Formed in the wake of Jimmy Somerville’s departure from Bronski Beat, while The Communards mined a similar sound to Somerville’s previous band, they pushed the electronic pop envelope even further towards expressive hi-NRG disco, coupled with a sense of righteous defiance against what seemed like impossible odds.
Somerville formed The Communards (the name a nod to the revolutionary 1871 Paris Commune) with occasional Bronski Beat instrumentalist and friend Richard Coles. They had two minor hits with You Are My World and Disenchanted, before striking gold with their third single.
Taking inspiration from American R’n’B singer Thelma Houston’s disco version of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes’ classic Don’t Leave Me This Way, Somerville and Coles took their cover closer to unapologetically strident hi-NRG disco. Also featuring the husky tones of Sarah Jane Morris, a foil to Jimmy’s counter tenor, the band’s version hit number one in the late-summer of 1986, staying on top of the charts for an impressive four weeks on the way to becoming the best-selling UK pop single of that year.
Culled from their self-titled debut album, the single was followed by another Top 10 hit, So Cold the Night. The following year, The Communards released their second album, simply entitled Red. With Stephen Hague on co-production, the group scored a hit with another hi-NRG makeover of a soul classic.
Taking their cue from Gloria Gaynor’s disco version of Never Can Say Goodbye, The Communards achieved another Top Five hit, the single eventually peaking at number four – a position the album emulated.
The success of Never Can Say Goodbye helped win Red – and its overtly gay and political songs – a much wider audience than it otherwise could have hoped for. As well as being a very The Communards take on classic gay disco, it showed why they were effective musical campaigners: being savvy about selling records their message would travel much further than other bands which shared their political edge.
Red was also notable for the single For a Friend, a tender ballad penned in memory of the band’s friend and fellow activist Mark Ashton who died of AIDS in early 1987. It is a song which encapsulates the ethos of The Communards: a sense of righteous defiance against what seemed like impossible odds, and a commitment to continue the battles led by the now fallen.
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