Friday 80s Flashback for November 15, 2024

[Treasure Invasion] -- You probably couldn't find two more different albums to kick off a Flashback weekend. But here I am with two stellar records that were both released 40 years ago this week! And similar to the offerings from two weeks ago, one is higher energy than the other. 

Planetary Invasion – Released on November 11, 1984, this was R&B group Midnight Star's fifth studio album. This album did well on the R&B albums chart, peaking at #7. That success was likely driven by their single, "Operator," which not only topped the US Hot Black Singles chart, but also peaked at #18 on the US Billboard Hot 100. That marked the song as Midnight Starr's first, and thus far only, top-20 pop chart hit.  

Treasure – Scottish band Cocteau Twins released their third studio album on November 12, 1984. Treasure did not get a US release, and therefore did not chart in the states, but it did garner critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, so it did come to the attention of the US record-buying public. Steve Sutherland, writing in Melody Maker, said the album "sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard and everything you’ve ever wished for," and that the band were "the voice of God."

YouTube playlists for both albums are embedded below. Let us know your fave tracks! 

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Flashback #1: Planetary Invasion.

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Flashback #2: Treasure.

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for November 8, 2024

[Audible Life Form] -- Two years before a certain alien life form landed in a suburban garage, Alison Moyet released her solo debut album, Alf (November 5, 1984). This was the first album she released after ending her two-album partnership with Vince Clarke (they were called either Yaz or Yazoo depending on which side of the Atlantic one was on). Released 40 years ago this week, Alf peaked at #1 on the UK Albums chart and #45 on the US Billboard 200. It also enjoyed top 20 success in several other countries. This album featured four singles: "Love Resurrection", "All Cried Out", "Invisible" and "For You Only"(though that last one might have been released only in Germany).

"Love Resurrection" was the first single, and it was a top 10 hit in the UK. It also peaked at #82 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in August of that year. Of the other singles, only "Invisible" charted in the US, peaking at #31 on the US Billboard Hot 100. There are two versions of the music video for "Love Resurrection": the UK version shows Moyet singing in some desert encampment; the US version has her performing in a club of some sort. According to Wikipedia, the US version was made to show "a softer side to Moyet following the breakup of Yazoo." I have no idea if that is true, and there is no longer a source link to confirm the story. But if there is one thing I know about this song for absolute certain (at least according to me): When Moyet sang "We all need a love resurrection," it's possible that she sang the greatest truth of her entire career in less than four minutes. 

Flashback: Alf (November 5, 1984)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for November 1, 2024

[Pleasure Felt] -- I know we have just entered November, but I want to highlight two more releases from October 1984. One is for all of you who need something a bit gentle today, and the other is for everyone else who wants to be a bit raucous. 

The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories – Released on October 26, 1984, this was the third album from the UK based band, Felt. It is a wonderful example of jangle pop, and I wish the lone single, "Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow," got more attention. It kind of fell into a void when released in the summer of 1984, and didn't chart at all. This album also has three short, but in my opinion lovely, instrumentals: "Sempiternal Darkness," "Imprint," and "Crucifix Heaven." If you need a gentle and sort of uplifting listen this weekend, give The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories a spin. 

Welcome to the Pleasuredome – Released on October 29, 1984, Pleasuredome was Frankie Goes to Hollywood's debut album. The English synth-poppers originally issued Pleasuredome as a vinyl double album with some ... controversial ... sleeve art, which you can peruse over here. The record was commercially, but not always critically, successful. The band hit big with two singles – "Relax" and "Two Tribes" – but reviews were mixed at best. Still, it's one of the more fun releases from the 1980s, and "Two Tribes" has, perhaps, even more relevance today.  

YouTube playlists for both albums are embedded below. Let us know your fave tracks! 

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Flashback #1: The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories (October 26, 1984)

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Flashback #2: Welcome to the Pleasuredome (October 29, 1984)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

The Man Who Didn't Know Halloween

Over on my Facebook page, I have been sharing, more or less annually, a holiday post on the night before Halloween – the eve of All Hallows Eve, if you will. I made the first such post on October 24, 2016. Why that date? Well, it was the day after the death of the one and only Jack T. Chick (April 13, 1924 – October 23, 2016). He was the guy who created all those nifty "Chick tracts." 

You do remember those illustrated religious tracts, those little evangelizing booklets, don't you? I sure do!

I love how misinformed and over-the-top they were. But, as a comic book fan, I will admit that Chick's drawing style was very accessible, and it definitely lent itself to storytelling – even if that storytelling was uneven and laughable. Perhaps it was the former aspect, the accessible one, that compelled so many Protestant churches to display Chick tracts in their narthices. At least, I certainly recall seeing them in churches during the 1980s. 

On one hand, Chick might very well have been "the most widely read theologians in human history" – according to Daniel Raeburn, who said that of Chick in his 1998 booklet, The Imp number two (The Holy War of Jack T Chick). On the other hand, Chick was strongly anti-Catholic, hyper-critical of other faiths, and allegedly running an active hate group (i.e. Chick Publications is categorized under "General Hate" by the SPLC). 

Funny that Chick passed in October 2016; I wonder if ol' Jack would have been pleased that he passed so close to his beloved – er, bedeviled – Halloween. He certainly had a thing for the holiday ... and anything he could associate with it.

If you have never read a Chick tract, or if you just want to be reminded of them, jump on over to Paste's "8 Halloween-Themed Chick Tracts to 'Chick Out' This Halloweekend!" (dated October 28, 2016). "Boo!" is #4 on Paste's list. The cover of "Boo!" is this post's lead-in image, and Pages 16-18 of that tract are featured below. And you can read "Boo!" in its entirety at the Chick Publications site, which is *still* very much up and running! 

Plastastic!

 As a Plastic Man fan, I just cannot get over how PLASTASTIC this is!

Image: Screenshot of a post I saw on the bird app. The post showcases a comic shop's new ramp, which is painted to look like Plastic Man, a shapeshifting character from DC Comics, has formed himself into a ramp. 

Friday 80s Flashback for October 25, 2024

[Still Waking Me Up] -- Say it with me: "Jitterbug!" 

Yes, the opening word from "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" had been on the airwaves since May of 1984. But Wham's second studio album, Make It Big, did not hit record stores until October 23, 1984 -- 40 years ago this week! 

And the album made good on its title. Make It Big was a huge commercial success. It peaked at #1 in both the US and the UK, and in several other countries. The album also spawned four hit singles: "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," "Careless Whisper," "Freedom," and "Everything She Wants." All four singles peaked within the top five in the UK as well as in the US. Wham embarked on a huge tour to support the album, traveling around the world between December 1984 and April 1985. 

Flashback: Make It Big (October 23, 1984)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for October 18, 2024

[A Merciful Release] -- I have featured The Durutti Column in a previous Flashback, back on December 17, 2021. That was for their 1981 release, LC. And that album, their second full-length studio release, was a bit more post-punk with some aspirations to dream pop. Their fourth outing, Without Mercy, is our Flashback for this weekend. And while it may still have some elements of the dream pop featured on their prior two releases, Without Mercy is (as Wikipedia describes it) an album-length, two-part instrumental piece. 

Recorded over the course of five days, and featuring classical musicians, Without Mercy has a previously recorded but unreleased track titled "Little Mercy" as its foundation and, we are told, it follows the narrative of John Keats' poem "La Belle Dame sans Merci." The entire album is anchored by a repeating and mournful piano riff, and "Without Mercy 1" really feels like a modern classical piece. "Without Mercy 2" features more guitar, as well as electronic percussion, but it still moves along ambitiously like a post-punk chamber orchestra piece. 

It's just the thing, I find, for reading and relaxing. Even when the second track picks up its pace, and gets kind of busy, it is still far more reflective than rocking. As far as I can tell, there was no US release, but the album was a moderate commercial success in the UK, peaking at #8 on the UK Independent Albums Chart. And it garnered fairly positive reviews. Vini Reilly, the band's leader and primary songwriter, dislikes the record, calling it "Without Merit" in later interviews. I disagree. Perhaps you will as well.

Most releases of this album featured each of the two long-form movements divided into 12 stanzas. The A side was "Without Mercy 1," and its 12 stanzas were distributed among six individual tracks. Side B, naturally, was "Without Mercy 2," and its 12 stanzas were similarly distributed among individual tracks, but this time it was five tracks. For other countries – such as Japan, Spain, and France – each side of the album was one long, continuous track. And that is the playlist I offer you this week. 

Flashback: Without Mercy (October 1, 1984)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!