DAVID BERTHY POSTS

The Tom Robinson Band had a huge hit with his EMI single “2-4-6-8 Motorway” in 1978, a jumpy, irresistible radio confection that conquered the charts despite the fact that the openly gay, politically outspoken Robinson made for an unlikely pop star. When successive sales dwindled, Robinson was dropped by EMI. In 1982, he signed with IRS as a solo act and released the album North By Northwest. My favorite song from the record is the first song on the B-side, “Those Days.” The song pairs apocalyptic imagery and a palpable sense of foreboding with an eminently danceable disco-sleaze groove. The result, as with Gang of Four’s “I Love a Man in Uniform” and Roxy Music’s “Love is the Drug,” is smart, bizarro disco of the best sort.

THOSE DAYS