Monday 15 December 2008

Limahl 'Only For Love'

Chart peak: 16

YouTube

Four tracks in and we get the first song I hadn't heard before. Of course I know that Chris Hamill adopted an anagram of his surname for professional purposes. And I remember his other solo hit 'Never Ending Story' (which was from 1984, so obviously not to appear here). It's a somewhat smaller hit than you might expect; but then as it reached its peak position in mid-November perhaps the compilers were expecting a further climb.

Sometimes when you look up an unfamiliar song you find out it's one you've always known. That's not the case this time though - I really really didn't recognise this one, so I might have to watch it again to get a fair impression...
I realise this video is supposed to be be funny, but it's still impressive that Limahl's haircut isn't the most Eighties thing about it. You don't get the impression they were working with quite the same budget as Duran Duran, although they still managed a spy-related plot that doesn't make sense. Actually, on closer inspection it looks like he might be supposed to be an alien.

On repeated plays, this does prove itself to be quite catchy. But there's so little substance to it that it's difficult to care about it, or even to dislike it properly. Curious voice he has there.

Even though he only managed one more hit here, there's something oddly admirable about his tenacity in continuing to work, particularly in other parts of Europe.

Also appearing on: Now 4.
Available on: Very Best of Kajagoogoo and Limahl

No comments:

Post a Comment