Men at Work released Two Hearts

Two Hearts Men at Work

Released: April 23, 1985 Peak: 50 US, -- UK, -- CN, 16 AU Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, -- UK, 0.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop rock/new wave

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Man with Two Hearts Giving Up Everything I Need (1985, 47, US, 28 AR, 37 AU) Sail to You Children on Parade Maria Stay at Home Hard Luck Story Snakes and Ladders Still Life Total Running Time: 36:34 The Players: Colin Hay (vocals, guitar, various instruments, drum programming) Greg Ham (flute, keyboards, saxophone, vocals, drum programming) Ron Strykert (guitar, vocals)

Rating: 3.142 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)

About the Album: Men at Work took the world by storm in 1982 and 1983 with their monstrously successful Business As Usual album and the #1 singles “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Down Under.” They quickly followed with another album that was a top-five, multi-platinum smash which gave the band two more top-10 hits in the U.S. After they took a break, they reconvened in the fall of 1984 to start work on a third album. Friction led to the dismissal of bassist John Rees and drummer Jerry Speiser before the recording started. They were replaced with session musicians and a stronger emphasis on drum machines and synthesizers. Guitarist Ron Strykert left during sessions, although he is still credited as a member of the group for the Two Hearts album. The band also let producer Ian McIan go, the man who’d produced the first two hugely successful albums. Colin Hay and Greg Ham opted to produce the album themselves. These were all warning signs that Men at Work might be finished as a viable commercial act and might even be done as a band. Sadly, both proved true. That isn’t to say, though, that there isn’t some good music here. Everything I Need was the only song that charted, peaking at #47 in the U.S. and barely making the top 40 in their own native Australia. The song, however, sounded worthy of the top-10 status Men at Work had achieved four times with singles from the first two albums. Man with Two Hearts, Maria, Hard Luck Story, and Still Life were all released as singles, but none charted. The first two certainly weren’t of the same caliber as Men at Work’s biggest hits, but they felt like songs that deserved at least top-40 status. It was an unfortunate ending for a band whose star rose so quickly and, sadly, fell just as fast. While the group will always be best remembered for its fun videos and chart-toppers, they deserve to be recognized for the unfairly overlooked Two Hearts as well.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Men at Work WK Wikipedia First posted 9/19/2020; last updated 8/2/2021.

Prince released Around the World in a Day

Around the World in a Day Prince

Released: April 22, 1985 Charted: May 11, 1985 Peak: 13 US, 4 RB, 5 UK, 16 CN, 12 AU Sales (in millions): 2.85 US, 0.1 UK, 5.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: R&B/funk

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Around the World in a Day [3:28] (Prince, John L. Nelson, David Coleman) Paisley Park [4:42] (5/25/85, 18 UK) Condition of the Heart [6:48] Raspberry Beret [3:33] (5/18/85, 2 US, 1 RB, 40 AR, 25 UK) Tamborine [2:47] America [3:42] (10/19/85, 46 US, 35 RB) Pop Life [3:43] (7/27/85, 7 US, 4a RB, 60 UK) The Ladder [5:29] (Prince, John L. Nelson) Temptation [8:18] All songs written by Prince unless noted otherwise. Total Running Time: 42:33

Rating: 3.473 out of 5.00 (average of 24 ratings)

About the Album: “Purple Rain made Prince sound like he could do anything, but it still didn’t prepare even his most fervent fans for the insular psychedelia of Around the World in a Day.” AMG Prince “made his interior world sound fascinating and utopian on Purple Rain, but Around the World in a Day is filled with cryptic religious imagery, bizarre mysticism, and confounding metaphors which were drenched in heavily processed guitars, shimmering keyboards, grandiose strings, and layers of vocals.” AMG The album drew comparisons to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band because of its sound and album cover. WK “As an album, the record is a bit impenetrable, requiring great demands of the listener, but individual songs do shine through: Raspberry Beret is a brilliant piece of neo-psychedelia with an indelible chorus, Pop Life is a snide swipe at stardom that emphasizes Prince’s outsider status, Condition of the Heart is a fine ballad, America is a good funk jam, Paisley Park is heavy and slightly frightening guitar psychedelia, while the title track is a sunny, kaleidoscopic pastiche of Magical Mystery Tour. The problem is, only a handful of the songs have much substance outside of their detailed production and intoxicating performances, and the album has a creepy sense of paranoia that is eventually its undoing.” AMG Despite mixed critical reviews, the album followed Purple Rain to the top of the album chart and went double platnium. “Raspberry Beret” and “Pop Life” were top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Prince AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/23/2008; last updated 8/22/2021.

50 years ago: The Dorsey Brothers hit #1 with “Lullaby of Broadway”

Lullaby of Broadway The Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra with Bob Crosby

Writer(s): Harry Warren (music), Al Dubin (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: April 6, 1935 Peak: 12 US, 12 HP, 14 GA, 14 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.04 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Jimmy Dorsey was an alto saxophonist and clarinetist born in 1904 in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. His younger brother, Tommy, was a trombonist born a year later. In 1928, they first charted together and would go on to chart separately and together more than 300 times. Collectively they had thirty-one #1 hits. While most of their hits were with separate orchestras, their first 26 hits were as the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. Their very first #1 came in 1935 with their version of “Lullaby of Broadway” which featured a twenty-one-year-old Bob Crosby on vocals. The song “about the town that never sleeps” SM was first featured in the movie Gold Diggers of 1935, sung by Wini Shaw and Dick Powell. Lyricist Al Dubin and composer Harry Warren wrote the songs in the film after experiencing success with Forty Second Street. Gold Diggers of 1935 focused on “a woman of the night whose morals are questionable but whose heart is gold.” TY2 That same year the song was also featured in the Bette Davis movie Special Agent the James Cagney film G Men, and the “Page Miss Glory” Merrie Melodies cartoon. WK “Lullaby of Broadway” won the Oscar for Best Song and Powell’s version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Doris Day sang it in the 1951 movie Lullaby of Broadway. DJ It was also featured in The Jolson Story (1946) and Young Man with a Horn (1950). TY2 The Dorsey Brothers’ version was one of five versions to chart in 1935. The others were by singer and pianist Little Jack Little (#5), pianist Reginald Foresythe (#11), Hal Kemp’s Orchestra (#14), and Chick Bullock’s Orchestra (#19). PM The song has also been recorded by the Andrews Sisters, Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Connie Francis, Harry James’ Orchestra, and Bette Midler. WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Dorsey Brothers DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bob Crosby DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 126. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 213. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 129-139 and 545. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 3/16/2023.

Marillion released “Kayleigh”...my all-time favorite song

Kayleigh Marillion

Writer(s): Fish, Mark Kelly, Ian Mosley, Steve Rothery, Pete Trewavas (see lyrics here) Released: April 7, 1985 Peak: 74 US, 12 AR, 2 UK, 88 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 14.3 video, 60.69 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Most posts on Dave’s Music Database are presented without personal commentary. This one is an exception. 1985 likely marked the most significant year of my life in terms of growth and discovery. I graduated from high school and headed to college. My sheltered upbringing was challenged as I learned to co-exist with people with vastly different backgrounds and lifestyles. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Similarly, my musical tastes would undergo a significant awakening. For my first 18 years I gravitated largely toward pop music. In grade school and middle school, I bought eight tracks of adult contemporary staples like Air Supply, John Denver, Neil Diamond, and Barry Manilow. By high school, my tastes leaned a bit more toward rock with Foreigner, Journey, REO Speedwagon, and Styx. However, in college I started listening to the heavier rock I’d previously snubbed my nose at – Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Rush. My greatest discovery, though, was a band practically no one in America had heard of – Marillion. My local album-rock station played just enough of the song “Kayleigh” to get me curious. The song didn’t break any new ground with its failed-love theme, but it explored the idea with some of the best lyrics I’d ever heard: Do you remember chalk hearts melting on a playground wall Do you remember dawn escapes from moon-washed college halls Do you remember the cherry blossom in the market square Do you remember I thought it was confetti in our hair By the way didn’t I break your heart? Please excuse me, I never meant to break your heart So sorry, I never meant to break your heart But you broke mine Fish did date a woman named Kay Lee, but said the song was a composite of several “deep and meaningful relationships that basically I’d wrecked because I was obsessed with the career and where I wanted to go.” WK It was an apology to some of the women he’d dated. WK While the song went largely unnoticed in the U.S., its #2 peak in the UK gave rise to the popularity of the name there. WK I loved the song even if American radio didn’t. Several times I picked up the cassette of the song’s parent album, Misplaced Childhood, in Camelot music store and pondered the fascinating cover art done by Mark Wilkinson of a young boy, barefoot and in a military uniform. I knew nothing about this group. Was it worth taking a risk? The answer was a resounding yes. When I finally took the leap I discovered a neo-progressive rock group from England helmed by a singer and lyricist nicknamed Fish. “Kayleigh” “Kayleigh” was the centerpiece of a concept album about the downfall of the protagonist because of his failed relationship and difficulty in coping with fame. In the end, his rediscovery of the innocence of childhood leads to his rebound. I found out this was the band’s third album, which led me to delve into their back catalog. “Kayleigh,” Misplaced Childhood, and Marillion became my all-time favorite song, album, and group. I didn’t “break up” with what some considered immature musical tastes; instead I celebrated the music of my childhood even as I discovered new directions in adulthood. It became the philosophy that has governed my music appreciation ever since. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Marillion DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Fish SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/18/2019; last updated 8/5/2022.