Wednesday, February 15, 2017

ABCs of My Vinyl Collection (Letter D, Part 20)

Between the years when he briefly fronted the original lineup of Duran Duran (or Duran Fucking Duran, as they are known by many in these parts) and formed the Lilac Time with his brother Nick, Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy composed a couple of dance-floor classics that scored quite well on the UK charts and got plenty of spins in the clubs on this side of the Atlantic too.

During that era, one song Duffy couldn't seem to get out of his system was "Kiss Me." To the best of my knowledge, he recorded, released or reissued this song at least four times in the '80s. When it comes to this genre, I'm no expert, but having just listened to two takes from this 12" Caroline put out in 1986, I don't think he bettered the original. This post may vie for my shortest, but I have no recollection of buying this record and am quite sure it hasn't been played since I was in high school three decades ago.

"Kiss Me" (1983 Version)
"Kiss Me" (1985 Version)

6 comments:

drew said...

My favourite Stephen Duffy song is She Loves Me used to great effect in Some Kind Of Wonderful

Rol said...

That probably is the best version, but I prefer Icing On The Cake...or anything by the Lilac Time.

George said...

Could this be a series, Brian, "Albums I've not played for two or more decades"? I feel that I should recognise Kiss Me, but I just can't remember it.

Brian said...

Drew, YES! What a gorgeous piece of pop and miles away from this dance single... even though only a relatively tiny period of time had passed.

Rol, YES! Like the Lilac Time too. Better than this early stuff. Have to admit I'm curious about the Devils, his album of old songs he did with Nick Rhodes from when they were lads. Haven't heard a note.

George, I feel like in many respects your idea is this series. In the very late '80s, I sold off much of my vinyl as I bought my favorite albums over again on CD. How dumb was that? What didn't get sold are albums I may not have liked enough to buy a second time on the fancy new format. Kept many of my singles (12" and 7") too since they weren't as easy to find on CD. Many of these vinyl relics haven't been pulled out much since I was a kid.

Anonymous said...

The Devils lp is very good , especially Barbarellas

JC said...

Kiss Me is an excellent pop single.

The Lilac Time were a vastly underrated combo.

Stephen Duffy has therefore more than paid his due penance for being in DfD....