Penthouse And Pavement

This album is so perfectly 80s! Weird and wonderful. It's sarcastic and calls out the culture, while being fun and musically creative. It's surprising to me that Heaven 17 does not hold a place in mainstream 80s music - they are so much better than much of what gets played on repeat!

Catching up on albums today... and now for something completely different! (after CCR and Simon and Garfunkel, ha.) This is so... wild. Like 80s pop meets dark Cold War satire. A takedown of yuppie greed, but you can dance to it. Always interested in how pop music reflects the cultural mood, and this one unfortunately feels "same as it ever was" to today. anyway, that's all I got. Musically enjoyable, but also made me want to pay closer attention what they're saying.

What a delightful little discovery this was for me. An entire band of unconscionable showboats (possibly a bank of synthesizers doing it all?) all playing at once. I’m not sure if it all adds up to much in the long run, but very hard to it to boo your head while it’s happening.

This is the author’s album that he first listened to when he was in high school and thinks he “discovered” and has been trying to force on all of his friends since then. And it sucks.

I see you Heaven 17

Revelatory. I listened to this album 5 or 6 times in one day. Never heard of Heaven 17 before. Thought I was getting Heavens to Betsy, which I thought an odd pick for this list (likable but not essential). This on the other hand... absolutely essential. The funky first half is really fun and engaging. The more synthy second half is pretty good, interesting with unexpected twists and turns. And the remixes and alternate versions at the end are interesting and worth a listen too. And this is basically The Human League with a different vocalist? Next I'm going to find out The Human League is more than a one hit wonder? I'm reeling. Essential listen: yes Desert island disc: probably not but close

Overhated. Loved the talking heads vibe

This was kinda cool? I was ready to hate/write it off, but I kept getting into the grooves and noticing interesting lyrics. I’m glad I came across this one! ML410

Brash and edgy but danceable at the same time

1-2 bops but enjoyed the rest, cool album!

I had a great time with this album. So much of the 80s synth pop is so sanded down and has no rough edges, it’s overdone but in the opposite direction. This album felt goofy and raw, and tried to have some lean to the lyrics to make the listener think. It reminds me a lot of the bands I like and listen to now. It certainly isn’t immediately number one on my list, but I will recommend it to others for sure.

semi rock semi funk, mucha trompeta, organillo, piano, etc. cosas experimentales, canciones largas, muy raro todo

More Synth-Pop, ugh, but imagine my surprise when I did not hate this album. Solid new wave album with some social commentary to boot.

So very eighties! Generally really good, but a few oddities that prevents it from being a 5. Is Blancmange on this list?

znači na prvoj strani ovog albuma (na takozvanoj »pločničkoj«) potpuno je razvalio u biti studijski glazbenik (john wilson) na gitari i posebice na basu. toliko da je ta strana, koja mi je glazbeno za jako dobru četvorku (tekstovi su malo krindž, eh), toliko zasjenjuje drugu (tzv. »penthaušku«), na kojoj ga nema. druga strana zvuči kao human league (znam za poveznicu, tj. izvor) za siromašne, malo eksperimentalniji (prvi sam koji voli eksperimentalnu glazbu, ali ovdje to nije baš dobro) i koji ne zaslužuje ni trojku. šteta. pretpostavljam da su ljudi kupovali ovaj album samo radi pločničke strane. ali ne mogu samo zbog tih četiriju pjesama dati četvorku, stoga trojka [odslušao i napisao 22/10/26]

odd assortment of electronic and dance music. A not great version of Roxy music. Not something I would listen to again, a solid 2 stars

J’ai l’impression que l’album est toujours avant gardiste même ajd

Did not vibe with this one

fun aesthetic, for a "social commentary" album, with the 80s funtastic, like 99 Luftballons

We're starting off wrong with the album art, it screams '50s inspired '80s slop. They want to present themselves as a brand, like a cigarette or a building complex. The first few seconds of the listen had me curious, and then it all makes sense. Sharp percussion, stern voice, incredibly dated. The ride through the track list gives hardcore '80s and often times a lot of technical dominance, so I really needed that last track to stick the landing. It did not. I recognize the wit on a conceptual level, looping the message about living for a very long time, - implying- a really* long time. It's just not tickling the ears the way it does the mind. I did some further digging to see why I appreciate the bass sometimes, or how other instruments are designed into the record. Session musicians make this album tolerable. I'm sure the main band, particularly with songwriting and synth, have gone on to inspire a lot of acts in the more immediate future. It's not the worst effort ever but I definitely could've gone without ever listening to this one. 2.3/5

Again a couple of their other songs auto played after this album and they were way better

This album perfectly represents where 80's music took a turn for the worst and started losing me. Even for what it is, it's not very good.

“Bill Gates will single-handedly spearhead the Heaven 17 revival” Despite listening to The Mountain Goats’ hateful little ditty “Cubs in Five” hundreds of times, I’ve never really given much thought to this line. The song is basically a list of implausible situations that have the same chance of occurrence as John loving her again, like he used to. In this context, I was giddy with excitement when this popped up. Once I push play, I thought, I will have a whole new understanding of this lyric I know so well. And man, it did not disappoint. The bass playing alone was the ultimate punchline to a joke that was building for decades. I couldn’t concentrate. Bill might actually dig this. I left work. It’s impossible to rate. Impossible.

chuli

Only giving this an additional star because of the first couple of tracks. Then with every new song, the sound gets more synth and eventually kills the whole interest in what is happening, the last songs are blatantly boring boileplate synth stuff. No way the band can rival with Depeche Mode (unlike I felt having barely started to listen this).

Subpar at best and they tried to get me to listen to 3 hours of this shit with an extended version

Decent but long and not very memorable

Sounded like Depeche Mode (derogatory)

Sounds like they just got a Casio keyboard and wanted to try out all the settings

Pretty weird, did not enjoy

woof.

Meh. Definitely captured a time and style, but there are better examples of the genre out there.

If the Fascists wrote that groove, there's not much wrong with it. The two dudes with ponytails crushing the Henderson deal on the album cover is a nice touch. I would definitely listen to a collaborative re-recording of this by the JPop Penthouse and Pavement. 7 keepers in 19 (37%).

Sheffield AND Edinburgh!!

(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang is pretty good, but the album kinda falters after that. Could have been worse though.

Listening to early 80s British synth pop bands sing about fascism is hilarious in 2026. This one has potential but doesn’t live up to it.

In de race voor 'allerbeste albumhoes' gooit deze plaat in ieder geval hoge ogen. Een hilarische pastiche van een foute jarentachtig-advertentie voor een of ander fictief adviesbureau of administratiekantoor. En de muziek? Wat dun klinkende keyboarddeunen uit het zelfde decennium met matige zang. Misschien kunnen de heren toch maar beter in zaken gaan, ze zien eruit alsof ze een eind zouden komen...

Toch knap dat je met alle kenmerken van synth-pop een vergeetbare plaat kan maken. Grappig dat het soms al bijna eurodance is. Bijvoorbeeld als de dame tijdens het titelnummer de microfoon krijgt.

Het wreekt zich soms wel dat we al zoveel albums hebben gehad, want een album als dit hebben we toch al vaker gehoord. Alleen zijn deze gasten dus niet bekend geworden, althans niet met dit ensemble. En dat er dan een hitje mist, is toch jammer. Verder is het 'vrolijke' muziek, typisch jaren '80 met veel synths en computergeluidjes. Ik heb het op de achtergrond tijdens het werk op gehad en amper doorgehad dat het opstond. De beatjes zijn over het algemeen lekker rap, dus het is prima arbeidsvitamine. Ik heb me er allemaal niet zo aan gestoord, maar ben er ook niet van onder de indruk. Als ik halve sterren zou kunnen geven, zou ik het 2,5 ster geven.

Another synth pop album that sounds like everything from that era. Completely forgettable.

The best part of this album were the track names. Unfortunately, the tracks didn't live up to them :( 2/5

4 - BAD

No fav song

Funky bass and some horns and some synth. Too long.

Annoying and repetitive. DNF.

Electronica with punk rock songwriting, though not new, it's refreshing. The bass player's back must hurt because he does a lot heavy lifting here. I joke because this is one the more likable of this genre. Usually, I would hate it but I found it fun. 3

This was exactly what you would expect with an album in the early 80s from a band that you've never heard of. Outdated and uninteresting. 2 stars

Featuring former members of the Human League, this shares a lot in common with that group but feels more restless. Heaven 17 add elements of disco and funk to their synthpop, leading to something more infectious and intricate. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" is a great example, with a fidgety groove that adds new elements as it goes. The next track leans more heavily into funk. After that the album is never short on ideas, but things get quite a bit less catchy. "Play to Win" and "Let's Make a Bomb" just feel clumsy. "The Height of Fighting" feels stagnant despite a decent beat, and "Song with No Name" is similar, though the cascade of synths at the beginning is nice. Despite a futuristic feel and some of the more complex synthpop you'll hear, the promise of the first couple tracks isn't sustained by the rest of the album.

I saw the cover and was hoping for some Kraftwerk level of synthwave. This was not it. Not even kind of.

yeah it's true that the album is pretty frontloaded but the 2nd half is pretty nice still.

Lefty synthpop, but not grating despite those things.

на любителя.

To give some credit there’s some good bass playing on here. I hated basically everything else about this though. Especially the vocals. My God I hated the singing on this.

Very forgettable 80's synthpop, but still enjoyable to some degree. What shocks me the most is the decision they made to just have the funky bass in the first handful of songs, the instrument that is definitely stilling the show with its very fast technical playing that is very satisfying to hear. It is a shame that it has so little presence in the overall album, because everything else is incredibly flat. They might hit some barely catchy choruses on songs like "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls" and "Let's All Make a Bomb" (I hope I don't end up in a search list after writing that), but there is nothing more that is positive and worth talking about. The voice is okay and the synths are playful but also very dry, as well as the production. At least it is short and doesn't really bother me, but damn it is incredibly pale and not memorable.

It certainly is an album from the 80’s

Oh yeah aside from the bass guitar work this album is uddershite. I speak ALOT about 80s chud that doesn't belong on this list. Prime example here. Daft song writing, merciless and repetition of very dated drum machines and synths (not even cool 80s synths) and a random allure of 1980's pinnacle office and business mogul culture. And before anyone comes for me. I know what this music was intended for. Seedy 1980s dance clubs in London. This music birthed britpop. But, later acts would SMASH it. (Happy Mondays, Stone Roses etc).

Непритязательный синти-поп. Все те же звуки, что и Depeche Mide и пр. Не запомнилась ни одна песня. Может быть послушаю как-нибудь ещё

Pretty generic 80's rock. I can definitely see why they never made it big.

Not really the drive to work jams I had in mind. You lost me at facist groove thing.

This is how Depeche Mode sounds like to people who absolutely hate synthesizers.

Slept through the whole album.

Oh Heaven 17, you don’t even know the half of it…

Overall Rating - 2.94/5 (5.89/10). Forgettable synth-pop.

This album seemed to go on for a very long time, for a very long time, for a very long time... Just ok.

The opening song is a perfect beginning of my day in America today. Always good to listen to banned songs. The electronic sound isn't always high quality in this release. I realize it was 1981, but GAH! Overall, I see this as a skewer of yuppie "culture", which is laudable and was especially on point in the 80's, but I'm not enjoying the music and presentation, overall. In fact, as the album goes on, I'm having to work hard to avoid skipping to the next song. I had high hopes for "Let's All Make a Bomb", but the synths are grating and repetitive. I'm glad it was a short album.

JL : 2, Penthouse and Pavement

nice enough

Historically interesting. Music is shite though. 2/5.

More interesting than I expected, but I really do not like the synth-pop corporate aesthetic from this era.

What can I even say about this album that I haven’t already said about the 100 other British synth-pop albums on this list? This sucks.

ok

Boring lame noises, how is this a top album

I don't really enjoy 80s synth-pop, but 1. That album cover is out-fucking-standing, and 2. kicking-off with a great track like "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing" is a great way to get my attention and appreciation. Already earning a couple of stars for that. Overall, this is like Kurt Weill for the 1980s. C'mon... "Let's All Make a Bomb"!?! It really is sharp songwriting. It might not be something I'm going to put on to enjoy some music, but I absolutely appreciate it, I think it's a great album. It's dated in the best way: it captures the time and actually makes you think about it in comparison to our times, and that was probably true 20 years ago and will be 10 or 20 years from now. We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing indeed. 4/5, and yeah, I'd list it.

Hadde lyst til å like dette, men det gikk ikke.

Det er nok en grunn til at jeg aldri har hørt om Heaven 17 før.

Ikke helt min greie.

More of this, eh?

It gets a little samey towards the end of the record but Lan those opening tracks are great, funky bassline, just alot of fun 3.5/5 but I'm rounding down to 3

This is a genre (English Post Punk from the early 80s) that is overly represented but I have found the majority of it tolerable. This I like slightly more so than that so I will give it a 3. It is a low 3 for me but there is enough variety and risk to separate it from the other 500 albums that are of the same ilk on this list.

Very 80s

After the first song I thought I would hate this album. It ended up being so fun to listen to if not a little too long. Fuck capitalism. Fuck fascists. :)

Goddam, 6 stars if I could. Gem

No idea who this is, never heard of them. This isn't so bad, some kinda funky techno pop. I gotta admit I really dig the funky bass. These songs are way too long with extremely repetetive lyrics. All the songs are super basic - feels like baby's first beat which might actually be true because it was in 1981. Either way I'm not the biggest fan, but that bass is damn good.

409/1001 Heaven 17 - Penthouse and Pavement Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❎ After the respite of yesterday, it's back to the below par offerings from this list. You'll have gathered in this process, I'm just not a fan of the New Wave artists and this is no exception. Painfully dated and high school level political messaging doesn't make for a good album.

The eighties was a great decade for synthpop, but this album isn’t doing it for me. Tough to say why, a bit too pretentious maybe. I did read up on the Human League/Heaven 17 split, so it wasn’t all bad.

uhm not for me

Legal, uns grooves divertidos e bem feitos. Synth pop legal mas pouco notável. 3/5

It was fine. Catchy in some parts, kinda weird in some others (but not necessarily in a bad way). It's certainly not as awful as some of the reviews here would make you think, but I'm also unsure why it's on the list. I listened to it whilst driving on a road trip, which I admit made most of it fall into the background for me. Perhaps on a second listen my rating would change. I definitely want to pay more attention to the lyrics on a relisten.

I like the genre but the drum machine on these are distracting. They only have one album on the list and it doesn't include their best single, imo. The Dolly coincidence was #100 for me, so I guess I'll stick out for another 100 and hope I still find good stuff out of this experience, but I am souring a little on this

Too much synth can, well, be too much. There are some good elements here, but I haven't heard yet why it should be on this list.

This was fine, just not a musical aesthetic that moves me in any way. The sounds, the compositions, the repetition, the animating philosophy behind the entire endeavor are all just more annoying than enticing to me. I liked it at a 2, but the 3 is recognizing that I'm negatively biased out of the gate. P.S. Those pony tails were never a good idea and aged poorly.

I lost patience with this. I mean, it's fine. It's totally not my jam, and I found the lyrics a little too blunt and whatever. it's fine. But the more i listened, the more annoyed I got that i was even on this list. and that's on me, not them, but there we are.

Fun!

This was alright. Not really my genre, but the repetitive, almost mantra-like refrains in some of these songs kinda grew on me. All told, I wouldn't ever listen to it again. Three stars, barely.

I liked it more than expected. Nasty bass lines. Seems like almost everybody in the early 80's had incredible bass.

Lyrics were cool, not my jam.

definitely some interesting ideas and sounds here, and good lyrics writing (certainly by later standards in the genre), but it feels a bit sparse, certainly by current standards. the beat does not rest tho

Aggressively bad

It was fun but it was pretty goofy at times.

Side A of this album is really good! Things take a dip at Geisha Boys and Temple Girls though.