"Target Practice" is a song by British musician

Belouis Some Belouis Some (born Neville Keighley; 12 December 1959) is a British singer, songwriter and musician. He had UK and Worldwide hits in the 1980s with " Some People", "Imagination" and " Round, Round" from the John Hughes film ''Pretty in Pink''. ...

, which was released in 1984 as his first major label single after his 1981 debut "Lose It to You". The song was written by Some, and produced by Peter Schwier and Ian Little. "Target Practice" was re-recorded in New York in early 1985, with Steve Thompson and

Michael Barbiero Michael Francis Barbiero (born June 25, 1949)Infidel Biography
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as the producers. This new version was included on Some's 1985 debut album '' Some People''. It was also released as a single in 1986 and reached No. 16 on

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Springbok Chart in 1986, which was his third consecutive top 20 hit there. A music video for the 1986 release was directed by Brian Travers and produced by Annie Croft for PMI.

Background

In a 1984 interview with ''

Sunday Sun The ''Sunday Sun'' is a regional Sunday newspaper on sale in North East England, Cumbria and the Scottish Borders, published in Newcastle Upon Tyne by Reach plc. First published on 31 August 1919 as ''The Sunday Sun'', the name was changed to ...

'', Some stated, "Unfortunately, people may get the wrong idea about me from the single. It does sound like Bowie, but it is the only track on my forthcoming LP which does. I've been trying my hardest not to sound like Bowie, even though I'm a great fan of both him and Roxy Music."

Critical reception

On its release, Paul Benbow of ''

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'' said of the 1984 version, "The voice sounds not unlike

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

at first but there the similarity ends. Straight pop song with a catchy hook line but no classic." Linda Duff of ''

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'' noted the "strange, rather wordy lyric" and "clever take-off of Mr Bowie's singing style", but felt the song was otherwise "completely unremarkable". In a review of ''Some People'', ''

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'' described the re-recorded track as "electro power pop a la

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" and one that "sounds like a hit." ''

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'' considered the song to be one of the album's best tracks and noted it being "rockier" than the title track.

Track listing

1984 release

7–inch single #"Target Practice" – 4:04 #"Some People" – 4:15 12–inch single #"Target Practice" (Extended) – 7:22 #"Some People" – 4:15 #"Target Practice" (Revisited) – 7:40

Charts

References

1984 songs 1984 singles 1985 singles Belouis Some songs EMI Records singles Parlophone singles Songs written by Belouis Some {{1980s-pop-song-stub