SMASH HITS singles 11th of April 1985

When Love Breaks Down

Propaganda's 'Duel', and it isn't even close.

Propaganda.

i love the Prefab Sprout but 'Duel' will never cease to make me swoon.

I think it is close but I probably choose the same. xpost!

When Love Breaks Down

Same here. Didn't know it until this past year.

This might be a challop but I think ‘When Love Breaks Down’ is one of the weakest tracks on ‘Steve McQueen’, and only really shows its excellence on the acoustic version on the legacy release.

Nevertheless towers above most everything else here.

‘Nineteen’ is a flash in the pan piece of brilliance but Propaganda wins for their thrillingly creative abuse of a Fairlight.

I completely agree with all your points, Dan.

I'll add that "19" really did dominate my college station at the time, it was WILDLY popular but faded away quickly.

I also still like that Simple Minds track, despite all the baggage.

I love it.

"The Unforgettable Fire" is U2's best so there's that.

Simple Minds and it's not even close.

Would love to throw a vote to Prefab Sprout, but the Unforgettable Fire is the colossus of this list.

For me, this is definitely the toughest of these polls thus far.

I’m not proud of it but I voted Simple Minds.

was a massive simple minds fan, but i hate DYFAM

the b-side though is magic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUmgCUMXrY

voting for propaganda. funnily enough the original rhythm section from simple minds (derek forbes & brian mcgee) both went on to play in propaganda but i don't think they're on that particular record

propaganda over u2 and simple minds

I read some story in Then Play Long I think about Kerr and Bono walking on the beach in 85 talking about Jesus together or something and how it’s like the perfect symbolic moment marking when simple minds started to suck

after listening for the first time in a long time i have decided i have gone off the Prefab Sprout quite a bit.

useless bit of trivia : Prefab Sprout funded the biggest early 90s raves in Scotland.

useless to whom? I demand to know more!

i think Prefab Sprout were the only profitable act on Kitchenware Records. Paul Ludford one of the owners of Kitchenware could see which way the wind was blowing and started investing some of the label profits in raves in the North East of England under the Rezerection name, before taking them to just outside Edinburgh in the early 90s and regularly pulling in crowds of 15000.

Absolutely great, thanks.

I predict that Phil Collins will not be mentioned in this thread but will get a handful votes and come 5th.

Almost every time I scope out these review pages there's a Howard Jones track I have no knowledge of. Surprisingly no Shakatak track this fortnight.

I do recall the Howard J song, but for some reason I remember it as “Look mama I love you, but there’s this bloke I fancy” and I’m sure that’s wrong…

I just watched the video for it and that does lend some credence to that interpretation. Then Youtube autoplayed "what is love?" which is... halfway decent.

Do you think pop stars like Howard Jones live a comfortable enough life off the back of those also-ran, mostly forgotten - and when remembered they're not as good as you thought they were - early 80s hits? It's a subject I think about from time to time and I know I'm not the only poster on these threads who thinks about it, because we've discussed it before. I know, or imagine, that Altered images live fairly nice lives off the back of Happy Birthday, which probably gets played thousands of times a day, globally. What about Howard Jones or Nick Kershaw, for example? Do the singer in the Bl00bells live off the proceeds of Young at Heart, for example, which fact-fans** was co-written by Bananarama and B0bby Bl00bell?

*and produced by Martin Rushent, to my surprise.
**channeling SH with "fact-fans".

(Happy Birthday was the thing produced by M Rushent)

after listening for the first time in a long time i have decided i have gone off the Prefab Sprout quite a bit.

It's a song you can go off or think sounds vital depending on your own relationship circumstances, I think.

Bought at the time:
- Propaganda (7")
- Paul Hardcastle (12", after hearing it constantly on pirate radio during a visit to London a couple of weeks before its release)
- Los Lobos (7", but as far as I was concerned, "Will The Wolf Survive" on the superior flip was the lead track)
- Prefab Sprout (as a double 7" gatefold pack, when it was first released in 1984 - this was the first of two re-releases in 1985, and it didn't become a hit until the second re-release in November)

Taped off the radio: Bronski/Almond, Simple Minds, Chaka Khan, B.R.A.F.A.

During the fortnight that this issue covers, I ceased to be a single man (and we're still together, 36 years later). Here's the personal chart which I compiled on my final morning as a single man, having seen the Number One song being played live the night before (and what a fantastic gig that was). Clearly this wasn't a classic week; instead, it suggests that I needed rescuing by something more fulfilling than obsessively playing catch-up during a dud year. And so it came to pass.

01 03 I Had A Dream - Long Ryders
02 05 Let Me Feel It - Samantha Gilles
03 09 Will The Wolf Survive/Don't Worry Baby - Los Lobos
04 02 You're My Heart, You're My Soul - Modern Talking
05 NE Lover Come Back To Me - Dead Or Alive
06 07 Feel So Real - Steve Arrington
07 39 It's Gonna Take Some Time/Kiss You All Over - Millie Jackson
08 19 Bad Habits - Jenny Burton
09 01 Vicious Games - Yello
10 08 Let's Go Together - Change
11 10 Crashin' Down - Legear
12 14 Rhythm Of The Night - DeBarge
13 13 Walk Like A Man - Divine
14 30 New York City - Village People
15= re Hangin' On A String - Loose Ends
15= 04 19 Paul Hardcastle
16 33 Would I Lie To You - Eurythmics
17 36 New Attitude - Patti Labelle
18 NE Walking On Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves
19 23 Nightshift - Winston Groovy
20 re When Love Breaks Down - Prefab Sprout
21 NE Jailhouse Rap - Fat Boys
22 NE Moments In Love - Art Of Noise
23 NE I Feel Love - Bronski Beat with Marc Almond
24 NE Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds
25 04 Kiss Me - Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy
26 re Going Down To Liverpool - The Bangles
27 NE Obsession - Animotion
28 27 More Than I Can Bear - Matt Bianco
29 12 RSVP - James & Susan Wells
30 24 Gimme Gimme Gimme - Narada Michael Walden
31 17 Sorry, Wrong Number - Evelyn Thomas
32 NE The Glamorous Life - Sheila E
33 NE We Need Love - Cashmere
34 38 A Pair Of Brown Eyes - The Pogues
35 28 Freak-a-ristic - Atlantic Starr
36 NE Move Closer - Phyllis Nelson
37 34 Jealousy - Boothill Foot-Tappers
38 25 Loftholdingswood - Microdisney
39 16 Body Rock - Maria Vidal
40 31 Sinderella - Betty Wright

Spotify playlist (compiled in the UK): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6wiijjtgPNHb2UFm1q04r6?si=717a642f320744c1

Missing: Let's Make Africa Green Again - B.R.A.F.A.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG6RgX2DYKI

some all-time favourites on your list mike! also i never saw the long Ryder's but caught Sid Griffin playing a show in a bar once and it was genuinely great

i know for a fact B0bby Bl00bell makes a comfortable life from his songs. In a lovely bit of coincidence (and hopefully not gratuitously name dropping) B0bby Bl00bell was messaging with me yesterday sending me best wishes as he heard I had Covid. He said I'm sure to be fine as I'm so young which caused much mirth as he is probably tne first person to refer to me as "young" in a good 2 decades. He said he always thinks of me as being "young at heart" (rimshot!). That then segued into a suggestion that I remix "Young At Heart". Yikes!

B0bby Bl00bell still writes too. I think he had a song or two on the recent (big selling) Texas album.

I'm pretty sure Howard Jones still gets enough radio play to pay some bills and then all these 80s festival events must be his bread and butter. I read some article about what Nik Kershaw is up to a while back but can't recall. I'm pretty sure he is doing ok.

Maybe he meant Young at Heart?

During the fortnight that this issue covers, I ceased to be a single man

So I presume this is the last week with a mike t personal chart

Not quite - old habits died hard, and the personal charts ceased publication on June 18th.

Maybe he meant Young at Heart?

eh?

Maybe you should read the post? LOL.

as he is probably tne first person to refer to me as "young" in a good 2 decades.

Maybe he meant Young at Heart?

forget it, eh? jeezo Colin.

At first I thought you meant that was the week you stopped buying singles.

THOMPSON TWINS FUN FACTS FOR FACT FANS: "Roll Over" was withdrawn on the day of release, with all copies ordered to be destroyed. The few that survived now sell for £££. It only re-appeared on US pressings of the next album, and remained unreleased in the UK until 2003, when it popped up on a Greatest Hits comp.

A vote for Los Lobos. Don’t Worry Baby still has a strong kick.

i need to listen to the collection but my inclination is simple minds. i am basic.

“19” is a piece of shit. All of that 80s “sound collage” stuff has dated horribly.

this thread is enriched by your substantive opinion, thank you!

The Propaganda track was totally new to me and is quite a jam; if a bit badly dated in its sonics (love that elephant honk!) it makes up for it with blare, sheer driving energy and scope.

Thompson Twins is similarly a first time listen (i was not yet 10 when it came out) but I like this a lot and it reminds me i should likely do a deep dive on their discog some day.

Snrub notwithstanding, 19 seems somewhere between quaint and surprisingly fresh, though considering this "hip hop" seems nutty. Everything old is new again i guess.

Had never heard of Toyah and while i see some of the roisin/robyn family tree roots showing, this is still insufferable.

I almost always dislike U2 as a rule and I never liked Unforgettable Fire.

Los Lobos track is sneeringly rocking enough to merit a second listen but probably not a third.

Really torn on the Bronski Beat/Almond cover. the bleached bones of Moroder and the wonkiness of the choices on display are a draw but the vocals and phrasing hold up poorly against summer. ultimately and unfortunately a bit superfluous.

I guess I never heard the Victory album from the Jackson 6 and didn't recognize this song or the band until Michael dips in briefly at the end. There's probably a three minute edit of this that might merit replay value but this one noodles on way past reason.

lol at we are the world which sounds just as i remember it: fun for it's "hey isn't that" factor and otherwise a knee-deep slog in sandals.

i remember when i heard one more night for the first time after getting really into sussudio and easy lover and air tonight as a preteen and being utterly flustered that this was the same guy. why did this suck so bad? it still kinda sucks so bad.

Don't You Forget About Me is a white boy fist raised nostalgia bomb that's difficult to separate from the movie and the moment I first heard it. I never request that memory or this tune but I don't dislike it when either emerge.

The Chaka Khan and Dire Straits cuts feel like minor efforts from both. The Howard Jones, the George Benson and the Julio Iglesias all passed through me without note or interest.

(love that elephant honk!)

Claudia Brücken's voice is an acquired taste but this is very harsh.

Had never heard of Toyah

have you seen any of those lockdown youtubes of robert fripp and his wife playing zany cover versions of popular hits in their home kitchen? well, thats toyah

(elephant honk at 2.43 in Duel btw)

have you seen any of those lockdown youtubes of robert fripp and his wife

I'd say on balance that's a win tbh

I've always had a soft spot for "So Far Away"

I don't hate it, kind of sounds like a neil young song

In Australia Brothers in Arms was the first album really hyped on CD, and the country was mad for them (a live show from Sydney was nationally televised for example). So “So Far Away” is the sound of CD in my mind, specifically while looking at one of those Technics players which had a little window reflecting the edge of the spinning disc.

YES! Stong memories of going to a neighbour’s house to listen to Brothers in Arms on the first CD player in the neighbourhood. As a 10 year old Australian at that time can confirm they occupied very much a pop space at my school despite being AOR journeymen. Kids would wrap a tie around their head and pretend to be Mark Knopfler! So Far Away has aged better than other singles from that LP, in fact I didn’t even know it had a single release.

"So Far Away" (and its gremlin guitar gnnarls) is the album's best single, but cuz it's Mark Knopfler he can't resist sounding petulant instead of lovelorn -- it's like he's mad she's not around to put the kettle on.

It’s kinda hilarious that this was hyped for being a “perfect” digital recording at the time, but was made on some early Sony PCM system which might have been 14 bit, so when the inevitable wave of remasters hit all the Straits fans were like “oh really?”

still sounds pretty awesome to my ears! up there with Tango in the Night as perfect mid-80s sonic landscape

Oh for sure, it just amused me that the most the “super extreme audiophile disc” remasters could offer was “um, levels increased 4dB” rather than “new master from original analog tapes baked to sonic perfection” or whatever.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I ended up voting for Los Lobos on the strength of "Will The Wolf Survive" (both tracks were given equal billing on the sleeve), as it was the one that fired me up the most this time around. Propaganda is obviously fantastic of course, but I've played it countless times over the years, which gave Los Lobos the edge. That whole jingly-jangly "new authenticity", as championed by Ellen/Hepworth/Kershaw very week on Whistle Test, felt like a welcome swing of the pendulum, Band Aid and FGTH having effectively closed the chapter on New Pop. Simple Minds is fine, but I preferred their early work and never saw The Breakfast Club (or indeed any of the other Brat Pack movies; I was 23 and so assumed I was too old for them). Paul Hardcastle was my clear favourite at the time - it felt fresh and arresting - but after 5 weeks at Number One, it lost its shine - very much a tune for a particular moment, and not built for posterity. Similarly, Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen became our album of the summer, and played so often that we never able to enjoy it again thereafter. Chaka Khan's "Eye To Eye" was very much in my ballpark, and still is stylistically, but with hindsight it's not that strong a song, and it rather hems her in vocally. I have no problems with George Benson's cover of "Beyond The Sea" - it's extremely well sung and arranged, and my in-laws would adore it. BRAFA is way better than most all-star charity records, not least because it's not smothered in the sort of dragged-out over-emoting that smothers "We Are The World"; there's still restraint and swing. Bronski Beat/Marc Almond is another strictly "of its moment" track - the two lead vocals don't really mesh together as a duet - but it was exciting to see two gay men singing about desire (even though Almond was still in his "I don't believe in labels" semi-closeted phase). I loathed everything that I perceived that Brothers In Arms represented at the time, but having never been fashionable, they've worn well, and the loathing has mellowed into respect. The Jacksons is my biggest dud, a total misfire and way too long.

"Mexico's Los Lobos are well hip"