Blancmange
Blancmange – the 80s had arrived.

– Blancmange – In concert for BBC Sight & Sound – March 31, 1984 – BBC Radio 1 –

Blancmange, this morning. Since it’s been an insane week, I thought I would toss a concert by Blancmange into the mix. Although probably not all that well known in the U.S. than in their native UK, Blancmange had a string of hits in the early 80s and were very well received by both critics and the audience.

In retrospect, Blancmange were one of the first New-Wave/Techno bands to rely almost exclusively on keyboards and synthesizers. A style which has been duplicated quite a bit over the years, especially now with the advent of EDM. Blancmange were a duo; Neil Arthur and Steve Luscombe.

During their initial phase, from 1979-1987 Blancmange released three albums and five singles. After taking an extended break, they regrouped in 2006 and are currently back in the studio and gigging.

But tonight it’s 1984 and music from Blancmange’s newly released second album, Mange Tout which came out earlier in the year. Tonight’s concert was simulcast on BBC Radio 1 and 2 and televised as part of the BBC‘s Sight and Sound Series on March 31, 1984.

Ring any bells?

Now for some hounding from our Major Domo:

2025 has arrived, kicking and screaming.. Past Daily is still quietly standing, still cranking out history and pop culture and still looking for your support. Fundraisers are pretty much tapped out – everybody seems to be doing them and even I’m sick of being hounded for money.

But still . . . some of these things are expensive to pull off. In case you didn’t already know, Past Daily is an extension of my archive (The Gordon Skene Sound Collection) – all the stuff I have collected since the beginning of time (it seems) – my goal is to share all of it with you, and since we’ve started there are over 11,000 posts which you, as a subscriber, can explore with thousands more waiting to be digitized..

And in case you didn’t know, once you subscribe you get notified every time we post something and you can download the audio file which you can’t do if you don’t subscribe. That’s the catch.

But it’s my way of saying Thank You for your support and helping me pay all the costs of keeping Past Daily up and running every day.

Subscribing is dead easy and totally painless – you can do it with Patreon – you can stretch it out over months, years or just today. You can do a trial subscription for free for 7 days and then you can either join us or go “no thanks” and life will continue.

Either way, your support is critical. Over this past year we’ve resumed running ads – simply because it’s helping offset the costs we can’t get around, but don’t have enough subscribers to do away with ads completely (believe me, I hate ads just as much as the next person – maybe more). Right now, a little over 100 of you are foregoing a cup of Starbucks in favor of downloading a concert or a World War 2 newscast or a reminder what happened two years ago – and I am completely over-the-moon for your support, you who are pitching in and seeing the possibilities. But we need more of you. We need 900 more to make a difference.

Look, all you have to do is click on the red banner below and make your pledge – you can also do Pay Pal or Buy Me A Coffee if you just want to do a one-time support.

But however you decide to do it, we’re grateful. We’ll be here as long as you are.

We can use the company. And 2025 has just gotten started.

Buy Me A Coffee