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.