New Wave/Synthpop songs ranked from #200 to #1, one per day.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Number 4: Bill Nelson - Flaming Desire
Musical genius Bill Nelson dropped his second solo album, The Love That Whirls, in 1982. "Flaming Desire" was released as a single, only reaching #55 on the UK charts (though it was top-20 in Germany for some reason). What a travesty! This is one of the finest songs of the entire new wave/synthpop era, and was #1 on my Top 200 for a week or so. I eventually slotted it into the #4 spot, but that's only due to the absolute brilliance of the next 3 songs and is not a slight against "Flaming Desire" at all. If this song were twenty minutes long instead of five, I still wouldn't get sick of it. Bill Nelson worked with Gary Numan and others throughout his career, frequently as a background contributor, and didn't seek the spotlight much. But with "Because Of You" (#125 on this list) and "Flaming Desire", he staked his claim as one of the great innovators and composers in synthpop history.
The 'Big in Germany' thing makes total sense... they love themselves an aloof industrial mechanical groove. Surprised it didn't go to #1. I could see Kraftwerk covering this song. Sing it in your best Werner Herzog voice ..or imagine Dieter from Spockets singing it.
"Touch my monkey, love him, set his fur on fire ... to be like this tortured pet is my flaming desiiiiire"
Wall of sound meets not-quite-New Romantic synthrock. I still have a vinyl copy of The Love That Whirls (Diary of a Thinking Heart) album with the bonus La Belle et La Bete LP. The album is so dense, I can't listen to it very often, but this is the best tune on it with "Empire of the Senses" a close second. There's a lot going on in these pieces, but definitely worth the effort to investigate. Neither the album or singles charted here in the US because we're idiots. Shout out to my high school buddy Jim for introducing me to this.
The 'Big in Germany' thing makes total sense... they love themselves an aloof industrial mechanical groove. Surprised it didn't go to #1. I could see Kraftwerk covering this song. Sing it in your best Werner Herzog voice ..or imagine Dieter from Spockets singing it.
ReplyDelete"Touch my monkey, love him, set his fur on fire ... to be like this tortured pet is my flaming desiiiiire"
Disturbing on several levels! Well done.
DeleteThis is an awesome song, and I only discovered it about 10 years ago or so. It inspired me to look for some more Bill Nelson tunes.
ReplyDeleteYes he is criminally ignored nowadays. Similar to the way Peter Baumann is ignored.
DeleteWall of sound meets not-quite-New Romantic synthrock. I still have a vinyl copy of The Love That Whirls (Diary of a Thinking Heart) album with the bonus La Belle et La Bete LP. The album is so dense, I can't listen to it very often, but this is the best tune on it with "Empire of the Senses" a close second. There's a lot going on in these pieces, but definitely worth the effort to investigate. Neither the album or singles charted here in the US because we're idiots. Shout out to my high school buddy Jim for introducing me to this.
ReplyDeleteI was just listening to "Empire" the other day. Weird coincidence!
DeleteYou're right. The US charts suck. I usually pay more attention to the UK charts. Heck, even Germany usually has better charts than us.
Delete