Heaven 17
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| Heaven 17 | |
|---|---|
 Heaven 17 - 2008
Gregory & Godfrey |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Sheffield, England |
| Genre(s) | New Wave Synthpop |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Label(s) | EMI (Virgin Records) Sony BMG |
| Associated acts | The Human League B.E.F. |
| Website | http://www.heaven17.com/ |
| Members | |
| Glenn Gregory Martyn Ware |
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| Former members | |
| Ian Craig Marsh | |
Heaven 17 are a British synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. They were a politically astute electronic pop trio, originally comprising Martyn Ware (keyboards), Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) (both previously with The Human League) and Glenn Gregory (vocals). The act, named after a fictional band in the cult film A Clockwork Orange, reunited and played their first ever gigs in 1997.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Origins
Taking their name from a fictional pop group mentioned in Anthony Burgess's novel, A Clockwork Orange, (where 'The Heaven Seventeen' are at number 4 in the charts with "Inside"), Heaven 17 formed when Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware split from their earlier group The Human League and formed the production company British Electric Foundation (BEF).
[edit] The 1980s
BEF’s first recording was a cassette-only album called Music for Stowaways and an LP called Music for Listening To. Shortly after, they recruited their friend and photographer Glenn Gregory on vocals to complete their line-up for Heaven 17. Like The Human League, Heaven 17 heavily used synthesizers and drum machines, the Linn LM-1 programmed by Ware particularly contributing to their signature sound. Session musicians were used for bass and guitar (John Wilson) and grand piano (Nick Plytas). They had some minor hits including the early "Play To Win", featured on the album Penthouse and Pavement. Their debut single "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" from the same album had attracted some attention, becoming a left-wing anthem for a while, and was banned by Mike Read, a BBC Radio 1 DJ, because of its overtly political lyrics, although it still reached #45 in the UK Singles Chart.[1]
In the interim the band produced two further LPs as BEF. The first being Music of Quality & Distinction featuring Glenn Gregory, Paula Yates, Billy Mackenzie, Paul Jones, Bernadette Nolan and Gary Glitter. The tracks were cover versions of songs that Ware, Marsh and Gregory had grown up listening to. A second volume was issued in the early 1990s (simply titled Music of Quality & Distinction 2), this time featuring artists such as Scritti Politti's Green Gartside, Terence Trent D'Arby, and Lalah Hathaway.
The second album was Geisha Boys and Temple Girls for the dance troupe Hot Gossip, which used songs formerly recorded by The Human League and Heaven 17, and a track each from Sting and Talking Heads. This has recently been re-released. This album was originally to have been produced by Richard Burgess of Landscape.
Major chart success continued to elude the band with "Let Me Go" charting just outside the UK Top 40 in October 1982..[1] However, the single "Temptation" (on which they were augmented by vocalist Carol Kenyon, a former backing singer for Isaac Hayes), reached #2 on the UK chart in summer 1983.[1] Other songs from the same album, The Luxury Gap, charted although not as high - "Come Live With Me" reached #5 in the UK, "Crushed By The Wheels of Industry" number 17, and "Let Me Go" #41 in November 1982.[1] The album itself charted at #4 in the UK Albums Chart, their best ever position.[1]
In the United States, the self-titled Heaven 17 album was a re-working of Penthouse and Pavement with three songs deleted and replaced by "Let Me Go" and "Who'll Stop the Rain". American new wave audiences were most familiar with "Let Me Go", which received high rotation airplay on 'Rock Of The 80s' format radio stations, such as Los Angeles, California's KROQ, plus frequent MTV exposure.
At the end of 1983, the band (under their BEF guise and assisted by Greg Walsh) helped launch Tina Turner's solo career, producing and providing backing vocals on her debut hit "Let's Stay Together". 1984 saw the release of the moderately successful How Men Are, which reached #12 in the UK chart and featured the Earth, Wind and Fire brass section.
The band also worked on the Band Aid single at the end of 1984, with Gregory supplying vocals alongside Midge Ure and Sting, after a personal request from Ure that he attend. However, they did not perform at Live Aid the following year. Heaven 17's first live performance was in 1986 on the UK television programme The Tube - although live is pushing the term, as Marsh was operating a Series IIx Fairlight CMI and a Revox reel-to-reel tape recorder was operating in the background.[citation needed]
Pleasure One (featuring the single "Trouble" - a minor hit in the UK at #51,[1] but a bigger success in Germany where it reached #17) appeared in 1986 and contained a number of songs that were originally intended for a French film project that never came to be. This was the first Heaven 17 album to not mention production credits for BEF and the abbreviation would not appear again until Bigger Than America in 1996. It was followed up in 1988 with Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho (featuring the single "Train of Love in Motion"), although these two albums were poorly received and had little commercial success. The early 1990s were a quiet period for the band and they would not work together as Heaven 17 again until 1996's Bigger Than America. In the preceding years, Marsh and Ware produced a second BEF album to follow 1982's original Music of Quality and Distinction and Gregory formed the band Ugly. Ware became an in-demand producer, working for Terence Trent D'Arby, Alison Moyet and Erasure. "Temptation" was remixed and re-released in 1992, reaching number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.[1]
[edit] Revival
2005 saw the release of Before After, which had a much more contemporary dance sound compared to previous albums. A CD of remixes of "Hands Up To Heaven" from the album hit number 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in May 2006. In October the same year Virgin Records issued a greatest hits compilation album entitled Sight and Sound, which included a previously-unheard version of "Temptation" with spoken vocals by an unknown student from Germany whom the band met in 1982. It had been discovered on 1-inch tape by Gregory's mother and was remastered by Simon Heyworth.
In 2006 Marsh began to stop appearing with the band on live work. In an interview in late 2008, Ware admitted he had not spoken to Marsh for months.[2] In 2008 prior to 'The Steel City Tour' it was admitted that Marsh no longer wanted to be part of the band and would no longer be appearing with them at concerts.[citation needed]
Since the mid 1990s Billie Godfrey has worked with the band as a backing vocalist and appears with them at concerts. She appeared with them as part of the band on 21 November 2008 for their highest profile TV appearance of recent years on Now That's What I Call 1983 on ITV1.
In December 2008 Heaven 17 toured the UK as part of the Sheffield band based 'Steel City Tour' alongside The Human League and ABC. Coinciding with this was the release of their new album, Naked as Advertised - Versions 08, issued through the Just Music record label. The album contained re-workings of tracks such as "Temptation" along with versions of Ware songs best known from his time with the Human League, including "Being Boiled" and "Empire State Human", as well as a cover of the Associates' hit "Party Fears Two".
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Penthouse and Pavement (1981)
- The Luxury Gap (1983)
- How Men Are (1984)
- Pleasure One (1986)
- Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho (1988)
- Bigger Than America (1996)
- Before After (2005)
- Naked as Advertised (2008)
[edit] Compilation, live, and tribute albums
- Heaven 17 (1982) - Non-UK compilation, consisted of 5 tracks from Penthouse and Pavement.
- Endless (1986) - Compilation album featuring a 'Heaven 17 megamix' plus new and alternate mixes
- The Best of Heaven 17 (1992)
- Higher and Higher - The Best of Heaven 17 (1993)
- The Remix Collection (1995)
- Executive Summary (1996) - A promotional release, essentially a 6-track 'Best of' CD introducing the then-forthcoming album Bigger Than America
- Retox/Detox (1998) - 2CD set consisting of entirely new remixes of the band's songs by DJs and remixers
- How Live Is (1999) - Live appearance at the SECC Glasgow
- Virgin Voices Vol. 1: A Tribute To Madonna (1999) - Tribute album
- We Will Follow: A Tribute To U2 (1999)
- Party O' the Times (1999) - The band's contribution to this Prince tribute album was a cover of "Sign “☮” the Times".
- Live at Scala, London (2005) - The band's appearance at the Scala, London on 29 November 2005
- Sight and Sound (2006) - a digitally remastered singles compilation that included a DVD of the band's videos
- Live at Last (2008) - re-recording of live gig supporting Erasure
- Ashes To Ashes (2008) - featured on a soundtrack of songs used on the show (Fascist Groove Thing)
[edit] Chart singles
- (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (March 1981) UK #45
- Play To Win (May 1981) UK #46
- Penthouse and Pavement (September 1981) UK #57
- Let Me Go (November 1982) UK #41
- Temptation (April 1983) UK #2
- Come Live With Me (June 1983) UK #5
- Crushed by the Wheels of Industry (September 1983) UK #17
- Sunset Now (September 1984) UK #24
- This Is Mine (October 1984) UK #23
- And That's No Lie (February 1985) UK #52
- Contenders (1986) UK #80
- Trouble (1987) UK #51
- Ballad of Go Go Brown (1988) UK #91
- Temptation [Brothers in Rhythm Remix] (1992) #4
- (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang [Rapino Club Remix] (1993) UK #40
- Penthouse and Pavement [Tommy D Remix] (1993) UK #54
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 248. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ Martyn Ware interview - BHOS website 2009
- ^ Discography at Heaven17.com
- ^ [1]
[edit] External links
- Heaven 17 Official website
- Heaven 17 fan site
- Glenn Gregory Interview for BBC
- Billie Godfrey's Official website
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