You're my knight in shining armor

Continuing my trip back through the 1986 album charts

21/12/86 : Silk And Steel - Five Star

We forget how massive Five Star were for a bit - and it's weird because although I remember their look and sound, I'm struggling to remember any of their songs. I suspect this will remind me though - I'm sure it will sound very much of its time, but I'm intrigued as to whether it's dated nicely or horribly.

Well, I'm reminded of "Can't Wait Another Minute", "Find The Time" and "Rain Or Shine" in the first three tracks, so it didn't waste any time in catching me up on their singles. And, to be honest, the rest of the album was pretty similar quality - as long as Denise was singing anyway. It is very much is of its time but I don't think it's dated either nicely or horribly - it's just dated really. I guess it's fine if you like that sort of thing, but I can't say it really pushes my buttons.

We're already all the way down at #7 in the chart this week on their 18th week of a frankly incredible 57 week run (spending 28 weeks in the top ten) having peaked at #1 in its fifth week. The top five this week were Now 8, a Kate Bush best-of, Paul Simon, Hits 5 and Madonna and the highest new entry is Placido Domingo, all the way down at #65.

Wikipedia tells us this is their second album - apart from that, there's not a lot of content in there. It was surprisingly successful though, selling 1.2 million copies over here, making it #9 in the '86 year-end list and #33 in the '87 list. It also did reasonably well across Europe, making the top thirty in quite a few countries - getting to #5 in Iceland for no obvious reason at all.

"Customers also listened to" Alison Moyet, Bucks Fizz, Bros and Lisa Stansfield - that's quite the peculiar mix, isn't it? Five Star were huge for a bit - which was quite peculiar in the first place but it's odd how they've been almost entirely forgotten about in the intervening period. It was nice to be reminded of them and whilst I won't be rushing back to this ever, it wasn't dreadful and I'm sure it brings back pleasant memories for loads of people.

28/12/86 - Peak Madge
14/12/86 - Mystifyingly popular

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