The Communards – Communards (35 Year Anniversary Edition) (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Despite the inability of the music to live up to the high standards of Jimmy Somerville’s ridiculously skilled falsetto voice, the Communards’ first album achieved platinum status in several countries. Somerville’s spirited duet with Sarah Jane Morris on a cover of Thelma Houston’s “Don’t Leave Me This Way” helped push the record into the Top Ten on the U.K. charts, and a decent blend of other dancefloor fillers with Richard Coles-centric piano ballads lends variety for the ears that can’t take a full album’s worth of dance music. Both “Breadline Britain” and “Reprise” continue Somerville’s activist ideals; the latter has to be one of the sharpest dissections of Margaret Thatcher. Compared to the following Red, much of the duo’s self-titled debut sounds flat, lacking punch — all the more surprising from a Mike Thorne (Wire, Marc Almond) production. [The remastered version adds a lengthy mix of “Don’t Leave Me This Way.”] – Andy Kellman

Tracklist:
1-1. The Communards – Don’t Leave Me This Way (35 Year Remaster) (06:27)
1-2. The Communards – La Dolarosa (35 Year Remaster) (02:43)
1-3. The Communards – Disenchanted (35 Year Remaster) (06:14)
1-4. The Communards – Reprise (35 Year Remaster) (05:22)
1-5. The Communards – So Cold the Night (35 Year Remaster) (06:48)
1-6. The Communards – You Are My World (35 Year Remaster) (08:01)
1-7. The Communards – Lover Man (35 Year Remaster) (03:52)
1-8. The Communards – Don’t Slip Away (35 Year Remaster) (02:58)
1-9. The Communards – Heavens Above (35 Year Remaster) (03:59)
1-10. The Communards – Forbidden Love (35 Year Remaster) (05:04)
1-11. The Communards – Don’t Leave Me This Way ((Gotham City Mix Pt. 2) [35 Year Remaster]) (11:38)
1-12. The Communards – Disenchanted (Dance) (35 Year Remaster) (08:45)
1-13. The Communards – Sentimental Journey (35 Year Remaster) (03:33)
1-14. The Communards – When The Walls Come Tumbling Down (35 Year Remaster) (04:21)
2-1. The Communards – So Cold the Night (Live on Janice Long, 23rd October 1985) (03:46)
2-2. The Communards – Don’t Slip Away (Live on Janice Long, 23rd October 1985) (02:33)
2-3. The Communards – America (Live on Janice Long, 23rd October 1985) (04:16)
2-4. The Communards – Forbidden Love (Live on Janice Long, 23rd October 1985) (02:49)
2-5. The Communards – La Dolarosa (Live on Janice Long, 23rd October 1985) (02:36)
2-6. The Communards – You Are My World (Extended 12″ Version, 35 Year Remaster) (09:51)
2-7. The Communards – Don’t Leave Me This Way (“Ruff” Mix, 35 Year Remaster) (08:28)
2-8. The Communards – Heavens Above (“Ruff” Mix, 35 Year Remaster) (03:19)
2-9. The Communards – Summertime (Demo) (03:17)
2-10. The Communards – Lover Man (Alternative Version) (04:04)
2-11. The Communards – Forbidden Love (Alternative Version) (05:01)
2-12. The Communards – Breadline Britain (35 Year Remaster) (02:32)
2-13. The Communards – Never No More (35 Year Remaster) (03:01)
2-14. The Communards – So Cold the Night [35 Year Remaster] ((Remix) [Remastered]) (08:23)
2-15. The Communards – Judgement Day (35 Year Remaster) (05:14)
2-16. The Communards – Don’t Leave Me This Way (7th Heaven Club Mix) (08:25)