547 Goodbye Heaven 17 - Trouble

Chart  entered :  10  January  1987

Chart  peak : 51

Although  this  was  Heaven  17's  last  new  hit  , it  actually  arrested  a  steep  decline  in  their  fortunes. They  peaked  with  "Temptation"  which  reached  number  2  in  May  1983  and  two  more  Top  20  hits  followed  from  the  number  4  album  "The  Luxury  Gap".  Conventional  logic  said  they  should  tour  to  cement  this  new  popularity  but  the  guys  stuck  to  their  business  model  which  reckoned  that  going  out  on  the  road  was  unnecessary.   Instead  the  guys  took  time  out  to  help  Tina  Turner  re-launch  her  career  with Let's  Stay  Together. Martyn  co-produced  it  and  he  and  Glenn  provided  backing  vocals  both  on  the  record  and  when  she  performed  it  on  The  Tube.  The  following  year's  "How  Men  Are"  LP  peaked  at  number  12  and  failed  to  yield  a  Top  20  single. The  consequences  of  not  consolidating  a  loyal  fanbase  were  becoming  apparent.  As  we saw,  their  collaboration  with  Jimmy  Ruffin  failed  to  chart  and  their  first  single  from  the  album  "Pleasure  One"  also  flopped . Accordingly  the  album, released  in  November  1986  , peaked  at  a  lowly  78.

"Trouble"  was  the  second  single  from  the  album .  It's  an  upbeat  number  by  their  standards  and  the  prominence  of  a  funky  guitar  throughout  and  a  rock  guitar  solo  towards  the  end   shows  they  were  trying  to  broaden  their  sound. It's  a  decent  little  tune  which  covers  familiar  themes  of   casting  a  relationship  in  political  terms -  "The  trouble's  double  now  we're  fighting  for  two"  which  singer  Glen  Gregory  delivers  in  his  usual,  rather  stiff  tones. It  probably  helped  that  it  was  released  during  the  post-Christmas  lull.

They  decided  not  to  release  a  third  single  from  the  album  perhaps  because  Martyn  Ware   was  too  busy  producing  the  debut  LP  for  a  singer  who  will  pop  up  soon  enough. Their  next  release  was  the  single,  "The  Ballad  of  Go  Go  Brown"  in  August  1988.  The  strangest  release  of  their  career  it  paired  up  electronic  dance  rhythms  with  Spaghetti  Western  guitar  and  harmonica  and  a  shaggy  dog  story  about  some  modern  day   outlaw , something  like  Art  of  Noise  meets  Jimmy  Dean's  Big  Bad  John . Although   it's  not  got  the  worst  chorus  of  their  singles,  nobody  really  knew  what  to  make  of  it  and  it  failed  to  escape  the  Bubbling  Under  section.

The  album  it  heralded  was  "Teddy  Bear, Duke  &  Psycho" . I've  heard  most  of  it ( though  not  unfortunately  the  third  single  "Snake  and  Two  People " )  and   nothing  really  connects.  You  can  hear  they're  trying  to  broaden  the  sound  whether  with  funk  guitar  or  Philly  strings  but  the  songs  aren't  there. Second  single  "Train  of  Love  In  Motion"  sounds  like  a  Blancmange  B-side  , what  little  melody  there  is  has  been  copped  from  California  Girls  and  the  lyrics  are  terrible. The  album  failed  to  chart  except  in  Germany  where  it  got  to  46.

Abandoned  by  Virgin, Heaven  17  were  put  on  ice  after  the  album's  failure. Glen  went  off  to  while  away  his  time  with  a  dance  band  called  Ugly  while  Martyn  put  together  another  volume  of  Music  of  Quality  and  Distinction  under  the  B.E.F.  name.  Ian  Craig  Marsh  was  not  involved  this  time  round.  The  first  volume  of  electronic  covers  with  guest  vocalists  in  1982  had  been  a  conspicuous  failure , only  reaching  number  25  and  failing  to  yield  any  hits, so  it  wasn't  clear  where  the  demand  for  a  second  helping  was  coming  from  and  it  didn't  chart. However  the  version  of  Sly  and  Family  Stone's  Family  Affair  recorded  with  Lalah  Hathaway  was  a  hit  when  released  as  a  single  reaching  number  37  in  1991.

In  1992  the  dance  trio  Brothers  in  Rhythm  got  hold  of  "Temptation"  and  the  resulting  remix  got  to  number  4  in  the  charts. This  prompted  an  album  of  remixes, Higher  and  Higher   which  reached  number  31. Remixes  of  both  "Facist  Groove  Thang"  and  "Penthouse  And  Pavement  "  were  released  as  singles  and  got  to  pretty  much  the  same  positions  they  did  the  first  time  round.  Heaven  17  would  not  trouble  either  chart  again.

In  1994  Martyn  produced  Erasure's  I  Say I  Say I  Say  album.

In  1996  they  released  a  new  album,  "Bigger  Than  America"  on  a  small  label.  The  synths  have  been  updated  ; Martyn's  time  with  Erasure  seems  to  have  been  well  spent. The  lyrics  veer  between  a  strong  vein  of  ant-Americanism  ( which  seems  a  bit  misplaced  in  the  middle  of  the  Clinton  years  )  and  the  confusion  of  men  approaching  middle  age .It's  a  stronger  set  than  the  previous  LP  and  the  two  singles  "Designing  Heaven"  and  "We  Blame  Love"  are  far  from  the  strongest  songs. It  does  rather  founder  on  a  perennial  weakness  , the  inflexibility  of  Glen's  voice. Potentially  moving  songs  like  "Maybe  Forever"  don't  quite  work  with  a  bloke  who  sings  like  a  Dalek. The  album  didn't  chart  and  I  wasn't  even  aware  of  it  at  the  time.

Martyn  then  started  work  on  a  surround  sound  auditorium  for  the  ill-fated  National  Centre  for  Popular  Music  in  Sheffield  which  opened  in  1999  and  closed  little  more  than  a year  later. The  whole  concept  was  flawed; pop  music  is  about  "now", it  doesn't  belong  in  a  museum. The  building  is  now  used  as  the  student  union  building  for  Sheffield  Hallam  University.

Also  in  1999  Martyn  teamed  up  with  Vince  Clarke  again   to  release  the  first  of  two  LPs  of  ambient  soundscaping  as  The  Clarke  and  Ware  Experiment. It  was  called  "Pretentious"    so  perhaps  it's  as  well  I  haven't  heard  it  and  was  specifically  composed  for  play  in  the  auditorium. It  was  followed  up  two  years  later  by  "Spectrum  Pursuit  Vehicle". The  two  would  continue  to  work  together  as  Illustrious  productions  and  started  presenting  their  work  on  3D  Sound  at  live  events  from  2004  onwards.

At  the  same  time  Heaven  17  were  appearing  in  eighties  revival  package  tours  alongside  the  likes  of  Kim  Wilde   and  Sonia, ironic  for  a  band  who'd  never  actually  graced  a  stage  during  that  decade. The  Human  League  were  also  involved  although  I  don't  know  if  the  two  bands  were  ever  on  the  same  bill.

In  2005  Heaven  17  released  their  last  album  of  new  material , "Before  After". It  could  well  be  their  best. As  you  would  expect  the  sound  reflects  contemporary  trends  in  electronic  music  but  at  last  it  seems  like  writing  decent  tunes  has  been  given  a  higher  priority  than  making  political  points  in  the  lyrics.  A  bit  of  Autotuning  and  judicious  use  of  backing  singer  Billie  Godfrey  also  helps  Glen  in  the  vocal  department   The  ( rather  belated )  first  single  "Hands  Up  To  Heaven", although  bearing  a  more  than passing resemblance  to  Groovejet  , is  possibly  the  best  pop  tune  they've  ever  written, at  least  since  "Temptation". Alas  there  was  no   chart  action   even  after  their  version  of  Blue  Oyster  Cult's  "Don't  Fear  The  Reaper " - acceptable  but  the  original  is  one  of  my  all  time  faves  - was  featured  in  racy  vampire  series  True  Blood.

In  2006  Ian  stopped  participating  without  warning  or  explanation  although it's easy  to  speculate  why. With  Clarke  having  effectively  replaced  him  as  Martyn's  preferred  musical  partner,  just  playing  the  oldies  on  stage  wouldn't  have  been  too  appealing. For  the  last  decade  his  whereabouts  have  been  a  mystery  but  he  was  thought  to  have  been  studying  at  Brighton  University  at  one  point.

In  December  2008  they  toured  with  The  Human  League  ( all  hostilities  had  now  ceased )  and  ABC  on  the  Steel  City  Tour  and  released  an  album  of  re-workings  plus  a  cover  of  The  Associates  Party  Fears  Two  done  as  a  piano  ballad  ( interesting  for  one  listen )  to  coincide.

In  December  2010  ( Good  Lord,  was  it  that  long  ago ? )  they  did  a  BBC  session  on  the  Red  Button  interactive  channel  with  La  Roux. Glen  doing  a  duet  of  "Come  Live  With  Me " with  young  Ellie  had  a  certain  creepy  vibe  as  he  himself  acknowledged. He  appeared  with  them  on  a  version  of  Temptation"  at  Glastonbury  that  summer. They  then  toured  "Penthouse  and  Pavement "  in  full  to  mark  its  30th  anniversary.

In  summer  2012  Mute  released  a  box  set  of  Martyn  and  Vince's  work  together.

Last  summer  some  of  my  friends  saw  them  at  the  Grassington  Festival  and  weren't  very  impressed.  In  the  autumn  they  recorded  a  version  of  Elton  John's  "Rocket  Man"  for  a  compilation  "*80s  Recovered " . Kate  Bush  did  it  better.