Communards
Communards album

The Communards’ self-titled debut album is to be reissued on its 35th anniversary this autumn by London Records. Not only that but the duo’s classic Hi-NRG cover of Don’t Leave Me This Way gets a new remix from 7th Heaven as part of an expanded CD/digital release, and there will be a limited edition vinyl release of the album, all available from 3 December.

The Communards were formed by former Bronski Beat frontman Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles in 1985, famously mixing left-wing politics with pop.

“We wanted to bring down Thatcher by doing cover versions of 70s disco classics and sort of supper club jazz music,” says Coles. “It perhaps seems a rather over ambitious project now, but at the time it was a brilliant idea.

“Before anything else, Jimmy and I were activists. We’d grown up gay in a hostile world and for us that was a matter of life and death – literally – so we weren’t messing about. We wanted to fight that fight,” he continues. “And that was not just a fight on one front, it was a fight on all sorts of fronts. We thought that our liberation could only happen if it liberated others.”

Read more: Top 40 Synth-Pop Songs

The CD and digital formats have been expanded to include some rarities, fan favourites and previously unreleased material. These include Don’t Leave Me This Way (Gotham City Mix Part Two) which Coles calls “my favourite thing that Jimmy and I did” and fan favourite Disenchanted (Dance) remixed here by Mike Thorne.

Also included is the only radio session the duo ever recorded with Janice Long in October 1985 on which they debuted previously unpublished tracks and the demo version of Summertime, the only recording in existence of this collaboration with Sarah Jane Morris.

You can pre-order the 35th anniversary of Communards here.

VINYL

The Communards – Communards (35 Year Anniversary Edition)

UPC : 5060555215187 /  REF CAT : LMS5521518

A Side

1. Don’t Leave Me This Way (6:27)

2. La Dolarosa (2.43)

3. Disenchanted (6.14)

4. Reprise (5.22)

B Side

1. So Cold The Night (6.48)

2. You Are My World (8.01)

3. Lover Man (3.52 )

4. Don’t Slip Away (2.58)

C Side

1. Heavens Above (3.59)

2. Forbidden Love (5.04)

3. Breadline Britain (2:32)

4. Sanctified (2.36)

D Side

1. Never No More (3:01)

2. Sentimental Journey (3:33)

3. When The Walls Come Tumbling Down (4:20)

4. Judgement Day (5:14)

 

CD  

The Communards – Communards (35 Year Anniversary Edition)

CD / CAT : LMS5521520 / UPC : 5060555215200

CD1

1. Don’t Leave Me This Way (6:27)

2. La Dolarosa (2.43)

3. Disenchanted (6.14)

4. Reprise (5.22)

5. So Cold The Night (6.48)

6. You Are My World (8.01)

7. Lover Man (3.52 )

8. Don’t Slip Away (2.58)

9. Heavens Above (3.59)

10. Forbidden Love (5.04)

11. Don’t Leave Me This Way (Gotham City Mix Part Two) (11:38)

12. Disenchanted (Dance) (8:44)

13. Sentimental Journey (3:33)

14. When The Walls Come Tumbling Down (4:20)

CD2

1. So Cold The Night (Janice Long 23rd October 1985) (3.46)

2. Don’t Slip Away (Janice Long 23rd October 1985) (2.33)

3. America (Janice Long 23rd October 1985) (4.16)

4. Forbidden Love (Janice Long 23rd October 1985) (2.49)

5. La Dolarosa (Janice Long 23rd October 1985) (2.36)

6. You Are My World (Extended 12” Version) (9:52)

7. Don’t Leave Me This Way (“Ruff” Mix) (8:27)

8. Heavens Above (“Ruff” Mix) (3:19)

9. Summertime (Demo) (3:17)

10. Lover Man (Alternative Version) (4:04)

11. Forbidden Love (Alternative Version) (5.01)

12. Breadline Britain (2:32)

13. Never No More (3:01)

14. So Cold The Night (Remix)(8:22)

15. Judgement Day (5:14)

16. Don’t Leave Me This Way (7th Heaven Club Mix) (8:25)