Thompson Twins OPX

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OK, will do a bunch of OP10's on non-canonical acts from the 80s, and Thompson Twins are first:

1. We Are Detective
2. Hold Me Now!
3. King For a Day
4. Lay Your Hands On Me (original Alex Sadkin-produced version)
5. All Fall Out
6. Doctor! Doctor!
7. Tears
8. If You Were Here
9. Perfect Day
10.Judy Do

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 00:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Question:

How does one determine which version of "Lay Your Hands on Me" is the original version and the "other" version? I ask this because I have heard two versions -- one off a compilation and the other from the video.

I also had no idea Alex Sadkin had produced that -- wow, a Duran Duran connection. He was the one who passed away in 1987, right? I remember that one of the producers responsible for "Seven & the Ragged Tiger" died at around the time the band was working on "Big Thing" and that Simon wrote... geez, I forgot which song he wrote, but IIRC it would be "Do You Believe in Shame?"... in memory of said producer.

Anyway, I prefer the video version of the song, but the version I heard off the compilation (one of the "Living in Oblivion" comps) was really nice as well. I once wrapped Christmas gifts to that particular CD.

― Dee the Lurker (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 02:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Come on, nothing from the first two albums?

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 02:17 (twenty-two years ago)

The original version (single version from December 1984, while the more recent one is the album version from "Here's To Future Days" released in 1985) is slower, the synths in the bridge are higher in the mix, in the chorus the backing vocals is held, "Oh Lay Your Haaaaaaaands" rather than "Oh Lay Your Hands!". And then there is that bass sound that was so typical of a lot of Alex Sadkin productions.

Sadkin produced all of "Quick Step & Sidekick" and "Into The Gap", so he was actually working more with Thompson Twins than he was with Duran Duran.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 09:33 (twenty-two years ago)

As for the two first albums, I haven't even heard them, I think. Possibly a track or two from "Set" ("In The Name Of Love", obviously, which is nice enough, but not quite Top 10 material), but absolutely nothing from "A Product Of".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 09:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe they keep issuing those crappy greatest hits CDs which are 50% trash while the first three or four albums are unavailable on CD. "A Product Of..." is crazy fun! And the cassette versions always had an album's worth of remixes, too.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 10:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe they keep issuing those crappy greatest hits CDs which are 50% trash

No, they aren't. I don't think there has been even a single track from "Trash" on any of them. :-)

while the first three or four albums are unavailable on CD.

I managed to buy albums number 3 and 4 on CD back in the 80s, just after I got myself a CD-player, but I guess they are unavailable on CD by now

As for "A Product Of", I have never heard that one, but I have heard it is kind of Talking Heads-influenced. Is that true?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 11:15 (twenty-two years ago)

"Into The Gap" is still my favorite Thompson Twins song of all time.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 11:18 (twenty-two years ago)

The actual song was called "The Gap", I think. My number 11.

However, most American fans never got to hear the "Sidekicks" album, which was their strongest overall album. "Into The Gap" had a few great tracks (including the first two singles), but it was considerably more patchy as an album than "Sidekicks" was...

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think I could name ten Thompson Twins tunes if my life depended on it, and if I could, they'd invariably be the singles that everyone knows, so why bother.

That said, I do think "Lies" was magnificent, not least for the video homage to "2001, A Space Odyssey."

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 April 2003 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

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