WITH SPACE AT A PREMIUM AND SO MUCH MAGIC TO COVER, WE FELT IT PRUDENT TO GIVE KUDOS TO SOME OF THE OTHER REMARKABLE LONG-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR – MANY OF THEM DESERVING A FAR MORE GENEROUS PORTION OF THE SPOTLIGHT…

WHAMMY!

THE B-52’S

The B-52’s were making their own new waves out of Athens, Georgia, with their daredevil – slightly manic – third album, Whammy!, a criss-crossing Devo-esque tapestry posited at breakneck speed, that enlivened their familiar eccentric pop palette with plentiful synths, drum machines and electronics. A capricious record, but a measured one, it explores a diverse range of lyrical diversions from Zulus and Frankenstein to butter beans and Sin City. Three lively yet sophisticated, hard-not-to-love hits sprung forth from its heart – Legal Tender, Whammy Kiss and Song For A Future Generation – bundles of titillation from what is undeniably a wildly entertaining ride.

DEEP SEA SKIVING

BANANARAMA

This idyllic clash of carefree pop and adolescent cool is how it really should be done. With the iconic brilliance of tracks such as Cruel Summer, a sing-along rite-of-passage; their souped-up version of The Velvelettes’ He Was Really Sayin’ Somethin’, and back-seat love song, Shy Boy – utterly embodying that indiscernible state of pubescence with all its complexities and joys – this is girl-group gold. As with its subject matter, making it wasn’t all that smooth a ride: producers Jolley & Swain were ditched halfway, swapped for Heatwave producer Barry Blue. Nonetheless, this was bound for the UK Top 10 – and, by 1984, Cruel Summer had infiltrated the US Top 10.

NO PARLEZ

PAUL YOUNG

Ropes learnt in the shockingly named Kat Cool & The Kool Cats and in Streetband, whose novelty hit Toast is best left in the past, 1983 brought dividends for Paul Young. Of No Parlez’s five singles, three made the UK Top 5. Most will have swayed to soulful fourth single Come Back And Stay (No.4) while a cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart could easily have been a squint-through-the-fingers car crash. Add an exemplary job on Marvin Gaye B-side Wherever I Lay My Hat (No.1) and Love Of The Common People (No.2), a soul-pop stonker snatched from the 60s, and the airwaves were suitably sweetened. Almost – gasp – 120 weeks in the charts and shifting around a million, No Parlez deserves its triple-platinum status.