491 Hello Go West - We Close Our Eyes

Chart  entered : 23  February  1985

Chart  peak : 5

Number  of  hits : 12

This  duo  were  one  of  the  few  acts  from  this  period  to  break  through  on   a  major  label  and  demonstrate  some  staying  power.

They  were  no  spring  chickens. Singer  Peter  Cox  was  nearly  30  and  instrumentalist  Richard  Drummie  was  25. Both  had  a  long ,  dispiriting  background  in  pub  rock  and  teamed  up  with  the  idea  of  becoming  a  studio-based  writing  partnership  rather  than  a  group. They  recorded  a  couple  of  tracks  on  a  demo , "We  Close  Our  Eyes"  and  "Call  Me"  and  touted  them  round. Chaka  Khan  was  mooted  for  the  first  one  but  her  producer  Arif  Mardin  vetoed  it. However  Chrysalis  liked  the  tape  and  offered  them  a  deal  to  record  themselves.  What's  more  they  fronted  £90,000   for  Godley  and  Creme  to  make  a  video  for  the  first  single.

"We  Close  Our  Eyes"  is  a  paean  to  daydreaming   although  the  constant  references  to  "time  slipping  away"  add  a  sour  edge  to  the  lyric, the  product  of  the  duo's  years  spent  running  to  stand  still. Though  it  now  sounds  grotesquely  over-produced  ( by  Gary  Stevenson )  with  the  ubiquitous  Fairlight  brass  sound  particularly  irritating,  it's  still  a  decent  piece  of  dance  pop  with  a  crisp  drum  sound  and  the  icing  on  the  cake  provided  by  Peter's  Robert  Palmer-ish  vocals. I  liked  it  enough  to  buy  it  and  it  turned  out  to  be  their  biggest  hit  in  the  UK.  

490 Goodbye Shalamar - My Girl Loves Me

Chart  entered : 2  February  1985

Chart  peak : 45

The  Shalamar  of  1985  was  a  very  different  beast  from  their  debut  hit  eight  years  earlier. The  studio  project  doing  Motown  covers   had  turned  into  a  pop  dance  trio  who  had  hits  with  original  material. Original  singer  Gary  Mumford  bailed  out  soon  after  the  release  of  the  first  LP  to  be  replaced by  Gerald  Brown.  It's  often  assumed  , from  their background  as  dancers that  Jody  Watley  and  Jeffrey  Daniel  didn't  contribute  much  in  the  studio  but  Jeffrey  is  credited  as  the  sole  writer of  the  title  track   of  their  second  LP  "Shalamar's  Disco  Gardens". That  yielded  the  transatlantic  hit  "Take  That  To  The Bank". Gerald  then  departed after  a  business  dispute   with  the   group's  founder  Dick  Griffey   and  was  replaced  by  Howard  Hewett, completing  the   classic  line  up. Their  annus  mirablis  was  undoubtedly  1982  when  their  "Friends  "  LP  yielded  four  Top  20  hits  , three  of  them  going   Top  10. "A  Night  To  Remember"  gave  rise  to  an  iconic  Top  of  the  Pops  appearance  when  Jeffrey  was  invited  to  demonstrate  his  body  popping  techniques  in  a   unique  instance  of  an  artist  being  allowed  to  dance  to  their  own  material  without  also  lip-synching  it.

The  band  were  holed  by  the  separate  departures of  Jeffrey  and  Jody  in  1983  after  conflicts  with  Dick   and  the  record  company. They  were  replaced  by  Micki  Free , a  Native  American  guitarist  and  singer  from  a  rock  background  and  singer  and  keyboardist   Delisa  Davis . These  changes  saw  an  immediate  diminution  in  their  chart  placings  in  the  UK  ( although  their  1984  single  "Dancing  In  The  Sheets" was  the  group's  second  biggest  hit  in  the US  where  they  were  usually  less  popular )   this  single  being  the  fourth  in  a  row  to  peak  outside  the  Top  40.

"My  Girl  Loves  Me "  was  written  by  Howard  and  Micki  together  with  Rufus  keyboard  player  David  "Hawk"  Wolinski. It  was  the  third  single  from  their  1984  album  "Heartbreak"  which  hadn't  charted  in  the  UK  just  two  years  after  the  platinum  success  of  "Friends".  It  shows  a  musical  shift  from  the  Chic  influences  on  "Friends"  to  a  harder-edged  electro-funk  sound  to  which  Micki  adds  lashings  of   rock  guitar. The  new  members  probably  added  more  as  musicians   to  Howard's  always  on  the  money  vocals   and  this  is  a  perfectly  competent  piece  of  work  but  there  is  something  missing  here, perhaps  a  melody  line  to  compare  with   "I  Can  Make  You  Feel  Good"  which  would  make  it  stand  out  from  the  pack.

One  more  single  was  taken  from  "Heartbreak", "Don't  Get  Stopped In  Beverley  Hills", a  vacuous, repetitive  dance  rock  number  which  was  featured  in  the  film  Beverley  Hills  Cop.
They  had  one  more  single  out  in  1985  "Just  One  of  the  Guys "  the  theme  song  to  a  forgotten  teen  movie  , a  tuneless  funk  number  that  purloins  the  chords  from  1999.

The  group  then  suffered  a  mortal  blow  when  Howard  quit  to  launch  a  solo  career. His  departure  so  devalued  the  Shalamar  brand  they  would  have  been  better  abandoning  it  but  they  recruited  a  new  singer  Sydney  Justin  and  pressed  on.  In   1986  a  greatest  hits  compilation  reached  number  5  in  the  UK   and  a  remixed  version  of  "A  Night  To  Remember"  got  to  number 52.

The  new  line  up  came  up  with  the  album  "Circumstantial  Evidence "  in  1987  on  which  they  had  some  heavyweight  help. LA  Reid  and  Babyface  wrote  songs  for, played  on  and  produced  the  album. First  single  "Games"  very  obviously  rips  off  Cameo  with  Justin  doing  his  best  to  imitate  Larry  Blackmon's  gnarly  voice. The  second  single  was  the  title  track  which  subjects  Prince  to  the  same  treatment. The  third  single  "I  Want  You ( To  Be  My  Playthang )"  is  a  tuneless  electro throbber  which  is  all  production  and  no  song. The  album  and  first  two  singles made  a  mark  on  the  R  &  B  charts  but  nowhere  else.

By  the  time  of  the  final  album  "Wake  Up "  in  1990  even  that  was  denied  them.  Abandoned  by  LA  and  Babyface  the  trio  still  tried  to  get  in  on  some  of  the  new  jack  swing  action  on  tracks  like  the  utterly  formulaic   single   "Caution : This  Love  Is  Hot "  and  a  dire  attempt  at  the  Beatles'  "Come  Together"  which  proved  to  be  the  last  Shalamar  single  in  1991.

In  1996  Babyface  recorded  a  new  hip  hop  version  of  "This  Is  For  the  Lover In  You"  , a  track  from  their  1980  album  "Three  Into  One"  which  featured  contributions  from  all  three  members  of  the  classic  line  up  including  appearing  in  the  video  ( although  not  together ). The  single  got  to  number  6  in  the  US  and  12  in  the  UK  and  they  did  appear  together  to  promote  it  on  Top  of  The  Pops. Babyface   then  opened  negotiations  for  doing  a  full  album  with  them  but  these  eventually  collapsed  over  money.

Three  years  later  Jeffrey  and  Howard  did  reunite  to  tour  as  Shalamar, mainly  in  the  UK  and  after  trying  out  a  number  of  female  singers  Dick  Griffey's  daughter  Carolyn  was  made  a  permanent  member. In  2005  they  were  runners  up  to  Shakin'  Stevens  in  the  UK  TV  show  Hit  Me  Baby  One  More  Time.  They  continue  to  tour  but  as  yet  haven't  returned  to  the  studio.

Besides  fronting  the  revived  Shalamar,  Howard  has maintained  a   solo  career  that  runs  to  eight  studio  albums . It  got  off  to  an  interesting  start  when  he  and  his  fiance  were  arrested  and charged  with  distributing  cocaine. She  went  down  but  Howard  was  acquitted  of  all  charges.  Nevertheless  Elektra  signed  him  up  and  released  his  first  four  solo  albums. He  didn't  stray  too  far  from  Shalamar's  pop  soul  with  occasional  forays  into  gospel  and  singles  like  "Show  Me"  and  "I'm  For  Real"  achieved  high  placings  on  the  R &  B  chart  but  a  crossover  hit  in  his  own  name  would  always  elude  him.

Elektra  dropped  him  in  1994  and  after  one  more  soft  soul  album  -1995's  "It's  Time"  on  Expansion  Records  -  he  turned  to  session  singing  on  jazz  records  by  the  likes  of  George  Duke, Joe  Sample  and  The  Rippingtons.     His  2001  album  "The  Journey  "  was  a  full  gospel  album.  He  returned  to  soul  with  the  album  "If  Only"  in  2007  , trailed  by  a  soporific  single  "Enough"  produced  by  Duke. His  most  recent  record  to  date  was  his  Christmas  collection  "Howard  Hewett  Christmas "  in  2008.  He  lives  in  L.A.

Jeffrey  went  straight  into  Andrew  Lloyd  Webber's  Starlight  Express  playing  the  train  Elektra . His  song  "AC/DC"  , a  rather  dull  electro-pop   number  was  released  as  a  single  in  1984  but  wasn't  a  hit. When  his  run  in  the  show  finished  he  relocated  to  Japan  but  was  lured  back  to  America by  Michael  Jackson   to  work  as  his  choreographer. That  subsequently  became  his  bread  and  butter  but  he  did  make  one  solo  record  , the  album  "Skinny  Boy"  in  1990. I've  only  heard  one  other  track  besides  the  single  "She's  The Girl" which  is  competent  contemporary  R  &  B  with an  indifferent  vocalist.

Jody's  had  the  most  successful  solo  career  of  the  classic  trio . It  got  off  to  a  false  start.  She  co-wrote  her  first  single  with  Bruce  Woolley   who  also  produced  alongside  Gary  Langan. "Where  The  Boys  Are " , released  in  November  1984   under  the  name  "Jody "  is  a  synth  pop  number  let  down  by  her  indifferent  vocals  and  a  very  weak  chorus. She  was  a  somewhat  unlikely  participant  in  Band  Aid  through  having  just  signed  for  the  same  label and  had  a  brief  fling  with  Duran's  John  Taylor  as  a  result. Her  second  single  "Girls  Night  Out "   ( which  I  haven't  heard )  did  no  better  than  the  first  and  she  returned  to  the  US  ( where  neither  single  had  been  released ).

However  Jody  had  not  given  up  on the  idea  of  solo  fame  and  got  a  deal  with  MCA. She  co-wrote  most  of  her  eponymous  debut  with  former  Prince  bassist  Andre  Cymone. The  first  single  "Looking  For  A  New  Love", catapulted  her  to  number  2  in  the  US  and  number  13  here  ( where  it's  the  only  one  of  her  8  solo  hits  anyone's  likely  to  be  able  to  name ). Today  it  sounds  like  a  fairly  unremarkable  dance  pop  number  with  a  very  unremarkable  singer  but  this  was  a  year  where neither  Madonna  nor  Janet  Jackson  had  a  proper  album  out   so  I  guess  Jody  got  her  timing  spot  on. The  album  spawned  four  more  US  hits  including  the  execrable  "Still  A  Thrill "  where  her  attempt  to  do  a  deep  vocal  like  The  Pointer  Sisters' Automatic  is  painfully  amateur-ish.  This  led  to  a  controversial  Grammy  Award  for  Best  New  Artist  despite  being  nowhere  near  as  "new"  as  the  other  nominees. Over  here  we  were  far  more circumspect  with  only  "Don't  You  Want  Me"  ( not  The  Human  League  classic  but  a  forgettable  Madonna  clone )  making  the  chart  at  a  lowly  55  and  the  album  peaking  at  62.

Still  Jody's  roll  in  the  US  continued  with  her  next  album  "Larger  Than  Life"  in  1989. The  lead  single  "Real  Love"  (  a  pretty  effective  dance  pop  number  )  became  her  second  number  2  hit  there  though  it  stalled  outside  the  Top  30  here. The  follow up  "Friends "  did  slightly  better  here  due  to  the  presence  of  hot  hip  hop  duo  Eric  B  &  Rakim  as  featured  guests. It  reached  number  21. The  album  also  did  slightly  better  than  its  predecessor, reaching  number  39. The  ballad  "Everything"  scraped  in  at  number  74  ( number  4 in  the  US ). " Precious  Love"  which  rips  off  La  Isla  Bonita  no  end  didn't  chart  at  all.

With her  third  LP  "Affairs  of  the  Heart" , on  which  Cymone  was  only  involved  in  half  the  tracks , Jody  suffered  a  sharp  contraction  in  sales  with  the  album  failing  to  make  the  Top  100. The  house-flavoured  "I'm  The  One  You  Need"  was  her  last  Top  20  hit  in  the  US  ( number  50  here ) . 1993's  "Intimacy "  went  for  a  mellower  groove  and  lead  single  "Your  Love  Keeps  Working  On  Me"  is  a  pleasant  enough  Soul  II  Soul  shuffler .  The  only  hit  from  it  hear  was  the  execrable  "When  A  Man  Loves  A  Woman"; if  you're  going  to  do  a  spoken  word  number  in  the  vein  of  Madonna's  Justify  My  Love  , make  sure  it's  got  a  decent  lyric. The  clunky  AIDS  reference  is  embarrassing. Somehow  it  got  to  number  33.

MCA  dropped  Jody  and  she  set  up   her  own  label  Avitone  Records  to  release  her  fifth  album  "Affection" in  1995 . It  only  charted  in  Japan  and  didn't  yield  any  hits. MCA  released  a  "Greatest  Hits  "  LP  a  year  later  which  didn't  chart.   Neither  did  her   1998  LP " Flower"   though  it  did  contain  her  last  hit  single  "Off  The  Hook" a  run  of  the  mill  R &  B  number  which  made  number  71  in  the  US  and  51  here.

Since  then,  Jody's  released  three  more  LPs  to  minimal  interest. The  most recent  one, 2006's "The  Makeover"  was  all  covers  or  re-recordings. Jody  insists  that  her  relations  with Howard  and  Jeffrey  are  "cordial"  but  she's  resisted  invitations  to  reunite  and  once  phoned  a  radio  station  to  contest  Howard's  assertion  that  she  "had  issues". It's  hard  to  swallow  her  claim  to  be  "a  creative  visionary"  but  you  can  understand  her  not  wanting  to  go  back  and  be  an  employee  again. In 2014  she  launched  her  own  version  of  Shalamar   and  released  the  single  "Slow  Dance" a  rather  dreary,  synth-heavy , chill  out  tune.

So  what  of  the  bit  players ?  After  Shalamar  dissolved,  Micki  teamed  up  with  Jean  Bouvoir  formerly  of  shock rockers  The  Plasmatics  to  form  the  hard  rock  outfit  Crown  of  Thorns  ( nothing  to  do  with  the  British  goth  band  of  the  eighties ). After  two  albums  with  them  he  went  solo  and  has  worked  in  the  blues  rock   genre  since  with  occasional  forays  into  Native  American  flute  music.

Delisa  disappeared  from  the  music  business  and  is  thought  to  be  a  hair  stylist   in  L.A.

Gerald  put  out  a  couple  of  well-spaced  singles  "I'm  Gonna  Wear  A  Smile "  in  1981  ( which  I  haven't  heard  )  and  a  competent    electro-dance  number,  "Heart  Breaker " in 1987. He  has  been  mainly  occupied  by  singing  advertising  jingles  and  fronting  his  own  version  of  Shalamar, the  Shalamar  Revue  Band.

Gary  left  the  music  business  for  the  church  and  is  now  a  pastor.

The  group's  co-founder  Don  Cornelius  dropped   out  or  was  pushed ( Jody  says  he  was  thrown  under  the  bus" )  early  on . He  eventually  quit  hosting  the  show  Soul  Train  in  1993  largely  due  to  suffering  seizures  after  brain  surgery  in  1982.  In  2008  he  was  convicted  of  spousal  abuse  and  placed  on  probation. In  his  later  years  he  was  suffering  extreme  pain  and  committed  suicide  by  shooting  himself  in  2012.

Aftr  Shalamar  folded , Dick  got  into  hip  hop  and  had  a  hand  in  founding  Death  Row  Records   giving  studio  time  to  Dr  Dre.  In  1997  he  and  another  guy  sued  Dre  and  Suge  Knight  claiming  they  had  been  denied  their  rightful  share  of  ownership  and  profits.  He  died  in  2010  following  heart  surgery.

489 Goodbye Jimmy Ruffin - There Will Never Be Another You

Chart entered : 25  January  1985

Chart  peak :68

We're  going  to  be saying  farewell  to  quite  a  few  black  acts  over  the  next  couple  of  years as  soul  and  disco  give  way  to   R & B, house  and  hip  hop.

Buoyed  by  the  support  of  the  Northern  Soul  crowd,  Jimmy's  run  of  hits  continued  into  the early   seventies   in  the  UK  when  it  had  petered  out  in  the  US. Eventually  though  Motown  cut  him  loose  in  1974. He  had  one  minor  hit  later  that  year  on  Polydor  then  nothing  for  six  years. In  1980  he  relocated  to  the  UK , signed  for  RSO  and  recorded  an  album  written  for  him  by  Robin  Gibb and  former  Amen  Corner  man  Derek "Blue" Weaver  called "Sunrise". This  included  the  huge  comeback  hit  "Hold  On To  My  Love" which  made  the  Top  10  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. Alas  the  follow up  stiffed  and  Jimmy  floated  around, recording  a  couple  of  duet  singles  for  ERC  before  turning  up  on  the  Council  Collective's  single  "Soul  Deep" , a  collaboration  with  The  Style  Council, Junior  and  Heaven  17  to  benefit  the striking  miners. Much  was  made  of  Jimmy's  involvement  as  the  only  overseas  participant  and  he  took  fright  a  bit,  claiming  he  hadn't  realised  the  issue  was  so  politicised.

Nevertheless,  it  raised  his  profile  enough  for  EMI  to  offer  him  a  one  single  deal  to  record  this  one. Jimmy  co-wrote  the  song  with  Steve  Skaith  and  Steve  Jeffries  from  under-rated  political  band  Latin  Quarter.  As  you  would  expect  it  sets  Jimmy's  voice  against  modern  electronics  in  the  same  way  as  Marvin  Gaye's  last  work. It's  a  tad  over-produced  ( by  Heaven  17  associate  Greg  Walsh  )   but  not  a  bad  record , the  song's  reasonably  tuneful , Jimmy's  in  good  voice   and  there's  some  nice  synth  work. However  it  didn't  get  enough  airplay  to  really  climb  the  charts.

With  singles  sales  dropping  a  number  68  hit  wasn't  good  enough  to  extend  his  deal. Instead  ERC  dredged  up  "Young  Heart" a  tuneless  hi-NRG  number  he  did  with  Shakatak's  Nigel  Wright  and  probably  the  worst  thing   ever  to  feature  his  voice.

Heaven  17  attempted  to  give  him  a  leg  up  a  year  later , asking  him  to  front  their  latest  single  "Foolish  Thing  To  Do"  in  April  1986. Jimmy's  vocal  is  polished; the  problem's  with  the  song  , an  attempt  at  a  lachrymose  soul  ballad  like  Billy  Paul's  Me  And Mrs  Jones.  The  lyric's  clumsy  and  the  song  has  no  hooks  at  all; it  just  sounds  like  a  dreary  Simply  Red  B-side. Heaven  17  were  themselves  in  steep  commercial  decline  and  despite  a  performance  on  Wogan   the  single  fell  short  of  the  charts.

Jimmy  cropped  up  again  a  year  later  on  Polydor   with  "Easy  Just  To  Say" , a  decent  attempt  at  modern  soul  produced  by  PWL associate  Phil  Harding.  It  went  nowhere. Inevitably  he  found  his  way  to  Ian  Levine  who  co-wrote  his  next  single  "On  The  Rebound"  and  paired  him  with  Brenda  Holloway  to  perform  it.  Released  on  his  Nightmare  label  it's  an  obscurity  and  I've  not  heard  it.

Jimmy  came  full  circle  with  his  last  single  in  1988,  a  guest  appearance  on  Ruby  Turner's  assault  on  "What  Becomes  Of  the  Broken-Hearted"  , a  bombastic  monstrosity  that  thankfully  bombed.

After  that  Jimmy  was  consigned  to  the  nostalgia  circuit  with  regular  tours  of  the  UK. He  became  involved  in  anti-drugs  campaigns  after  the  death  of  his  brother  David  in  1991. In  1998  he  had   his  own  show  on  Radio  Two  for  seven  weeks  on  a  Saturday  night  playing  contemporary  and  traditional  soul. He  moved  to  Las  Vegas  in  his  last  years  and  was  said  to  be  recording  a  new  album   when  he  died  eighteen  months  ago.

488 Hello Bryan Adams - Run To You

Chart  entered : 12  January  1985

Chart  peak :  11

Number  of  hits : 35

We  move  into  1985  now, something  of  a  pivotal  year  in   British  pop. It  was  of  course  the  year  of  Live  Aid  though  I  think  its  influence  has  been  over-stated ; Queen's  previous  album  had   reached  number  one  and  yielded  four  Top  20  hits  while  the  major  refuseniks  - Prince, Michael  Jackson  and  Tears  For  Fears  - suffered  no  commercial  backlash  from  their  non-appearance. More  significant  I  think  was  the  rise  of  the  compact  disc  and  the  realisation  of  record  companies  that  selling  people  records  they  already  owned  in  the  new  format  was  more  lucrative  and  less  risky  than  trying  to  break  new  bands. The  high  profile  failures  of  major  signings  like  Spelt  Like  This, Drum  Theatre  and  The  Roaring  Boys  ( whose  second  single  "Heart  of  Stone"  was  actually  very  good  but  they  were  already  chip  paper )  reinforced  the  point. With  no  new  youth  cult  on  the  horizon  , or  at  least  none  that  they  could  easily  understand , the  major  labels  largely  gave  up  on  seeking  new  talent  for  the  rest  of  the  decade . This  left  the  door  open  for  an  easier  passage  from  the  independent   and  dance  charts   or  the  Hi-NRG  scene  which  brought  forward  the  dread  names  of  Stock  Aitken  and  Waterman. The  major label  acts  that  did  break  through  now  were  mainly  awful  like  King, a  bunch  of  also-rans  from  the  Two  Tone  era  or  Climie  Fisher, a  pair  of  studio-based  dullards.  There  was  also  more  space in  the  charts  for  acts  from  across  the  pond  which  is  where  this  guy  comes  in.

Bryan's very  name  is  enough  to  put  the  fear  of  God  into  the  heart  of  any  chart  watcher  but  that  was  some  years  into  the  future  at  this  point.  He  was  born  in  Ontario  in  1959  and  started  working  as  a  session  musician  and  vocalist  in  Vancouver  when  he  was  17. In  1978  he  hooked  up  with  Jim  Vallance  formerly  drummer  with  Prism  a  rock  band  who  were  big  in  Canada  and  moderately  successful  in  the  US. He  disliked  touring  and  wanted  to  be  a  studio-bound  songwriter. They  formed  an  enduring  musical  partnership  and  got  a  deal  with  A &  M.

Their  first  release  in  1978  was  a  disco  track  "Let  Me  Take  You  Dancing"  positioning  the  18-year  old  Bryan  in  the  same  mould  as  US  teen  star  and  careless  driver  Leif  Garrett.  It's  competent  in  its  way  but  nothing  to  write  home  about. It  was  a  minor  hit  in  his  homeland. Before  its  release   in  the  US  it  was  handed  over  to  John  Luongo  for   re-mixing. He  thought  it  needed  to  be  at  a  faster  tempo  which  left  Bryan  sounding  like  a  chipmunk. Unsurprisingly  Bryan  has  pretty  much  disowned  the  record.

While  Bryan  worked  with  Vallance  on  his  debut  album  other  Canadian  artists  such  as  Lisa  Hartman  and  Bachman  Turner  Overdrive  were  accepting  some  of  their  songs. His  eponymous    LP  came  out  in  February  1980.  It's  an  OK  debut  with  Bryan  trying  out  a  number  of  styles  in  the  duo's  workmanlike  songs. There's  more  disco  with  "Try  To  See  It  My  Way"  and  "Don't  Ya  Say  It", New  Wave  power  pop  on  first  single  "Hidin'  From  Love"  and  Air  Supply  /Toto  soft  rock  on  follow  up  "Give  Me  Your  Love"  and  "State  Of  Mind". The  album  and  its  singles  were  moderate  successes  in  Canada  but  ignored  elsewhere.

Bryan's  second  album  "You Want  It  You  Got  It"  came  out  in  July  1981. He  wanted  to  call  it  "Bryan  Adams  Hasn't  Heard  Of  You  Either" which  would  have  been  one  of  the  great  album  titles  of  all  time  but  the  record  company  vetoed  it. There  are  still  some  New  Wave  trappings  here  and  there  but  mainly  it's  devoted  to  the  Everyman  hard  rock  that  would  become  his  stock  in  trade, like  Springsteen's  better  looking,  apolitical,  kid  brother. The  first  single  "Lonely  Nights "  while  not  making  the  chart  in  Canada,  was  a  minor  hit  in  the  U.S.  and  got  him  support  slots  on  tours  by  The  Kinks  and  Foreigner.

At  the  end  of  1982  he  released  the  single  "Straight  From  The  Heart", the  first  of  his  AOR  ballads  which  sounds  not  unlike  his  biggest  hit.  Bryan  wrote  the  song  in  the  late  seventies  and  it  had  been  recorded  already   by  Ian  Lloyd  and  Rosetta  Stone.  Fortunately  Bryan's  version  was  the  one  that  made  the  charts  in  the  U.S.  reaching  number  10. This  allowed  his  third  album  "Cuts  Like  A  Knife"  released  a  month  or  two  later  to  break  through  in  a  big  way. The  song  was  quickly  covered  by  Bonnie  Tyler  on  her  number  one  album  Faster  Than  The  Speed  Of  Light   and  was  a  minor  UK  hit  on  re-release  in  1986.

"Cuts  Like  A  Knife "  was  an  album  of  straight  down  the  line  AOR  given  a  much  bigger  production  by  Bob  Clearmountain  which  made  number  8  in  the  US. The  follow  up  single  "Cuts  Like  A  Knife"  , a  muscular  rocker  with  a  "Na Na  Na" refrain  copped  from  "Hey  Jude"  ,  consolidated  his  success  by  peaking  at  number  15   and  the  poppier  "This  Time"  reached  number  24. The  latter  was  also  a  UK  hit  on  re-release  in  1986.   Both  of  the  latter two   albums  - though  not  his  debut -  made  the  UK  album  charts  in  the  wake  of  his  subsequent  success.

Bryan  seems  like  such  a  top  bloke  that  I  wish I  could  be  a  bit  more  enthusiastic  about  his  music  but  "Run  To  You", the  lead  single  for  his  next  LP "Reckless"  is  as  good  as  it  gets. Written  from  the  point  of  view  of  an  adulterer  who  wants  it  both  ways,  it  has  a  dark  tone  not  usually  found  in  his  songs , some  excellent  synth  work  particularly  on  the  chorus  and  a  strong  tune. However  it's  so  reminiscent  of  Tom  Petty's  best  moment  , Refugee  ( not  a  hit  here  though  it  got  a  fair  bit  of  airplay )  that  I  can't  regard "Run  To  You "  as  a  great  song  in  its  own  right.

   

487 Hello The Cult - Ressurrection Joe

Chart  entered :  22  December  1984

Chart  peak :  74

Number  of  hits  : 15

Modest  beginnings  here  for  a  band  I  didn't  think  much  of  at  the  time  but  whose  music  has  held  up  pretty  well  over  the  years.

Lead  singer  Ian  Astbury  was  born  in  Heswall, Cheshire  in  1962  and  was  a  face  around  Eric's  in  Liverpool  before  relocating  to  Bradford  where  he  formed  a  band  called  Southern  Death  Cult  with  three  other  guys  at  the  tail  end  of  1981. They  released  their  only  single  a  year  later  on  Situation  Two .

  "Fatman / Moya"  was  a  double  A-side  but  David  Jensen  picked  up  on  the  former  track  and  played  it  every  night.  It's  a  dense  slab  of  Goth  rock  with  an  anti-capitalist  message  sounding  very  like  contemporaries  The  Chameleons  or  Danse  Society  with  some  good  guitar  work  but  not  much  of  a  tune  for  Ian  to  bark  in  his  Dave  Vanian  meets  Kirk  Brandon  holler.  I  remember  Jensen  having  Bono  in  and  asking  him  his  opinion  of  it. Mr  Vox, clearly  uncomfortable  at  being  asked  to  comment  on  a  contemporary's  work  , mumbled  something  like " there  seems  to  be  some  intelligence  behind  the  bluster"   which  indicated  he  didn't  really  like  it  very  much.   I  think   "Moya"  is  actually  the  stronger  side,  with  its  nagging  bass  line,  ominous  keyboards  and  a  more  focused  lyric  about  the  despoliation  of  the  Native  American  population.

Southern  Death  Cult  were  not  destined  for  a  long  career  and  Ian  split  the  band  in  February  1983, the  others  re-grouping  with  a  new  singer  as  Getting  The  Fear. The  record  label  scraped  an  album  together  by  licensing  tracks  the  band  had  recorded  in  sessions   for  Jensen  and  Peel. Ian's  motive  for  splitting  the  group  was  the  current  availability  of  guitarist  Billy  Duffy  following  the  break-up  of  Theatre  of  Hate  whom  Southern  Death  Cult  had  supported. We've  already  met  Billy  of  course  ( see  the  posts  on  Spear  of  Destiny  and  The  Smiths ).

The  duo  formed  Death  Cult   in  April  1983   recruiting  their  rhythm  section  from  a  band  called  Ritual. Teenaged  guitarist  Jamie  Stewart   was  persuaded  to  switch  to  bass  by  drummer  Ray  Taylor-Smith  and  audition  for  the  group  he  had  already  joined. Ritual  had  put  out  two  records  a  single  called  "Mind  Disease"  and  an  EP  "Kangaroo  Court"  both  of  them  in  thrall  to  the  shouty  Gothic  punk  of  Theatre  of  Hate  or  The  Birthday  Party.

Death  Cult  quickly  put  out  their  own  first  EP  simply  called  "Death  Cult".  It  comprises  four  tracks  of  bracing, tuneless  Goth-rock  owing  much  to  Theatre  of  Hate. Three  of  them  are  based  on  the  Native  American  experience  while  the  final  and  best  track  , the  more  considered  "Christians"  gets  hot  under  the  collar  about  another  of  Ian's  preoccupations  the  Vietnam  War.

After  that release  Ian  decided  that  Taylor-Smith's  drumming  style  wasn't  what  he  wanted  and  arranged  a  swap  with  Sex  Gang  Children  for  their  former  Theatre  of  Hate  drummer  Nigel  Preston. He  had  played  on  their  final  two  singles  ( see  the  Spear  of  Destiny  post). He  then  moved  on  to  Sex  Gang  Children  and  played  on  just  the  one  single,  "Mauritia  Mayer",  an  incomprehensible  but  not  unenjoyable   post-punk  romp  which  sounds  like  PiL, The  Cure  and  The  Virgin  Prunes   at  different  points , before  linking  up  with  The  Cult.

With  Nigel  on  board, the  next  single  "God's  Zoo"  in  October  1983  had  a  much  tighter  sound  with  Billy's  melodic  guitar  riff  and  Nigel's  crisp  drumming. This  state-of-the  nation  address  sounds  almost  U2-like  in  places.

At  the  end  of  the  year  the  band  decided  their  name  was  probably  restricting  their  chances  of  airplay  and  decided  to  become  The  Cult  in  the  dressing  room  before  appearing  on  The  Tube  so  Jools  Holland  got  the  honour  of  announcing  it.  The  first  single  under  the  new  name  was  "Spiritwalker"  in  April  1984.  The  band  again  plunder  Native  American  imagery  for  the  lyrics  but  it's  really  all  about  Billy's  driving  riff  which  pushes  the  song  forward  even  if  it  does  sound  a  bit  like  The  Passions'  The  Swimmer .

The  next  single  "Go  West" , an  ironic  recitation  of  the  U.S.  government's  sales  pitch  to  white  settlers  was  another  step  towards  mainstream  accessibility  with  an  identifiable  chorus  - "We  can  offer  you  everything "  - and  a  guitar  that's  almost  funky  on  the  verses.  It  needed  a  cleaner  sound  for  radio  play.

The  album  "Dreamtime"  followed  shortly  afterwards.  It's  a  patchy  album  , catching  Ian  and  the  band  between  feathers  and  leathers,  with  the  re-worked  "Horse  Nation"  from  the  first  EP  still  sounding  a  bit  of  a  mess  next  to  the  streamlined   guitar  rock  of  the  title  track  and  "Gimmick". It's  also  noticeable  how  Ian's  reined  in  his  vocal  histrionics  since  the  early  singles  and  now  sounds  reasonably  tuneful. It  reached  number  21  in  the  UK.

"Ressurection  ( sic - it  was  Jamie's  mistake  when  designing  the  picture  sleeve ) Joe" was  not  a  track  from  the  original  LP.   Its  minor  showing  on  the  Christmas  chart  notwithstanding,  it's  considerably  less  commercial  than  the  two  singles  from  "Dreamtime", based  on  an  angular  bass  line  rather  than  one  of  Billy's  riffs  and  episodic  in  structure, none  of  it  graced  with  a  tune.  It's  somewhere  between  The  Banshees  and  Wah  with  Ian  sounding  remarkably  like  old  pal  Pete  Wylie  The  lyric  castigates  some  televangelist  but,  like  the  music,  it's  too  loose  to  grab  your  attention; their  real  breakthrough  would  come  with  the  next  one.

486 Hello Art of Noise - Close ( To The Edit )

Chart  entered :  24  November  1984

Chart  peak : 8

Number  of  hits : 12

The  Art  of  Noise  were  a  unique  group  that  came  together  from  working  on  other  people's  records. They  were  basically  the  production  team  of  Trevor  Horn.

Trevor  was  born  in  Durham  in  1949. He  was  in  school  bands  as  a  bass  player  and   became  a  session  musician  in  the  mid  seventies. He  became  the  regular  bassist  for  Tina  Charles  and  met  keyboard  player  Geoff  Downes   and  guitarist  Bruce  Woolley  in  her  band.  He  wrote  the  B  side  for  a  single  Woolley  put  out  in  Germany  as  part  of  a  duo  called  Boogatti  in  1977. He  invested  his  earnings  in  building  a  home  studio.

Having  played  on  a  number  of  hits  with  Tina,  Trevor   made  his  first  bid  for  fame  as  lead  singer  and  producer  for  the  trio  Big  A  who  put  the  single  "Caribbean  Air  Control" out  in  June  1978.  It's  a  bit  muddled  , mixing  a  Space  Oddity  inspired  lyric  and  episodic  structure   with  Moroder-ish  electronic  disco   ( I'm  not  sure  what's  Caribbean  about  it  ) but  it's  recognisably  Trevor's  work  in  its  major  to  minor  melodic  switches  featuring  his  plaintive  vocals  in  the  latter  sections.  Their  second  single  "Fly  On  UFO"  is  a  more  conventional  European  disco  track  that  , for  all  its  sci-fi  trappings ,  sounds  like  Silver  Convention. The  group  had  already  split  by  the  time  it  was  released  but  Edward  Germano  at  New  York's  HIt  Factory  studio  enjoyed  the  singles  and  offered  Trevor  the  opportunity  to  make  a  disco  album  there. Trevor  rounded  up  Downes, synth  player  Hans  Zimmer  and  pianist  Anne  Dudley  to  fly  to  New  York  and  make  the  album  under  the  name  "Chromium". 

Anne  was  born  in  Beckenham  in  1956. She  was  a  classically  trained  pianist  but  moved  into  the  pop  world  as  a  young  session  musician  in  the  late  seventies.

Chromium's  album  "Star  To  Star"  is  a  skilful  piece  of  work  that  turns  imitation  into  an  art  form  with  facsimiles  of  The  Bee  Gees, Carpenters, Diana  Ross, Chic  melded  into  a  space  age  disco  concept  album  that  sails  perilously  close  to  The  Rah  Band's  Clouds  Across  The  Moon  in  places. There  are  hints  of  what  was  to  come  in  the  melancholic  synth  sweeps  but  it  is  ultimately  high  quality  pastiche  and  it  didn't  sell.

Trevor  then  formed  The  Buggles  with  Downes  and  Woolley  and  began  touting  demos  of  songs  they'd  written. Charles  was  supportive  and  contributed  some  backing  vocals. Trevor  began  a  relationship  with  Jill  Sinclair  co-owner  of  Sarm  Studios . She  arranged  a  deal  with  the  house  label  but  at  the  eleventh  hour  Island  came  in  with  a  better  offer.  Woolley  left  at  this  point  to  form  the  band  Camera  Club  and  watched  as  the  song  he'd  co-written  "Video  Killed  The  Radio  Star "  sailed  to  number  one  in  October  1979.

I've  covered  The  Buggles'  first  LP  "The  Age  Of  Plastic"  on  Clarke  Chronicler's  Albums . Here   I  should  just  note  that  Anne  wasn't  involved  in  the  sessions  but  the  engineer  was  Gary  Langan.  Gary,  from  Surrey, was  a  Sarm  employee  and  had  worked  on  Queen's  big  selling  LPs.

Trevor's  next  move  was  one  of  the  biggest  surprises  of  the  decade. The  duo's  manager  Brian  Lane  suggested  they  both  join  prog-rockers  Yes  to  replace  the  recently-departed  Jon  Anderson  and  Rick  Wakeman. They  took  on  the  challenge  and  hurriedly  recorded  the  LP  "Drama"  to  meet  looming  tour  obligations. Both  had  the  musical  chops  to  live  with  their  new  bandmates  but  part  of the  fanbase  was  understandably  suspicious  of  what  these  newcomers  from  the  pop  world  would  do  to  the  sound  and  Anderson  and  Wakeman  were  hard  acts  to  follow. "Drama"  in  fact  slots  quite  easily  into  the  Yes  canon  and  reached  number  2  in  the  UK.  They  had  more  problems  when  they  toured  it. Trevor  is  an  under-rated  vocalist  but  he  didn't  have  Anderson's  range  and  trying  to  deliver  the  old  material  made  his  voice  more  ragged  as  the  tour  progressed  with  some  hostile  reactions  from  audiences. The  band  dissolved when  the  tour  finished  in  early  1981.

Trevor  was  planning  a  new  Buggles  album  with  Downes  but  the  latter  got  the  call  to  join  Steve  Howe  in  the  supergroup  Asia  instead  and  quit  the  band. Island  felt  the  group  had  no  more  commercial  potential  and  dropped  them. Sinclair  persuaded  Trevor  that  producing  might  be  a  better  way  to  go  and  suggested  he  take  up  a  standing  offer  to  work  with  the  struggling  MOR  duo  Dollar. He  and  Woolley  wrote  the  single  "Hand  Held  In  Black  And  White"   for  them  which  immediately  restored  them  to  the  Top  20  and,  what's  more,  found  favour  with  music  critics  turning  away  from  post-punk's  doom  and  gloom  aesthetic.  A  whole  new  career  opened  up.  The  single  was  also  the  first  time  all  four  musical  members  of  the  Art  of  Noise  worked  together  as  Jonathan  "J. J." Jeczalik  , a  keyboard  technician  from  Banbury  who  had  previously  worked  for  Downes  was  brought  in  for  his  expertise  on  the new  Fairlight  computer / synthesiser. Trevor  had  noted  his  work  on  Kate  Bush's  1981  single  Sat  In  Your  Lap.

Trevor  still  wanted  to  release  a  second  Buggles  album  and  Sinclair  arranged  a  deal  with  the  French  label  Carerre.  "Adventures  In  Modern  Recording"  features  some  work  from  Downes  but  is  largely  a  solo  effort  from  Trevor. Gary  engineered  once  more  and  Anne  features  on  one  track.  It's  a  rewarding  listen , somewhere  between  their  earlier  efforts  and  more  experimental  prog  leanings , but  he  correctly  judged  there  were  no  singles  as  all  three  tracks  released  as  45s  failed  to  make  the  charts. Besides  there  were  other  prettier  acts  for  the  kids  to  buy  , some  of  whom  like  ABC  and  Spandau  Ballet,  Trevor  was  now  producing.

That  now  became  his  bread  and  butter  as  Buggles  were  put  to  bed. Spandau  found  him  too  domineering  and  decamped  to  Swain  and  Jolley  after  the  lifesaving  job  he  did  on  the  1982  single  "Instinction".  ABC  had  no  qualms  and  their  epochal  1982  album  The  Lexicon  Of  Love   made  Trevor, Anne, Gary  and  J.J.  the  hottest  production  team  in  town. Malcolm  McLaren's  Duck  Rock  while  not  selling  at  the  same  level, only  furthered  their  reputation.

Former  associates  came  calling. A  new  line  up  of  Yes  booked  them  to  produce  their  comeback album  90125  while  a   shamefaced  Chris Blackwell  offered  to  finance  a  record  label  Trevor  and  Jill  were  planning  to  set  up. Their  choice  of  business  partner  was  surprising. Paul  Morley  ( born  1957 )  was  a  grammar  school  boy  from  Stockport  whose  assiduous  reporting  on  the  Manchester  music  scene  got  him  a  job  on  the  New  Musical  Express. He  made  his  reputation  by  being  the  first  writer  to  spot  the  potential  of  Joy  Division  and  thereafter  had  carte  blanche  to  write  whatever  he  wanted. His  florid, exceedingly  pretentious  style  came  to  define  the  paper  in  the  early  eighties. He  had  been  very  hostile  to  The  Buggles  during  their  heyday  but  in  mid-1981  he  had  an  epiphany. Discerning  the  sterile  cul-de-sac  post-punk  was  driving  into  he  started  championing  mainstream  musical  values  and  called  for  a  "New  Pop"  based  on  these  and  intelligent  writing. Trevor's  work  with  Dollar  and  ABC  fitted  the  bill  perfectly  and  got  glowing  reviews. A  magnanimous  Trevor  saw  him  as  the  perfect  A &  R  man  and  publicist  for  the  new  label. He  came  up  with  the  name  ZTT  after  the  Italian  futurist  Marinetti's  poem  Zang  Tumb  Tuum.

While   working  on  the  Yes  album , JJ  and  Gary  took  an  unused  Alan  White  drum  break  and  fed  it  in  to  the  Fairlight.  After  playing  around  with  it   in  the  machine  they  took  it  to  Trevor  and  after  he  and  Anne  had  developed  it, the  latter  adding  some  musical  structure  they  had  an  instrumental  track  which  could  hardly  be  credited  to  Yes.  The  solution  was  to  put  it  out  themselves. Paul  came  up  with  the  name  Art  of  Noise  from  an  essay  by   another  of  his  favourite  Italian  theorists  and  was  invited  to  join  the  group  as  conceptual  artist  and  spokesman. The  track  itself  was  given  the  uncompromising  name  of  "Beatbox"  to  match  its  musical  brutalism. It  formed  the  centrepiece  on  Side  A  of  their  debut  EP  "Into  Battle  With  The  Art  of  Noise", the  first   release  on  ZTT  in  September  1983  while  Side  B  highlighted  Anne's  melodic  gifts on  the  sublime  "Moments  In  Love" . Other  tracks  were  built  around   samples  from  Donna  Summer  and  The  Andrews  Sisters.

"Beatbox"  was   released  twice  more  in  reworked  form  as  a  conventional  single  over  the   next  year  but   still   wasn't  a  hit  although  very  popular  with  breakancers  across  the  pond. Paul  did  a  series  of  provocative  interviews  around  the  time  of  its  second  release  in  May  1984 with  the  phenomenal  success  of  Frankie  Goes  To  Hollywood  to  back   up  his  claims . Shortly  afterwards  the  Art  of  Noise  released  their  debut  LP  "Who's  Afraid  of  the  Art  of  Noise"  which  featured  both  "Beatbox"  and  "Moments  In  Love"  again. It  reached  number  8  in  the  charts.

"Close ( To  The  Edit )"  was  released  as  a  belated  second  single  during  a  gap  between  Frankie  Goes  To  Hollywood  singles  and  made  slow  progress  up  the  charts  only  becoming  a  sizeable  hit  after  Christmas. It  started  out  as   yet   another   remix  of  "Beatbox "  but   soon  took  on  a  life  of  its  own. Bursting  with  invention  and  wit  , the  track  wields  a  variety  of  incongruous  samples, that   widely-used ( since )  "Hey! ", a  short  poetry  recitation, a  car  starting  and  chants  of  "Dum"  over  another  crashing  backbeat  and  intermittently  a  melodic  bassline. Trevor  and  Anne  amazingly   manage  to  give  it  enough  of  a  structure  for  the  commercial  success  which  it  eventually  received.    

485 Goodbye The Everly Brothers - On The Wings Of A Nightingale

Chart  entered : 22  September  1984

Chart  peak : 41

Now  who  realised  we  hadn't  said  goodbye  to  these  two  yet ?  This  was  the  duo's  first  hit  in  over  16  years.  Don  and  Phil  had  been  less  affected  by  The  Beatles  ( who  they  hugely  influenced ) than  a  crippling  legal  dispute  with  their  music  publisher  Wesley  Rose  which  meant  they  couldn't  record  their  own  compositions.  Apart  from  "The  Price  Of  Love  " ( number  2 in  1965 )  their  hits  were  smaller  and  less  frequent  as  the  sixties  progressed. By  the  time  the  dispute  was  settled  , fraternal  tension  and , particularly  in  Don's  case, drug  addiction  had  taken  their  toll  on  their  musical  partnership. They  stopped  working  together  after  a  show  in  July  1973  where  Don  got  drunk  beforehand  and  Phil  walked  off  stage  after  smashing  his  guitar. They  apparently  didn't  speak  for  a  decade  except  at  their  dad's  funeral  in  1975. As  solo  performers  each  scored  placings  on  the  US  country  charts   but  Don  effectively  stopped  recording  after  1976  and  Phil  had  no  real  success  until  1983's  "Phil  Everly"  scored  him  a UK   Top  10  hit  with  the  Cliff  Richard  duet  "She  Means  Nothing  To  Me".

Despite  this  upturn  in  his  own   career  Phil  agreed  to  a   televised  reunion  concert   at  the  Royal  London  Hall   in  September  1983. This  was  so  well  received  they  decided  to  record  a  new  album  together  "E.B.  84"  , helped  out  by  a  starry  cast  including  Paul  McCartney, Jeff  Lynne  and  Dave  Edmunds.

"On  The  Wings  of  a  Nightingale"  was  written  for  them  by  long-time  admirer  Macca  , a  rather  generous  gift  considering  the  crap  he  was  putting  out  at  the  time.  It's  a  light, melodic  country  rock  song    produced  by  Dave  Edmunds  and   unsurprisingly  therefore it  sounds  like  Rockpile  are  backing  them. The  main  point  is  that  those  wonderful  harmonies  are  still  intact  and  while  the  song  might  not  be  up  there  with  the  early  sixties  classics  it's  a  happy  reminder  of  what   a  major  talent  they  were. The  single  was  promoted  with  an  Arena  documentary   in  which  the  brothers, both  black-clad  to  deflect  attention  from  their  middle-age  spread  , re-visited  their  old  haunts  in  Iowa. Even  so , Radio  One's  refusal  to  give  air  play  to  a  pre-Beatles  act  meant  it  failed  on  the  cusp  of  the  Top  40. It  got  to  number 50 in  the  US.  

With  the  circus  having  left  town  , the  follow-up  single  , "The  Story  Of  Me"  a  dreary  Lennon  pastiche  from  the  pen  of   Lynne,  made  no  impression  at  all.  Still , Don  and  Phil  enjoyed  the  experience  enough  to  record  another  album  with  Edmunds  , "Born  Yesterday"  and  do  a  UK  tour  in  November  1985. The  single  was  a  double  side  of  "Amanda  Ruth"  and  the  title  track. The  former  is  a  cover  of  a  song  by  California  cowpunk  band  Rank  And  File  but  sounds  like  a  re-write  of  "Lucille"  and  an  attempt  at  proving  middle  aged  guys  can  still  rock  out. "Born  Yesterday"  is  a  thoughtful  Don  Everly  song  and  much  more  indicative  of  the  album's  thoughtful  country  rock  including  an  outstanding  version  of  Dylan's  "Abandoned  Love".  Alas  nobody  was  listening   anymore  and  the  album  was  a  minor hit  in  the  US  and  Canada.

They  made  one  more  album   together  ,"Some  Hearts",  in  1988, a  respectful  but  slightly  redundant  cover  of  the  Beach  Boys'  "Don't  Worry  Baby"  with  some  of  the  'Boys   on  backing  vocals. It  was  a  minor  hit  in  Australia. The  album  is  a  bit  schizophrenic  with  Don's  songs  sticking  firmly   in  the  semi-acoustic  country  rock  vein  while  Phil, writing  with  Venture  John  Durrill  , pursues  a  modern  AOR  direction  on  his  contributions. Neither  though  have  brought  a  great  song  to  the  party  or  a  voice  in  its  prime  so  it's  a  disappointing  last  effort  which  made  no  mark  anywhere.

Though  there  were  to  be  no  more  LPs,. the  brothers  continued  to  work   together  sporadically  for  the  next  17  years. In  1994  Phil  enjoyed  a  final  UK  hit  ( number  14 )  with  his  duet  with  Cliff  on  "All  I  Have  To  Do  Is  Dream"  but  it  was  actually  a  recording  of  a  BBC  performance  from  1981.

In  1998  they  sang  the  song  "Cold "  on  the  soundtrack  album   to    Lloyd-Webber's  Whistle  Down  The  Wind.  It's   passable  pop  but   its  C  &  W  stylings   still  sound  sacrilegious  to  anyone  with  memories  of  Hayley  Mills  and  Alan  Bates. Apart  from  Phil  singing  on  a  Vince  Gill  track  in  2006,  it  brought  the  curtain  down  on  The  Everly  Brothers  recording  career.

The  brothers  still  toured  during  the  next  seven  years. They  were  special  guests  on  Simon  and  Garfunkel's  Old  Friends  tours  of  2003  and  2004  . They  then  toured   the  UK  again  in  2005; their  gig  in  Ipswich   on  29.11.05   was  their  last  ever  performance. Phil's  heavy  smoking  had   damaged  his  lungs  to  the  point  where  he  couldn't  carry  on.   After  that  they  became  estranged  again , largely  it  seems  through  being  on  opposite  sides  of  the  political  fence,  with  Don  the  Democrat  and  Phil  the  Republican.

In  January  2014  Phil  died  of  lung  disease  aged  74.  Don  sang  "Bye  Bye  Love" at  a  tribute  event  some  months  afterwards  and  recently  admitted  that  he  talks  to  Phil's  ashes.
  
 

484 Hello Gloria Estefan* - Dr Beat

( *  as  part  of  Miami  Sound  Machine )

Chart  entered  : 11  August  1984

Chart  peak : 6  ( 3  in  2005  when  mashed  up  with  Mylo's  Drop  The  Pressure )

Number  of  hits  : 32  ( including  2  credited  to  Miami  Sound  Machine  alone )

When  this  first  made  the  charts  there  was  little  to  suggest  it  was  launching  a  long  career. Miami  Sound  Machine looked  set  to  join  A  Taste  of  Honey, Frantique, Lipps  Inc  and  Indeep  on  the  long  list  of  disco  one  hit  wonders.

There  was  of  course  rather  more  to  them  than  first  appeared. Gloria  Garcia  was  born  in  Cuba  in  1957. Her  father  was  a  bodyguard  to  President  Batista  and so  the  family  had  to  flee  the  Cuban  Revolution  and  settle  to  Miami. Her  father  joined  the  US  Army  and  saw  service  in  Vietnam.  She  was  working  as  a  translator  at  Miami  Airport  in  1977  when  she  and  her  cousin  Merci approached  to  join  a  group  called  Miami  Latin  Boys  for  a  Cuban  wedding. They  went  down  so  well  they  were  invited  to  join  and  the  band  became  Miami  Sound  Machine. She  became  romantically  involved  with  band  leader  Emilio  Estefan  and  married  him  in  1978.

The  band  released  their  first  album  "Live  Again / Renacer"  later  that  year. It  tried  to  cover  all  bases  with  a  mix  of  songs  in  English  and  Spanish. What  I've  heard  from  it  isn't  very  impressive,   either  Latin-tinged  bland  disco  songs  or  soupy  Captain  and  Tennille  balladry. Similarly  I've  only  heard  three  tracks  from  their  second  LP  "Miami  Sound  Machine"  in  1978  which  tell  the same  story  although  the  horn  arrangements  on  "A  Different  Kind  of  Love"  make  it  a  bit  more  interesting.  With  1979's  "Imported "  you  get  the  same  sense  of  great  musicianship  wasted  on  vacuous  songs.

None  of  these  first  three  albums  broke  them  out  of  Florida  but  at  the  end  of  1979  they  signed  with  a  bigger  label, Disco  CBS  International. Their  first  album  on  the  new  label  "MSM"  wasn't   much  more  nteresting  from  what  I've  heard  except  there  was  more  of  an  Abba  influence on  the  ballads  such  as  the  single  "Regresa  A  Mi"

Their  next  album  "Otra  Vez "  was  entirely  in  Spanish  as  they  concentrated  on  the  Latin  American  market. I've  no  idea  what  they're  singing  about  but  it  all  sounds  very  MOR, somewhere  between  The  Dooleys  and  Abba  at  their  blandest.

Before  the  next  album  "Rio"  in  1982  there  were  personnel  changes  in  the  band, the  most  important  of  which  from  Gloria's  point  of  view  was  the  departure  of  Merci,  leaving  her  the  sole  lead  vocalist  in  the  band.  The  album  - Spanish  language apart  from  the  poppy  OK"  -  offers  more  of  the  same  except  you're  only  hearing  one  voice.

"Dr  Beat"  was  one  of  two  English  songs  on  their  1983  album  "A  Toda  Maquina"  on  which  the  band  started  incorporating  synthesisers  and  electronic  beats  into  their  sound. The  following  year  Disco  CBS  and  Epic  agreed  to  release  an  English  language  album  "Eyes  of  Innocence"  which  collected  together  the  English  language  songs  from  their  last  three  albums  with  some  new  material. "Dr  Beat"  first  became  popular  in  Holland  then  spread  across  the  rest  of  Europe,

"Dr  Beat"  is  quite  a  leap  from  their  previous  material, subjugating  the  usual  salsa  rhythms  to  an  early  hip  hop  beat  and  their  conservative  songwriting  style  to  a  robotic  repetitive  hook, hammered  mercilessly  throughout  the  song.  It's  an  undeniably  effective  dance  pop  single  though  to  me  it's  only  interesting  for  the  harmonica  break  towards  the  end ,  the  only  suggestion   that  they  were  more  than   another  faceless  studio  collective  striking  pop  gold  with  a  one  off  single.  It  was  a  hit  again  in  2005  when  mashed  up  with  Mylo's  "Drop  The  Pressure" to  create  "Dr  Pressure".