The Magic in Your Touch: New Thompson Twins Collection Features Hits, Deep Cuts and Live Disc

Just about a year after expanding and reissuing landmark album Into the Gap for its 40th anniversary, the Thompson Twins’ catalogue will now be evaluated through a new compilation – the first to be sanctioned by the band.
Industry & Seduction: A Thompson Twins Collection will offer 20 singles and favorite cuts across the band’s best-known period of material from 1982 to 1986, including standouts “Hold Me Now,” “Lay Your Hands on Me,” “Lies,” “Doctor! Doctor!” and “In the Name of Love.” Those 20 tracks will be available as a 1CD or 2LP set (the latter pressed on transparent green and orange vinyl, matching the color scheme of the band logo), while a deluxe 3CD set will include another 19 extra tracks – focusing on lesser-known B-sides, late ’80s and early ’90s albums, and even material that Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie released in the ’90s under the name Babble – along with the premiere CD release of Into the Gap Live, the audio of a longform video release from 1984 that was recently issued on vinyl for Record Store Day. All tracks have been selected by Bailey and Currie, with Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios remastering the hits set; the art has been overseen by Currie and third Twin Joe Leeway, with Bailey and Currie offering their recollections in the set’s liner notes (which are extended in the deluxe version). All packages are due out on October 31.
Formed in Sheffield by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Tom Bailey, the Thompson Twins spent the early ’80s as a sprawling, post-punk ensemble – on 1982’s “In the Name of Love,” they were a septet, including Currie on percussion and sax, Leeway on congas and vocals, and even guest synths by Thomas Dolby – before slimming down to a trio and adopting a funk-infused synthpop sound. They particularly struck gold on 1984’s Into the Gap, featuring the international Top 10 “Hold Me Now” plus U.K. Top 10s “Doctor! Doctor!” and “You Take Me Up”; 1985’s follow-up Here’s to Future Days was also a big hit in America thanks to the Top 10s “Lay Your Hands on Me” (remixed by Nile Rodgers, who joined the trio on two performances at Live Aid that year, including collaborations with Madonna) and “King for a Day.” The soundtrack to the Tom Hanks/Jackie Gleason dramedy Nothing in Common featured a song of the same name, which was the first as a duo of Bailey and Currie. (The pair would marry as Thompson Twins wound down, evolving into the ambient dance project Babble; they divorced in 2003.) Bailey has performed on ’80s concert tours in recent years, performing the Twins’ discography; Currie is a celebrated visual artist, while Leeway works in hypnotherapy.
All versions of Industry & Seduction will be available October 31 and can be pre-ordered below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)
Industry & Seduction: A Thompson Twins Collection (BMG, 2025)
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Disc 1: The Hits (Remastered)
- Hold Me Now
- If You Were Here
- Doctor! Doctor!
- Lies
- Lay Your Hands on Me (7″ Version)
- King for a Day
- You Take Me Up
- Love on Your Side
- Sister of Mercy
- The Gap
- We Are Detective
- In the Name of Love
- Future Days
- No Peace for the Wicked
- Roll Over
- Kamikaze
- Don’t Mess with Doctor Dream (7″ Version)
- Revolution (7″ Version)
- Nothing in Common (7″ Version)
- Breakaway
Tracks 1, 3, 7, 9-10 and 14 released on Into the Gap – Arista 205 971 (U.K.)/AL8-8200 (U.S.), 1984
Tracks 2, 4, 8, 11 and 16 released on Quick Step & Side Kick – Arista 204 924 (U.K.), 1983/Side Kicks – Arista AL-6607 (U.S.), 1983
Tracks 5 (original version), 6, 13, 15, 17-18 and 20 (original versions) released on Here’s to Future Days – Arista 207 164 (U.K.)/AL8-8276 (U.S.), 1985
Track 12 released on Set – T Records TELP 2 (U.K.), 1982/In the Name of Love – Arista AL-6601 (U.S.), 1982
Track 19 released on Nothing in Common (Original Soundtrack) – Arista AL9-8438 (U.S.)/207 818 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2: Deep Cuts and Babble
- Politics
- Squares and Triangles
- Oumma Aularesso (Animal Laugh)
- Come Inside (Feedback Max Remix)
- She’s in Love (with Mystery)
- Passion Planet
- Beach Culture
- Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
- Take Me Away – Babble
- The Downward Pull of Heaven’s Force – Babble
- Tribe – Babble
- Beautiful – Babble
- Strange Jane
- Queer
- You Kill Me – Babble
- Just Like You – Babble
- Shake It Down
- Queen of the U.S.A.
- Sugar Daddy
Tracks 1 and 3 released on A Product of… – T Records TELP 1 (U.K.), 1981
Track 2 released on Dirty Discs U.K. single RANK 1, 1980
Tracks 4, 13-14 and 17 released on Queer – Warner Bros. 26631, 1991
Track 5 released on Latent U.K. single LATE 1, 1980
Track 6 released on “You Take Me Up” single – Arista TWINS 4 (U.K.), 1984
Track 7 released on “Lies” single – Arista ARIST 486 (U.K.), 1982
Track 8 released on Red Hot + Blue – Chrysalis F2 21799 (U.S.), 1990
Tracks 9-12 and 15 released on The Stone – Reprise 45387, 1994
Track 16 released on Ether – Reprise 46012, 1996
Tracks 18-19 released on Big Trash – Warner Bros./Red Eye 25921, 1989
Disc 3: Into the Gap Live (released on video as Virgin Video VVD 006 (U.K.)/RCA/Columbia Home Video 20515 (U.S.), 1984 and on vinyl as BMG 964140471, 2025)
- Intro
- The Gap
- Day After Day
- Judy Do
- Watching
- You Take Me Up
- Hold Me Now
- No Peace for the Wicked
- Sister of Mercy
- In the Name of Love
- Lies
- Doctor! Doctor!
- Kamikaze
- Love on Your Side
All tracks recorded live at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA – 9/30/1984






