Review:

on 2011-07-27 CharlesMartel Said:

This is another in my small collection of "Singles Whose B-Side Is Better than the A-Side". The A-side itself is often regarded as a pop classic but if you ask me is a bit of a real cheesy number about a pop princess who has outgrown her mentor and whose career has outgrown his. "Don't You Want Me" was given a real tongue in cheek makeover by a petrol company ad a few months back which shows both how iconic it has become and how shallow it actually is. All that being said, it typifies, in many ways, what eighties synth pop was all about.

The B-side however is an entirely different beast. "Seconds" boasts a repetitive sixties style keyboard over a steady rhythm which never falters and vocals which are about as deadpan as they can be. The result provides an intense, yet haunting piece about the Kennedy assassination and the effect it had on many people, not the least of whom is, controversially, Lee Harvey Oswald. It is almost political in its conception and is about as far from pop as the Human League ever got. It is for that song that this single gets the rating it does. In my view, this is the finest B-Side that has ever been released.
Rating: 8/10