BRONSKI BEAT - Doubledare (LP/Vinile 33 giri) USATO BUONO

I first heard this album all the way through after seeing Bronski Beat in concert in the late 1980s or early 1990s. By that time, they were playing small venues and no longer had Jimmy Summerville on vocals but the show was awesome. This has got to be Bronski Beat's best album. It captures the best of 1980s New Wave (now retro, of course).

 

The lyrics are very compelling, expressing the struggles faced by gay men in that era and today. These songs show a great degree of depth and their themes extend to other areas of personal struggle to which many people can relate - regardless their sexual orientation, gender, class, etc. This degree of lyrical complexity is a rarity in popular music and their beats are great synth pop!

 

In addition to the lyrics, the music remains among the best of the 1980s and this CD highlights a very important band. While they may not have reached the same level of success as say, the Cure, Bronski Beat fostered a great politics of tolerance.