Finally: the Thompson Twins discography completed!

Recently I purchased a second hand copy of the Thompson Twin's CD Queer.  It was in pretty good condition, with a minor scratch on the CD itself, and a hole punched through the upper right corner of the booklet (markings such as that is a practise usually done to indicate a CD is permanently discounted).  The purchase of that particular CD finally meant that I had all 8 of the Thompson Twins studio albums, as well as a Greatest Mixes CD and a number of vinyl 12" singles.  In addition, I also have a vinyl copy of Live at the 101, which includes two live tracks by the Thompson Twins.

Thompson Twins on CD

Thompson Twins on vinyl

My love for the Thompson Twins started in 1984 when I purchased the vinyl LP Into the Gap (with a bonus second disc of extended mixes).  I followed that up with Here's to Future Days in 1985 (also with a second disc of extended mixes), Close to the Bone in 1988, and then the first two LPs (Set, and A Product of... Participation) at the same time in 1989.  Sometime in that timeframe I also picked up the cassette of "A Quick Step and Sidekick."  Although I never recorded when or where I actually purchased them, three of the four 12" singles I have were purchased in 84 and 85 around the same time as the albums they were taken from.  The fourth 12" single was from a movie soundtrack and would have been purchased later.  I bought Live at the 101 in August of 1985.

The Greatest Mixes CD was the first CD of theirs I bought, in 1997.  Then I ignored them until I came across a number of 2-disc reissues of their first 5 albums.  The first 2 albums, Set and A Product of... Participation, made up the first release (one album plus bonus tracks on each disc), then the next 3 albums, Quick Step and Sidekick, Into the Gap, and Here's to Future Days each got a double disc release with a ton of extra tracks, b-sides and mixes.  Each of these 2-disc reissues are a goldmine for fans, with many non-album b-sides and remixes making up the well over 2 hour running time of each.  I only wish they had done similar reissues for the last 3 albums.  I got all of these 2-disc sets in 2015, Big Trash in 2019 and, as I mentioned at the start of this post, Queer I got about a week ago, in 2020.

If you are reading this post, you are likely also a Thompson Twins fan, and probably know the history beyond the band's "break-up" after the Queer album.  Upset with how the Thompson Twins name seemed to be a stigma on their new EDM musical direction, Tom and Alannah formed a new band, Babble, and released 2 albums: The Stone, and Ether.  Tom and Alannah's marriage ended in 2003, with Alannah also ending her musical career, but Tom continued recording dub (or chill) music with a new band, International Observer, releasing five albums (some would argue seven) under that name to date.  Tom is also a member of Holiwater Band, who I believe have released only 2 albums so far: Maya and The Holiwater Project.  Because of the musical direction of Tom's post Thompson Twins bands, I never got around to purchasing any albums by them, although if I come across a copy of either Babble album now, I likely will pick them up.

In 2018 Tom Bailey also released his first solo album, Science Fiction, which has a very Thompson Twins feel to it.  I purchased it on vinyl and as a limited 2-disc CD in a hard-cover booklet case (the second disc has mixes of some of the album's tracks, reminiscent of the extra discs that came with the Into the Gap and Here's to Future Days vinyl albums).  I highly recommend getting a copy of the Tom Bailey album, if you can find one.