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Jason Maloney reviews
V o l u m e # 0 2 Week Commencing: 02nd February 1987 Online Date: 03rd February 2005
The Cost of Loving
TSC’s third studio long-player proved the turning point for Paul Weller’s post-Jam outfit. A combination of consistently strong material and a loyal fanbase had kept The Style Council in the Top 10 or thereabouts from 1983’s opening salvo Speak Like A Child right up until It Didn’t Matter, the first single from The Cost Of Loving which had just reached #9 as the new album hit the shelves.
Then, it all went pear-shaped in a hurry. A customary Top 3 entry was, on this occasion, followed by an almighty drop-off as the album plunged down the Top 100. The critical backlash didn’t help, with concerns aired over the record’s lack of inspiration.
Opting to issue one of the least commercial tracks, Waiting, as second single hardly aided matters either (it duly bombed at #53, the first time TSC fell short of the Top 40 completely), although in truth The Cost Of Loving is not, and indeed was never, as bad as all that.
Midnight to Midnight
1986 saw the Furs finally land a UK Top 20 single with a re-recorded Pretty In Pink, from the John Hughes teen film which had taken its name from the band’s minor 1981 hit. The new version was duly added to Midnight To Midnight although the album was put back from its original Winter ’86 release date, perhaps due to the failure of follow-up single Heartbreak Beat to crack the charts in anything like the same manner.
New Year came but Angels Don’t Cry couldn’t do any better, so when Midnight To Midnight finally arrived some of the commercial momentum had evaporated.
Nonetheless, it still achieved a career high of #12 on its first chart week, tailing off sharply afterwards. Overall, the songs betray singer and main songwriter Richard Butler’s self-confessed writers’ block, but tracks such as Shock and the towering All Of The Law joined the trio of singles as highlights of a rather forgotten album.
Bad & Dangerous to Know
Another album held back in the hopes of a bigger hit single, Dead Or Alive‘s third album had been ready to go in the early Autumn of 1986 when its introductory single Brand New Lover was underperforming in the lower reaches of the Top 40.
Deciding that a #31 peak wasn’t enough to launch the album with, Epic waited until the second 45, Something In My House, put Dead Or Alive back in the Top 20 and then set Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know loose on the British public.
For all their singles success in 1985, including the #1 You Spin Me Round, the band never translated it into major album sales. A #26 debut was the best the new record could manage.
Greetings from Timbuk 3
Ah yes, who remembers The Future’s So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)? One of the great lost singles of the 80s, and a respectable-sized Top 30 hit on both sides of the Atlantic, it brought the quirky Timbuk 3 to the world’s attention for a brief moment in time.
Coming on like John Cougar Mellencamp meets They Might Be Giants, Timbuk 3 scored a very minor follow-up success with Hairstyles & Attitudes, and then disappeared off the chart radar for ever.
Page Content copyright © Jason Maloney, 2005.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.