Stuff I'm Listening To - #66 - Arcadia - Keep Me In the Dark

Nicky Peanut watches wearily as I photograph him with his favourite vinyl.

Artist: Arcadia

Title: Keep Me In The Dark

Favourite Lyrics: 
When without words you call me closer each time you turn away
Something inside you cries but is it something I'll never find

Why?: Happy birthday Simon LeBon!

This is the original 1985 vinyl release pictured above. My cat approved of the selection for today.

When I first started collecting music, it resided largely on cassettes. They were compact, reasonably priced and portable. Vinyl purchases were still necessary, as album artwork was always inferior on cassette inserts. When I started collecting Duran Duran, there was a convenience store nearby that had racks of old records from the 80s for sale from anywhere between $2 and $5. The covers were all damaged, with a hole poked through the bottom left corner. Half of my Duran Duran collection came from that store.

One of the records that emerged from that store was this album and I came to realise that I wasn't a Duranie so much as I was a huge fan of Arcadia. Everything about this off-shoot of Duran Duran was beautiful to me. A bit gothy, a bit moody, a bit pretentious, a bit artsy, and a budget that allowed Nick Rhodes and Simon LeBon to indulge their musical explorations at the time. Just as John Taylor and Andy Taylor embarked on their own side project, and amazing rock album as the Power Station with legendary vocalist Robert Palmer and drummer from Chic, Tony Thompson. 

But I wasn't so much into rock. This moody-synth pop that Arcadia was offering fit me best at the time, a bit gothy, a lot moody and a bit pretentious and (trying to be) artsy. I'm particularly in love with the hidden codes on the album cover. It's a simple code but added to the mystic of the whole Arcadia thing. The hidden code makes me giggle as it may have had something to do with their added entry into a book called "The Rock Report" by Fletcher A Brothers, which tried to detail all the places in pop and rock music during the 80s where the devil was showing up. It's hard to tell at times if this was satire or not. 

While I adore the entire album, the second track immediately struck a chord with me. Something about the way Simon sounds as he's singing those lines hits me right in the feels. The way he sounds when he's harmonizing with himself... Ahem... I'm going to a need a moment...