The Associates (or Associates, on all but their debut album) were an '80s post-punk/new pop duo from Dundee, Scotland who mixed “post punk modernism with flashbacks to the stylised romance of bygone forms”.

Billy MacKenzie sang torch-songs in the tradition of Scott Walker or Jacques Brel, over multi-instrumentalist Alan Rankine’s clipped guitars and synthisized soundscapes.

Their best known hits are Take Me to the Girl, 18 Carat Love Affair, Club Country, Waiting for the Loveboat, Breakfast and the operatic Party Fears Two.

Tragically Billy Mackenzie committed suicide in 1997 aged 39, after suffering from depression.

Discography

The Affectionate Punch (Fiction, 1980)
Fourth Drawer Down (Fiction, 1981)
Sulk (WEA, 1982)
Perhaps (WEA, 1985)
The Glamour Chase (WEA, 1988) - but unreleased until 2003
Wild And Lonely (Circa, 1990)
Popera: The Singles Collection (WEA East West, 1990)
The Radio One Sessions (Nighttracks, 1994)
Double Hipness (V2, 2000)
The Radio One Sessions Volume One 1981-1983 (Strange Fruit, 2003)
The Radio One Sessions Volume Two 1984-1985 (Strange Fruit, 2003)
Singles (Warners, 2004)
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