With a name that will always be synonymous with a certain style of haircut, it’s often easy to forget that A Flock of Seagulls were fairly major players in the early ’80s electronic scene and gave us some memorable hits … read more
It’s hard to think of another act that has remained successful for so long while simultaneously polarising opinion as Depeche Mode. Since they veered off the commercial synthpop route sometime in the mid ’80s, they’ve spent over thirty years commanding … read more
The frustrating thing about the chart is that while it’s an accurate gauge of record sales – or at least it was until very recently – it doesn’t necessarily reflect talent. It’s not fair, but it’s never been fair. Since … read more
As a naive youngster in the early ’80s, knowing little of the pop world beyond what got played on Radio 1 and Top of the Pops, the Independent Singles chart at the back of No.1 magazine every week was quite … read more
Okay, we may be stretching the boundaries of our remit by reviewing this new 4CD box set from Cherry Red. You may even consider the idea of Fox being an ’80s act to be one of those “alternative facts” we … read more
Against the run of play in the spring of 1988, for one glorious, solitary week Fairground Attraction had the UK’s number one single. Replacing the recycled disco of Theme From S-Express at the top of the chart, their first release … read more
Which is worse: being a one hit wonder, or having one hit so huge it dwarfs your other work and leaves you branded a one-hit wonder even though you had two other top twenty hits? Jermaine Stewart falls into the … read more
On the 25th November 2016, Cherry Pop released Wanted: The 3CD Deluxe Digipak Edition, a reissue of Yazz’s classic 1980s album. The accompanying press release states “This 3 CD Edition includes the 11 album tracks from the original CD released … read more
A top thirty album in the US and top ten in Japan, Basia’s third solo album failed to chart in the UK. Now it’s back as a deluxe triple CD edition courtesy of the fine folks at Cherry Red records. … read more
Everyone knows the story by now. Sheffield synth nerds form band, achieve modest success, band splits, singer with lopsided hairdo has to fill touring obligations, recruits two girls he sees dancing in a nightclub, takes world by storm. So here … read more
Where did it all go wrong for Simple Minds? Those in the know will happily tell you that “their early stuff was quite good,” and indeed some of the more unconventional material on their first few albums drew favourable comparisons … read more
By rights Animal Nightlife should have been huge, at least for a while. Darlings of London’s jazz-funk scene, they released a couple of singles on the infamous Inner Vision label (which came a cropper when labelmates Wham! dared to query … read more
