It feels like some of the urgency has gone. Some of the edge, some of the attitude. I don't know. Maybe it's the slow metamorphosis from group to Annie Lennox vehicle? And I guess whenever you have a song called Do You Want to Break Up? you have to be thinking about the motivation of the people involved. The hit rate is undoubtedly lower too - though I did just about recognise Beethoven. You Have Placed a Chill in my Heart must have been the biggest hit? Or maybe I Need a Man. All of these titles are kind of telling their own story now I think about it...

Reading the notes it's actually pretty interesting, producing an album using essentially one instrument. Getting a drummer in to tell you which rhythms would work, and then whacking the vocals on the top. I'm not sure it's the dramatic left turn that the band saw it as, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Shame is not one I recognise at all at first listen. Then when the chorus comes in there's something there, but still not exactly anthemic. I guess this was right in the sweet spot of that late eighties vibe for video albums and all that. It never quite caught on, did it? Lots of people tried, but I wonder if that's how people really enjoy experiencing music. It's an audio thing, at the end of the day.

I Need a Man has a real echo of Gimme Some Truth to it, or Road to Marrakesh or whatever we're supposed to call it now.