CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

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The Platinum Collection

by: Blancmange

Release Date October 02, 2006
Having had Happy Families and Mange Tout on vinyl for some time, and disposed of their ill-advised third album, Believe You Me, after one listen, I was wary about buying a 'best of'. However this budget issue is a real gem, the sound quality is sympathetically mastered and picks up some of the layers of ethnic percussion my poor old stylus never quite got hold of! What's also good is this album collates all the real hits in the first 8 or 9 tracks, then adds some interesting (ok, "Now Get Out Of That" is fairly dire) b-sides, then some choice album tracks and even a 1990 farewall song. The irony of this title "Your Time Has Gone" just reaffirms Neil's often tongue-in-cheek lyrics, although his approach to the dark subject matter on "Running ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

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Happy Families

by: Blancmange

Release Date September 01, 2008
Blancmange- happy families (remaster)
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from the start, this was their introductory album,
right, an EP called irene and mavis contained the
prototype, but is not represented here..

if you've heard of blancmange, you have a pretty
good idea of what your getting, but if you've
only heard a few singles, you might be pleasantly
surprised to hear the rest of their work..

'living on the ceiling' is light years ahead of most
groups, and even of some of their other tracks..

'feel me' also has a very cool tone to it, that
starts out slow, but turns into a very passionate
plea...

there's a few other ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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Mange Tout

by: Blancmange

Release Date September 01, 2008
Blancmange- Mangetout 2xcd 2008 (remaster)
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here it is again, my favorite album from them..
it was a masterpiece when it came, and has
survived the test of time...

although blancmange did not seem to last very long
(3 albums), what they did put out, had a nice impact
at the time, at carved out a niche for them, that no
other group can really fill...

granted, not every track is a winner('my baby','see the train'),
but the majority of them , 'game above my head', 'dont tell me',
'thats love that it is', 'blind vision', and 'the day before you came',
are so strong they carry the album to the great heights
that it deserves... ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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Believe You Me

by: Blancmange

Release Date September 01, 2008
Blancmange - Believe you me (remaster)
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the third and final album from them (so far)...

this was a rather underappreciated album,
and rightly so... at times its brilliant,
'lose your love' is my favorite song from them, period.

and then you have sparse instrumentals, and forgetten
tracks...the whole second part of this album is
typical of that..

the first 7 tracks, including '22339', 'dont you love
it all', and 'believe' all show the quirky side of
blancmange...

unfortunately, this album has dated itself also..


So lets talk about specifics: for the album

I'm listening through altec-lansing ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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The Best of Blancmange

by: Blancmange

Release Date June 10, 1996
I really only bought this in order to remind myself of a couple of favourite 80's tracks - and how well it does it.

The full album isn't up to the quality of some of the better known individual tracks but it's still worth a buy.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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Second Helpings: The Best of Blancmange

by: Blancmange

Release Date
Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe formed Blancmange in 1979 as a clever little synth duo. They started hitting bit in 1982, with the 3rd single Living On The Ceiling selling over 300 000 copies and propelling the Happy Families album into a lengthy chart run. Second Helpings includes 9 of their chart singles (including Abba's The Day Before You Came) and a couple of interesting B-sides. Arthur's dulcet voice and the Depeche Mode-like synths are a pleasant combination, almost but not quite putting Blancmange on a par with the aforementioned synth wonders and contemporaries like Ultravox. A valuable retrospective on the sound of the early 1980's.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

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Second Helpings: Best of Blancmange

by: Blancmange

Release Date April 10, 2000
It brings back the memories of when I was 18 all over again. at the time I'm struggling through college, the long bus journey, the endless lectures, but at the end of the day I could sit down and relax to the sound of Blanmange.

From the shrill sounds of "waves", which could give deer levels of relaxation to the cover of the classic bacharach / Abba Blancmange version of "The Day Before You Came".
A very wierd name for a band, but remember they made it to number 1 with "Living On The Ceiling" (describes how I felt sometimes at that age.

I wonder if they will ever make a come back with what was at the time revolutionary synthasised music, I remember them clearly as if it was yesterday as I listen to the "Best ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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Heaven Knows

by: Blancmange

Release Date August 01, 1993
This album is basically a kind of best of and features pretty much the standard tracks that you would find on any other Blancmange best of. The reason I'm giving this 5 stars is simply because it contains a few rarities and in fact this CD in itself is becoming rare. The album contains a few of their earlier songs but also the fantastic "Why Can't They Leave Things Alone", an absolutely brilliant song.

Basically I don't think this album is for you unless you are a huge Blancmange fan and want to grab a few elusive tracks from here. If you are new to Blancmange than you're in for a treat but again I would suggest starting off with the standard Best Of. Happy listening.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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Living On The Ceiling

by: Blancmange

Release Date 1982
This album is basically a kind of best of and features pretty much the standard tracks that you would find on any other Blancmange best of. The reason I'm giving this 5 stars is simply because it contains a few rarities and in fact this CD in itself is becoming rare. The album contains a few of their earlier songs but also the fantastic "Why Can't They Leave Things Alone", an absolutely brilliant song.

Basically I don't think this album is for you unless you are a huge Blancmange fan and want to grab a few elusive tracks from here. If you are new to Blancmange than you're in for a treat but again I would suggest starting off with the standard Best Of. Happy listening.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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Happy Families

by: Blancmange

Release Date 1982
This album is basically a kind of best of and features pretty much the standard tracks that you would find on any other Blancmange best of. The reason I'm giving this 5 stars is simply because it contains a few rarities and in fact this CD in itself is becoming rare. The album contains a few of their earlier songs but also the fantastic "Why Can't They Leave Things Alone", an absolutely brilliant song.

Basically I don't think this album is for you unless you are a huge Blancmange fan and want to grab a few elusive tracks from here. If you are new to Blancmange than you're in for a treat but again I would suggest starting off with the standard Best Of. Happy listening.