How well do you know your music? Let’s find out with a quiz that accompanies this week playlist.
The subjects du jour are : Swans Way, The Undertones, Elton John, Then Jerico, Hot!House, Sade, Simple Minds, Glass Tiger, Hue & Cry, Pat Benatar, Black, Regina
They are the performers of twelve vintage love songs that were ranked in various charts, this week (05/52) but in the Eighties 80s.
For TWENTY FOUR more ‘L’Amour Toujours’ – Vintage 80s Music Videos – week 05/52 – click here and here
Tracklist
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1 . Swans Way – Soul Train“Soul Train” by Swans Way emerges as an eccentric and captivating artifact of 1984’s pop landscape. The track, a quirky blend of smooth vocals and jazzy instrumentation, stands out with its theatrical flair and distinct rhythm. It’s a song that straddles the line between vibrant melodrama and understated elegance, a mix rarely channeled with such conviction. Though the band dodged direct jazz influences, the track saunters with a smoky sophistication that feels both familiar and fresh within the pop framework of its era. Its curious misheard lyrics, like the infamous “salty beef stroganoff” quip, underline the playful quality of this release. The accompanying music video and televised performances only heightened its mystique, presenting the trio with a polished and slightly surreal charm. While their career was short-lived, Swans Way’s moment on “Top of the Pops” and “The Tube” etched a small, flamboyant mark in the British music scene. This is less a forgotten gem and more a peculiar relic—odd, stylish, and a touch ineffable. Featured on the 1984 album “The Fugitive Kind”.
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2 . The Undertones – The Love Parade“The Love Parade” by The Undertones casually strolls into the indie pop realm of the early ’80s, delivering melodic instrumentation wrapped around lyrics oscillating between bittersweet yearning and celebratory undertones. Released in October 1982 and landing humbly at number 97 on the UK Singles Chart, it signals a period of transition for the band as they flirt with soul and Motown influences—a shift from the punk roots that made them household names in certain circles. The song enjoys its quirks but doesn’t exactly knock on the door of timelessness. Still, it’s decent enough to feature on various Undertones compilation albums and primary digital platforms. What stands out is the warmth of Feargal Sharkey’s voice layered over tight rhythms, a sound that may not be groundbreaking but remains satisfying in moderate doses. It captures a snapshot of ‘80s moods, floating somewhere between nostalgia and experimentation. It doesn’t scream for attention, and that low-key charm is half the point. Featured on the 1982 album “The Sin of Pride”.
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3 . Elton John – Cold As Christmas [In The Middle Of The Year]Released in 1983, Elton John’s “Cold as Christmas (In the Middle of the Year)” unexpectedly swaps the cozy cheer suggested by its title for something far more somber—a portrait of love on ice, set against a paradoxical tropical backdrop. Written alongside his long-time collaborator Bernie Taupin, the lyrics unravel a tale of a fractured relationship, where the searing heat of the Caribbean summer does little to thaw the emotional cold war between two estranged lovers. The vivid contrast between the balmy scenery and the wintry chill of the couple’s dynamic adds layers to an otherwise conventional heartbreak narrative. Musically, the track leans on the polished chemistry of Elton’s classic bandmates—Davey Johnstone on guitar, Dee Murray on bass, and Nigel Olsson on drums—while Kiki Dee’s backing vocals lend an understated warmth that offsets the song’s disenchanted core. This isn’t a song aiming for grand emotions or sweeping melodies; it’s more of a quiet lament. Subtle piano refrains and moody guitars underscore the track, giving it a brooding, contemplative texture that feels less about resolution and more about resignation. Though it peaked modestly at Number 33 on the UK charts, “Cold as Christmas” finds itself comfortably nestled in Elton’s voluminous discography—appearing on later compilations like “Elton: Jewel Box.” It remains a reflective relic from a period in his career known for leaning into emotional transparency without the bombast of his earlier hits. The track doesn’t demand to be a holiday favorite or a chart-topping single; instead, it quietly embodies heartbreak’s peculiar ability to linger no matter the season or setting. A winter chill in the heat of June—that contradiction is the song’s lasting impression. Featured on the 1983 album “Too Low for Zero“.
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4 . Then Jerico – Big Area“Big Area” by Then Jerico stands as a defining moment of late-‘80s new wave, brimming with ambition and urgency. Released on January 16, 1989, the track hit number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, cementing its brief dominance on the airwaves. The soaring anthem doubled as a highlight in the science fiction film *Slipstream*, an odd pairing with Mark Hamill post-*Star Wars*, and found an unlikely second life as RTE’s golf programming theme throughout the ‘90s, proving it had hooks even on the green. Gary Langan’s production sharpens the dramatic undercurrents while layering cinematic textures, befitting its placement in a dystopian movie backdrop. The accompanying video mirrors the song’s grandiosity with bold, sweeping visuals, amplifying its high-stakes emotional tenor. The title single propelled Then Jerico into their peak era, with the album *The Big Area* climbing to number 4 on the UK Albums Chart—a momentary victory lap complete with Gold and Platinum accolades. Thematically, the track radiates restless energy, trying to capture the monumental space it craves without ever truly filling it. It feels both massive and fragile, like ambition perched on the knife’s edge. This fusion of unbridled ambition and polished hooks echoes an era when new wave flirted with pop pomp, and the result is a glittering, guilty flash in the pan whose verses still resonate for those who linger on its shimmering edges. Featured on the 1989 album “The Big Area”.
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5 . Hot!House – Don’t Come To Stay“Don’t Come to Stay” by HotHouse pounds out its message with a moodily deliberate pace, positioning itself firmly in the British soul scene of the late ’80s. The track carries a forlorn sense of longing, heightened by Heather Small’s rich, emotive vocals, which radiate both strength and vulnerability. While the arrangement leans on traditional balladry, the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio recording adds an undercurrent of gritty, polished authenticity, a nod to its Southern production roots. The 1987 original struggled commercially, peaking just outside the UK Top 70, and even its 1988 reissue barely nudged it forward in the charts, landing at a still-underwhelming #70. Though radio largely turned its back, critics whispered their approval, with murmurs of the track’s place on HotHouse’s debut album, *South*, suggesting the band’s potential. Its music video, modest and understated, reinforces the song’s intimate atmosphere but steers clear of overly bombastic sentimentalism, keeping it grounded. The song teeters between timeless intent and dated execution, coming across as a quiet gem in a period overly eager for neon excess and synthetic beats. Despite its lack of accolades or memorable live breakthroughs, “Don’t Come to Stay” endures as a curious snapshot, where classic soul brushed against the shifting tides of late-’80s pop culture.
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6 . Sade – Is It A Crime“Is It a Crime” captures the tension between vulnerability and defiance, wrapped in the sultry sophistication Sade is known for. The track is a jazz-pop torch song from their 1985 album “Promise,” where longing drips through each lyric—a confessional outpouring directed toward a former lover. Sade Adu’s voice carries the weight of unreciprocated love, her phrasing oscillating between a haunting softness and moments that nearly fracture under the song’s emotional strain. There’s a deliberate slowness to the rhythm, almost as if giving the hesitant narrator space to measure their arguments against their own doubts. Stuart Matthewman’s saxophone serves as a second voice throughout: mournful, piercing, and occasionally resembling a retort to Adu’s pleas. It’s less a song and more a reclamation of heartbreak as both private agony and performance art, leaving listeners to grapple with conflicting sympathies. The music video, a stylized visual echo of the narrative, extends its world-building, while a live rendition from a San Diego performance amplifies its emotiveness, proving that heartbreak truly aches harder in real-time. Although its modest chart position dampened mainstream commercial impact, the track carves out its own understated legacy, bypassing awards and accolades to remain intrinsically tied to Sade’s mystique. Featured on the 1985 album “Promise“.
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7 . Simple Minds – Speed Your Love To Me“Speed Your Love to Me” emerges as a piece both immediate and layered, encapsulating the pulsating momentum of 1984’s rock ambitions. A product of Simple Minds’ “Sparkle in the Rain” era, it showcases their transition toward a more thunderous, emotionally raw soundscape. Marked by its driving rhythm and the urgency of Jim Kerr’s vocal delivery, the track flirts with the idea of longing manifesting as velocity, with the repeated plea to “speed your love” amplifying its restless tension. The song owes much of its texture to Kirsty MacColl’s backing vocals, an addition that subtly threads a haunting contrast to the track’s relentless propulsion. The lyrics skim the edge of abstract, jumping between bursts of romantic intensity and cryptic imagery like “flames that go higher and higher.” While its verses churn like a storm, the hook provides a brief, almost melodic extraction, keeping listeners anchored as the emotional stakes escalate. Chart-wise, it stalled at number 20 in the UK—a modest reflection of its ambition, though the accompanying HD-remastered video now seems intent on prolonging its resonance in the digital age. Still, its true significance lies less in its rankings and more in its role as a bridge—carrying Simple Minds from their earlier, sparser phases toward an era defined by bigger, brasher gestures. “Speed Your Love to Me” doesn’t just ask you to keep up—it shoves you into its frenetic, emotive whirlwind. Featured on the 1984 album “Sparkle in the Rain”.
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8 . Glass Tiger – SomedayReleased in 1986, “Someday” by Glass Tiger is a contemplative pop rock ballad marked by its crisp production and emotive undertones, courtesy of co-writer Jim Vallance’s polished touch. Melodically soft yet rhythmically steady, the song anchors itself in themes of relational uncertainty and transient hope, effortlessly blending catchy hooks with a layer of introspection. Its lyrics, penned by Alan Frew and Al Connelly, tread familiar territory—expressing yearning through accessible sentimentality that borders on cliché without overindulging. Charting impressively, it cracked the top ten in the U.S. and had a solid run internationally, though one might argue its Canadian success felt slightly inflated by hometown bias. The accompanying video, directed by Storm Thorgerson, juxtaposes mundane telephone exchanges with the band’s dynamic stage presence, a choice as perplexing as it is strangely engaging. A genre staple of its time, the song nostalgically represents mid-’80s pop-rock while occasionally feeling trapped by its own era’s sonic limitations. Featured on the 1986 album “The Thin Red Line “.
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9 . Hue & Cry – Looking For Linda“Looking For Linda” by Hue and Cry is a masterclass in late ’80s pop-soul, fusing a narrative-driven lyrical approach with lush, jazz-inflected production. The song, lifted from their sophomore album “Remote,” showcases the Kane brothers’ knack for blending poignant storytelling with catchy melodies, a formula that brought them UK Top 40 success. Pat Kane’s lyrics reportedly emerged from a chance meeting, crafting a portrait of a woman navigating autonomy with striking immediacy, while Greg Kane’s arrangement wraps the tale in a sophisticated pop framework. The track’s thematic undercurrent—rooted in longing and personal agency—pairs effortlessly with the buoyant rhythms, which refuse to weigh down despite the gravitas of the subject matter. Its playful yet earnest music video complements the song’s narrative arc, adding visual texture without overwhelming its understated elegance. Though it avoids major accolades, the song endures as emblematic of the band’s ability to bridge cerebral artistry with accessible charm. “Looking For Linda” remains an evergreen entry in their catalog, balancing literate songwriting with rhythmic vitality that resonates decades later. Featured on the 1988 album “Remote”.
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10 . Pat Benatar – One LovePat Benatar’s “One Love” emerges from her 1988 album “Wide Awake in Dreamland” as a curveball for fans accustomed to her rock anthems. The track shifts focus from personal resilience to a broader commentary, touching on the struggles faced by communities in Africa. Its layered instrumentation and somber tone deviate from Benatar’s earlier seismic hits like “Love Is a Battlefield.” The lyrics wield a rare earnestness, threading unity and compassion into the DNA of a genre often preoccupied with rebellion and individualism. Neil Giraldo’s production leans on calculated dramatics, creating an almost cinematic backdrop that underscores the track’s message. Commercially, “One Love” didn’t roar; its modest ascent to number 59 on the UK charts hints that its ambitious themes may not have gripped mainstream audiences. Yet, the accompanying music video, later included in her 2003 “Choice Cuts” collection, aligns visually with its global consciousness. While it never claimed superstar status within Benatar’s discography, the song is a study in artistic sincerity, proving that even a rock icon can embrace nuance at the expense of mass appeal. Featured on the 1988 album “Wide Awake in Dreamland”.
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11 . Black – Now You’Re Gone“Black” by Pearl Jam exemplifies the band’s knack for translating raw emotion into memorable soundscapes. The track thrives on its haunting melodies and Eddie Vedder’s impassioned vocals, which teeter between anguish and quiet reflection. Emerging from their 1991 debut album *Ten,* the song sidesteps traditional verse-chorus structures, opting instead for an escalating wave of intensity that mirrors the heartbreak it narrates. The lyrics, steeped in vivid imagery, dissect the aftermath of loss with a poetic edge that never tumbles into sentimentality. While *Ten* propelled Pearl Jam to rock’s upper echelons, “Black” has since ripened into a fan favorite—even without being released as a single. The song’s layered guitar work, courtesy of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, underscores its elegiac tone, making its omission from radio playlists seem almost intentional, as if guarding its intimacy. Its resonance transcends time, a cornerstone in the catalog of a band that’s always worn its vulnerability proudly. “Now You’re Gone” by Black marks a contrasting chapter, tapping into a quieter, melancholic vein from the *Wonderful Life* album. Colin Vearncombe’s soft, introspective delivery embodies the lone narrator, lamenting a relationship that lingers as a ghostly presence. The production, helmed by Dave “Dix” Dickie, favors minimalism, with subdued instrumentation framing a voice weighed down by resignation. Unlike its chart-topping sibling “Wonderful Life,” the song feels less concerned with commercial appeal and more intent on telling a story—emotional rawness supplanting polish. Its modest chart performance (peaking at 66 in the UK) doesn’t overshadow its artistic weight, though it remains somewhat eclipsed in the public memory. Vearncombe’s lyrical approach leans on simplicity, allowing the emotional undertow to carry the track without veering into lyrical excess or melodrama. Both pieces dwell in the realm of loss but interpret it divergently—one through a grunge-tinged howl, the other a quiet elegy. Featured on the 1988 album “Comedy “. |
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12 . Regina – Baby Love“Baby Love,” a 1986 pop-dance single by Regina, radiates an infectious blend of upbeat rhythms and romantic energy. Originally pitched to Madonna, who declined it, the track was penned by Stephen Bray, Regina Richards, and Mary Kessler and ultimately became Regina’s signature (and only major) hit. Its pulsating beat and layered production, courtesy of Bray, seamlessly align with the glossy, radio-friendly aesthetic of mid-80s pop. The song’s trajectory on the charts was striking: dominating the dance charts and cracking the Top 10 on the *Billboard* Hot 100, a feat few artists achieve with such brevity in their careers. Its crossover to the *Billboard* Soul Singles chart adds another layer, even if its peak position there—number 30—didn’t mirror its pop success. The accompanying music video, unveiled in February 1986, encapsulates the track’s effervescence, full of vibrant, kinetic visuals that cemented its era-specific appeal. Regina’s brief moment of chart glory underscores the fleeting nature of pop stardom—a one-hit wonder status that looms both as a triumph and irony for “Baby Love.” The parent album, “Curiosity,” failed to maintain the momentum, peaking only at number 102 on the *Billboard* 200. Still, the track exemplifies the shiny allure of ’80s dance-pop, offering four minutes of sheer escapism while leaving an undeniable mark on the genre’s commercial landscape.
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And the correct answers (in case you missed one or two) are:
1. “The Love Parade” is from “The Sin of Pride,” The Undertones’ fourth studio album. It marked a shift towards soul and Motown influences for the band.
2. “Cold as Christmas (In the Middle of the Year)” takes place during a Caribbean summer, highlighting the irony of its title versus the sunny setting.
3. “Big Area” by Then Jerico was featured in the film “Slipstream,” a 1989 science fiction movie starring Mark Hamill.
4. Hothouse’s album “South” was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, a location famous for its soulful sound history.
5. In “Is It A Crime?” the love interest is named Temor. This narrative connects it with another Sade song, “The Sweetest Taboo.”
6. Kirsty MacColl not only added her vocals to “Speed Your Love To Me” but also helped resolve its arrangement puzzle.
7. “Someday” won a Juno Award for Single of the Year in 1987, adding to Glass Tiger’s accolades.
8. “Looking For Linda” was inspired by Pat Kane’s real-life encounter with a woman taking control of her life, quickly translated into song.
9. “One Love” by Pat Benatar highlights unity and love, focusing on hardships faced by people in Africa.
10. Pearl Jam’s “Black” appears on their debut album “Ten.” Despite not being a single, it’s one of their most beloved tracks.
11. “Baby Love” enjoyed dance chart success, topping the dance charts before crossing over to the pop singles list.
12. “One Way” can be found on “Levelling the Land” by the Levellers, an album that boosted their indie music community appeal.
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