— Richard Lowe
Not everyone can be a Dylanesque voice of a generation — and fewer still should ever bother trying to be one. Political figures in pop are supposed to be earnest folkies but they come in all shapes and sizes and play all kinds of music. Some don't even "look" particularly political and their best music may have nothing to do with protest whatsoever. The rise of Thatcher resulted in a lot of great anti-Tory pop but standing up to the Iron Lady shouldn't have been just for Billy Bragg and Paul Weller — and, indeed, the Red Wedge movement wouldn't have gotten very far had it been so limited. Jimmy Sommerville and Richard Coles represented the synth-pop side of political protest in the UK at the time when most of their colleagues were disinterested in getting heavily involved. The Communards weren't the most talented of synth acts but it's a credit to them that they devoted much of their time during their two year peak to socialist causes when they could've been doing more lucrative forms of promo. (Notably, they were probably the biggest group in Britain in the late eighties not to get a Smash Hits cover)
I have previously been down on The Communards in this space and with good reason since "Disenchanted" wasn't very good. They would go on to enjoy a massive number one success with their cover of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' "Don't Leave Me This Way" which seemed to put them in the company of Marc Almond, Simply Red and UB40 as acts that seemed to do better with other people's material than with their own. They weren't around long enough to fully descend into cover version hell but if they couldn't reach people with the so-so stuff that Jimmy Sommerville and Richard Coles wrote, they could always fall back on a standard. And quite right too. Their covers represented a creative step forward while their originals seemed to hold them back.
Originally a hit for The Jackson 5 in 1971, "Never Can Say Goodbye" wasn't one of their more distinguished hits. Michael Jackson's youthful vigour on "I Want You Back" and "I'll Be There" is nowhere to be found and their recording just glides by. It sounds like a filler on one of their studio albums and it's surprising Motown deemed it good enough for single release. (The fact that it did as well as it did probably says as much about The Jacksons as a cash cow than the record itself) Gloria Gaynor's discofied cover is much better and it's clear that Sommerville was a fan. (It's also a welcome reminder that she had far more in her than "I Will Survive") Still, it sounds reigned in by seventies' dance music production orthodoxy. Can't anyone do this song and just let it all hang out?
Emulating Gaynor wasn't a difficult task for Sommerville but the spark of genius here was from whoever it was who figured the music should try to keep pace with the high octave vocalist. Sommerville often sounds out of place when attempting balladry or cod-reggae and the best solution is a hi-NRG recording that tries to be every bit as audacious. This is the music The Communards love to listen to but it is also fantasy of how they wish their favourite records would sound. The single's video Admirably avoiding sticking to the safe formula that made "Don't Leave Me This Way" so big, they don't leave anything on the table as they go for a big dancefloor sound. The song's video presents Sommerville and Coles in a disco with several musicians who may or not have played on it but their performance quickly evolves into a giant discotheque rave up. Need a palette cleanser from all the agit-prop at a Red Wedge gig? "Never Can Say Goodbye" could rip a crowd into a frenzied ecstasy no matter their musical affiliation. Much like Stevie Wonder's epic "Another Star" on Songs in the Key of Life, it's the kind of dance track that you hope will never end.
Sommerville's political convictions were such that he didn't have to prove anything to anyone through the medium of his songs. "Smalltown Boy" had been his one truly successful issues number and it may have eaten at him that he hadn't been able to replicate it with The Communards. Yet, "Never Can Say Goodbye" indicates that his pop instincts had remained sharp. His partnership with Coles was soon to wind down and a solo album beckoned. It would only be at this stage that he was able to marry his gay rights activism with this kind of hook-leaden dance music. The result was "Read My Lips (Enough Is Enough)", another piece of dancefloor magic.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
John "Cougar" Mellencamp: "Cherry Bomb"
He looked like a more put together Jon Bon Jovi with a voice even more rugged than Bruce Springsteen. John Mellencamp was never the superstar either of them were but 1987 was his year, especially if you happen to be from Canada where his album sold and sold and sold and where "Cerry Bomb", "Paper in Fire" and "Check It Out" were on a seemingly never-ending loop on the radio. He didn't make the same impact in Britain but it's nice to know that Richard Lowe is charmed by the Coug. Roots rockers love their nostalgia and few did it better. It certainly helped that Mellencamp had such an outstanding band to back him. Props in particular to Lisa Germano for some lovely violin. Maybe all those Canadian dads who bought The Lonesome Jubilee were on to something.
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