459 Hello The Smiths - This Charming Man

Chart  entered: 12  November  1983

Chart  peak : 25  ( 8  on  reissue  in  1992 )

Number  of  hits : 17

Nearly  a  year  on  from  The  Jam's  demise,  another  English  guitar  group  appeared  in  the  charts   who  valued  the  standalone  single  at  a  time  when  the  major  acts  were  issuing  four  or  more  tracks  from  their  albums. I've  written  quite  a  lot  about  The  Smiths  on  my  albums  blog; suffice to  say  I was  a  fan.

The  Smiths  came  about  in  1982  when   teenage  Mancunian  guitarist  Johnny  Marr  ( originally  Maher )  went  looking  for  a  singer  and  lyricist  for  his  fourth  attempt  at  a  group  after  covers  band  The  Paris  Valentinos  ( featuring  Kevin "Curly  Watts "  Kennedy ) the  New  Wave  pop  of  White  Dice  and  the  funkier  Freak  Party.  He  remembered  a  fellow  Mancunian  guitarist  Billy  Duffy  had  worked  with  a  guy  who  ticked  both  boxes  in  Mancunian  punks  The  Nosebleeds  some  years  earlier.

Steven  Morrissey  was  four  years  older  and  had  been  at  the  legendary  Sex  Pistols  gig  at  the  Free  Trade  Hall. Lacking  the  wherewithal  in  terms  of  finance, musical  ability  or  social  skills  to  seize  the  moment , he  became  a  fringe  figure  on  the  Manchester  scene  writing  letters  to  the  M.E.N  and  Granada  and  alternating  between  depressing  clerical  jobs  and  long  spells  on  the  dole. At  the  beginning of  1978  the  aforementioned  Duffy  brought  him  into  a  new  line  up  of  the  Nosebleeds  who  as  Ed  Banger  and  the  Nosebleeds  had  enjoyed  local  notoriety  and  managed  to  put  a  single  out  in  1977. They  lasted  for  just  two  gigs. Duffy  then  gave  Morrissey  a  similar  invitation  to  join  him  in  the  more  notable  Slaughter  and  the  Dogs. After  a  failed  record  company  audition  in  London  this  liaison  failed. Morrissey  then  whiled  away  the  time  until  Johnny  came  calling  by  sending  the  odd  gig  review  to  Record  Mirror  and  producing  a  couple  of  slim  fan  boy  books  on  the  New  York  Dolls  and  James  Dean.

The  two  guys  hit  it  off  and  began  writing  songs. Johnny  booked  them  a  support  slot  at  the  Ritz  in  October  1982  which  accelerated  the  search  for  bandmates. A  friend  suggested  a  drummer  he  knew  called  Mike  Joyce.  Mike  had  spent  a  couple  of  years  drumming  for  The  Hoax  who  put  out  a  couple  of  EPs  "Only  The  Blind  Can  See  In  The  Dark"  and  "Blind  Panic"  at  the  start  of  the  decade  that  show  a  dedication  to  keeping  the  sound  of  early  Buzzcocks  alive  but  not  much  else. After  a  short  fruitless  spell  with  a  band  called  Victim  he  was  ready  to  join  The  Smiths  and  passed  the  audition.

At  the  time  of  their  first  gig  the  bass  player  was  an  engineer  called  Dale  who'd  found  them  studio  time  to  record  their  first  demo. He  was  quickly  found  wanting  and  Johnny  persuaded  Morrissey  that  they  should  offer  the  slot  to  his  old  school  fiend  who'd  played  bass  in  both  White  Dice  and  Freak  party, Andy  Rourke.

In  February  1983  the  Smiths  played  at  the  Hacienda  and  it  was  widely  assumed  they'd  be  signing  for  Factory  but  that  didn't  happen. Tony  Wilson's  explanation  was  that  he  was  depressed  at  the  commercial  failure  of  the  Stockholm  Monsters  who  were  as  good  as  The  Smiths  ( I think  he  was  in  a  minority  of  less  than  ten  on  that  one )  and  so  passed. Instead , London  rivals  Rough  Trade   snapped  them  up  after  Johnny  and  Andy  took  a  demo  tape  recorded  at  10cc's  Strawberry  Studios  to  main  man  Geoff  Travis.    

Rough  Trade  put  out  their  first  single  "Hand  in  Glove" in  May  1983. Record  Mirror's  metal  fan  Robin  Smith  dismissed  it  with  the  line  "The  Smiths  aren't  very  crisp".  I  remember  hearing  it  quite  a  lot  on  David  Jensen's  show  during  my  last  schooldays   before we  were  allowed  to  revise  for  A  Levels  at  home  and  as  they  split  six  months  after  I  started  work  their  music  seems  the  perfect  soundtrack  for  memories  of  my  university  days.  My  comments  on  Hand  in  Glove  when  I  covered  it  on  my  album  blog  were :

 "Hand  In  Glove" remains  a  great  clarion  call , a  gesture  of  defiance  against  the  narrow-minded  but  laced  with  characteristic  despair  -"I'll  probably  never  see  you  again". The  music  is  a  stewing  cauldron  of   acoustic  and  electric  held  together  by  Joyce's  strong-armed  drums.

The  band  played  a  well-attended  gig  supporting  Sisters  of  Mercy  and  were  quickly  booked  in  to  do  a  session  for  John  Peel. Far  more  than  the  single  that  was  what  started  the  ball  rolling  for  the  band . They  had  only  signed  a  one  single  deal  with  Rough  Trade  so  could  have  signed  for  any  of  the  now-interested  majors  but  instead  chose  to  sign  long-term  with  Travis. Or  at  least  Johnny  and Morrissey  did; notoriously,  Andy  and  Mike  were  not  signatories  to  the  deal  and  did  not  realise  the  implications  of  being  left  off  the  contract  but  that's  for  another  day.

One  of  the  best-received  songs  on  the  session, "Reel  Around  The  Fountain" was  lined  up  to  be  the  next  single  but  then  a  poorly-written  article  by  The  Sun ' s  obnoxious  Nick  Ferrari  accused  them  of  promoting  paedophilia  largely  based  on  the  song  "Handsome  Devil". The  storm  blew  over  but  with  "Reel  Around  the  Fountain "  boasting  the  line  "how  you  took  a  child  and  you  made  him  old"  it  was  thought  better  to  drop  it.

Instead  they  went  with  a  song  the  band  debuted  on  their  next  Peel  session. Again  here's  my  take  on  it  from  the  albums  blog :

  This  is  their  signature  song  (and  their  biggest  hit  when  re-released  in  1992)  but  it's  never  been  one  of  my  favourites  due  to  its  relatively  optimistic  air  and  less focused  lyrics  including  the  Sleuth steal - "a  jumped  up  pantry  boy  who  never  knew  his  place". I've  always  interpreted  the  song  as  being  about  a  rent  boy  being  fawned  upon  by  an  older  predator.

458 Hello Brian May* solo - Star Fleet

( * ....and  Friends )

Chart  entered :  5  November  1983

Chart  peak :  65

Number  of  hits  : 10

Brian  only gets  in  here  buy  the  skin  of  his  teeth - featuring  on  another  artist's  cover  of  a  Queen  hit  -  but  we'll  let  him  through  because  he's  a  nice  guy. Besides  after  trawling  through  the  Rainbow  diaspora  I  need  a  short  one !

We  know  all  about  Brian's  day  job. The  start  of  his  solo  career  was  not  originally  intended  for  release. Brian  spent  a  couple  of  days  in  LA's  Record  Plant  studios  jamming  with  some  mates  including  Eddie  Van  Halen, REO  Speedwagon  drummer  Alan  Gratzel  and  session  man  Phil  Chen  and  Fred  Mandel  ( bass  and  keyboards  respectively ). Roger  Taylor  dropped  by  briefly  and  thus  features  as  a  backing  vocalist  on  the  track.  The  "project"  only  saw  the  light  of  day  when  others  urged  him  to  release  the  results  which  became  the  mini-LP  "Star  Fleet  Project". The  other  two  tracks  have no  relationship  to  the  short  lived  TV  series  which  inspired  the  single.

Star  Fleet   the  TV  series  was  a  Japanese  attempt  to  make  a  Gerry  Anderson- style  puppet  series. Its  original  title  translated  as  "X-Bomber"  but  when  dubbed  into  English  it  was  re-titled  to  better  suit  its  Saturday  morning  kids  TV  spot  in  1982. Brian's  son  Jimmy  started  watching  it   and  his  astronomy-addicted  dad  soon  got  engrossed. The  original  song  was  written  by  Paul  Bliss  to  run  across  the  closing  titles  and  so  only  lasts  about  90  seconds. Brian  stretches  it  to  four  and  a  half  minutes  ( eight  on  the  LP )  by  adding  plenty  of   his  and  Eddie's  guitar  pyrotechnics  and  repeating  the  first  verse.

Bliss's  original  had   a  cheesy   Europop  synth  sound. Brian  doesn't  stray  too  far  from  this  but  with  the  heavy  drum  sound  it  sounds  like  it's  come  from  ELO's  Time  album.  Brian's  pleasantly  plaintive  vocals  belie  his  nonchalance  about  releasing  it. With  Queen's  The  Works  album  out  to  roll  , Brian  didn't  want  to  do  any  more  work  on  the  material  and  he  put  out  what  was  on   the  tapes  unmixed  which  is  why  it  sounds  like  it's  coming  in  from  next  door. He  could  hardly  have  expected  a  huge  hit  with  such  a  rough  sound  and  so  it  proved.

457 Goodbye Rainbow - Can't Let You Go

Chart  entered : 29  October  1983

Chart  peak : 43

The  sight  of  Rainbow's  final  single  reminds  me  that  we're  now  at  the  height  of  the  season  for  gimmicks  and  giveaways . As  the  rise  of  the  home  computer  started  to  hit  singles  sales,  the  record  companies  intensified  a  marketing  war  aimed  at  chart  return  shops  which  meant  those  lucky  enough  to  live  near  one  could  build  up  quite  a  stock  of  collectible  singles  and  free  merchandise. Most  notoriously  doomy  songstrel  Annabel  Lamb's  cover  of   Riders  On  The  Storm  came  was  issued  with  a  free  VHS  tape  ; a  Record  Mirror  review  of  her  subsequent  single  acidly  suggested  that  it  came  with  a  free  penthouse  suite.   

Rainbow  had  pushed  on  since  the  debut  hit   despite  an  extremely  volatile  line  up.  After  a series  of  temporary  replacements  for  sacked  bassist  Jimmy  Bain  and  keyboard  player  Tony  Carey  , Ritchie  Blackmore  settled  on  his  former  Deep  Purple  colleague  Roger  Glover    on  bass  though  this  was  at  the  suggestion  of  drummer  Cozy  Powell.  Session  man  Don  Airey  who  had  played  with  Cozy  in  Hammer  joined  on  keyboards. Around  the  same  time  Ritchie  decided  he  wanted  to  take  the  band  in  a  more  AOR  direction  ditching  the  fantasy  themes  favoured  by  singer / lyricist  Ronnie  James  Dio . Ronnie   refused  to  accept  this  and  quit  the  band. After  being  turned  down  by  Ian  Gillan, he  settled  for  Graham  Bonnet.

Graham  had  emerged  in 1968 as  lead  singer  in  the  duo  The  Marbles  who  were  signed  up  by  Robert  Stigwood. The  Bee  Gees  provided  them  with songs  for  their  first  two  singles  "Only  One  Woman"  and  "The  Walls  Fell  Down". The  former  was  a  huge  international  hit  reaching  number  5  in  the  UK  and  number  one  in  South  Africa and  New  Zealand. Graham  belts  it  out  at  top  volume  so  it  couldn't  really  be  mistaken  for  the  brothers  but  otherwise  their  imprint  is  all  over  it.  The  follow  up  is  pretty  turgid  and  does  sound  like  a  cast-off. It  reached  number  28  in  the  UK. By  that  time  Graham  had  already  managed  to  piss  off  the  ever-chippy  Barry  Gibb  by  an  injudicious  remark  about  the  song  quality.

Graham  quit  the  band  later  in  1969  after  being  offered  some  work  singing  ad  jingles  but  a  last  single , a    stiff  cover  of  "Breaking  Up  Is  Hard  To  Do"  was  put  out  in  1970  to  promote  an  eponymous  album   that  Polydor  put  together. Neither  made  the  charts.  Graham  pursued  a  solo  career  , supported  by  his  girlfriend, pretty  actress  Adrienne  Posta. His  first  solo  single  in  1972  was  a  cover  of  ELO's  "Whisper  in  the  Night" as  an  MOR  overwrought  piano  ballad. He  also  wrote  Posta's  1974  single  "Dog  Song"  which  I  haven't  heard  but  suspect  may  be  self-descriptive. He  appeared  briefly  in  her  1973  film Three  for  All  and   released  a  single  as  his  character  Billy  Beethoven , "Dreams" which  sounds  like  The  Rubettes  on  an  off  day.

Otherwise  Graham  made  little  headway  until  1977  when  he  hooked  up  with  Sweet  producer Pip  Williams and  released  an  eponymous  album. Nine  out  of  the  ten  tracks  were  covers. He  scored  a  huge  hit  in  Australia  with  a  country  rock  version  of  "It's  All  Over  Now  Baby  Blue"  which  reached  number  3  and  propelled  the  album  to  gold  status.  The  follow  up  singles  were  a  fairly  faithful  cover  of  Elvis's  "Danny"  and  an  interesting   soft  rock   version  of  Hall  and  Oates's  "Goodnight  and  Good  Morning" with  echoes  of  10cc  and  Wings.

Graham  then  turned  back  to  The  Bee  Gees  and  covered  "Warm  Ride" , a  leftover  from  the  Saturday  Night  Fever  sessions.  Again  it  isn't  one  of  their  best  songs, a  rather  tepid  disco  number  but  Graham  took  it  all  the  way  to  number  one  in  Oz.  Strangely  it  wasn't  included  on  his  next  album  , the  poorly-received  "No  Bad  Habits"  which  again  only  hit  in  Australia. He  took  one  single  from  it  in  Oz, the  John  Kongos  cover  "Only  You  Can  Lift  Me"  an  uncomfortable  blend  of  over-sung  rock  vocals  and  listless  white  reggae.

None  of  these  records  did  anything  in  the  UK and  with  his  short  hair  and  sports  jackets  Graham  didn't  look  the  part  for  a  heavy  rock  band  but  something  persuaded  Ritchie  that  he  was  the  man   as  he  pushed  for  mainstream  success. Perhaps  a  rumour  that  Graham  was  wanted  by  Sweet  as  a  replacement  for  Brian  Connolly  forced  his  hand. Whatever  he  was  immediately  vindicated  as  the  new  line  up  scored  two  Top  10  hits  in  quick  succession  although  the  parent  album  "Down  To  Earth"  didn't  significantly  outsell  its  predecessors.

But  as  ever  with  Ritchie,  the  line  up  changed  before  the  next  album. After  their  appearance  at  the  first  Castle  Donington  festival  in  August  1980  Cozy  and  Graham  quit  the  band. The  former  was  unhappy  with   the  new  sound  while  Graham  wanted  another  crack  at  solo  success. Seeking  to  boost  the  band's  profile  in  the  US,  Ritchie  recruited  two  Americans  to  plug  the  gaps. Singer  Joe  Lynn  Turner    led  the  soft  rock  outfit  Fandango  who  made  four  albums  in  the  late  seventies  but  couldn't  progress  beyond  being  a  reliable  support  act  for  the  likes  of  The  Beach  Boys  and  Billy  Joel. Drummer  Bobby  Rondinelli   had  almost  joined  Kiss  as  a  replacement  for  Peter  Criss  but  lost  out  to  Eric  Carr. The  new  line  up  scored   the  group's  biggest  hit  with  "I  Surrender "  reaching  number  3  early  in  1981 .

The  parent  album  "Difficult  To  Cure"  also  reached  number  3. After  the  tour  to  promote  it  , Don  became  the  next  member  to  seek  alternative  employment  and  was  replaced  by  another  American  David  Rosenthal  from  the  Berklee  College  of  Music. The  band  had  now  acquired  the  reputation  of  being  "the  Abba  of  Heavy  Metal"  as  Record  Mirror's  Sunie  put  it  but  they  did  not  sustain  that  success. The  next  single, the  AOR ballad "Stone  Cold"  turned  tail  at  number  34  and  the  band  alienated  British  fans  by  not  playing  any  UK  venues  in the  tour  to  promote  the  album "Straight  Between  The  Eyes " . By  the  time  of  their  next  album  "Bent  Out  of  Shape", Bobby  had  been  replaced  by  Chuck  Burgi  from  the  American  band  Balance  ( although  he  hadn't  played  on  their  two  US  hits ).

"Can't  Let  You  Go" was  the  second  single  from  that  album. The  first  "Street  of  Dreams"  had peaked  at  52  so  the  guitar  shaped  disc  was  probably  a  necessity. In  fact  make  that  definitely  necessary  because  the  single  is  deadly  dull. Once  you've  got  past  David's  mock-classical  intro it's  a  pedestrian  plod  through  the  MTV  metal  trademarks  with  an  unmemorable tune,  cliched  lyrics  and  a  tired-sounding   Ritchie   guitar  solo, a  very  poor  end  to  a  run  of  hits  that  had  its  high  points.

Rainbow  were  disbanded  six  months  later  because  Ritchie  and  Roger  accepted  the  invitation to  join  a  resurrected  Deep  Purple  featuring  all  the  classic  line  up.  Ritchie  remained  with  the  band  until  November  1993  when  he  left  mid-tour  citing  "creative  differences". He  started  writing  new  songs  for  a  solo  album  with  Scottish  singer  Doogie  White  but  bowed  to  record  company  pressure  and  released  it  under  the  name  "Ritchie   Blackmore's  Rainbow" . "Stranger  in  Us  All"  was  released  in  August  1995.   It  updates  the  sound  with  modern  production  techniques   but  aside  from  an  adaptation  of  Grieg's  "Hall  of  the  Mountain  King" it's  short  of  memorable  songs.


The  album  was  a  big  success  in  Scandinavia  and, belatedly, Japan , a  moderate  hit  in  Germany  and  did  nothing  at  all  in  the  US or  UK.  Ritchie  had  already  started  work  on  his  next project  by  the  time  of  the  album's  release. Early  in  the  nineties  he  acquired  a  new  girlfriend  Candice  Night  who  fuelled  his  interest  in  Renaissance  music. She  co-wrote  three  of  the  songs  and  provided  backing  vocals  on  "Stranger  in  Us  All"  but  the  pair  were  also  working  on  an  entirely  separate  project  "Shadow  of  the  Moon",  comprising  some  new  songs  in  a  folk  rock  vein  and   re-arrangements  of  traditional  tunes  from  the  late  medieval  era.

This  was  released  in  1997  under  the  rather  un-pc  name  Blackmore's  Night  and  did  well  enough  in   Japan  and  Germany  to  justify  Ritchie  turning  his  back  on  rock  and  pursuing this  new  direction  for  ten  albums  and  counting. I  detect  that  there's  still  some  disbelief   amongst  rock  fans  that  one  of  the  guitar  gods  could  abandon  them for  a  very  different  audience.  Blackmore's  Night  are  OK  in  small  doses  though  I  think  Mike  Oldfield  ( an  influence  Ritchie  readily  acknowledges )  does  their  sort  of  thing  rather  better. They  haven't  made  much  impact  in  the  UK  but  remain  popular  in  Europe  and  Japan.

Ritchie  and  Candice  were  married  in  2008  and  have  two  small  children.  After  turning  70  last  year,  Ritchie  announced  he  will  play  four  rock  concerts  in  2016  performing  Deep  Purple  and  Rainbow  material  with  strong  hints  that  it  will  be for  the  last  time  as  he's  now  suffering  from  arthritis.

Roger  remains  in  Deep  Purple  so  we'll  pick  up  his  story  when  we  say  goodbye  to  them.

Joe  released  a  solo  album  "Rescue  You"  in  1985 . Joe  had  co-written  most  of  Rainbow's  material  with  Ritchie  since  he  joined  so  it's  no  great  departure  from  the  latter-day  Rainbow  sound, perhaps  a  little  lighter. His  new  writing  partner  was  former  Foreigner  keyboard  player   Alan  Greenwood. Despite  his  pedigree  the  album  tanked  and  he  turned  to  session  work  util  1987  when  he  joined  Yngwie  Malmsteen's  Rising  Force. Though  the  Swedish  metal  guitarist  has  never  been  a  big  noise  in  the  UK  that's  not  the  case  elsewhere  and  Joe's  presence  on  his  1988  album  "Odyssey"  made  it  his  highest  charting  album  everywhere  except  Japan.  By  the  time  of  the  follow  up  Joe  had  jumped  ship  to  Deep  Purple  to  replace  Ian  Gillan. Again  we'll  come  back  to  him.

Chuck  played  on  "Rescue  You"  then  became  a  well-respected  session  drummer. He  has  worked  with  Billy  Joel  and  was  the  drummer  in  the  on  stage  band  for  his  jukebox  musical  Movin  Out    throughout  its  three  year  Broadway  run.

David  also  went  into  session  work  and  appeared  on  singles  by  disco  divas  Stacy  Lattisaw  and  Donna  Allen  as  well  as  the  1988  monster  hit  "Baby  I  Love  Your  Way"  by  Will  To  Power. In  1993  he   formed  a  band  Red  Dawn  to  play  anachronistic   hard  rock  with   proggy  keyboards  releasing  the  album  "Never  Surrender". That  same  year  he  hooked  up  with  Billy  Joel  and  has  been  his  musical  director  ever  since.  

Jimmy  formed  his  own  band  Wild  Horses  with  ex-Thin  Lizzy  guitarist  Brian  Robertson. At  one  point  it  looked  like  Jimmy  McCulloch  and  Kenney  Jones  were  going  to  join  them  after  the  final  demise  of  the  Small  Faces. Jimmy  sang  and  played  keyboards  as  well  as  playing  bass.  They  got  a  deal  with  EMI   and  released  their  first  single  "Criminal  Tendencies"  which  sounds  a  bit  like  Supertramp  with  Jimmy's  electric  piano.  Jimmy  was  very  friendly  with  Phil  Lynott  and  collaborated  on  both  his  solo  albums.  Lynott  repaid  the  favour  by  co-writing  their  third  single  "Fly  Away". Although  their  debut  album  reached  number  38  they  had  no  hit  singles  and  never  really  escaped  Lizzy's  shadow;  second  single  "Face  Down"  makes  them  sound  like  a  tribute  band. Their  second  album " Stand  Your  Ground"  was  a  heavier  affair  but  didn't  chart. After  a  final  single, a  rough  cover  of  "Everlasting  Love"  they  broke  up  in  1981.

Jimmy  then  joined  Ronnie  in  Dio  ( which  we'll  cover  shortly )  and  was  in  the  band  until  1989 .  In  1985  he  set  up  Hear'n  Aid   as  metal's  contribution  to  the  famine  relief  efforts. He  co-wrote  the  song  " Stars  "  with  Ronnie  and  guitarist  Viv  Campbell  and  gathered  together  various  rockers  to  record  it. Contractual  hassles  meant  it  didn't  come  out  until  1986  which  somewhat  blunted  its  impact. It's  not  a  bad  piece of  pop  metal  and  it's  amusing  to  hear  the  guitarists  trying  to  outdo  each  other. It  reached  26  in  the  charts  and  raised  something  like  $1  million.

After  leaving  Dio  Jimmy  joined  up  with  vocalist  Mandy  Lion  ( a  bloke  )  in  World  War  III. Their  one  eponymous  album  of  horror  movie  heavy  metal  is  enjoyable  enough  in  small  doses.  The  single  "Love  You  To  Death"  had  a  rather  risque  video. The  band  fell  apart  after  that  and  Jimmy  next  appeared  back  in  Dio in  2000. He  left  again  in  2003.

Jimmy  then  formed  the  band  3  Legged  Dogg  with  drummer  Vinny  Appice. They  produced  one  album of  grunge-influenced  metal  "Frozen  Summer"  in  2006 . To  Jimmy's  disappointment  Vinny  then  chose  to  join  Heaven  and  Hell  ( basically  Black  Sabbath  when  they  want  to  perform  Dio-era  material  )  rather  than  continue  the  band. That  is  to  date  Jimmy's  last  recording. He  was in  the  metal  collective  Hollywood  Allstarz  and  since  2013  has  been  playing  in  Last  In  Line , the  surviving  members  of  Dio  with  a  new  singer.

After  leaving  Rainbow  Tony  based  himself  in  Germany  where  he  initially  battled  a  drug  addiction  delaying  the  release  of  his  first   single  "Jamie "  a  sappy  pop  ballad  with  distinct  echoes  of  Elton's  Daniel    and   terrible  lyrics  - there's  a  hole  in  my  life  where there  used  to  be  a  girl ".  That  was  in  1981.  A  solo  album  "In  the  Absence  of  the  Cat"  followed  in  1982. I've  only  heard  a  couple  of  tracks  and  not  been  impressed ; it's  awkward  -sounding  underdeveloped  synth  pop.

A  second  LP  "I  Won't  Be  Home  Tonight"  quickly  followed  , for  which  Tony  got  a  deal  in  America.   The  Eurodisco- flavoured   title  track    was  the  lead  single  and  reached  79  in  the  US charts .The second  single  , a  shallow  but  effective  summer  pop  track  "West  Coast  Summer  Nights"   got  to  number  64  helped  by  a  video  populated  with  bikini-clad  lovelies. Tony  then  suffered  the  setback  of  having  his  record  company  taken  over by  the  FBI.

Tony  then  signed  up  with  two  labels   MCA  for  his  mainstream  material  and  Geffen  for  his  more  sci-fi  influenced  electronic  music  as   Planet  P  Project. He  had  further  US  hits  in  both  guises. His  next  album  as  Tony  Carey , "Some  Tough  City"  incorporated  more  AOR  muscle  into  his  music  and  the  Tom  Petty-ish  "A  Fine  Fine  Day"  reached  number  22 . The  follow-up  "The  First  Day  of  Summer "  reached  33. More  surprisingly  Planet  P  Project's  first  single  "Why  Me"  ,  a  rather  dated  ( for  1984 ) synth-pop  number  about  an  astronaut  having  doubts  reached  number  64.

After  that  Tony's  commercial  profile  outside  Germany  dropped  away  but  he's  continued  making  music  in  both  guises  ever  since  with  30+  albums  which  I  don't  have  time  to  explore   right  now. In  2009  he  joined  Over  The  Rainbow  with  Joe, Bobby  and  Ritchie's  son  Jurgen  to  perform  Rainbow  material  but  had  to  quit  before  the  first  gig  due  to  being  diagnosed  with  bladder  cancer. Despite  things  looking  very  dicey  at  one  point  he  survived.  

Ronnie  went  more  or  less  straight  from  Rainbow  to  filling  the  convenient  vacancy  in  Black   Sabbath. Ozzy  Osborne's  boots  were  big  ones  to  fill  and  some  Sabbath  diehards  weren't  happy  but  most  accepted  the  change  as  Ronnie  was  indisputably  the  better  singer. The  proof  was  in  the  sales  as  their  first  album  with  Ronnie  , 1980's  "Heaven  and  Hell" achieved  their  highest  placings  in  both  the  UK  and  US  ( where  their  decline  had  been  most  marked )  since  1975.  It  is  a  strong  set  which  produced  two  hit  singles  in  1980  , "Neon  Knights"  ( number  22 ) and  the  particularly  good  "Die  Young"  ( 41 ) , another  of  the  year's  slew  of  apocalypse-themed  singles. While  they  were  touring  it,  drummer  Bill  Ward  quit  and  was  replaced  by  another  American  Vinny  Appice. Ronnie  made  a  second  album  with  Black  Sabbath, 1981's  "Mob  Rules"  an  uncompromising  album  of  bruising  metal  which  again  spawned  two  hits  , the  title  track  ( 46 )  and  "Turn  Up  The  Night" (37 ). The  band  went  out  on  tour  again  and  recorded  some  of  the  gigs  for  a  live  album  "Live  Evil"  but  fell  out  over  the  mixing.

Ronnie  felt  confident  enough  that  he  now  had  the  fanbase  to  launch  his  own  band  and  persuaded  Appice  to  join  him  in  Dio  in  November  1982. As  we  know  Jimmy  signed  up  too.
Dio  provided  fans  with  four  albums  of  straight  down  the  line  metal  in  the  eighties  which   spawned  a  string  of  moderate  hit  singles ( not  quite  enough  to  qualify  here  ). The  biggest  hit  was  "Rock 'n' Roll  Children"  ( number 26  in  August  1985 )  but  none  of  them  really  crossed  over.  With  their  fifth  album  "Lock  Up  The  Wolves"  in  1990 , recorded  with  a  completely  different  line-up  - Ronnie  excepted - from  the  first,  they  experienced  a  sharp  contraction  in  sales  and  the  single  "Hey  Angel"  didn't  chart.

It  therefore  seemed  a  good  move  to  accept  an  invitation  to  rejoin  Black  Sabbath. This  time  round  he  lasted  for  just  one  album  "Dehumanizer"   which  spawned  the  number  33  hit  "TV  Crimes  " , yet  another  attack  on  televangelism. It  was  both  his  and  Sabbath's  last  encounter  with  the  singles  chart. Appice  had  also  rejoined  Black   Sabbath  and  got  back  on  board  as  Ronnie  re-launched  Dio.  Post-grunge, Dio  never  regained  their  former  popularity  and  their  subsequent  five  albums  only  achieved  decent  chart  placings  in  Germany  and  Scandinavia.
In  2007  Ronnie  ( and  Appice )  hooked  up  with  the  Sabs  once  more  But  agreed  to  go  under  the  name  Heaven  And  Hell  to  prevent  confusion  arising  with  their  lucrative  reunions  with  Ozzy. They  released  an  album  "The  Devil  You  Know"   in  2009  which  achieved  decent  placings  particularly  in  the  US. They  toured  to  promote  it  but  the  European  leg  had  to  be  cancelled  in  November  2009  when  Ronnie  was  diagnosed  with  stomach  cancer. Six  months  later  he  was  dead.

Cozy  joined  the  Michael  Schenker  Group  and  played  on  one  studio  album  with  them,  "MSG"  in  1981.  He  also  released  a  second  "solo"  album  "Tilt"  on  which  Don  and  numerous  others  played,  that  year.  Cozy's  only  got  a  writing  credit  on  one  song  and  it's  hard  to  understand  how  "Sunset", basically  an  elongated  Gary  Moore  guitar  solo  qualifies  as  a  Cozy  Powell  track.  The  album's  a  bit  of  a  hotch-potch  with  four  instrumental  fusion  tracks  and  you  suspect  from  the  credits  that  it's  made  up  of  pieces  recorded  at  various  points  in  Cozy's  career.    He  then  joined  Whitesnake  and  we'll  pick  up  his  story  when  we  say  goodbye  to  them.

Graham  went  straight  into  recording  his  next  solo  album "Line Up"  aided  by  Cozy, Jon  Lord, Francis  Rossi  and  others. The  first  single  "Night  Games"  , a  terrific  piece  of  pop  metal  about  swingers  written  by  Ed  Hamilton  reached  number  6  in  April  1981; even  my  mum  bought  it. The  follow  up  "Liar",  a  cover  of  Three  Dog  Night's  US  hit  of  1970, relied  on  synth  textures  rather  than  hooks  and  killed  his  momentum  by  stalling  at  number  51.  The  third  single,  the  moody  stomper  "That's  The  Way  That  It  Is"  failed  to  chart  and  the  album disappointingly  peaked  at  number  62.

Graham  then  followed  Cozy  into  the  Michael  Schenker  Group  though  the  latter  left  almost  immediately  afterwards.  Graham  sang  on  one  album  " Assault  Attack" which  included  the  minor  hit  "Dancer" ( 52  in  September  1982  ).  It's  a  good  album  of  accessible  metal  with  "Desert  Song"  a  standout.  Unfortunately, at  Sheffield  on  the  first  night  of  the  tour  to  promote  it  he  had  a  bit  too  much  to  drink  and  ended  up  giving  little  Graham  some  air. He  was  fired,  more  or  less  on  the  spot.

He  then  formed  Alcatrazz  with  Yngwie  Malmsteen ( later  to  be  replaced  with  Steve  Vai ).   Despite  the  guitar  maestros  in  their  midst  Alcatrazz  never found  more  than  moderate  success. They  were  popular  in  Japan  and  made  minor  ripples  in  the States  but  did  nothing  in  the  UK. The  1983  single  "Island  In  The  Sun"  could  have  been  a  hit  but  suffers  from  a  murky  production,  The  second  album  "Disturbing  The  Peace"  contained  the  sarcastic  "God  Blessed  Video"  seemingly  the  only  single  released  in  the  UK . It's  a  dire  song  not  disguised  by  Vai's  frenetic  noodling. After  three   studio  albums  they  threw  in  the  towel  in  1987.

Graham  then  joined  the  LA  metal  band  Impellitteri  as  a  replacement   lead  singer  and  their  album  together  "Stand  In  Line"  reached  number  91  in  the  US. They  toured  Japan  then  the  original  singer  returned  and  Graham  went on  to  do  some  session  work  for  a  group  called  Forcefield   before  releasing  another  solo  album  "Here  Comes  The  Night". This  saw  Graham  eschewing  metal  in  favour  of  middle  of  the  road  pop  , to which  his  voice  is  not  really  suited; he's  a  rocker  or  he's  nothing. I  don't  know  which  are  worse, the  terrible  covers  ( "A  Change  Is  Gonna  Come" , "I  Go  To  Sleep" )  or  the  generic  pap  his  wife  has  contributed  but  the  album  is  utterly  worthless.

His  next  project  was  a  collaboration  with  guitarist  Bob  Kulick  ,Blackthorne  which  produced  a  single  album  of  more  modern, grunge-influenced  metal , "Afterlife"  in  1993. It's  not  bad  actually.  Graham  stayed  with  this  sound  for  his  subsequent   solo  albums   "Underground "  in  1997  and  "The  Day  I  Went  Mad"  in  1999  which  did  OK  in  Japan.  Since  then  workaholic  Graham  has  been  a  hired  gun  for  numerous  clients- Japanese  metal  band  Anthem. brief  reunions  with  Alcatrazz  and  Impellitteri, Taz  Taylor  Band, Moonstone  Project , Elektrik  Zoo    Savage  Paradise  and  the  Stardust  Reverie  Project. He  lives  in  LA  and  last  toured  the  UK  two  years  ago  as  part  of  a  Rainbow  tribute  act , Catch  the  Rainbow.

Don  had  already  worked  with  Ozzy  Osbourne  before  quitting  Rainbow  . He  then  joined  his  band  full  time  for  three  years  and  played  on  the  Bark  at  The  Moon  LP. He  played  on     albums  by  Gary  Moore  and  Whitesnake   and  did  a  tour  with  Jethro  Tull  in  1987  before  releasing  a  solo  album  "K2" in  1988. It's  an  unrepentant  prog-lite  concept  album  about  a  mountaineering  disaster  on  the  world's  second  highest  mountain  two  years  earlier  and  features  famous  pals  like  Moore, Cozy  and  Colin  Blunstone. The  story  of  the  disaster  is  fascinating, the  album  unfortunately less  so. Blunstone  does  his  best  to  bring  some  class  to  the  ballad  "Julie  ( If  You  Leave  Me )"  but  is  scuppered  by  the  terrible  lyrics. Elsewhere  it's  just  boring; there's  nothing  that  demands  a  second  listen.

Don  then  went  into  session  work  with  credits  on  albums  by  Judas  Priest, Gary  Moore  again,  Bruce  Dickinson, UFO   and  Brian  May  amongst  others. He  also  played  on  Katrina  and  the  Waves'  Love  Shine  A  Light  then  was  asked  to  orchestrate  and  conduct  the  live  version  which  won  the  Contest  in  1997, the  last  British  triumph.

Four  years  later  he  joined  Deep  Purple  as  a  replacement  for  Jon  Lord  and  remains  with  them  while  still  helping  out  on  other  projects. He's  also  released  three  more  prog  rock   solo  LPs  in  the  last  few  years.

Bobby  went  into  session  work  and  has   played  with  numerous  outfits  over  the  past  25  years  with  Quiet  Riot,  Blue  Oyster  Cult  and  Black  Sabbath  ( 1994's  Cross  Purposes )  the  most  recognisable  names.
           




  

456 Goodbye The Kinks - Don't Forget To Dance

Chart  entered : 15  October  1983

Chart  peak : 58

I  often  think  there's  something  of  a   disconnect  between  the  London-based music  press  and  the  rest  of  the country  when  it  comes  to The  Kinks. The  former  still  regard  Ray  Davies  as  a  songwriting  genius  who  might  yet  have  something   good  in  the  locker   and  so  Q  gave   his    two  noughties  solo  albums  full-page  reviews  when they  wouldn't  even  mention  a  new  LP  by  Eric  Burdon  or  The Moody  Blues. Outside  that  bubble  I  think  most  regard  The Kinks  as  a  group  who  made  some  decent  records  in  the  sixties  and  then  provided  the  textbook  example  of  not  knowing when  to  quit.

The  Kinks  of  course  were  a  major  force  in  the  sixties  chalking  up  two  more  number  ones  after  "You  Really  Got  Me"  and  coming  pretty  close  with  other  singles. After  "Waterloo  Sunset "  made  number  two  in  the  early  summer  of  1967  their  commercial  fortunes  started  to  slide. The  parent  album  "Something  Else  By  The  Kinks"  peaked  at  35  and  despite  its  immediate  successors  scoring  highly  with  the  critics, they  never  managed  to  chart  in  the  UK  with  a  studio  album  of  new  material  again. The  band's  decision  in  1968    to  stop  touring  and  concentrate  on  studio  work  hastened  their  decline. By  1969  bassist  Pete  Quaife  had  had  enough  and  quit  the  band. His  replacement  was  John  Dalton   who  had  deputised  for   him   in  1966  while  he  recovered  from  a  broken  leg.  John  had  been  playing  since  the  rock  and  roll  era  most  notably  with  The  Mark  Four ,  a  beat  group  who  were  popular  in  North  London  but  failed  to  chart  with  any  of  the  four  rather  generic  singles  they  recorded  in  the  mid-sixties  for  three  different  labels.  When  John  quit  in  1966  to  work  on  a  building  site  they  morphed  into  The  Creation.  The  Kinks   also  brought  in  a  permanent  keyboard  player  John  Gosling  at  this  time.

In  1970  The  Kinks's  fortunes  in  the  singles  chart  revived  in  a  big  way  with  successive  Top  5  hits  in  "Lola"  and  "Apeman"  but  that  still  wasn't  sufficient  to  propel  the  parent  album  "Lola  Versus  Powerman"  into  the  album  charts. Thereafter,  their  decline  in  the  UK  was  rapid  with  1972s   "Supersonic  Rocket  Ship"  their  last  hit  of  the  decade.  Ray  expanded  the  line  up  to  pursue  a  theatrical  bent  on  the  next  four  albums, during  which  time  his  marriage  broke  down  and  he  made  a  suicide  attempt. The  band  struggled  on  and  the  latter  two  "theatrical"  albums  started  selling  well  in  the  US.

Encouraged  by  this  Arista  signed  them  up  and  the  next  album  "Sleepwalker "which  heralded  a  more   heavy  rock  approach  , almost  made  the  Top  20. At  the  end  of  the  sessions  a  disgruntled  John  D  quit  the  band  and  was  replaced  by  former  Blodwyn  Pig  man  Andy  Pyle  but  he  only  lasted  until  the  next  album , after  which  he  and  John  G  left. They  were  replaced  by Jim  Rodford  previously  with  Argent  ( he  is  Rod  Argent's  cousin )  and  session  man  Ian  Gibbons . Despite  the  line  up  changes  the  band  continued  to  do  well  in  America  and  1981 's  "Give  The  People  What  They  Want"  even  yielded  a  minor  UK  hit  in  "Better  Things". In  1983  they  released  "State  of  Confusion "  which  contained  their  biggest  hit  in  years  with  the  nostalgic    "Come  Dancing  "  which   reached  number  6  in  the  US  and  12  in  the  UK  after  a  plug  from  Jonathan  King  on  Top  of  the  Pops.

"Don't  Forget  To  Dance"  was  the  follow-up  single. It  has  to  be  the  most  boring  pedestrian  hit  ever  to  have  the  word  "dance"  in  the  title. The  sentiments  are  worthy, telling  a  middle  aged  woman  to  cheer  up  and  do  what  makes  her  happy  and  the  production  is  smoothly  lush  but  it  never  gets  out  of  first  gear,  just  plods  along  in  its  AOR   rut  for  what  seems  like   much  longer  than  its  four  and  a  half  minutes. I's  not  what  you'd  call  going  out  on  a  high.

They  tried  for  a  third  hit  with  the  title  track  from  "State  of  Confusion",  a  scream  of  mundane  distress  a  la  Buzzcocks'  Something's  Gone  Wrong  Again   set  to  their  now-customary  hard  rock  sound  but  it's  nothing  to  write  home  about.

The  rot  really  set  in  with  their  next  album  "Word  of  Mouth"  in  1984. The  relationship  between  drummer  Mick  Avory  and  guitarist  Dave  Davies   got  so  bad  that  the  former  finally  ( he'd  contemplated  leaving  with  John  G )  quit  the  band  leaving  the  Davies  brothers  the  only  original  members. He  only  played  on  three  tracks with  Ray  using  a  drum  machine  to  fill  the  gaps. They  led  with  different  singles  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic. We  got  "Good  Day"  a  pleasant  enough  rumination  on  the  recent  death  of  Diana  Dors  which  might  have  done  something  if  it  had  any  airplay.  In  the  US   they  got  the  rockier  but  instantly  forgettable  "Do  It  Again "  which  became  their  last  hit  anywhere  in  the  world  when  it  reached  number  41  in  the  US. The  album , an  uneasy  blend  of   dated  British  pop  and   US  AOR  muscle,  not  helped  by  the  ugly  drum  sounds,  peaked  at  57 , a  sharp  contraction  after  four  successive Top  20  placings. Arista  let  them  go after  that  one.

Ray  then  took  a  short  break  from  the  group  to  play  a  small  role  as  the  hero's  father  in  the  film  Absolute  Beginners  which  included   a  sequence  performing  the  song,  "Quiet  Life" , that  he  contributed  to  the  soundtrack. One  review  said  he  was  the  best  thing  in  it.

At  the  tail   end  of   1986   they  released  the  LP  " Think  Visual"  which  started  out  as  a  concept  LP  about  a  guy  working  at  a  video  store.  The  band's  new  deal  saw  them  record  for  London  in  the  UK  and  MCA  in  the  States. "Think  Visual"  isn't  awful, just  crushingly  dull with  meagre  imagination  in  either  the  music  or  the  lyrics which  offer  little more  than  mild  unoriginal  observations  on  consumerism  or  attempts  at  sub-Springsteen  empathy  for  the  blue  collar  employee. The  two  singles  "How  Are  You "  and  "Lost  And  Found "  ( the best  track  possibly  because  it  has  melodic  echoes  of  The  Smiths ' The  Boy  With  The  Thorn  In  His  Side )  are  passable  AOR  pop  in  a  Mike  and  The  Mechanics  vein  but  neither  demand  to  be  heard  again. The  album  scraped  into  the  US  Top  100  reaching  number  100.

At  the  beginning  of  1988  with  The  Stranglers'  cover  of  "All  Day  and All  Of  The  Night"  riding  high  in  the  charts  , the  band  released  a  new  single  "The  Road"  a  self-referential  ode  to  the  touring  life,  namechecking  the  former  members  as  well  as  their  contemporaries. It's  quite  touching  in  a  way  but  musically  it's  a  real  dog's  dinner of  half-realised  ideas. It  was  a  new  studio  track  tacked  on  to  to  an  uninteresting  live  album,  recorded  on  a  1987  US  tour and  featuring  only  "Apeman"  as  a  reminder  of  past  glories. Ian  left  the  band  at  this  point.

After  that  the  band  turned  their  back  on  America  for  their  next  album  "UK  Jive" in  1989  which  is  stuffed  full  of  middle-aged  angst  at  modern  British  society. Another  leaf  was  taken  out  of  Morrissey's  book  with  a  closing  track  about  Mrs  T  , Dave's  dire  "Dear  Margaret"  , a  turgid  metal  stomper  which  has  nothing  new  to  say. Not  that  Ray's  songs  are  much  better; his  pro-EU  anthem   "Down  All  The  Days  Till  1992" , released  as  the  first  single, is  based  on  the  synth  riff  from  Van  Halen's  Jump   and   has  no  real  chorus  . His  voice  sounds  over-strained  as  well. The  follow  up  "How  Do  I  Get  Close ? "  bemoaning  superficiality  would  have  more  purchase  if  it  didn't  sound  like  Whitesnake.

MCA  dropped  them  after  the  album's  failure  but  Columbia  took  them  on. They  released  a  standalone  single  "Did  Ya"  in  1991,  an  interminable  busker's  whinge  about  the  good  old  days  with  deliberate  echoes  of  " Sunny  Afternoon"   that  fail  to  distract  from  how  wretched   the  song  is. A  new  LP  "Phobia"  duly  followed  in  1992.  It  follows  the  same  formula  of  contemporary  commentary  set  to  either  whimsical  pop  or,  more  usually,  muscular  hard  rock. The   most  interesting  track  is  the  rockabilly-tinged  "Hatred ( A  Duet )"  on  which  Dave  and  Ray  send  up  their  long-standing  reputation  for  fraternal  strife, a  neat  idea  but  it  goes on  far  too  long, a  criticism   that's  also  apt  for  the  album  itself  that  clocks  in  at  a  wearying  one  hour  and ten  minutes.   The  single  "Only  A  Dream"  a  semi-spoken  , synth-washed  tale  of  middle-aged  delusion  is  pretty  dreary. The  folksy  closer  "Scattered " was  lined  up  as  a  follow up  but  Columbia  had  realised  their  mistake  and  cancelled  it.

Having  now  been  dumped  by  three  major  labels  The  Kinks ( with  Ian  back  in  the fold )  were  forced  to  record  their  last  LP  "To  The  Bone"  on  their  own  label  Konk  despite  having  their  profile  raised  as  a  key  influence  on  Britpop. It  only  contained  two  new  songs  "Animal"  and  the  title  track  on  both  of  which  they  sound  like  Tom  Petty  and  the  Heartbreakers; the  latter  track  sounds  very  similar  to  Refugee. Otherwise  its  basically  an  Unplugged-style  trawl
 through  their  greatest  hits. After  both  Dave  and  Ray  released  their  autobiographies  the  band  finally  threw  in  the  towel  in  1996.

Ray  next  surfaced  in  1977   with  a  solo  show  called "The  Storyteller"   which  featured  acoustic  renditions  of  Kinks  songs  interspersed  by   Ray  telling  the  stories  behind  them. It  inspired  the  VH-1  show  of  the  same  name  which  the  channel  acknowledged  by  giving  Ray  the  first  episode. An  album  was  released  the  following  year.

Ray  was  out  of  the  headlines  until  the  beginning  of  2004. Now  living  in  New  Orleans  Ray  chased  after  a  mugger  who  stole  his  girlfriend's  purse  and  got  shot  in  the  leg  for  his  troubles; a  radiologist  asked  him  for  his  autograph. The  guy  got  away  with  it  because  Ray  couldn't  be  bothered  going  to  court  to  testify  against  him.

He  didn't  release  any  new  material  until  2005  with  the   "The  Tourist  "  EP.  The  lead  track  is  a  desperately  dull  critique  of  international  tourism  with  a  boringly  basic  riff  that  goes   absolutely  nowhere. The  musical  paucity  puts  me  in  mind  of  Roger  Waters.  It  featured  on  his  first  real  solo  album  ( i.e. of  new  material  )  "Other  People's  Lives"  released  the  following  year. Thankfully  there  is  better  stuff  on  it  with  Ray  conjuring  up  some  half-decent  guitar  pop  tunes  to  go  with   his  musings  on  encroaching  mortality  and  the  evils  of  the  modern  media. It  goes  on  far  too  long   and  none  of  it's  essential   but  it  was  good  enough  to   earn  a  couple  of  weeks  in  the  UK  album  charts  peaking  at  number  36.

His  next  one  " Working  Man's  Cafe"  followed  eighteen  months  later  and  was  given  away  free  with  The  Sunday  Times   hence  its  non- appearance  in  the  now-devalued  album  chart.  At  ten  tracks  it's  leaner  than  its  immediate  predecessor  but  that's  unfortunately  the  best  thing  about  it. "No  One  Listen"  a  tale  of   Everyman  frustration  still  has  a  spark  but  elsewhere  it  sounds  really  tired,  offering  little  more  than  re-heated  Dire  Straits  ( "The  Voodoo  Walk " )  or tiresome  tiebacks  to  Kinks  hits  ( "Don't  Ask  Me", "Peace  In  Our  Time"). I  wouldn't  like  to  guess  how  many  copies  ended  up  in  landfill  by  the  end  of  the  week.

It  is  to  date  his  last  collection  of  original  material. In  2009  he  got  together  with  the  Crouch  End  Festival  Chorus  to  re-work  Kinks  songs  yet  again  for  an  album  "The  Kinks  Choral  Collection"   which  reached  number  28  in  the  album  charts. At  the  end  of  the  year  they  released  a  passable  Christmas  single  "Postcard  from  London"  with  former  beau  Chrissie  Hynde  but  it's  no  Fairytale  of  New  York.  

In  the  summer  of  2010  he  played  Glastonbury  and  dedicated  his  set  to  the  recently  deceased  Pete  Quaife. Six  months  later  he  released  what  is  currently  his  last  album  "See  My  Friends "  where  he  gathered  together  famous  pals  ( including  Springsteen, Jon  Bon  Jovi  and  Jackson  Browne )  for  yet  another   assault  on  the  likes  of  "Waterloo  Sunset"  and  "Days" . This  time  he  reached  number  12.  Since  then  he's  been  out  on  the  road  playing  the  hits.

Dave  re-emerged  with  the  album  "Bug"  in  2002. Dave  clearly  had  more  interest  in  contemporary  music  than  his  brother  as  most  of  the  tracks  have  a  fat  Queens  of  the  Stone  Age  guitar  sound  and  lyrics  filled  with  Muse-ish  paranoia. There  are  a  couple  of  notable  diversions. Halfway  through  you  have  a  lovely  piano  ballad  "Flowers  in  the  Rain" ( not  The  Move  song )  which  is  better  than  anything  Ray's  come  up  with  in  the  past  three  decades  and  the  final  track  "Life  After  Life  ( Transformation ) "  dives  head  first  into  electronica. Dave  doesn't  have  a  particularly  mellifluous  voice  which  makes  it  a  strain  to  listen  to  in  one  dose  but  at  least  it's  interesting.

In  2004  Dave  was  hit  by  an  incapacitating  stroke  but  three  years  later  managed   to  put  out  another  album  "Fractured  Mindz ". Bearing  in  mind  that  Dave  made  the  album  in  considerably  adverse  circumstances  it's  hard  to  be  too  condemnatory  but  there's  precious  little  to  recommend  here. There 's  the  odd  guitar  melody  that's  pleasant  but  the  musical  gaps  have  been  filled  in  with  uninteresting  synthesiser  work  and  Dave  sings  like  he's  on  medication  ( as  he  probably  was ). Lyrically  there's  a  leaning  towards  Eastern  mysticism  particularly  on  the  final   title  track  which  is  near-unlistenable.

Three  years  later  he  and  son   Russ  put  out  an  album  of  Eastern-inspired  electronica   "Two  Worlds  as  The  Aschere  Project. It  sounds  like  Jean-Michel  Jarre  to  me  but  it's  not  unpleasant  to  have  on  in  the  background. In  2013  he  released  a  more  conventional  LP  " I  Will  Be  Me". By  this  time  he  had  pretty  much  recovered  so  it's  back  to  crunching  hard  rock   with  the  occasional diversions  into  pop  such  as  "The  Healing  Boy",  a  touching  tribute  to  his  son. Dave  was  able  to  do  some  dates  in  the  US  and  UK  to  promote  it. After  that  he  was  straight  back  in  the  studio  to  crank  out  another  LP  "Rippin'  Up  Time"  released  in  October  2014. It  wasn't  time  well  spent. Dave's  voice  sounds  like  it's  on  its  last  legs, there  isn't  a  decent  melody  on  the  album  and  for  the  first  time  he  sounds  like  he's  trying  to  ape  big  brother  on  tracks  like  "Front  Room"  which  sounds  like  his  cohorts  are  just  strumming  along  while  he  reads  out  extracts  from  his  autobiography. Dave  did  another  small  tour  in  the  US  on  which  he  said  he'd  be  playing  three  or  four  songs  from  the  album  alongside  Kinks  classics  which  suggests   that  even  he  realises  it's  not  much  cop.

After  the  band  broke  up  Jim  joined  Hilton  Valentine  and  John  Steel  in  The  Animals  II  and  toured  with  them  until  2003. He  also  started  working  with  Colin  Blunstone  and  Rod  Argent  and  played  on  their  2001  album  "Out  of  the  Shadows". The  following  year  he  and  drummer  Steve  were  invited  to  join  the  pair  in  the  new  line  up  of  The  Zombies. He's  played  on  all  three  of  their  subsequent  studio  albums  , "As  Far  As  I  Can  See", "Breathe  Out  Breathe  In"  and  "Still  Got  That  Hunger". I  haven't  explored  them  in  full  but  the  tracks  I've  heard   sound  OK  if  you  like  seventies-style  soft  rock,  with  Colin  Blunstone's  golden  voice  remarkably  intact. Jim  also  replaced  John  D  in  The  Kast  Off  Kinks.

Pete  had  formed  a  new  group , the  Anglo-Canadian  quartet  Mapleoak  before  his  departure  from  The  Kinks  was  confirmed. He  made  one  single  with  them, the  unexceptional  chugging  blues  rock  of  "Son  of  A  Gun"  in  1970,  and  played  a  number  of  gigs  in  Denmark  and  the  UK  but  disillusionment  quickly  set  in  and  he  quit  the  group  in  the  middle  of  1970. They  recorded  their  one  album  without  him . He  left  the  music  industry  and  started  working  as  a  graphic  artist,  first  in  Denmark  then  in  Canada  from  1980. He  made  a  brief  appearance during  an  encore  when The  Kinks  played  Toronto  in  1981.  He  was  a  keen  amateur  astronomer  who  popularised  the  pastime  in  Canada. Pete  started  suffering  from  kidney  failure  in  1998. He  returned  to  Denmark  after  his  marriage  failed  in  2005. He  died  in  June  2010. His  fictionalised  account  of  his  time  in  The  Kinks,  Veritas,  was  published   after  his  death  with  the  proceeds  going  to  the  Pete  Quaife  Foundation  which  provides  sterilised  Kindles  to  children  undergoing  dialysis  treatment.  

John  D  disappeared  from  view  until  1994  when  he,  Mick  and  John G  formed  The  Kast-Off  Kinks  , two  years  before  the  original  band  confirmed  their  dissolution. The  name's  a  bit  cheeky  since  most  of  the  ex-Kinks  left  of  their  own  volition. He  was  the  front  man  for  the  group  until  he  retired  in  2008 ( though  he  has  made  the  odd  appearance  with  them  when  Jim's  had  Zombies  commitments  ). He  also  played  in  a  rock  and  roll  outfit  5%  Volume  from  2003  to  2008.

John  G  and  Andy  Pyle  formed  a  band   called  Network  . They  recorded  an  album  for  Phonogram  but  it  never  got  released. He  played  with  John  D  in  a  rock  and  roll  outfit  called  The  Bullettes  and  a  country  rock  outfit  called  Warm  Gloves  but  was  musically  inactive  for  some  time  before  the  Kast-Off  Kinks  formed. John   retired  at  the  same  time  as  John  D.

Ray  was  very  disappointed  at  Mick  leaving  the  band  and  kept  him  semi-involved  as  manager  of  the  Konk  studios  hence  his  occasional  contributions  to  later  Kinks  albums.  Besides  playing  in  Kast-Off  Kinks   Mick  also  toured  with  a  group  called  Shut  Up  Frank  which  included  Noel  Redding  and  ex-Animal  Dave  Rowberry  ( both  of  whom  died  in  2003 ). They  recorded  some  obscure  CDs  which  included  some  new   material  alongside  renditions  from  their  various  back  catalogues. Mick  has  also  played  in  similar  survivors  collectives,  The  Class  of  64, The  Legends  of  the  Sixties  and  The  Sixties  All  Stars.

Ian  went  back  to  session  work  with  the  likes  of  Roger  Chapman, Ian  Hunter  ( with  both  of  whom  he's  also  toured ) Suzi  Quatro,  Chris  Farlowe  and  Andy Scott. He  joined  the  Kast-Off  Kinks  when  John  G  retired.

All  the ex-Kinks  have  been  continually  pestered  about  a  possible  reunion  over  the  past  decade   and  have  made  the  odd  appearance  with  each  other  thus  stoking  the  fire. Even  the  Davies  brothers  appeared  on  stage  together  last  month  so  watch  this  space.



 

455 Goodbye KC and the Sunshine Band - ( You Said ) You'd Gimme Some More

Chart  entered  : 24  September  1983

Chart  peak : 41

KC  and  the  Sunshine  Band  rode  the  disco  boom  in  the  second  half  of  the  seventies  with  massive  success  in  the  USA  ( 5  number  ones )   not  quite  replicated  over  here  though  they  were  chart  regulars  up  to  1980. The  picture  started  to  cloud  in  1979  when  guitarist  Jerome  Smith   was  forced  out  by  his  drug  and  alcohol  addictions. The  band  started  moving  towards  a  more  mellow  pop  sound  with  their  last  US  number  1  "Please  Don't  Go" . Singer  Harry  Casey  then  started  releasing  records  just  as  "KC"  although  drummer  Robert  Johnson  and   bassist  Richard  Finch  played  on  the  next  LP  and  the  latter  co-produced  and  co-wrote  three  of  the  tracks  on  "Space  Cadet  Solo  Flight" . It  was  their  last  LP  on  TK  Records  which  went  bust. Johnson  was  gone  by  the  time  of  their  next  album  on  Epic  "The  Painter"  which  restored  the  group  moniker. These  two  album  performed  very  poorly  and  Harry  and  Richard  had  already  dissolved  their  partnership  by  the  time  of  the  next  release  "All  in  a  Night's  Work" in  1982. Just  after  its  release  Harry  was  nearly  killed  in  a  car  crash   which  impeded  its  promotion. The  track  "Give  It  Up"  which  Harry  recorded  on  his  own  was  a  surprise  UK  number  one  in  August  1983, three and  a  half   years  after  their  last  hit.

" ( You Said )  You'd  Gimme  Some  More " was  actually  the  first  single  released  from  the  album  but  hadn't  done  anything  while  Harry  was  convalescing.  It's  a  bit  retro  for  1982   with  a  Giorgio  Moroder  Eurodisco  pulse  straight   from  a  Donna  Summer  album. Harry  squawks  his  way  through  the  deliberately  repetitive  lyric  in  his  usual  style  and  while  it  probably  works  at  high  volume   in  a  club   it  sounds  pretty  disposable  in  the  cold  light  of  day.

Epic  had  bought  the  rights  to  the  TK  catalogue  and  next  tried  with  a  re-release  of  his  1978  hit  cover  of  "The  Same  Old  Song"   but  it  didn't  make  the  charts.

KC's  next  album  "KC  Ten"  released  at  the  end  of  1983  was  credited  to  him  alone  although  Jerome  played  on  it  as  a  session  musician. Robert  had  died  unexpectedly  by  this  time.  The  only  single  release - apart  from  "Give  It  Up"  which  was  included  again  - was  "Are  You  Ready". It  was  the  only  Casey/ Finch  composition  on  the  album   and  it  sounds  like  the  dregs  from  the  bottle  of  the  barrel,  an  over-produced  jerky  pop  disco number  that  wouldn't  pass  muster  as  a  Bucks  Fizz  B-side . It  was  only  a  hit  in  Belgium  and  the  album , on  which  Harry  struggles  to  get  to  grips  with  electro-dance,  barely  scraped  a  place  in  the  US  Top  100.

Harry  dissolved  the  band  in  1985  and  retired  from  music  but  was  persuaded  to  reform  the  band  without  either  Richard  or  Jerome  in  1991. They  made  an  entirely  electronic   new  album " Oh  Yeah"  in  1993  kicking  off   with  a  toothless   medley   "Megamix ( The  Official  Bootleg )" that  withers  and  dies  next  to  the  original  recordings. It  failed  as  a  single  as  did  "Will  You  Love  Me  In  The  Morning"  which  sounds  like  Harry's  having  a  mid-life  crisis  as  he  sings  about  sexual  pursuit  with  a  Pam  Ayres- like  swerve  away  from  using  the  word  "fuck". He's  obviously  kept  up  with  modern  dance  sounds  but  the  songs  aren't  strong  enough  to  get  through. The  assault  on  Fleetwood  Mac's  "Don't  Stop"  is  too  bad  for  words.

The  album  sunk  like  a  stone  but   the  new  look   KC  and  the  Sunshine  Band  were  able  to  make  a  living  on  the  nostalgia  circuit.  There  have  been  a  couple  of  new  studio  albums  "I'll  Be  There  For  You" in  2001  and  "Yummy"  in  2007,  on  which  Harry's  wobbling  voice  has  been  treated  to  the  point  where  he  sounds  more  like  Stephen  Hawking. Neither  have  made  any  impression   but  the  band  continues.

Jerome  went  back  to  being  a  session  guitarist  and  appeared  on  a  number  of  albums  by  risque  rapper  Blowfly. He  also  did  some  work  on  the  soundtrack  to  TV  series  Melrose  Place.  He  also  went  on  tour  with  Australian  duo  The  Divinyls.  By  the  end  of  the  nineties  though  he  was  working  on  a  construction  site.  Harry  left  the  door  open  to  rejoin  the  Band  if  he  could  kick  the  battle  and  he  was  reportedly  working  towards  that  when  he  died  after  falling  out  of  his  bulldozer in  2000.

Richard  largely  devoted  his  time  to  production  at  his  home studio  after  the  partnership  broke  up  with  no  conspicuous  success. In  2010  he  admitted  to  having  sexual  relations  with  underage  boys  , blaming  it  on  his  dependence  on  alcohol,  and  is  currently  serving  a  seven  year  sentence.