A Secret Wish – Propaganda (1985)
This is one of those albums thay belatedly and perhaps unexpectedly sneaked its way into the Top 60. It’s also fair to say that if the list had been compiled a few months back, it wouldn’t have made it.
It’s an album I played a great deal when it was released. It had been preceded by two fabulous singles – Dr Mabuse and Duel. I recall buying it with some of the money left over from my first ever salary at the end of July 1985, having just moved to Edinburgh to live and work. I had a very small and inexpensive stereo system at the time, so I certainly didn’t get the full effect of its OTT production for a few more years. It was one of those albums I had a habit of playing when I had come in from the pub but was too tired/pissed to have a dance around the room…..this was one for lying on the bed, trying to avoid the sensation of the room spinning out of control, and waving my hands around as if I was some kind of crazy German conductor.
A few years later, I ended up buying the CD version, which had a different running order from the vinyl, as well as having a couple of extended versions of the songs, and so it became the version more commonly played.
Indeed, it was only a couple of months back that I dug out the vinyl copy again after what will be more than 30 years, and that was to play it immediately after giving a spin to my newly acquired copy of the excellent The Heart Is Strange, the album released last year by X-Propaganda, the group formed by Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag.
It’s fair to say that my passion for A Secret Wish has been smouldering rather than burning brightly for a long time. But it’s been on a healthy rotation in 2023, and as I said earlier, has unexpectedly crept into this rundown.
mp3: Propaganda – The Murder Of Love
Worth mentioning that the bass slapping on this one is courtesy of Derek Forbes, once of Simple Minds before they went all stadium rock on us.*
*Correction. While Derek Forbes played live with Propaganda in 1985, and would be part of the group on later records, he didn’t actually contribute the bass parts on the debut. With thanks to Post Punk Monk for the info……see comments section for more details.