Heaven

Heaven, it turns out, is situated on a side street in Magaluf. This may be news to the major religions of the world. The entrance seems to be more of a roller shutter too than the promised pearly gates but it's nice to have these things cleared up. There are loads of heavens in music- according to Belinda Carlisle it's a place on earth and standing in front of this venue last week I was inclined to agree. Back in 1987 I'd rather have poked my eyes out with forks than admitted liking this song but thankfully now I'm older I can come clean....

Heaven according to David Byrne, is a place where nothing ever happens, where the band play your favourite song, all night long and where 'it's hard to imagine/ that nothing at all/ could be so exciting/ could so much fun'. Talking Heads sound effortlessly sublime on this song, the sweetest moment their most bewilderingly brilliant album, a record that doesn't have any kind of weak spot, has some seriously deranged moments and sounds like the feverish work of a group of musicians at their absolute peak. 

Heaven

In 1981, two years after Talking Heads released Fear Of Music, Echo And The Bunnymen released arguably their best album, Heaven Up Here. The title track is a dark, frenetic, urgent piece of post- punk, the band flailing around and moving rapidly, all scratchy guitar and thumping drums. Ian sings of empty pockets and being unable to afford beer. 'The apple cart upset my head's little brain', he complains before settling on giving up the whiskey for tequila. The centre section, 'groovy groovy people' he sings, 'we're all groovy groovy people' is exhilarating, a rush, and then it's back to the main riff and Ian's found somewhere for the Bunnymen- 'it may be hell down there/ But it's heaven up here'. There's more rapid fire words, more drums and then a sudden dead stop.

Heaven Up Here