1987

 

2nd place - Bee Gees - You Win Again

 

10.0

 

 

After a six year break for solo projects and writing great songs for other people, the Bee Gees returned in 1987 with You Win Again. And what a song it is.

 

There's nothing about this song that isn't exceptional. As if it needs saying, the vocals are excellent. The backing vocals are preternaturally rendered in a way that only gifted musicians like these siblings can achieve - airy and reverb-laden.

 

That would be impressive enough even if the melody was merely good - but here the melody could not be more perfect. The uplift of the chorus defies description. It's made all the more enchanting that the words that they sing sound very little like the ones that were published. I swear that they're singing about Halloween, at one point.

 

So far, I've failed to mention the impact of that introduction - apparently, mostly constructed from clattering and bashing objects together, recorded by Maurice in his garage. They had to fight the record company to keep them so prominent.

 

The entire thing has the subtle magnificence and lightness of touch of an Electric Light Orchestra classic - the brass and strings, the sparkling keyboards.

 

I've listened to it on a loop about 10 times this morning and I could do another 10 more with pleasure. One of the most underrated songs by anyone, ever.

 

Fourth best seller of the year.

 

 

 

 

You Win Again 😍 pure genius and I always felt this sat out for being released quite late in their career!

For Whom the Bell Tolls is also a late career highlight.

loved the Whitney song but probably prefer Respectable in term of pure pop songs

 

not a fan of Bee Gees and You win again was too AOR for me :D

Edited November 29, 20204 yr by Bjork

what does that mean?

For Whom the Bell Tolls is also a late career highlight.

 

Great track also!

Mel & Kim was SAW at their near-best, great pop music. Whitney, I agree about the intro, but I'm so sick of hearing this track I turn it off if it comes on the radio. I liked it off the bat, then I got bored with it more quickly than I do with longlasting faves, now it's just a bit too middle of the road for me with nothing to hook onto. The Bee Gees, OTOH, is genius. 20 years into an ever-changing pop career and they do an about turn into Depeche Mode. No exaggeration, Maurice was experimenting with an industrial sound and beat along the lines of Depeche, but with the Gibbs talent for melody and harmony grafted on top, and it totally worked. Best track on the list, and one of their many many brilliant records.

I regularly listen to You Win Again, it really is one of their best ever songs, and doesn’t get enough attention these days. That baseline/heavy percussion is genius and the melody is wonderful, as is the instrumental key change transition.

You Win Again is indeed great, agree with the consensus that the intro is particularly good - my favourite of their singles by far as I’m not usually a huge fan.

Yeah, You Win Again is fantastic.

1987

 

1st place - Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin

 

10.0

 

 

And speaking of intros that have IMPAKT.

 

This isn't the first song I ever liked. But it is the first song I ever loved. It's hard to think back to what made this so compelling to an 11 year old Irish boy in 1987. I'm sure it wasn't the intro - it's rarely the intro of a song that gets my attention, although it can obviously be a part that gets appreciated in retrospect. Perhaps, it was the catholic guilt that bleeds out of every word of it.

 

I don't need to tell anyone that this is one of the most over the top, magnificent (I do use that word a lot) and downright pervasive pop songs ever released. Neil wanted to write a dance song that had huge religious overtones, so Chris and Julian Mendelsohn (who produced the track) set about doing that by adding just about any element that pushed it further over the top - the 4 tectonic blasts at the start, copious thunder claps, ominous choral passages, organs, rippling arpeggiated synths, vocoders, the "T-15 seconds and counting" sample pitch bent so it ground to a halt, the Confiteor, that humongous descending drum fill sounds like it was ripped from In the Air Tonight. Some of these were recorded in Westminster Cathedral for added incense-infused ambience.

 

They got into a spot of bother with accusations of plagiarism by Johnathan King when he pointed out that the chords sounded remarkably like those of Cat Stephens' Wild World. King recorded a version of Wild World in a PSB-style which can be found at your local YouTube. The boys defended themselves by bringing proceedings against King. They won and donated the money to charity.

 

 

If you do one thing today, let it be this....

Get out your best headphones (and it should really headphones and not earphones). Click on the 12" video that I posted in this post. Turn it up loud and try not to be speechless for too long afterwards.

 

The best bit is the first 7 minutes and 46 seconds.

 

Eighth best seller of the year.

Edited November 29, 20204 yr by Colm

1988 oh dear :ph34r:

‘It’s a Sin’ is PSBs at their best

It's A Sin is definitely the best song out of those ten. I would put China In Your Hand in 2nd place with You Win Again 3rd just ahead of Pump Up The Volume.

It's a Sin :wub:

 

I can't quite remember it from the time but it must have sounded so utterly unique at the time - and still does now to be fair. It's just so wonderfully OTT in the best possible way as everything about it from the lyrics to the synths are all just so maximalist. A truly amazing single.

Tune! Great top 3 choices.

for me it would be:

1 China in Your Hand, by miles and miles and miles

2 Respectable

3 I Wanna Dance

 

I like It's a Sin but don't love it, much prefer other PSB songs...

I like It's a Sin but don't love it, much prefer other PSB songs...

 

 

Ah but did you listen to.the 12'" with good headphones. 1:41 onwards blows my mind. :dance:

what does that mean?

 

Adult orientated rock.

Oh..it was ACR when I read it.