| Waves | |
| Cover: | Blancmange Waves 1983 Single Cover.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Blancmange |
| Album: | Happy Families |
| B-Side: | Game Above My Head |
| Released: | [1] |
| Genre: | Synth-pop |
| Length: | 4:10 |
| Label: | London |
| Producer: | Mike Howlett |
| Prev Title: | Living on the Ceiling |
| Prev Year: | 1982 |
| Next Title: | Blind Vision |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
"Waves" is a song by English synth-pop duo Blancmange, released on 21 January 1983 as the fourth and final single from their debut studio album Happy Families (1982). Written by Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe, and produced by Mike Howlett,[2] "Waves" reached No. 19 in the UK and remained in the charts for nine weeks.[3]
In a 2016 interview with M Magazine, Arthur recalled of writing the song: "I had a summer job where I had to sit in this caravan handing out concrete slabs to builders. Most of the day I did nothing. It was a glorious summer and I just sat and wrote "I've Seen the Word", "I Can't Explain", "Waves". They were so minimal but Stephen laid these lovely melodies over the top."[4]
Upon its release, Smash Hits wrote, "After the brilliant 'Living on the Ceiling', this is rotten. Neil Arthur puts on his Martin Fry tuxedo, dives head-first into the sea of strings... and drowns."[5] In a retrospective review of Happy Families (1982), John Bergstrom of PopMatters considered the song to be reminiscent of ABC and described it as "grandiose, orchestrated pop".[6] Graeme Marsh of musicOMH felt the song was "more serious sounding" and a "slower gem".[7]
7" single
12" single
12" single (Australasian release)
Blancmange
Additional personnel
Other
| Chart (1983) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart[8] | 99 | |
| Dutch Singles Chart[9] | 50 | |
| German Singles Chart[10] | 29 | |
| Irish Singles Chart[11] | 24 | |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[12] | 33 | |
| South African Singles Chart[13] | 24 | |
| UK Singles Chart | 19 |