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The only Sign O' the Times songs people love are the title track and I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man? Boy, I consider this album as having so many great songs that I thought each person had a different favorite... In particular, I'm a bit surprised by seeing Slow Love, Adore and It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night receiving no love here... 
Gabinete Caligari was one of the most interesting Spanish bands of the eighties, developing a typical Spanish sound without using profusely the flamenco influences. Their choice was the sound of Madrid, a sound representing the character usually associated with people of Madrid, as we call in Spain “castizo” (no exact translation possible, traditional is not exactly the same) and “chulo” (show-off, cocky).
But it wasn’t always like that. Gabinete began as a goth-rock band, with Joy Division and The Cure as main influences, releasing good songs in this style as “Golpes” (“Blows”). The first album mixed some early gothic songs with other ones that initiated a new style, the “rock torero” (“bullfight rock”), with the song “Sangre española” (“Spanish Blood”) as this phase peak. But the big step beyond for the band was the 1984 album “Cuatro rosas” (“Four Roses”) named after the bourbon drink. In this album they introduced sixties classic rock influences (“Forever Changes” or “Between the Buttons”
. This line was developed in the next albums as “Al calor del amor en un bar” ( “In the Heat of Love in a Bar”, 1986) or especially “Camino Soria” (“Road to Soria”, 1987).
From this album I’ve selected the song “Como un pez” (“Like a Fish”), a song not particularly appreciated by the members of Gabinete themselves (it didn’t even appear in the 1993 compilation “Grandes éxitos”) but a long time favourite of mine. It’s a folk-pop song that deals with the bad luck, always waiting round the corner, and tells us the story of a loser with a beautiful chord progression and an outstanding accordion arrangement.
COMO UN PEZ
Composers: E. Clavo / E. Hirschfeld / F. Presas / A. Urrutia / J. Urrutia / S. Zabaleta
Performer: GABINETE CALIGARI
First release: 1987 (“Camino Soria” album)
Length: 3’38”
La suerte es como un pez
que de sus manos resbaló,
como la pretensión
de ser algo que se esfumó.
De maroto trabajó,
pero él tenía vocación
de ser algo más en la vida
que un kafkiano perdedor.
Pobre hombre, ni su nombre
sabe ya decir con tino.
Es su sino el de sufrir,
es de espinas su camino.
Deambula por los puertos
suplicando tragos de favor.
Apostó su vida a un bello sueño
que era su dueño y voló.
¿Quién se apiada de este hombre?
No hay desdicha que le asombre.
Gira y gira el carrusel
pero siempre gira en contra de él.
Deambula por los puertos
suplicando tragos de favor.
Delirando mamao repite
que la suerte es como un pez,
como un pez,
como un pez
que de sus manos un día resbaló
y como un plomo en el agua se hundió,
sin saber como en el agua se hundió.
Y allí reposa con otras suertes,
con otras muchas suertes
que resbalaron como un pez.
LIKE A FISH
Luck is like a fish
that slipped away from his hands,
like the aspiration
of being someone that vanished.
He lived as a rascal,
but he got the vocation
of being much more in his life
than a Kafkaesque loser.
Poor man, he can’t even
say his name properly.
His fate is to suffer,
he walks a thorny road.
He wanders trough the ports
begging for a drink.
He bet his life on a beautiful dream
that was his master but it flew away.
Who’s gonna take pity on this man?
There’s no misfortune that amazes him.
The carousel goes round and round,
but it’s always turning against him.
He wanders trough the ports
begging for a drink.
He repeats, delirious and plastered,
that the luck is like a fish,
like a fish,
like a fish
that slipped away from his hand
and like a plumb bob it sank into the water,
he didn’t know how it sank into the water.
And it rest there with other lucks,
with many other lucks
that slipped away like a fish.
Awful audio quality, awful video quality, but it’s the only way of finding it in you tube. Shit, Spain is pain. Again…
No albums for me, I don't know them well enough
1 - XTC - Dear God
2 - Michael Jackson - Liberian Girl
3 - The Cure - Just Like Heaven
4 - Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
5 - Faith No More - We Care A Lot
6 - Stevie Wonder - Free
7 - Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
8 - Public Enemy - Bring the Noise
9 - Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
10 - Prince - Housequake
11 - The Cure - Why Can't I Be You
12 - M/A/R/R/S - Pump Up the Volume
still a bit annoyed not to know those years enough to give every songs its chances... 
My favorite cover art of 1987 (and a brilliant soul-blues album too)
This time it's no problem to hand them in a little late, since I haven't really made a big dent in the lists to be ordered yet. So much work.
We've lost Stephan since the day he discovered the joys of student life.
Hey Stephan where are you ? We miss you !
What's her name ?
Which one?
I haven't left you, I still try to read most of the forum.. just haven't had much time to post. I have however drastically improved my collating skills and am now done with the songs list. Albums will be done tomorrow and then I'll post both. Once again, sorry for the extremely long delay.
Half a month late, but as some people like to put it: better late than never. I haven't had time to check for exact titles of the albums and whether or not all were made in 1987.. but so be it. Anyway, here we go:
Albums:
1) Prince - Sign 'O' The Times
2) U2 - The Joshua Tree
3) R.E.M. - Document
4) Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
5) The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come
6) Sonic Youth - Sister
7) Hüsker Dü - Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel Of Love
9) The Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me
10) Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full
Songs:
1) Prince - Sign 'O' The Times
2) Guns 'N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
3) The Cure - Just Like Heaven
4) U2 - With Or Without You
5) R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
6) Public Enemy - Bring The Noise
7) Sugarcubes - Birthday
R.E.M. - The One I Love
9) XTC - Dear God
10) New Order - True Faith
Complete list can be found here: 
. Please report any mistakes I might have made.
Thanks, Stephan, and welcome back from not being away 
Prince wins, no real surprises in the top 10's.
Then 2 further corrections for the albums, that don't really make a difference to the end result, but anyway:
- The Lonesome Jubilee from John (Cougar) Mellencamp has 3entries in the list, all together good for 37+7+1=45 points.
- Sting has two entries, good for 10+18=28 points
I'm in love with that song!