Big Trash | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 26 September 1989 | |||
Studio | Maison Rouge and RAK Studios (London, UK). | |||
Genre | Alternative rock, post-punk | |||
Length | 41:09 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Producer | Tom Bailey Alannah Currie Steve Lillywhite | |||
Thompson Twins chronology | ||||
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Singles from Big Trash | ||||
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Big Trash is the seventh studio album by the British pop group the Thompson Twins, released in 1989 by Warner Brothers/Red Eye. It was produced by Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie, with two tracks produced by Steve Lillywhite.
Big Trash yielded two singles; "Sugar Daddy" reached No. 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 97 in the UK, [1] [2] while "Bombers in the Sky" was a commercial failure. Big Trash reached No. 163 on the Billboard 200. [3]
Big Trash was the duo's first release for Warner Brothers. Currie told MuchMusic in 1989: "Warner Brothers came to us and said "Here's a pile of money, go make the sort of record you really want to make", which is every musician's dream. So we made Big Trash". [4]
Blondie singer Deborah Harry contributed spoken-word vocals to "Queen of the U.S.A.", recorded by Bailey over a transatlantic telephone connection. [5] Recalling the Big Trash period of the Thompson Twins' career, Bailey told Rhino in 2014: "It was great fun. It was a new era and we were trying out some new ideas as well as a new way of working. We saw that video and being studio-oriented was the way of the future." [5]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [6] |
Robert Christgau | B+ [7] |
New Straits Times | [8] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [9] |
Telegram & Gazette | [10] |
Upon release, Billboard noted the duo hadn't "produced anything quite so lively since its hit-making heyday". They added that "Sugar Daddy" "cheerfully borrows from earlier tunes, while the rest shows remarkable growth and depth". [11] Australian daily newspaper The Age wrote: "The tracks are short, Alannah Currie's gone easy on the percussion for a change and Tom Bailey has decided to start playing around with his vocal a bit more. This work brings up some superb creations: "Queen of the USA", "Salvador Dalí's Car" and "Sugar Daddy" - a pleasant single, though not as amusing as the observant title track." [12] The European Music & Media considered the album to "lack the humour that marked their earlier work but makes up for that with some sharp, catchy songs and a tight, no-nonsense production". [13]
Malaysia newspaper New Straits Times felt the album "serve[s] up the kind of slick, upbeat music with a busy percussive attack that characterised much of their previous efforts", adding: "This 11-cut set features the usual dispassionate vocals and banal lines but as least the rhythms have some kick." [8] Telegram & Gazette felt the album was "just a bit too serious" and "an attempt to change their squeaky-clean but catchy pop image by tackling current and controversial issues". They concluded: "The band oversteps its pop star boundaries just long enough to create a record that is as controversial as a donut." [10]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic retrospectively wrote: "Big Trash was a successful attempt to add a stronger rhythmic sensibility to The Thompson Twins' sound, but the album failed to produce any hit bigger than the number 28 "Sugar Daddy," although there were several other strong numbers on the record." [14] Robert Christgau gave the album a B+, stating: "No one cares, but this is their best by miles. The singing is as characterless as ever, but at last their brains show." [7] Ira Robbins of Trouser Press considered the album "an uninspired waste of time and plastic", with "a lame pairing of grade-school rhymes and bland music that is, at best, self-imitative". [15]
All tracks are written by Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Sugar Daddy" | 3:31 |
2. | "Queen of the U.S.A." | 3:44 |
3. | "Bombers in the Sky" | 3:56 |
4. | "This Girl's on Fire" | 3:10 |
5. | "T.V. On" | 3:26 |
6. | "Big Trash" | 3:09 |
7. | "Salvador Dali's Car" | 4:20 |
8. | "Rock This Boat" | 3:07 |
9. | "Dirty Summer's Day" | 4:28 |
10. | "Love Jungle" | 4:10 |
11. | "Wild" | 3:58 |
Thompson Twins
Additional personnel
Chart (1989) | Peak position |
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US Billboard 200 [3] | 143 |
Thompson Twins were a British pop band formed in 1977 in Sheffield. Initially a new wave group, they switched to a more mainstream pop sound and achieved considerable popularity during the mid-1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States, and around the world. In 1993, they changed their name to Babble, to reflect their change in music from pop to dub-influenced chill-out. They continued as Babble until 1996, at which point the group permanently broke up.
Thomas Alexander Bailey is an English singer, songwriter, musician, composer and record producer. Bailey came to prominence in the early 1980s as the lead vocalist for the new wave band Thompson Twins, which released five singles that entered the top ten charts in the United Kingdom during the 1980s: "Love On Your Side", "We Are Detective", "Hold Me Now", "Doctor! Doctor!", and "You Take Me Up". He was the only member of the band to have formal musical training. From 1994, Bailey was also a member of its later incarnation, Babble, releasing two commercially unsuccessful studio albums. He released his debut solo studio album Science Fiction in 2018.
Alannah Joy Currie is a New Zealand artist based in London. She is a musician and activist, best known as a former member of the pop band Thompson Twins.
Set is the second studio album by English pop band Thompson Twins. Released in February 1982, it was the second album they recorded for their own T Records imprint, which was released by Arista Records/Hansa.
Into the Gap is the fourth studio album by British pop group Thompson Twins, released on 17 February 1984 by Arista Records. The album was recorded during 1983 at Compass Point Studios, in Nassau, Bahamas, and was produced by Alex Sadkin who had produced the band's previous studio album, Quick Step & Side Kick (1983).
Close to the Bone is the sixth studio album by the British pop group Thompson Twins, released on 6 April 1987 by Arista Records. Now only the duo of Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie remaining, this was the first album the group made without Joe Leeway. It was produced by Bailey and Rupert Hine.
Queer is the eighth and final studio album by the British pop group Thompson Twins, which was released in 1991 by Warner Bros.
Ether is the second and last album by Babble, an electronic dance band that was composed of Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie, and Keith Fernley.
"Hold Me Now" is a song by British band the Thompson Twins. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Alex Sadkin and the group's lead vocalist Tom Bailey. The song is a mid-tempo new wave song that uses a varied instrumentation, including keyboards, a xylophone, a piano and Latin percussion. It was released in November 1983 as the first single from their fourth studio album, Into the Gap.
Babble was a British-New Zealand electronic dance music group active in the 1990s. It was formed by Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie, formerly of the Thompson Twins), with Keith Fernley.
"Sugar Daddy" is a song by British pop group Thompson Twins, which was released in 1989 as the lead single from their seventh studio album Big Trash. The song was written and produced by Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie. "Sugar Daddy" reached number 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 97 in the UK Singles Chart.
"Come Inside" is a song by British pop group Thompson Twins, released in 1991 as the lead single from their eighth studio album Queer. It was written and produced by Alannah Currie and Tom Bailey. The single peaked at No. 56 in the UK and spent four weeks on the chart. The single also peaked at No. 7 on the US Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles Chart. The single had a music video filmed to promote it.
"Bombers in the Sky" is a song by Thompson Twins, which was released in 1989 as the second single from their seventh studio album Big Trash. The song was released as a cassette single in the US and also received promotional-only releases on 12-inch vinyl and CD. The song was featured in the movie Gremlins 2: The New Batch and clips of the film were used in the music video.
"Lay Your Hands on Me" is the first single released from the album Here's to Future Days by the British band Thompson Twins. Written by Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie, and Joe Leeway, it was released in the UK almost a year in advance of the album.
"The Gap" is a song by the British pop group Thompson Twins. It was the title track from the group's 1984 album Into the Gap, and was also released as a single in certain countries though not in the group's native UK. The single peaked at #69 in the U.S., spending six weeks on the US Billboard 100. It also charted in Germany where it peaked at #62. There was no promotional music video for this single.
"Play with Me (Jane)" is a song from the British pop duo Thompson Twins, which was released in 1992 as a single from Songs from the Cool World, the soundtrack release for the 1992 film Cool World. The song was written and produced by Alannah Currie and Tom Bailey.
"Groove On" is a song from the British pop duo Thompson Twins, which was released in 1992 as the third single from their eighth studio album Queer (1991). The song was written and produced by Alannah Currie and Tom Bailey.
"Love Has No Name" is a song from British-New Zealand electronic dance music group Babble, which was released in 1996 as the sole single from their second and final studio album Ether. The song was written by Alannah Currie (lyrics) and Tom Bailey (music), and was produced by Bailey, Currie and Keith Fernley. It reached number 10 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music Club Play chart.
"Take Me Away" is a song from British-New Zealand electronic dance music group Babble, which was released in 1994 as the lead single from their debut studio album The Stone. The song was written and produced by Alannah Currie and Tom Bailey. It reached number 18 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music Club Play chart.
"The Saint" is a song from the British pop duo Thompson Twins, which was released in 1992 as the second single from eighth studio album Queer. The song was written and produced by Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie.