Thompson Twins

Here's To Future Days

FACTORY SEALED LP

Format: Album

Country: U.S.A.

Record Company & Release Number: Arista: AL8-8576 (RCA Music Club: R-144367)

Original release date: 1985

Bar Code: 07822182761

Condition of the cover: Mint

Condition of this Album: Sealed - Assumed Mint

My inventory number: 208325

Shipping Weight: 1 pounds, 0 ounces

Notes:

This record came from a record store in Allentown, Pennsylvania called "Phantasmagoria" which went out of business in 1978. I purchased most of their unsold inventory several years later when I owned "Music Madness" - a new & used record store in Catasauqua.

Since this was part of Phantasmagoria's inventory when they closed in 1978, it cannot be any newer than a 1978 pressing. Being a sealed LP, I cannot tell specifically what pressing it is prior to 1978. In come cases, hype stickers might help to determine if it is a first pressing, but I cannot be any more specific.

Phantasmagoria used round colored stickers to indicate the price of the albums. They had a sign on the wall with the color sticker combinations for the customers to use so they knew the price of the albums. Most of the albums still have these stickers on them, and in some rare cases, the stickers are written on. Some of the records have prices on them. This is the price you would have paid for the record in 1978 if you would have bought it at Phantasmagoria. Please don't confuse these prices with their current value.

RCA Music Service edition.

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Songs

• Don't Mess with Doctor Dream
• Lay Your Hands on Me
• Future Days
• Roll Over
• Revolution
• King for a Day
• Love Is the Law
• Emperor's Clothes
• Tokyo
• You Killed the Clown
• Breakaway

Credits

• Andie Airfix: Artwork, Design
• Scott Ansell: Engineer, Assistant Engineer, Second Engineer
• Andy Artix: Artwork, Design
• Tom Bailey: Synthesizer, Guitar, Piano, Arranger, Drums, Programming, Vocals, Producer, Double Bass, Contrabass, Fairlight, Drum Programming
• Terry Becker: Engineer
• Rebecca Blake: Photography
• Knut Bohn: Engineer, Second Engineer
• Lee Charteris: Technical Assistance
• Alannah Currie: Percussion, Arranger, Drums, Marimba, Vocals (bckgr), Xylophone, Art Direction
• Olivier de Bosson: Engineer, Second Engineer
• Steve Dewey: Technical Assistance
• James Farber: Engineer, Mixing
• Joe Leeway: Bass, Arranger, Conga, Vocals (bckgr), Emulator
• Jay Mark: Engineer
• Johnny Potoker: Engineer
• Nile Rodgers: Guitar, Vocals (bckgr), Producer
• Alex Sadkin: Producer
• Steve Stevens: Guitar
• Budd Tunick: Production Manager

Album Review

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

On their follow-up to the commercial breakthrough Into the Gap, The Thompson Twins attempt to toughen up their sound, but the results are only partially successful. In fact, the most infectious number, "Lay Your Hands on Me," sounds like it could have been an outtake from the previous album.

Biography

Thompson Twins biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

The Thompson Twins -- who were neither a duo nor related, but simply named after the Tin Tin cartoon -- were one of the more popular synth pop groups of the early MTV era, scoring a handful of hits before fading away into lite-funk obscurity. While many of their contemporaries indulged in stylish variations on Roxy Music or robotic electronic funk, the Thompson Twins were more pop-oriented, even when they strayed into dance-pop. Despite their success -- "Hold Me Now," "Lay Your Hands on Me," "King for a Day" all reached the U.S. Top Ten -- the group was unable to successfully expand their synth pop sound and, consequently, their audience had virtually disappeared by the late '80s.

Founding member Tom Bailey was attending a teacher's college in Cheshire, England and harboring dreams of becoming a classical pianist when he met Joe Leeway, a fledgling actor, in 1977. The pair hit it off, yet Leeway wasn't part of the original incarnation of the Thompson Twins, which featured Bailey (vocals, keyboards), guitarist Pete Dodd, guitarist John Roog, and drummer Chris Bell. During the late '70s and early '80s, the band released a handful of independent singles and became fixtures on the burgeoning New Romantic scene in London before signing with Arista Records in 1981. That year, they released their debut album, A Product Of..., to little attention.

Not long after the release of A Product Of..., Bailey added his girlfriend Alannah Currie (percussion, saxophone, vocals), Joe Leeway (percussion, vocal), and former Soft Boys bassist Matthew Seligman to the group. The Thompson Twins recorded one album in this seven-piece incarnation, 1982's Set, which was released in America as In the Name of Love. The record was a bomb, and following its release, the group was trimmed to a trio -- Bailey, Currie, and Leeway. The revamped Thompson Twins released Quick Step and Side Kick in 1983, and the album became a major hit in the U.K., climbing all the way to number two, as the singles "Love on Your Side" and "We Are Detective" reached the Top Ten. In America, the record was released under the truncated title Side Kicks and earned a cult following.

• The Thompson Twins had their American commercial breakthrough in 1984 with Into the Gap. "Hold Me Now," the first single from the album, became a bigger hit in the U.S. than it did in the U.K., peaking at number three; it reached number four in England. Into the Gap also featured the hits "Doctor Doctor" and "You Take Me Up," and the Thompson Twins quickly followed the record in 1985 with Here's to Future Days. "Lay Your Hands on Me" became an American Top Ten hit, as did "King for a Day," but none of the singles from the record became major hits in the U.K., signaling that the group's popularity was beginning to decline. Leeway left the group in 1986, and the Thompson Twins remained a duo, releasing Close to the Bone the following year. Bailey and Currie made their romance public in 1988, when the couple had a child. That same year, they released the remix album The Best of Thompson Twins: Greatest Mixes, which was generally ignored.
• By the late '80s, the Thompson Twins' audience had decreased substantially. Big Trash, their 1989 debut for Warner, produced the minor U.S. hit "Sugar Daddy," but it was overlooked in England. In 1991, they released Queer, which was ignored in both the U.S. and the U.K. In 1994, Bailey and Currie decided to form a new band, Babble, in order to explore newer electronic musics such as ambient. Working with programmer Keith Fernley, Babble released The Stone in 1994 on Reprise to little notice.

This sealed album is being sold as a collector's item and cannot be returned due to manufacturer's defects. It may be almost impossible to replace many of the sealed albums I am selling.

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All album reviews, credits and artist biographies are from AllMusic Guide. If you haven't been to their web site, you have to check it out. It's one of the most comprehensive music references on the internet. In some cases, credits may include reissue (CD) information. Obviously any credits referenced to CDs do not apply to this album release.

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