Staggering on to Friday with Blancmange in concert from The Hacienda in Manchester – recorded on July 19th, 1982 and graciously provided by Joaquin Dominguez for this pristine and stellar recording.
On to the 80s this morning – Blancmange formed in Harrow, London, in 1979. The band were a duo for much of their career, composed of Neil Arthur (vocals) and Stephen Luscombe (keyboards). They came to prominence in the early 1980s, releasing four UK top-20 singles: “Living on the Ceiling”, “Waves”, “Blind Vision” and “Don’t Tell Me”. They released three studio albums during that decade: Happy Families (1982), Mange Tout (1984) and Believe You Me (1985).
The duo amicably broke up in 1986 but reformed in the late 2000s, and in 2011 released their fourth studio album, Blanc Burn. Luscombe left following the release due to ill health, and since then Arthur alone has continued to perform under the Blancmange name, releasing nine new studio albums along with a re-recording of the band’s debut studio album, titled Happy Families Too… (2013). He has also been involved in a further three collaborative albums as Fader (with Benge) and Near Future (with Jez Bernholz).
The duo found minor success with their 1982 double A-sided single, “God’s Kitchen”/”I’ve Seen the Word”, which peaked at no. 65 in the UK. This was followed by “Feel Me”, which peaked at no. 46. Later that year, they broke through with “Living on the Ceiling”, which reached no. 7 on the UK Singles Chart and was an international hit. Their debut studio album, Happy Families (which featured a sleeve painting in the style of Louis Wain and of the cover artwork of Enid Blyton’s books), also reached the top 30.
Further hits followed with “Waves” (no. 19), “Blind Vision” (no. 10), “That’s Love, That It Is” (no. 33) and “Don’t Tell Me” (no. 8), while their second studio album Mange Tout (1984) also reached no. 8 in the UK Albums Chart. The album featured a cover version of ABBA’s “The Day Before You Came”, which reached no. 22 in the UK (slightly higher than Abba’s original less than two years earlier). However, after this, the band’s fortunes declined. Their 1985 single “What’s Your Problem” only reached no. 40, and the subsequent studio album Believe You Me (1985) spent only two weeks in the UK Albums Chart, peaking at no. 54. The duo announced that they were breaking up in June 1986 after a Greenpeace concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Luscombe released an album of Indian-influenced music, New Demons, with Pandit Dinesh, Peter Culshaw, Priya Khajuria and Asha Bhosle under the name West India Company, in 1989. Meanwhile, Arthur released his debut solo studio album, Suitcase, in 1994, which spawned the singles “One Day, One Time” (1992) and “I Love I Hate” (UK No. 50, 1994). In 2008, Edsel re-released the three studio albums as expanded versions.
For a reminder of what Blancmange were up to in 1982, here is that Hacienda gig, thanks again to Joaquin Dominguez for giving us the honor of sharing it.
Crank it up – get moving and get ready for the weekend.
