Friday Musical Flashback :: Imagination's Just An Illusion

I decided that in addition to what I hope are thought-provoking written posts, I'd also appeal to the memories of 70's and 80's babies who remember when the airwaves were rife with good music. So, weekly, I'll search the depths of my musical collection for songs that were influential in the development of our collective musical tastes. Of course, the aforementioned tastes are as different as each of the individuals that check out this site on a daily basis, but I think that I'll catch most of you with some of the classic songs that will grace this space in the coming weeks.

In this, the inaugural Friday Flashback, we're featuring Just An Illusion by the British group Imagination. Most folks assumed that Imagination were an American group, in part because the were black. But no, these were some soulful British folks! Didn't expect that, did you? This trio from the U.K. had a strongly synth-driven sound, nothing unique during that time, as most Brit-pop groups were heavily into the electronic sound.

But real talk: this was a CLASSIC song! Truth told, it's still a hot cut, 25 (!!) years later. While it was a minor commercial hit, peaking at #27 on the Billboard Pop charts in '82, who can deny that its stabby synth riffs are stuck in the musical memories of late 20- and 30-somethings all over.

This is, in my opinion, one of the best early '80s synth-pop songs to come out of Great Britain. Aside from this song, Imagination enjoyed far more success in European musical circles, but they did score one huge, lasting hit here in the States. The group split up in the early '90's as changing tastes and poor commercial success changed the artistic landscape.

Play the track (to download, Mac users, Control-click, and choose 'Save Link As...' Windows users right-click the link and choose 'Save Target As...').

As an added bonus, enjoy the music video for the song. While it was certainly cheesy, it's bound to bring back memories of a better, less complicated time! With no further adieu, Just An Illusion