Paul Young – The Secret of Association (1985)

There are few records in my collection that are more associated to my early teens as this one. It was released the year I turned thirteen and if I remember correctly, I got it for Christmas the same year. I had hardly kissed a girl, had not tasted liquor and my criminal career had not gone further than shoplifting candy at the local supermarket. It was still the innocent time of life. It was the hits Everything must change and Every Time You Go Away that had attracted my attention. Paul Young was big in Sweden this year, and the year before Do the know it's Christmas (Band Aid) had been a big hit in which he also participated. It is with some feelings of nostalgia I listen to this album, for the first time since the time around my first teenage year.

It’s not so easy to disconnect from the feelings and memories that were attached to the songs for about 25 years ago, in other words, it’s impossible to listen to the album objectively and with an open mind. Some of the songs I've more or less managed to forget, while others are still sing-a-longs. But it’s interesting to observe if this album still has an attraction to me as an adult, or was it made for an audience below the age of 20? The spontaneous answer to this is that it probably still has something to offer me, even though it’s not completely to my taste as it is in 2011. And for some reason it’s difficult to let yourself fully enjoy an album that you liked as a child / youth, I mean, to really let yourself go and get into the groove without letting it just become a nostalgia trip.

The album isn’t suffering much from the typical 80's sound that I find hard to like – a lot of keyboards, drum machines, etc., instead it sounds relatively timeless. Could it have been published today? Maybe. Some of the tracks would of course need a touch of modernization but there is really not much to complain about. About half of the songs are covers, while Paul and Ian Kewley have written the others.

This was a very commercial album when it was released and compared to the commercial music that is offered today it seems to me that the Secret of association is better. Each song is unique and has a certain quality, no song feels directly as a filler.Was it better in the earlier days, or has it more to do with that I today don’t take much part in what’s being played on the radio and therefore don’t really know what’s going on? I played this album a lot the first few years it was in my possession, then I guess it wasn’t so cool to listen to Paul Young, so because of this and other reasons (such as the record collection was increasingly expanding), I stopped playing it. But I would argue that it actually is an okay album, and that maybe I should try to create an adult relationship to it. And isn’t fretless bass always fun to listen to?

Favorite Tracks

Everything must change

I was in chains

This means anything

 

Tracklist

Side A

1 Bite the Hand That Feeds
2 Everytime You Go Away
3 I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down
4 Standing on the Edge
5 Soldier's Things

Side B

6 Everything Must Change
7 Tomb of Memories
8 One Step Forward
9 Hot Fun
10 This Means Anything
11 I Was in Chains