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Rating:
An impossible falsetto and an extraordinary resemblance to Tweety Bird, the canary from Sylvester the Cat.
Fragile, defenseless but combative. In one word: Jimmy Somerville.
Openly gay, in the early '80s he forms the Bronski Beat and with "The Age of Consent" he puts the difficult condition of the homosexual proletariat in Thatcher's England into pop, selling millions of copies thanks to highly effective singles: "Smalltown Boy," "Why," the Gershwin-like "Ain’t Necessarily So."
Then the toy breaks, his bandmates recruit a new, insipid singer, and he crashes into a serious multi-instrumentalist named Richard Coles, with whom he forms the Communards.
The two communards (in name and in fact: the attack on "Breadline Britain" where "fascism leads a new dance" and "they would privatize your mother" is a true political manifesto, like the bitter dedication to Margaret Thatcher in "Reprise") get to work and what comes out proves that Jimmy was the real and only talent behind the Bronski beat. His voice here reaches sci-fi heights without ever being emphatic or caricatural, Coles has a clear piano background somewhere between classical and jazz and crafts sinuous structures to accompany the acrobatics of the tiny singer.
Somerville and Coles seem like two little chemists in a state of grace, distilling everything within their reach: the lesson of "Smalltown Boy," polished to a shine, is still seen in "You Are My World," where Coles and Somerville compete in vocal and pianistic virtuosity, and in the dramatic dance of "Disenchanted," but new worlds appear on the horizon. "Breadline Britain" owes much to Brecht/Weil, "La Dolorosa" is a harsh and poignant flamenco, "Don't Slip Away" plays with Black music, "Don't Leave Me This Way," a global hit, covers a classic disco/soul track and dares to involve a sacred monster like Sarah Jane Morris. With the captivating "So Cold the Night," the cauldron is enriched with oriental spices, and just to leave nothing out, the Communards even challenge none other than her majesty Billie Holiday in "Loverman," turning it a bit into a "divertissement" but managing quite well.
R&B, disco, jazz, ethnic sounds are thrown into the pot without schemas or preconceptions.
The mayonnaise doesn't curdle thanks to excellent writing and decidedly restrained arrangements for the time (we're talking about the mid '80s, the icons of the gay-friendly pop scene are Marc Almond, Dead or Alive, and the Village People... people who didn’t even want to hear about restraint).
Without calling it a masterpiece, "The Communards" (like its successor, "Red") is still a great album, magnificently played and sung. While it is dynamic and full of danceable moments, for me it's a winter album: it manages to create a warm and enveloping atmosphere suitable for a cold evening, perhaps with the fireplace lit, a Jonathan Coe book on your lap, and a cat curled up next to you. If you can, replace the cat with a human being (choose the gender you prefer): Tweety Bird, in this case, might even turn out to be an aphrodisiac.
An album to rediscover.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Don't Leave Me This Way (06:26)
Don't leave me this way
I can't survive, I can't stay alive
Without your love, no baby
Don't leave me this way
I can't exist, i will surely miss your tender kiss
So don't leave me this way
Oh baby, my heart is full of love and desire for you
So come on down and do what you've got to do
Your started this fire down in my soul
Now can't you see it's burning out of control
So come on down and satisfy the need in me
'Cos only your good loving can set me free
Don't leave me this way
I don't understand how I'm at your command
So baby please, so don't you leave me this way
Oh, baby, my heart is full of love and desire for you
So come on down and do what you've got to do
You started this fire down in my soul
Now can't you see it's burning out of control
So come on down and satisfy the need in me
'Cos only your good loving can set me free
Set me free, set me free, set me free, set me free, set me free
Come, satisfy me, come satisfy me
Don't you leave me this way
Don't leave me this way
I can't exist, I will surely miss your tender kiss
So don't leave me this way
Oh, baby, my heart is full of love and desire for you
So come on down and do what you've got to do
You started this fire down in my soul
Now can't you see it's burning out of control
So come on down and satisfy the need in me
'Cos only your good loving can set me free
Set me free, set me free, set me free, set me free, set me free
Don't you know by now, don't you know by now
I'm losing control
03 Disenchanted (06:13)
So, boy where you go, what you do,
Hey there boy what is wrong with you?
No future, no hope, just broken dreams,
You spend your days wondering why
I'll be your friend, I'll be around
I'll be everything you need
I'll be your friend, I'll be around
I'll be everything you need
Hey young man, why you cry
Don't you know, you've got to try
A little bit harder, you've got to stand
On your own two feet
Never let them drag you down
Hey there boy
This prejudice and ignorance we can overcome
I'll be your friend, I'll be around
I'll be everything you need
I'll be your friend, I'll be around
I'll be everything you need
Disenchanted angry young man
Disenchanted angry young man
Disenchanted angry young man
Disenchanted angry young man
I'll never let you down
Never let you down
So boy now you know what to do,
hey there boy don't be blue
There's future, there's hope, hope for you
Hey young man just believe in what you do.
I'll be your friend, I'll be around
I'll be everything you need
I'll be your friend, I'll be around
I'll be everything you need
Pride is something good for you
Believe in yourself
05 So Cold the Night (06:48)
I watch your window
I shake so scared
Spying from my room
With nervous unrest
Night after night your fingers
caressing
The skin that is so fair you slowly
undress
Soon we will be together
Until then so cold the night
Soon we will be together
Until then so cold the night
I know that you knowthat I'm here
each night
Watching and praying the time is now
right
For me to undress and caress you
Until then I'll just sit here and dream.
Soon we will be together
Until then so cold the night
Soon we will be together
Until then so cold the night
Cold the night, Cold the night
Soon my love
Soon my secret lover
Soon my love
Soon my secret lover
Soon my love
Soon my secret lover
Soon my lover
I watch your window
I shake so scared
Spying from my room with nervous
unrest
Night after night your fingers
caressing
The skin that is so fair you slowly
undress
Soon we will be together
Until then so cold the night
Soon we will be together
Until then so cold the night
Soon we will be together
Until then so cold the night
Soon we will be together
Until then so cold the night
Cold the night
Cold the night
Cold the night
Cold the night
Cold the night
Cold the night
Ooh it's so cold without you
Cold the night
Cold the night
Cold the night
Cold the night
Cold the night
Cold the night
06 You Are My World (08:01)
There is nothing boy that can stop my
course
I will hold you tight never let you go
Tomorrow's party will never end
Like a bud in spring our love will
bloom and grow
Your eyes to me are precious stones
On a face that's made of a solid gold
When I hold your hand I want to cry
And your loving arms to protect me
from the could you are my world
The soul inside now belongs to you
I'm drowing in a love so deep
We will overcome those ups and
downs
So happiness is forever ours to keep
I will follow you to the end of time
I will be the blood flowing through your veins
I will ride with you till the end of the
line
You will be my everything; my world
You are; you are; you are; you are,
Oh boy; you are my world
07 Lover Man (03:52)
I don't know why but I'm feeling so sad
I long to try something I've never had
Never had no kissing
Ooh what have I been missing?
Lover man oh where can you be?
The night is cold and I'm so alone
I'd give my sould just to call you my own
Got the moon above me
Got no-one to love me
Lover man oh where can you be?
I've heard it said that the thrill of romance
can be like a heavenly dream
I go to bed with a prayer that you'll
soon make love to me, strange as it seems
08 Don't Slip Away (02:58)
Something inside of me's out of control
I can't contain it so just let it go
Baby I'm so sold on you can't you see
What you're doing to me
Now that I've got you in my hands
Won't let you slip away
Now that I've got you in my hands
Won't let you slip away
baby I waited here counting the days
Hoping and praying and blueing away
Now that you're here with me all of
my dreams have come true
Now that I've got you in my hands
Won't let you slip away
Now that I've got you in my hands
Won't let you slip away
[I got you, I got you]
Yeah yeah...
Could it be magic this feeling inside
Baby you move me in every way
All of these things that you do
Feel so good, oooh oooh ooooh ooh
Now that I've got you in my hands
Won't let you slip away
Now that I've got you in my hands
Won't let you slip away
Something inside of me's out of control
Baby can't stop it so just let it go
Baby for you I'd go down on my
Knees and I'd pray
Now that I've got you in my hands
Won't let you slip away
Now that I've got you in my hands
Won't let you slip away
09 Heavens Above (03:59)
Oh well he's got a hod on my heart
My lust and my everything
He's thrown it around and around and
I'm screaming, don't bring me down
Oh well I took control of his fire
And it kept me warm all night long
Now I find it hard to control the desire
To keep it burning on
Oh well his love is strong as strong can be
Oh well his love is strong enough for me
I've got an angel
I've got an angel
I've got an angel
I've got an angel
Oh well I took control of his fire
And it kept me warm all night long
Now I find it hard to control the desire
To keep it burning on
Oh well his love is strong as strong can be
Oh well his love is strong enough for me
Oh well his love is strong as strong can be
Oh well his love is strong enough for me
Heavens above no I can't get enough
Heavens above no I can't get enough
Heavens above no I can't get enough
Heavens above no I can't get enough
11 Breadline Britain (02:31)
This is Breadline Britain
This free and promised
land
Where the rich don't give a damn
Poeple
getting hungry and people getting poor
People getting
destitute and more
This is Breadline Britain
Oh
you've got to understand
Where evil's in
command
Where money buys onli pipedreams
and a
worker's life is damned
Democracy and freedom are
a
Far off foreign land.
Where the sick don't
stand a chance
Where fascism leads a new dance
Where
they'd privatise your mother
If given half a
chance
This is Breadline Britain
You've got to make
a stand
Breadline, breadline, breadline
Britain
Breadline breadline, breadline Britain
This free
and promised land
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