Heaven 17 -

Heaven 17 are an English electro-pop band, best known for the Eighties classics “Penthouse and Paevement,” “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang,” “Let Me Go,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” and the UK hits “Temptation,” “Come Live with Me,” and “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry.” They released five albums between 1981 and 1988 on Virgin, including the Top 20 UK titles Penthouse and Pavement, The Luxury Gap, and How Men Are.

They were formed by the instrumental half of the original Human League, musicians Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who also recorded as the British Electric Foundation. Singer Glenn Gregory completed the trio, long after passing an earlier offer to front the Human League.

Members: Martyn Ware (synthesizer, percussion, backing vocals), Glenn Gregory (vocals), Ian Craig Marsh (synthesizer, percussion, saxophone, 1981-2007)

Background

Heaven 17 were the brainchild of electronic musicians Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who first teamed up in early 1977 in the impromptu band the Dead Daughters. Armed with a miniKORG 700, they performed on several occasions before friends in their Sheffield musical circle. They changed their name to The Future and recorded a clutch of minimal-wave demos, including seven tracks that were later compiled on the archival disc The Golden Hour of the Future with early recordings by their next band, The Human League.

Marsh and Ware formed the Human League in late 1977 with Philip Oakey, a local scenester with no prior musical experience. They first wanted singer Glenn Gregory, then occupied with the unsigned 57 Men, which also included the future nucleus of Wang Chung: Jack Hues and Nick Feldman.

The Human League helped pioneer electro-pop with their 1978 indie single “Being Boiled” (b/w “Circus of Death”). They expanded to a four-piece for the 1979 instrumental EP Dignity of Labour and their debut album, Reproduction. After their 1980 release Travelogue, tensions erupted and Marsh and Ware left the Human League nameplate in the hands of Oakey and slide-projectionist Adrian Wright.

In early 1981, Marsh and Ware pitched another offer to Gregory, who’d played with Marsh eight years prior in the teen shock-rock band Musical Vomit (with future 2.3 frontman Paul Bower). Gregory worked recently as a London-based rock photojournalist for the music weeklies Sounds, Record Mirror, and NME. With Gregory now on board, the trio took their name from The Heaven Seventeen, a fictional pop band in the 1961 Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange.

Meanwhile, Marsh and Ware launched their production company, the British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.), which debuted with the 1981 UK Virgin cassette Music for Stowaways, a collection of minimal wave and techno instrumentals.

“(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang”

On March 6, 1981, Heaven 17 debuted with “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang,” a politically charged dance track backed with “The Decline of the West,” a minimal wave instrumental credited to B.E.F. The 12″ version plays an additional 47 seconds.

A. “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” (4:06 / 4:53)
B. “The Decline of the West” (7:00)

The BBC banned “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” over its perceived libel of recent US president-elect Ronald Reagan, who survived an assassination attempt on March 30, three weeks after this single’s release.

“I’m Your Money”

In May 1981, Heaven 17 released a standalone single: “I’m Your Money,” an upbeat electro original backed with “Are Everything,” a Buzzcocks cover recorded with B.E.F. session guitarist David Lockwood. The 12″ features ‘Special fortified dance mixes!’ of both tracks. Side A ends with the 32-second B.E.F. indent.

A. “I’m Your Money” (3:26 / 5:42)
B. “Are Everything” (2:59 / 4:25) originated as a 1980 non-album a-side by the Buzzcocks, written by their frontman, Pete Shelley.

According to map pointers on the back-sleeve, “I’m Your Money” features backing vocals by four European nationals: Christopher Umfreville Wilkinson (England), Huanita Rana Martinez (France), Kurt Von Rauchitz (Denmark), and Elzunia Kardasinska (Poland).

Penthouse and Pavement

Heaven 17 released their debut album, Penthouse and Pavement, in September 1981 on Virgin. The album devotes sides to soul-funk (“Pavement”) and electronic (“Penthouse”). The “Pavement” side contains their first, third, and fourth singles: “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang,” “Play to Win,” and the title track. “Penthouse” contains their fifth single, “The Height of the Fighting (He-La-Hu).”

Penthouse and Pavement features Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh on synthesizers and percussion. They play ‘synthetic horns’ under their ‘Boys of Buddha’ moniker (used beforehand on the Human League’s Holiday ’80 EP). Ware also plays pianos and the Linn LM-1 drum machine.

Musical guests include bassist/guitarist John Wilson (“Pavement” side) and pianist Steve Travell (“Soul Warfare”). On the title-track, Glenn Gregory harmonizes with American R&B sessionist Josie James, a recent sidewoman of George Duke, Patrice Rushen, and Stevie Wonder.

Side A (“Pavement”)
1. “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” (4:20)
2. “Penthouse and Pavement” (6:23)
3. “Play to Win” (3:37)
4. “Soul Warfare” (5:04)

Side B (“Penthouse”)
5. “Geisha Boys and Temple Girls” (4:33)
6. “Let’s All Make a Bomb” (4:03)
7. “The Height of the Fighting” (3:01)
8. “Song with No Name” (3:36)
9. “We’re Going to Live for a Very Long Time” (3:15)

Marsh and Ware co-produced the album under the British Electric Foundation moniker. Sessions occurred at Maison Rouge in Sheffield, where Landscape soundman Peter Walsh engineered the “Pavement” side and “Let’s All Make a Bomb.” Steve Rance (a fellow Tea-rooms soundman) engineered the “Penthouse” half. Heaven 17 gave an ‘executive producer’ credit to Bob Last, the founder of Fast Records, the Human League’s first label.

Penthouse and Pavement appeared in a single sleeve with a wraparound painting by Ray Smith, a mime artist and sculpture famed for his creation of the woven-sock cover of Legend, the 1973 debut album by Henry Cow, who repurposed the sock for their two subsequent albums, Unrest and In Praise of Learning. Smith’s Penthouse painting presents Heaven 17 as business men at a metro office building with the log suffix ‘Sheffield-Edinburgh-London’ and the B.E.F. brand tagline ‘The New Partnership – That’s opening doors all over the world,’ details that portray the band as a corporation, a then-fashionable packaging theme. (The Tubes also used the businessman/company theme for their 1981 album, The Completion Backwards Principle.)

Heaven 17 preceded the album with “Play to Win,” released in August as their third single; backed with a dub version titled “Play” (3:36). The 12″ contains extended versions of “Play to Win” (7:29) and “Play” (8:30).

Heaven 17 mimed “Play to Win” on a sunken stage surrounded by dancing teens for the September 24 broadcast of Top of the Pops, which also aired in-studio numbers by Depeche Mode (“Just Can’t Get Enough”), Japan (“Quiet Life”), Imagination (“In and Out of Love”), Linx (“So This Is Romance”), Slade (“Lock Up Your Daughters”), and Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin (“It’s My Party”). Heaven 17 sported long tail-tied hair in the segment, where Marsh wore a yellow shirt/suspenders combo and Glenn and Ian both sported Forties gray suits with green-hued shirts.

In November, Heaven 17 lifted released an edit of “Penthouse and Pavement” (4:02) as the album’s third single, backed with an instrumental version (4:35). The 12″ contains an extended version (6:57, 35 seconds longer than the album original) with an extended instrumental (6:59). The picture back-sleeve bears the B.E.F. trademark, suffixed with a new tagline: “The company that thinks for itself.”

The video to “Penthouse and Pavement” follows the indecisive workday of a pixie-haired office girl for the British Electric Foundation, where Glenn fidgets over a game plan and discusses business over lunch with Martyn and Ian. Their office activities are inter-cut with scenes of the girl in a tanning bed and Glenn preoccupied inside a photo lab.

In February 1982, Heaven 17 issued a remixed version of “The Height of the Fighting (He-La-Hu)” (2:55) with added horns by Beggars & Co. as the album’s fourth single, backed with “Honeymoon In New York,” a non-album B.E.F. instrumental. The 12″ contains a dub version titled “He-La-Hu” (2:58).

B. “Honeymoon In New York” (2:12)

The 12″ picture sleeve depicts a spoof sci-fi comics cover (front) and a mock vintage movie poster (back) designed by Jill Mumford, whose graphics appeared on recent sleeves for the Skids, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Roger Chapman, and XTC.

Heaven 17 mimed “Height of the Fighting” under flashing light tubes for the November 5 broadcast of The Tube, a Channel 4 music program host by ex-Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland and media fixture Paula Yates.

Penthouse and Pavement reached No. 18 in Finland and No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart, where it spent 77 weeks within the Top 100 and certified Gold. Marsh and Ware also used the Penthouse/Pavement sides on their second B.E.F. release: the 1981 Virgin EP Music for Listening To, comprised of six techno instrumentals, including an alternate version of the “Groove Thang” backing track.

“Let Me Go”

On October 30, 1982, Heaven 17 released their sixth single: “Let Me Go,” a poignant vocal number with a minimal backing track, backed with an instrumental version.

The monochrome video takes place midday in a desolate London, where Heaven 17 (dressed as Forties detectives) examine the strange inner-city barrenness. After they walk past hanging phones, sprawling papers and abandoned cars, Glenn pauses, turns, and notes the sudden disappearance of Ian and Martyn. He runs the street in panic, fearing the end of time. He arrives at Marylebone station, where he sits and contemplates the loss of life, then hallucinates a scenario (semi-color) in which he’s the only sentient person in a cluster of zombies, who rattle against his push forward. After he resumes conscience, he stares at a phone, but realizes there’s no one to call. He then reemerges on the street, resigned to his fate as the last man standing.

In the UK, “Let Me Go” appeared as advance preview (by six months) of their second album in-progress. The song made its first LP appearance on Heaven 17, a February 1983 US Arista release with a second taster from their upcoming second album (“Who Will Stop the Rain”) and six tracks from Penthouse and Pavement (originally withheld from the US market), plus the non-album 1981 a-side “I’m Your Money.”

Meanwhile, B.E.F. released Music of Quality and Distinction Volume One, an album of electro-dance covers recorded with multiple singers, including Tina Turner (The Temptations‘ “Ball of Confusion”), Paul Jones (R. Dean Taylor’s “There’s a Ghost in My House”), and Associates frontman Billy MacKenzie (David Bowie‘s “The Secret Life of Arabia” and Roy Orbison’s “It’s Over”). Gregory sings B.E.F. covers of Jimmy Webb (“Wichita Lineman,” a hit for Glen Campbell) and Lou Reed (“Perfect Day”).

The Luxury Gap

Heaven 17 released their second album, The Luxury Gap, on April 25, 1983, on Virgin.

The Luxury Gap features the pre-released international hit “Let Me Go” and the popular deep-cut “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” plus the subsequent UK hits “Temptation,” “Come Live with Me,” and “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry.”

Marsh plays the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer on The Luxury Gap and co-handles the System 100 semi-modular with Ware, who also plays the Casiotone, the Linn LM-1, and the Roland Jupiter-8 polyphonic synthesizer.

John Wilson returns with guitar on the first three tracks and “Lady Ice and Mr Hex.” Ex-Roogalator pianist Nick Plytas overlaps with Wilson on three tracks, barring “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” which instead features guitar legend Ray Russell, a Seventies jazz-rock journeyman (Rock Workshop, Running Man, Mouse) who also plays on “Key to the World” and “Come Live with Me.” Drummer Simon Phillips (Russell’s onetime bandmate in Chopyn) plays on “Lady Ice” and “The Best Kept Secret.”

Additional guests include the Phenix Horns: the Earth Wind & Fire brass section — saxophonist Don Myrick, trombonist Louis Satterfield, and trumpeters Michael Harris and Rahmlee Michael Davis — hears on recent records by Genesis, Phil Collins, Junko Ohashi, and Frida Lyngstad. UK soul-funk singer Carol Kenyon (a recent Atmosfear and UK Players guest) harmonizes with Glenn Gregory on “Key to the World” and “Temptation.”

1. “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry” (5:54)
2. “Who’ll Stop the Rain” (3:04) features screams by Gregory’s then-wife, Allez Allez frontwoman Sarah (nee Osborne).
3. “Let Me Go” (4:23)
4. “Key to the World” (3:42)

5. “Temptation” (3:34)
6. “Come Live with Me” (4:18)
7. “Lady Ice and Mr Hex” (3:46)
8. “We Live So Fast” (3:49)
9. “The Best Kept Secret” (5:09)

Sessions took place in London at AIR Studios, where Marsh and Ware co-produced The Luxury Gap with onetime Heatwave engineer Greg Walsh, another party to Landscape’s sound team with recent credits behind Dollar, Central Line, Grand Prix, and Twelfth Night. Greg’s assistant, Jeremy Allom, also worked on 1982/83 titles by Madness, The Pale Fountains, XTC, and Yukihiro Takahashi. Further work occurred at London’s Town House with engineers Gavin McKillop (Fischer-Z, Rip Rig + Panic, UB40) and Howard Gray (Midnight Oil, Models, Simple Minds).

Ray Smith’s Luxury Gap artwork illustrates the title with two contrasting images: the group on a tropical island (front) and a littered industrial waste site (back).

On April 8, Heaven 17 issued “Temptation” (3:08 edit) as second advance single for the UK/European market (b/w “We Live So Fast”). The 12″ contains extended dance mixes of both songs (4:37 and 6:01) and a third track: “Who’ll Stop the Rain” (6:12), which first appeared as a US 12″ a-side.

The “Temptation” video cuts between a gabled interior and a slanted, shadowy design space, where Glenn’s two characters (mad preacher and vampiric art director) taunt a female subject (Kenyon) who summons her inner-diva and (clad in opera gloves and sequined gown) breaks into song and dance.

Heaven 17 mimed “Temptation” amid slanted bar strips and dry ice for the April 12 TotP broadcast, which also featured in-studio numbers by Culture Club (“Church of the Poison Mind”), F.R. David (“Words”), and Spandau Ballet (“True”). Kenyon appeared in a red dress for Heaven 17’s segment, where Gregory sported a platinum quiff and an off-white suite.

“Temptation” reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, lodged under “True” for the week of May 15^>. The single also reached No. 3 in Ireland and went Top 20 in France, New Zealand, and West Germany.

On the same day as “Temptation,” Arista issued a remix of “We Live So Fast” (b/w “The Best Kept Secret”) as Heaven 17’s third US single. In the video to “We Live So Fast,” Glenn pilots a charter plane booked by two businessmen, Ian and Martyn. Scenes flash between the cockpit and the terminal where the shady trio proceed through escalators and corridors.

On June 24, “Come Live with Me” became the third UK single, backed with a new version of the Penthouse track “Let’s All Make a Bomb” (5:05).

The video begins and ends with Glenn beside a film projector that runs a film of his recent romance, as retold in lone cafe scenes. He met his love at a bistro, where she bumped into the group’s outdoor table and dropped an egg, which he used as an opener. Scenes of their times together intercut with maudlin moments alone. She ended the affair with a letter, though her fate remains a mystery. (The penultimate scene suggests she jumped from a balcony).

Heaven 17 mimed “Come Live with Me” inside a flash-lit, metal-grid gazebo for the July 14 TotP broadcast, which also featured studio numbers by Bananarama (“Cruel Summer”), Elvis Costello & The Attractions (“Everyday I Write The Book”), Echo & The Bunnymen (“Never Stop”), and Paul Young (“Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)”). “Come Live with Me” reached No. 5 in the UK and No. 7 in Ireland.

In September, Heaven 17 lifted an edit of “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry” (3:43) as the fourth Luxury Gap single, backed with an instrumental dub version (Part II, 3:13). The 12″ combines the two parts into one extended version (6:58) backed with the album version and an alternate dance version (6:21).

The video to “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry” uses symbolism (hamster wheels) period visual effects (animated green screen) to illustrate the daily grind that affects Glenn (an office worker), Ian and Martyn (both laborers). An Atlas figure represents man’s ultimate potential while the mortals (including the band) slack on the job. Glenn appears in multiple settings, including a shadowy desk space and a paint-splattered studio. This was an early credit for filmmaker Daniel Kleinman, who also directed videos for Adam & the Ants (“Antmusic”), Howard Jones (“What Is Love?”), Lindsey Buckingham (“Go Insane”), and Thomas Dolby (“Hyperactive”).

Heaven 17 mimed “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry” on a sunken stage amid flashing neon spheres for the September 8 TotP broadcast, which also featured in-studio numbers by Annabel Lamb (“Riders On the Storm”), JoBoxers (“Johnny Friendly”), Paul Young (“Come Back and Stay”), and Status Quo (“Ol’ Rag Blues”). “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry” reached No. 10 in Ireland and No. 17 on the UK Singles Chart.

The Luxury Gap reached No. 7 in Germany and No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It also went Top 20 in New Zealand (No. 11), Finland (No. 13), Sweden (No. 17), and the Netherlands (No. 20).

How Men Are

Heaven 17 released their third album, How Men Are, on September 24, 1984, on Virgin.

Ian Craig Marsh programed the Fairlight CMI on How Men Are and plays the Roland System 100 on “The Skin I’m In” and “This Is Mine,” which features System 100 bass by Martyn Ware, who programmed the album’s LinnDrum.

John Wilson co-wrote “Reputation” and also played guitar on the album’s ten-minute closing track, “And That’s No Lie.” Both songs feature piano by Nick Plytas, who played ‘simulated classical guitar’ (with the System 100) on “The Skin I’m In,” which also features fretless bass by ontime Affinity member Mo Foster.

Ray Russell returns with guitar on “No Lie,” “Shame Is on the Rocks,” and “Flamedown.” The last of those (and “This Is Mine”) feature the Phenix Horns. Four tracks feature Afrodiziak, a vocal backing combo heard on Elvis Costello’s recent hit, “Everyday I Write the Book.”

1. “Five Minutes to Midnight” (3:46)
2. “Sunset Now” (3:35)
3. “This Is Mine” (3:51)
4. “The Fuse” (3:05)
5. “Shame Is on the Rocks” (3:59)

6. “The Skin I’m In” (3:46)
7. “Flamedown” (2:59)
8. “Reputation” (3:03)
9. “And That’s No Lie” (10:02)

Sessions took place in London at AIR and CBS Studios, where B.E.F. again co-produced with Greg Walsh, who co-engineered How Men Are with returning soundman Jeremy Allom, also credited on the Human League’s concurrent Hysteria. David Cullen (an arranger for Andrew Lloyd Webber) conducted the album’s orchestral parts. Sessions coincided with Ware/Walsh co-productions for The Associates (“Perhaps,” “Those First Impression”) and two tracks for Tina Turner‘s comeback album Private Dancer — her covers of David Bowie (“1984”) and Al Green (“Let’s Stay Together”).

Ray Smith’s How Men Are cover painting depicts a formally attired Heaven 17 in front of a concert poster in which the silhouetted band take a bow before a packet theater. Fish and roses overlay the image (both repeated details on the inner-sleeve).

In August, Heaven 17 released “Sunset Now” as an advance single, backed with the non-album “Counterforce.” The 12″ contains an extended “Sunset Now” (5:21) and “Counterforce II” (3:08), plus a slightly elongated “Flamedown” (3:14).

Heaven 17 made a simple video for “Sunset Now” in which they appears as cutouts and outlines, animated with silhouettes and shadows amid steam, sunset, and spinning wheels.

In October, Heaven 17 lifted “This Is Mine” as the second single, backed with “Skin” (3:40), an instrumental version of “This Skin I’m In.” The 12″ contains extended versions of “This Is Mine” dubbed ‘Filmix’ (7:18) and ‘Cinemix’ (8:55).

The video opens with a phone chat between three shady men, soon revealed as Gregory, Marsh, and Ware. In a secret meeting, Glenn ruffles Martyn, a banker who facilitates a heist, which they accomplish while Ian stands by with the getaway van.

Gregory sported a Stetson hat and a plaid blazer/black-turtleneck combo for the November 1 TotP, where Heaven 17’s ‘performance’ of “This Is Mine” opened the show, which also featured Duran Duran (“The Wild Boys”), Jim Diamond (“I Should Have Known Better”), Julian Lennon (“Too Late for Goodbyes”), and Wham! (“Freedom”).

In January 1985, an edit of “And That’s No Lie” — spelled “..(And That’s No Lie)” (3:25) — became the third single (b/w “The Fuse”). The 12″ contains a midium-length version “re-mixed to enhance its danceability” (6:10) and the ten-minute album version.

The video takes place in a cluttered, dim-lit ivory studio where Glenn sings to a skewed TV screen while a stationary bike wheel spins and leaves blow across the floor. As his bandmates and Afrodiziak sing back at him through the screen, his surroundings morph into a hospital ward, where Ian and Martyn appear beside him in green clinical robes.

How Men Are reached No. 12 on the UK Albums Chart.