eric Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 This is a band that flew pretty low on my radar over the years. I remember one of the hits "Let Me Go" from back when it was first on the radio and maybe MTV. In more recent years, I've grabbed some of their albums on vinyl and have become a pretty big fan. The songs "Penthouse And Pavement" and "Who'll Stop the Rain" plus "We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang" are all very cool new wave synth pop with some great bass playing and synth textures. I know a couple of the members hail from Human League, which is a band I also like a lot but have not celebrated their entire catalog. Any comments to share on Heaven 17 from the peanut gallery? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Zeger Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 You probably know the origin of the band name, from A Clockwork Orange: The height of their popularity was when I did college radio and I found them more interesting than other synth bands of that time. I probably gravitated towards groups with singers influenced by Bryan Ferry or David Bowie. Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 was more from the Ferry school. I dont intend to change the topic but, if you like Heaven 17, have you listened to Japan? [video:youtube] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthoid Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 I don't remember the band but just gave this tune a listen and was transported back to the 80's. Good memories. [video:youtube] When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 The first album was the strongest, but in its original UK version -- the eventual US release was bastardized with the wrong songs and radically different mixes or takes. It has its own value but loses the cohesion of the Side A and Side B "stories" of the original. I felt the band didn't maintain the energy and passion that Human League did after the split, partly because, in my view, Philip Oakey is a more compelling and natural singer than Glenn Gregory, who always seems a bit affected and over-thought. At the time though, I was intrigued by all the stylistic changes in "Let Me Go", as it reminded me a bit of one of my favourite Beatles songs, "Happiness is a Warm Gun". But I think Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh were better as producers than performers overall, and we can all thank them for saving Tina Turner from an abusive husband and giving her the confidence for a solo comeback. There were a few interesting songs later on, but much of their later work was tepid; whereas Human League didn't remain prolific but still put out some great stuff into the 90's and beyond, and is an excellent and energetic live band (using real musicians vs. synths). I have a soft spot for the pre-split material as well; especially "Empire State Human", which reminds me a bit of the third movement of ELP's "Karn Evil Nine". Also, some of their strongest material got cut from the US releases and/or was released as 45's, on anthologies, or involved guest singers. The transition single during the split is truly bizarre -- it's an ode to Tom Baker, a Doctor Who actor, and I did my own orchestral arrangement a few years ago as I began to discover some hidden depths in the piece that weren't given justice due to the rushed nature of the single (they had to prove they were still viable after the two perceived as the main artists split to form Heaven 17). Probably my favourite Heaven 17 song is "I'm Your Money", whose main lyric refrain of "Buy this, buy that" is translated into many languages and repeated in sequence. As I know all those languages, it was fun for me to cycle through them while listening. As for the band name, it always made me uncomfortable that it was borrowed from "A Clockwork Orange", which I consider one of the most evil films ever made, by a director I despise for his control freak personality and how he treated people (my favourite director, Robert Altman, is Kubrick's complete opposite, and it's sad he died so young). Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico Bari, Dano Bari Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, LP 57 Gold, G5422DC-12, T486, T64, PM2, EXL1, XK4, Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Japan is an interesting group, as are the projects that followed it. They started out as sort of a punk-influenced glam band with Euro-disco influences, then started using actual Asian musical vocabulary in their music, and shifted gradually towards ambient music. I like it all. Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico Bari, Dano Bari Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, LP 57 Gold, G5422DC-12, T486, T64, PM2, EXL1, XK4, Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was probably the first hyped-up-tempo post-punk song (and might have inspired Dead or Alive's style), and has some great examples of "guitar" and "bass" playing that are idiomatic of the actual instruments but are mostly done on synths. They may have been the first group to pull that off realistically, and it's a big reason why a lot of people in the R&B community started looking to them as producers. That was also my first 12" single, I think, except maybe Paul McCartney's "Coming Up" came out first (or was it "Goodbye Tonight" that had the longer version with additional horn breaks and one more additional non-album song?). I was astounded at the audio quality of 12" virgin vinyl (vs. the recycled crud used by most US released albums) played at 45 rpm. And I still am; Heaven 17's 45rpm 12" singles, and Duran Duran's, are still WAY more dynamic than any subsequent CD releases (hire Steven Wilson!). Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico Bari, Dano Bari Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, LP 57 Gold, G5422DC-12, T486, T64, PM2, EXL1, XK4, Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthoid Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Tom Baker, a Doctor Who actor The best Dr. Who actor. When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Dan Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Tom Baker, a Doctor Who actor The best ONLY Dr. Who actor. Dan Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthoid Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Agreed. :-) Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico Bari, Dano Bari Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, LP 57 Gold, G5422DC-12, T486, T64, PM2, EXL1, XK4, Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric Posted September 3, 2018 Author Share Posted September 3, 2018 Wow, what a lot of great responses! This band is very low key and only had a glimmer of pop radio success, so I was not expecting much love here other than knowing their history and synth stuff would probably appeal to a few. Mark S, I'm conflicted on the Clockwork Orange reference. Yes, it is an evil film. But it was based on a book that was just that evil and I think SK did a good job of delivering the novel's evil. I have a weird infatuation with the whole thing due to the fact that when I was a young kid my dad had the soundtrack (brilliant on its own) on vinyl and I listened to it a lot and stared at the weird images on the album cover at probably too young an age. Later in life, as an English major I wrote a thesis comparing the book and film for a great professor's class called "Fiction Into Film" where I also did the same for "Heart of Darkness" and "Apocalypse Now" so that stuff has been part of me for 40+ years. I had no idea on the Heaven 17 connection to Clockwork Orange until recently and not sure it's all that important, but anyways... They have a series of great songs and I felt like they were worth mentioning in a thread here. Thanks for contributing! As for Japan, I just recently stumbled onto them and need to listen more. Next up...Haircut 100 and Talk Talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Yeah, I had forgotten the Heaven 17 reference was from the book and not just in the movie, so that makes it a slightly more interesting choice. And yes, it's not all that pertinent, except that when people bring it up again, it sort of brings up some nightmares for me, as we had a very similar set of incidents in my high school town around the time of the film. As for later Heaven 17 material, I actually consider their 1988 and 1996 (?) albums to be consistently strong throughout -- it's mostly the third album that was weak in my view, and a bit the fourth as well. There's an amazing duet they did with a somewhat well known R&B singer -- I think Teddy Pendergrass -- that I can't find at the moment as I think I only have it on vinyl, including a 12" single. Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico Bari, Dano Bari Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, LP 57 Gold, G5422DC-12, T486, T64, PM2, EXL1, XK4, Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthoid Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Next up...Haircut 100 and Talk Talk. Talk Talk is one of my favorite 80's bands. Looking forward to the discussion. When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Haircut 100 is greatly underrated. Some amazing horn section work on those songs, and Nick Heyward had a diverse solo career, bouncing from style to style, with a strong band each time (I saw him live a few times). The band continued without him, and the playing was great but the material was lacking, so they folded after it flopped. Talk Talk also had a strong musical background and some very powerful and innovative arrangements, with tempo and time changes and some unusual modes, as well as very distinct instrumentation and confusion over what was a synth and what was a processed natural instrument. They got jazzier the longer they went, and their live versions are generally more free form and passionate even than their studio work, but the composition quality fell off rapidly after the third album, unfortunately. Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico Bari, Dano Bari Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, LP 57 Gold, G5422DC-12, T486, T64, PM2, EXL1, XK4, Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthoid Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Talk Talk also had a strong musical background and some very powerful and innovative arrangements Two favorites: [video:youtube] [video:youtube] When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Dan Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Don't forget this one: [video:youtube]6hHnOBlwU3A As for Haircut 100, I'm sure most here have heard this one: [video:youtube]5_msHpEa3_Y Dan Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthoid Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Ah, the glorious MTV days. [video:youtube][ When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timwat Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Talk Talk remains one of my favorite bands. I first caught their sinewy bass line on It's My Life (thankfully, when No Doubt covered it they left the line intact), but for me their magnum opus is their last release, Laughing Stock. It's not at all like their earlier synth pop work. It's at times spare and free, at others dense and noisy. Lyrics are cryptic and at times indecipherable. It's improvisational and sweeping and seemingly unstructured. It has been described as 'post rock'. Having gotten out of their contract with EMI and signed with Verve, they locked themselves for 8 months in the studio, often recording in pitch darkness to provide an environment for themselves and a long list of guest musicians to freely improvise over spare, basic forms. Digital editing then wove together what has been hailed as the first great 'post rock' record, variously described by critics in terms ranging from 'self indulgent' and 'It's horrible' to 'a rare thoughtfulness' and 'haunting, emotional, deeply personal'. I adore it. I'm sure some here will hate it, or dismiss it, it's not everyone's cuppa. For sure, it's not a quick listen. It demands patience, your full attention, and rewards your investment of time. One of my favorite records. .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Dan Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Ah, the glorious MTV days. [video:youtube]Hh94FG5Q_j8 Dan Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovernorSilver Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 My aunt gave me Talk Talk's It's My Life on cassette for my birthday - turned out to be one of the best presents I ever got. Great lyrics and production. Lots of unique synth tones too - read that Jupiter 8 was used to for the "animal roar" sounds and other leads, DX7 for the flute stuff, and OB-Xa for the pads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthoid Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Don't forget the Fairlight. When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovernorSilver Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Reverb.com's take on It's My Life - I'm more interested in "Call In The Night Boy", "Tomorrow Started", and "Such a Shame" from the same album; but the video might be interesting nonetheless. They say the Fairlight was used for the choir sound. https://reverb.com/news/the-synth-sounds-of-talk-talks-its-my-life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 "Such a Shame" is right up there, and "Talk Talk" is my favourite of their early tunes. So what did they use for the warbly oboe-like sound on "It's My Life"? Was that a Fairlight, or did they pump a real oboe through some effects? I've played that song a gazillion times, and it's very fun on bass and a bit of a challenge to sing while playing (more so than Duran Duran, which I nail). I had to make a backing track for it though, for many of the sounds -- though I did try to sneak them in live while using just one hand to play the bass with hammering techniques. :-) No Doubt mostly left it intact, with minor revisions to the bridge. But when I saw Gwen Stefani on a split bill with Sting a couple of years ago, they had mutilated the bass line and taken away its prominent contribution to the harmonic theory of the song. Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico Bari, Dano Bari Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, LP 57 Gold, G5422DC-12, T486, T64, PM2, EXL1, XK4, Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Next up...Haircut 100 and Talk Talk. I'll throw these into the mix for later too: The Fixx OMD Killing Joke Icehouse Wang Chung Go West Front 242 Yazoo (aka Yaz) China Crisis Nick Heyward Ministry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Dan Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Simple Minds Psychedelic Furs Icicle Works Dan Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 I still think Alison Moyet was the best singer that Vince Clarke worked with. Very soulful, and a deep and expressive voice compared to Gahan or Bell (or the one-off bands in between). Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico Bari, Dano Bari Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, LP 57 Gold, G5422DC-12, T486, T64, PM2, EXL1, XK4, Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Dan Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 I still think Alison Moyet was the best singer that Vince Clarke worked with. Very soulful, and a deep and expressive voice compared to Gahan or Bell (or the one-off bands in between). I would have to agree, though I'm a pretty big Erasure fan. I would say his days in Depeche Mode were my least favorite, though I'm a big post-Clarke DM fan. Dan Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Simple Minds Psychedelic Furs Icicle Works I was trying to stay off the "mainstream" path, but definitely all three of those were huge for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Dan Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 So The Fixx, OMD, Wang Chung, and Yaz weren't mainstream? Dan Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 OMD was an acquired taste for me, excepting a couple of their songs that appealed across many sectors of music fans. I gave them another chance a number of years ago, as the bandleader for my currently-dormant Moonlife synth-pop project, considered them his favourites and his biggest influence. What I found (and this also goes for their later material, after they re-formed), was that I suddenly agreed with reviewers of the early 80's who called them the "soul" of the New Wave/Synth-Pop movement. Somehow, I'm feeling more range of emotions, and at greater depth, than with most of the other bands of the era. A good introduction to OMD, if you're not into the more industrial side of things (which they dabbled in a bit here and there), would be their most melodic anthem, "We Love You". Even though "If You Leave" might be better-known, it's a bit too MOR for me. But there are some super-strong songs off of their 90's albums that should have gotten more airplay. I do remain a fan of their fairly blippy early music, which shares some traits with super-early Human league (including the period when they were known as "The Future"). Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico Bari, Dano Bari Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, LP 57 Gold, G5422DC-12, T486, T64, PM2, EXL1, XK4, Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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