Monday, October 17, 2016

Thompson Twins - Close To the Bone - 1987

So, the mature and mellow sounding Thompson Twins.  How incredibly dull.  But, I wouldn't be posting it if I didn't feel that it had some value. 

I was at my cousin's house in a little poe-dunk city in a Great Plains state when we were listening to a local radio program.  They were playing one of those pre-recorded interviews with the band on this album,  and telling us how great it was.  The local DJ got on there, and said that the next ten people would get autographed copies of the record for free.  SO, we jumped on their phone and got in.  Number seven!  She won a free autographed copy of the album!!!!  The next day we go down to pick it up at the station, and they had her the album with some signatures on it.  Cool.  We look closer, and the "autographs" on the record were those of the top local DJs for that station. 

W...T....Fuck!

Class acts, they are.  I will always enjoy some TT whether it be from their very first albums, blockbuster albums or their later ones, well into the Babble years.  The later solo material in the 00s and beyond, meh.  It's not the same.

What surprised me the most on this album was the utter lack of singles and mixes.  The previous albums had 4-5 singles and a huge slew of mixes that could fill discs and discs.  I could barely find enough material to fill one disc, for this one.  Sad, too bad.

Obviously not one of their best, but an essential part of every balanced TT collection.  Gotta have it.

3 comments:

  1. This album kind of broke my heart when it came out. I was so so SO in love with the T.Twins through the early 80's - "Side Kicks" was one of the first 10 cassettes I ever bought at the tender age of 12! They also kicked-off my major (!!!) infatuation with remixes, thanks to their brilliant strategy of making their cassettes 'double-plays' with all of the remixes on the b-side. Oh, how I went crazy for them. Buying every damn 12-inch single, every t-shirt, every poster... seeing them at multiple shows on each tour, buying every bit of merch my meager funds could afford.
    Into the Gap? Fantastic.
    Here's To Future Days? OK, yeah, still diggin' it.
    Close To The Bone? Errr.... what is this?

    And I tried. I tried and I tried, I gave it every benefit of doubt that I could, bought the 12" for GET THAT LOVE and the CD-single (one of my first) for LONG GOODBYE, but.... nope. Nothing. It was like the spark inside of me was dead.
    Occasionally I will still go back and pull out those old 12inch singles and give 'em a spin. I'll never stop loving everything from "A Product Of..." through to "Future Days", and in retrospect I guess that's a pretty solid run.
    I just miss getting giddy hearing those songs. That blissful sheen of youth that amplifies the music as you hear it for the first few hundred times.....

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    Replies
    1. You really have a way with words! I absolutely love that last line as it perfectly describes exactly how I felt as a teenager.

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    2. Well thank you good sir - you really have a way with making an awesome blog! :) Have a great day.

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