 10 years old (ie ancient when you’re 14).
Amongst all the “Frankie Says … ” stuff, and being told to push pineapples and shake a tree, Neil released the Heavy Concept Album and hit Number 2 with Hole In My Shoe.
Liverpool won their third European Cup beating Roma 4-2 on penalties.
The manager Joe Fagin retired soon after, but not before he’d recorded the theme to an ITV Comedy/Drama Series
Infamous for Mark Lawrenson’s quote that, after the Italians had heard Chris Rea (or was it Chris de Burgh, who knows?) blasting out of the Liverpool dressing room before the game, “there was only one team in it.”
In fairness, if the game had ended 5-0 there may be some substance in this.
Actually after two whole hours of truly appalling football, Liverpool winning on penalties, it doesn’t sound as if the Italians were all that fazed!
Bored, yes. Fazed, no.
If Alan Hansen was in charge of the tunes, it would’ve been Billy Joel.
To paraphrase/mis-quote from Match Of The 80s:
“Billy Joel – I never listened to anything else”
Highlight of the 1984 Penalty Shoot-Out?
Bruice Grobbelaar’s spaghetti legs
“I am an innocent man” – slooooppy defennnding.
1984…happy days the end of my first year at university in Bradford.
I was/am a massive fan of Marillion in that period and this is a favourite track.
Fugazi:
A perfect pop metal tune from Bon Jovi before they became huge,
This is marvellous…Runaway
Bettered by this.
And this. 1984 was pop metal HEAVEN!
Don Henley – The Boys of Summer.
Sade – Smooth Operator.
A perfect debut album.
Of course, it was not without its problems…
(fast forward to 2:06, or better yet watch the whole thing – Shaun Micallef is topnotch)
This sis a pop classic.
Careless Whisper.
And my favourite band The Waterboys on OGWT with A Pagan Place (not good audio).
A revolutionary record: this was the blueprint of hip-hop for the next three years – just voices and punishing beats. The legend starts here.
Weather Report did an album which has dated rather badly, but this chune is still rather good and sounded very cool that summer. Bona splash work from Omar Hakim.
I saw this Weather Report line up at the Hammersmith Odeon. Bloody awesome they were!
They filmed the show for a South Bank show documentary on the band, which aired in 84
Sadly Bassist Victor Bailey passed away this month.
Terry Gilliam made the absolutely awesome Brazil, a glorious retelling of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Unfortunately the studio behaved like c*nts and the film wasn’t released until 1985.
Jean Michel Jarre made ingenious, slightly hallucinogenic use of found fragments of human voices on his album Zoolook. As if it could get any weirder, he invited Laurie Anderson along.
I never knew Laurie played on Zoolook, but as a big fan, I am intrigued. I used to listen to JMJ before I discovered her and did listen to Zoolook, though not as much as Oxygene and Equinoxe. I’m now wondering if I was subconsciously habituated to her voice when I first listened to her.
Listening to that track now, the sounds used very much put me in mind of her second album – Mister Heartbreak – also released in 1984 – spooky!
In my crazy 80’s double life the cool me who never really existed continued with The Bunnymen and The Smiths but at home where the real Dave lived was where the fun happened. Two truly great pop albums were released in 1984 by two of the least cool acts ever Thompson Twins “Into The Gap” and Howard Jones “Humans Lib”. They’re never mentioned in any top 1000 lists never mind 100 but as era defining works they are essential to understand what 1984 was. I’ve nicked this quote straight from Wiki about Humans Lib”. “Writing in Smash Hits magazine at the time of the album’s release, Neil Tennant commented that Jones had “a neat talent for writing melodic pop songs with clever hooks and real 1970s singer-songwriter lyrics. A must for all Supertramp fans”.
Both albums leant heavily on synth hooks, a crazy look and the all important video / TOTP appearance but underneath all that “What Is Love” and “Hold Me Now” were just fantastic pop songs written by people who had grown up in the pre-punk era of Yes and the rest. Jones was obviously prog inspired as the haunting hide and seek lays testimony to. Not sure about the Twins and this is all from my fevered brain to try and justify my love for these albums on The Afterword….
Regardless I love these songs today as much as I did in 1984 and I’m happy to talk about it now without fear of losing any credibility I believed I had. Here’s an 8.34 long version of “Hide and Seek”
I saw Howard supporting – ooh someone like Orange Juice at the Hacienda, probably in 1983 though as New Song had just come out. Who could forget Jed the Dancer with his ‘mental chains’? Along with Nik Kershaw has come in the UK to take an awful lot of flak for the excesses of the period.
My record buying was at its height and 1984 was marvellous. I liked Frankie not so much for Relax (which I will happily never need to listen to again) but the plentiful Two Tribes and Welcome to the Pleasuredome 12 inch remixes. The T-shirts were everywhere that summer. Mine was WAR! HIDE YOURSELF.
Buying Depeche Mode’s People are People 12 inch on the morning of its release was notable by being stopped by someone on the street asking where I’d got it (it was in a transparent bag). I told him and he scurried off to get his copy. It’s one of their weakest singles but it was a very big hit chart- wise. Followed up by the very pervy Master and Sevant and then the “routine slab of gloom in which God gets a severe ticking off” (Neil Tennant again) Blasphemous Rumours.
They also released the nearly unmusical Adrian Sherwood remixes – my favourite being Are People People? which only very vaguely resembles the song it came from. I still love it now.
I remember selling my prized (and I thought comparitively limited edition) Frankie top – black and red vest with a fist-raised Lenin design and some nice Cyrillic lettering which probably read as “Paul Morley” – to the holiday rep in Rhodes. I was very sorry to part with it but I got more than I paid for it , which was important as I’d run out of money for food, and more importantly, drink.
Bruce Springsteen released the album that made him the biggest (white) star on earth. And in contrast to the views of many Springsteen diehards, Born in the USA is actually a brilliant album. Its success in the U.K was propagated by a Whistle Test special presented by a young David Hepworth, I wonder what happened to him ….
The NME singles of the year included a significant amount of black music. A lot of it was extremely good I think it also reflected the fact that there wasn’t very much good rock music about. The only 2 LPs had from the list were the Neville Brothers and Youssou N’Dour.
http://www.nme.com/bestalbumsandtracksoftheyear/1984-2-1045391
The Jazz Club compilation put together by DJ Paul Murphy was a landmark album for me. I was getting interested in jazz but didn’t know where to start so a compilation was just what I needed. It was brilliant. There were a couple of excellent Soca compilations released in 1984, Soca Train and This Is Soca ’84. If by any chance anyone is looking for a soca comp, you won’t find one better than these two.
Formatted
Albums
1. Poet 2 – Bobby Womack
2. Born In The Usa – Bruce Springsteen
3. In The Studio – The Special Aka
4. Love Wars – Womack And Womack
5. Climate Of The Hunter – Scott Walker
6. Brewing Up With.. – Billy Bragg
7. The Reckoning – Rem
8. Purple Rain – Prince
9. The Smiths – The Smiths
10. The Magazine – Rickie Lee Jones
11. Spring Hill Fair – The Go Betweens
12. Goodbye Cruel World – Elvis Costello
13. Keep Moving – Madness
14. Wonderful & Frightening World Of.. – The Fall
15. Cafe Bleu – The Style Council
16. Making History – Linton Kwesi Johnson
17. Immigres – Youssou Ndour
18. Cover – Tom Verlane
19. Jonathan Sings – Jonathan Richman
20. Eden – Everything But The Girl
21. Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
22. A Bunch Of Foulness In The Pit – Holger Hiller
23. Hatful Of Hollow – The Smiths
24. Texas Fever – Orange Juice
25. Swoon – Prefab Sprout
26. Change Of Heart – Change
27. Red Roses For Me – The Pogues
28. A Walk Across The Rooftops – The Blue Nile
29. From Her To Eternity – Nick Cave
30. Hole – Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
31. Neville-Ization – Neville Brothers
32. Ocean Rain – Echo And The Bunnymen
33. Mister Heartbreak – Laurie Anderson
34. Atom Drum Bop – The Three Johns
35. The Unforgettable Fire – U2
36. Der Orten Is Rot – Holger Czukay
37. Treasure – Cocteau Twins
38. Age Of Consent – Bronski Beat
39. Knife – Aztec Camera
40. Diamond Life – Sade
41. Brilliant Trees – David Sylvian
42. She’s So Unusual – Cyndi Lauper
43. A Pagan Place – The Waterboys
44. No Frills – The Persuasions
45. Essar – Smoky Robinson
46. Showdown Vol 2 – Frankie Paul & Sugar Minot
47. Historic Concerts – Cecil Taylor/Max Roach
48. Let The Music Play – Shannon
49. Mirror Moves – Psychedelic Furs
50. Sisters – The Bluebells
Singles
1. Love Wars – Womack And Womack
2. I Wanna Be Loved – Elvis Costello
3. Free Nelson Mandella – Special Aka
4. Don’t Look Any Further – Dennis Edwards
5. Slippery People – Staple Singers
6. Yah Mo Be There – James Ingram
7. What Difference Does It Make – The Smiths
8. Dancing In The Dark – Bruce Springsteen
9. When Doves Cry – Prince
10. Jump – Van Halen
11. I Feel For You – Chaka Khan
12. No Sell Out/Malcolm X – Malcolm X
13. Hey Dj – World’s Famous Supreme Team
14. War Is In The Dance – Frankie Paul
15. And I Don’t Love You – Smoky Robinson
16. Love Has Finally Come At Last – Bobby Womack/Patti Labelle
17. Bachelor Kisses – The Go Betweens
18. Keep On Keeping On – The Redskins
19. Somebody Else’s Guy – Jocelyn Brown
20. We Need Money – Chuck Brown
21. You’re The Best Thing – Style Council
22. Venceremos (We Will Win) – Working Week
23. Taxi – J Blackfoot
24. Madam Butterfly – Malcolm Mclaren
25. Track Three – Scott Walker
26. What Presence? – Orange Juice
27. Tinsel Town In The Rain – The Blue Nile
28. Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cindy Lauper
29. Calamity Crush – Foetus Art Terrorism
30. Small-Town Boy – Bronski Beat
31. What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend – The Special Aka
32. In The Ghetto – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
33. Dark Streets Of London – The Pogues
34. Sensoria – Cabaret Voltaire
35. Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper
36. Don’t Go Lose It Baby – Hugh Masekela
37. Relax – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
38. Peace In Our Time – The Imposter
39. It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World – The Residents
40. Pride (In The Name Of Love) – U2
41. Ain’t Nobody – Rufus & Chuka Khan
42. I Bloodbrother Be – Shock Headed Peters
43. Do The Square Thing – The Three Johns
44. The Big Music – The Waterboys
45. The Killing Moon – Echo And The Bunnymen
46. Michael Caine – Madness
47. Abele Dance – Manu Dibango
48. Honey At The Core – Friends Again
49. Each And Every One – Everything But The Girl
50. Out Of The Flesh – Chakk
Thank you.
We Need Money! Chooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon!
Bloody hell, fell off me chair!
I owned (own) 17, pretty good year!
They seem to have missed Big Country – Steeltown
Admittedly, it ain’t The Crossing, but is still a corker
The NME singles of the year included a significant amount of black music. A lot of it was extremely good I think it also reflected the fact that there wasn’t very much good rock music about. The only 2 LPs had from the list were the Neville Brothers and Youssou N’Dour.
—http://www.nme.com/bestalbumsandtracksoftheyear/1984-2-1045391—
The Jazz Club compilation put together by DJ Paul Murphy was a landmark album for me. I was getting interested in jazz but didn’t know where to start so a compilation was just what I needed. It was brilliant. There were a couple of excellent Soca compilations released in 1984, Soca Train and This Is Soca ’84. If by any chance anyone is looking for a soca comp, you won’t find one better than these two.
Big year for me – new job, and new town where bought my first house with the woman I was to marry a couple of years later, and where our kids were born. A lot of the music of that time is unfairly maligned – I’ve got plenty of time for Eurythmics, Style Council, REM, everything But the Girl, 10,000 Maniacs and others.
Meantime in a parallel universe Bob Dylan was ploughing his own furrow. I saw him at Wembley Stadium on a blistering hot day in July, with a support bill that was Nick Lowe (fine, but dwarfed by the venue), UB40 (stole the show), and Santana (interminable). Bob himself was fine, and had a line up of the encores that included Clapton, Chrissie Hynde and Van Morrison. Hearing him do Its All Over Baby Blue was a bit of a moment
https://youtu.be/zLzpn8z16zo
We’ve not yet gone into the films of the year. I didn’t see the titular John Hurt-tactic 1984, but did see Once Upon A Time In America – Leone’s last masterpiece, so long it had an interval and not a second wasted, the wonderful Repo Man, the awful Crimes of Passion and – over a weekend – the incredibly long Heimat. Ah to have 16 hours a row to pass in the cinema. But the film that surely had the most impact on me, and many many other people was The Terminator. It had one of the greatest synth themes of any eighties film surely
Meanwhile Joe Jackson came up with the brilliant Body and Soul
Time for some Chaka Chaka Chaka Khan!
I Feel For You, was one of the albums of 84 for me.
Arif Mardin took all the latest studio tools and used and abused them, creating a unique blend of electro soul. I think this still sounds amazing today.
This is from the album, written by Burt Bacharach.
The single was certainly me favourite record of the year at the time, not least because she was saucier than a direct hit on a Heinz factory.
My youngest daughter was born in December 1984. This was the last piece of music I heard before going into the hospital. I went out and bought the special edition 12″ single days later. It seemed so apt at the time.
The Adventures – Send My Heart
Bradford’s finest released their debut this year. It’s not their best, but it’s a great statement
In goth news, it was a fairly quiet year for the Sisters, with the Body & Soul 12″ being their only release. They did do the massive Black October tour, which even hit Plymouth. But I was ten and wouldn’t have been allowed to go even if I had the faintest inkling who the Sisters were back then, being more into 2000AD and playing football down the park.
I would have seen them this year, possibly in Blackburn – a gig with so much dry ice they stepped back from the mics and basically disappeared.
That reminds me of my time at University in Bradford 83-87.
Pickwicks night club and interaction with the band as they became big and signed to EMI.
Just a little mention here for something timeless and tremendous released in 1984. The single for this was hampered by two things:
1. The seemingly eternal dominating presence of Blue Monday
2. The dreadful vocal/lyrics on the single
Thieves Like Us instrumental is a wonderful piece – when I was a hospital radio presenter, I used it as a “bed” when talking about people I’d met in the wards and when talking generally. To me, it never gets old – and doesn’t sound dated to me some 30-odd years later. This really is NO at their best.