Don’t Look Down: Go West Expand ‘Dancing on the Couch’ with Remixes and Live Material
It was a pleasant surprise to see British ’80s duo Go West get a deluxe edition of their debut album last year. Chrysalis is making lightning strike twice early this year for fans with a follow-up: an 3CD/1DVD expansion of the duo’s 1987 release Dancing on the Couch.
After Peter Cox and Richard Drummie scored a Top 5 hit in their homeland with “We Close Our Eyes” in 1985, they’d amassed a solid fan base who’d be curious to hear what a follow-up sounded like. Working again with producer Gary Stevenson and a host of great session musicians including bassist Pino Palladino, drummer Graham Broad and trumpeter Randy Brecker (plus guest vocals by Kate Bush on the track “The King is Dead”), Dancing on the Couch continued and expanded the pair’s slinky, sophisticated pop sound. Critics, however, felt the singles didn’t stray too far from what fans were expecting from past releases, and the album was a comparatively modest seller, only reaching the Top 20 in the U.K. and spinning off no hit singles. Ironically, the album, also a soft seller in America, did spin off the band’s first, minor Top 40 hit across the pond: an updated mix of a single from the first album titled “Don’t Look Down – The Sequel.”
Like the deluxe Go West, Dancing on the Couch comes in a 7″ book-bound package featuring 20 pages of rare photos and liner notes by Cox and Drummie. The newly remastered album will be paired with a bonus disc of B-sides and remixes (including three unreleased tracks) plus live audio from a 1987 performance at Hammersmith Odeon. (A slightly edited version of this program was released on video as The Runaway Train Tour, and will be included on the set’s DVD along with four music videos.) A 2LP set will also be available, featuring the album and 10 of the bonus tracks pressed on 180 gram clear vinyl.
The Couch delivers January 26 in Europe, with a U.S. release date of February 9. Check out the full specs and pre-order links below.
Dancing on the Couch (Deluxe Edition) (Chrysalis, 2024)
3CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD 1: Original album – 2024 remaster (originally released as Chrysalis 208 346 (U.K.), 1987)
- I Want to Hear It from You
- Little Caesar
- Masque of Love
- From Baltimore to Paris
- True Colours
- The King is Dead
- Chinese Whispers
- Let’s Build a Boat
- Crossfire
- Dangerous
CD 2: B-Sides, Remixes & Rarities (* previously unreleased; + bonus track on vinyl edition)
- I Want to Hear It from You (A Day in Aarhus) +
- True Colours (The Snake Charmer Mix) +
- Masque of Love (Schoolhouse Mix) +
- The King is Dead (12″ Long Vibe Piano Mix) * +
- I’ll Be Waiting +
- Tears Too Late +
- True Colours (Demo Mix) *
- XL 5 +
- The King is Dead (Live at Hammersmith – 12″ Version)
- I’ll Be Waiting (The Skelefocal Mix) *
- Don’t Be Afraid of Your Dreams +
- Don’t Look Down (The Sequel) (U.S. 7″ Mix)
Track 1 from “I Want to Hear It from You” U.K. 12″ – Chrysalis GOWX 5, 1987
Tracks 2 and 7 from “True Colours” U.K. 12″ – Chrysalis GOWX 4, 1986
Track 3 from “What You Won’t Do for Love” U.K. CD single – Chrysalis CDGOWS 10, 1993
Track 5 from “We Close Our Eyes” U.K. CD single – Chrysalis CDGOWS 13, 1993
Track 6 from “The King of Wishful Thinking” U.K. single – Chrysalis GOW 8, 1990
Track 8 from “The King is Dead” U.K. 12″ single – Chrysalis GOWX 6, 1987
Track 10 from A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master soundtrack – Chrysalis OV 41673 (U.S.), 1988
Track 11 from U.S. pressings of Dancing on the Couch – Chrysalis FV 41550, 1987
CD 3: The Runaway Train Tour – Live at Hammersmith Odeon (previously unreleased; + bonus track on vinyl edition)
- S.O.S.
- True Colours
- Chinese Whispers +
- Eye to Eye
- Little Caesar +
- Missing Persons
- Man in My Mirror
- I Want to Hear It from You
- Call Me
- Don’t Look Down
- The King is Dead
- We Close Our Eyes
DVD: The Runaway Train Tour – Live at Hammersmith Odeon (originally released as Chrysalis VHS CHV 5014 (U.K.), 1987) and promo videos
Live program identical to CD 3 minus Track 7. All tracks recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 7/5/1987
Promo videos
- True Colours
- I Want to Hear It from You
- The King is Dead
- True Colours (Version 2)
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1 thought on “Don’t Look Down: Go West Expand ‘Dancing on the Couch’ with Remixes and Live Material”
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Hoping for better luck with the audio this time around. The previous deluxe box was rendered unlistenable by the god-awful mastering (SOOOOOO LOUD).