If the album cover alone doesn’t slay you, prepare yourself for the tunes.

Scottish new wave/post-punk band The Associates are a largely underrated gem. The duo, fronted by outrageously gifted vocalist Billy MacKenzie, were active between 1979 and 1990. This is a cover of the number 1 song in America the week of my birth, “Love Hangover” by Diana Ross (or so I’m told).

I only discovered this cover tonight, sorting through LPs I’d purchased but had not given a listen. I’ve had a copy of The Associates’ debut, The Affectionate Punch (1979), for sometime, and “Tell Me Easter is on Friday” from their second record Fourth Drawer Down (1981) has been a fixture on many a mix CD I’ve made over the last two years. How I’ve overlooked Sulk to just this evening is a mystery. Suffice to say, it is a completely brilliant release, definitely their most danceable, party-ready album in all its theatrical glory.

Mackenzie also worked with Yello, Shirley Bassett, British Electric Foundation, and Paul Haig of fellow Scottish act Josef K. Alan Rankine, the other half of the Associates, works currently as a record producer. Robert Smith of the Cure, Martha Ladley from Martha and the Muffins, as well as members of SPK and the Mekons have contributed to Associates records or performances.

Billy Mackenzie’s suicide in 1997 has been eulogized in song famously by The Cure (“Cut Here”), Siouxsie Sioux (“Say”, as the Creatures), and Morrissey (“William, It Was Really Nothing”). In June of this year, a play entitled Balgay Hill was performed at the Dundee Rep Theatre in Mackenzie’s hometown celebrating his life and career.

Here is more Associates—a performance of “Club Country” on Top of the Pops. SO SO SICK!

**cross post from SECOND WAVE, another blog I maintain. —Jamillah