Tag: 1980s music

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Ship of Fools”

Unless you’re over forty, or from the U.K., you’ve probably never heard of the great 80s/90s band World Party. It was the creation of a Welsh dude named Kurt Wallinger, who, like many other musical geniuses (Lindsey Buckingham springs to mind) wrote all his own songs, and made demo tapes by playing every instrument. Pretty cool, huh?

Back in 1986, this little gem came out. It had a bluesy, funky feel that was different from anything else on the radio at the time. Like a lot of great songs, it seems to exist on many levels. That is, it’s a warning about the future. More importantly, it’s just a great song.

Strangely, it did better in the U.S. than the U.K., where the band’s biggest hit was a haunting gem called “She’s the One.” 

Rock on…

Friday Night Rock-Out: Bryan Ferry

Yeah, I know. Calling this song “rock” is a bit of a stretch. Like all of Bryan Ferry’s solo work, as well as all his hits with Roxy Music, “Don’t Stop the Dance” is a brilliant and elegant pop song. Emphasis on brilliant. What William Faulkner is to literature, Bryan Ferry is to pop music. Who else could create a song like this, one that is both eminently danceable and yet edgy and so, so cool? 

I also love the music video, in which French model Laurence Treil features prominently. Ferry and Roxy Music were famous for using the faces and bodies of beautiful women as part of their branding, and Treil was the most beautiful of all. With her glamorous features and impossibly arched eye-brows, she looked like a Patrick Nagel painting that had come to life. 

Anyway, enjoy…