Description
Side 1
- “Why?”
- “It Ain’t Necessarily So”
- “Screaming”
- “No More War”
- “Love and Money”
Side 2
- “Smalltown Boy”
- “Heatwave”
- “Junk”
- “Need-a-Man Blues”
- “I Feel Love”/”Johnny Remember Me”
The Age of Consent is a synthpop album by Bronski Beat (Jimmy Somerville, Larry Steinbachek and Steve Bronski), released at the end of 1984 (see 1984 in music) on London Records.
The album was produced by Mike Thorne; the recording sessions took place in London and New York City. The first single, “Smalltown Boy”, was recorded at The Garden studio (owned by former Ultravox singer John Foxx) and mixed at Maison Rouge studio, both of them based in London. It was released in June 1984, peaked at number 3 in the UK singles pop charts and is a poetically poignant, soul searching composition addressing homophobia, loneliness and family misunderstanding. It is accompanied by a video of Jimmy Somerville with fellow band member friends Larry Steinbachek and Steve Bronski who, while cruising at a public swimming pool and changing room, are attacked and beaten up by a gang of homophobes. Somerville is returned to his family by the police; he leaves home alone and has a reunion with friends Steinbachek and Bronski, travelling to a new life on a train.
