Thompson Twins - Here's to Future Days

I had no intention of getting a copy of Here's to Future Days ... but here we are. Thompson Twins were a band who by 1985 managed to shed half of their North American audience compared to their previous release. Oh the album would be certified platinum here in Canada and gold in the States, but this was essentially the end of the band's commercial run.

For Here's to Future Days the band enlisted the ever reliable Nile Rodgers to assist with production, and honestly the album makes a game effort. However I was at best a cursory fan and while I really, really liked "Lay Your Hands on Me" the rest of the songs I could take or leave ... although I was curious to hear what they'd do with The Beatles "Revolution" and now I'm not curious anymore.

I'd rather not shit on the album because it's hardly fair. I wanted one song, and I got the song I wanted and it is still an amazing piece of music. To commemorate the occasion I danced by myself in the basement with my feet together while I flailed about and twisted side to side. Yup, I was doing my best impression of Mr. Bailey and it wasn't pretty.

I had really hoped that nostalgia would give me an appreciation for the album's deeper cuts, and while true to a degree most of the record just bubbled around the "meh" level for me. I will say that the album's fourth track, a rather boring mid-tempo generic pop song "You Killed the Clown" actually got under my skin.

While a lot of what the band recorded wasn't my cup of tea, they still managed to contribute more than a song or two to the '80s Songbook. For that if nothing else they'll be remembered as more than a mere one hit wonder.

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