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Thread: 80s pop-synth

  1. #51
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    Quote Originally Posted by trurl View Post
    http://www.wikiupload.com/TMMC4DCTIYPT6UX

    So here's a link to a cover of Nik Kershaw's Wouldn't It Be Good by a local girl named Candace Nichols. Forgive me for the self-promotion but it's just such a damn good song and no one has ever really heard this version; the cd it's from was never released on any physical format and even her download site was never promoted. She did an album of cover songs, mostly from the 80s and I basically insisted she do this song. I did the track, played everything and did back-up vocals. The idea was to try and keep it very 80s but up the groove a lot, like it was done by some other 80s band, a funkier one. I still tried to keep the synth vibe the same. Let me know if you like it!
    I didn't listen to it because when I clicked the link, it said I had to sign up for a free trial, which is often a red flag for me. But now that others have checked it out, I'm feeling peer pressure. Tell me that I don't have to provide credit card info and I'll give it a listen!

    Quote Originally Posted by luvyesmusic View Post
    Maybe I'll attach the clip of Nick performing this song with a horn section that rocks.
    That was awesome, thanks!

    That tune was Nik's only Top 40 hit in the US, although I understand he had several hits in Europe. Here in America, the record label was trying to push it so hard that they stuck it on his second album (The Riddle) as well as his first (Human Racing). It still didn't fly and Nik's albums became import only here. I wasn't even aware that he was still making albums until a bass player friend turned me on to the next two ("Radio Musicola" and "The Works"), a few years after the latter had been released.

    My favorite thing about "Wouldn't it be Good" is that he sings the verse over the last chorus section and it works even though it's over a whole different chord progression. Kershaw is a clever guy!

  2. #52
    Quote Originally Posted by No Pride View Post
    I didn't listen to it because when I clicked the link, it said I had to sign up for a free trial, which is often a red flag for me.
    No, you don't, you can just click the link and download the file, but that site sucks and I wouldn't use it again.

  3. #53
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    Quote Originally Posted by trurl View Post
    No, you don't, you can just click the link and download the file, but that site sucks and I wouldn't use it again.
    Done! Nice job! Pretty faithful to the original, but of course, her voice is quite different than Nik's. I liked the synth solo too!

  4. #54
    In full support of those trying to devolve this into a Kershaw thread, here's the synthiest pop song I know -


  5. #55
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    Quote Originally Posted by undergroundrailroad View Post
    In full support of those trying to devolve this into a Kershaw thread
    Guilty as charged.

    I'm not exactly a fan of synth-pop or electronica-pop in general, but some music is just so good that it transcends genre classification.

    I know this is a thread about '80s synth-pop, but there's a contemporary artist who sorta fits into that synth/electronica/pop category that I'm crazy about; her name is Imogen Heap. Aside from a few cameo appearances from guest musicians, she's a do-it-yourselfer; writes, sings, plays, arranges, produces and engineers her stuff in her London flat. Her orchestral synth arranging alone is enough to love, but she's also a great songwriter and her voice gives me goosebumps! She's apparently a classically trained pianist who mastered ProTools by the time she was 12. Turns out she's friends with Kershaw and has thanked him in album liner notes.






  6. #56
    More towards modern techno, but awesome.


  7. #57
    BTW, we did a few other fun 80s songs on the Candace project- Don't Forget About Me, Easy Lover, Pop Goes My Heart (fake 80s song from the movie Words And Music), Higher Love (Steve Winwood), Eternal Flame... I don't want to derail the thread in a different direction but if anyone wants to hear one for a laugh I'll post a link...

  8. #58
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    I don't think anyone has yet mentioned A-ha in this thread.

    It infuriates me that in this country they are known for only one song - Take On Me. I thought it was pretty cheesy, though I liked the introductory riff. Since then I have learned there was much more to them than this song, most of it far superior. this song for example:



    and this one, which was topping the local charts when I was in Oslo in 2009:

  9. #59
    If we are talking about Norway, how about Bel Canto?

  10. #60
    A lot of this stuff is catchier and better than I remember it being back in the day.


  11. #61
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    What vinyl have you all got in this & similar fields (synth-pop, synth-rock, new romantics, dance, techno, industrial, EBM)?
    On my vinyl shelves I've got LPs by:

    ABC
    Alphaville
    Arcadia
    Black
    Cabaret Voltaire
    Classix Nouveaux
    The Danse Society
    Depeche Mode
    Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft
    Duran Duran
    Einsturzende Neubauten
    Erasure
    Eurythmics
    Fad Gadget
    Frankie Goes To Hollywood
    Front 242
    Gang of 4
    Heaven 17
    The Human League
    Icehouse
    Japan
    Kraftwerk
    New Order
    Nitzer Ebb
    OMD
    Roxy Music
    Simple Minds
    Soft Cell
    Spandau Ballet
    Ultravox
    Visage
    Yello

  12. #62
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    If you listen carefully to the guitar playing on some of the tracks, it sounds like Andy Taylor's getting his Fripp/Hackett thing on.
    I always thought the guitar lick from "New Religion" was a lift from "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

    I'm very much into the Fixx's "Phantoms" these days. Jamie West-Oram had a really unique guitar sound which defined the band's overall sound far more than synthesizers did (sometimes I wonder what the heck keyboardist Rupert Greenall is playing, if anything). A very harsh, angular, percussive sound that still remained melodic and involving, complemented perfectly by Cy Curnin's raging soul vocals. Of all the eighties stuff I used to be into, besides Duran Duran, the Fixx is something that still gets regular play from me.
    "Arf." -- Frank Zappa, "Beauty Knows No Pain" (live version)

  13. #63
    Quote Originally Posted by ThomasKDye View Post
    I always thought the guitar lick from "New Religion" was a lift from "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

    I'm very much into the Fixx's "Phantoms" these days. Jamie West-Oram had a really unique guitar sound which defined the band's overall sound far more than synthesizers did (sometimes I wonder what the heck keyboardist Rupert Greenall is playing, if anything). A very harsh, angular, percussive sound that still remained melodic and involving, complemented perfectly by Cy Curnin's raging soul vocals. Of all the eighties stuff I used to be into, besides Duran Duran, the Fixx is something that still gets regular play from me.
    Rupert Greenall was and is a master at atmospherics. He doesn't often approach his parts as a typical "keyboard player", but more as a synthesist in the truest sense of the word. Richard Barbieri had a similar approach in JAPAN and his work with Sylvian and related projects. Greenall's parts in songs like "The Fool" "Opinions" and "Outside" are spine chilling.

    I agree that West-Oram is a unique and fantastic guitar player. A very nice guy also, shy and humble.

  14. #64
    Quote Originally Posted by klothos View Post
    If we are talking about obscure bands, two of the more obscure 80s synth pop acts that I also thought were two of the best in that genre were Camouflage and Cause and Effect......
    After reading your post and others about Camouflage I bought the CD with "Great Commandment" and really enjoy it. Although they sound almost identical to early/mid 80s Depeche Mode, they somehow manage to not sound contrived and the songs and performances are quite strong and I don't feel I'm listening to a bunch of copyists. The singer sounds like a mixture of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, and Noel Burke(sang on 1 Echo and the Bunnymen album).

  15. #65
    Talking about The Fixx, I always dug that intro to Stand Or Fall. Great chiming guitar tone that he had on that. I remember back in the day, I heard a DJ segue from Who Are You (yes, The Who song) seamlessly into Red Skies. I dug that segue so much that I tried to recreate it once on Journey Of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, though I think I was slightly less successful (I hesitated about a beat too long before starting Red Skies). I'll have to try it again one of these days.

  16. #66
    Hard not to like this one....
    Still alive and well...

  17. #67
    Oh No! Bass Solo! klothos's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ThomasKDye View Post
    I'm very much into the Fixx's "Phantoms" these days. Jamie West-Oram had a really unique guitar sound which defined the band's overall sound far more than synthesizers did (sometimes I wonder what the heck keyboardist Rupert Greenall is playing, if anything).
    He was playing 'spackle keyboards': filling the holes......this approach of "atmospheres to fill space" (left hand/ rhythm keyboard patch, usually some type of synth with pad) with a melodic line (right hand/ top keyboard patch) is a pre-requisite to the 80s pop synth approach

  18. #68
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    Anthr 3 frgttn bnds:

    LANDSCAPE


    FAD GADGET


    BLACK

  19. #69
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    Les femmes






  20. #70
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    Not trying to stir here, but what makes a song like "Self Control" Sunshine Pop, as opposed to simply pop?

  21. #71
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    Bob, this is the synth pop thread not the sunshine pop thread.

  22. #72
    Rupert Hine did some excellent stuff in the 80s like "Wildest Wish To Fly" and "Immunity".

  23. #73
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    Bob, this is the synth pop thread not the sunshine pop thread.
    Ah, silly me. That's what comes of logging on in the wee small hours.

  24. #74
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    Did KC really think that their blatant 1984 rip-off of Ultravox would go unnoticed, when they lifted the main riff in its entirety from a song from 1981 to use as the main riff in their own song?


    Ultravox - Stranger Within from their excellent 1981 album Rage in Eden


    Also, remove the horse head, and put the open circle the other way up on top of the triangle & it looks as if KC were also influenced in their album emblem design by the emblem on the Ultravox album.

  25. #75
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    Quote Originally Posted by markwoll View Post
    Polyrock ( Phillip Glass's bands band )
    Interesting. Never knew this was connected to P. Glass. It had probably the dullest cover ever, so I never investigated further. It's probably still a $1 record. Thanks, I need to check it out.

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