Thompson Twins announce Into The Gap 40th anniversary edition

The Thompson Twins to release Into The Gap 40th anniversary edition.

Initially released in February 1984, the fourth album by The Thompson Twins was a multi-platinum album on both sides of the Atlantic and stayed at No.1 in the UK for three weeks. The album produced four massive hit singles: Hold Me Now, a top-five smash in the UK and the US, Doctor Doctor, You Take Me Up, and Sister Of Mercy.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Into The Gap, the album has been remastered at Abbey Road by Frank Arkwright and will be reissued as a comprehensive 3CD set featuring new sleevenotes with interviews with all three band members, a limited edition red vinyl LP, a digital deluxe version and Dolby Atmos digital and Blu-ray exclusive to superdeluxeedition.com. The Dolby Atmos version is mixed by David Kosten.

Commercial Peak

In the 40 years since their commercial peak, The Thompson Twins have finally been recognised as quiet visionaries. The band was multi-gender and multiracial, taking on Middle Eastern and Jamaican influences and melding them with cutting-edge technology alongside producer Alex Sadkin (Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, Bob Marley And The Wailers) at the famous Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas.

After an early seven-piece version of the band dissolved, the remaining threesome, Tom Bailey, recorded the groundbreaking Quick Step & Side Kick album, which broke the top 40 in the US and reached No.2 in the UK. Remarking on the time Tom Bailey remembers: “We were no longer a band, Instead, we wereesigners of pop music. We divided ourselves so that Alannah wrote our lyrics, I wrote our music and Joe, who had come from the theatre, was in charge of our live side, working with Alannah on how we presented ourselves visually.”

Trailblazing Spirit

The shift to a trio also meant a change in sound, looking back Alannah says: “The whole reason we were able to make those tracks was because we discovered the synthesiser and drum machine so suddenly we were able to make big sounding records with only three of us in the studio. Marrying traditional instruments and percussion with big synth sounds to get the human warmth with cool machines was what we aimed for. We were constantly accused of it not being ‘real music’, especially in America, because we rejected the who concept of rock and roll and guitars in favour of synthesisers and percussion.”

Tom notes that Alannah’s lyrics were key in making the music resonate: “Alannah writing the lyrics was a gift for making our music universal. The words had to mean something to me, but they also had to mean something to the person you don’t know who’s dancing on a Saturday night. Alannah’s lyrics fitted how she was thinking and how I performed. I was able to fully inhabit her ideas.”

Joe Leeway also recognises Alannah’s trailblazing spirit: “Things are done differently now. All the way up to Doja Cat, women have their own audiences and their own authority. Generations now don’t remember how different it was. I learned a lot from Alannah, who brought a lot about respect for women in a male-dominated world. Alannah writing our lyrics was part of that.”

INTO THE GAP: 3-CD DELUXE EDITION
CD1 2024 REMASTER & B-SIDES

Doctor! Doctor!
You Take Me Up
Day After Day
Sister of Mercy
No Peace for the Wicked
The Gap
Hold Me Now
Storm on the Sea
Who Can Stop the Rain
Let Loving Start
Nurse Shark (Instrumental)
Out of The Gap
Passion Planet
You Take Me Up (Instrumental Remix)
Doctor! Doctor! (Phil Thornalley Mix)

CD2 CASSETTE MIXES & EDITS

Leopard Ray
Doctor! Doctor!
Panic Station (Day After Day)
Down Tools
Hold Me Now
Funeral Dance (No Peace For The Wicked)
Compass Points (The Gap)
Still Water (Storm On The Sea) (Edit)
Hold Me Now (Pete Hammond Mix)
Sister of Mercy (Pete Hammond Mix)
Doctor! Doctor! (Single Edit)
Doctor! Doctor! (Edit)
Sister Of Mercy (Single Mix)
You Take Me Up (Single Edit)
The Gap (AOR Mix)

CD3 EXTENDED & 12″ VERSIONS

Hold Me Now (Phil Thornalley Extended Mix)
Hold Me Now (Pete Hammond Extended Mix)
Let Loving Start (12″ Version)
Out Of The Gap (Megamix Extended Version)
Sister Of Mercy (12″ Version)
Sister of Mercy (Pete Hammond Extended Mix)
The Gap (Club Remix Version)
You Take Me Up (Machines Take Me Over – 12″ Version)
You Take Me Up (High Plains Mixer – US 12″ Remix)

LIMITED EDITION RED VINYL LP

SIDE ONE
Doctor! Doctor!
You Take Me Up
Day After Day
Sister of Mercy
No Peace for the Wicked

SIDE TWO
The Gap
Hold Me Now
Storm on the Sea
Who Can Stop the Rain

“INTO THE GAP’ – DOLBY ATMOS BLU-RAY*

Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround & 2024 Remaster Stereo MixesMixed by David Kosten

Doctor! Doctor!
You Take Me Up
Day After Day
Sister of Mercy
No Peace for the Wicked
The Gap
Hold Me Now
Storm on the Sea
Who Can Stop the Rain

*Available exclusively here

The Thompson Twins – Into The Gap 40th Anniversary Edition is released on 8 November. Pre-order here

Read more: Thompson Twins / Tom Bailey – album by album