Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Lost in the ’80s: Heaven 17

by John C. Hughes

lit80s.gif

Heaven 17In 1983 (The Best Year For Music Ever!) Heaven 17 must have been inspired by the worldwide smash success of Human League Mark II’s Dare LP. Since splitting with the League and singer Phil Oakey, Ian Marsh and Martyn Ware had recruited Oakey soundalike Glenn Gregory to form Heaven 17, scoring some hits in the UK, but nothing near Dare’s level. Listening to their second album, The Luxury Gap, you can sense the trio upping their game to compete. The songwriting takes a giant stride forward, as songs like “Let Me Go” are more focused on hooks than synth wizardry and dancefloor domination.

“Let Me Go” was only a minor hit in the UK, but it was the closest Heaven 17 came to a breakthrough in the States, charting in the 70s, but garnering significant airplay on KROQ and other cutting edge New Wave radio stations of the time. When it came time for a follow-up, you’d think the logical choice would be “Come Live With Me,” a Top 5 smash in the UK. “Come Live With Me” (download) was a ballad in the classic canon of pop songs about Skeevy Old Guys With Underage Girls — judging by this tune, along with Winger’s “17″ and Bill Summers & Summers Heat’s “17,” that seems to be the magic age all these songs decide it’s “okay” to lust after a teenage girl:

I was thirty-seven
You were seventeen
You were half my age
The youth I’d never seen

A 20-year spread — yowza. Vocalist Glenn Gregory sort of vindicates himself with a bit of self-realization and a nice twist of phrase later in the song:

Dinner parties followed
And all my age implies
My friends began to talk
I began to realise
If half the things they say
Are quarter true of me
Then how can I eclipse the youth
You gave to set me free

So, was “Come Live With Me” selected as The Luxury Gap’s second single in the U.S.? Nope. “We Live So Fast” (download) got the honor, a frenetic ode to the fast-paced ’80s lifestyle. The single was remixed for American radio, downplaying the hyper sequencers on the album version and beefing up the beat — that superior version is the one featured here (direct from my little 45 to you). Sadly, despite a video being shot specifically for the U.S. (which is not on YouTube at the moment), “We Live So Fast” didn’t fare as well as even “Let Me Go’s” anemic charting, failing to even crack the Hot 100.

If you don’t own it already, The Luxury Gap is a fantastic album, packed with hits — besides “Let Me Go,” “Come Live With Me,” and “We Live So Fast,” it also includes “Temptation” and “Crushed By The Wheels of Industry.” Caroline Records put out a sumptuous-sounding deluxe remaster two years ago that’s packed with 12″ versions (except for the U.S. single and 12″ mixes of “We Live So Fast,” drat it!). It’s still in print and pretty darned cheap.

“We Live So Fast” peaked at #102 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Chart and at #34 on the Club Play Singles Chart (as a double A-side with “Temptation”) in 1983.

Get Heaven 17 music at Amazon or on Heaven 17

Tags: , ,

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 11:30 am and is filed under Lost in the '80s, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • robert
    i don't think their first album "Penthouse and Pavement" is so bad. listen to "geisha boys and temple girls" for example..
  • 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.
  • :::theroux
    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.
  • jsd
    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.
  • 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.
  • Eric S.
    - 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
  • 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.
  • JohnHughes
    Is the version of "Song With No Name" on the Penthouse re-master different than the one on the U.S. Luxury?
  • Yep.
  • thefxc
    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...
  • 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
blog comments powered by Disqus