Penthouse And Pavement
by Heaven 17

Penthouse And Pavement by Heaven 17
Year: 1981
Release date: 1981-09-18
Overall rank: 4,668th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 116 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1981 (80th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (669th)
Award Best albums of all time (4,668th)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY
Product Details
Availability

eBay
eBay
Heaven 17 ‎– Penthouse And Pavement / 1981 ITALY Virgin ‎– VIL 12208 VG+/VG+
Condition: Used


eBay
eBay
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement - 1981 Import Vinyl LP Record Album
Condition: Used


eBay
eBay
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement CD Audio
Condition: Good


  My favourite store:  

Heaven 17 bestography

Penthouse And Pavement is ranked as the best album by Heaven 17.

Heaven 17 album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (4,668th)
Penthouse And Pavement
Lower ranked (10,583rd) »
The Luxury Gap

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Listen to Penthouse And Pavement on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Penthouse And Pavement rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 4,668th | 1980s rank: 669th | 1981 rank: 80th

Penthouse And Pavement collection

Penthouse And Pavement ratings

Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 116 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 116 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !
06/05/2026 21:19 LittleM1971  Ratings distribution  5,96281/100
 
100/100
 !
05/25/2026 01:08 twc0006  Ratings distribution  2100/100
 
65/100
 !
04/06/2026 05:33 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  12,83870/100
 
75/100
 !
01/25/2026 14:32 Pluto11  Ratings distribution  12,17072/100
 
80/100
 !
12/08/2025 19:38 Jakor  Ratings distribution  5,43470/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album has a Bayesian average rating of 71.6/100, a mean average of 70.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 71.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.3.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

Penthouse And Pavement favourites

Showing all 6 members who have added this album as a favourite

Penthouse And Pavement comments

Showing all 7 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
25/100
From 12/02/2021 13:58 | #276979
fine line between clever and fresh/disjointed and sparse. new wave
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 03/28/2021 23:58 | #267899 | TOP COMMENT
Pretty darn good, some of the beats sound dated, but not many, and the funky bass sounds and afro rythyms are great. Some filler, not every idea works. Liked it much more in 2021 than I did in the early 80's which kinda shows that it was ahead of its time. The first 3 songs were the strongest for me though I also really liked Lets Make a Bomb.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 03/22/2020 08:10 | #248998 | TOP COMMENT
An interesting early eighties electro pop concept album which was more ahead of its time than many may think. 'Play to Win' and 'Soul Warfare' are personal favourites. Personally, I would put 'The Luxury Gap' in first place and 'How Men Are' in second place, mainly because I find the tracks on those two albums more melodic.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 07/10/2016 17:45 | #171023 | TOP COMMENT
Heaven 17's greatest moment. This politically heavy album is one of the classic electro pop records of the early eighties. Fascist groove thing, is an excellent opener on an album full of strong cuts. Underrated.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
15/100
From 03/27/2014 19:45 | #107801
concept album which tries to produce a businesslike and serious sound. The goal was achieved and out comes exactly what it is: a buisnesslike and serious redord.
btw: cool cover art.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 10/21/2012 15:55 | #52978 | TOP COMMENT
One of the best New Romantic albums and an 80's classic. An_outlaw, I understand where you're coming from but they're being ironic.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 06/30/2011 19:06 | #23739 | TOP COMMENT
Far from the most rebellious album cover ever.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Penthouse And Pavement

Anonymous
Let us know what you think of this album by adding a comment or assigning a rating below.
The top comments are featured on our aggregated charts!
Log in or create a FREE account to assign a rating or leave a comment for this album.