Re: 50 Favorite Synth Pop songs

Apropos of nothing:

1. Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
2. Gary Numan - Cars
3. OMD - Electricity
4. Ultravox - Sleepwalk
5. Pete Shelley - Homosapien
6. Thomas Dolby - Europa and the Pirate Twins
7. Soft Cell - Tainted Love
8. Human League - Don't You Want Me
9. My Favorite - Homeless Club Kids
10. Polyrock - Romantic Me
11. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
12. New Order - Blue Monday
13. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of My Head
14. New Musik - Straight Lines
15. Devo - Beautiful World
16. Talk Talk - It's My Life
17. Tears for Fears - Change
18. Donna Summer - I Feel Love
19. Ultravox - Quiet Men
18. Bill Nelson - Acceleration
20. OMD - Enola Gay
21. Joy Electric - Candy Cane Carriage
22. The Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women
23. Yaz - Nobody's Diary
24. A Flock of Seagulls - Wishing
25. John Foxx - No one Driving
26. Thomas Dolby - One of Our Submarines
27. Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough
28. Beautiful Skin - Harsh Distractions
29. OMD - Souvenir
30. Devo - Snowball
31. Eurythmics - Love Is A Stranger
32. Ultravox - Vienna
33. Depeche Mode - But Not Tonight
34. The Faint - Worked Up So Sexual
35. Soviet - Marbeleyezed
36. Pet Shop Boys - Surburbia
37. Pete Shelley - Telephone Operator
38. Ladytron - Playgirl
39. Gary Numan - Are Friends Electric?
40. Goldfrapp - Number One
41. Bill Nelson - The Real Adventure
42. Kraftwerk - Europe Endless
43. The Normal - Warm Leatherette
45. Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf
46. New Order - Your Silent Face
47. Tears for Fears - Pale Shelter
48. New Musik - This World of Water
49. Trio - Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me
50. Simple Minds - Promised You a Miracle
50a. Prince - Delirious
50b. Visage - Fade to Grey



Post Edited (01-01-06 12:10)

hey
you forgot

TT Love Lies Bleeding
JD Transmission

slow day in the heartland?

It's always a slow day in the heartland and that's the way we like it.

Nah, actually I found a synth-pop collection cd in a 99 cent bin and it had "Lawnchairs" by Our Daughter's Wedding on it so I had to have it (although I then managed to forget all about that song on my above list - ditto "Images of Heaven" by Peter Godwin and Yello's "I Love You.") But it reminded me how much I love synth-pop so of course that meant a list was required.

Would "Transmission" qualify? It seems to me it's mostly traditional instruments, though pretty processed. "Isolation," "Decades," or "Love Will Tear Us Apart" I could maybe see, but I don't recall "Transmission" being all that synthy. But I could be wrong.

nah

you're prob right

prob fake [but great!] synth like espn's fake garage night

so feeble made dick clark look like Sirica or leonard cohen: full of integrity

NP
The Saints Box

speaking of reality! man......

i think yello was OK good, right?

>
> Would "Transmission" qualify? It seems to me it's mostly
> traditional instruments, though pretty processed. "Isolation,"
> "Decades," or "Love Will Tear Us Apart" I could maybe see, but
> I don't recall "Transmission" being all that synthy. But I
> could be wrong.


isolation! yup

altered images - happy birthday
the the - uncertain smile (did it inspire p. shelley's 'homosapien'?)
right said fred - i'm too sexy
brian briggs - in the kitchen at parties
tones on tails - go!

Isn't "in the kitchen at parties" by Jona Lewie, Stiff Records?

love that version at least, comes on the double CD "New Wave5"

I've always liked the UNITS.
And some long forgotten guy named Dane Conover who made one album in '82 psuedonymously called 'Trees.' Extraordinary record that I could never live without.
Ditto for OMD.
New Order remains an incredible and distinguished entity.

" actually I found a synth-pop collection cd in a 99 cent bin and it had "Lawnchairs" by Our Daughter's Wedding on it"

Eh?! What CD is that? And is that the single version of "Lawnchairs" (which I prefer) or the album version?

Yup, The Units 12" of "The Right Man" is ace, but I'm pretty sure TheThe came out after Pete Shelley.

Also:
from the Moog era, Dick Hyman's "The Moog and Me"
any Perrey & Kinglsey
Hot Butter "Popcorn"

any early Wall of Voodoo
Freur "Doot Doot"
Afrika Bambatta "Planet Rock" and "Looking For The Perfect Beat"
Vengaboys "We Like To Party"

The cd was called ELECTRICITY: 18 Synth Pop Classics. English release from 1993. Pretty damn nice collection - has a lot of the usual suspects (Are Friends Electric, Electricity, Wishing, Nobody's Diary) and a lot of the unusual ones - Lawnchairs, Never Never by the Assembly, Einstein a Go Go by Landscape.

Dunno if it's the original single version of Lawnchairs or the Digital Cowboy version. It's been probably 20 years since I'd heard either. Says copyright EMI, 1980, if that's any help.

Speaking of Our Daughters Wedding and Trees, is anyone familiar with the Obscure 80s/MFV website? (I would paste the link here except I forget what it is.) But it's a guy who has transferred a ton of hard-to-find 80s music from vinyl to CD. (If any of it gets officially released, he pulls his version from availability.) I picked up copies of the Trees album, Wazmo Nariz THINGS AREN'T RIGHT, Fingerprintz BEAT NOIR, the first two Robin Lane & the Chartbusters albums, the first two Polyrock albums and my beloved LIFE IS A GRAND by Henry Badowski. He does a pretty nice job - the sound is good, he reproduces the cover art, etc. etc. If I manage to track down his website again I think I'm going to nab copies of Our Daughters Wedding and the Slow Children. ("President Am I" should've been on the list above.)

Anyhow - check it out - Obscure 80s/MFV if you can track it down. Digitized versions of a lot of great stuff that's otherwise impossible to find.

Systematics - Vanessa Teratology
The Reels - Prefab Heart
Our Daughter's Wedding - Target For Life
The Quick - Hip Shake Jerk
Tuxedomoon - Incubus (Blue Suit)

Transmission is guitar, bass, drums & vox

[www.nwoutpost.com] - apparently you can't download anything at this time.



Post Edited (01-05-06 12:44)

Not sure if you could ever download anything, but you could order CDRs from him. Hope that's still possible.

As far as Heaven 17 goes, I was always partial to "We Are Going to Live for a Very Long Time."

Phil Lynott - The Yellow Pearl
Henry Badowski - Making Love With My Wife & The Inside Out

Need something by Heaven 17. "Fascist Groove Thang" maybe?

Awwww, not even a mention for Gary Wright's "Dream Weaver"?

Oh, I just mentioned it. Never mind.

Blancmange - Dont Tell me and Blind Vision
Shriekback - black Light Trap
Cabaret Voltaire - Sensoria

just to name a few, a great topic!, i would pass on the Joy Division notes, i dont think they are in the mold

I stumbled across this board and this site by accident. TP and NME were my bibles in the early 80s. Breno--I love you! lol I don't know anyone personally who would compile such a great list. I didn't think anyone remembered Polyrock, and most people have forgotten about John Foxx even if they remember Ultravox. Speaking of Ultravox, to this day, Vienna is my number one favorite album of all time. It's the only album I have ever called perfect. Coming in a close second though, is The Downward Spiral by NIN.

I go back and forth between VIENNA and SYSTEMS OF ROMANCE. Can't ever really decide which is best, so generally I just declare it a tie and score one for Foxx, one for Ure.

If you like Polyrock, track down the band Beautiful Skin, which was the first band I ever heard that made me think "Hey! These guys listened to Polyrock!" Clap Your Hands Say Yeah also have a bit of a Polyrock vibe, filtered through the Feelies.

Also just discovered that the John Foxx/Nation 12 material (which was Foxx and Tim Simenon from Bomb the Bass) from the early 90s has recently been reissued. It was pretty impossible to track down prior to this. It's even available on iTunes now, which is convenient.



Post Edited (01-11-06 22:13)

Both great albums, but for my money - Systems of Romance. Like many other albums in my collection, I doubt I would have come across it without TP in the 80's. It took me several years of hard searching before I finally found a vinyl copy. (I lived in Tucson at the time, and this was before the internet).

Interesting.
I rank thusly:
Vienna
Quartet
Systems of Romance

Systems has a few of their best tracks but I have to move the stylus over 'Dislocation' and a couple others.

... off the top of my head... and some of these songs may not be overly poppy but anyway...

OMD-Red Frame White Light; Messages; Enola Gay; Bunker Soldiers
Soft Cell-Tainted Love; Sex Dwarf
New Musik-This World Of Water; Straight Lines
Crash Course In Science-Kitchen Motors; Cakes In The Home
Los Microwaves-Time To Get Up
Tuxedomoon-What Use; No Tears
Fad Gadget-Ricky's Hand
Joy Division-Love Will Tear Us Apart
The Normal-TVOD; Warm Leatherette
Screamers-122 Hours Of Fear; The Beat Goes On
Wall of Voodoo-Back In Flesh
Silicon Teens-Judy In Disguise
PIL-Banging The Door
Lost Sounds-Don't Turn Away

... and Pete Shelley "Homosapien." How could I forget that? Just heard it today

... and Flash In The Pan-Walking In The Rain

... I keep thinking of more as I go along.

EDIT: Post deleted as I answered my own question immediately after posting. And also confirmed for myself that I am indeed an idiot.



Post Edited (01-12-06 22:58)

Sparks circa Whomp That Sucker and Angst In My Pants. I love those albums -- funny, poppy and energetic.

Speaking of Sparks, I like No. 1 Song In Heaven & Beat the Clock

"Wishful Thinking" by China Crisis would be among the very top on my list.

The old Depeche Mode classics.

I forgot about "Wishful Thinking" - great song. I guess I think of it more as oboe-pop than synth-pop.

Which of course brings up the best pop songs featuring oboe:

1. REM - Nightswimming
2. China Crisis - Wishful Thinking
3. Something or another by Roy Wood (there has to be something....)

Wasn't the oboe what Andy McKay was tootling in Roxy Music? "Virginia Plain," "Out of the Blue" etc.

Could be - now that I think about it I'm pretty sure that's what he's blowing on "Ladytron."

My favorite quote about the oboe is from Angels In America, where it's called the sound of a duck if it was a songbird.

Bye Bye Pride -- Go-Betweens

One of the great oboe songs just came up on the iPod - "Twist in My Sobriety" by Tanita Tikarim. What the hell ever happened to her, btw?

> One of the great oboe songs just came up on the iPod - "Twist
> in My Sobriety" by Tanita Tikarim. What the hell ever happened
> to her, btw?


funny, i've got a couple of her tapes, but that's the ONLY song i remember...


[www.tanitatikaram.com]





Post Edited (04-05-06 01:47)

I guess she burned herself out at the beginning of her career; four albums in four years, starting as a teenager, will do that to an artist. The cover photo on her fourth CD, *Eleven Kinds of Loneliness*, seems to say it all. (I say "seems" because, after all, we are talking about an album cover, as opposed to a candid shot.)

She took a break, and settled down to a slower pace. She has released three albums since 1995. Her latest album, *Sentimental*, came out last year. No live performances since 1998, and none currently booked. No North American appearances since 1991.

Other than "Twist in My Sobriety," I remember the song "Elephants." Wish I didn't.



Post Edited (04-05-06 10:47)

Flying Lizard's version of " Money(That's what i want)

I had to mention Human League's Keep Feeling Fascination, loved the vid, too.

That's intro gates a bit though.

The The - Uncertain Smile
Home Is Where The Heart Is - Chameleons

Add to the list:

Units - "High Pressure Days" (glad to know I'm not the only one who remembers these folks)
Pink Section - "Shopping" (I had the 7" ages ago but sold it for some long-forgotten reason. Yes I am a dumbphuc).
Human League - "Empire State Human", "Seconds", "Love Action"
DAA - "Memories of 80s" (7" from somewhere in France)
Soft Cell - "What", "Soul Inside", "It's a Mug's Game"
Heaven 17 - "Temptation"
Flock of Seagulls - "It's Not Me Talking"
Berlin - "The Metro"
Throbbing Gristle - "United"
Depeche Mode - "Stripped", "Question of Time"
Cabaret Voltaire- "Nag Nag Nag"
I Am the World Trade Center - "Going Underground"
Ladytron - "Seventeen"
Fitness - "Chauffuer"
Creme Blush - "Tokyo Express"
Adult - "Glue Your Eyelids Together"
Screamers - "Vertigo"

and about 50 more I won't remember until 5 minutes after I hit Post.

Come Live With Me - Heaven 17

pizzicato 5 -- twiggy twiggy
architecture in helsinki -- do the whirlwind, heart it races
the magnetic fields -- fido, your leash is too long
sparks -- music that you can dance to
duran duran -- planet earth, new religion
eurythmics -- here comes the rain again
matt bianco -- it's getting late
everything but the girl -- protection
kid silver -- hey trespasser
luscious jackson -- under your skin
malcolm mclaren -- deep in vogue
scritti politti -- the sweetest girl
...it's a stretch but, anyone for love reign o'er me?

Wonder what ever happened to Loretta62? She loved me.

cristina - "what's a girl to do"

This might just set a TP.com record for the longest time between a thread's origination and same thread being appended.