In a giveaway held on social media earlier this year, this guy I know won a sweet vintage analog synthesizer worth quite a few bucks from a popular artist/producer who was dismantling their studio. While discussing music at a recent gathering, the lucky winner* shared their tale and then asked me what my favorite synth pop songs were so I rattled off a few. Later that night as I dozed off, other synth pop songs were playing from the never-ending playlist in my head so here we are today with a post of my favorite synth pop songs from 1982 in alphabetical order by title.
When Burt Bacharach passed in February 2023, it was easy to pull together a memorial playlist of his songs because we had a handful of Bacharach-penned tunes in rotation on KDRI. I slotted in Fifth Dimension's "One Less Bell To Answer", Dusty's definitive "The Look Of Love", the always sunny "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" and "What's New Pussycat?" in its somewhat rare glass-smashing mix which left one more spot to fill. I dove deeper into the library and scheduled "Always Something There To Remind Me" by Naked Eyes to end the set. When the playlist aired about 10 minutes later, I quietly entered the broadcast studio adjacent to my office where the jock had the monitors up loud, and together with thousands of other listeners around the world, we both heard Naked Eyes on the station for the first time and they sounded magnificent. That song as well as "Promises Promises" have both since been heard on the station regularly.
"Always Something There To Remind Me" on YouTube:
album cut 3:40
UK single mix 3:45
long version 6:18
We've always been fervent fans of the music of KC and the Sunshine Band. Their tunes were all over our K-Tel albums. Didn't expect any new music from them after "Please Don't Go" so it was surprising to find out the bouncy song I heard one night in Loco Records was by the same KC sans his Sunshine Band. It was an import twelve-inch single the guys there at the store had opened to settle a bet though I'd argue it was pointless to open it as you could plainly see "H.W. Casey" on the blue Epic label through that loose shrinkwrap that imports used to come in. The loser had to buy the record and spring for a pizza for that night's crew. Does the song sound like KC and the Sunshine Band? No, not really. There are a few lines in the song where KC totally sounds like the KC of the Seventies though. Couldn't afford to buy the import single and it seemed like forever before the domestic twelve-inch appeared in the bins but when it did, we snagged it. Different label but the same great song. (Had to look it up but "Give It Up" did not make an appearance on CD here at The Hideaway until 1995's The Disco Years Vol. 6.)
"Give It Up" on YouTube:
official music video 4:25
album cut 4:06
This was another great song I first heard on the Sunday night new music show on local rock station KLPX. The show was Jonathan L's Virgin Vinyl and through it, I learned of hundreds of great songs and their respective artists. I swear there are still songs I'm hearing today that I first heard on Virgin Vinyl but for whatever reason they didn't click or I was unable to find out the song title or artist so they faded into my own oblivion. Icehouse reminded me of Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry and Bowie. When I was finally able to add this song to my collection, I binged on it for days. "Hey' Little Girl" is a perfect marriage of lyrics, vocals, and synths. I'm still known to go off on a tangent when the song comes on and let it repeat half a dozen or more times.
"Hey' Little Girl" on YouTube:
US Extended Remix 6:12
12" version 6:59
Depending on the day and my neural activity, I either first heard Peter Godwin's beautiful "Images Of Heaven" on Virgin Vinyl one Sunday night or I heard it playing in Loco Records. Or Hollywood Records. I am confident I first heard the Razormaid Remix by Joseph Watt on the weekly Friday Night mix show on the local Top 40 station. It took more than a decade to finally get that Razormaid edit on a compact disc when it was included as a bonus track on a compilation of Godwin's music on the Oglio label in 1998. (While the track had been included on a subscription CD from the Razormaid Remix service in 1988, that disc eluded me until just last year.)
"Images of Heaven" on YouTube:
single edit 3:31
Dance Mix 5:03
Razormaid Remix 6:07
"Let Me Go" was another Virgin Vinyl discovery. Shortly after hearing it, I picked up the bargain-priced Heaven 17 album somewhere. Didn't find out until later that it was a compilation of tracks from the group's first two albums, Penthouse and Pavement and The Luxury Gap. While researching that album for a post (I'd link you but that post has been severely gutted due to YouTube) when this blog was young, I came across two other blogs that had featured that album. Two friendships began when those blog proprietors answered my email queries. Back in 1983, I discovered the imported UK twelve-inch single of Heaven 17's "Let Me Go" in the bin one day at Loco Records and lusted after it for nearly two weeks until I returned and made it mine. The six-minute-and-change Extended Version is indeed my favorite.
There is no story for my love affair with The USA Remix - Dub Version of ABC's "The Look of Love". Loved The Lexicon Of Love album and that song in particular so it was kind of a no-brainer when I came across the twelve-inch single. Bought it without hearing it and haven't looked back since. Was disappointed to find that it wasn't the particular remix found on 1990's Absolutely ABC compilation though it showed up a few years later on the aptly-named disc, The Remix Collection. Some fans call it "The Look of Love" Part 5. I do not.
"The Look Of Love" on YouTube:
official music video 3:32
remix version 7:40
John Luongo's epic remix of Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)" is a workout for any stereo system. The song sounds positively massive and is filled with wonderful synth sounds and a dazzling variety of effects. I'm a little vague on where we first heard it or when I picked up the twelve-inch single but I know it became a car audio demonstration track soon thereafter. I do know with full certainty that the track first appeared in the HERChives on the Hit That Perfect Beat, Vol. 1 disc which is still our favorite version of that track besting the four other later CD appearances of the mix now in our library. We also enjoy listening to the meticulous vinyl rip courtesy of DJPaulT and his Burning The Ground site though we're not-so-secretly hoping that the record is due for a fresh transfer with his latest system.
"Major Tom (Coming Home)" on YouTube:
official music video 4:07
album cut 4:58
As friends Janice and I regularly attended movies, went shopping, and shared meals through our last three years of high school. We shared a love for music as well and she deserves all the credit for introducing me to "One Of Our Submarines" which may be my favorite Dolby track. She lent me the Blinded By Science mini-LP one weekend and while all the songs were enjoyable, it was "One Of Our Submarines" which imprinted deepest into my memory bank. Pretty sure, each of us got The Golden Age Of Wireless with the original cover art and I made a tape with that album on one side and Blinded By Science on the flip. A few months later, one of us (spoiler alert: it was Janice!) noticed that the ...Wireless album was reissued with new cover art and a modified tracklisting so Janice bought the album and made an updated tape. I fell in love with that tape and played it often. After many listens to the reconfigured The Golden Age Of Wireless album on tape, vinyl, and CD through the years - including half a dozen more just now - I came to prefer the slightly shorter 5:14 album version (listed on the promo label pictured above as Short Version) to the 7:18 Extended Version for reasons I can't quite put my finger on although I may have given the game away with this write-up.
"One Of Our Submarines" on YouTube:
album cut 5:08
extended version 7:17
Up until now, all these songs struck me upon their release or shortly thereafter. I know a growing number of kids were cribbing acts off MTV but I just never got into it. This Tears For Fears track didn't show up on my radar until 2 or 3 years after its release following the release and ensuing ubiquity of 1985's Songs From The Big Chair. A since-forgotten friend at work (Paul? Dean? Gary?) lent me The Hurting after I embarrassed myself by saying Songs From The Big Chair was a great debut album and I was intrigued enough to buy my own copy after just a couple of listens. "Mad World", "Pale Shelter" and "Change" made the biggest impressions. It isn't a loud or aggressive album but when it hit me, it hit me hard. "Pale Shelter" has continued to clobber me through the years though I didn't add The Hurting to the CD collection until the 30th Anniversary box set came out in 2013.
"Pale Shelter" on YouTube:
official music video 4:04
album cut 4:04
long version 7:07
new extended version 7:10
There is no shortage of shimmering, shiny tracks on Duran Duran's Rio with "Save A Prayer" being the album's glittery penultimate track. We found our way to the song the old-fashioned way... by listening to both sides of the album all the way through. (Then we'd go back and drop the needle onto our favorites.) "Save A Prayer" would be the album closer once I got to make Rio my own way complete with Carnival Remixes and Night Versions. There is a sleepy gentleness to the music of "Save A Prayer" that soothes and calms me every time like a sweet lullaby. Ideally, there'd be an instrumental version of the song somewhere on a Japanese promo CD single. That would be divine.
"Save A Prayer" on YouTube:
official music video 6:10
album cut 5:34
A few of these songs and their respective artists have been written about before on The Hideaway. A couple of them were in a 2016 post titled Eight Of My Favorite Twelve-Inch Singles and Four of My Favorite EPs of 1982. Thomas Dolby is part of it with a slightly different story about Janice than the one above. ABC and Duran Duran are there as well and so is Yaz's "Situation". The smartest person in my graduating class was a twin and a dancer. For one of her dance recitals at school, she did a cool bit of choreography to "Situation". It was probably the first time I had ever heard the song and now whenever I hear it, I picture Vicky strutting and shuffling across the stage, especially during those "move out" parts. After our 1984 graduation ceremony in the mess on the football field, she came up to me and gave me a long silent hug. A few hours later, I ended that very long night in the pool with Vicky at the apartment complex where she lived with her Mom and sister.
"Situation" on YouTube:
US single mix 3:44
I would love to be able to say I was a big fan of ABBA's The Visitors album when it came out but I don't recall hearing it. The last ABBA album I bought on vinyl was their double LP The Singles: The First Ten Years in 1983 through the RCA Music Service. It did not have the US single "The Visitors" on it. The first copy of that song I acquired was on The Best Of Hot Tracks CD from the Remix Warehouse, which used to send me these wonderful catalogs full of disc-jockey-only remix service discs. It was a very cool song upon first hearing it and kicked off a disc of other cool remixes including "Tainted Love", "Dirty Laundry", "Situation" and "Our Lips Are Sealed". When I finally came across an inexpensive copy of The Visitors album, it turned out to be the red-faced platter which seems to be all the rage among collectors these days as one of the first discs ever pressed. The disc has an insane dynamic range and sounds as good as the day it rolled off the press back in 1982. Still in love with the album's title track.
"The Visitors" on YouTube:
album cut 5:49
Still heavily basking in the synthy glow of their first album six months after it was released, I wasn't expecting to hear a new A Flock of Seagulls track one Sunday evening on Virgin Vinyl. I couldn't get enough of "Wishing..." and that metallic-sounding synth that helps provide the track's rhythm and was fortunate enough to find a radio-station cast-off version of the US promo twelve-inch single (with a unique edit of the track, no less) in the Fresh bin at Al Bum's soon after. I still maintain that the group's guitarist Paul Reynolds is terribly underrated and producer Mike Howlett is often overlooked as a crucial feature when evaluating early Eighties synth pop albums.
"Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)" on YouTube:
official music video 4:24
45 edit 4:13
album cut 5:31
US 12" promo version 6:10
extended 9:35
There are going to be folks who disagree with me labeling "You Dropped A Bomb On Me" a synth-pop song. They'll argue it's a funk tune or more precisely a synth funk song. We all have our own opinions but one thing we can all agree on is that "You Dropped A Bomb On Me" is 110% synthy all the way down from those whistling bomb-dropping sounds to the big phat bassline. The 4:05 radio edit is just never enough and, although the 5:12 album version scratches the itch, sometimes I just have to pull out the 13:07 Special Disco Mix and get sweaty.
"You Dropped A Bomb On Me" on YouTube:
official music video 4:04
single edit 3:59
album cut 5:18
*Only 17 hours before that gathering, they were bitten by a rattlesnake while mountain biking. All alone on a trail just outside the city limits, it took them about an hour to reach our city's newest ER where they were treated and felt well enough to attend that casual get-together the next day.
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