Trevor Horn new album - Reimagines the Eighties

[Top Cat]

Dentist AND Robbie Williams? Double whammy.

oh, I meant no disrepect by referring to the Dentist office music. They always play MOR or once in awhile classic rock, but usually MOR. I don't listen to the radio anymore even while driving, so it's my only exposure to music other than the things I buy and we play at home on the home audio system.

[Halmyre]

oh, I meant no disrepect by referring to the Dentist office music. They always play MOR or once in awhile classic rock, but usually MOR. I don't listen to the radio anymore even while driving, so it's my only exposure to music other than the things I buy and we play at home on the home audio system.

LOL, what I meant was double the pain.

[Top Cat]

LOL, what I meant was double the pain.

oh, thanks for clearing that up...that bad eh? lol

[bondegezou]

Robbie Williams began in Take That, a boy band created in 1990 as a sort of UK New Kids on the Block. Take That were huge, at least in Europe. Their first three albums went double Platinum, quadruple Platinum and double Platinum respectively in the UK. Album 3 was #1 in the UK, Germany, Italy etc., #2 in Australia, #6 in Japan, but only reached #69 in the US. They had 8 #1 singles in the UK. "Back for Good" was their biggest song, Platinum in the UK, Italy and Australia, Gold in Germany.

Robbie then left: schoolgirls across the nation (and actually everyone I knew at college at the time!) were in tears. But people who leave boy bands rarely find much fame, so it somewhat surprised everyone that Robbie then released 7 #1 UK albums in a row from 1997 to 2006. The first four of those were 8xPlatinum or better in the UK. 1997's "Angels" was the biggest hit, 2xPlatinum in the UK, although it only reached #4 in the charts (#53 in the US).

Williams' first solo album not to reach #1 was Reality Killed the Video Star in 2007, which only managed #2! This was, as you can tell by the name, produced by Trevor Horn and the first time they worked together. 3xPlatinum in the UK, it only made #160 in the US. I think a lot of Williams' solo output is good pop, helped by his writing relationship with Guy Chambers on earlier albums. Reality is quite good. Horn performs on the album, and brings his usual crew, but didn't write any of it. It's not a very Horn-y production, but you can hear his influence.

Horn went on to produce "Shame", a #2 UK single, by Williams and former Take That companion Gary Barlow. Horn also did a big showpiece live show with Williams. So they're mates.

Henry

[Jacob Holm-Lupo]

Reality is quite good.

Indeed. Robbie Williams is in a very different league from your usual boyband idol. Ever since his first solo hit Angels he's shown a higher level of compositional sophistication in his choice of material. Of course it ain't prog, but I think it's important to understand the difference between Williams and some run-of-the-mill teenage star.

I think Trevor's choice of singers is excellent. Rumer's interpretation of Slave to the Rhythm makes it sound like a lost track off of Hissing of Summer Lawns, to mention just one song.

[bondegezou]

I've just done lots of updates at http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wnth.htm from new interviews. They tried out additional songs for the album that weren't used, including "Sweet Dreams" (not the Yes one!), and various tracks were originally done with different singers. Hogarth originally did "Ashes to Ashes", Guy Garvey did "Dancing in the Dark" and Lol Creme did "Take on Me".

Henry

[per anporth]

I guess he's really been all over the map as a producer, doing pop one minute and Mike Oldfield the next. So it probably isn't that big a surprise he'd do an album with mostly pop singers. I'm just more familiar with his Yes work and Producer's music.

Apologies, Top Cat, if you already know this - but you might want to check out the work Horn did with the ZTT label in the early/mid-80s - the most well-known act was Frankie Goes to Hollywood, but probably more interesting are the records by Propaganda & the Art of Noise (for Yessers, Steve Howe pops up from time to time to add a guitar lick or solo; & there are Yessamples, most notably from Close to the Edge).

[bondegezou]

& there are Yessamples, most notably from Close to the Edge).

... and from a song left off 90125.

Henry

[per anporth]

I think a lot of Williams' solo output is good pop

As pop music, it is better than just "good", Henry! - plus, he has always been a magnificent performer.

Whilst not to everyone's tastes, & certainly not those of the purists, his Swing When You're Winning album is a very credible, & also very enjoyable, take on 50s big band popular music (not least in its splendid Royal Albert Hall incarnation!).

[Top Cat]

Apologies, Top Cat, if you already know this - but you might want to check out the work Horn did with the ZTT label in the early/mid-80s - the most well-known act was Frankie Goes to Hollywood, but probably more interesting are the records by Propaganda & the Art of Noise (for Yessers, Steve Howe pops up from time to time to add a guitar lick or solo; & there are Yessamples, most notably from Close to the Edge).

Thank you, and yes I am familiar with his earlier 80's and beyond production work(not everything tho).

I would just like to apologize if I interjected a bit of negativity to this thread yesterday. It was my best friend's(54years friendship) birthday yesterday who passed away Dec of 2017.
I woke up to find his wife had posted a bunch of photos of him on her FB page, and seeing them hit me pretty hard and made me a bit pissy for the rest of the day.

[Scott Bails]

Very sorry for your loss, TC.

[Top Cat]

Very sorry for your loss, TC.

Thanks Scott, I guess she started early because his birthday is Feb 1, so I guess I get to go through it all over again tomorrow. lol
Maybe I'll stay off the internet...hope you folks up north are keeping warm and off the roads.

Here's a nice little documentary on Trevor:

[aith01]

Thank you, and yes I am familiar with his earlier 80's and beyond production work(not everything tho).

I would just like to apologize if I interjected a bit of negativity to this thread yesterday. It was my best friend's(54years friendship) birthday yesterday who passed away Dec of 2017.
I woke up to find his wife had posted a bunch of photos of him on her FB page, and seeing them hit me pretty hard and made me a bit pissy for the rest of the day.

Very sorry to hear that.

I don't think you have anything to apologize for though. We all have days where we aren't in the best of moods, for one reason or another.

[Top Cat]

Very sorry to hear that.

I don't think you have anything to apologize for though. We all have days where we aren't in the best of moods, for one reason or another.

Thanks. I try not to write after or during the consumption of adult beverages or when I'm upset. That however leaves very few days left to post anything.

[bondegezou]

I am enjoying the album more and more as I get to know it, particularly the latter half with the excellent "What's Love Got to Do With It?" plus "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Blue Monday". But "Dancing in the Dark" is another standout, which works better for me than the original song.

Henry

[moecurlythanu]

But "Dancing in the Dark" is another standout, which works better for me than the original song.

Henry

There's a high bar.

[ChrisXymphonia]

I really like the whole album except for the take on Blue Monday which for me doesn't work at all.