SotD82 - Part 3

Inspired by our series of articles looking back at music released 30 years ago, Jimmy Hunter takes a step further back in time to give us some more Songs of the Day from 40 years back, SotD82...

Find Jimmy's other SotD82 articles here

If, like me, you remember this first record, do you also remember thinking “what a Siouxsie rip-off”? [No – Ed]. Fortunately, I’d heard the record before I saw them on Top of the Pops… and then they were gone. The Mobiles had their 15 minutes of fame, quite literally [No, not literally, is it?? – Ed], with Drowning In Berlin. A synth-pop effort that had/has since been tagged as New Wave and New Romantic – neither of which I believe – that, when you listen to it now, seems very much of its time. It is, however, a good record, having in its possession quirky lyrics, a punchy beat with good electro-synths.

We didn’t know it then (nor did the band), but Paul Weller was about to call time on The Jam, a little later in the year. A Town Called Malice is a great record and signifies Weller’s departure from punk/”post punk” and we get an insight into the amazing songwriter he’d become. In fact, it’s almost as though you can hear You Can’t Hurry Love in the depths of the instrumentation. Malice is also an excellent record about the dire hopelessness of being working class during Thatcher’s time in office. Precious is a delightful mix of styles and when I listen to it now, none of what I get from it I got back in 1982 and I feel that this track in particular, has stood the test of time.

Superb live version of Malice from back in the day:

Precious, live on The Tube: 

Ok, you didn’t actually believe that this selection would all be considered “deeply cool”, did you? [Oh God!!! – Ed]. It was my mother, at the time, who said that this “ridiculous record” was an “utterly laughable” version of a very good rock’n’roll record. I liked this record for 2 reasons – its camp, don’t give a f*ck approach, and the fact the lead singer appeared on TOTP in only a loin cloth. Around for the briefest of moments, and a laugh, were Tight Fit with an unlikely falsetto vocal and ridiculously CATCHY melody (mother!!) on The Lion Sleeps Tonight. [we are SO sorry - Ed]

One of the things I like doing with these articles and reviews is putting on display and giving snippets of life 40 years ago. I do try and vary the content in terms of live performances etc, but sometimes you just need to lose yourself in the official music video to see what got us going back then. An example of that is the 3rd single from Soft Cell’s superb debut album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye generated some comedy back then and now it would generate memes and gifs, no doubt. The record is a solid vehicle for lead singer Marc Almond’s unique vocals and there’s a stark reference to Divine’s first film, Pink Flamingo in the first line, but you know what? I’d normally comment on what’s going on here, and the lyrics and video both tell a story, but I’ll let you immerse yourself and, like us at the time, make up your own story to it…