Heaven 17-Penthouse and Pavement - A review.

This is a review and a sort of a re-evaluation. I remember that when this album came out in 1981 it had a knock on effect to a particular sound but also to album covers becoming works of art at the same time. This album was always in those books for classic rock album covers that were on coffee tables through out the early 80s. But to dismiss it “as of the time “ is a foolish thing to do.. To Give background to the album a year before the original Human League Mk1 sort of splintered into two groups, in some ways led by the single mindedness of the people involved in the group, but also to do with Bob Last having two acts for the price of one. (In documentaries he has stated his instigated the move.) At the time its hard to understand but with hindsight you can say that he definitely did the right thing. It enabled the music that had influenced Ware and Marsh to become more to the fore in the mix. I can hear the elements of Donna Summer in the I’m Your Money, Chic in ‘Play To Win’. Also stated in interview Martyn Ware was imnnesiely driven by the situation that had unfolded , as remember he was the main founding member before Phil Oakey joined. If anything this was the motivating factor he needed . The Success of Penthouse and Pavement pre-dated Dare by a short while. The Penthouse and Pavement album is the first of the 80s albums that was intelligently produced , danceable but also powerful in sonic sense. It also was the complete opposite to the scene at the time like Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen. If the latter thing was to wear raincoats and get depressed, the heaven 17 mantra was do your job, wear suit and tie and then have a good time but whilst doing that beware of the social system. Now that last comment sounds stupid but on the immediate listen you got hooked by the pop sensibility but dig deeper and you can see some of the songs were political without being to in your face. It is an album that was successful at the time but due to sheer quantity of bands and material of this time it got overlooked but with hindsight it remains one of those classic early 80s albums that will never be repeated. With Heaven 17 they set a standard and perhaps it was matched by the Pet Shop Boys who incorporated their influences as duets(Springfield, Manelli etc). The Thing was the BEF were doing this six years previously with Tina Turner etc. To gain a quick glance over the album the tracks that still stand out for me are 'IM Your Money’ , 'Penthouse and Pavement’, 'Play to Win’ and 'Height of the fighting’. Recently it was reissued with bonus tracks and there are some other versions around on the net as well which show the band playing around with ideas. To conclude in all these 80s revivals there were several bands that were welcomed back bands like Blancmange and Yazoo but also add to that Heaven 17. They created an organisation as band(BEF) they assisted other artists and then one of those projects became an influence on a scene (Heaven 17) and then they moved into producing. Their Original manifesto complete. Heaven 17 – Penthouse And Pavement