Popdose - Latest Comments in Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

robert — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:51:27 -0000

i don't think their first album "Penthouse and Pavement" is so bad. listen to "geisha boys and temple girls" for example..

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

Retro_Remixes — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:17:56 -0000

Hmm . . . I gotta go with 1985 for the best year of music ever. At the very least it was a year in the '80's.

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

:::theroux — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:50:10 -0000

John, you're on fire. McLaren, Motels, Heaven 17...luv yer tastes.

Couldn't get enough of the "Let Me Go" video. Delightfully low-budge, the aimless meandering through bleak English streets, and that final scene: "I'll turn the last card down", with the dangling telephone. Love that shit.

I bought some greatest hits compilation awhile back, with a horrid version of "Let Me Go". I mean, it was unlistenable. "Luxury Gap" is definitely the way to go, but the only song I feel comes close to "Let Me.." is "Temptation", despite the shrill female vocal.

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

Scraps — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:53:12 -0000

Yep.

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

jsd — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:33:19 -0000

I don't think a week goes by that I don't listen to Penthouse and Pavement or The Luxury Gap. Classic pop music that totally stands the test of time.

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

kokorotrailer — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:48:00 -0000

Wow!, the vid remind me of Last Tango in Paris.

Your features do remind me of Ron Parodi's "Early 80s Songs of the Week" basic "Blog" (with 30 secs .au files attached) back in the 90s. He also cited '83 as the best year for music ever, too.

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

Eric S. — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:26:24 -0000

- I will second the nomination for 1983 as "Best Year for Music Ever"
- I'll also nominate "17" from Foreigner's Head Games album
- Back in the day, I was more of a Human League fan, but I don't find myself going back and listening to this type of music much anymore. Maybe it's just personal preference, because I do still play ABC and Go West once in a while

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

JohnHughes — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:34:09 -0000

Is the version of "Song With No Name" on the Penthouse re-master different than the one on the U.S. Luxury?

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

Scraps — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:57:42 -0000

I still love The Luxury Gap. But the version I fell in love with was the US release, which didn't have "Let Me Go" -- that was on the first US release, along with "Penthouse and Pavement" (which had a corporate espionage video that got a fair amount of MTV play). The US Luxury Gap has "We Live So Fast" and "Crushed By the Wheels of Industry" and "Temptation" and a busier version of "Let's All Make a Bomb" and a version of the wonderful "Song With No Name" that I've never been able to find except the US vinyl (and naturally it's my favorite song of theirs). Plus the brilliant production number "Key to the World", with Earth Wind & Fire horns.

I remember what really set Heaven 17 apart back then -- apart from being generally smarter and more musically complex (and less offkey) than the Human League -- were their great rhythms. The changing drum and handclap patterns in the US "We Live So Fast" are a great example.

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

The Flyin Hawaiian UK — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:03:32 -0000

Yes! I don't know why today is Heaven 17 Day, but apparently it is...on my way to work this morning, 3 H17 songs came up on the ipod completely at random...FWIW, "Temptation" should have been the second US single...

Luxury gap and Penthouse and Pavement are remarkable albums--they wonderfully synthesize synthpop and, well, plain pop so well--I wish they would have followed in this vein, but from How Men Are on they got increasingly bland and Spandau-ish.

But I place their comeback album Bigger Than America alongside their first two; it's a tastefully modernized take on their first two records. Their most recent album was pretty good as well...

My greatest-ever concert was seeing H17 in London (it's the show filmed for the video tracks on their How Live Is CD)--my then-girlfriend and I were in Dublin at the time when we show the (impromptu) show advertised in Time Out--we were going to London anyway, but we immediately went to the airport and caught an early flight to London just to seem them--worth it! (If I remember correctly, they've never toured the US?)

Apologies for the length of post, but H17 are among my absolute faves; it's always nice to see them fondly remembered...

Re: Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

rwcass — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:36:58 -0000

Don't forget Rick James's "17":

How we talked all through the night and never even touched
Even talked of love and life, I wanted her that much
She said she'd read a magazine that said I was a freak
"You'll never know now, little girl, unless you take a peek"

She was only 17
Seventeen
And she was sexy