Pure - Lightning Seeds

Year: 1989

Artist: Lightning Seeds

Hit Song: All I Want

Album: Cloudcuckooland

I started listening and appreciating new wave at 85’, I was still in primary school that time. So even before local radio station or other media streams picked up and commercialized the genre, I was already hooked on it. Back then “New Wave was the new Pop”, alternative became mainstream back then thanks to movies like ‘Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Some kind of Wonderful etc.  

I heard this song in the mid 90’s; the station I came across featured their blast from the past hits. I remember asking myself “how come I missed this one?” no good music escapes my ear, especially not this type…poetic lyrics, catchy tunes, Brit vocals…definitely new wave! Then I found out, it was released in 89’. You see, sound has to travel before people start appreciating and this is the pre internet era so you have to wait years to hear new sound especially if you live in some corner parts of the globe. Also, its release of 89’ was actually the start of the new wave decline. People started listening to rap, disco tunes, and yes, Rick Astley.

The common denominator with Lightning Seeds and the Beatles were they both from Liverpool, England. So what’s up with people from this place writing good lyrics and cool tunes? What are they eating? What’s in their mashed potato? Such music geniuses!  Formed by Ian Broudie  the vocals slash guitar slash producer and who single-handedly gave birth to this lush  song - ‘Pure’. According to allmusic.com, he first emerged as a member of Big in Japan a product of the same Liverpudlian post-punk scene that gave rise to Echo & the Bunnymen, the Teardrop Explodes, and Icicle Works. in 1982 Broudie teamed with Wild Swans vocalist Paul Simpson under the name Care; the duo released a series of shimmering singles that pointed in the direction Broudie followed in the Lightning Seeds.

What more can I say? This guy is a freaking music genius…hands down!

...I personally love this lyrics of the song

"if love's the truth then look no lies

and let me swim around your eyes

I've found a place I'll never leave

shut my mouth and just believe

love is the truth I realize

not a stream of pretty lies

to use us up and waste our time "

Happy Birthday - Altered Images

Year: 1981

Artist: Altered Images

Hit Song: I could be Happy, See Those Eyes

Album: Happy Birthday

Birthdays are symbols of another year gone by, since your last birthday the earth has completed one journey around the sun, there have been more than 50,000 earthquakes throughout the world. You will have had about 1,460 dreams; world population has grown by around 76,570,430, and in the time it takes you to read this another five babies will have been born.  

‘Happy Birthday’ was the most recognized song in the English Language and was translated in more than 18 languages. It’s nice to know that there are other melodies for this traditional tune to celebrate the anniversary of someone’s birth and it’s a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock and It’s called New Wave.

All these time I thought this song was sung by the Brit rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees if you are not familiar with the group try listening to Hong Kong Garden and you will get the similarity. (Refer to this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6lxuYme-8c). I first came to know the song in the 80’s while watching John Huge’s ‘Sixteen Candles’, a coming-of-age film starring Molly Ringwald. The group responsible for this track were an early 1980s Scottish New Wave / post-punk band named Altered Images. Led by Clare Grogan on vocals and 4 more ex-school friends, they sent a demo tape to Siouxsie and the Banshees who eventually gave them the break in the recording scene. According to Wikipedia “Happy Birthday was the band’s third single and their biggest hit. The song reached number 2 in the UK (for three weeks) in October 1981, catapulting the band to fame. They quickly became established as one of the biggest new wave acts around”

Robert Southe was on the spot when he uttered this quote “Live as long as you may, the first twenty years are the longest half of your life” This is what this blog all about… the first twenty years of my life and the music that once moved me…music that once, washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life…

Happy birthday

Happy
happy birthday in a hot bath
To those nice
nice nights.
I remember always
always I got such a fright.
Seeing them in my dark cupboard with my great big cake.
If they were me
if they were me
And I was you and I was you -
If they were me and I was you
Would you have liked a present too.

Happy
happy birthday in a hot bath . . .

Happy birthdayhappy birthday - . . .

On Paper - Three O'Clock

Year: 1988

Artist: Three O’clock

(not so) Hit Song: Her Head's Revolving, Half the Way There

Album: Vermillion

Three O’clock was founded in Los Angeles, California and they played mildly psychedelic pop-influenced tunes with a decidedly punk-ish energy. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio was the band's chief songwriter, they were friends of the Bangles, for whom he had previously written "Manic Monday”

Another catchy song that was released in unnoticed in 80’s but finally caught up with me in the early 90’s. You’ll be surprised of how many uploads in you tube covering and remixing this single. I wish I can say more about the band or the record but Google and Wikipedia was not throwing me a bone. Anyways, based on my research Three O’ Clock are actually a mediocre band and the track I’m featuring right now was not even a hit. Only a few people just pick this up from their last album that was a critical and commercial failure, and did not dent the charts after which Three O’ Clock was never heard of ever again…

So many questions have a reason
So many reasons for what we should do
but longer than the words you have to answer
a contract of love is nothing new to you

around you baby I’m on fire
everywhere that we go
around you baby i desire
all the things that we know
it only goes to show
that we don’t have to know
till it’s on paper
till it’s on paper

now is the time for a decision
now is the time decide its one or two
but longer than the mouth well end up breaking
a contract of love is nothing new to you

Never You Done That - General Public

 

Year: 1985

Artist: General Public

Hit Song: Tenderness

Album: All The Rage

General Public headed by Ranking Roger and Dave Wakeling was a quasi-"supergroup" of the UK punk/ska/mod scene where their second single "Tenderness" was a Top 40 hit in the US. Just recently I heard this song in an Adam Sandler movie mashed up with Rihanna’s Umbrella. It was also featured in the movies Weird Science, Clueless, and Sixteen Candles.

“Never you done that” was equally catchy as their hit song but this single never find commercial success whatsoever I just happened to catch this song back in the 80’s when my brother accidentally played it.  General Public split after a few years but since 2004, Dave Wakeling has toured the U.S. as The English Beat, and he often performs General Public tracks in his set list with a full backing band.

 

Well who would've guessed?
Well I guess I should
The second night was just as good
By the end of the week we were living as one
Gone two years now we're still together

Day in and day out
For however long
It's the kind of love
that could last forever
Day in and day out
For however long
Each time we kiss you're the perfect stranger

So me say
Don't never you go
too far away from me girl
Never you done that
Don't never you go too far away
Don't even think of saying it

Don't never you go
too far away from me girl
Never you done that
Don't never you mention certain words about
No no
Never you done that
Never you done that
Never you done that

You Are The One - aha

Year: 1988

Artist: a-ha

Hit Song: Take on Me, The Sun always shine on TV

Album: Stay On These Roads

One of the bands I have poster hanging in my bedroom wall. This New Wave/Synthpop group put Norway in the world map when they penetrated the number 1 spot in the US chart.  Founded in 1982, the band consists of Morten Harket on vocals - Is it just me? or the world always seems brighter from behind his smile.  Magne Furuholmen on keyboards, and Pål Waaktaar on guitars. The band wanted a name which meant the same thing in every language. "A-ha!" is an exclamation uttered at the realization of something, and its meaning is universal... universal just like Morten’s smile c",)

"You Are the One" is a single from A-ha's third album, Stay on These Roads. The music video was filmed in New York City, you can refer to this link  to view the official video and the awesome smile I'm telling you about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wut994fxYA8. The song wasn't as big as "Take On Me" but it was very popular in my high school where I came to know of this single from one of my favorite band... a-ha! 

The band split after a worldwide tour in 2010 on October 15 2009 and ending their on a High Note tour. Thousands of fans from at different countries flocked to see this trio for the last time.

"You are the one who has done me

Guess you knew from the start

I call again, but there's no one in

Don't know where, with whom you've been

But I do Love you

Anyway you want me to

You are the one...now the state I'm in!

Catching you was so hard

I fought for you, did you let me win!?

Don't even care, don't care

Where I've been

But I do Love you

Anyway you want me to

I've done all I can do

All the letters...I've sent through

Put my life in the palms of your hands

Maybe now you can see

That it's got to be me

But if you leave me

I'll understand, yeah

If you leave me, I'll understand"

Heaven Knows - When In Rome

Year: 1990

Artist: When In Rome

Hit Song: The Promise

Album: When in Rome

While everybody’s still going gaga over the song ‘The Promise’ by When in Rome back in 1988, the band’s biggest commercial hit, a friend of mine introduced me to their additional single entitled ’Heaven Knows’ in 1990 – the band’s follow up single before the group ultimately faded away. Though this song never gained that popularity it’s still one of the best for me because the melody is just right, the words and lyrics are just as poetic.

“A love you can't have

A love you can't face

A love you broke once

A love you both waste

What seemed like love

Felt like pain

Everywhere you moved

It's gonna be the same

Blame it on people

Blame it on cards

Whichever way you do

There's gonna be scars”

After this song, When in Rome, the English New Wave trio, originally consisting of vocalists Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann, and keyboards player Michael Floreale never heard from ever again…

"Heaven knows I've tried to treat you better

Heaven knows I've tried to give a little bit more

How much will it take to stay together

(Heavens knows I tried)

Heaven knows we've tried but we drifted apart

Right from the start"

What! - Soft Cell

Year: 1982

Artist: Soft Cell
Hit Song: Tainted Love
Albums this song is included:
Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing
The very best of Soft Cell                            

This is the type of song that stays in your head long after hearing it. I first heard it on the radio in the mid-80s and it stimulates the auditory cortex part of my brain but there’s no way for me to log in and Google for it because duh! It was the 80’s – only the library has that much information. All I can do was to stay tuned to the station and pray that the next DJ will play the single again just so I can hear it once more –to finally scratch that melody that was stuck in my head. Fast forward to the mid-90s - I heard a friend mentioned this song in passing and of course my subconscious noted it. Fast forward again 9 years after the millennia – I was staring at my PC when the memory of my subconscious relives the past conversation about the song.  Immediately, I rummaged for it but it took me half an hour to know  the title, the artist and the lyrics just because typing the word ‘WHAT’ In Google spewed hundreds of useless link that is not what I’m searching for. I had to dig a little deeper for this internet tool to be useful so after few minutes more of keying the first line of the lyrics, and the chorus, and voila! Found it! Power of information at my fingertips, without moving my butt. 

The 3rd song of Soft Cell that went to top 40 UK chart. Not only this song but the whole album ‘Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing’ was later admitted recorded and mixed under the influence of ecstasy –I only learned such drug exists in the mid 90’s but these guys has been crunching this as far back as 1982. The synthpop duo of Soft Cell consists of Marc Almond (vocalist) and David Ball (instrumentalist). A note on Marc Almond: on the course of his career he went solo and recorded 2 of my fave new wave songs…watch this space!

They are most widely known for their 1981 worldwide hit version of "Tainted Love" where in 2006 Rihanna extensively samples "Tainted Love" on the single "SOS" from her album A Girl like Me. It became a #1 successful single all over the world.

"Do you want me to 
Get down on my knees 
Beg you baby, please 
Cry a million tears 
Do you want me to 
Call you on the phone 
Beg you to come home 
Think of all the years 
When I once lived in paradise 
When the love light shone in your eyes 
Oh baby 
What can I do when I still love you 
What can I say when I still want you 
What can I do 
What can I say 
You'll never know this way"