Through The Past Darkly – Ellen Foley – Night Out & Spirit Of St. Louis
Lemon Records
2CD/DL
In an irregular feature, we cast our minds back to the two albums former Bat Out Of Hell vocalist Ellen Foley cut in 1979 and 1981 respectively, with the latter finding her backed by The Clash. Ian Canty writes…
The Ellen Foley story really got started with one massive success. She was the featured vocalist on Paradise By The Dashboard Light and backed up Meatloaf elsewhere on the mega-selling Bat Out Of Hell album in 1977. In June 1979, she stepped out into the spotlight herself with the Night Out album.
Bearing in mind The Clash connection on Spirit Of St. Louis, it is easy to see the Night Out as a makeweight of the pair included on this set. But the fact that Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson were on hand to produce and play on the LP provides a sense of symmetry, with them both being vital in the pre-Punk musical adventures of one Mick Jones.
Night Out begins with the grandstanding opening track We Belong To The Night, a fine attempt to meld the bombastic sound of her recent past with something that tapped into stylish, big production 1960s Pop. In fact it could perhaps have been a better choice as a single than What’s A Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You), even though that number is a creditable effort and did reasonably well as a 45.
Phil Rambow’s Night Out is a tense beauty that finds Ellen on seductive form and his Young Lust is later allied to a sturdy Rock beat. The Graham Parker songbook is dipped into for Thunder And Rain, which comes complete with some sawing guitar heroics. Hideaway races on a pounding rhythm, the most “New Wave” item here and co-producer Ian Hunter’s emotional ballad Don’t Let Go finishes up proceedings.
I have to concede that most people interested in this set would be so because of The Clash connection on Spirit Of St Louis though. In some ways this album could be seen as the missing piece in the jigsaw between Sandinista! and Combat Rock. Mick Jones had become romantically involved with Ellen in 1979 and an artistic collaboration also ensued when she sang on and co-wrote The Clash single Hitsville UK. A year later, along with Joe Strummer’s pal Tymon Dogg and various Blockheads, The Clash and Foley returned to the studio together for the Spirit Of St. Louis LP.
Six Strummer/Jones composition feature, beginning with The Shuttered Palace, an excellent starter with maybe a little in common with Joe Strummer’s Walker soundtrack, The 101’ers’ Sweet Revenge and perhaps a tad of Spanish Bombs. Torchlight reveals itself as perhaps the most Clash-like thing on the whole record when the guitars slam in and Tymon Dogg’s Beautiful Waste Of Time, with some parping sax from the great Davey Payne, is given a lovely treatment.
One of the more obscure Strummer/Jones songs would have to be The Death Of The Psychoanalyst Of Salvador Dali. But Ellen is in her element here, teasing out the oddball imagery with a natural aptitude for dramatic tension and next M.P.H. comes flying out of the blocks with a ball of good-time energy.
My Legionnaire actual dates back to pre-war France when it was written as Mon Légionnaire by Raymond Asso and Edith Piaf songwriter Marguerite Monnot. This takes the sound towards musical theatre again admirably on a pared-down sonic landscape of just voice and Mickey Gallagher’s keys. Penultimate Joe and Mick tune Theatre Of Cruelty is led by up front percussion and Ellen’s own Phases Of Travel juggles great vim with touching vulnerability.
Tymon Dogg’s archive provides Game Of Man and Indestructable, which both show the depth and variety of his work. Foley gives a pitch perfect reading of the former and the choral build on the later is one to savour. In The Killing Fields, written by Joe and Mick, ends Spirit Of St. Louis in short but strident marching mode.
I think that Spirit Of St. Louis proves itself as of much more interest than just being a mere footnote in the career of The Clash. This is Ellen’s album above all and she shines on it and material and the cast of musicians fulfil their roles with aplomb too. Along with the decent showing on Night Out, this set represents a boon for not just long-term Clash addict, but also anyone who enjoys a good composition performed in stirring surroundings by a fine, clear voice.
You can still pick up Ellen Foley – Night Out & Spirit Of St. Louis here
New boxset compiling New Wave singer Lene Lovich’s three albums for the Stiff Records imprint, plus a plethora of bonus items. Ian Canty writes…
When I first got into Punk/New Wave, virtually all of my favourite vocalists were female. The early works of Siouxsie Sioux, Fay Fife and Debbie Harry made an immediate and highly favourable impression. Poly Styrene’s genius hit on first impact and has stayed important with me all through the years, with Pauline Murray and Ari Up quickly becoming much loved by yours truly. A little bit later on, Rhoda Dakar and Pauline Black made strong moves in the Two Tone scene of 1979/80. There seemed to be so much imagination in what they did and even the quirky stylings of a young Kate Bush didn’t seem totally out of place.
As a result, Lene Lovich’s big breakthrough in 1979 appeared tailor-made for my tastes and so it proved. Boasting a unique visual image and singing style, her Lucky Number single drew a youthful me in like a magnet. Even better in my view was the follow-up 45 Say When, which even now takes me back to the Summer of 1979 every time I hear it.
Lene, otherwise known as Lili-Marlene Premilovich, spent her childhood in Detroit before her family moved to Hull in the UK during her teens. She met Les Chappell and a musical and personal partnership blossomed and in the late 60s they came south to attend art school in London. In the mid-1970s the pair joined The Diversions, a group on the Pub Rock circuit that dabbled in Funk and Reggae. To the latter end they recorded a version of Hey Fattie Bum Bum, but it wasn’t a hit and The Diversions’ album remained in their record label Polydor’s vaults.
The first single credited to Lene Lovich did emerge in 1976 on the imprint though, the old Christmas standard I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus getting an odd Country/Reggae do over with LL providing a child-like vocal. In between then and aligning with Stiff Records, she wrote the lyrics for Supernature, a hit for Disco maverick Cerrone and took part in Charlie Gilett’s Oval Exiles set up.
Her involvement with Gillett and Gordon Nelki led to recording a version of I Think We’re Alone Now, a 1960s hit for Tommy James & The Shondells. Meanwhile, Stiff Records were on the hunt for new talent after a couple of their star names Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello decamped with Jake Riviera to Radar. Lene’s cover made a favourable impression on label boss Dave Robinson and he saw it as a possible hit single. Les and Lene quickly worked on a B side to accompany it, a song called Lucky Number that proved so strong it was necessary to release it as a 45 under its own steam. The rest, as the pundits say, is history.
On the back of it Lene was offered a deal to record a LP and also sent on the Be Stiff package tour backed by The Sinceros. The remainder of the bill comprised of the brilliant Jona Lewie, Rachel Sweet from the US, Southend R&B merchant Mickey Jupp and legendary label stalwart Wreckless Eric. That’s a remarkable array of idiosyncratic songwriting talent in anyone’s book and gave Lene and Les a firm grounding in pacing and drama for the live stage.
The first two discs of Toybox are headed up by versions of the debut album Stateless, the 1978 original and a 1979 remix which was issued in the US and Britain to capitalise on the success of Lucky Number. The remixed version was the one I first heard and remains my favourite. Some new vocals and a rejigged running order, with Home being the perfect introduction and Tonight bringing things to a show-stopping close, seem to help it make perfect sense to me. Stateless was a great title for the LP, given Lene’s Serbian heritage, US upbringing and current domicile in London and here she confidently crossed East European theatrics with New Wave drive. A sure way with melody and witty and perceptive lyrics make for what is a fine collection.
I prefer the intoxicating, exuberant single cut of Say When included on the 1979 Stateless to the simpler one from the 1978 set too. Nick Plytas’ keyboard work on the newer cut simply is a wonder. The number was written by Jimmie O’Neill, leader of enigmatic Virgin signees Fingerprintz. In addition to the enhanced singing, Don Snow, who also played in The Vibrators and Squeeze, added some piano on Too Tender (To Touch). It all works so well and regardless of which edition, the songs on Stateless make for a mighty opening statement from a charismatic, talented and stylish presence.
An early version of Lucky Number leads off the 10 bonus efforts on the first disc and this is joined by instrumental and Slavic Dance variations on the theme. A Japanese take of I Think We’re Alone Now follows and the Can’t Start Dancin’ LP, which was part of a promotion by Sounds music paper, yields the rock solid Monkey Talk. Then two covers of Devo’s Be Stiff feature, a studio creation that shows the song fitting Lene right down to the ground and the whole company of the tour step up for a live offering.
Two spoken word excerpts feature too where Lene expands on the story behind Lucky Number and Say When flipsides One Lonely Heart and Big Bird draw on her Serbian roots and mood-music electronics respectively. Trixi, the Bird Song 45’s flip, is in slightly unnerving musical theatre mode and begins a run of material taken from the singles extracted from Lene’s second LP Flex. Semi-instrumental The Fly and The Fall came from Angels, which missed the charts completely. Some these days cast Lovich as a one hit wonder which is untrue, but there is no denying this was a setback as Say When and Bird Song had both sold well in the UK.
Having a smart giveaway in the form of a second 7 inch boasting 4 tracks of live material taped in London and energetically performed wasn’t enough to push What Will I Do Without You into the UK Top 40, which was unfair as it is endowed with a memorable hook that was just made for success. The second disc ends with brilliant if rough live takes of Lucky Number and Home from a 1980 gig in Boston, which were released on a promo 10 inch in the USA.
Despite the single Bird Song that trailed Flex stopping at 39 in Britain, the LP itself outperformed Stateless by lodging itself in the UK Top 20. It was an undeserved fate for Bird Song, an amazing and wonderfully atmospheric record that was featured in a few TV programmes to enhance a mood of eerie, dramatic tension. The aforementioned What Will I Do Without You comes next and the catchy momentum of Angels completes the run of UK 45s taken from the album. The Night, a Four Seasons number, was an unlikely choice for Lovich. But it was issued as a single in the US with the idea a familiar song might “break” her there, but unfortunately this didn’t come off.
Elsewhere there is plenty of proof Lene and Les were up for exploring areas seldom touched by Pop Music. Reincarnation forms the basis for Chris Judge Smith’s You Can’t Kill Me, with an austere Reggae beat providing the base and the pair’s own Egghead muses on knowledge of facts and figures squeezing out ability, something to ponder on in the statistics-obsessed 2023. Early effort Monkey Talk is re-recorded here in a curious icy Garage style, with Lene’s sax featuring strongly on Joan. Flex ends on sombre but wired The Freeze.
To me Flex hits all the right spots in avoiding the “difficult second album” syndrome, building on the success of Stateless while not content with merely repeating the formula. New twists and developments are skilfully incorporated to achieve something that intrigues while never losing sight of the need for a good melody. The bonuses for this disc commence with the different 45 versions of The Night, What Will I Do Without You and Bird Song.
In 1981 Thomas Dolby joined the band and his composition New Toy was released as a Lene Lovich single in the same year with Cats Away on the flip. It didn’t crack the UK charts, but it made a fair showing and proved Lene was still a force to be reckoned with. The remaining tunes on this disc are what featured on the various New Toy single releases. New Toy itself is a wonderfully bright blast of positively alluring, restrained power. Along with the instrumental Cats Away it presented Lene adapting easily to the rapidly changing fads in UK music. Details, another Jimme O’Neill-penned song, is given a spritely treatment and a laidback thriller in Never Never Land is imbued with both taste and craft.
Fourth and final disc of Toy Box concentrates on Lene’s final album for Stiff Records, 1982’s No Man’s Land. This set begins with It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz), Lovich’s last single to chart in Britain. This is followed by the Electropop-toned Blue Hotel, a 45 in mainland Europe and America. Faces charts a similar musical path and this appeared a logical direction for LL to pursue, as she could endow chilled electronics with her unique personality and trademark breeezy verve.
Walking Low comes in at a slower pace with hints of a kind of Spaghetti Western theme tune sound. Then Special Star fades in to become like its sorrowful companion piece, before a racing synth tempo takes over, slowing midway through to emphasise the tension inherent in the piece. Over on side two of No Man’s Land big Disco beats power the fast-moving Sister Video, another Jimmie O’Neill-written effort. Maria, like Blue Hotel released on 45 but not in the UK, is a gimmicky piece of Synthpop which wasn’t her best single in all honesty, but a neat Savages harks back to her old sound with aplomb.
No Man’s Land concludes with the driving Rocky Road, where Thomas Dolby returns on keys. In truth this is the lesser of the three albums collected here, but that is only in comparison with a couple of hugely enjoyable compendiums. Bonus tracks on this disc include three further versions of It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz) and two of Blue Hotel. Savages and Special Star are heard in earlier takes that were included with the New Toy single, with Special Star in particular thriving with a less cluttered approach. The only really fresh material is a speedy Blue and stately closing number O Seasons O Castles.
After No Man’s Land’s release and lack of chart success Stiff, in their usual fashion, started to ignore Lene. As a result she retreated from recording until the end of the 1980s, when fourth LP March was issued. She continues to play live to great acclaim in the 21st century with her current band that formed back in 2013.
I’ll admit point blank to impartiality here. I was a fan since day one I heard her and remain one today, but that aside Stateless and Flex are not only time capsule from the New Wave era, they are also excellent collections full of high quality songsmith acumen, top tunes and magical playing and performance. No Man’s Land is a lesser work, but shows Lovich gamely adjusting to the very different musical climate of 1982.
I particularly enjoyed the live material bonuses of this set – after finding their feet on stage, Lene and her band come over as a real spectacle to savour, even without visuals. She also provides vital insights into each record in the booklet that accompanies this boxset. In summary, I found Toy Box a joy from more or less start to finish and you would be doing yourself a favour by giving it a chance.
Lene Lovich is on Facebook here and her website is here
Want to snag a copy of Lene Lovich Toy Box The Stiff Years 1978 – 1983 – and why wouldn’t you? – click here
Graham Parker & The Goldtops – Last Chance To Learn The Twist
Big Stir Records
CD/DL
Out now
Brand new 13 track Graham Parker & The Goldtops album, issued on the Big Stir label. Ian Canty writes…
Although many people over the years have told me to let it go, I am still kicking myself over missing out on a bootleg Graham Parker And The Rumour mirror at a fun fair booth back in 1979. It would look great on my wall today, but I couldn’t score 21 on the darts game, so it wasn’t to be. Happily the knock on from this was that it made me a fan anyway, picking up the classic Squeezing Out Sparks LP in the same year as a result of this twist of fate. It is hard to imagine the intense, New Wave singer/songwriters that followed without Graham’s pioneering influence and although he scored hit singles and (fairly) commercially successful albums, there is a sense that he never quite got the due his work merited.
Since my fairground GP epiphany Graham has split with The Rumour, made some fine solo records, teamed up again with The Rumour and now arrived at the great Big Stir label with his current backing outfit The Goldtops and a new album in Last Chance To Learn The Twist. I was thrilled to hear of the link up with Big Stir, as it is really the case of two of my favourites coming together.
Before we get to the album itself, it is worth considering the make up of The Goldtops themselves. Long time GP cohort guitarist Martin Belmont is joined by Simon Edwards on bass and ex-Inmates drummer Jim Russell, with the talented keyboardist Geraint Watkins completing the line-up. On Last Chance To Learn The Twist they are augmented by brass section The Easy Access Orchestra i.e. James Morton and Andrew Ross on saxes and the trumpet of Ralph Lamb.
With that type of musical firepower to call on and the backing of one of the best labels out there today, everything was in place for Graham to deliver and he definitely does so here. The peerless R&B shuffle The Music Of The Devil starts off Last Chance To Learn The Twist by making it very clear that by some wonderous sleight of hand Parker is still at the peak of his powers and added to that, The Goldtops are always able to apply just the right touch.
The theme of mortality and how to deal with it, something that is alluded to with the record’s title, pulses through this album. Music Of The Devil itself is sharp and danceable and feels right in the lineage of GP’s days with The Rumour, but also is now found with a humility and hard-won wisdom that positively beams out the of the groove. Grand Scheme Of Things comes in an appealing Rock & Roll ballad setting, which allows the soulful rasp of Graham’s voice to really show its mettle. Next Sun Valley could have come direct from Parker’s early recording days. This is barroom-ready angst gifted with a marvellously tasteful Belmont guitar solo and works lithely towards a satisfying and rousing climax.
It Mattered To Me’s Country/Roots Rock pared-down feel again gives Graham the chance to shine, with Williams’ simple but effective piano line leading the way. Less is always more on Last Chance To Learn The Twist, no bombast or unnecessary affectations, just pure passion. With the horn section suitably deployed on it, Wicked Wit may appear to have some structural similarity to Graham’s hit single version of Hold Back The Night, but it swings along and is hugely likeable while doing it. Then Pablo’s Hippos alludes to the rehoming of a drug lord’s collection of those kind of animals. This is certainly odd subject matter, but a driving bassline powers a convincing performance that renders it convincing and an absolute gem.
An acoustic guitar strum heralds the dreamlike, gorgeous sound of Cannabis and I like it when Graham reaches right to the top of his register here, he sounds so vulnerable and endearing. Shorthand kicks along at a dusty middle pace – GP’s words are always worth listening to and a plaintive “I put my pen down until I’m back in touch with everybody else” speaks volumes for the artistic tendency to lose contact with real life at times. Going back to one of the motifs of the LP, We Did Nothing looks at the passage of life and death with true tenderness.
In many ways you could look at the swagger of Lost Track Of Time as a companion piece, with it skilfully spinning out regret at the passing of the years. The talk of being frustrated by “dodgy Wi-Fi” is a hilarious touch too. Last Stretch Of The Road’s Country Blues makes use of harp and a swinging rhythm. Meditating on times gone by with an acid eye, this number is heartrending, but the penultimate tune Them Bugs is Bluebeat hoedown that then lightens the mood. The latter comes blessed with really cool backing vocals by Marietta Smith and Paige Stubley. Finally we come to upbeat R&B pearl Since You Left Me Baby, where the upshot of boogie piano and an assertive mindset combine to make a truly celebratory end-piece. It is a thrilling, thoroughly humane denouement, but don’t blame me if after that you feel like going right back to the start and playing this album all over again.
To put it simply Last Chance To Learn The Twist is a stunning, hugely impressive collection. Graham deals with stark and sombre subjects in his songwriting here. But what could be dark and drear issues are offset by him confronting them with customary astuteness, honesty and a breezy, often self-deprecating sense of the absurd. The Goldtops for their part also acquit the tasks set them with brio and finesse, adding power and depth when needed, but also are not averse to taking things right down when the mood merits it. This LP really needs to be heard and cherished. 50 odd years into his musical career, Graham Parker has done what many might feel impossible. He has released one of his very best collections in 2023. It is really something to treasure and I will be hornswoggled if anything tops it this year!
Everything recorded by the Hudson/Ford New Wave cash-in band The Monks, famous for their 1979 UK hit single Nice Legs, Shame About The Face. Ian Canty writes…
In the UK Punk developed exponentially all over the land following The Sex Pistols’ chaotic 1976 appearance on the Today show with Bill Grundy. Along with the genuine teenage adherents to the craze, there were also quite a few more experienced musicians who sat up and took notice. John Du Cann’s fine 1977 (but not issued until the 1990s) album The World’s Not Big Enough album is a good example of an older geezer sensing which way the wind was blowing. For every one like that who treated the challenges Punk offered earnestly and thus updated their approach, there were oodles of send-up merchants. Which brings us neatly to The Monks…
Folk Rock bigwigs The Strawbs were about as far as you could get from Punk on the face of it. They were best know for their 1973 hit single Part of the Union, written by drummer Richard Hudson and bass player John Ford. The pair left The Strawbs soon afterwards to form their own outfit, the imaginatively titled Hudson Ford. However the late 1970s found them punting around a demo of their Pub Rock number Nice Legs Shame About The Face, hoping a genuine New Wave act might deign to record it. That didn’t happen, but somehow the demo itself was released in France under the name The Monks. The radio couldn’t get enough of its cheerful laddish inanity and in the end the single reached the UK Top 20.
Having had a successful 45, it was now necessary to actually put together a band to capitalise on this upturn in fortunes. The Monks at this stage comprised of Hudson, Ford and singer Terry Cassidy and it was this aggregation that recorded the 1979 Bad Habits album, which forms the first part of No Shame’s disc one. The liner notes pinpoint this as the moment when the general public became aware they weren’t genuine Punks, but to be honest one look at their appearance on Top Of The Pops for Nice Legs.. would have made most aware they weren’t young Punks.
Bad Habits’ opening effort Johnny B. Rotten is pretty catchy, even if by 1979 it was lyrically redundant as Rotten was now back to being Lydon and had been gone from The Sex Pistols for over a year at this point in time. Drugs In My Pocket, which follows, seems to take its central musical motif from the Chelsea number Government and then Love In Stereo is one of the LP’s better moments. When they played it straight The Monks were generally much better, as this powerful Poppy New Waver proves.
Bad Habits’ edgy title track is decent, but after that there is a tail off in quality as The Monks inadvisably opt up the comedy quotient. Ain’t Getting Any, Nice Legs’ unsuccessful follow-up, is very much in the formula of its predecessor, with No Shame being a good stab at the highly mannered-vocal style that was trendy at the time. The long player ends with Skylab (Theme From Monks), which seems like a straight update of The Tornados’ Telstar to me. Bad Habits is an uneven record, but the highpoints contained make the trip just about worth one’s time.
The first disc ends with eight bonus tracks. As well as different versions of Drugs In My Pocket and No Shame, there is also their hit single’s flipside You’ll Be The Death of Me, which seems to suit The Monks’ alter egos High Society and their Jazz Pop stylings far better. Monks Medley pieces together tracks from their next LP Suspended Animation with a daft voiceover, but then we arrive at the risible I Can Dub Anything You Like. Beat Around The Bush does come with the rhythm that would suit Ranking Roger and Co and the acoustic Pop sound of a brief Heap Of Junk reveals the band’s true origins.
A surprising element in The Monks’ story is that for some reason they were highly successful in Canada. After all, this was a country that had its own very lively Punk/New Wave scene already (DOA, The Modernettes, Pointed Sticks, The Subhumans, Young Criminals etc), so you wouldn’t have thought they would have needed to import spoof merchants from abroad. Nevertheless, the Drugs In My Pocket 45 was a hit there in 1979 and with the Bad Habits LP also selling well, a second album was required.
1981’s Suspended Animation only came out in Canada, made when The Monks expanded to include another ex-Strawb in guitarist Brian Willoughby and also drummer Clive Pearce. This collection starts off disc two of this set. After the jokey Bluebeat of Don’t Want No Reds, the title track finds the band toying with high energy Punk Pop and Don’t Bother Me I’m A Christian carries on the fairly good start of this disc, but the asinine lyrics are a slight drawback. Unfortunately things nosedive with the crappy Funk Rock of James Bondage, where The Monks’ often feeble attempts at humour are found at their worst.
A riffy Cool Way To Live comes from the Elvis Costello/Graham Parker direction and is a big improvement. The acoustic Hippy prelude to Oxford Street is near to a virtual nod to The Monks’ pre-history, before it gives way to a well-observed fast Pop Punk number. After that highlight, we’re brought swiftly back to earth by the appallingly duff I Can Do Anything You Like, Plastic Max and King Dong. Space Fruit ends the record in guitar instrumental mode, much likeon Bad Habits. The big takeaway from Suspended Animation is that The Monks’ comedy plainly is rarely funny or entertaining – when they dropped the clowning persona though, they were capable of good stuff.
The Monks’ concept was all but spent by this point in time, but tracks were demoed for a possible third collection and these demos add up the bonuses that round off this disc. Gold And Silver echoes No Shame’s style. Even though by 1982 its New Wave sound was passé, it is not bad and Cybernetic Sister is similar with a Dylan-type vocal. I think a drum machine could be at work on some of these items – in any case the leaden rhythm hampers the sound a bit. The Police’s early work provides the sonic template for Ann Orexia (ouch my sides are splitting…hmmm), but the clodhopping rhythm to Beast In Cages sounds a bit more of a contemporary sound for the early 1980s.
Sadly Slimy Gash is the worst the band had to offer and is, to use its own words, “a load of trash”. The sleeve note goes on like Jeremy Clarkson about how Suspended Animation would upset the “P.C.” Brigade, but most of this second disc simply isn’t very good. It only offends in the sense that you’ve wasted three minutes of your life listening to dreck like this. Thankfully a straightforward Lost In Romance is much better, a coolly devised Pop number which shows the band’s capabilities. Space Noises is just that, a series electro pulses providing a step towards something more interesting and Electric Shivers ends No Shame in similar musique concrète style.
In summary The Monks were seldom anywhere near humourous as they probably thought they were. But when they managed to drop the self-conscious comedy routines, they could on occasion knock out something worth hearing. For me Bad Habits is far better than Suspended Animation and if the project seemed dead on its feet by then, a third album without a complete change in direction would have killed it for sure. No Shame has about a CD worth of fair to good material on it and if you are in the mood for some cod-New Wave action, this set could fit the bill.
If you so wish you can pick up a copy of The Monks – No Shame The Complete Recordings here
New 12 track album of cover versions by Syracuse’s own 1977 Power Pop heroes The Flashcubes, with David Paton of Pilot and The Paley Brothers among the guest artists appearing. Ian Canty writes…
Pop Punk/New Wave band The Flashcubes roared straight out of Syracuse New York in 1977. With a line up that consisted of a rhythm section of Tommy Allen behind the traps and bass player Gary Frenay, plus guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin manning the six strings, they debuted with the Christi Girl single on the local Northside label in 1978. A year later they released a further 7″ in Wait Till Next Week/Radio, but by 1980 the band had split up. However the band reformed in the 1990s and if we fast forward into 2023, the original quartet are back with a dozen freshly cut covers that make up this new LP.
Pop Masters starts off on the good foot with a rollicking take of Baby It’s Cold Outside, which sets things up nicely. The tune was first recorded by Power Pop trailblazers Pezband and Mimi Betinis from that band is present on guitar and vox. From there, The Flashcubes tackle a dollop of dreamy Pop class in Pilot’s Get Up And Go. Now I’ve always had a soft spot for Pilot and it is great to hear their David Paton helping out The Flashcubes here on piano and vocals. Next, the Pre-Raspberries Eric Carmen outfit Cyrus Erie provide the source material for the ringing Folk Rock of Get The Message.
By now the listener will have discerned this album is a combination of the familiar and the not quite as well known, all put through The Flashcubes’ patented process of feisty playing and and cool harmony vocalising. I would be lying if I said that something like say, Slade’s Gudbuy T’Jane, could be covered and the result actually outstrip the original. But the important thing is that like everything on Pop Masters, this is really a joyous celebration of the song and the FCs are ably assisted on this one by the guitar work of Steve Conte (New York Dolls).
Shoes’ classic Tomorrow Night is a similar case in point, but with Jeff Murphy, John Murphy and Gary Klebe all aboard, they give it the mark of authenticity which makes its heady rush all the more a delight for the ears. There’s a lovely Garage organ sound to The Paley Brothers’ Come Out And Play, with both brothers showing up and The Spongetones’ Have You Every Been Torn Apart is cast as perfect 60s Pop. The melancholic words are neatly juxtaposed on Pop Matters with a sound brimming over with good vibes.
For anyone listening to this album in the UK of a certain age, Forget About You may conjure visions of the BBC’s Saturday afternoon sports show “Grandstand”, as the theme tune for it does share a certain similarity with The Motors’ hit. Chris Stamey’s place in the pantheon of Power Pop is assured from his time with The dBs and also his solo work, which both predated and followed on from his time with them. Chris’ debut 1977 single The Summer Sun on Ork Records is revisited here in a cool, beautifully flowing way. Dwight Twilley also has firm PP cred and Alone In My Room, from his 1979 solo LP, is essayed next here with true aplomb.
Flavour Of The Month, a Posies’ number, is given a lively workout and the LP concludes with Sparks’ Nothing To Do. The album is given a right royal send-off by this one as well, with the ringing guitars and fiery rhythm work adding up to pure revved-up Rock & Roll thrills. That is the important thing about Pop Masters – Here The Flashcubes take each number and give it new, exuberant life, resulting in a collection of brio, depth and class.
Of course what is important is not where the material comes from etc etc, but how the album sounds. On Pop Matters The Flashcubes are vital, exciting and full of vigour, making for a record that lifted my spirits with ease on the very damp last day of August 2023. They shows a real love for all the material present, but more than that, they do the songs real justice while adding fresh quirks, flash and energy. The cover version LP concept may be pretty hoary in this day and age, but it is plain and simple to hear that The Flashcubes imbue it with new, vivid impetus on Pop Matters.
4CD set that brings together the three New Musik studio albums plus a bonus disc of single sides and remixes. Ian Canty writes
The roots of New Wave act New Musik reach right back to 1972, when Tony Mansfield and Clive Gates played in a band with the none more Prog name of Reeman Zeegus. Five years later they again teamed up in End Of The World. When that group’s keyboardist Nick Straker left to form his own outfit, the four man line up that also included a rhythm section of Phil Towner and Tony Hibbert became the first line up of NM.
Mansfield was initially signed by the CBS offshoot GTO as a solo artist, but as he saw New Musik as a band situation this agreement was soon amended. Now signed up to a major label, the quartet set to work recording their first material. 1979 debut single Straight Lines was an airwaves hit and also reached the lower end of the UK charts. I can recall it featuring on daytime Radio One regularly at the time and its modest success paved the way for subsequent singles and a LP.
In the liner notes a comparison is made between NM and Gary Numan, drawing the conclusion that Mansfield and Co had more in common with Abba. I don’t see it quite like that myself. If we are going to use Gary as a yardstick, I would say that whereas Numan deals with the Sci Fi concept of machines enslaving man, New Musik instead present technology and humanity living in an uneasy truce, with the same problems as always cropping up for people despite the ever-improving tech. This could be a reason why they feel so relevant in the modern day, with universal issues addressed in a down to earth fashion under the ever-growing shadow of Artificial Intelligence.
From A To B, the debut New Musik long player, is a delight pretty much from beginning to end. Tony Mansfield was steeped in classic late 1960s Psych Pop and this made the band a thoroughly attractive prospect when combined with a contemporary synth sound. Straight Lines leads things off and the excellent Sanctuary single comes next, a textbook case of Mansfield’s Psychedelic leanings being thrust into the modern synth age and in doing so creates something imaginative and fun. A Map Of You is elegantly constructed, with a subtle acoustic guitar line carrying the song forward and Science shines with a bright musical palette that is positively enchanting.
On Islands was written before New Musik were formed and is a beautifully nuanced piece, with only the child’s voice talk-over near the end feeling a touch too sugary. Then it is time for This World Of Water, where the sunny energy of the band powers the tune. Some may feel the Donald Duck voices in the chorus are too schmaltzy, but the juxtaposition between that endearing daftness and the underlying darkness of the song still feels like a masterstroke to me. Of course Living By Numbers their biggest big hit as a 45, perfect dreamy Synthpop for the new age of the 80s.
A long fade-in leads to the snappy New Wave of Dead Fish (Don’t Swim Home), an item that could have easily been single material too and then Adventures is driven by some lively drum work and a convincing performance. Rounding off From A To B is the soaring, queasy beauty of The Safe Side. This is a truly wonderful record equipped with depth, inspiration and above all excellent and infectious melodies.
With four hits singles and a UK Top 40 LP, New Musik had good reason to enter 1981 with optimism. Even so, Mansfield was anxious to tweak the formula slightly into something more spicy. But listening to the first couple of tracks of Anywhere They All Run After The Craving Knife and Areas, it seemed to be pretty much business as usual i.e. finely crafted and intelligent Electropop with a heart.
Churches is very catchy and attractive. It feels like a natural single, but that honour would instead be bestowed on the gentle allure of Luxury and While You Wait, where chimes and fuzz guitar build nicely over an Electro beat to become an epic piece of Pop. It is a bit of a mystery as to why both failed when issued on 45. The album only just scrapped into the UK Top 75 too and this lack of commercial success can only be put down to changing trends and perhaps the lack of a strong visual image, something that became ever more important as the 1980s wore on. It certainly was not down to the quality of New Musik’s records.
Going back to the LP’s contents, the self-reverential pun in the title of This World Of Walter masks a surrealistic feel and then Changing Minds comes over as another charming piece of Pop Music. Design is a bright and driving gem, really another potential single in a record seemingly stuffed with them, with the simplicity of Traps also very appealing. Division has a sound quite akin to Living By Numbers and the album ends with the sweeping excellence of Back To Room One. This isn’t such a jump from the debut as the liner notes would have it, but it is another great collection. New Musik had scored two fine albums out of two, despite the record buying public deserting them.
At this point GTO was swallowed up by its parent company and New Musik were shunted onto Epic. Towner and Hibbert left, leaving the remaining NM pair of Mansfield and Gates to bring in Cliff Verner on percussion for the band’s final LP Warp in 1982. Funk guitars and a sound not that far from Orange Juice is applied to the chanted opener Here Come The People, which segues into Going Round Again, where Mansfield’s Pop genius shines out on an almost Ska rhythm. A Train on Twisted Tracks is set as very pretty Synthpop, but is also given NM’s usual touch of Psych oddness and then I Repeat is a more lowkey but similarly endearing dart at the same sound.
Then comes the LP’s double headed enigma. The second single from the collection was a cover of The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love, which is an odd enough choice in itself, but directly before it on Warp comes Mansfield’s sunny response under the same title. It’s a curious move that somehow works, with the Lennon and McCartney song turned inside out and then set to a sequenced tempo. Cutting in Greensleeves towards the end must have foxed a few and it missed the single charts, even though there was a slightly crossover with 1982’s New Psychedelia mini-boom.
Kingdoms For Horses was the first track on side two of the original vinyl issue of Warp and its bouncing bassline propels NM to the dancefloor. This stops suddenly and we’re straight into the electronic chill of Hunting, with following track The New Evolutionist (Example “A”) being classic New Musik and by this stage I was scratching my head as to why Warp wasn’t immediately clutched to the nation’s heart.
If pushed I would say it is my favourite of the trio of LPs on this set, but we’re talking fine margins because of the high quality throughout. New Musik’s last single The Planet Doesn’t Mind comes next, finding the band musing on humanity’s sloping shoulders with respect to the environment. This leads to the title track giving a great collection an apt send-off, with the wonky sound at the end showing you just couldn’t second guess NM for a moment..
After Warp failed to make the chart that was basically it for New Musik. By 1982 a lot of Tony Mansfield’s time was taken up producing other artists and production’s gain was a big loss to Pop Music in my view. Here it is necessary to state that I like the way that From A To B The Sony Years is set up, in that we have the three albums to listen to as they were originally released and the extras are bundled up onto a fourth disc. I think this is important, as it makes it easier to consider the LPs in their own right.
Single edits of Straight Lines, While You Wait and The Planet Doesn’t mind begins the final part of From A To B – The Sony Years and all three show what masters New Musik were within the 7 inch format. That the latter two missed the charts entirely seems remarkably unfortunate. A nostalgic Sad Films comes next and opens up the raft of flipsides that makes up most of this disc. Missing Persons/Tell Me Something New sat on the reverse of This World Of Water and starts as a bright-eyed sound flavoured with some inspired guitar work, before segueing into its second part of austere synth drones.
After another pure Pop jewel in She’s A Magazine that may well have one thinking that NM threw away on B sides work that was as good as their best recordings, we have the Disco moves of Chik Musik, where they pay tribute to Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. The brief sketch of Magazine Musik is finely drawn and then an adorable Twelfth Night mixes cool electronics into a skilfully plotted Pop canter.
After the sturdy pairing of From The Village and Guitars, we have the other side of the Luxury single The Office. This one is an oddity in the New Musik canon, in that it is a Clive Gates composition. This is no great departure though, but it is a decent synth-led instro with Classical undertones. We left to muse what Part 1 may have been like with when hearing the Dub beat of 24 Hours From Culture (Part 2) and the boxset finishes with an extend While You Wait and a remix of Here Comes The People, where water sounds are pushed to the forefront.
From A To B – The Sony Years is pretty much a masterclass in unique Pop Music. Tony Mansfield’s musical and lyrical vision resounds down the years as really something to treasure. You could say it was a shame we only got three albums out of New Musik, but I prefer to rejoice with what we have got. That is, a cracking set full of imagination, adventure and tunes that don’t obey any of the standard norms of Pop, but as a result eclipse the vast majority of the field. New Musik were simply golden.
Get you hands on New Musik – From A To B The Sony Years here
The Barracudas – Drop Out With The Barracudas Deluxe Edition
Lemon Recordings
3CD/DL
Out now
3CD edition of The Barracudas 1981 debut album, compiled by guitarist Robin Wills and featuring a host of previously unissued items. Ian Canty writes…
For anyone in the UK who regularly tuned in their transistor to the Pop stations during 1980, it is a bit of a shock that Summer Fun by The Barracudas never made it higher than number 37 in the singles chart. The novelty of having an old advert for the Plymouth Barracuda car as an intro proved irresistible to Radio One daytime DJs. This was the “Trojan Horse” that led to the band demonstrating their distinctive mixture of The Ramones’ power and Beach Boys’ harmony vocals, plus a good dash of their own Punk/Garage attitude, for a national TV audience.
Canadian Jeremy Gluck arrived in the UK at the height of Punk in 1977 and bonded with guitarist Robin Wills, a member of “Live At The Roxy” band The Unwanted, over a shared love of The Seeds. An alliance was formed and with a temporary drummer and bassist they made some tentative recordings and played live, supporting Sham 69 at The Roxy as RAF (Rock And Fun). The pair recruited a more permanent rhythm section in the form of David Buckley and ex-Raincoats drummer Nick Turner and as 1979 dawned they were known as The Barracudas, named after a Standells song.
Their first single I Want My Woody Back/Subway Surfin’ was released by Cells Records, who the year before had issued Essential Logic’ Aerosol Burns. On first hearing The Barracudas stood out as a different proposition from most Post Punk fare by embracing the Surf and Garage sounds of the 1960s, styles that that were seldom if ever overtly referenced back then. The Indie success of I Want My Woody Back led to the band signing to EMI and being assigned to the Zonophone imprint, where they made immediate waves with their major label debut Summer Fun. Although their subsequent singles struggled to make much headway, the LP Drop Out With The Barracudas arrived in early 1981.
Naturally enough this deluxe edition starts with the Drop Out long player itself. Though the surf influence is present on a number of tracks, the band were already moving towards their future direction of a Garage/Psych amalgam. A chunky and attractive I Can’t Pretend, which was also released as a single, sets the scene well and the Byrds-like Folk Punk of We’re Living In Violent Times shines. Dont’ Let Go follows up this impressive opening pairing well enough, with This Ain’t My Time being full of vim and hammer. I Saw My Death In A Dream Last Night focusses clearly on the Cudas’ developing interest in Psychedelia and the very bright Somewhere Outside is another goodie too.
Drop Out With The Barracudas’ second side ensues with Summer Fun and follow-up single side His Last Summer, where The Barracudas wittily revamp the 50s/60s standby the death disc. A Punky and neat Somebody comes next and the guitars on Campus Tramp are a delight in the detail. Finishing with the anthemic (I Wish It Could Be) 1965 Again, Drop Out With The Barracudas is inventive and energetic fun that deserved far more success than it was met with.
This disc includes bonus tracks made up of B sides and rare items. Summer Fun’s more restrained flip Chevy Baby also crops up in a tougher demo take later on this disc and after the buzzing surf instrumental Barracuda Waver comes Surfers Are Back, the band’s original mission statement. A 1979 recording of Rendezvous and The KGB (Made A Man Out Of Me) are both somewhat akin to Da Brudders in sound, but there is nothing wrong with that and the alternate Summer Fun has Joan Jett’s voice slightly further upfront. Poppy US flipside You Were On My Mind and their dramatic contribution to the “New Psychedelic” comp A Splash Of Colour Watching The World Go By finishes off what is a very satisfying first disc of the set.
Moving onto disc two of this set we are presented with a series of demos set down from 1979 to 1981. These show the development of the band and songs before, during and after the album. A seven song session recorded at Freerange Studios in 1979 begins with a sharper take of Don’t Let Go. Well developed tapings of material later set down for EMI like (I Wish It Could Be) 1965 Again and Surfers Are Back rub shoulders with fresh offerings, such as the prime Power Pop of Neighbourhood Girls, Tokyo Rose and a cover of Bacharach and David’s Little Red Book. The latter is clearly modelled after Love’s version, but is still quite enjoyable.
We next catch up with The Barracudas a year later with a couple of demoes designed to stimulate record company interest in the slight but catchy Radios In Revolt and an early Summer Fun. Then there are six items cut at EMI’s famous Manchester Square set up in 1981 and all of these tunes are material that didn’t make Drop Out. There are three songs that instead did make onto Mean Time, The Barracudas’ second LP and the solid mid-paced thump of Grammar Of Misery, Ballad Of A Liar and a trippy Shades Of Today all show enough quality that meant they weren’t cast by the wayside.
A chugging Gotta Get A Gun is a tad more straight Rock & Roll than anything that has gone before, with the moody momentum of On A Sunday thrilling. After the EMI contract lapsed, Polydor were interested in The Barracudas and were supplied with a demo. Seven cuts from this tape feature here in lo-fidelity, with the first two songs being re-recorded in preparation for the band’s third LP Endeavour To Persevere. Laughin’ At You eventually never made the cut, but it is a fairly convincing Garage number and an ecstatic She Knows really rocks.
The punchy Folk Pop treat Bad News ended up on Mean Time and is a bit of a cracker and Psychedelia haunts both Watching The World Go By and You’ve Come A Long Way. A crazed Takes What He Wants brings this section to a close. Mayfair studios was the venue for the final three demos on this disc. A rattling take of Inside Mind, later a single for Flicknife, the 60s Punk organ sound of Hear Me Calling and Next Time Around, where they invoke the Stooges at 100 mph, are all excellent. It’s odd no-one saw their potential with this triumphant triple, but those 1980s eh?
Barracudas completists should enjoy the deep delve that makes up the last disc of this Drop Out Deluxe Edition. First off the bat is the feisty I Want My Woody Back/Subway Surfin’ debut single and then we are onto five 1979 demos set down at Elephant Studios. The sound is a decent enough here and good versions of Rendezvous and a chugging Campus Tramp are joined by a rarity in the form of the Punk-tinged Love Is Fun.
Next comes two tracks by The Barracudas’ forerunners RAF. A rough and short 1977 recording of Barracuda is followed by The Lurkers-type thrash of No Ideals, taped at a Roxy gig supporting Sham 69 during the next year. A charmingly lo-fi If She Cries and Subway Surfin’ come from a 1978 demo where Wills and Gluck were joined by the Philips brothers for the first official Barracudas recordings. Versions of The Sufaris’ Wipe Out and Let’s Dance by Chris Montez and an aggressive Dead Skin are some of the highpoints drawn from the 1979 rehearsals that makes up the next phase of this disc. The audio isn’t top quality here obviously, but the band’s ton of energy and conviction makes up for some sonic shortcomings.
Robin Wills takes centre stage on a Ramonesy Incredible Shrinking Mind, before another cover, this time The Trashmen’s King Of The Surf. Then we move a year forward to 1980 rehearsal cuts. Summer Fun sounds slower at this point, with The KGB (Made A Man Out Of Me) shining via some lively drum work. A couple more covers in the form of a rough and ready Time Won’t Let Me, originally by the US Outsiders and a scruffy performance of The Surfaris’ Surfer Joe, round of this section. The whole thing ends with a 1981 live and speedy version of The Flamin’ Groovies Slow Death. This was a portent of the future really, as when both Turner and Buckley split, The Barracudas hooked up with ex-Groovie Chris Wilson for 1983’s Mean Time album.
Drop Out With The Barracudas Deluxe Edition comes with a liner note booklet that collects the thoughts of all of The Barracudas that recorded the album itself, which tells the story direct from the horse’s mouth. It is difficult to imagine a more thorough set for fans of the band to revel in. Drop Out was always an underrated record in my view, but sort of got lost in the shuffle as trends in the UK of 1980/1981 changed every other week. It is just and proper that it receives this kind of treatment.
The extras included on the first disc help to give a fuller picture too. Disc two’s host of demos aid the listener in finding out where The Barracudas were coming from and going to and the final platter is a messy but fun dig around their early stirrings through rehearsals and demos. I found it highly enjoyable listening and it brought home to me what a great and important band The Barracudas were at this early stage in their development. How crucial were they for any outfit mining the 1960s sound following in Drop Out’s wake? The fact that there is still a thriving Garage scene in 2023 speaks volumes for Drop Out With The Barracudas’ influence.
The Barracudas – Drop Out With The Barracudas Deluxe Edition can be nabbed by clicking here
Various – Kids On The Streets UK Power Pop And New Wave 1977-1981
Cherry Red Records
3CD/DL
Released 25 November 2022
Boxset examining the four year period from 1977 to 1981 in UK Post Punk Pop, with The Jam, The Damned and Penetration rubbing shoulders with more obscure names like Shake Appeal, Smart Alec and Apartment. This collection follows on from 2018’s Harmony In My Head. Ian Canty writes
The years that are chronicled on Kids On The Street were amazingly creative musically in the UK and the Punk explosion of a year earlier kicked the whole thing into action. Though not everyone wished to go the whole spiky-topped hog, a great many wanted some sort of change on a music scene that had gone exceeding stale. Pub Rockers with attitude, besuited Mod throwbacks and Power Pop contenders threw themselves into the mix alongside the Punks, resulting in halcyon days for the 45. Work from across these styles are collected here. From personal experience it really was an exciting time, when every new 7 inch single seemed like the sonic gateway to a new adventure.
Kids On The Streets begins with the title track by Blackburn band The Stiffs. On the recent Brand New Rage set (reviewed here) they followed The Ruts, but here they are placed straight before the latter band’s pummelling breakthrough hit Babylon’s Burning. Though arriving late on the Punk scene, The Ruts’ brilliant musicianship allied to Malcolm Owen’s natural magnetism pushed them quickly to the forefront, with Dave Ruffy’s drumming in particular shining here. Like The Damned’s grandstanding Smash It Up a few tracks on, the song itself is a little difficult to reconcile with any notion Power Pop, but perhaps it is better to not worry about genres and enjoy the ride for what it is. What is important is that, by featuring Babylon’s Burning along with Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello and The Stranglers’ Duchess, Kids On The Street manages to corral three of the very best singles of 1979 onto one disc.
But getting back on track, Bram Tchaikovsky’s sturdy rocker Bloodline and a breezy Come On Stupid by Coventry’s The Flys make a good mark, as does The Boys’ natty 45 Weekend. XTC’s finely crafted Towers Of London turns up in its LP form and if Manchester band The Smirks were seen as nearly men at the time, a poised and powerful I Don’t Think So shows their strengths admirably. Shake Appeal, who featured future Parachute Men member Fiona Mitchell on vocals, give us My Own Way, which is a punchy Pretenders-like thing. Pub band The Speed-O-Meters punked themselves up in 1976. But by 1979 and the Tonight Tonight single that is here, they were back to a firm Street Pop/Rock base. They were an older band updating their muse, much like The Salford Jets who come next with their Jilted John-tastic tune Gina.
Before that The Revillos pop up with their Garage Punk goodie Motorbike Beat and then NI’s finest Rudi appear with their good-time/Good Vibrations disc I-Spy. Clive Gregson’s Any Trouble were an ace outfit and early missive Yesterday’s Love zings along marvellously and a bouncy Oh Girls by The Freshies proves there was much more to Chris Sievey than a Papier-mâché head. Talk Of The Town by The Pretenders was a worthy follow up to their number one, with The Radio Stars’ Nervous Wreck still cutting it as a slice of daft New Wave fun.
I’m not about to carp about having to listen to Neil Innes’ inspired Beatles spoofing as The Rutles, but here the Penny Lane send-up Doubleback Alley does seem a little out of place. Ouch! or It’s Looking Good from their album would, I feel, have fitted the bill to end what is a very lively disc in a better way.
The Jam’s Boy About Town, from the Sound Affects LP, gives the listener the heads-up on disc two’s Mod tendencies. The Mod Revival mainly eschewed the 1960s R&B roots of the original craze, with The Jam and The Who being the movement’s touchstones. As such, Power Pop was in its DNA. This is something that is present on the power-packed surges of The Reaction’s I Am A Case and the fresh sound of The V.I.P’s’ Need Somebody To Love, even if neither band were truly Modernists. Secret Affair were of course, after Ian Page’s idea of sharp-suited Glory Boys naturally meshed with the upcoming revival. They’re represented by Sound Of Confusion, a miss as a single but a solid and enjoyable confection.
Sta-Prest and The Circles may have been lesser lights in the Mod Revival rankings, but Tomorrow by the former outfit presents itself as a nice slab of Punky Reggae. The Circles were simply brill, a great band that surely with a little luck would have been right up there in 1980. Circles was recorded in 1979 but not issued until six years later and is a cool, energy-filled showing that would have sounded right at home on Top Of The Pops during the year it was taped. The lyric on The Jags’ song Woman’s World was iffy back then and the passage of time hasn’t done it many favours, but One Way Love by The Innocents, a four-piece led by Josephine Buchan and featuring future Woodentop Rolo McGinty, is a lost Pop nugget.
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend, actually put together by the Meynell brothers prior to Anthony M joining Squire, captures authentically emotions of youth. This was a theme which the band managed to tap into like no other and The Exits’ primitive Psychedelic mastery is also well displayed on Girl In A Picture. Then the superior 45 version of The Members’ The Sound Of The Suburbs leads us away from Mod and back towards great singles of ’79. Moving on a year, from the brilliant Nobody’s Perfect album comes a bright Leave You To Dream by Manchester wizards The Distractions and if The Vibrators’ Baby Baby will always be associated with the summer of Punk, it still has an epic feel. This was appropriate, given as Knox and the boys were recording for that label at the time.
Disco Zombies spin-off The Steppes yields an exuberant Punk Pop with a dash of Reggae item called The Beat Drill and it is always a joy for me to hear The Rich Kids and Hung On You. It is so good it makes one forget that the compilers manage to mix the late great Steve New and Rusty Egan up in the liner notes. The pure 1960s chime of The Barracudas’ Neighbourhood Girls was recorded a year before they invaded the charts with Summer Fun, whilst Squeeze provide a no-nonsense kitchen sink drama in their tune Vicky Verky.
The late Nik Turner’s Inner City Unit prove on a fun Beer, Baccy, Binge and Benidorm that he was one oldster in tune with what was going on and the crashing chords of obscure Plymouth band Smart Alec’s Mod-friendly Scooter Boys back a neat snapshot of the times. Power Pop in the UK will always be associated with the would-be Fab Four The Pleasers, so it is only right they make an appearance on Kids On The Street with the melodic You Don’t Know and The Searchers, who were there when the form was taking shape in the 1960s, provide Love’s Melody with a cracking drum sound to finish this disc.
We get underway on the final disc of this set with The Motors and their riff-driven monster Dancing The Night Away. Then comes Psychedelic masters The Soft Boys with their Punkiest moment I Wanna Destroy You. The slow-fast structure of Silicon Carne, by the Bid-led Monochrome Set, is an early indication that this platter dives more into Post Punk than before and it is followed up by Wah! Heat’s explosive Don’t Step On The Cracks. Private Dicks, one of a number of Bristol outfits on this disc, were a more a standard Power Pop thing, but their She Said Go is a pleasing, freewheeling example of the format.
Buzzsaw guitar and harmony vocals are twinned on Tinopeners’ Ramonesy Set Me Free and Into The Valley, which to be fair has been compiled a thousand or so times already, is another in the best of 1979 stakes. The Blue Aeroplanes’ precursor Various Artists and The Fans are part of the Bristol contingent, turning up with the Proto-Indiepop of The Original Mixed-Up Kid and the very Poppy You Don’t Live Here Anymore respectively. Both were issued by the local label Fried Egg, but fellow Bristolians Apartment’s spiky powder-keg The Car emerged on Heartbeat in 1980. It would take a hard heart to turn against The Only Ones’ Out There In The Night, where Perrett’s mob seem to hark back to The Shangri-las.
Though you can argue whether the mighty Penetration were Punk, New Wave or whatever, Danger Signs is a bracing dose of their sheer quality. Airkraft’s singer certainly seems in the thrall of Andy Patridge on Move In Rhythm and if Leeds band The Squares didn’t manage to make much progress after being quickly signed to Sire just after forming, No Fear is wide-eyed Power Pop par excellence. This disc’s dip in Post Punk continues with early B side Do It Clean by Echo And The Bunnymen and the wonderful Treason (It’s Just A Story) by their Zoo labelmates The Teardrop Explodes.
Radio 5’s atmospheric mood-piece Animal Connections is fine but as far from Power Pop as it can be and the final Bristol act here is Joe Public, who had in their ranks Sean McLusky and Rob Marche. They both later went onto become part of 80s chart stars Joboxers, but their early work as witnessed here is good, with Hotel Rooms building nicely with hyperactive drums and reflective guitar passages.
This disc and the whole set ends in slightly anti-climactic manner. The Avant-Gardeners’ Roky Erickson cover Two Headed Dog is decent but really belongs on a Psych collection and if The Engineers’ Call On Me is undoubtedly pure Power Pop, it also isn’t that impressive. Finally, we have Jim Lea re-fashioning Slade’s When The Lights Are Out for the New Wave audience as Dummies.
Judged solely on the music contained inside rather than the direction and aim behind it, Kids On The Street delivers enough zingers to be worthwhile. If one was to be ultra-critical, the Power Pop focus at times all but fades out from earshot. Given that the introductory essay in the accompanying booklet makes a rather large play on PP at the expense of the term New Wave, this appears strange.
While a respectable follow up to Harmony In My Head, it feels like this set has a little less of an overall identity, making it more interchangeable with other CR boxes like the aforementioned Brand New Rage. Having said that, the great stuff stands out and there’s a host of minor classics to explore here too. Kids On The Streets might wander from its purpose, but as a listening experience it works in bringing home just how vital these four years were for UK music.
Here’s the link if Various – Kids On The Streets UK Power Pop And New Wave 1977-1981 is up your alley
New 3CD set which seeks to evoke the atmosphere of the early New Romantic clubs, with artists as diverse as Donna Summer, Marianne Faithful and Glaxo Babies putting in a shift. Ian Canty writes…
A three-disc boxset focussing on New Romantics…hey come back here a minute! It’s not all that bad and most of the artists featured would have probably laughed in your face or worse if you had called them by that term. In fact, this compilation has been pretty well structured, with the first disc looking at the influences of the scene and the subsequent pair mapping out some of the popular contemporary discs from the clubland of the time. Contributions from bona fide New Romantics are for the most part almost kept down to a minimum.
Music For New Romantics begins with an entertaining delve into the roots of…well most of it could alternatively be the roots of Punk too. Mott The Hoople’s classic version of David Bowie’s gift to them All The Young Dudes gets things underway. It is a song heard many, many times over the years but still manages to exert an evocative pull all of its own. Less well known is the No Wave Jazz edginess of Harlem Nocturne by The Lounge Lizards, but we are soon back on familiar ground with Alice Cooper’s I’m Eighteen and The New York Dolls’ classic stab of brash attitude Personality Crisis.
Iggy Pop’s The Idiot was a big album in 1977, with the static beat of Nightclubbing being probably its key track and New Romantics couldn’t really have existed without Roxy Music running as a prototype 10 or so years beforehand. It is only right that they are here. Do The Strand is great, but as it also featured on the recent High In The Morning set (reviewed here), perhaps something else from the band’s glittering back catalogue might have been used instead? Similarly, Lou Reed’s Vicious is another slightly too obvious choice, but at least Wayne County And The Electric Chairs give us the less common, totally endearing and neat Electro Punker called Berlin.
I’ve been a fan of Klaus Dinger’s La Düsseldorf for many years and was lucky enough to see drummer Hans Lampe playing live the other day with all the controlled fury of someone a fraction of his age. Viva was probably the band’s most Pop moment, but it gets no complaints from me on what is a brilliant recording. Mick Ronson’s fine Only After Dark was covered by The Human League on Travelogue and cuts the mustard still, but The Rah Band’s Glam Disco stomp The Crunch though enjoyable enough, probably falls into the same category as the much-heard items above.
The charming S-S-S-Single Bed memorably soundtracked one of Mark Gatiss’ Ghost Stories For Christmas (a review of the newly released DVD is in the works) and you can just imagine the carnage at a Wag Club dancefloor due to the robotic tones of The Warlord’s tune The Ultimate Warlord. It makes sense that Donna Summer, Grace Jones and Giorgio Moroder follow in short order on this disc. All were highly important to future developments, with the sexually charged Love To Love You Baby, a bright treatment of Edith Piaf’s La Vie En Rose and the dance shuffle Chase respectively setting out their case better than any words. Sadly, this disc rather fizzles out to an end with the comped to death Ballroom Blitz by The Sweet and the throwaway sound of the Stingray TV show theme by The Barry Gray Orchestra.
Music For New Romantics continues its unfortunate tendency to settle on the safe side. I mean, Being Boiled and Warm Leatherette are great recordings, but they have been included on so many collections over the years and both The Cure’s excellent A Forest (The Cure as New Romantics? Hmmm) and Down In The Park by Tubeway Army aren’t that far behind. We’re on surer ground with Suicide’s “Elvis with synths” epic Ghost Rider and Electricity by OMD still rings pretty fresh, as does John Foxx and Underpass (no shouting “Underpants” during the chorus please).
I’ve got a lot of time for Thomas Dolby but his She Blinded Me With Science does sound a bit dated these days and Einstein A Go Go by Lanscape, which pops up in a few tracks, is in the same boat. Visage’s self-named effort does retain an impressive sweep, though the liner notes stating that “Steve McGeogh”(er I think they mean John McGeoch), Barry Adamson and Dave Formula were all former Magazine members at the time of recording is incorrect. The latter two stayed with Devoto beyond the band’s end in 1981 to contribute to his first solo LP two years later.
You can’t really get over how neat and without precedent Money by The Flying Lizards appeared to be back in 1979, but thankfully we can still detect a modicum of the magic almost half a century on. Moskow Diskow by Telex, a Belgian trio who would have a 1979 UK chart hit with a rum reworking of Rock Around The Clock, sounds great and the thudding Post Punk gay Disco of Black Leather by Nightmares In Wax rumbles on relentlessly, touching on Sister Midnight and That’s The Way I Like It on the way.
Fascist Groove Thing by Human League spin-off Heaven 17 sounds relevant today and though I’m no fan of Spandau Ballet, they had to be included here. To Cut A Long Story Short at least finds Tony Hadley’s foghorn voice in a palatable context, but it pales into insignificance when followed by Shot By Both Sides by Magazine. Of course, the latter is fantastic, but feels right out of place as it has nowt to do with New Romantics that I can see. Hong Kong Garden, the final track on this disc, hasn’t really lasted the years well either. The Banshees may have been club “faces”, but their records didn’t lend themselves naturally to the dance floor until much later in their existence.
The last disc of Music For New Romantics continues this scattershot approach. A long, Disco version of the title track of Marianne Faithfull’s Broken English gives us a smart point of departure and it is always a joy to hear Billy Mackenzie and The Associates, with a golden Club Country being their shot here. The Tom Tom Club’s Genius Of Love is featured here in its 7 inch mix before it became a Hip Hop sampling standard and the Punk Funk attack of Shack Up by A Certain Ratio still hits the mark too.
Factory labelmates New Order chip in with a synth-enhanced, Blue Monday trailblazing dancer in Everything’s Gone Green, but it is a bit of a stretch to say the least to imagine Bristol’s Glaxo Babies as New Romantics. The compiler even makes a comparison between them, A Certain Ratio and his band Blue Rondo A La Turk, which seems like wistful thinking on his part to me. Going back to the Glaxos, their Funky Shake (The Foundations) was on the recent set of the same name, so a further search around their oeuvre should have been conducted.
Chaz Jankel’s Ai No Corrida is brill, but he didn’t write “Funk songs like Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” and “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll””, he wrote the tunes that went with Ian Dury’s lyrics. There is no denying that Ze was an important label in the early 1980s and it is represented here by the gimmicky sound of Don Armando’s Second Avenue Rhumba Band’s I’m An Indian Too and the rather more impressive Me No Pop I by Coati Mundi.
Gina X Peformance’s cool No GDM is another great that had to be here, but the final strait of Music For New Romantics again falls back on potent but dog-eared oldies in Sister Sledge’s Lost In Music and Funkytown by Lipps Inc. Fine records again admittedly, but pretty predictable selections as well. The whole set concludes with the Captain Scarlet theme by Barry Gray. That tune was covered by an early version of Siouxsie And The Banshees and later by The UK Subs, though that might be a sore point for the clubbers.
To be totally honest I could do without the occasional self-aggrandising moments that crop up amongst the sleeve notes. They come over in my view like an overgrown teenager vainly trying to assert how cool they were 40 years ago; this feels unnecessary in 2022 and lets the boxset down. I know New Romanticism was built on elitist attitude, but all these years on it comes over as just daft and a bit too needy to me.
That Music For New Romantics cherry picks so much from Post Punk, New Wave and Funk does point slightly to the genre’s alleged lack of substance too. In addition, a keener eye should have been applied to the liner notes, as I picked out a few inaccuracies along the way (Funkytown certainly wasn’t on the We Are Family album for one). Perhaps I am being a little tough on this set though. Putting all that to one side, this is a decent survey of 1980s clubland activity, including its fair share of floor fillers and memorable tunes. It is just a shame that with a little more care, it could have been so much better.
Various Artists – Music For New Romantics can be purloined here
10 track debut album from a new Michigan-based Pop/Rock duo of Tom Curless and Chip Saam. Ian Canty writes…
Tom Curless and Chip Saam, who make up Crossword Smiles, have both gained experience from years spent on the Michigan music scene prior to when they decided to team up. Curless records as a solo artist and was formerly part of the band Your Gracious Host. For his part, Saam hosts the Indie Pop Takeout radio show and played bass in The Hangabouts. He is also part of Tom Curless’ backing outfit The 46%.
The pair joined forces as Crossword Smiles a couple of years back, a partnership forged through a shared love of classy New Wave and Indie Pop. They take influence from some of the less heralded artists of those genres and apply this into their own melange, creating something tuneful and infectious that is truly their own. After releasing the catchy Parallel Lines single a few months back, they now return with their first long player Pressed & Ironed.
Our introduction to Pressed & Ironed comes in the form of the alternately ringing and crunchy Feet On The Ground. There is both craft and restrained muscle on display here, plus some cool harmonies, all of which combine agreeably. A very melodic This Little Town comes next and has a little of the New Wave punch and acid eye of the great Joe Jackson about it. A beautiful and wistful October Leaves, an autumn song that is right on the money for the weather in the UK at the time of writing, is the preface for the ace Parallel Lines single, which sports bracing freshness that is presented in a triumphant Folk Pop mode.
A simple structure and straightforward good-time approach is used on Where’s The Sense, which I found was thoroughly disarming. I particularly liked the keyboard part on this one, a neat piece of fine detail. Then comes the gleaming high energy Psych Pop/Rock of Lotus, one of the highlights of the LP. It really takes off due to snappy guitar and a lively drum sound. The next tune Walk Softly offers a complete change in emphasis, pedal steel playing a part in the pared-back, well-drawn atmosphere. But it still sports an attractive hook and the playing is tastefully top notch.
The power is back on a tense intro to the short and sweet The Girl With The Perchant For Yellow, great modern Power Pop that is put together with real panache. Second Guesser harks back to the kind of knowing songwriting that was a fixture on the British charts in the late 1970s, acoustic and electric guitars mixing really well and another one with a winner of a refrain. Pressed & Ironed’s final offering Take It On The Chin has a lyric of no-nonsense common sense and some tough riffing. Both come together delightfully and make for an exhilarating way on which to end the album.
On this long player Crossword Smiles come over as the real Pop/Rock thing, far away from some sort of aimless side-project dabbling. Though the band was put together with the intention of paying tribute to acts like The Go-Betweens, The Cars and the aforementioned Mr Jackson, Crossword Smiles easily transcends these influences, quickly moving instead towards an original sound with grace, urgency and intelligence. A fine Pop compendium is the result.
slicing through the static 