Blancmange The UK Singles 1980-1986 NUMBER 1= REVEALED

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Deleted member 26234

I think you can hear already how the songs were gonna be like. They already had the beat and on some occasions the melody line. It's just how they got together trying out some tunes, experimenting with sounds and then finally they could put it together. For any fan a treat to get hands on it. Because when do we get to know how the bands we like started (apart from the casted ones apparently)?
 
TrendyMüller

TrendyMüller

Somebody once said that these early tracks are as important as early Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. I´d say that this is a bit too much praise. Those bands did that kind of stuff almost a decade prior to Blancmange.
The sudden shift from abstraction to pop is indeed baffling. I wonder how much credit has to go to their producer Ian Howlett (who is a very strange but important figure in early synth-pop).
But there is still a strong element of weirdness on their albums (especially Mange Tout) and some of their b-sides are almost proto-house (On Our Way To)
 
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simes1970

simes1970

How many words have you seen recently?
This is one that starts well and stays that way without taking it up that level to great.

Score 35 Average Score 7 Highest Score 8.5 (EricGeneric) Lowest Score 6 (Simes1970, Filippa)
Comments Include
"This has a “Depeche Mode” feeling and it sounds a bit subdued." (Filippa)
"Moody synth ballad al la Gary Numan – great stuff!" (Hairycub1969)
"This took a while to actually grow on me, but I really enjoy it now. It was kind of an anomaly to release a ballad in the synth-genre, no?" (Remorque)
So the actual number 12 , leaving the rate is I've Seen The Word.
 
simes1970

simes1970

Feeling lonely on your own?
This took a while to grow on me but it has, great synth bassline on this and it does build well.

Score 38.5 Average Score 7.7 Highest Score 10 (EricGeneric) Lowest Score 6 (Hairycub1969)
Comments Include
"Although I didn't really think much of this after listening the first few times to it, I have to admit it's become quite the earworm. Though the chorus is quite simple, it lodges itself in your brain and refuses to leave." (Remorque)
"I like this song but nothing in comparison to the earlier ones." (Filippa)
"This one has a Heaven 17 feel about it vocally – such a shame that this was way off reaching the UK Top 40 at the time!" (Hairycub1969)
At number 11 it's Lose Your Love
 
Eric Generic

Eric Generic

Lose Your Love felt a bit generic (if you excuse the pun) at the time, after the wacky and weird efforts of 1983 and 1984, but I agree with @Remorque - it's become one of my most-played Blancmange tracks in recent years, especially since the boxset came out. #77 was a joke chart position; okay so Neil blames it partly on the video getting banned and Radio subsequently scaling back their interest but it still deserved at least a minor Top 40 position.

I've Seen The Word is a bit too low-key to be a single, and probably why they just paired it up with God's Kitchen (maybe as a back-up plan if radio balked at a song with God in the title?).
 
Eric Generic

Eric Generic

The artwork was fantastic too, very clever. Especially the 7" doublepack...

610DTqQ35iL._SL1157_.jpg
 
TrendyMüller

TrendyMüller

Why was the Lose Your Love-video banned? Because they smash things up? I remember to be quite happy when it suddenly popped up in that great sci-fi movie Flight Of The Navigator.
I actually love that song and rank it quite highly (yeah, I didn´t manage to vote in this rate). It´s a great break-up song and the last minute with Neil singing over the chorus is really good.
The video is also quite hilarious. Just focus on Stephen, he´s either totally out of it or...I don´t know. He looks a bit like a tiny version of Scott Thompson from Kids In The Hall.

It´s really sad that Believe You Me was such a flop (I didn´t buy it until much later), but by 1985 all first generation synth-pop bands were in serious trouble and I applaud them for pulling the plug instead of becoming another Tears For Fears.

Why Don´t They Leave Things Alone is such a wonderful song.
 
Eric Generic

Eric Generic

Yeah, the smashing up was too much for TV apparently. I think I saw a bit of it at the time, but to be honest I don't remember any Blancmange music videos aside from Living On The Ceiling (on the camels in the desert).

The failure of Believe You Me came as a shock to me, like a good fan I went and bought it on the first day of release even though other major albums were out the same week. I wasn't anticipating such a bad reception from the public, to me it was an excellent album without quite being another Mange Tout. It was certainly better than Thompson Twins and Howard Jones efforts that year.

Why Don't They... was one of its highlights, and completely dumbfounded me when it became I Can See It.
 
TrendyMüller

TrendyMüller

Lorraine´s My Nurse is a sentimental favourite and I´m just listening to 22339 which I always loved, but it shows the problem they probably faced back then: It only makes sense if you are willing to like it in the Blancmange universe. Otherwise it sounds like a rather spliffed-out jam of British Talking Heads fans.

Oh, and don´t remind me of I Can See It...
 
Eric Generic

Eric Generic

I suppose you can hear a slight tightening of budgetary purse-strings with the production; only a handful of tracks get the full Mange Tout-esque treatment (the ones probably mooted for potential single release) and it's quite sparse at times. I love Paradise Is, and Other Animals is full of atmosphere. 22339 was already familiar to me as the B-side of What's Your Problem (the boys had a habit of recycling their flipsides for use on albums), it's like the cousin of God's Kitchen with its fishtank and birdcage lyrics.
 
Hairycub1969

Hairycub1969

The kids in the hall - and Talking Heads being mentioned in a Blancmange thread? That must mean @TrendyMüller is in the house!!
I loved "The Kids in the Hall" and have the complete box set of the original series from 1989 to 1994 - it was so ahead of it's time - the troupe were much prettier dressed as women - especially Dave Foley. The coolest thing to ever come out of Canadian TV!
 
TrendyMüller

TrendyMüller

Eric Generic said:
I've never heard of it.
Click to expand...
You mean Kids In The Hall?
If that´s so we should open a thread in the TV&Film forum so that we don´t derail this rate.
I had bever heard of them before I went living/working in Canada 10 years ago. One morning I saw one of their shows and almost choked on my breakfast. When I told my Canadian colleagues that I just so the most funny thing ever, they looked at me like I was from Mars. It took me some time to realise that they are national treasures.
 
Eric Generic

Eric Generic

TrendyMüller said:
You mean Kids In The Hall?
Click to expand...

Yup. Although I didn't watch any TV between 1987 and 1995 (ish), so that's perhaps not a surprise. But I've never even heard the name before!

Meanwhile, I gave Believe You Me a spin today, the latest remaster from the Blanc Tapes box. It sounded really good, and I still think the album's pretty decent. Even the closing instrumental, John, wasn't as bad as I used to think.
 
Hairycub1969

Hairycub1969

The other music sketch worth watching is "If Elvis was my landlord" - if only for the Charlie Brown style dancing at the beginning and the bear daddy who is the landlord....!
 
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