The Top 50 "Sophisti-pop" albums according to RYM

Prefab Sprout

blue nile, hats

Went for "High Land Hard Rain" myself, but lots of strong albums up there. Particularly Scritti Politti and Prefab Sprout have some strong contenders, but the two 80s Blue Nile ones are also nice.

And "Lexicion Of Love" too of course is great.

Some good albums on this list, but it's hard to compete with Cupid & Psyche 85 or Provision (went with the former, barely).

rong Pale Fountains album

What is this? Like, mid-80s Brit wash?

Well, it may seem MOR/AOR/Adult Contemporary at first glance, but most of these albums are considerably more musically complex than what they may see on the surface. But sure, they are made by technically competent musicians, and those who find that clever=boring will not enjoy much here.

lots of records here i like

today, probably walk across the rooftops

wrong PF album? they're both up there..

this list reminds me that the black album is total crap save for the title track and 'everythings coming up roses'

those who find that clever=boring will not enjoy much here.

More boring=boring tbh.
Voted Blue Nile.

Well, I can agree that some of these albums fall on the wrong side of MOR (Simply Red, for instance), but most of them are really sophisticated stuff that people with a bit of musical schooling will find a lot of interesting details in.

Scritti "Songs to remember" should be up there.

Apparently not considered sophisti-pop by RYM voters. And, well, maybe not. I guess sophisti-pop requires a bit more keyboard dominated sound than that album has. Probably the same reasons why the two most famous Orange Juice albums aren't considered sophisti-pop either.

No Joe Jackson then?

Plus "High land hard rain" isn't dominated by keyboards by any long chalk. (non a pop at you geir, just..)

Furniture: The Wrong People

I think I'd like to hear this record one day. This is the one with 'Brilliant Mind' on it, I'm guessing?

Jim Irvin and Sally Still have maintained their own partnership. After the demise of Furniture, both joined Melody Maker as journalists writing under pseudonyms - "Jim Arundel" and "Sally Margaret Joy" respectively.

Was just googling and, duh, I had no idea about this.

Only one Basia album? And way too far down the list. Pity.

i keep reading this thread title as Scottish-Pop and wonder why Geir is doing it.

Claudia Brücken: Love: And a Million Other Things

good luck tracking that one down.

Scotland are pretty well represented there tbf.

x-post

Scotland had a very good scene for this kind of pop in the 80s. Started with the Perfect Pop label and developed from there.

No Avalon, no credibility

Scritti Politti: Cupid & Psyche '85

I have never heard of "Sophisti-pop" before.

That Furniture album has a track on it called "I Love Your Shoes" which showed up on a cassette someone made for me 20 years ago. What a great, great song. There are a couple of other tunes on the you tube which I like but I've never seen either of the band's LPs. Are they half as good as that track?

There are some albums I am missing here, who would have fit in with the rest. "Avalon" is already mentioned, I would also say that Japan and pre-1988 Talk Talk should have been in here. (Maybe even 1988 Talk Talk although they were probably closer to art pop and even ambient/experimental at that time)

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