"Timing is everything and, unfortunately, the release of this 45 was singularly mistimed. Its predecessor, the hit "(Forever) Live and Die," was just falling out of the U.K. chart when OMD sent "We Love You" spinning toward it in November 1986. Meanwhile, the band's The Pacific Age album, from which both singles were culled, was clambering into the Top 15. But even in the go-go '80s, pop fans had to occasionally count their pennies, and two singles and an album were just too much to splash out on in a matter of weeks. There was no other reason for "We Love You" not to hit big, for it had all the makings of a smash. Its complex dance-friendly rhythm was fired by live drums, percussion, and a pulsing bassline, while lashings of riffy guitar, swooping synths, and bubbly keyboards supported a splendidly anthemic chorus that cried out the band's affection for both their pop and club fans. Add barely veiled lyrics with anti-militaristic intent to impress the anoraks, and this single should have been among the band's biggest sellers. But timing is everything."
"Capping off a fruitful year that included the release of their BNM'd third full-length, Clinging to a Scheme, Swedish indie pop stalwarts the Radio Dept. have a new EP, Never Follow Suit, out today via Labrador. The band's giving away the EP's first track, "The One", which you can grab below. In our news story today about the Radio Dept.'s forthcoming singles collection, Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002 - 2010, we also posted another track from that EP, a remix of its title track from Swedish production collective Pistol Disco. You can grab that rework, cleverly titled "Never Swallow Fruit", below as well."
"Hewson began in the late 1960s as an arranger, and worked with musicians such as the Beatles ("I Me Mine" and "The Long and Winding Road"), the Bee Gees (Melody), James Taylor ("Carolina in My Mind"), Herbie Hancock, Clifford T. Ward, Supertramp, Pilot (Pilot), Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Art Garfunkel, Leo Sayer, Paul McCartney (Thrillington), Mary Hopkin ("Those Were The Days"), Al Stewart, Chris de Burgh, Fleetwood Mac and Chris Rea. He also arranged strings on several Cliff Richard albums, I'm Nearly Famous (1976), Every Face Tells a Story (1977) and Green Light (1978). Hewson also worked with the British band Jigsaw, including arrangements for their hit single, "Sky High"."
"The lyrics of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots concern a diverse array of subject matter, mostly melancholy ponderings about love, mortality, artificial emotion, pacifism, and deception, while telling the story of Yoshimi's battle. The title character is inspired by Boredoms/OOIOO member Yoshimi P-We, following a comment in the Flaming Lips studio that her machine-sound abstract singing sounds like she is battling monsters—Coyne added 'pink'. P-We also performs on the album. Some listeners consider Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots to be a concept album; however, the story is debated, as it is only directly apparent in the first four tracks. Despite the story-type title and science fiction themes, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne has made it clear that Yoshimi is not intended to be a concept album."
