Thompson Twins - Quick Step & Side Kick (Deluxe Edition) (2008)

Following up on the surprise success of the "Love on Your Side" single, the reconstituted Thompson Twins quickly regrouped to create an album to capitalize on their new, more direct sound. Quick Step & Side Kick is the Thompson Twins' most fully realized work, with a trio of dance-rock classics -- "Love Lies Bleeding," "Love on Your Side," and the big U.S. chart hit "Lies" -- that all hew close to the synth-bass-and-Latin-percussion groove of "In the Name of Love." Interestingly, however, the trio also branches out to explore a variety of sonic moods, most of them considerably darker than their cartoonish new look -- lead singer Tom Bailey now sported a waist-length red ponytail, and percussionist Alannah Currie had a mohawk and no eyebrows -- would suggest. The highlights of these were the simply gorgeous, ghostly ballad "If You Were Here" and yet another elegy for the late Judy Garland, the bitter "Judy Do." Although the follow-up Into the Gap was an even bigger chart success, Quick Step & Side Kick is the better, more consistent album. The somewhat delayed U.S. release of Quick Step & Side Kick shortened the nonsensical title to Side Kicks and scrambled the running order to some ill effect, pulling all of the dance-oriented material on side one and all of the more atmospheric, experimental songs on side two. This version of the album was eventually supplanted by a CD release that retained the title and superior sequencing of the original U.K. issue. [Edsel's 2008 Deluxe Edition included 17 bonus tracks (mostly remixes) across two CDs.]