Showing posts with label Bronski Beat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bronski Beat. Show all posts

Sunday, May 10, 2020

7_Songs: Jimmy Somerville

In 1984 the documentary Framed Youth: The Revenge of the Teenage Perverts was awarded with the Grierson Award for Best Documentary. The aim of this documentary was to raise awareness about homosexuality to wider audience. Jimmy Somerville was part of this project and his very emotional performance of "Screaming" in the documentary sure helped Somerville in further propelling his career in music. Richard Coles with whom he would form The Communards in the second half of the 80's was also part of this project and at this time, Jimmy already knew and used to hang out with Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek which will eventually turn into a Bronski Beat formation. A base and frame for Somerville's music career in the 80's was set. 
His body of work, counting in his international success with both Bronski Beat and the Communards, makes 9 studio albums and almost 30 singles. This includes some of the most selling singles of 1984, "Small Town Boy" and "Don't Leave Me This Way" from 1986.
On top of this, Jimmy Somerville remains as one of the early advocates for LGBT rights and freedoms of the 80's who proved that pop music is more than just for commercial selling and that it can be used as a vehicle to revolutionize certain ideas.



Small Town Boy (Bronski Beat) 
"Smalltown Boy" is Bronski Beat's signature song which gained huge success all over the world in 1984. Different than the usual trend with pop songs, this one had a profound meaning that meant an empowerment of gay liberation driven on the wings of seminal synth-pop instrumentation. In fact, the synth riff became a classic and has ever since the original release been borrowed and remixed in each decade, most notably by Groove Armada "History" in 2010 and Brandon Flowers "I Can Change" in 2015.


Why (Bronski Beat) 
"Why" was released as the second single and even though it could not follow the steps of its predecessor, it still managed to enter the charts in most of the countries in the world. Yet again, a song was dealing with anti gay sentiment feed even more by the growing anti AIDS hysteria and stigmatization. The music video was sort of a multi stage drama in a supermarket and portrays heroism against sentence and sin. Musically on the opposite, "Why" was even more energetic and among the dance floor killers in clubs across Europe.


Ain't Necessarily So (Bronski Beat) 
With the third single "Ain't Necessarily So", Bronski Beat took a different turn by covering a song that was originally written for George Gershwin's opera in 1935. Since its original release, the song has received many different treatments, mostly jazz or rock, but Bronski Beat’s was the first band to deliver a pop interpretation. The cover sleeve art was a parody of The Wizard Of Oz with Dorothy having the head of the devil.


Don't Leave Me This Way (The Communards) 
Jimmy Somerville, now under the Communards flag with Richard Coles, has had his second career peak in the 80’s with yet another cover version and their take of “Don’t Leave Me This Way”. Joined by the jazz singer Sarah Jane Morris, the band delivered a version that was more tuned to hiNrg dance pop. The song was again a huge success in Europe and even 30 years after its original release, it was voted by the British public as one of favorite 80's Number ones in UK history.


For A Friend (The Communards) 
The Communards' opus is mostly remembered by wider audiences for their hiNrg and synth pop hits. In 1987 however, the duo released “For a Friend” which was a real standout in tempo and form. The song was written in the memory of the gay activist Mark Ashton, a friend of Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles who died of AIDS aged 26. A following dedication appears on the album:

"Mark Ashton 1961-1987...it is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."


Read My Lips (solo)
After Somerville and Cole parted their ways, Jimmy went on to pursue his solo career and released his debut solo album Read My Lips in 1989 and the single of the same name followed in 1990. It was not such a big chart success like the previous singles with the Communards, but again it was  call for action as the song discussed the need for increased funding to fight HIV/AIDS.


Some Wonder (solo)
In 2015, Jimmy Somerville returned with his sixth solo album titled Homage. It's probably Jimmy's best solo album in terms of musical production which pays tribute and goes back to the roots of disco music and celebrates the diversity of styles the genre had to offer. There was not an official single release, but Emanuel Franzel directed the official video for the song "Some Wonder".


For the complete Jimmy Somerville discography, as documented in music videos, please check the following the playlist below.

Jimmy Somerville / Bronski Beat / The Communrds Playlist

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Bronski Beat to Release the 'The Age of Consent' for a new Generation

Bronski Beat's founding member Steve Bronski has teamed up with singer Stephen Granville for an expanded reworking of 'The Age Of Consent'. The reworked version will be entitled 'The Age Of Reason' and will include reworked version of most of the songs from the original album plus three brand new tracks. The Age Of Reason comes seven months after original keyboardist Larry Steinbachek died. The original lead singer Jimmy Somerville left the band in 1985 and formed a partnership with Richard Cole as the Communards. After they disbanded he has enjoyed a successful solo career. The Age Of Reason will be released on 28 July 2017. 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHqkaoZzjGs

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Jimmy Sommerville's Video and Rarities Compilation Announced

Edsel has announced the release a Jimmy Somerville compilation, 'Dance & Desire • Rarities & Videos' in November. This compilation brings together music and videos from across Somerville’s career beginning with Bronski Beat, moving through the Communards and then Jimmy’s solo career. The story turns full circle with the inclusion of "Smalltown Boy (Reprise 2014)" a new version of the classic track with an accompanying promo film. 'Dance & Desire • Rarities & Videos' includes rare remixes (and videos) not compiled on the previous deluxe reissues, most notably the original twelve-inch versions of 1984 hits "Smalltown Boy" and the full ‘Son Of Gotham City’ mix of "Don’t Leave Me This Way". 'Dance & Desire • Rarities & Videos' will be released on 17 November 2014.

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/jimmy-somerville-dance-desire-rarities-videos-2cddvd/



Thursday, July 31, 2014

Best of 1984 - Top 50 Singles List

The growing popularity of Michael Jackson which started in 1983 also set foot in 1984 especially after the video for "Thriller" was released. Even though the content of the video was controversial at that time, it was also groundbreaking and it revolutionized the music industry and the world of pop by breaking down the racial barriers and transforming the music video into a work of art.
Even at the other end of the Atlantic the 1983 started with a small scandal which involved Frankie Goes To Hollywood who got banned by BBC for almost a year due to the explicit lyrics in the and provocative video for their biggest hit "Relax". Despite this fact, the band managed  to have major success around the world with their debut album "Welcome to the Pleasuredome". This was also the first big success for ZTT Records and three times platinum in the UK. Towards the end of the year the Frankie Goes to Hollywood ban was slowly lifted and "Relax" was the ultimate anthem of 1984 introducing the Frankie Says Relax trend. 
With the growing popularity of MTV, in 1984 the first MTV Music Awards were given away at the  Radio City Music Hall in New York. Among the winners were Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Herbie Hancock. Madonna has not been up for awards, but manged to make prominence and shake the pop world with her performance at the VMA's. 
Just ahead of Christmas when 1984 was in the fade out, a group of musicians headed by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure got together for a good cause forming Band Aid. This was a group of musicians who recorded a song to raise awareness and funds for the Ethiopian famine in 1983–1985. It included more than 40 musicians and it sold over two million copies around the globe and raised more than $24 million. 
 Towards the end of the year New Gold Dream which could easily be translated as the golden era of new Wave slowly began to vanish and became clear that the new musical term was Pop.

 The following Top 50 represents the result of the 'Best of 1984 - The Album list' from 2014 together with our in-house votes.
 
Updated: 08/2020


01. Bronski Beat- Small Town Boy 
02. Echo & The Bunnymen- The Killing Moon 
03. Talk Talk- It’s My Life 
04. Prince- When Doves Cry 
05. Billy Idol- Eyes Without a Face 
06. Cyndi Lauper- Time After Time  
07. Leonard Cohen- Dance Me to the End of Love  
08. Dead or Alive- You Spin Me Around 
09. Duran Duran- New Moon on Monday 
10. Alphaville - Big in Japan 
11. A-ha- Take on Me
12. Prince and the Revolution- Purple Rain
13. Madonna - Borderline
14. Pet Shop Boys- West End Girls '84
15. Gary Numan- Berserker
16. Siouxsie and The Banshees- Dazzle
17. Eurythmics- Here Comes the Rain Again 
18. Frankie Goes To Hollywood- Two Tribes
19. The Smiths- What Difference Does it Make  
20. The Style Council- Shout to the Top

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Edsel to Reissue Albums by Bronski Beat and The Communards

Edsel Records have announced the brand new Bronski Beat/ The Communards reissues for this summer. The reissue package will include the first album by Bronski Beat, Age of Consent and Hundreds And Thousands as a remix album. It will also include both albums by the Communards, their self titled debut and Red and their live album Storm Paris, originally released on three 12” singles. The albums will be released as slip-cased 2 CD edition and some tracks will be available on CD for the first time. The booklet will contain the lyrics, photos, singles sleeves, and a note from Jimmy. 

www.demonmusicgroup.co.uk/Artist/Communards
www.demonmusicgroup.co.uk/Artist/BronskiBeat
 

Friday, August 26, 2011

80's Duets: Bronski Beat & Marc Almond

Bronski Beat who had huge international success with "Smalltown Boy" in 1984 were joined by Marc Almond, a year later and released their own version of Donna Summer's classic "I Feel Love". The full version of the song also featured parts of "Love to Love You Baby" and John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me". It was a success and reached #3 in the UK.

 

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