Sex Talk Explained

Sex Talk
Cover:T'Pau Sex Talk 1988 single cover.jpg
Type:single
Artist:T'Pau
Album:Bridge of Spies
B-Side:Monkey House
Released:8 June 1987[1]
21 March 1988 (live single)[2]
Length:4:43
Label:Siren Records
Producer:Roy Thomas Baker
Prev Title:Valentine
Prev Year:1988
Next Title:I Will Be with You
Next Year:1988

"Sex Talk" is a song by British band T'Pau, written by Carol Decker and Ron Rogers, and produced by Roy Thomas Baker. It was originally released as a single in 1987 under the title "Intimate Strangers", but failed to chart.[3] It was re-titled "Sex Talk" and included on the band's debut studio album Bridge of Spies (1987).[4] In 1988, a live version of the song, recorded at the SEC Centre on 29 October 1987, was released as a single and reached No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart. This live version of "Sex Talk" was only released in the UK and Ireland. Elsewhere, a 7" remix of the track, "Bridge of Spies", was released instead.

Speaking to eonmusic in 2018, Decker recalled of the song: "I wrote that on my first trip to New York. There were all [these] ads; "Dial Me!" on television, and I just thought; "Wow, that's weird, phone people up and talk dirty"... so I did it, of course!"[5]

Reception

Upon release of the 1988 single, Music & Media wrote: "Another dramatic, pumping, rock track, that has all the chances to hit the charts again."[6] Ben Thompson from NME stated: "I just want to have a laugh, you know how it is says Carol Decker, the Sarah Ferguson of raunch, and you know she means it."[7] The magazine's Neil Taylor felt Decker "really has got a quite an alluring voice" and that the song "whips up a frenzy of guitars which Carol wades through blasting her six-shooter vocal bullet-fast and bullet-precise."[8] Betty Page of Record Mirror wrote: "T'Pau show their true colours and get down to a full-blooded slice of raunch 'n' roll recorded live, with plenty of guitar drama and Carol Decker giving it her all. It's brave of them to release a live 45, but it does capture the T'Pau live vibe well."[9] In a review of T'Pau (Bridge of Spies), Pete Bishop of The Pittsburgh Press commented: "There's "Sex Talk", which has fake horns and real guitar and would do credit to the Eurythmics, although Miss Decker, a less adenoidal Cyndi Lauper with little body to her strident voice, is no Annie Lennox."[10]

Track listing

Intimate Strangers

7" single
  1. "Intimate Strangers" - 4:12
  2. "No Sense of Pride" - 3:52
12" single
  1. "Intimate Strangers" - 4:12
  2. "No Sense of Pride" - 3:52
  3. "You Give Up" (Live) - 3:58

Sex Talk (Live)

7" single (1988 release)
  1. "Sex Talk" (Live) - 3:54
  2. "Monkey House" (Live) - 4:13
12" single (1988 release)
  1. "Sex Talk" (Live) - 4:34
  2. "Monkey House" (Live) - 4:13
  3. "You Give Up" (Live) - 3:59
CD single (1988 release)
  1. "Sex Talk" (Live) - 4:43
  2. "Heart & Soul" - 5:19
  3. "Monkey House" (Live) - 4:28
  4. "You Give Up" (Live) - 4:10

Personnel

T'Pau

Production

Other

Charts

Chart (1988)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[11] 76

Notes and References

  1. New Singles . . 6 June 1987 . 43.
  2. Smith . Robin . News: Talk Dirty to Me . . 19 March 1988 . 4 . 0144-5804.
  3. Web site: TPau / The Story Behind The Tracks . superdeluxeedition . 2019-11-17.
  4. 2 April 1988. Rock over London. Music & Media.
  5. Web site: Carol Decker T'Pau eonmusic Interview August 2018 . Eonmusic.co.uk . 2019-11-17.
  6. 2 April 1988. Previews: Singles. Music & Media.
  7. Ben. Thompson. Singles. NME. 16 April 1988. 21. 29 October 2023.
  8. Neil. Taylor. Singles. NME. 2 April 1988. 12. 29 October 2023. Neil Taylor (journalist).
  9. Page. Betty. 2 April 1988. 45. registration. Record Mirror.
  10. News: Bishop. Pete. 26 July 1987. 'In the Dark' a lively, upbeat offering from the Grateful Dead. The Pittsburgh Press.
  11. Eurochart Hot 100 Singles . . 5 . 17 . 23 April 1988 . 24 . 29800226.