Communards 'Don't Leave Me This Way'

Chart Peak: 1 (4 weeks)
YouTube

Charted at No. 28 on 19th August, had shot to No. 1 by 9th September where it remained for 4 weeks. The previous (1977) hit versions were by Harold Melvin And The Bluenotes and Thelma Houston.

The first of three Number One singles on Now 8, which doesn't seem a lot for a year with only two volumes but there are always contractual concerns (and the last four chart-toppers of the year all ended up on Now 9 anyway). At least this proved to be the biggest single of 1986, something of a crossover success for the policitised synth-pop duo. I'm not sure whether they covered this as a commercial move, or in attempt to make some sort of point by recasting a disco hit into a Hi-NRG one, though the effect seems to have been the same either way. In the longer term, though, because they repeated the formula to only slightly lesser success with 'Never Can Say Goodbye' it wasn't really until I started doing this project and immersing myself more in 80s music that I realised there was actually more to the Communards than cover versions. It took me long enough to find out that "Communards" was an actual word before they named the band after it.

I'm pretty sure that 'Don't Leave Me This Way' is the first record I can remember hating; if it wasn't that, it was the aforementioned 'Never Can Say Goodbye', but I think I remember the offending track being announced as a Number One before I started shouting "WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH". Quite a surprising reaction, but I suppose I was emerging from the childhood stage where I liked everything that was on the radio, or at worst was simply bored by it. I can't remember at all why I was so offended by this of all tracks, when I can't have expressed a preference for the original(s) or anything like that and I didn't mind plenty of other music from that era that was similar in style and production. I'm sure I wouldn't even have known that the Communards were gay at that age, even if I had been the sort of child who would have objected to that and I'd like to think I wasn't. Almost thirty years on, my critique of this song is a more nuanced one - I certainly don't hate it, I wouldn't even say I dislike it, I just find it a bit weak. Obviously I have over the years acquired a preference for the Philly soul style of the Harold Melvin original and the disco style of Thelma Houston's version over the style of this current version, and I find the arrangement here a bit too simplistic and the production too glossy and harsh, maybe a bit too upbeat and celebratory for the mood of the lyric. I don't think it's a good showcase for the soul of Jimmy Somerville's voice either, and it only really catches fire when he's duetting with the contrasting vocal of Sarah Jane Morris (credited on the single sleeve but not here). Perhaps they could have worked that section up into something more interesting in its own right but the rest of the track is a bit dull.

This is the first track from the vinyl/cassette Now 8 not to show up on the CD version, as it had appeared a few weeks earlier on the CD-only release Now '86 [note the apostrophe, distinguishing this from the Now 86 that was released in 2013] alongside four others that would cross over with the main analogue volume.

Also appearing on: Now 6, 9, 10, 12
Available on: The Platinum Collection

Communards 'So Cold The Night'

Chart Peak: 8

YouTube

Charted at No. 26 on 25th November 1986, had made No. 8 by 16th December. It was the follow-up to 'Don't Leave me This Way', the best-selling single of 1986. For the original version of 'You Are My World' check out Now 6!

That reference is of course because a remixed version of 'You Are My World' was released in early 1987 off the back of their breakthrough success. It didn't do that well, though, and 'So Cold The Night' remains the duo's only self-penned Top 10 hit. It still feels a bit like a cover version though. It doesn't resemble any particular song I know of (the falsetto vocal and parts of the melody faintly resemble 'What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend' by the Special AKA, but not that much); however, the writing doesn't quite seem of a piece with the prevailing style of the time. Even the title is intentionally old-fashioned, and it's a song of longing of a kind you didn't often hear in this era, especially not combined with the rather voyeuristic lyrics that begin and end the song with our protagonist spying on the object of his "affections". At least Jimmy Somerville's vocal brings a vulnerability to the song that makes it sound as much pathetic as threatening.

Again, the track isn't greatly helped by the production, with what's presumably meant to be an exotic Middle-Eastern melody played on synths that make it sound like a cheap home organ. In fact, I just listened to the start of a karaoke version on Spotify and if anything it's actually better-produced than the original. Protip: do not attempt to sing this song at karaoke unless you're Jimmy Somerville. Still, it's at least more distinctive than Curiosity.

Also appearing on: Now 6, 8, 10, 12
Available on: The Collection

Bronski Beat 'Smalltown Boy'

Chart Peak: 3

YouTube

All this year, Radio 2 are running a documentary series called The People's Songs, which makes the lofty claim of revisiting British social history through the lens of popular music. 'Smalltown Boy' was the subject of the latest episode, which offers such a thorough overview of the song and the culture it was released into that it doesn't leave me a lot to say (one reason this post is so late). Coincidentally, the song also shows up in this recent post at the AV Club about adults-only pop videos from the early days of MTV, although the content of this one is notably less salacious than most of the others featured. Interesting side-note that virtually all those videos are by British acts.

For those not in the know, the song was of course the chart debut of Jimmy Somerville, and an early taste of the lyrical themes that resonate throughout his career; it's about growing up gay in a small town and having to move away to a big city to find acceptance and start a new life. But you don't have to be gay or from a small town to be affected by it - strictly speaking, even the Glaswegian Somerville is only one of those things. I was too young to understand or appreciate the song at the time, but whenever I hear it now I'm assaulted by the beautiful sadness of it. Though obviously derived from the disco and hi-NRG sounds popular in gay clubs at the time, the song has a haunted, mournful tone achieved through a simple synthesiser line; the combination of purely electronic instrumentation and emotively human melodies reminds me somehow of Kraftwerk. Only in the middle section does the song break into a more forceful sound, presumably to indicate the Boy's hopes for his new life, and even that's undermined by the fact that Somerville's lyric at this point is "Cry boy cry!" Finally the song goes back to where it started with a repeat of the first verse, which may be intended to suggest that the Boy needs to move on again - or maybe it's addressing a different character, one of the many who found themselves needing this kind of escape and, despite the strides we've made in the past thirty years (and for that matter, the ones we already had in the preceding thirty) still do. Throughout the song, the fact that the lyric is in the second person adds an intimacy, and it's also interesting that the subject matter is never stated directly. Possibly this was to some extent a commercial decision but it does also lend the song a greater universality and perhaps makes it easier for a broader audience to sympathise.

Even though the final fade is a bit of a non-ending, the one significant flaw to the track, Side 2 of Now 3 has a strong claim to be the best-ever side of a Now album. But will Side 3 keep up the quality?

Also appearing on: Now 4
Available on: The Age Of Consent

The Communards 'You're My World'

Chart Peak: 30

YouTube

The first single from ex-Bronski Beat singer Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles. 'You Are My World' entered the Top 40 in late October.

Although there were only two Now albums in 1985, with but thirty tracks between them, a lot of fairly minor hits seem to have crept in. In this case, one presumes that Somerville's past success suggested this would follow suit - but for a while it looked like Now had backed the wrong horse, as the first single by the new line-up of Bronski Beat was the Top 3 hit 'Hit That Perfect Beat', whilst this struggled to make even the top 30. The race isn't always to the swift of course, and the Communards went on to enjoy the biggest-selling single of 1986; even this song did slightly better in remixed form in 1987, though still not a Top 20 hit.

I guess you could see this debut single as an attempt to set out the duo's stall, combining the high-NRG dance music we already expected from Somerville (and of course his distinctive voice) with classically-trained pianist Coles. Curiously, it lacks the obvious political edge of a lot of their previous and subsequent work and if I'm honest there's something slightly half-baked about it which might account for the underwhelming chart performance. Knowing they could do better, I'm slightly underwhelmed.

I don't know for sure whether Coles is the only member of an act on Now 6 to have become ordained as a priest, but I'm fairly confident he's the only one who's had a conversation with my Mum on Twitter. He seems a nice chap. If you're reading this, Rev, sorry I don't like your song more.


Also appearing on: Now 8. 9, 10, 12
Available on: Communards

Jimmy Somerville featuring June Miles-Kingston 'Comment Te Dire Adieu'

Chart Peak: 14

YouTube

After a successful spell as lead singer with Bronski Beat ('Smalltown Boy', 'Why?' etc.) and then the Communards ('Don't Leave Me This Way', 'Never Can Say Goodbye' etc.), Jimmy looks to France for inspration on his solo debut - due for release on 30th October 1989.

Yes, that's yer actual French you know, although interestingly enough the song was originally written in English and had been a US hit for Vera Lynn of all people. It was given a French lyric by Serge Gainsbourg (which I think is his only contribution to the Now series, unless anyone knows different?) and recorded in that form by Francoise Hardy, which is presumably the version Somerville would have known; nonetheless, it seems that he may have been making a point by recording the song in a language other than English, with its attendant commercial disadvantages for the UK market.

Surprisingly for Gainsbourg, the lyric isn't obviously rude, barring any innuendo detectable only to native speakers. It's notable for the many "ex" rhymes - including references to Kleenex and Pyrex; you can take the song out of English, but you can't take the English out of the song. I quite like that image of a Pyrex heart, impervious to warmth, actually. Anyway, the song isn't best-suited to a duet performance, but Somerville and Miles-Kingston sound like they're having a lot of fun (and look like it in the video too, but if they're pretending to be French shouldn't the car be left-hand-drive?). The dancey production doesn't exactly have the sophisticated air of Hardy's version though and the finished article hovers dangerously between entertainment and in-joke.

Also appearing on: Now 17, 18, 31
Available on: Read My Lips

The Communards 'There's More To Love'

Chart Peak: 20

YouTube

Their final hit together, although apparently they never officially split, they just stopped doing things together. And yes, I always thought "than boy meets girl" was part of the title too, but apparently not; perhaps they thought it was a little bit too controversial or something. Even as part of the phrase though, it offers multiple meanings - the obvious one being the possibility that it might be boy meets boy, girl meets girl, boy meets girl who is actually boy, girl and girl meet other girl, etc... and that's certainly the tack taken by the rest of the lyric "But all around there's violence and laws/ to make me think again/ Maybe one day they will understand." And yet if you're young enough or unfamiliar enough with Jimmy Somerville's work before and after this not to make that connection, or even if you hear it far enough into the future for homophobia not be a problem any more (hey, we all live in hope) there's a broader way to understand the concept too: love isn't only about the brief moments that tend be the staples of pop music (and other music, come to that) but also about the joys and stresses of the longer haul.


So far on this blog I've tended to blow hot and cold rather about Jimmy Somerville's tracks, which tend to leave me feeling rather ambivalent. Maybe it's just the way the album's sequenced but this one has impressed me more than others, even though I don't remember especially liking it at the time. What really strikes me now is how joyful it is, something often tried and rarely attained. It makes this song sound less like a lecture than it might otherwise have done and makes this one of his most effective takes on the subject matter.


Also appearing on: Now 6, 8, 9, 10
Available on: The Singles Collection 1984/1990

Bronski Beat 'Why?'

Chart Peak: 6

YouTube (live version)

Another oddly difficult one to track down on YouTube, but I have managed to hear it. I think this might have been the first time I heard it in full though of course I recognised the hook from Supermode's hit. Until then it was heavily overshadowed by 'Smalltown Boy', and I can sort of see why. It certainly grabs the attention (at the start of the album as well as in its own right) with Jimmy Somerville's high-pitched call of "Tell Me Why!", setting the scene for a righteous four minutes of questioning homophobia, set to a powerful dance beat.

It was (and arguably still would be) bold to attack the subject so directly as "Contempt in your eyes as I turn to kiss his lips..." but the nature of the arrangement and performance make the finished article anything but aggressive. Like a lot of Somerville's work, I admire it more than I really enjoy it. Good as it was of them not to repeat the formula of 'Smalltown Boy' directly, I do rather miss the haunting quality that was such a strength of that song.

Also appearing on: Now 3
Available on: Age of Consent/Platinum Collection

Jimmy Somerville 'Read My Lips (Enough Is Enough)'

Chart Peak: 26

YouTube

We've met Jimmy Somerville on this blog before in his famous guise as a purveyor of dubious cover versions. 'Read My Lips', the title track of his first solo album, finds him in the more admirable form of aggrieved campaigner.

So far as I can deduce the subject matter is - not unusually for him - sexuality, and in particular the public response to AIDS. "What we need is money, not complacency!" he trills, before promising that "The power within, we can use it to win". Deeply admirable, and it's certainly a good thing that it got to be so widely heard (I remember it as a big radio hit, despite the surprisingly low chart position). But perhaps in places the desire to make it danceable undermines the impact. Sometimes I wish his obvious talent had found its home in a different musical style, but I guess he knew what he was doing.

Also appearing on: Now 16, 18, 31
Available on: Small Town Boy: The Best of Jimmy Somerville, Bronski Beat & The Communards (Which says For A Friend on the cover, but never mind).

The Communards 'Never Can Say Goodbye'

Chart Peak: 4

YouTube

There's not quite so much ambiguity here as there was on our last entry - the first contemporary record I can remember really disliking was by The Communards, although I can't now remember why. By that I don't mean that it's now a record I find it impossible to dislike, just that I genuinely can't recall what I had against it - in fact I can't really remember whether it was this one or 'Don't Leave Me This Way'. Mainly I just remember hearing it on the radio and shouting "WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH!" for two minutes or so. Now seems a good time to apologise to the band, and indeed to whichever members of my family were at home at the time.

The obvious criticism to level at their two biggest hits as an adult is that they were both cover versions of cover versions: in this case, it's essentially a copy of Gloria Gaynor's disco version of the Jackson 5's hit. But I don't know whether I knew that then, and I wouldn't have cared anyway though I certainly remember grown-ups bemoaning an excess of old songs in the chart at that time. Maybe it was just the name I didn't like. I suppose in a way it's a bit of a rite of passage to realise that some records are more to your liking than others. Two decades later, I don't find it nearly so objectionable, just pointless. I suppose it could be argued that Jimmy Somerville is making a radical move in addressing the lyric squarely at another man, but it's not really all that noticeable in practice.

In response to the many YouTube comments suggesting that some of the people involved in this record might be gay (really?) somebody's said, "The 80's were all about excess, big hair, fun times, and just being yourself!" although even then Somerville wasn't what you'd call long-haired and there's not a lot of excess on display - Richard Coles looks like the Anglican priest he's since become and the whole atmosphere is more office party than decadent feast. Actually, that's rather endearing.

Also appearing on: Now 6, 8, 9, 12
Available on: Very Best of Jimmy Somerville: Bronski Beat and the Communards