Living in squats in an unprepossessing area of London, the Thompson Twins had
unpromising beginnings. Unemployed and broke, Tom Bailey got his hands on some
instruments and, helped by a variety of other passing musicians, formed the
Thompson Twins, taking the name from the characters of two hapless detectives in
the comic strip, Herge's Adventures of Tin Tin. Merging post-punk energy with
African rhythms, the group had a fluid personnel, releasing their first album A
Product Of... in 1981. Their second album Set, released a year later, was
produced by Steve Lillywhite and include...