Blancmange Mange Tout

Blancmange 'Mange Tout' (London, 1984)

Three of the most important releases in my collection have been compilations. Revelation's 'In Flight Program' introduced me to Texas is the Reason, Earache's 'Grindcrusher' introduced me to Morbid Angel and 'Now that's What I Call Music 3' introduced me to Blancmange!

It wasn't so much that 'Now..' actually introduced any music to me, I was already an avid fan of Top of the Pops and recorded the top 40 as much as I could so I'd heard the majority of the songs already, it was the fact that it compiled some of my favourite songs in one place and it was perfectly sequenced.

OK, the second tape wasn't much cop, but the first two sides were great. Opening with 'The Reflex' it led into Nik Kershaw's 'I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me' (Kay and I were already firm fans) then Ultravox's 'Dancing with Tears in my Eyes' (the 80s fear of mutually assured destruction video of which I was a big fan) and my favourite track on side one; Blancmange's 'Don't Tell Me'.

Side two was where the magic really happened though; a new mix of Frankie's 'Two Tribes', the mind boggling greatness of 'White Lines (Don't do it)' (which I learnt every word to, much to Kay's amazement), Special A.K.A.'s anti -apartheid anthem 'Nelson Mandela' (sung with gusto without having a clue about its subject matter) and finishing with one of the greatest songs ever recorded, Bronski Beat's 'Smalltown Boy' (again sung long and loud without any clear idea about the Bronski's heartfelt critique of homophobia). What a brilliant compilation that soundtracked the summer of 1984.

'Mange Tout' sounds excellent. Well produced pop from the 80s has not aged as badly as 80s metal. There are hints of their label mates Bronski Beat throughout the album and there are also the ill-informed attempts to cover too many styles; 'See the Train' is their 'Ain't Necessarily So'. 'All Things Nice' reminds me a bit of Bronski Beat's 'Junk' with its rudimentary use of samples and there's also a hint of an acid line on the track which sounds like Paul Hardcastle mixed with M/A/R/R/S.

It's notable that Indian sub continental musical influences are apparent all the way through the record with tabla, sitar, santoor and madal being used on many tracks, most obviously on a poor version of Abba's 'The Day Before you Came' and on stand out track 'Don't Tell Me'.

'Don't Tell Me' is still a great listen, sounding like a mash up of 'Hole in My Shoe' and a less surly Depeche Mode, a bit of a fanfare nicked from a Frankie song and a vocal effect stolen from Bronski Beat. The rest of the album, although it does have some very interesting proto techno drum sounds, doesn't quite reach the heights of the track that I had on loop in 1984.

Peace