Despite the power of nostalgic thinking and sudden discovery of Gen Z (likely courtesy of TikTok), not all music from the ‘80s was great. For every Cure and Pixies album that has rightfully gone on to achieve near-universal classic status, there was a Starship or Chris de Burgh record that reminded you cocaine was almost always the biggest line item of any studio album budget. As for synth-pop, there were millions of miles of tape wasted recording songs that should never be played again. A lot of it was cheesy and hopelessly dated just a day after its release. But there were also some remarkable records to come out of that genre. Yaz’s Upstairs At Erics, Depeche Mode’s Music For the Masses, and the the Thomspon Twins’ Into The Gap – all still as great today as the moment they were released.
Initially put into the world in the winter of 1984, Into The Gap – the fourth album by the British trio – has been remastered and re-released for its 40th anniversary. Along with getting a special vinyl re-release on 140-gram, colored vinyl, it is being reissued as a comprehensive 3-CD set. It was the band’s most successful record, and the one that the next four albums would be judged against before the group eventually called it quits in the early 1990s.
The first two songs on the record are amazing; “Doctor, Doctor,” and “You Take Me Up” – with its melodica intro and harmonica throughout – sets up that the band is willing to explore their sound further beyond just synths and electric drumbeats. “No Peace For The Wicked” and the album closer, “Who Can Stop The Rain,” are the two weakest tracks, but the succession of singles like the ballad “Sister Of Mercy,” the experimental “The Gap” and the stellar “Hold Me Know,” probably the band’s best-known song, more than make up for those two weaker tracks.
The album went on to sell five million copies, and the band spent the rest of their career playing these songs live. In fact, Tom Bailey still plays these songs to this day. He toured earlier this year in the UK and the U.S., playing Into The Gap in full. The 40th anniversary is a great excuse for Gen X to revisit the record and for younger audiences to discover it for the first time.
