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Subject: Thompson Twins
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 02/26/09 at 1:38 am
I was a big fan of the Thompson Twins from the time they broke on U.S. radio in 1982 until my interest waned about five years later. I've gone through subsequent periods of listening to them, but I always run into the same problem. They just don't have enough edge to them. They were talented musicians and they used a lot percussion, especially marimba and xylophone, which Allannah used to play. They had good funky bass lines and recorded with noted Reggae producer Alex Sadkin (1949--1989) at Compass Point, Nassau.
Tom Bailey also performed in experimental percussion groups going back to the 1970s and the earlier incarnations of Thompson Twins.
They had all the elements to be as catchy as a group like the Tom Tom Club...but they got into this rut with syrupy top 40 love songs.
I still love their big hits such as "Doctor, Doctor," "Hold Me Now," and "Lay Your Hands on Me," because of the bass and percussion arrangements, but they soften everything up too much and the vocal refrains are schlock. But I guess this is where they made all their money!
My favorite Thompson Twins songs:
Lies*
The Gap
Love on your Side
Tok Tok
Blind
Oumma Aularesso (Animal Laugh)
All Fall Out
We Are Detectives
Lay Your Hands on Me
Roll Over
8)
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: Midas on 02/26/09 at 9:03 am
My faves:
"Come Inside"
"Nothing In Common"
"Play With Me (Jane)"
"In The Name Of Love"
"Lay Your Hands On Me"
I also like "Love Has No Name" that Bailey and Currie did as Babble. :)
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: CeramicsFanatic on 02/26/09 at 1:59 pm
I liked most of the stuff these guys did. My favorite was 'Doctor! Doctor!' :)
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: woops on 02/26/09 at 2:37 pm
"Hold Me Now"
"King For A Day"
"Lay Your Hands On Me"
"Lies"
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 02/26/09 at 4:14 pm
My faves:
"Come Inside"
"Nothing In Common"
"Play With Me (Jane)"
"In The Name Of Love"
"Lay Your Hands On Me"
I also like "Love Has No Name" that Bailey and Currie did as Babble. :)
I heard the Babble CDs, but alas, I found them wanting for excitement. That's what I'm on about; there's no reason Babble had to be bland.
TT had a marvelous sense of style, lots of zest and color. The marketing departments often dressed '80s bands up for MTV, but if the artists themselves had no sense of it, the style-makers could only make them appear costumed. This is why so many '80s bands look silly today. There's a difference between silly and motley (I don't mean Crue). Thompson Twins were always fun to watch.
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: Fairee07 on 02/26/09 at 8:11 pm
"Hold Me Now" was a cheesy song but it's one of my guilty pleasures. :)
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: johnny5alive on 02/26/09 at 10:42 pm
love em! saw the lay your hands on me tour in 1986! great show all around! with omd as an opening act too! :)
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: Ashkicksass on 02/26/09 at 11:35 pm
I'm only familiar with the hits that everyone has mentioned...but I can still sing them word for word. They're great. Especially "Lay Your Hands on Me."
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: whistledog on 02/26/09 at 11:43 pm
My favourite is still 'King For A Day' as that's the one that I grew up hearing the most :)
1983 - Lies
1983 - Love on Your Side
1983 - We Are Detective
1983 - Watching
1984 - Hold Me Now
1984 - Doctor! Doctor!
1984 - You Take Me Up
1984 - Sister of Mercy
1984 - The Gap
1985 - Lay Your Hands on Me
1985 - Don't Mess With Doctor Dream
1985 - King For A Day
1985 - Revolution
1986 - Nothing in Common
1987 - Get That Love
1987 - Long Goodbye
1988 - In the Name of Love '88
1989 - Sugar Daddy
1991 - Come Inside
1992 - The Saint
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 02/28/09 at 12:26 pm
love em! saw the lay your hands on me tour in 1986! great show all around! with omd as an opening act too! :)
Oh lucky you! I had tix but my ride got sick and crapped out so I ended up sitting at home watching "Blazing Saddles" on TV!
OMD was the opening act; I wanted to see them even more than TT!
:\'(
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: karen on 02/28/09 at 3:27 pm
My favourite is still 'King For A Day' as that's the one that I grew up hearing the most :)
1983 - Lies
1983 - Love on Your Side
1983 - We Are Detective
1983 - Watching
1984 - Hold Me Now
1984 - Doctor! Doctor!
1984 - You Take Me Up
1984 - Sister of Mercy
1984 - The Gap
1985 - Lay Your Hands on Me
1985 - Don't Mess With Doctor Dream
1985 - King For A Day
1985 - Revolution
1986 - Nothing in Common
1987 - Get That Love
1987 - Long Goodbye
1988 - In the Name of Love '88
1989 - Sugar Daddy
1991 - Come Inside
1992 - The Saint
Are you sure The Gap didn't chart in the UK? Because I know the song and I didn't own any Thompson Twins records
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 02/28/09 at 5:40 pm
Are you sure The Gap didn't chart in the UK? Because I know the song and I didn't own any Thompson Twins records
"The Gap" might have charted high on the UK dance/club charts without entering the singles charts. That often happened in the '80s with the way the industry compiled data for the charts. I'm not sure about radio formatting in the UK, but in the US it was possible for individual stations to push one song or another in a given market without the record company pushing the song for airplay.
For example, radio stations around Boston were gave heavy airplay to Jonzun Crew's "Space Cowboy" in 1983, though the song never hit the Top 40. Of course, it helps when the act is local, as Jonzun Crew was native to Boston.
Perhaps a better example for Boston would be Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force's "Planet Rock," who were from the Bronx. "Planet Rock" saw little, if any, chart action nationally, but it was a huge hit on dance-oriented Kiss 108 FM in Boston.
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: Lenra on 11/13/09 at 6:56 am
Aren't people forgetting the ever haunting If You Were Here? Granted I wasn't born in the 80s and only started getting interested in 80s culture around three years ago (90s child here) but when I heard this song at the end of Sixteen Candles, this song sealed the deal for me. In watching so many 80s teen movies, I felt this song one of the few that really culminated what the period was about.
Even though I knew Hold Me On longer, it was too cheesy for me, something like Spandeau Ballet's True. A cliche clincher for any movie now trying to emulate the 1980s. I did Like Storm of the Sea too, thought it was one of there last great songs. I personally thought they were going for more of the New Wave romantic experimentation, something like a mix of A Flock of Seagulls and Cocteau Twins, but they lost it with the endless ballads. Probably would have sold better in the very late 1980s.
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 11/18/09 at 2:25 pm
Aren't people forgetting the ever haunting If You Were Here? Granted I wasn't born in the 80s and only started getting interested in 80s culture around three years ago (90s child here) but when I heard this song at the end of Sixteen Candles, this song sealed the deal for me. In watching so many 80s teen movies, I felt this song one of the few that really culminated what the period was about.
Even though I knew Hold Me On longer, it was too cheesy for me, something like Spandeau Ballet's True. A cliche clincher for any movie now trying to emulate the 1980s. I did Like Storm of the Sea too, thought it was one of there last great songs. I personally thought they were going for more of the New Wave romantic experimentation, something like a mix of A Flock of Seagulls and Cocteau Twins, but they lost it with the endless ballads. Probably would have sold better in the very late 1980s.
I've been listening to my old T-Twins records over the last few days and I agree with you about the ballads. Tom Bailey would have been better off, artistically speaking, if he had gone in a more Tom Tom Club direction with a mix of Afro-pop, funk, Boogaloo, and New Wave, the elements of which are in T-Twins classics such as "Lies" and "The Gap." You can even here these types of musics as the base of ballads such as "Hold Me Now" and "Lay Your Hands on Me." The problem with the ballads is the lyrics were sappy and the choruses were prom vomit. Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway were fine musicians, but you find Tom Bailey doing edgier stuff with earlier line-ups, such as the West African rhythms and chants found on "A Product of..." ("Oumma Aularesso " and "Vendredi Saint"). You also don't find hit singles for radio, a living for the artists, and a profit for the record company, so that was a problem. Thompson Twins didn't see their first UK Top 40 until 1982 ("Love On Your Side" #9), and their first US Top 40 the same year, ("Lies" #30), with the first US top 10 coming over a year later ("Hold Me Now," #3). Currie and Leeway had joined the line-up for the 1981 album "Set," however, they were billed as a seven-piece then. In fact, the whole "trio" act was a smart marketing hype and sound business decision. They were never a trio, they just had three credited band members. The rest of the musicians became studio sessioners or touring band members. This meant more cash for Tom, Alannah, and Joe. Especially for Tom, and by extension, Alannah because the two of them were an item. I've always believed this was part of why Joe Leeway split from the band after "Here's to Future Days."
BTW, "If You Were Here" is a great song. John Hughes (RIP) had good taste in eighties pop.
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: Henk on 11/18/09 at 2:57 pm
1982 - In The Name Of Love
1983 - Lies
1983 - Love on Your Side
1983 - We Are Detective
1983 - Watching
1984 - Hold Me Now
1984 - Doctor! Doctor!
1984 - You Take Me Up
1984 - Sister of Mercy
1984 - The Gap
1985 - Lay Your Hands on Me
1985 - Don't Mess With Doctor Dream
1985 - King For A Day
1985 - Revolution
1986 - Nothing in Common
1987 - Get That Love
1987 - Long Goodbye
1988 - In the Name of Love '88
1989 - Sugar Daddy
1991 - Come Inside
1992 - The Saint
Not particularly popular in Holland, as you can see... But I do like all of their Dutch hit singles.
Subject: Re: Thompson Twins
Written By: Chasey on 12/01/09 at 7:01 am
Thompson Twins are one of those 'hit and miss' bands for me. Loved the sheer presence of 'Doctor Doctor' and 'You Take Me Up', but in all honesty found 'Hold Me Now' and 'Love On Your Side' just darn right irritating.....