Bronski Beat: Age of Consent

literally

literally

....of the best kind.

Despite the fabulousness of some of Sommerville's Gay Disco Shit, I think his greatest moment is the heartbreakingly sad "For a Friend," which *never* fails to make me cry.

"Why?" is fantastic.

The video for "Smalltown Boy" was instrumental in getting my partner of the last 20 years to come out - for which much thanks, obviously. :-)

Good to hear that "Hard Rain" has been included in the CD re-issue - it first appeared as the lead track on the NME's first ever non-flexi 7" vinyl covermount EP.

The only other Somerville Bronski LP was the remix collection "Hundreds & Thousands" - patchy, but has its moments, esp. the "aerobics" remix of Heatwave.

Wow, I only knew the last couple of chapters of that story. _Hundreds & Thousands_ was the only Bronski Beat LP I actually owned. "Patchy" is a good description. Now I have the Jimmy Sommerville _Singles_ collection (1990), and that seems like plenty.

("Tell Me Why" I don't recall so well, and I don't think I ever heard the Communards.)

Yeah, but Bronski Beat minus Somerville immediately turned into straightforward (and fairly dull) Hi-NRG dance-pop. Somerville contributed songwriting skills and "political consciousness".

The band were also named Bronski beat after Oscar Bronski-Matzerath, the eternally boyish drummer from Gunther Grass's The Tin Drum - thus the name references not only Steve Bronski from the band, but also Somerville's boyish falsetto and the general social subversion effected by Grass's character. (I got this info from a friend of the band at the time.)

Seconded.

I saw Jimmy Somerville's solo album from 1989 Read My Lips in the used records bin, I wonder if I should buy it? Has anyone heard it? I think there were some house producers involved, it might be cool to hear him on house tracks.

i've been listening to this album non stop for weeks

I take it the whole thing is worth hearing. All's I know are the singles.

the obvious standouts are Why and Smalltown boy, but yes, the rest of it is great. i'm trying to pick a less played song to post to my site, but am having a hard time deciding. Junk is pretty great.

Somerville's falsetto gets a bit tiring after a while, but otherwise the albums is quite good. Especially the CD reissue with all the bonus tracks; of those, the duet version of "I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me" with Marc Almond and the longer remix of "Heatwave" are both especially great.

Bought this LP for $1 last month; am liking it.

"Heatwave" starts out, very blatantly I think, like Tennessee Ernie Ford's "16 Tons" before getting all handclappy and fingersnappy (which I'm guessing is supposed to symbolize "jazziness".) Anyway, the "16 Tons" thing really took me by surprise, but didn't the British band Redskins also cover it around the same time? Wonder if Brits who were around back then made the connection, or if it's just a coincidence.

Otherwise, I'd say Somerville's falsetto comes off a somehow thin compared to say, Sylvester (his obvious male vocal model.) Which sometimes bugs me, and sometimes doesn't. Actually, in the long run, I may turn out to like the LP's more atmospheric (and therefore maybe beautiful?) "Why" side more than the seemingly more song-oriented "Smalltown Boy" side -- as classic as "Smalltown Boy" is, there's still something about Jimmy's singing that makes the song evaporate into the ether, which is kind of a shame.

And if comparing him to male singers makes no sense, I'd say his voice is also kind of emaciated compared to, say, Donna Summer or Thelma Houston, too.

Whenever I resolve to treat his voice as mere atmosphere it's still not as compelling as the surrounding keyboard whooshes and swoops. I think I've always liked "Smalltown Boy" more in theory than in reality.

Yeah, I can see that. And that's still obviously by far their best song. Prettiest atmosphere is probably in "Screaming" and "Love and Money" -- the latter basically smooth jazz/quiet storm, which sounds considerably less cornball than most of their way campier attempts at old-style show-blues jazz; "It Ain't Necessarily So" strikes me as pretty unbearable. And I actually hedged more than I should have above -- Somverville's not just "somehow" "kind of" thin vocally compared to Sylvester or Donna Summer; he's not anywhere near their neighborhood. ("Narrow dynamic range," Christgau called it in his C+ review, which is definitely a few nothces less than the album deserved, but he still had a point.)

Then again, it's not like narrow voices are a surprise with '80s Brits trying to do r&b or disco -- you could probably say the same, in their own ways, for Boy George (at least compared to say Smokey Robinson) or Martin Fry or even Neil Tennant. Though those guys could all put a song over better than Somerville. And the corny jazz touches are probably par for the course in lots of '80s British pop, too. But still, given all that, I do like the album.

Not sure if "No More War" (which I barely notice when the album's on in the background) is even dumber than Culture Club's "The War Song," or not. (The guy clearly had good intentions, either way.)

"The War Song" is actually more interesting harmonically than I remembered. Also: it helps to write a playful anti-war song. Whatever else he is, Jimmy Somerville is not playful.

I just listened to this for the first time (aside from the singles which I know very well), and I liked it too. The edition I heard is a 2006 UK reissue (I think) and has several extra tracks, including a pretty nice "I Feel Love". And on the main album, aside from the two big singles about which no comment is necessary, I agree that "Love and Money" is a standout, its vibe not so far from a Sade track.

Didn't know that the Redskins covered "16 Tons". Wikipedia says it was a 12-inch B-side to "Keep On Keepin' On", which came out a month or so before the Bronski album. (But I only bought the 7-inch, so have never heard it.) Anyhow, yes, "Heatwave" is rather T.E.Ford-esque....

Not sure why I knew that, given that I've never owned a Redskins record and barely ever heard them -- maybe I read it somewhere. (Anyway, I'd guess "16 Tons" had something to do with the miner's strike, no?)

So I wrote a few words on Bronski and Somerville.

thought this was lovely when it became a viral hit ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_DWWE3cjgg

Smalltown Boy pulls off the very rare trick of being utterly heartwrenching and completely danceable. I should probably check out the whole album at some point.

It's worth a listen.

Yup, definitely worth a listen. I agree with those that say that Somerville's falsetto can grate in large doses, but I still very much like this record a lot and I'm glad that they made it. I can imagine this record meant a lot to some back in the '80s.

Owned Age of Consent as a kid, dug it, but never a real big fan... didn't pay much attention to the Communards or any attention to solo Jimi, but decided to read the Richard Coles (other Communards dude) biography because why not?

Paints an interesting picture of Somerville. Listening to more of the post-first Bronski album stuff now and Mr. Soto's comment about Jimmy not being playful is so spot on. A little of his voice goes a long way, but he definitely tends toward the intense.

I like this in Alfred's essay:

A synth pop act covering a Giorgio Moroder-helmed electronic piece was one thing; keeping the spirit of Thelma Houston’s biggest hit with falsetto was another. It’s to Cole and Somerville’s credit that they wanted “Don’t Leave Me This Way” to sound as huge and campy as possible. In the era of Parting Glances and My Beautiful Laundrette – films whose virtues centered on unlisping gay men situated in working class homes and businesses, shot in unwavering democratizing medium shot – Somerville dared to sing as if he were waving a mauve feather boa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs7oV80Wsr4

this right here is some essential shit

My EMP paper is in part about Bronski.

Thanks!