330 Hello The Police - Can't Stand Losing You

Chart  entered : 7  October  1978

Chart  peak : 42  ( 2  on  reissue  in  1979, 17  as  part  of  the  "Six  Pack"  release  in  1980 )

Number  of  hits : 16

One  of  the  more  controversial  groups  of  the  era, more  than  thirty-five  years  on  you  still  get  people  describing  The  Police  as  "anti-punk" , "bandwagon  jumpers"  or  other  dismissive  terms  for  their  ages, musical  chops or  appropriation  of  reggae ( though  they  were  hardly  alone  in  that ).

The  Police's  story  begins  with  a  meeting  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  in  November  1976. Prog-rockers  Curved  Air  were  playing  there. Since  their  early 70s  hey-day  they'd  been  through  a  number  of  personnel  changes  and  now  featured  an  American  drummer  Stewart  Copeland  who'd  stepped  up  from  being  a  roadie  in  1975. Stewart  was  born  in  1951. His  father  was  in  the  CIA  and  Stewart  had  lived  all  over  the  place  as  a  youngster. His  brother  Miles  had  been  involved  in  A& R  since  1969  and  was  based  in  England. Miles  signed  Curved  Air to  his  agency  British  Talent  Management  which  doubtless  helped  Stewart  get  the  gig.

It  was  a  poisoned  chalice  though. Stewart  played  on  two  albums  "Midnight  Wire"  and  "Airborne",  getting  some  songwriting  credits  on  the  latter  though  the  recording  sessions  for  both  were  highly  acrimonious. They  also  found  the  band  caught  between  two  stools, the  folk-influenced  light  prog  of  happier  times  and  a  more  mainstream  soft  rock  sound, and  badly  missing  keyboard  wizard  Francis  Monkman. Stewart  co-wrote  the impressive  single  "Desiree", which  reminds  me  of  The  Pierces,  which  was  released  in  June  1976  but  it  went  nowhere. In  November  they  released  a  poor  Southern boogie  version  of  "Baby  Please  Don't  Go"  as  a  last  throw  of  the  dice  but  were  in  agreement  that  their  tour  that  autumn  was  likely  to  be  their  last.  Stewart  did  have  the  consolation  of  a  burgeoning  personal  relationship  with  singer  Sonja  Kristina.

Musically  though  he  needed  a  new  partner  and  that's  where  his  chance  meeting  with  Gordon  "Sting  "  Sumner .  Gordon  was  born  in  Wallsend  in  1951  and  after  a string  of  menial  jobs  went  to  college  and  became  a  teacher. He  played  jazz  in  the  evenings  and  weekends  picking  up  the  nickname  "Sting"  from  a  black  and  yellow jumper  he  wore  during  a  stint  as  bassist  with  the  Phoenix  Jazzmen. He  was  in  a  similar  situation  to  Stewart , playing  in  a  jazz  fusion  group  Last  Exit  who  weren't  getting  anywhere. They  released  just  one  single  "Whispering  Voices" , which  sounds  a  bit  like  Argent  on  valium, on  a  small  Newcastle  label  in  1975. They  recorded  demos  but  never  got  signed  up  by  a  big  label. Sting  would  recycle  much  of  the  material  he  wrote  for  them  both  in  The  Police  and  in  his  solo  career.

After  exchanging  phone  numbers  Sting  dropped  in  on  Stewart in  January  1977  finding  him  in  a  squat  and  playing  his  drums  as  a  weapon  to  drive  others  out  of  the  building. Curved  Air  had  just  evaporated  and  Stewart  was  eager  to  get  involved  in  the  punk  movement. Sting  was  less  certain  of  taking  this  direction  but  eventually  agreed  to  say  goodbye  to  both  Last  Exit  and  teaching. He  went  along  with  Stewart's  choice  of  guitarist , Henry  Padovani ,  a  Corsican  born  in  1952  , who  had   also  met  the  drummer  on  that  last  Curved  Air  tour.

The  Police  played  their  first  gig  in  March  1977  and  in  May  released  their  first  single  "Fall  Out"  on  Miles  Copeland's  Illegal  label.  Written  by  Stewart   it's  an  energetic  two  minute  punk  workout  with  only  Sting's  vocals  giving  any  indication  that  they  had  something  distinctive  to  offer. Stewart's  lyrics  are  some  fluff  about  being  a  non-conformist  influenced  by  a  couple  of  lines  in  Dylan's  Subterranean  Homesick  Blues . It's  the  only  single  Henry  played  on  and  even  then  he  only  plays  the  solo with  Stewart  handling  all  the  riff  and  rhythm  work. It  didn't  sell  many  copies  on  its  first  release  but  became  their  fourth  hit  , peaking  at  number  47  when  re-issued  in  the  wake  of  "Message  In  A  Bottle"  in  the  autumn  of  1979.  We'll  see  this  happen  quite  often  with  bands  over  the  next  few  years .

Sting  accepted  an  invitation  from  former  Gong  man  Mike  Howlett  to  play  bass  on  a  new  project  called  Strontium  90. His  initial  choice  of  drummer  dropped  out  so  Sting  invited  Stewart  along  to  the  sessions. There  they  met  Howlett's  guitarist  friend  Andy  Summers . 

 Andy  of  course  has  crossed  our  path  a  couple  of  times  already. Born  in  Poulton-le-Fylde  in  1942  he  first  emerged  in  the  early  sixties  as  guitarist  with  the  rhythm   and  blues  outfit  Zoot  Money's  Big  Band.  In  1964  they  were  signed  to  Decca  and  released  the  single  "The  Uncle  Willie" a  great  dance  number  where  Zoot's  raucous  vocal  is  matched  by  his  crazy  Hammond  break. That  was  their  only  release  on  Decca. They  switched  to  Columbia  where  their  next  release  "Gin  House" showed  they  could  do  soul  as  well  with  bassist  Paul  Williams  providing  a  vocal  worthy  of  Sam  Cooke  although I'm  not  sure  the  rest  of  the  band have  got  the  tempo  right. They  released  a  string  of  singles, none  of  them  self-written,  in  1965-66  but  only  one  of  them, the  perky  sax-led  "Big  Time  Operator"  where  Zoot  sounds  very  like  Georgie  Fame,  was  a  hit  , reaching  number  25 . This  led  on  to  their  live  LP  "Zoot  Live  At  Kloot  Kleek"  making  the  album  charts  at  number  23. The  follow-up  single  "Star  of  the  Show"  which  drew  heavily  on  Stax  influences  failed  to  do  anything .

In  1967  the  band  split  and  Andy  and  Zoot  re-surfaced  in  a  pyschedelic  band  called  Dantalion's  Chariot.  They  quickly  gained  a  live  reputation  through  their  light  show  and  white  robed  stage  costumes.  They  released  one  single  in  September  1967  "Madman  Running  Through  The  Fields"  written  by  Zoot  and  Andy.  It's  a  classic  example  of  British  psychedelia  with  the  lyrics  describing  an  acid  trip  amid  sinister  organ, phasing  effects  and  pastoral  interludes. Andy  had  been  practically  inaudible  on  the  Big  Roll  Band  releases  but  his  guitar  now  had  a  bigger  role. Unfortunately  EMI  hated  the  change  of  direction  and  dropped  them. They  moved  on  to  CBS  and  recorded  an  album  "Chariot  Rising"  but  CBS now  rejected  it  and  it  didn't  see  the  light  of  day  until  1996.

This  broke  the  band  up. Zoot  accepted  a  long-standing  invitation  to  join  Eric  Burdon  and  the  Animals  while  Andy  had  a  brief  stint  in  Soft  Machine before  being  fired  at  the  insistence  of  bassist  Kevin  Ayers  during  an  Aerican  tour. Andy  then  joined  Zoot  in  the  Animals  and  played  on  the  last  album  "Love  Is"  and  final  hit  "Ring  Of  Fire". In  fact  the  whole  of  side  4  is  actually  a  medley  of  Dantalian's  Chariot  songs. Most  of  the  album  is  made  up  of  covers and  on  a  version  of  Traffic's  "Coloured  Rain"  Andy  gets  to  play  a  four  and  a  half  minute  solo  ( rather  tedious  to  be  honest ).

The  album  was  poorly  received  and  the  band  broke  up  in  1969. Andy  then  dropped  out  of  the  music  business  for  five  years  living  in  LA  with  his  girlfriend  and  enrolling  at  Califonia  State  University. Eventually  he  started  feeling  the  pinch  financially  and  returned  to  London  in  1974 . He  became  a  guitarist  for  hire, recording  and  touring  with  David  Essex, Joan  Armatrading, Kevin  Ayers, Jon  Lord  and  Neil  Sedaka  amongst  others  before  Howlett  got  in  touch.

Sting  had  never  been satisfied  with  Henry's  contributions  so  he  immediately  suggested  Andy  be  drafted  into  The  Police . Andy  ( and  probably  Sting )  wanted  the  band  to  be  a  trio  from  the  start  but  Stewart  resisted  the  idea  of  bumping  Henry  so  the group  were  briefly  a  quartet  in  the  summer  of  1977. After  a  dismal  recording  session  with  John  Cale  in  August  further  exposed  Henry's  limitations  Stewart  could  no  longer  protect  him  and  told  him  he  was  out.

Miles  was  not  happy  with  this  turn  of  events  believing  that  having  a 35-year-old  ex-hippie  in  the  line  up  would  destroy  their  credibility  with  the  punk  movement  and  would  only  release  a  paltry  sum  for  recording  their  debut  LP. During  this  difficult  period  the  band  would  do  almost  anything  to  make  ends  meet  from  working  with  experimental  German  composer  Eberhard  Schoener  to  famously  dyeing  their  hair  blonde  for  a  chewing  gum  commercial  that  was  never  actually  shown. Then  Miles  heard  a  song  that  they'd  written  about  a  prostitute  "Roxanne"  and  was  convinced  that  they'd  come  up  with  something  saleable. He  took  it  to  A &  M  who  agreed  and  signed  the  band.

"Roxanne"  became  their  second  single  in  April  1978. Another  setback  arrived when  it  failed  to  make  the  Radio  One  playlist. Miles  spun  this  as  a  BBC  ban  caused  by  the  lyric  about  a  prostitute  but  there's  no  evidence  that  the  panel's  decision  took  any  account  of  the  subject  matter. At  the  same  time  the  band  were  pulling  out  all  the  stops  to  get  a  session  with  John  Peel. He  reluctantly  agreed  but  thereafter  led  the  backlash  against  them. Years  later  on  Desert  Island  Discs  when  flattered  by  Sue  Lawley  about  his  role  as  tastemaker  he  deflected  it  by  saying  he  hadn't  stopped  The  Police  or  U2  becoming  successful.

In  the  summer  Stewart  came  up  with  the  novelty  punk  song  "Don't  Care"  which  he  recorded  by  himself  and  released  on  the  Kryptone  label  as  Klark  Kent. When  it  attracted  a  bit  of  attention  A & M  took  over  and  released  it  on  green  vinyl  propelling  it  to  number  48  and  a  Top  of  the  Pops  appearance  where  he  wore  a  disguise  despite  the  fact  few  people  would  have  recognised  him  if  he  hadn't. Andy  and  Sting  were  among  his  masked  backing  band  although  neither  had  played  on  the  single. "Klark"  would  release  three subsequent  singles  to  deafening  disinterest.

Next  came  "Can't  Stand  Losing  You "  which  was   banned  by  the  BBC  due  to  the  cover  of   a  noosed  Stewart  standing  on  a  block  of  ice  by  a  radiator ( a  couple  of  yeas  before  Noel  Edmunds  singlehandedly  made  a  song  called  "Suicide  Is  Painless"  a  number  one  hit ).  I've  already  written  about  it  here
 

329 Hello Chris Rea - Fool ( If You Think It's Over )

Chart  entered : 7  October  1978

Chart  peak : 30

Number  of  hits : 29

Like  Kate  Bush, though  on  a  less  spectacular  scale, Chris  broke  into  the  charts  at  a  time  when  his  music  didn't  seem  to  fit  with  anything  else  that  was  going  on.

Chris  Rea  was  born  in  Middlesbrough  in  1951  to  an  Anglo-Italian  father  who  owned  a  chain  of  ice  cream  shops  and  Irish  mother.  He  was  already  in  his  twenties  by  the  time  he  bought  his  first  guitar  and  taught  himself  how  to  play  from  listening  to  blues  records. In  1973  he  joined  the  local  band  Magdalene  who  never  got  a  deal  then  formed  his  own  group  The  Beautiful  Losers.  They  did  achieve  some  recognition  but  when  Magnet  Records  came  calling  they  wanted  Chris  as  a  solo  artist.

Chris  released  his  first  single  "So  Much  Love "  produced  by  Peter  Shelley  ( the  other  one )  in  May  1974.  It's  a  beefy  pop  rock  effort  with  melodic  similarities  to  Children  Of  The  Revolution  in  the  main  riff  and  a  strong  chorus. Chris  addresses  the  song  to  a  girl  who's  playing  hard  to  get  but  it  sounds  more  like  a  threat  than  a  plea, a  sign  of  the  dark  edge  prevalent  in  much  of  his  early  work. It  didn't  get  much  attention  possibly  because  his  raspy  vocals  are  too  low  in  the  mix.

Then  there's  a  four  year  gap   before  his  next  single  which  has never  been  fully  explained. There  seems  to  have  been  some  conflict  with  Magnet  over  his  artistic  direction. They  wanted  a  singer-songwriter  with  a  suggested  new  name  of  Benny  Santini  while  he  saw  himself  as  primarily  a  guitarist  who  wrote  his  own  material.  And  so  he played  on  records  by  folk  group  Arbre, Hank  Marvin  and  Catherine  Howe  before  delivering  anything  more.

Finally  in  March  1978  he  came  up  with  this  one.  "Fool ( If  You  Think  It's  Over ) "  was  written  as  a  compassionate  consolation  to  his  teenage  sister  who'd  just  been  dumped  for  the  first  time  and  its  sincerity  is  plain  in  both  the  lyric  and  Chris's  husky  delivery. "New  born  eyes  always  cry  with  pain  at  the  first  sight  of  the  morning  sun"  has  to  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful  lines  in  pop. The  melody  is  equally  gorgeous.

But  Chris  himself  has  always  been  ambivalent  about  the  arrangement  by  RAH  Band  man  Richard  Hewson  and  producer  Gus  Dudgeon. He  says  it's  the  only  record  he  didn't  play  any  guitar  on and  re-recorded  it  for  his  greatest  hits  LP. I  agree  with  him  that  there's  a  lack  of  bite  there; you  have  a  lazy  sax  break  from  Steve  Gregory  where  a  guitar  solo  would  have  been  better  and  though  I  like  the  choppy  percussion  hook  for  the  intro , its  persistence  through  the  song  does  anchor  it  in  a  mellow  AOR  groove  which  doubtless  helped  its  prospects  in  the  US  where  it  reached  number  12. That  in  turn  led  to  its  belated  appearance  in  the  charts  here.

It  was  something  of  an  outlier  hit  for  Chris  and  returned  to  the  charts in  a  cover  ( actually  a  bigger  hit  ) by  Elkie  Brooks  long  before  he  had  another  Top  30  hit.

328 Hello The Skids - Sweet Suburbia

Chart  entered : 23  September  1978

Chart  peak : 70

Number of  hits : 10

This  lot  weren't  around  for  long  - their  hit  span  is  only  fractionally  longer  than  Bill  Haley's -  but  they  made  their  mark.

The  Skids  had  formed  barely  a  year  earlier  in  Dunfermline  , playing  their  first  gig  there  in  August  1977. The  original  founders  were  guitarist  Stuart  Adamson  who  was  born  in  Manchester  in  1958  but  whose  parents  returned  to  Scotland  when  he  was  four  and  bassist   William  Simpson  ( born  1958 ) .  They  had  been  in  a  short  lived  covers  band  called  Tattoo  together. They  recruited  drummer  Thomas  Kellichan ( born  1954  )  through  an  ad  then  had  a  chance  meeting  with  "the  only  other  punk  in  town"  , 16  year  old   miner's  son  Richard  Jobson  who  became  their  singer  and  lyricist.

In  true  punk  fashion  their  first  record  was  an  EP  on  an  independent  label  No  Bad  set  up  by  a  local  music  shop  owner  Sandy  Muir. It  was  released  at  the  tail  end  of  1977. The  main  track  "Charles"  is  a  prescient  tale  of  a  manual  worker  being  made  redundant  by  technology  told  as  a  sardonic  Ballardian  yarn.  Much  of   The  Skids'  sound  is  already  in  place, stiff-wristed  drumming,  heavy  melodic  riffing   and  Richard's  declamatory  yelping  though  the  lyric  is  untypically  direct.  "Reasons "  has  the  first  outing  for  Stuart's  bagpipe  guitar  sound  in  the  instrumental  break  but  is  otherwise  punk-by-numbers   and  "Test  Tube  Babies" is  loutish  and  unlovable.  John  Peel  picked  up  on  "Charles"  and  invited  them  down  for  a  session. Virgin  got  in  touch  straight  afterwards  and  signed  them  up  in  April  1978.

"Sweet  Suburbia" was  their  first  single  for  the  label. The  first  15,000  copies  were  on  white  vinyl  and  the  sleeve  carried  a  sarcastic  sticker  saying "This  white  vinyl  record  has  a  weird  promotional  gimmick. You'll  like  it !". The  sleeve  design  featured  an  antelope  in  high  heels  with  a  well-defined  genital  area  for  no  apparent  reason.

Like  most  of  their  songs  Stuart  wrote  the  music  and  Richard  the  lyrics. The  joy  of  Richard's  lyrics  is  that  his  Scottish  brogue  and, to  be  kind, untutored  singing  make  them  virtually  unintelligible  and  your  own  guess  at  what  they  could  be  is  likely  to  make  more  sense  than  what  they  actually  are  written  down. The  title  hints  at  some  sort  of  recognition  of  where  most  of  the  new  bands  , though  not  themselves  obviously , were  coming  from  but  "Living  on  the  paper  periscope / Hot  dog  life  for  the  antelope " and  "Time  for  one  to  seek  an  anti-soak" are  pretty  impenetrable".  What  matters  though  is  the  energy  , the  pogo-friendly  rhythm, football  chant  chorus  and  the  novel  sounds  that  Stuart  wrings  out  of  his  guitar  in  the  course  of  a  two-and-a- half  minute  pop  single. It's  not  their  best  or  most  successful  single  but  it  certainly  made  a  great  calling  card.    


 

327 Hello Motorhead - Louie Louie

Chart  entered : 16  September  1978

Chart  peak : 68

Number  of  hits :  17

This  one  marks  the  point  where  the  heavy  rock  scene  starts  to  fragment  with  some  acts  pulling  away  from  the  blues  influence  and  blurring  the  thin  line  between  metal  and  punk. Despite  their  ages  and  backgrounds  Motorhead  would  always  claim  to  be  punks.

The  pivotal  figure  in  Motorhead  is  of  course  Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister. He  was  born  in  Burslem  in  1945  but  the  family  moved  to  Wales  when  he  was  10. He  acquired  his  nickname  at  school  due  it's  believed  to  pleading  for  money  for  slot  machines. He  worked  in  menial  jobs  while  playing  guitar  in  pub  bands  then  followed  a  girl  to  Stockport  where  he  got  involved  in  the  Manchester  music  scene. His  first  band  of  note  were  Blackpool's  The  Rocking  Vickers   in  1965. They'd  already  released  one  single  and  their  main   gimmick  was  dressing  up  as  clergymen. They  were  popular  in  odd  territories  such  as  Yugoslavia  and  their  first  single  with  Lemmy,  "Stella"  was  only  released  in  Finland  and  Ireland. It's  quite  good  like  a  beefed  up  Herman's  Hermits  with  louder  guitars. Their  next  single  in  England  was  a  cover  of  The  Who's  "It's  Alright"  in  March  1966  in  the  freakbeat  style  with  some  wild  guitar  sounds  for  1966. Their  final  single  in  August  was  a  semi-acoustic  version  of  The  Kinks's "Dandy"  which  is  rather  tame  by  comparison  as  they  aimed  for  the  charts. However  that  was  scuppered  by  a  rival  version  from  Herman's  Hermits  which  didn't  chart  in  the  UK  but  made  number  5  in  the  US. The  band's  reliance  on  covers  was  making  them  an  anachronism  by  1967  and  they  split  up  that  year.

Lemmy  moved  to  London, sharing  a  flat  with  Noel  Redding  and  becoming  a  roadie  for  the  Jimi  Hendrix  Experience. In  1968  he  joined  the  reformed  Sam  Gopal, a  pyschedelic  rock  outfit  where  he  took  on  the  role  of  lead  vocalist   as  well  as  guitarist. Lemmy,  now  calling  himself  Ian  Willis  after  his  stepfather,  wrote  50%  of  the  album  "Escalator"  released  in  1969.Sam  Gopal  were  of  their  time; their  USP was  Gopal  himself  playing  tablas  rather  than  drums  and  the  LP  is  OK  in  an  early  Floyd   sort  of   way  though  let  down  by  Lemmy's  expressionless   singing   and  a  terrible  plodding  version  of  "Season  of  the  Witch".

Lemmy  was  soon  on  the  move  again,  switching  to   Opal  Butterfly  in  time  to  play  on  their  fourth  single "Groupie  Girl"  in  1969. It's  a  decent  Monkees-ish  pop  tune but  with  its  uncompromising  lyric  and  then  a  nude  woman  on  the  sleeve  it  was  soon  banned. By  the  time  it  was  resurrected  for  a  film  of  the  same  name  the  following  year  Lemmy  had  moved  on  again.

At  the  beginning  of  1972  both  he  and  Opal  Butterfly's  drummer  Simon  King  joined  Hawkwind. Lemmy  switched  to  bass  guitar  which  he  played  as  a lead  instrument. He  had  barely  got  his  feet  under  the  table  when  he  found  himself  near  the  top  of  the  singles  charts.  Someone  saw  that  the  track  "Silver  Machine"  ,recorded  for  a  live  LP  featuring  two  other  bands , had  potential  as  a  single  instead. There  was  a  problem  though  in  that  the  vocal  by  their  volatile  singer  and lyricist  Robert  Calvert  was  dreadful. When  he  was  helpfully  incarcerated  in  a  mental  institution  for  a  spell  the  band went  into  the  studio  to  record  an  alternative  vocal  and  it  was  agreed  that  Lemmy's  attempt  was  the  best. The  song  shot  to  number  3  in the  summer  of  1972  and  has  been  a  hit  three  times.

Of  course  Hawkwind  weren't  really  about  hit  singles. The  template  for  their  version  of  space  rock,  pounding  hard  rock  with  trippy  washes  of  synthesiser  had  already  been  laid  down  but  Lemmy's  heavy  bass  playing  gave  an   added  density  to  the  sound. He  recorded  three  studio  albums  with  the  band  and  is  featured  on  the  live  LP "Space  Ritual".  His  time  with  the  band  came  to  an  end  in  May  1975  when  he  was  arrested  for  possession  on  the  Canadian  border . Although  he  got  off  on  a  technicality  the  band  used  the  incident  as  an  excuse  to  fire  him.

Lemmy  immediately  started  his  own  band  with  guitarist  Larry  Wallis  and  drummer  Lucas  Fox. He  wanted  to  call  it  "Bastard"  but  wiser  counsels  prevailed  and  they  became  Motorhead  after  Lemmy's  last  song  for  Hawkwind.  Eschewing  Hawkwind's  esoteric  preoccupations  Lemmy  determined  that  the  band  would  play  loud, fast, and  direct  rock  and  roll. They  started  gigging  in  July  and  were  supporting  Blue  Oyster  Cult  by  July. Signed  up  by  United  Artists  they  started  recording  at  Rockfield  Studios  at  the  end  of  the  year.  During  the  sessions, Lemmy became  dissatisfied  with  Fox's  commitment  to  the  band  and  replaced  him  with  Phil  "Philthy  Animal"  Taylor.  Phil  came  from  Chesterfield  and  was  nearly  ten  years  younger  than  Lemmy . He  had  no  real  musical  background  at  all  but  convinced  Lemmy  he  could  play  and  he  had  a  car  that  would  come  in  handy. He  overdubbed  all  Fox's  contributions  except  for  one  track  because  the  studio  time  elapsed  while  he  was  under  arest  for  being  drunk  and  disorderly. The  record  label  found  the  album  unsatisfactory  and  refused  to  release  it  until  1979  when  it  came  out  as  "On  Parole."

Phil  then  persuaded  Lemmy  that  the  band  would  benefit  from  a  second  guitarist  and  suggested  "Fast"  Eddie  Clarke  whom  he  had  met  while  working  on  a  houseboat. Eddie, born  in  Twickenham  in  1950  did  have  some  musical  pedigree.  His  first  band  of  note  were  Curtis  Knight  Zeus  led  by  Jimi  Hendrix  associate   Knight  whom  he joined  in  1974. He  played  on  the  album   "The  Second  Coming"   which  has  its  moments  but  its  psychedelic  rock  sound  with  unsurprisingly  Hendrix-like  vocals  was  old  for  its  time. Eddie  and  two  other  members  then  helped  out  guitarist  Allan  Callan  on  a  n  album  project  Blue  Goose. When  the  results  secured  Callan  a  recording  contract  they  jumped  ship. However  Eddie  and  Callan  soon  fell  out  over  the  use  of  Eddie's  amplifiers. He  was  fired  and  then  refused  to  return  when  Callan  relented . He  was  still  credited  as  co-composer  of  one  track  when  the  album  was  released. Eddie  tried  to  get  a  deal  with  his  next  group  Continuous  Performance   without luck.

Wallis  quit  immediately  after  Eddie  had  been  auditioned  in  March  1976, to  return  to  his  former  group  the  Pink  Fairies.  By  this  time  punk  was  under  way  and  the  band  soon  struck  up  a  friendship  with  The  Damned. They  also  found  that  punk  fans  were  starting  to  come  to  their  gigs. This  led  them  to  Stiff  who  tried  to  release  their  version  of  Holland-Dozier-Holland's  "Leaving  Here"  as  a  single  but  were  stopped by  an  injunction  from  United  Artists.  "Leaving  Here "  would  eventually  make  the  charts,  and  Top  of  the  Pops ,  as  lead  track  of  their  "Golden  Years"  EP  in  1980.  It  does  have  more  in  common  with  Sham  69  than  Whitesnake  and  Lemmy  seems  to  have  swallowed  a  bucketful  of  grit  since  Silver  Machine.  

Back  in  1977  however  Motorhead  were  going  to  call  it  a  day  but  were  dissuaded  by  Ted  Carroll  of  Chiswick  Records  who  put  them  in  the  studio  with  Thunderclap  Newman's  Speedy  Kean  to  make  a  single. The  band  were  even  more  speedy  than  Mr Kean  and  put  down  enough  tracks  for  an  album. I'm  not  quite  sure  why  United  Artists  were  able  to  stop  Stiff  but  not  Chiswick. The  single, a  new  version  of  "Motorhead"  did  nothing  but  the  parent  album  made  the  charts  at  number  43.

The  band  attracted  a  new  manager  in  The  Move's  notorious  Tony  Secunda   who  achieved  little  but  to  alienate  Carroll   and  prompt  Eddie  and  Phil  to  start  moonlighting  with  a  group  called  The  Muggers. He  was  quickly  replaced  by  Douglas  Smith  who  got  them  signed  with  Bronze , initially  for  this  one  single.

I've  no  memory  of   this  from  the  time,  despite  the  fact  they  got  to  do  it  on  Top  of  the  Pops  and  am  slightly  surprised  by  Neil  Richmond's  clean  production  and  the  restraint  shown  in  tackling  the  Kingsmen's  garage  punk  classic. Lemmy  tones  his  growl  down  so  that  the  lyrics  are  more  intelligible  than  on  the  original,  Eddie's  guitar  solo  is  conventional  and  Phil  stays  on  the  beat.  Bronze's  head  honcho  thought  it  was  dreadful  and  it  was  seeing  them  live  rather  than  the  single's  modest  chart  performance  that  persuaded  him  to  offer  them  a  long-term  deal.  And  so  "Louie  Louie"  turned  their  fortunes  around  but  aside  from that  I  think  it's  pretty  disposable.

326 Hello Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hong Kong Garden

Chart  entered : 26  August  1978

Chart  peak : 7

Number  of  hits : 29 ( some  members  had  additional  hits  in  other  guises )

There's  a lot  of  firsts  here.  Besides  being  the  band's  debut  single , it  was  the  first  record  any  of  its  members  had  made. Arguably, it  was  the  first  post-punk  hit, definitely  the  first  to  make  the  Top  10. It  was  also  the  first  hit  for  producer  Steve  Lillywhite.

Susan  Ballion  was  born  in  Kent  in  1957  to  a  Belgian  father  and  English  mother . She  had  a  difficult  childhood  marked  by  alcoholism,  sexual  abuse, illness  and  death. In  1975, while  working  as  a  waitress,  she  met  Stephen  Bailey ( born  1955 ) at  a  Roxy  Music  concert   and  they  started  following  the  Sex  Pistols  as  part  of  a  larger  group  of  suburbanites  christened  by  journalist  Caroline  Coon  the  "Bromley  Contingent", a  term  Bailey  subsequently  disowned. Susan's  original  look, black  spiky  hair, fishnet  stockings, swastika  armbands  ( for  which  she  was  beaten  up  in  Paris )  was  highly  influential  on  punk  fashion. In  September  1976  she  and  Bailey  formed  a  makeshift  band  to  "play" the  100  Club  Punk  Festival  despite  having  no  songs  or  musical  experience. With  the  aid  of  hastily  recruited  volunteers  in  the  form  of  guitarist  Marco  Pirroni  and  Sid  Vicious  on  drums,  they  bluffed  their  way  through  a  20  minute  improvisation  around  the  Lord's  Prayer. Susan  re-christened  herself  Siouxsie  Sioux  while  Steve  ( on  bass )  became  Steve  Havoc  although  he  later  adopted  the  more  arty   surname  Severin  derived  from  the  Velvet  Underground's  Venus  In  Furs . 

The  Pistols  welcomed  her  adherence  and  invited  her  along  to  the  Today  interview  in  December  1976  where  she  was  the  inadvertent  catalyst  for  Steve  Jones's  expletives  when  Bill  Grundy  tried  chatting  her  up  ( though  she  was  handling  Grundy  fine  on  her  own ) .  Perhaps  wisely  Siouxsie  ( as  we  shall  now  call  her )  and  Steve  distanced  themselves  from  the  Pistols  after  that  and  started  working  on  their  own  music.

They  picked  up  art  student  Kenny  Morris  ( born  1957 )  and  a  guitarist  Peter  Fenton  in  January  1977  but  the  latter  proved  far  too  traditional  for  their  tastes  and  in  July  he  was  replaced  by  another  art  student  John  McKay.  The  band  quickly  became  a  top  live  draw  in  London  and  the  record  companies  started  sniffing  around  them. Siouxsie  was  anxious  that  any  deal  should  give  them  full  artistic  control  and  held  off  from  signing  contracts  that  fell  short  of  her  ideal. An  enthusiastic  fan  misreading  the  situation  took  a  pot  of  paint  to  some  of  the  record  companies'  offices  and  daubed  "Sign  the  Banshees  ! Do  It  Now ! "  on  the  outside  walls, an  event  that  has  been  fondly  exaggerated  over  the  years. Polydor  eventually  came  up  with  the  right  deal  and  they  signed  in  June.

"Hong  Kong  Garden"  was  already  a  live  favourite. The  oriental  melody  first  picked  out  on  a  xylophone  and  then  searingly  repeated  on  the  guitar  was  John's  contribution. Siouxsie's  lyrics  were  inspired  by  the  stoicism  of  the  staff  at  a  Chinese  restaurant  of  that  name  while  under  racist  fire  from  skinhead  customers. They  are  not  , by  today's  standards  , politically  correct  ( and  this  would  be  a  recurring  feature  of  their  material )  although  I  have  now  noted  that  the  lyric  I'd  always  heard  as  "a  race  of  bullies  small  in  size"   actually  says   the  less  offensive "a  race  of  bodies ".  She  also  gets  China  and  Japan  a  bit  mixe  up  with  the  line  "Place  your  yens  on  the  counter  please". The  imperious  hauteur  of  Siouxsie's  voice  and  the  controlled  abrasiveness  of   John's   guitar  along  with  the  nagging  pulse  of  Steve's  bassline  sounded  startlingly  fresh and  then  they  up  the  ante  with  an  instrumental  coda  of  increasing  pace  and  ferocity  until  a  gong  brings  proceedings  to  a  close.

It  was  a  brilliant  debut  and  completed  the  grand  slam  of  getting  Single  of  the  Week  in  all  four  of  the  music  weeklies. More  importantly  it  went  straight  to  daytime  play  on  Radio  One,  by-passing  the  usual  slow  progression  from  Peel  to  Bates , where  it  couldn't  fail  to  make  a  major  impression. And yet , like  Wuthering  Heights  earlier  in  the  year,   there's  a  sense  in  which  it  was  too  good, an  impossibly  hard  act  to  follow. In  commercial  terms  the  band  would  only  surpass  it  with  a  Beatles  cover  five  years  later  and  most  of  their  subsequent  singles  didn't  get  anywhere  near  the  Top  10. That's  perhaps  the  price  you  pay  for  creating  something  so  epochal  so  soon.

325 Hello Phil Fearon* - Don't Wanna Say Goodnight

( * as  part  of  Kandidate )

Chart  entered :  19  August  1978

Chart  peak  : 47

Number  of  hits  : 13  ( 4  with  Kandidate, 7 with  Galaxy, 2  solo )

Phil  Fearon  was  born  in  Jamaica  in  1956  but  moved  to  London  with  his  family  at  the  start  of  the  sixties. He  started  his  career  in  music  by  running  a  reggae  sound  system  then  joined  a  group  called  Hott  Waxx  who  became  Brit-funkers  Hi-Tension  after  he'd  left.   The  seven  piece   Kandidate  were  formed  around  1975  with  Phil  as  the  guitarist. He  co-wrote  their  first  single  "I'm  Coming"   released  on  the  Vulcan  label  in  November  1975. I  haven't  heard  it.  Information  on  the  band  is  scarce  so  I've  no  idea  what  they  did  before  they  turned  up  on  RAK  in  June  1978  with  this  single. Presumably  Mickie  Most  was  looking  for  his  own  version  of  The  Real  Thing.

"Don't  Wanna  Say  Goodnight"  was  written  by  ex-Argent  man  Russ  Ballard, fresh  from  his  triumph  with  Hot  Chocolate's  So  You  Win  Again.  Unfortunately  "Don't  Wanna  Say  Goodnight"  is not  of  the  same  calibre. The  song  is  indifferent  at  best  and  the  bland,  over-produced  backing  track  is  only  interesting  as  predictive  of  the  late  eighties  wine  bar  funk  of the  likes  of  Swing  Out  Sister  and  Curiosity  Killed  The  Cat. The  harmonies  are  impressive  but  highlight  rather  than  mask  Teeroy  Morris's  thin  and  inadequate  lead  vocal. Phil  must  surely  have  thought  he  could   have  done  it   better. RAK's  promotional  muscle  made  the  single   a  minor  hit  which  was  perhaps  more  than  it  deserved.

324 Goodbye New Seekers - Anthem ( One Day In Every Week )

Chart  entered  : 15  July  1978

Chart  peak : 21

Amid  all  the  new  talent  breaking  through  in  1978  the  swansong  of  the  decade's  most  easily-forgotten  superstars  passed  almost  unnoticed. The  band  had  bossed  the  charts  in  the  early  seventies  scoring  two  million  selling  number  ones  with  "I'd  Like  To  Teach  The  World  To  Sing"  and  "You  Won't  Find  Another  Fool  Like  Me"  but  split  unexpectedly  in  May  1974  just  weeks  after  scoring  another  top  5  hit  with  "I  Get  A  Little  Sentimental  Over  You". In  1976  Eve  Graham, Marty  Kristian  and  Paul  Layton   reformed  the  group  with  newcomers  Kathy  Ann  Rae  and  Danny  Finn  ( no  relation  to  the  New  Zealand  boys  who'll  be  popping  up  here  before  too  long )  replacing  Lyn  Paul  and  Peter  Oliver  ( a  1973  replacement  for  Peter  Doyle )  and  scored  a  few  more  hits  but  they'd  lost  too  much  ground  to  Abba  and  Brotherhood  of  Man  and  couldn't  replicate  their  earlier  success. In  fact  this  one  was  coming  off   the  back  of  three  flop  singles  in  a  row.

"Anthem"  is  a  weird  one. The  song  was  a  cover  of  a  minor  Australian  hit  from  1968  by  the  band  Procession  featuring  future  Manfred  Mann's  Earth  Band  singer  Mick  Rogers  who  co-wrote  the  song. The   shambolic  original , which  seems  to  be  about  a kept  mistress , was  used  ten  years  later  in  the  UK  for  a  newspaper  ad  and  the  New  Seekers'  manager  David  Joseph,  who'd  also  been  Procession's  manager,  suggested  they  have  a  crack  at  the  song.  They  kept  the  a  cappella  arrangement  with  Danny  taking  the  lead  though  their's  is  a  considerably  cleaner  version  and   instrumentation  comes  in  ( to  not  much  effect )  at  the  end.  Still, there  are  some  startling   discordant  shrieks  and  it's  not  an  easy  listen.

When  they  appeared  on  Top  of  the  Pops  to   perform  it  Noel  Edmunds  announced  that  Eve  and  Danny  had  just  got  engaged.  Shortly  afterwards  they  decided  to  quit  the  group  leaving  Marty  as  the  only  original  member . That  really  killed  them  off  commercially. Eve  and  Danny  were  replaced  by  Vivien  Banks  and  Brian  Engel. Banks  lasted  for  just  two  singles  ,  singing  lead  with  quite  a  nice  vibrato  on   a  cover  of   Randy  Goodrun's   "You  Needed  Me"   which  lost  out  to  Anne  Murray's  version  and  also  appearing  on  the  likeable  disco  ballad  "Don't  Stop  The  Music"  on  which  Kathy  took  the  lead. That  one , written  by  Bonnie  Tyler's  songwriting  team, could  have  been  a  hit  with  airplay  but  I  think  they  were  now  seen  as  old  hat.

Banks  quit  when  CBS  dropped  them  in  1979  and  was  replaced  by  Nicola  Kerr.  Their  first  single  for  EMI  in  October  that  year  was  "Love  Is  A  Song"  which  I  haven't  heard. The  following  year  they  tried  for  another  shot  at  Eurovision  glory  with  the  cheesy  synth-pop  of  "Tell  Me"  but  it  was  disqualified  from  the  British  heats  because  they'd  already  performed  it  on  TV  the  previous  year. To  rub  salt  in  the  wound  Danny's  new  group  Prima  Donna  won  the  right  to  represent  the  UK. They  released  one  more  single  for  EMI, "California  Nights  "  written  by  Engel which  I  haven't  heard  before  being  let  go.

Kathy  briefly  left  the  line  up  in  1979  but  came  back   and  Donna  Jones  and  Mick  Flinn  from  the  group  Pussyfoot  replaced  Kerr  and  Engel. Kathy  quit  for  good  in  1983  and  the  group  continued  as  a  quartet. They  released  their  final  single  in  December  1985  "Let  The  Bells  Ring  Out  Forever"  on  the  tiny  Tomcat  label  , a  horrible  Christmas  power  ballad  in  the  style  of  Jennifer  Rush's  The  Power  Of  Love    which  richly  deserves  its  obscurity.

Still  they  soldiered  on  as  a  touring  act.  Teenager  Vikki  James  ( now  songwriter  Victoria  Horn )  brought  them  back  up  to  a  five  piece  from  1990  to  2002   when  she  left  along  with    Marty. Paul  soldiered  on  with  Jones  and  Flinn  and  newcomers  Francine  Rees  and  Mark  Hankins   and  that's  the  line  up  that  endures  to  this  day. In  July  2009  they  sneaked  some  new  recordings  onto  a  compilation  which  charted  at  number  17.

So  what  did  the  departees  get  up  to  ?  Lyn  immediately  put  out  a  solo  single  "Sail  The  Summer  Winds" the  theme  tune  to  a  yachting  film  The  Dove  written  by  Don  Black  and  John  Barry. With  the  film  not  doing  much  business  the  country-flavoured  single  sold   steadily  for  weeks  helped  by  an  appearance  on  Sez  Les  but  never  managed  to   break  into  the  Top  50.  Her  follow-up  was  a  brassy  music  hall  version  of  "Who's  Sorry  Now"  which  failed  despite  an  appearance  on  It's  Cliff.  Her  third  single  "Love"  written  by  Reed  and  Mason  is  the  best  record  Abba  never  made  but  still  couldn't  crack  the  charts.  Finally  the  overly  optimistic  "It  Oughta  Sell  A  Million" , a  lightly  jazz-flavoured  pop  tune   written  by  Cook  and  Greenaway  with  a  couple  of  others  became  her  only  solo  hit  reaching  number  37  in  the  summer  of  1975. Even  so  it  had  to be  helped  by  its  use  in  a  Coke  ad. Her  album  "Give  Me  Love"  passed unnoticed. After  two  more  singles  "Here Comes That Wonderful Feeling"  and  "Mama Don't  Wait  For  Me" which  I  haven't  heard, Polydor  lost  faith  and  cast  her  adrift.

She  re-surfaced  in  1977  as  a  Eurovision  contender  with  "If  Everybody  Loved  The  Same  As  You"  which  is  a  fair  attempt at  the  early  Abba  sound. It  came  sixth  in  the  British  heat  and  did  nothing  as  a  single  on  Pye. They  gave  her  another  shot  with  the  routine  variety  show  ballad  " I  Don't  Believe  You  Ever  Loved  Me "  and  Lyn  bravely  went  on  the  Freddie  Starr  Show  to  promote  it  but  to  no  avail.

Lyn  didn't  record  again  for  nearly  six  years during  which time  she  maintained  herself  as  a  celebrity  with  appearances  on  panel  shows  and  showbiz  liaisons  of  varying  degrees  of  substance  while  slogging  up  and  down  the  country  on  the  cabaret  circuit.  She  resurfaced  on  the  tiny  Crash  label  in  the  mid-eighties  with  two  singles  under  her  own  name  "Echoes  of  Love"  and "Make  The  Night"  where  she's  showing  a  bit  more  flesh  on  the  sleeves  and  a  single  with  her  brother under  the  name Furure  Primitive  entitled  "Hold  Me". I've  not  heard  any  of  these  records.

After  that  she  languished  in  obscurity  until  1997  when  she  got  the  role  of  Mrs  Johnstone in  Blood  Brothers.  Since  then  she  has  established  herself  as  a  big  name  in  musical  theatre  and from  2001  started  to  get  regular  acting  work on  TV. In  2006  she  released  a  mainly  covers  album  "Late  Night". In  2009  she  did  a  singing  tour  performing New  Seekers  material  which led  to  a  public  spat  with  Paul whose  ongoing  version  of  the  band she  ( and  Eve  too )  rubbished. In  2011  she  did  a  naked calendar  with  other  Blood  Brothers  cast  members  to  raise  funds  for  the  Alzheimers  Society.

Lyn  had  a  relationship  with  Peter  Doyle  and  it  was  giving  her  a black  eye  in  a  drunken  rage  that saw  him  ejected from  the  group  in  1973.  He  too  was  quick  off  the  mark  with  a  solo  single  , "Rusty  Hands  Of  Time"  written  by  Tony  Macaulay . It's  a  great  song  with  a  terrific  vocal  performance  from  Peter  but  does  sound  late  sixties  sunshine  pop   rather  than  mid-seventies   which  might  account  for  its  failure. Peter  based  himself  in  the  UK  and  did  the  lead  vocal  on  a  children's  song  "Jungle  Ted  and  the  Laceybuttonpoppers"  and  backing  vocals  on  Lyn's  "It  Oughta  Sell  A Million".  Shortly  after  that  he  was  offered  the  lead  singer's  job  in  the  Little  River  Band  but  declined  it. In  1976  he  released  a  version  of  "Friday  On  My  Mind"  as  Manfred  Mann's  Earth  Band  might  have  attacked  it.  It's  not  bad  but  didn't  get  any  airplay. The  following  year  he  released  the  album "Skin  Deep"  and  the  title  track  as  a  single. One  of  the  producers  involved  was  Alan  Tarney  and  the  song  sounds  very  like  Cliff  did  at  the  time. It's  another  decent  effort  which  got  ignored. Peter  had  more  success  with  advertising  jingles  scoring  with  Ribena  and  Sugar  Puffs. He  put  out  two  more  singles  on  the  tiny  Limelight  label  "Do  You  Wanna  Make  Love"  and  "This  And  That"   in  1980  before  abandoning  the  UK  for  good.

In  1981  he  quit  the  UK  for  Australia  where  he  began  working  with  a  band  called  Standing  Room  Only. The  following  year  he  began  a  five  year  long  sojourn  in  the  U.S.  working  on  a  fruitless  project  called  Regis  with  ex-Wings  drummer  Steve  Holly. He  returned  to  Australia  in  1987  where  he  made  a  living  in  the  clubs  as  lead  singer  in  The  Ram  Band. In the  mid  -90s  ill  health  forced  him  off  the  road  and  he  died  of  throat  cancer  in  2001  aged  52.

Peter's  replacement  was  21 year  old  Peter  Oliver  from  Southampton  who'd  made  a  minor  splash  as  would-be  teen  sensation  Jonny  Ross  in  the  late  sixties  ; his  trio  of  singles  on  Columbia  had  all  flopped. He  found  refuge  in  Hair  before  joining  the  group  Sunshine  as  a  guitarist  for  one  album  and  a  single  "When  Will  I  See  The  Light"  a  hard rocking  boogie  tune  that  bears  little  relation  to  the  rest  of  his  career.

After  the  New  Seekers  split  he  too  tried  his  luck  as  a  solo  artist . His  first  single  "Loving  You  Is  Killing  Me"  in  October  1974  is  disastrously  bland and  vacuous; even  Peter  sounds  half  asleep. The  following  May  he  went  on  tour  as  support  act  to  Paper  Lace  and  released  his  second  single  "Love  Ship"  , a  reasonable  MOR  pop  effeort  somewhere  between  Cliff  and  Bobby  Goldsboro. When  that  failed  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  join  Paper  Lace. The  band  were  trying  for  a  harder  sound  and  their  first  single  with  Peter , "So  What  If  I  Am"  in  June  1975,   tries  to  inject  some  snotty-nosed  attitude  into  their  music  along  with  some  screechy  synth  sounds.  Unfortunately  there's  not  much  of  a  tune  and  it  flopped. It  was  their  last  release  on  the  Bus  Stop  label  but  EMI  gave  them  another  shot  the  following  year  with  "I  Think  I'm  Gonna  Like  It"   a  quirky  pop  effort  with  echoes  of  Fox  and  10cc  but  it  failed  to  take  off. The  band  toiled  on  without  a  label  then  made  a  surprise  return  to  the  charts  with  Nottingham  Forest  FC  providing  the  musical  know-how  on  "We've  Got  The  Whole  World  In  Our  Hands "  a  number  24  hit  as  Forest  cruised  to  a  sensational  league  title  in  the  spring  of  1978. It  is  one  of  the  better  football  records  and  bafflingly  made  the  Top  10  in  Holland.

Despite  that  success  Peter  quit  the  band  in  favour  of  returning  to  musical  theatre. He  recorded  a  song  "Sleeping  Like  A  Baby  Now"  for  the  musical  Dear  Anyone...  which  was  released  as  a  single  under  the  name  Grateful  Amarillo  in  September  1978  then  duetted  with  Elaine  Paige  on  the  B-side  of  her  single  "Ireland"  from  the  little-loved  musical  The  Barrier.
Since  then  Peter  has  been  largely  out  of  the  public  eye  performing  in  jazz  and  blues  revues  in  a  duo  with  his  brother  though  he  probably  has  a  day  job  too. In  2006  he  joined  The  Rubettes  for  one  tour.

Eve  and  Danny   ( whose  real name  is  Kevin )  married  and  started working  as  a  duo. Danny  however  was being  pulled  in  another  direction.  Prior to  joining  the  New   Seekers  he  had  been  in  a  psychedelic  vocal  group  called  Wishful  Thinking  whose  1971  anti-nuclear  ballad  "Hiroshima"  had  unexpectedly  been  resurrected  in  1975  in  Germany  and  become  a  small  hit. In 1978  it  hit  the  German  charts  again  and  the  group  reconvened  to exploit  the attention. They  had  another  big  hit  in  Germany  with  the  synthy  "America"  which  is  strangely  reminiscent  of  Stannard  Ridgway's  Camouflage  and   has  an  impressive  instrumental  break. One  of  the  other  members  then  called  time  on  the  reunion  and  Danny  could  cut  his first  record  with  Eve  but  the  delay  probably  didn't  do them  any  favours.

"Ocean  And  Blue  Sky"  released  in  April  1979  is  a  treacly  country-ish  duet  with  Eve  singing  in  a  high  register. It  didn't  do  anything   and  turned  out  to  be  the  only  record  they  made  together. In  1980  they  went their  separate  ways  musically. Danny  accepted  an  invitation  from  Stephanie  De  Sykes  to  join  the  group  she  was  putting  together  for  Eurovision  Prima  Donna. Danny  did  the  lead  vocal  and  they  came  third  with  the  pretty  forgettable  "Love  Enough  For  Two" .  At  number  48  it  was  the  lowest  charting  British  entry  for some  time  which  didn't  augur  well for  the  follow up  "Just  Got  To  Be  You". When  that  tanked  the  group  were  history.  Danny  rejoined Wishful  Thinking  for one  last  single  "Tightrope Man"  then  returned  to  Eve's  side.

In  the  meantime  Eve  recorded  a  solo album  of  MOR pop  "Woman  of  the  World"  but  found  only  a  minor  label  Celebrity  to  release  it. She  released  a  single  "Your  Love"  in  February  1981  then  she  and  Danny  recorded  a Christmas   single  "Chris  Must  Stay "  under  the  name  Viva  later  that  year. They  then   began  a  long  recording  hiatus. They  continued  performing  together  supporting  Gene  Pitney  and  Max  Boyce   and  appeared  on  TV  a  few  times  until  1985 when  they  took  a  break  from  the  music  business.

Eve  worked  in  Debenham's  as  a  bra  fitter  for  a  time  just  to  get  out  of  the  house  while  Danny  set  up  a  kitchen  design  firm  and  later  started  designing theme  park  rides. Eve  eventually  returned  to  the  nostalgia  circuit  and  participated  in  Coca-Cola's  20th  anniversary  recreation  of  that  ad   in  1991  but  announced  her  retirement   in  2000.  The  couple  moved  back to  Scotland  in  2004. The  following  year  the  original  New  Seekers  producer  David  MacKay  persuaded  her  to  record  for  the  cheap  CD  market  and  she  made  "The  Mountains  Welcome  Me  Home"  a  mixture  of  traditional  Scottish  tunes  and  re-recorded  New  Seekers  tunes. She  followed  it  up  with  a  Christmas  LP  "Til  The  Season  Comes  Round  Again"  in  2006. Both  show  her  voice  to  be  still  in  good  nick  although  the  generic  backing  tracks  don't  do  her  any  favours. Not  to  be  outdone  Danny  took  part  in  another  Wishful  Thinking  reunion  in  2009  resulting  in  an  album  "Believing  In  Dreams  "  in  2009  which  contained  both  new  songs  and  re-recorded  old  tracks.

Petula  Clark-lookalike  Kathy  had  been  recruited  from  the  Ken  Mackintosh  Band. After  finally  leaving  the  band  she  joined  Audio  who  tried  for  Eurovision  in  1983  with  "Love  On  Your  Mind "  which  Marty  co-wrote. It  came  fourth  in  the  British  heat  and  I  really  wouldn't  want  to  hear  any  of  the  songs  rated  worse  than  this  plodding  tuneless  crud. She  had  a  son  the  following  year  and  retreated  into  family  life  for  many  years,  reappearing  as  a  cabaret  singer  under  the  name  Cathy Logan  in  2000. She  made  occasional  appearances  with  both  Eve  and  the  New  Seekers. She  too  died  of  cancer  in  January  2011.

That  just  leaves  Marty. As  recounted  above  ,  he  retired  from  performing  in  2002  but  retains  a  share in  the  group's  name  and  hasn't  ruled  out  rejoining  at  some  future  date. He  is  mainly  occupied  by  a  surveying  firm  but  in  2011  and  2012  put  out  CDs  of  demo  recordings  from  the  seventies  and  eighties  to  frankly  not  a  great  deal  of  interest.

323 Hello Whitesnake* - Snakebite EP

(*  as  David  Coverdale's  ... )

Chart  entered : 24  June  1978

Chart  peak : 61

Number  of  hits  : 19

More  metal  and  we've  already  told  part  of  this  story.

In  1973  Ian  Gillan  quit  Deep  Purple  and  the  band  auditioned  respondents  to  an  ad  in  Melody  Maker  for  a  replacement. The  man  chosen  was  22-year  old  David  Coverdale  from  Redcar  who  had  been  in  numerous  bands  in  the  north  east  since  the  late  sixties, one  of  which  had  shared  a  bill  with  Deep  Purple. He  was  working  in  a  boutique  at  the  time. He  and  fellow  newbie  Glen  Hughes  on  bass  brought  a  big  blues  and  soul  injection  into  the  band's  music  which  after  two  albums  prompted  the  departure  of  guitarist  Ritchie  Blackmore. David  persuaded  the  band  to  carry  on  with  American  guitarist  Tommy  Bolin  but  the  album "Come  Taste  The  Band" sold  relatively  poorly  and  the  tour  for  it  was  a  disaster  with  the  self-destructive  Bolin  turning  many  of  the  gigs  into  a  shambles. David  handed  in  his  resignation  at  the  end  of  the  tour  in  1976  and  was  told  that  Ian  Paice  and  Jon  Lord  had  already  terminated  the  band.

David  got  to  work  on  a  solo  album  aided  by  a  group  of  musicians  he  christened  The  White  Snake  Band.   The  guitarist  was  Mick  Moody  from  Middlesbrough. He  was  in  The  Roadrunners / Wildflowers  with  Bruce  Thomas  ( see  the  Attractions  post )  then  formed  his  own  group  Tramline  in  1968. They  were  signed  by  Island  and  released  two  albums  in  the  late  sixties. Their  competent  but  uninspiring  mix  of  Yardbirds, Them  and  Fleetwood  Mac  didn't  get  off  the  ground  and  they'd  split  by  the  end  of  the  decade. After  brief  spells  with  Mike  Cotton  and  Zoot  Money  he  joined  Juicy  Lucy in  1970   and  played  on  their  second  and  final  hit  "Pretty  Woman"  and  their  latter  three  albums. The  first  "Lie  Back  and  Enjoy  This"  made  number  53  in  the  charts  but  the  tide  was  going  out  for  sturdy  blues  rock  and  subsequent  releases  made  little  impression. In  1973  Mick  quit  the  band  to  form  a  new  one  Snafu   with  vocalist  Bobby  Harrison  on  whose  solo  album  he'd  just  played.

Snafu  were  more  interesting  than  their  predecessors, open  to  other  influences  like  funk,  synthesisers   and  country  and  letting  Mick  loose  on  slide  guitar. There  are  some  good  moments  across  their  three  LPs  between  1973  and  1975   but  success  continued  to  elude  Mick. He  was  poached  by  David  during  a  tour  of  Germany.

Mick   co-wrote  four  of  the  tracks  and  played  guitar  on  David's  first  solo  album  "White  Snake"  in  1976,   a  rather  low  key  and  downbeat  affair  which  passed  almost  unnoticed. His  services  were  retained  for  the  second  "Northwinds"  , released  at  the  beginning  of  1978.  This  excursion  into  soft  rock  fared  no  better  than  its  predecessor  and  its  failure  seems  to  have  convinced  David  that  he  should  fashion  a  band  to  front  and  go  heavy  once  more.

Mick  was  an  obvious  choice .The  other  guitarist  was  Bernie  Marsden  from  the  Home  Counties. He  first  emerged  in  a  brief  stint  with  the  under-rated  Wild  Turkey  in  1974. He  moved  on  to  Babe  Ruth  fronted  by  the  gorgeous  rock  chick  Jennie  Haan  who  unsurprisingly  were  better  regarded  in  America  ( especially  Canada ) than  their  home  country. They  were  a  pretty  good  band , like  an  earthier  Curved  Air, although  their  best  songs  came  before  Bernie  joined  them. He  played  on  their  fourth  album  "Stealin  Home"  which  was  the  last  ( for  32  years )  to  feature  Haan  and  the  last  to  make  the  US  charts.  The  single  "Elusive"  is  an  uncomfortable  take  on  disco  with  Bernie  coming  up  with  a  highly  inappropriate  solo. Bernie  recorded  one  more  album  with  them ,  "Kids  Stuff"  in  1976  featuring  a  new  singer  but  it  was  ignored.

Bernie  joined  forces  with  Paice  and  Lord  in  the  ill-fated  supergroup  Paice, Ashton  Lord. They  released  one  album  "Malice  In  Wonderland",  a  reasonable  collection  of  Purple-flavoured  rock  although  Tony  Ashton's  R &  B  vocals  don't  always  suit  the  material. The  band  came  to  a  dramatic  end  when   a  drunken  Ashton  ( one  of  their  songs  was  "I'm  Gonna  Stop  Drinking " )  fell  off  the  stage  and  broke  his  leg  leaving  Bernie  free  to  hook  up  with  DC.

The  bassist  was  Neil  Murray. He  was  born  in  Edinburgh  in  1950. He  was  in  bands  at  school  as  a  drummer  but  his  first  adult  stint  was  as  bassist  in  a  jazz  fusion  group  called  Gilgamesh  in  1973 . He  soon  switched  to  the  funk  rock  outfit  Hanson , playing  on  their  second  LP  "Magic  Dragon" in  1974 ;  the  couple  of  tracks  I've  heard  sound  somewhat  Santana-ish. Band  leader  Junior  Marvin  then  dismissed  the  others  and  Neil  went  touring  with  Cozy  Powell's  Hammer  where  he  met  up  with  Bernie.

Neil  then  joined  another  jazz  fusion  group  Colosseum  II  featuring  Gary  Moore  though  it  was  led  by  the  drummer  Jon  Hiseman.  He played  on  their  1976 album  "Strange  New  Flesh"  which  doesn't  have  much  to  interest  the casual  listener. When  it  failed  to  sell  Neil  and  vocalist  Mike  Starrs  were  sacked  by  the  record  label.

Neil  moved  on  to  another  prog  rock  outfit  National  Health  featuring  the  other Dave  Stewart  as  keyboard  player  and  main  songwriter. Flying  in  the  face  of  punk  their  self-titled  debut  has  just  five  mainly  instrumental  tracks  and  Neil  drifted  away  to  hook  up  with  Bernie. He  played  on  a  couple  of  tracks  on  "Stealin  Home"  and  Bernie  remembered  him  when  rehersals  for  Whitesnake  began.

The  drummer  chosen  was  Dave  Dowle   , a  Londoner  born  in  1953.  He  also  came  from  the  prog  rock  scene  starting  in  1968  with  the  band  Canterbury  Glass  who  also  featured  future  Genesis  guitarist  Steve  Hackett. Their  idea  was  to  fuse  prog  with  ecclesiastical  music  but  their  recordings  didn't  see  the  light  of  day  until  2007. Dave  then  became  a  session  drummer   before  forming  a  band  Curly  that  did  a  session  for  John  Peel in  1973  but  never  made  it  on  to  record. He  then  joined  Brian  Auger's  Oblivion  Express  a  jazz  fusion  outfit  led  by  the  sixties  survivor. Dave  played  on  their  1975  album  "Reinforcements"  then  moved  on  to  the  Streetwalkers  led  by  ex-Family  singer  Roger  Chapman. He  played  on  their  third  and  final  studio  album  "Vicious  But  Fair"  in  1977  but  it  disappeared  amid  the  punk  maelstrom  and  the  band  had  folded  by  the  end  of  the  year.

This  then  was  the  line  up  that  recorded  "Snakebite"  under  the  name  "David  Coverdale's  Whitesnake " with  Pete  Solley  guesting  on  keyboards ( he  would  be  replaced  by  Jon  Lord  shortly  afterwards  making  the  band  a  sextet ).  The  first   tracks  is  "Bloody  Mary"  a  Faces- style  bar-room  boogie. Then  you  have   "Steal  Away"  a  group  composition   based  around  Micky  impersonating  Alvin  Lee  on  his  slide  guitar. It's   not  easy  listening  and  contains  some  highly  incongruous  Anita  Ward/ Rose  Royce  syndrum  noises  for  no  apparent  reason. The  third  track  is  the  moody  cover  of  Bobby  Bland's  "Ain't  No  Love  In  The  Heart  Of  The  City"  which  became  their  signature  song. The  final  track  is  the  straight  ahead  rocker  "Come  On"  which  reminds  us  that  they  were  basically  picking  up  where  Free  left  off , David's  bluesy  vocals  sounding  like  a  more  gutteral  Paul  Rodgers. At  over  sixteen  minutes  the  EP  was  good  value  for  money  and  EMI  pushed  the  boat  out  with  a  first  pressing  on  white  vinyl, this  being  the  beginning  of  the  golden  age  of  sales  gimmicks  with  records.  The  very  modest  chart  placing  probably  reflects  a  lack  of  airplay  and  the  band  wouldn't  really  flourish  until  the  eighties  but  here's  where  they  started.