New Wax Wednesday

Some like it hot and some sweat when the heat it on, as the saying goes — at least that’s how the mid-’80s supergroup dubbed The Power Station put it in their February 1985 hit single of a mostly similar name. The album that housed that incendiary lead single, March 1985’s eponymously dubbed The Power Station, is seeing a well-deserved, expanded 40th anniversary 2LP set that’s duly been subtitled DLX via Parlophone on January 23, 2026.

The 2LP Power Station set comes on recycled, standard-weight black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. The first LP contains the brand-new remastered version of the original album, while the second LP boasts one side of single remixes and another side with the band’s two-song performance at RFK Stadium in Philadelphia from the stateside portion of Live Aid on July 13, 1985, along with a bonus studio track. In 1985, the original album was mastered by the always estimable Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, while the 2025 remaster was undertaken by John Webber at Air Studios, who also cut the vinyl, seeing how the initials JWM for John Webber Mastering are etched in each side’s respective runout groove. (Some digital steps were likely involved here, but they don’t impede or compromise the sound quality of the music, imo.) The vinyl was likely pressed at Optimal. (If we hear anything different about the latter, we’ll update that info here accordingly.)

The SRP for the 2LP set is $36.99, and it can be ordered from Music Direct here, and/or via the MD link graphic ahead of the tracklisting selection below. For the completists amongst us, an even-more expanded 4CD set that includes new liner notes, raw instrumentals from the original studio sessions, and two discs’ worth of an unreleased live set from The Spectrum in Philadelphia on August 21, 1985, that was remixed by Richard Whittaker is available directly from Rhino.com here, for a quite reasonable SRP of $49.98.

Getting the new expanded 2LP set for The Power Station in hand (and in-ear) ahead of the release date next week has only increased my appreciation for this short-lived, lightning-in-a-bottle collaboration between British vocalist Robert Palmer, Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor, Duran Duran bassist John Taylor, and Chic drummer Tony Thompson. I was an unabashed fan of Chic — having their No. 1 1978 single “Le Freak” on an Atlantic 45 was a must in those days — though I hadn’t quite yet registered just how diverse a talent Thompson truly was until I owned The Power Station album. I was also pleased to see Chic’s bass maestro Bernard Edwards listed as producer in the credits. I’ve never apologized for my appreciation of Duran Duran since they time and again proved they had songwriting and performance chops, and I still have my original 1982 “Hungry Like the Wolf” 45 (on the yellow and green Harvest label). I also had Palmer’s 1979 single “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)” on an Island 45, and soon enough wore out the grooves of his ensuing November 1985 solo LP on Island, Riptide, which also featured the balance of his Power Station bandmates and producer.

I was instantly sold on The Power Station concept the moment I first heard “Some Like It Hot” on the radio — and, yes, I also dug the stylish video “Hot” and the followup clip for their cover of T. Rex’s “Get It On (Bang a Gong)” through their endless airings on MTV that spring and summer as well.

My own listening experiences with The Power Station actually began on tape with the 1985 Capitol XDR/Dolby HR Pro cassette (4XJ 12380). I quite enjoyed sliding that white-shelled tape into my original Walkman and having the abject, unadulterated power of Tony Thompson’s killer drumming explode literally all around me in my head before I eventually got my hands on the 1985 Capitol LP (SJ-12380). Some folks (and writers) were referring to the album under the name of 33 1/3 because that standard LP playback speed appeared on the album cover underneath the vertically presented band name — but I never called it that myself, probably because I came to it by way of tape first. On the cover of the cassette version as seen above, in place of that 33 1/3, the framed XDR logo appeared next to the album title/band name, and certainly nobody was calling it that. The later-in-1985 CD (Capitol CDP 7 46127 2) saw fit to place the CD sobriquet in the same place on its cover, and thus, the new-to-2026 2LP edition follows similar suit by going with DLX in its stead — an abbreviation for, of course, Deluxe.

As was customary of the day, some Power Station songs saw differing singles mixes and remixes, so I also made sure to pick up the 12inchers for “Some Like It Hot” and “Get It On (Bang a Gong),” both of which housed tracks that subsequently appeared on 2005’s expanded 1CD/1DVD edition of The Power Station from Capitol/EMI (72438-66315-0-3). (Those 12in covers will appear later throughout this post.)

Naturally, I would have loved to have all the additional material that’s in the 4CD clamshell set on vinyl as well, but I’ll take what I can get on wax, at least for now. I’m happy to report that both of the new Power Station DLX LPs were flat, deep black, and well-centered — and nary a side experienced any surface noise, crackle, or pop, with the lone exception of the runout groove of LP2, Side C.

Album opener “Some Like It Hot” (LP1, Side A, Track 1) is as incendiary as ever — if not more so. The, well, full power of Thompson’s punishing, 30-second drum-dominated intro section threatens to blow right through your speakers, and you can also better discern the clever, millisecond hard-stop cuts between each couplet. His pummeling accents during the choruses are panned wide, while Andy Taylor’s frenzied, overdriven, down-the-middle, late-song guitar solo gives nod to a true guitar hero of the day, Eddie Van Halen. And I still smile at Palmer’s off-the-cuff chuckle at 4:18, which brings to mind what The Riddler’s laugh would sound like as voiced by Nick Offerman, in homage to Frank Gorshin.

“Communication” ends Side 1 with a staccato flourish — replete with some sweet brass and slight, Prince-like harmonies on the choruses — and then Side 2 opens with (of course) a mighty big bang with “Get It On (Bang a Gong),” a great example of a wide-panned soundstage where Palmer’s chorus vocals get spread out as far as they can go. John Taylor gets to take a nice, funky bass solo right down the middle right before a hand-off to some more Thompson skins-pounding magic ahead of Andy Taylor’s scorching solo. The opening of “Get It On” also shows how the varying soundfield placements of quick, sampled snippets of each bandmember enhance and inform what follows.

“Go to Zero” (LP1, Side B, Track 2) is the best blend of brass and keys, along with Palmer’s stacked vocals, while a cover of The Isley Brothers’ 1976 R&B hit “Harvest for the World” (LP1, Side B, Track 3) finds Palmer and Andy Taylor sharing lead vocals — and it’s something that would have made for quite the timely message at Live Aid, if they had more time allotted to their set (not that anybody else performing on either side of the Pond got extra time that day, of course).

And yes, there are ’80s-styled keyboard flourishes through the album, but they’re more “time and place” elements of the mix that are more endearing than they are dated.

Side C on the second LP holds five cool single edits, megamixes, and night versions — gotta love those parenthetical remix identifiers, no? — all mixed by Jason Corsaro at the Power Station, and I’m now quite partial to having them all together on one side. The two tracks that open Side D are what constituted the band’s brief Live Aid set with Michael Des Barres on lead vocals — “Murderess” and “Get It On (Bang a Gong)” — replete with the expected audience shrieks and song-title singalong segment. Both of those gritty takes are palpable foreshadows of how this incarnation of the band would fare together on the next and final track, “Somewhere Somehow Someone (We Fight for Love),” their contribution to the end credits of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1985 flick, Commando (a film I still haven’t seen, and probably never will), their only known/official studio recording with MDB on the mike.

My ratings for the new Power Station DLX 2LP edition puts the Music at a 9, and the Sound at an 8.5 (the half-point off is for the Live Aid tracks, which are closer to an 8, given the sourcing). If you have any preconceived notions of what you think The Power Station is all about, or need a reminder of how good they really were, then The Power Station DLX 2LP set is absolutely essential listening. Go forth, put on your diamond star halo, and order yours now to get it on your turntable upon release day.

More stats now, via official press info along with the usual MM additives. In that official press statement, Power Station bassist John Taylor said, “It’s been so exciting to dive back into the Power Station project after all these years. We were an unusual crew, but we made a fantastic noise. Tony Thompson, the disco ‘clock’ behind so many massive hits, turned out to be one of the greatest rock drummers of all time. Andy Taylor, my Duran Duran bandmate, was absolutely on fire. Robert Palmer (why isn’t this man in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?) was a brilliant songwriter, sonic stylist, and vocal powerhouse. And yours truly — just trying to keep up.

“It was a truly unique experience,” Taylor continued, “and I’m proud of the work we created. I’m also super happy with this re-issue edition, which has been beautifully remastered with bonus tracks added, and a perfect refresh of the iconic artwork.” Agreed re the updated/upgraded artwork, from my POV. The blacks are much fuller and the reds are much shinier than what you got with both colors on the original 1985 Capitol LP.

How did this band come to be, you ask? The Power Station were initially formed in 1984 as a one-off project by Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor and John Taylor with the intention of recording a cover of T. Rex’s “Get It On” with model and singer Bebe Buell. Enjoying the process of exploring a more rock sound while vibing with the funkier drumming of Chic’s Tony Thompson, the Taylors came up with the concept of the group having a revolving singer.

Robert Palmer was invited to perform on “Communication,” after which he asked if he could add his vocals to “Get It On.” Palmer’s involvement soon enough scotched the Taylor lads’ initial idea of rotating lead singers. The new group would go on to write and record their eight-track self-titled debut album, naming themselves after the studio in which they were working in New York. The Power Station LP was produced by Chic’s Bernard Edwards, with informal assistance from his bandmate, super-producer Nile Rodgers.

Considering The Power Station’s foundations and initial intentions, their success came quickly and somewhat unexpectedly. The album was released in March 1985, charting at No. 6 in the U.S., and No. 12 in the UK. The first two singles, “Some Like It Hot” and “Get It On,” reached No. 6 and No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 14 and No. 22 on the UK Singles Chart, respectively.

Palmer would only perform live with The Power Station once — during their fierce appearance on Saturday Night Live on February 16, 1985 (which I did indeed see live, as it happened) — and he would leave the band shortly after the album came out to focus on finishing the aforementioned Riptide. The group instead toured with lead vocalist Michael Des Barres, who also performed with them at Live Aid, also as noted earlier above.

THE POWER STATION
THE POWER STATION DLX
2LP (Parlophone)

LP1, Side A
1. Some Like It Hot
2. Murderess
3. Lonely Tonight
4. Communication

LP1, Side B
1. Get It On (Bang A Gong)
2. Go To Zero
3. Harvest For The World
4. Still In Your Heart

LP2, Side C
1. Communication (Night Version)
2. Get It On Bang A Gong (7" Single Edit)
3. Some Like It Hot And The Heat Is On (Megamix)
4. Communication (Night Version Edit)
5. Some Like It Hot (7" Single + Video Version)

LP2, Side D
1. Murderess (Alive At Live Aid)
2. Get It On Bang A Gong (Alive At Live Aid)
3. Somewhere Somehow Someone (We Fight For Love)