Cool for Cats was very successful in the UK; it went to #45 on the album chart with four hit singles. Overall the album is very Britishly bright early new wave with pub rock roots, a little goofy (especially tracks like “It’s Not Cricket” and “It’s So Dirty”) in the spirit of Monty Python, The Young Ones, etc. – oddball and delightful with the addition of some boogie woogie piano. The first single, “Goodbye Girl,” went to #63 though a different version appears on the LP. The title track “Cool for Cats” became one of Squeeze’s biggest hits, going to #2 in the UK. I don’t think it charted in the US but I totally remember hearing this song back then. “Up the Junction” was the third single and also went to #2 in the UK. The final single, “Slap and Tickle” went to #24 and apparently is either a euphemism for sex or police brutality (based on the lyrics I’m guessing Squeeze meant the former).

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I had an affinity toward Thompson Twins not just because of my love of British new wave in the early 80′s but also because I was a huge fan of Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin. My childhood best friend had spent a year in England in the late 70′s while her father, a professor at Lawrence University, did a year’s sabbatical. She came back with a stack of Tintin books (and her last name happens to be Thompson) and we both gobbled up the cute comic boy’s travels to Nepal, South America and points beyond. The Thompson Twins are, of course, named for the two bumbling detectives in the comic series, Thomson and Thompson; they were not actually twins but looked identical, except for the shape of their mustaches.

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“I Melt With You” was a new wave one-hit wonder in the 80′s (so 80′s that it was featured in the film Valley Girl) and has been practically played to death in subsequent years, worst of all in commercials for Burger King and Taco Bell (sorry marketing geniuses, your appeal to this Gen-Xer did not get me eating at either crappy fast food chain). Only a bit less offensive is its use by Hershey to promote holiday milk chocolate (but this is mainly because I like chocolate). The B-side of “I Melt With You” is definitely worth a listen. “Someone’s Calling” is a perfect swirling 80′s new wave dance track, full of keyboards, poppy rhythm and echo-ey vocals.

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“What is Love?” is probably my favorite track (as it was back in ‘84): the synthpop tempered by some really rich textures, harmonies and mid-tempo beats.

Overall, it’s an upbeat album, bouncy and energetic, and although one critic commented at the time of its release that it read like a “revolving self-help manual,” I do occasionally enjoy a sunny, fun record with positive reinforcement. From “New Song” –

I’ve been waiting for so long
To come here now and sing this song
Don’t be fooled by what you see
Don’t be fooled by what you hear

This is a song to all of my friends
They take the challenge to their heart
Challenging preconceived ideas
Saying goodbye to long standing fears

Don’t crack up, bend your brain, see both sides
Throw off your mental chains

Don’t crack up, bend your brain, see both sides
Throw off your mental chains

I don’t wanna be hip and cool
I don’t wanna play by the rules
Not under the thumb of the cynical few
Or laden down by the doom crew

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The song was highly controversial due to its overt sexual references, even though the band initially claimed the lyrics were not meant to be suggestive. However, after the release of Welcome to the Pleasuredome in 1985, upon which the single was included, the (obvious) truth came out: the liner notes state “Like, when people ask you what ‘Relax’ was about, when it first came out we used to pretend it was about motivation, and really it was about shagging.” Shocking! I thought the line “Relax, don’t do it/When you want to suck it, do it/Relax, don’t do it/ When you want to come” was meant to be spiritually uplifting!

The b-side, “One September Monday” is not really a song, it’s more of a kinda interview over vague beats between music journalist Paul Morley and FGTH’s Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford, where among other disjointed discussions, they reveal the source of the band’s name. You can read the transcript here.

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Boys Don’t Cry includes three singles not on Three Imaginary Boys: “Killing an Arab,“ ”Boys Don’t Cry“ and ”Jumping Someone Else’s Train.” Tracks that overlap are “10:15 Saturday Night,” “Accuracy,” “Grinding Halt,” “Subway Song,” and, one of my favorite Cure songs, the beautifully haunting “Three Imaginary Boys.” Allmusic reviewer Chris True describes this time in The Cure’s recording catalog as “More poppy and representative of the times” and “a semi-detached bit of late-‘70s English pop-punk, angular and lyrically abstract..utter simplicity.”

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White Music, however, is fun and whip-smart. “This is Pop” cheekily proclaims that yes, this is pop despite the sometimes challenging musical discord. XTC transforms Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”  into a jumpy, punky groove (with harmonica!). “Atom Age” bubbles gleefully along to a chirpy organ over lyrics poking fun at modernity’s progress:

I’m heading into the atom age
My contemporary house is all the rage
My wife’s getting lazy going gadget crazy
Wants a pallette shaped coffee table and a matching settee
I’m heading into the atom age
My kids have gone obscene want to marry at fourteen
Want a pallette shaped coffee table and a matching settee

I’m heading into the atom age
I flick on the video to soothe me
It’s better colour than the real thing!
I relax to a three d porno movie
Hey does anyone remember what ever happened to string?
I’m heading into the atom age

 

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Written by Boomtown Rat’s Bob Geldof and Ultravox’s Midge Ure, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was an amazing collaboration of the top British pop and new wave stars of the mid-80′s (a few Americans in the mix as well): I could’ve just about passed out with giddyness watching the video (probably still can!). Simon LeBon! David Bowie! Bono! George Michael! And the b-side! Simon wishing me a Happy Christmas!

Besides the single version of the song’s video, a 30 minute documentary (here is Part 1 and Part 2) of the making of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was released just before Christmas in 1984, full of interviews, out-takes, George Michael’s blinding white teeth, Simon LeBon’s “Wild Boys” era blond mane and Andy Taylor whacking John Taylor on the head during recording. Perfection.

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