Greatest Hits (Thompson Twins album)

Infobox Album
Name = Greatest Hits
Type = Greatest hits
Artist = Thompson Twins


Released = October 1, 1996
Recorded = 1981-1987
Length =
Producer = Various
Label = Arista Records
Genre = Alternative rock
New wave
Pop
Post-punk
Synthpop
Reviews =
Last album = "Queer" (1991)
This album = "Greatest Hits" (1996)
Next album = "Love on Your Side - The Best of Thompson Twins" (2007)

"Thompson Twins - Greatest Hits" is, as its name suggests, a greatest hits album by British pop rock band Thompson Twins, released in 1990, on Arista Records label.

It is the group's very first compilation of singles, a greatest remixes collection of theirs having already been released a couple of years earlier, in 1988, mainly promoted by the popular remix "In the Name of Love '88," that is the then new version of the original track opening the 1990 singles compilation. The latter includes all of Thompson Twins' singles from 1982 to 1987, omitting earlier minor tracks from their UK debut album, "A Product of ... (Participation)", and the later single "Sugar Daddy," the latest mainstream hit they had in the U.S., taken from their 1989 album "Big Trash", which was a commercial flop. Though Thompson Twins' previous album, 1988 "Close to the Bone", was also a flop, both singles taken from it, "Get That Love" and "Long Goodbye," are instead included here.

More in detail, Thompson Twins' first singles collection compiles the following songs by the band, in three different lineups (big band in the early years, three-piece group from 1983 to 1987, and duo in the later years): the mentioned opener, "In the Name of Love," which is the one track from their 1982 "Set" album; four tracks from their 1983 "Quick Step and Side Kick", the first as a trio, i.e. "Lies," "We Are Detective," "If You Were Here," and "Love on Your Side;" all five singles from their most successful long playing work, 1984 "Into the Gap", namely "Hold Me Now," "Doctor! Doctor!," "You Take Me Up," "Sister of Mercy," and the album semi-title track, "The Gap," which was only released in some territories, but not in Britain; three of the four singles from 1985 "Here's to Future Days", their last album as a three-piece band, i.e. "Don't Mess with Doctor Dream," "Lay Your Hands on Me," and "King for a Day," the omitted fourth single being The Beatles' cover "Revolution," a fans' live favourite, which turned out to be a commercial failure though; the two mentioned singles from their first work as a duo, 1987 "Close to the Bone", namely "Get That Love" and "Long Goodbye;" and, finally, the track entitled "Nothing in Common."

For the sake of completeness, Thompson Twins would only release one more unsuccessful long playing studio work after their 1990 greatest hits album, entitled "Queer", which would come out just one year after this first singles compilation, in 1991, generating two more singles, i.e. "Come Inside" and "The Saint." Though these would be minor hits — and also their very last — and, actually, before it was discovered that the duo was in fact behind the project, quite popular in clubs, neither would be included on the band's following greatest hits collection, the double "Love on Your Side - The Best of Thompson Twins", issued only recently, in 2007, containing, besides of the other hits, a number of stand-out tracks, instead.

Track listing

# "In the Name of Love"
# "Lies"
# "We Are Detective"
# "If You Were Here"
# "Love on Your Side"
# "Hold Me Now"
# "Doctor! Doctor!"
# "You Take Me Up"
# "The Gap"
# "Sister of Mercy"
# "Don't Mess with Doctor Dream"
# "Lay Your Hands on Me"
# "King for a Day"
# "Nothing in Common"
# "Get That Love"
# "Long Goodbye"

Credits

*Tom Bailey: lead vocals and main instruments
*Alannah Currie: lyrics and background vocals
*Joe Leeway: percussion