Go-Go's - Lust To Love (Totally Go-Go's Live '81)

While, as a child of the 1980s, I was very familiar with Belinda Carlisle's solo work, I didn't actually hear the Go-Go's until their 1995 comeback single 'The Whole World Lost It's Head', and their accompanying appearance on Top Of The Pops. I'd long given up watching Top Of The Pops by then so there must have been a trailer or some hint that they were going to be on it or I really wouldn't have bothered. It basically goes without saying that they were the coolest thing on it.

While the Go-Go's are known less for their roots in the LA punk scene, more for their power pop double platinum debut album Beauty And The Beat, you can clearly hear their evolution from scrappy punk beginnings at the Canterbury to the slick power pop of 'We Got The Beat', 'Good For Gone' and 'Head Over Heels' if you listen to the double CD version of their best of compilation, Return To The Valley Of The Go-Go's.

I purchased Return To The Valley Of The Go-Go's in 2000, after hearing a bootleg of the 1CD UK version courtesy of fanzine pal Amanda Morgan of Splizz fanzine. HMV could only get it for me as a 2CD US import for £32 and, barely thinking twice, I paid up. I remember picking it up because I made the mistake of collecting it on the same day as Stockport Carnival and had to walk all the way to Heaviley in a heatwave in order to get to a point in the route where I could catch a bus home.

'Lust To Love', much like the fantastically titled 'Skidmarks on my heart', captures the missing links between post punk and power pop, as well as showcasing their great songwriting skills.