The collaboration by Martyn Ware, Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory produced one of the great unacknowledged albums of this period, The Luxury Gap was a masterwork of brooding pop synths interlaced with mature socio-political lyrics and a slice of dance floor grooviness. Pop fans of the period really only remember them for the big hits like Temptation while the purists will snub this album for the brasher debut album – Penthouse and Pavement.
Born out the demise of the original line-up for The Human League, they were always the bridesmaid to the fey disco sounds of Oakey et al. I’m not for a minute saying that Dare is in any way a worse album, its just that The Luxury Gap was a bit more grown up. Far funkier than The Human League part 2 and with the genuine satire of tracks like Let’s All Make a Bomb. This was fine, enjoyable song writing of a kind that they would never match.
Heaven 17 - Let Me Go (mp3)
9 comments:
I always thought this was their best album.
P.S. Wasn't Let’s All Make a Bomb on Penthouse and Pavement?
"Stop for a beer in St Mark's and watch the world go by for a while" he says. £14. Fourteen Pounds. For a 33cl bottle of beer. I said no and made my excuses and left. Although I left on the duckboards up the middle of the square, all alone and kind of showing off a bit.
Mick - yeah your right and I'm a twat. Adam - £14 seems such a small amount for an hour sat in quiet contemplation at such a spot. Ahem.
Yes, congratulations for your blog.
Very much looking forward to Parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 btw.
*months later* It's not going to happen though, is it?
...and by the way there's a nice Dance Mix of Track 8 from this album over here...
See, leave it idle long enough and you attract unscrupulous spammers...
I know it isn't really any consolation but he very, very often says 'I could write a blog post about that'. And I say 'but you won't'.
Post a Comment