Believe You Me [CD]

Blame "Live Aid". Synthesizer pop took a huge fall in the aftermath of July 1985's Global Jukebox; some managed to cling on by appropriating their sounds for an American audience (Thompson Twins, Howard Jones, OMD, Tears For Fears), some reinvented themselves as straight rock propositions and promptly imploded (Ultravox), while Blancmange....well, whatever DID happen to them?

Having reached the giddy heights of #8 with their 1984 album Mange Tout, along with a succession of Top 40 entries that saw them become shoe-in chart regulars with every release, by the start of 1986 they'd have split amid commercial failure of quite dramatic proportions with this October 1985 long-player.

The typically extensive sleevenotes for this Edsel release (one in a simultaneously-issued series of three that includes the duo's other two albums) are rather down on Blancmange's third opus. There's a continual suggestion that everything had run its course, the natural order of pop had decreed their time was over. Perhaps.

There's a lot to be said that the timing of its release played a part in its downfall; Blancmange were simply men out of time in the landscape of late 1985, an era when the U2s, Dire Straits, and Queens had rearranged the furniture and paved the way for the Top 40 to be populated by Steve Winwoods, Peter Gabriels and Robert Palmers, rather than the floppy haired and quirky keyboard acts of just a year or two earlier.

Regardless of all this, Believe You Me is an excellent album that very nearly stands up to the quality of its two predecessors. There is no tailing off in quality, as with some career-stalling efforts by their peers of the time. "22339" and "John" may sound like the B-sides they actually were, but elsewhere the standard is uniformly high. Maybe the biggest problem with "What's Your Problem" (chosen as the lead single, and a relative flop) is it sounded too much like "Don't Tell Me" from Mange Tout, and raised the suspicion - unfounded - that the band were becoming formulaic. "Don't You Love It All" does seem like a deliberate attempt to write a Blancmange hit single, but it was never given the chance. Instead, "Lose Your Love" got the nod, and lost Blancmange their 100% record of reaching the UK Top 75 with each single release. Unfairly so, of course.

Strangely, the next (and, sadly, last) we would hear of them would be in early 1986 courtesy of a single called "I Can See It". This was a nicely beefed up re-recording of the Believe You Me track "Why Don't They Leave Things Alone". Most compilations of Blancmange's career - and there have been many (more than their total studio ouptut in fact) - omit this track, either in its original or 7" incarnation. So, this Edsel reissue would have been the perfect opportunity to include the single mix of "I Can See It". But it's not here. Only the extended 12" remix makes the CD; a very odd decision, but perhaps due to legal reasons?

Overall, there's not quite the same sense of affection and care towards Believe You Me as the other Edsel packages. In addition to the slightly dismissive tone of the sleevenotes, there are a couple of careless factual errors (the album peaked at #54, not #52, while the Luscombe offshoot West India Company dated back to 1984, not 1987). The design is starker, too, and the whole thing just feels less extensively realised than Happy Families or Mange Tout's treatment.

Five stars for the music, four stars for the packaging, three stars for the sleevenotes.

There's not much to add to the previous excellent review by 'Eric Generic "enigma"', apart from some details that may be of interest to anyone who has the original CD and is in two minds about whether to get this version. As Eric said, the somewhat dismissive sleeve notes also fail anywhere to mention the differences or reasons why some of these tracks are different to the original album and CD release. So, I shall tell you what they are.
First up, 'Lose Your Love' has a slightly different extended intro. '22339' was 5"23 on the original CD, here it's in it's full 7"01 version. 'Other Animals' also has a longer, different intro (the original coming in at 4"19, this version at 4"33). And finally, 'John' has a longer fade out.
And yes, the original 7" remix of 'I Can See It' should have been included. As it is, it's only so far available on the Connoisseur Collection 'Best Of' (the one with the yellow sleeve). Like the dodgy excuse for not including 'Running Thin' and 'I Would' on 'Happy Families', Edsel really should have taken a little bit more time and got both the 'Happy Families' and 'Believe You Me' re-releases to the same standard as 'Mange Tout' (which has everything). Hence 4 stars and not 5.

I wish just once that the person organizing the reissue of ANYTHING, at least listen to the original album and know it well before beginning. I love this record. Well, the ORIGINAL album, anyway. There are a few complaints I would like to make here...

1) Lose Your Love - it has been stated in other reviews here the Lose Your Love problem. The main issue is that the version on this CD is an alternate mix with completely different drums. The original has MUCH more power and punch. Listening to the version included here makes one wonder how this could have ever made it in the charts. The original is a definite hit.

2) 22339 being an extended version. *SIGH!* This is arguably, and I don't think I'm alone here, the most POINTLESS track on the album. Like a low rent "Murder" on Mange Tout! This extended version is taking up valuable digital space while the Lose Your Love and What's Your Problem 12"s are not here. That's just bad planning. Much the same as Happy Families including the Feel Me INSTRUMENTAL VERSIONS when Running Thin and the (in my opinion superior) "strings" version of Waves is absent!

Someone was asleep at the wheel for most of the trip, but was jarred awake for Mange Tout (must've hit a pothole) - which was first rate. I guess the real question here is: Why weren't they all doubles?