heaven 17 - penthouse and pavement, the luxury gap, how men are
it's all about the timing. if these albums had been given the big remaster/extra tracks effort a few years ago i suspect that people would have recoiled in fear of getting shoulderpad whiplash. as it is in 2006, i reckon that the clockwork orange loving politically motivated pop-art experiment that spun away from the human league actually makes a lot of sense. giant glenn gregorys rich vocals are perfectly matched by the rich cinematic studio production created by machine boffins martyn ware and ian craig marsh, often time stamped by the omnipresent 80's horns, aphrodisiac backing vocals and the synths, but as is the way, we have discarded our bad memories, and can now just enjoy the classic pop for what it is. and yes, each of these reissues includes several absolute 80's pop classics that take in soul music, electropop, orchestral showtunes (the breathtaking 'the best kept secret'), and so much more besides. the debut album, 'penthouse and pavement', with its thatcherite hatred and synthesizer overload still stands up as a superb debut but the lack of the infinite vinyl runout groove chant 'for a very long time' feels weird having spun the record many times over the years. then there is the more polished production of the world conquering 'the luxury gap' with the widescreen production making 'crushed by the wheels of industry' positively shine and shake the woofers. fantastic stuff - even with the big cliche drum sounds this album has several moments that still sends shivers up my spine. the band were on a roll, scored massive success with the gospel tinged drama of 'temptation', and generally proved that pop could be big and clever.
i will be the first to admit however, that not all works (the overly cringesome pop of 'sunset now' - those damn digital 80's horns!), but when you drop the 10 minute finale of their 'how men are' album, 'and thats no lie', the air of resignation, regret and exhaustion is palpable, making the false endings even more dramatic - almost sounding as if the the band knew their moment had passed.
as is to be expected, each of these reissues comes backed with superb new sound, and various 12" remixes, some of which are very worthy and prove that underneath the pop excess of the later records they still enjoyed twisting the chart friendly genre.
now if only pop could be this interesting again ..