| Heaven 17 |
| Background information |
| Origin |
England |
| Genre(s) |
New Wave
Synthpop |
| Years active |
October 1980–present |
| Label(s) |
EMI (Virgin Records) - UK,
Australia,
Canada
Sony BMG
Arista Records
Virgin Records - US
Cleopatra Records
Ninthwave Records - US |
Associated
acts |
The
Human League
B.E.F. |
| Website |
http://www.heaven17.com/ |
| Members |
Glenn
Gregory
(vocals)
Ian Craig Marsh
(synthesisers,
backing vocals)
Martyn
Ware
(synthesisers, backing vocals) |
Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band
originating in Sheffield in the early 1980s.
|
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 2 Discography
- 2.1 Studio
albums
- 2.2 Compilation,
live, and tribute albums
- 3 Appearances
in popular culture
- 4 Trivia
- 5 Honeyroot
- 6 External
links
|
Biography
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" [1]), Heaven 17 formed when Ian
Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware split from their
earlier group The Human League and
formed production company British
Electric Foundation (BEF). Shortly after, they recruited their friend
and photographer Glenn Gregory on vocals to complete
their lineup for Heaven 17, the groups friend Malcolm Veale often
featured on tracks playing saxophone or synthesiser. Contrary to
popular belief, they were not New Romantics and shared few visual
characteristics with groups such as Spandau
Ballet and Culture Club.
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. 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 the BBC because of its overtly political lyrics,
though it still reached number 45 in the UK
singles chart.
Major chart success eluded them until the single "Temptation"
(on which they were augmented by vocalist Carol
Kenyon) reached number 2 in the UK charts in summer 1983 (#11 in Germany). Other
songs from the same album, The
Luxury Gap, charted although not as high -
"Come Live With Me" reached number 5 in the UK, "Crushed By The Wheels
of Industry" number 17, and "Let Me Go", number 41 in November 1982.
The album itself charted at their best ever position, number 4 (#7 in
Germany).
At the end of 1983, the band (under their BEF guise) 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 number 12 (#31 in Germany).
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.
Pleasure One (featuring the single
"Trouble" - a minor hit in the UK at #51, but a big success in Germany
where it reached #17) appeared in 1986 and 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 the likes of Terence Trent D'Arby, Alison
Moyet and Erasure.
2005 saw the release of the long-awaited 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 Billboard Magazine US Club Play
Chart in May 2006. In October the same year Virgin issued a greatest
hits compilation called 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 Glenn Gregory's mother and
remastered by Simon Heyworth.
Discography
Studio albums
- Penthouse and Pavement
(1981) - Melody Maker's
album of the year (1981) [2]. Remastered and re-released in
the UK in 2006 with bonus tracks.
- The Luxury Gap
(1983) - reached number 4 in the album charts. Contained "Temptation"
and "Let Me Go", the band's biggest UK and US hits respectively.
Remastered and re-released in the UK in 2006 with bonus tracks.
- How Men Are
(1984) - remastered and re-released in the UK in 2006 with bonus tracks.
- Pleasure One (1986) - notable for the
introduction of a 'real' band, and the loss of the electronics and
social commentary that characterised the band's early career.
- Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho (1988)
- the title comes from the nicknames given to the band by Terence
Trent D'Arby.
- Bigger Than America (1996) - marked a
return to their synthesizer and social commentary roots.
Described as a 'sequel' to Penthouse and Pavement.
- Before After (2005) - dispensed with
politics in favour of a more dance-oriented album.
Compilation, live, and tribute
albums
- Heaven 17 (1982) non-UK compilation -
consisted of : 5 tracks from Penthouse and Pavement, 1
re-recorded track from P&P, 1 previously single-only track and
2 (then) new songs (subsequently to appear on the UK release of The
Luxury Gap)
- Endless (1986) - consisted of a 'Heaven
17 Megamix', and both 12-inch and re-recordings of songs
- The Best of Heaven 17 (1992) -
originally released on the Virgin VIP label
- Higher and Higher - The Best of Heaven 17
(1993) - contained remixes of "Temptation" and "(We Don't Need This)
Fascist Groove Thang"
- The Remix Collection (1995) - contained
12-inch versions of songs and the 1992/3 remixes of "Temptation", "(We
Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" and "Penthouse and Pavement"
- Executive Summary (1996) - essentially a
6-track 'Best of' CD introducing the upcoming 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 supporting Erasure (previously only available from the
official website as Live at Last)
- Virgin Voices Vol. 1: A Tribute To Madonna
(1999) - tribute album containing the band's cover of Madonna's
"Holiday"
- We Will Follow: A Tribute To U2 (1999) -
cover of U2's
"With or Without You" opens this tribute album to the Irish band
- 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
available 10 minutes after the end of the show and from Live Here Now [3],
with artwork by Haiminh Le [4] and Nick Cannock [5]
- also available as a DVD including an exclusive interview with the
band and a glimpse inside Heaven 17's recording studio.
- Sight and Sound (2006) - a digitally
remastered singles compilation that included a DVD of the band's videos
Appearances in popular culture
- Heaven 17 is mentioned in the song "Cubs in Five" by The
Mountain Goats. While listing a group of things that will never happen,
the lyrics state that "Bill Gates will single-handedly spearhead
the Heaven 17 revival."
- "Temptation" is featured in the film Trainspotting,
but does not appear on the 'official' CD soundtrack, whereas "Temptation" by New
Order does - though they are not the same song (Heaven 17's
"Temptation" is played at the disco where Renton would meet Diane; New
Order's "Temptation" lyrics are sung by Diane while she's taking a
bath, and is played faintly in the background during breakfast at
Diane's shortly after). Heaven 17's "Temptation" is however featured on
the second Trainspotting CD, featuring songs
'inspired by' the film.
- Metal band Cradle of Filth's album Thornography
included a cover of "Temptation," with singer Victoria
Harrison better known as Dirty Harry on guest vocals, that was also
released as a single, with an accompanying music
video.
- At the Shockwaves NME Awards 2007, Jarvis
Cocker and Beth Ditto (from The
Gossip) performed a cover version of 'Temptation', described by NME as
"stunning".
Trivia
- The band still work together - stating on
their recent releases that "Heaven 17 have been - and always will
be...".
- The band's first television appearance where
they actually played live was on The
Tube in 1987, playing "Contenders" and
"Trouble" from Pleasure One.
- Their first actual live tour was supporting Erasure
in 1997 - with reasons for the time taken ranging from "making a
conscious decision to wait 17 years" to "we were too lazy" given on
1999's How Live Is.
- "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls" (from Penthouse
and Pavement) takes many of its lyrics from the book Will
I Like It? by Peter Mayle about losing your virginity.
- The Heavy Metal band Cradle
of Filth recently did a cover of their song Temptation
for their album Thornography. The cover features
Victoria Harrison ("Dirty Harry").
Honeyroot
Honeyroot is an ambient
dance collaboration between Glenn Gregory and Keith Lowndes,
signed to the Just Music recording company. The project
has its origins in the 1997 Blatant Records release Skyscraping
by ABC.
As ABC was essentially Martin Fry, after the departure of
co-member Mark
White, Keith Lowndes and fellow Sheffield native Glenn Gregory of the
electropop-funk band Heaven 17 were brought in for co-writing duties on
the album.
External links
| v • d • e Heaven 17 |
| Glenn Gregory
| Ian Craig Marsh
| Martyn Ware |
| Discography |
| Albums Penthouse and Pavement
| The Luxury Gap
| How Men Are | Pleasure One | Teddy
Bear, Duke & Psycho | Bigger Than
America | Before After |
| Compilation and live albums Endless
| Higher and Higher | The Remix Collection
| Executive Summary | Retox/ Detox | How
Live Is | Live at Scala, London | Sight
& Sound: Greatest Hits |
| Singles (We
Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang | I'm Your Money | Play
To Win | Penthouse and
Pavement | At
The Height of The Fighting (He La Hu) | Let Me Go | Temptation | Come Live With
Me | Crushed By The
Wheels of Industry | Sunset Now | This Is Mine | And That's No Lie | Contenders
| The Foolish Thing To Do | Trouble
| The Ballad of Go Go Brown
| Train of Love In Motion | Temptation
(Brothers in Rhythm Remix) | (We
Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (Rapino Remix) | Penthouse
and Pavement (Tommy D's Master Remix) | Designing Heaven | We Blame Love | (With This Ring) Let Me
Go | Hands
Up To Heaven (Exclusive DJ Mixes) | I'm
Gonna Make You Fall In Love With Me (Exclusive DJ Mixes) |
| Related
pages |
| Honeyroot | The
Human League | British
Electric Foundation |
