Put The Needle On The Record Week #66 - Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
For this weeks feature we go back to September 1981 and the Heaven 17 album "Penthouse And Pavement".
Heaven 17 formed when Martyn Ware and Ian Craig White were turfed out of The Human League, which was an acrimonious split, Glenn Gregory joined Heaven 17 as their lead vocalist.
"Penthouse And Luxury" was the debut album released by the band in 1981, the same year that the new Human League album "Dare" was released, It is clear that both bands strived to produce outstanding albums. "Dare" was clearly the more successful of the two, however, both should be considered 80s classics.
There are plenty of highlights on "Penthouse And Pavement", the lead track, "Play To Win", "The Height Of The Fighting", "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang", We're Going To Live For A Very Long Time" and my personal favourite off the album "Let's All Make A Bomb"
The album was well recieved by the music critics, especially in the New Musical Express, that rated the album as the 5th best album of 1981, Dare was awarded 6th place (not sure I agree with that!) and Smash Hits who rated the album 8/10.
Four singles were released off the album, "(We Don't Need) This Fascist Groove Thang" (which reached number 45 in the UK Singles Chart), "Play To Win" (which reached number 46 in the UK Singles Chart), "Penthouse And Pavement" (which reached number 57 in the UK Singles Chart) and "The Height Of The Fighting (He-La-Lu), (which failed to chart).
The album reached number 14 in the UK Album chart.
Track Listing
(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
Penthouse and Pavement
Play To Win
Soul Warfare
Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
Let's All Make A Bomb
The Height Of The Fighting (He-La-Hu)
Song With No Name
We're Going To Live For A Very Long Time
If you have this album in your collection, dig it out and give it a spin!
