Archive for the heaven 17 tag

Fiction Factory: (Feels Like) Heaven

A Scottish band of New Romantics, Fiction Factory were best known for their 1984 top 10 UK hit "(Feels Like) Heaven" from their debut album Throw the Warped Wheel Out. They were recognized for writing melancholy pop songs and vocalist Kevin Patterson sounds frighteningly similar to Heaven 17's Glenn Gregory in my opinion.

The song was most recently revived only to be featured in a Reese's Peanut Butter Cups television advertisement. Go figure such a tragic end for such a bittersweet piece of the new wave story. "(Feels Like) Heaven" remains a personal favorite of mine & holds a special place in my dark little heart.

Recommended for fans of Ultravox, Japan & Freur.

Throw the Warped Wheel Out on Amazon

Allez Allez: Allez Allez

I got a text from the manager of the club the other day.
"Did you play Yeah Yeah Yeahs last night? Or the Ting Tings? Something you played late."
"I got it. Tegan and Sara..."

I knew someone was going to ask me this. If I didn't know better, I'd probably think it was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, too. Given the current resurgence of post-punk and new wave, this song doesn't necessarily sound like it was released in 1981. And I'm pretty sure that at least one of Karen O's personalities believes that she actually is Sarah Osborne*. Listen, though, and you'll hear the band's name chanted throughout the song. They want you to know that they're not Tegan and Sara, or Ting Tings, or Yeah Yeah Yeahs, or all that was to come after...

From their album African Queen, and also available on their Best Of [released just last year]

*A bit of '80s new wave trivia: Sarah Osborne left Allez Allez when she married the lead singer of Heaven 17.