Thompson Twins
Quick Step & Side Kick

The third album (1983) by this British band is still difficult to fully appreciate, especially today, since it’s hardly the season for synth-pop. Compared to their first two raw works, which could be described as new wave africaneggiante(!), it’s definitely a step forward.

First of all, they finally got the right producer for them, the talented yet unfortunate Alex Sadkin (who passed away a few years later in a car accident). As a result, the sounds are impeccable, the vocals effective, the percussion vigorous—but the transformation from the large, experimental outfit (7 members) of the early days to the current tight, pop-oriented trio, dancey yet polished, is still yet to come.

What’s still missing are punchy songs, catchy hooks, sweeping melodies. Aside from that, the style is already all there and the vocals work; percussion, once dominant, have stepped back a bit but still carve out an important, impactful role, adding color and drive. Dominating now, by far, are the synthesizers, including both electronic drums and basses. Guitars are almost entirely banished.

Everything’s ready for big success: several singles taken from this album make it into the European charts, but remain in the lower reaches, never topping them. The breakthrough will come with the next album, “Into the Gap,” which is truly packed with great songs—more than half, in fact. Of this record, I find that I always remember only the opening track, “Love at First Side”—maybe it’s just age! For now, the TT remain, deservedly, just behind the frontrunners.

Ah yes!… on “Watching” there is a cameo appearance by the flamboyant Grace Jones, melodramatically howling through the chorus. She was also recording in the same Bahamas studio, with the same producer, so she contributed. Yet, when the song was released as the third single, her vocal track was muted—unbelievable.

So, the album doesn’t manage to age well in terms of strong hooks, but certainly stands as a solid model of how high-level dance music was conceived and crafted in those years—with dynamic layers of synthetic sounds: sometimes rhythmic and percussive, sometimes as “background carpets,” sometimes melodic counterpoints and riffs.

Three stars, like the captains.