Stephen Duffy - Kiss Me

This song is a new wave classic! "Kiss Me" is one of the most upbeat love songs of the 80s, I think. Rather than the slower sad love songs like The Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now". I know this review is sort of short but I would just like to acknowledge this wonderful song. By the way, Stephen Duffy was in Duran Duran before his solo act...

Tears for Fears - The Hurting (1983)

Tears for Fears' album "The Hurting" seems to be one of the best debut albums of the 80s, sort of like "Please" from the Pet Shop Boys.
 Yesterday I was reading the booklet that was included with the special 1999 re-issue of "The Hurting", and as I was reading, I noticed that Tears for Fears seem to be heavily influenced by the literature of Arthur Janov. Mainly this album focuses on emotional ideas yet there is an obvious influence as to where this song writing has come from. Mostly, a lot of the songs on "The Hurting" are based on Arthur Janov's book, "The Primal Scream". Never read it - don't really care to! Anyway, "The Hurting" did very good, spawning 4 hits which where "Mad World" / "Change" / "Pale Shelter" / & "Suffer The Children". "Mad World" hit #2 in the UK charts. It was a top 10 hit in other countries. "Pale Shelter" hit #5 in the UK singles chart but was yet again a top 10 hit in other countries. "Change" received good reviews, although Curt and Roland (the face of Tears for Fears) seem to not enjoy this song. Roland says, "It's not really about much. It's just one of those cheap pop lyrics." Curt says, "A strange little pop song."
Other songs on here are very nice. Although, I would have to say that there are 2 tracks on this album I can't enjoy which are: "Ideas As Opiates" & "Memories Fade". There is a great track on "The Hurting" that I was surprised to see that it was not a single; this song is "Watch Me Bleed". There's definitely a lot of new wave on here, and probably this is one of their only new wave albums. "Songs From The Big Chair" have some new wave songs (which are ultimately the hits from that album) on there like "Shout" & their world-famous "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". As well as other songs on there like "Broken", anyway, back to "The Hurting". The album cover (as pictured on the top) was the original 1983 cover of the album. On the later re-issue of this album, they had changed the cover into a little boy sitting in a white room (as pictured below). This is a great album by Tears for Fears and is definitely one of my most favorite albums from the 80s. My favorites from here are "Pale Shelter" / "Mad World" / "Watch Me Bleed" / "Change" / "Start Of The Breakdown".
They will be playing in Hollywood soon, at a place called The Wiltern. I will be going for sure!

~ Track Listing ~
(Original Album)
01. The Hurting
02. Mad World
03. Pale Shelter
04. Ideas As Opiates
05. Memories Fade
06. Suffer The Children
07. Watch Me Bleed
08. Change
09. The Prisoner
10. Start Of The Breakdown

(1999 Re-issue)
01. The Hurting
02. Mad World
03. Pale Shelter
04. Ideas As Opiates
05. Memories Fade
06. Suffer The Children
07. Watch Me Bleed
08. Change
09. The Prisoner
10. Start Of The Breakdown
11. Pale Shelter (Long Version)
12. The Way You Are (Extended Version)
13. Mad World (World Remix)
14. Change (Extended Version)

Blancmange - Blanc Burn (2011)

For any of you who aren't familiar with Blancmange, let me explain them to you. Blancmange was an underground type of duo that consisted (and still does) of Neil Arthur & Stephen Luscombe. They had hits, but very few made it into the top 10, let alone top 40! They had hits like "Don't Tell Me", "Blind Vision", and their biggest hit "Living On The Ceiling" were all top 10 hits. "Don't Tell Me" & "Blind Vision" both peaked at #10 on the UK charts. "Living On The Ceiling" - on the other hand - reached (if I'm not mistaken) #4 on the UK charts.
Blancmange, truly, were artists that gave you an interesting visual on things, or if anything, a proper perspective. They had 3 studio albums in the 80s which where: "Happy Families" / "Mange Tout" / "Believe You Me".
They had also released a string of singles - most of which, went nowhere.
Ultimately, their first 2 studio albums were the most commercially successful ones. "Believe You Me" crashed and burned and no hits came from the album. Although, Blancmange tried to release a single from "Believe You Me" with the hopes of hitting the charts. Sadly, they were very wrong. They released a song (from "Believe You Me") called "Lose Your Love". Personally, it's a great song if you ask me, and most likely a fan favorite. Anyway, it commercially failed and did not even reach the charts. Very sad. Not long after the failure of their newest single and album, they disbanded. Stephen Luscombe didn't do much after Blancmange - nothing at all, possibly - while Neil had established his own solo act. That really didn't go anywhere as well.
But now Blancmange have returned once again, this time with a new album and a new tour! Maybe this time the world will appreciate them a little more!
  So, they have come up with a new album called "Blanc Burn". This new album sounds very much modern. If you ask me, I was very surprised when I heard this new sound of Blancmange. I would've never expected such a great transition from a synthpop duo that hasn't had any material released since 1985!
  The album has been out for a few months now, and has so far done okay. Not exactly sure where it made it on the charts, though. "Blanc Burn" has currently not been available on the US version of iTunes, but has been released in the UK version. If you'd like to hear it, you can order the CD from consumer sites like eBay and Amazon. I had sent Blancmange a question asking as to when it may be available for digital download; they replied saying simply, "We're working on a copyright contract with the US right now. It should be out soon". This question was answered sometime in April, and yet there is still no sign of Blancmange being on there, so don't hold your breath. The tracks on this album offer a unique blend of music. From house music to pop music, from rock music to dance music. So far my favorite on this entire album has been "Drive Me" which has been released as a digital single in the UK. I like it a lot, and to me it seems it's a retrospective of their old work - sort of like a reflection - but that's just my introspective. I can't say that this album has got a bunch of hits on it, but I'd assume that the fans of Blancmange have enjoyed it thoroughly. Some of the songs on "Blanc Burn" have that odd feeling that you'd normally get listening to Blancmange's material from the 80s. Blancmange is currently touring in the UK (hopefully they make it to the US soon!) but sadly, Stephen Luscombe had suffered some kind of illness. Therefore he will not be on the this tour. Very sad, but at least you still get Neil Arthur, Pandit Dinesh & Graham Henderson.
Here is that song, "Drive Me", my favorite from "Blanc Burn". Hope to see more from them soon...


~ Track Listing ~
01. By The Bus Stop @ The Woolies
02. Drive Me
03. Ultraviolent
04. The Western
05. Radio Therapy
06. Probably Nothing
07. I'm Having A Coffee
08. Don't Let These Days
09. Wdyf
10. Don't Forget Your Teeth
11. Starfucker
12. I'm Seeing Stars

Welcome

As with any new blog, I think it's required to give a little welcome message!
Well, I like a lot of 80s music, as well as music from other eras. I love to write reviews and sort of observe the way music works. I'm kind of new to this whole blogging thing. Pretty soon more reviews will be up. I hope any of you that read this blog will enjoy it. Here you'll see a lot of 80s music videos, songs, reviews, and well... other strange things! I hope to start on this blog (officially) sometime this week! Goodbye for now!