624 Hello Monie Love - I Can Do This

Chart  entered :  4  February  1989

Chart  peak : 37

Number  of  hits : 11

Here's  another  artist  who's  largely  slipped  under  my  radar. I  can  vaguely  recall  one  or  two  of  her  hits  through  the  samples  used  but  that's  all.

Monie  was  born  in  Battersea  in  1970. She  got  into  the  nascent  British  hip  hop  scene  as  soon  as  she  left  school  and  joined  a  group  called  Jus  Badd  who  released  a  single  "Free  Style"  on  an  independent  label  in  1988. Monie  shares  the  lead  vocal  with  an  MC  Mellow  and  the  track  is  a  lo-fi  version   of  the  more  laid  back  rap  sound  of  the  Jungle  Brothers. The  edge  is  provided  by  Monie's  feisty  delivery.

Monie  was  also  performing  a  rap  using  The  Whispers' late  disco  smash  And  The  Beat  Goes  On   as  her  backing  track  during  1988,  including  an  appearance  at  the  DJ  Mixing  Championship  heats  in  Bristol.  Vicar's  son  and  DJ , Tim  Westwood  heard  it  and  wanted  to  sign  her  to  Justice, the  label  he  was  setting  up . However  he  didn't  get  his  act  together  and  Monie  went  to  Cooltempo  to  get  it  released.    

Though  "I  Can  Do  This "  went  out  in  Monie's  name  alone , the  track  was  co-written  with  her  friend  from   Jus  Badd  DJ  Pogo. The  trio  who  wrote  The  Whispers'  hit  are  also  credited. On  the  back  of  the  sample  and  some  added  electronic  percussion ,Monie  launches  into  a  confident  rap  about  her  prowess  as  an  MC  without  pausing  for  breath. Later  on,  a  Public  Enemy- style  high-pitched  drone  is  added. To  me  it  sounds  one-dimensional  and  boring as  hell  but  it  not  only  got  her  in  our  charts  but  attracted  the  attention  of  the  New  York  crowd  as  well.

623 Hello Michael Ball - Love Changes Everything

Chart  entered  : 28  January  1989

Chart  peak : 2

Number  of  hits  : 10

The  success  of  the  singing  thespian  amid  acid  house , hip  hop  and  Stock  Aitken  and  Waterman  was  proof  of  the  enduring  democratic  nature  of  the  charts.

Michael  was  born  in  Bromsgrove  in  1962. His  love  of  theatre  was  encouraged  by  his  father  and  he  went  to  Guildford  School  of  Acting. After  graduating  in  1984,  he  worked  in  regional  theatre  for  a  while  He  came  to  prominence  after  winning  an  open  audition  to  star  in  The  Pirates  of  Penzance  at  Manchester  Opera  House  in  1985. At  the  same  time  he  had  a  brief  part  in  Coronation  Street. Later  that  year  he  joined  the  cast  of  Les  Miserables  in  London  and  appeared  on  the  cast  recording  released  as  an  album. Illness  cut  short  his  run. He  came  into  Andrew  Lloyd-Webber's  orbit  when  he  replaced  Steve  Barton  in  The  Phantom  of  the  Opera    in  1987.

"Love  Changes  Everything"  was  his  first  single, released  primarily  to  promote  Lloyd-Webber's  forthcoming  musical  Aspects  of  Love  in   which  he  was  to  play  Alex-Dillingham. Charles  Hart  and  Don  Black  wrote  the  lyrics  to  Lloyd-Webber's  music. Though  I'll  admit  to  a  sneaky  regard  for  Memory , Lloyd- Webber's  mock-classical  style  is  highly  toxic  to  me  and  though  Michael  belts  it  out  with  gusto  and  seems  like  a  good  bloke   , this  is  pretty  unbearable. Still. my  mum  loved  it.

622 Hello Adeva - Respect

Chart  entered  : 14  January  1989

Chart  peak  : 17

Number  of  hits  : 15

We  move  into  the  last  year  of  the  eighties. It  seems  to  be  established  wisdom  that  1975  was  the  worst  year  for  pop  since  the  Beatles  but  I  personally  would  nominate  1989. I  remember  having  real  problems  compiling  my personal  Top  40  at  the  end  of  the  year   for  want  of  candidates.

Adeva's  only  real  significance  for  me  is  that  she  became  my  stock  answer  at  pop  quizzes  whenever  some  mundane  house / R &  B  track  with  a  female  vocal  came  up. The  strategy  worked  once  or  twice.

Adeva  was  born  in  1960  as  Patricia  Daniels  in  New  Jersey. She  began  singing  in  her  church  choir  before  switching  her  attentions  to  the  house  scene. In  1988  she  released  the single  "In  and  Out  of  My  Life"  on  Seattle' s  Easy  Street  Records  label   which  isn't  a  bad  piano  house  tune  despite  some  clumsy  phrasing.

On  the  strength  of  that  she  got  a  deal  with  the UK  label,  Cooltempo. "Respect"  was   her  first  release  for  them. It  is  the  Otis  Redding  song  made  immortal  by  Arethra  Franklin. Adeva  re-tools  the  melody  ( not  the  song's  strongest  suit  in  the  first  place  )  to  suit  the  sort  of  chugging  backing  track  that  M  People  would  come  to  own. She  eschews  Arethra's  spelling  out  of  the  word  in  favour  of  unlovely  howls  of  "Respect  Meeeee !"  and  comes  up  with  her  own  ad  libs. She's  got  a  decent  voice  but  it  doesn't  work  for  me  at  all.

621 Hello Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance

Chart  entered : 10  December 1988

Chart  peak : 3

Number  of  hits : 14

Neneh  served  a  long  and  interesting  apprenticeship  before  making  her  chart  debut.

She  was  born  Neneh  Karlsson  in  Stockholm  in  1964  to  Monica  Karlsson  a  Swedish  painter  and  a  visiting  engineering  student  from  Sierra  Leone. Not  long  after  her  birth  her  mother  married  the  American  jazz  trumpeter  Don  Cherry  who  raised  her  as  his  own. By  the  late  seventies  Cherry  was  playing  alongside  English  post-punk  groups  and  Neneh  met  members  of  The  Slits  when  he  toured  with  them. She  dropped  out  of  school  in  the  U.S.  and  moved  into  a  squat  with  Ari  Up  from  The  Slits  when  she  was  just  15. She  was  briefly  counted  a  member  of  The  Slits  and  also  a  punk  band  called  The  Cherries. The  girls  from  The  Slits  also  got  involved  with  a  dub  group  called  The  New  Age  Steppers  and  Neneh  made  her  recording  debut  on  their  second  album,  "Action  Battlefield",  in  1981. She  sang  the  lead  vocal  on  the  track  "My  Love"  a  spacey  reggae  number  on  which  the  band  don't  seem  like  they're  playing  in  time  with  each  other.

By the  time   it  was  released   Neneh  had  joined  Rip  Rig + Panic   having  started  a  relationship  with  their  drummer  Bruce  Smith  during  his  short  tenure  in  The  Slits. Smith  and  guitarist  Gareth  Sagar  had  formed  the  group  after  the  dissolution  of  the  fiercely  uncommercial  post-punk  outfit,  The  Pop  Group  in  1980 .  The  new  group  wanted  to  take  a  jazzier  direction  than  their  forebears. Virgin  took  a  punt  and  signed  them  the  following  year.

Rip  Rig  + Panic  released  their  first  single  "Go  Go  Go  ( This  Is  It ) "  in  August  1981  with  an  interesting  picture  on  the  sleeve  of   a  couple  of  headless  bodies  copulating  drawn  in  the  style  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci. The  music  was  equally  unlikely  to  appeal  to  the  daytime  jocks   with  the  youthful  Neneh  spitting  out  the  lyrics  in  the  brattish  style  of  Annabella  Lwin. The   single  does  sound  like  Bow  Wow  Wow  at  their  most  bracing  interrupted  by  challenging  bursts  of  free  jazz  hornblowing.

Their  debut  album  "God"  followed  a  month  later. Though  only   having  the  duration  of  a  single  LP  it  was  released  as  a  double. Neneh  sings  lead  on  three  tracks. Opener  "Constant  Drudgery  Is  Harmful  to  Soul  Spirit  and  Health ", "Need"  and  "Those  Eskimo  Women  Spoke  Frankly"  are  all  equally  challenging  ; if  you  want  coherent  songs  this  isn't  the  place  to  come  although  the  bass  usually  provides  some  sort  of  anchor  amid  the  self-indulgence.

A  standalone  single  "Bob  Hope  Takes  Risks"  followed  in  November, a  much  more  disciplined  record  with  a  call  and  response  structure  and  Neneh's  vocals  pushed  higher  in  the  mix. There's  not  much  in  the  way  of  a  tune  and  the  horn  sound  remains  unpleasant  but  they're  clearly  groping  towards  a  more  commercial  product.

In  June  1982   they  released  the  single  "You're  My  Kind  of  Climate "  a  more  conventional  jazz  funk  track  with  the  semblance  of  a  hook. They  performed  a  truncated  version  of  it  on  The  Young  Ones  with   a  chunky-looking  Neneh  giving  an  energetic  performance. It  was  closely  followed  by  their  second  album  I  Am  Cold   which  was  released  in  the  same  format  as  the  first  although  this  time  round  the  length  did  justify  it. Neneh's  stepfather  played  on  six  tracks. Neneh  sang  on  four  tracks, three  of  them  unlistenable . The  fourth  was  "Storm  The  Reality  Asylum"  an  abridged  version  of  which  was  released  as  a  single  that  August. The  track  is  a  set  of   anti-oppression  slogans  strung  together  rather  than  a  song  but  it's  got  a  real  swing  and  is  darkly  melodic. The  sombre  jazz  feel  predicates  the  new  sound  of   The  Special  AKA    unveiled  a  few  months  later. Despite  a  generous  feature  in  Smash  Hits  it  didn't  chart  and  you  get  the  sense  that  that  was  their  moment.

In  1983  Neneh  got  married  to  Smith  and  recorded  the  next  LP  "Attitude"  while  pregnant  with  their  daughter  Naima.  The  band  continued  in  their  quest  to  repay  Virgin  with  a  hit  by  making  their  music  more  accessible  and  reining  in  avant-garde  excess. Neneh  sang  on  the  lead  single  "Beat  The  Beast"  which  is  brassy  and  uptempo  but  very  short  and  devoid  of  hooks. Co-vocalist  Andrea  Oliver  did  the  lead  on  the  second  single  "Do  The  Tightrope"  which  co-opts  a  Northern  Soul  beat  but  is  too  complex  and  fractured  to  be  a  hit. Perhaps  the  smouldering  "Sunken  Love"  or the  hi-life  exuberance  of  "Keep  The  Sharks  Fro  Your  Heart" ( both  Neneh-sung )  might  have  done  better. Virgin's  patience  ran  out  and  the  band  split  later  in  the  year.

Neneh  and  Smith  divorced  in  1984  but  it  didn't  stop  them  working  together  in  Float  Up  C.P. who  were  four-fifths  of  Rip  Rig  and  Panic. They  released  a  single on  Rough  Trade , "Joy's  Address"  in  July  1984  a  leftfield  take  on  sixties  girl  group  pop  that  again  is  too  cerebral   and  complicated  to   work  as  a  pop  single. It  featured  on  their  album  "Kill  Me  In  The  Morning"  released  in  December  1985  which  saw  them  move  in  a  more  electronic  funk  direction  though  there  are  still  some  squally  horns  in  the  mix. "Assassins"  is  a  good  song  but  they  chose  not  to  release  any  more  singles. They  broke  up  soon  after  and  this  time  it  was  decisive.

In  1986  Neneh   duetted  with  Matt  Johnson  on  The  The's  track  "Slow  Train  To  Dawn"  and  made  a  memorable  appearance  in  the  video. It  was  released  as  a  single  the  following  year.
reaching  number  64. Neneh  wasn't  given  an  artist  credit.

Neneh  also  started  working  as  a  model  to  make  ends  meet  and  this  proved  to  be  her  musical  salvation. She  signed  up  with  London-based  designer  Ray  Petri  modelling  his  streetwise  range  of  clothing  under the  brand  name  Buffalo. At  the  beginning  of  1987  she  went  to  Heathrow  for  an  assignment  in  Tokyo   and  met  fellow  model  Cameron  McVey. They  immediately  became  an  item.

McVey  was  in  a  pop  duo  with  another  of  Petri's  associates, photographer  Jamie  Morgan   as  Morgan  McVey. They  had  a  single  ready  to  go  in  "Looking  Good  Diving" , an  attractive  pop  tune  and  "the  one  that  got  away"  for  producers  Stock,  Aitken  and  Waterman. Neneh  wasn't  on  the  A-side  ( though  she  appeared  with  a  guitar  in  the  video )  but  she  came  up  with  a  rap  for  the  B-side  "Looking  Good  Diving  With  the  Wild  Bunch"  which  incorporates  musical  phrases  from  the  A  side  as  well  as  Malcolm  McLaren's  Buffalo  Gals . It's   clearly  being  made  up  on  the  spot  but  key  parts  of  "Buffalo  Stance "  are  already  in  place.

Morgan-McVey  split  up  without  releasing  anything  else , freeing  up  McVey  to  work  on  Neneh's  debut  solo  album. The  track  was  taken  to  Tim  Simenon  for  polishing  up  and  restructuring  and  he  was  duly  credited  in  some  new  lyrical  parts.  The  lyrics  have  always  confused  me  a  little  since  Neneh  keeps  using  the  word  "gigolo"  when  in  context  it  makes  much  more  sense  if  you  substitute  "pimp" . It  then  fits  with  the  theme  of  refusing  to  be  exploited. The  McLaren  samples  were  retained , the  tuneful   refrain  fitted  into  the  right  places  and  the  blend  of  synthpop, hip  hop  and  street  sass  was  an  instant  winner. It  reached  number  3  in  the  US  as  well.

620 Goodbye Four Tops - Loco In Acapulco

Chart  entered  :  3  December  1988

Chart  peak : 7

The  Motown  veterans  exited  with  a  big  hit  although  I  doubt  many  people  would  pick  it  as  their  favourite   song  by  Levi  Stubbs  and  the  boys.

The  Tops  were  the  most  consistently  successful  Motown  group  scoring  their  only  number   one  in  1966  with  "Reach  Out  I'll  Be  There". Their  success  continued  into  the  early  seventies   but  after  "Simple  Game"  reached  number  3  in  1971   their  popularity  waned . The  hits  became  much  smaller  and  after  1973  stopped  altogether  though  their  singles  were  still  usually  minor  hits  in  the  US.  They  made  an  impressive  comeback  in  1981  on  Casablanca  with  "When  She  Was  My  Girl"  reached  number  3  in  the  UK  but  were  not  able  to  sustain  it. They  returned  to  Motown  in  1983  but  after  two  flop  albums  departed  again  and  signed  for  Arista. We've  already  discussed  their  first  single  for  the  label, "Indestructible"  in  saying  goodbye  to  Smokey  Robinson.

The  next  single  from  the  album  "Indestructible"  was  this  one  although  it  owes  its  success  rather  to  being  featured  in  the  film  Buster. The  song  was  written  by  the  legendary  Lamont  Dozier  in  collaboration  with  Buster's  star  Phil  Collins   so  not  unexpectedly  you  have  a  musical  blend  of  old  Motown  tropes  and  that  trademark  fussy  brass  sound  that  Collins  always  favoured  on  his  solo  records. The  lyrics  are  mainly  holiday  tripe  set  to  an  irritatingly  catchy  tune   although  there's  an  effective  switch  to  a  minor  key  section  reflecting  the  character's  own  change  of  heart  about  living  the  fugitive's  high  life. This  is  the  only  part  of  the  song  that  deserves  the  quality  of  the  vocal  performances.

There  were  three  more singles  from  the  album  , "If  Ever  A  Love  There  Was",  a  duet  with  Arethra  Franklin  that 's  the  epitome  of  dreary  corporate  balladry ,  "The  Sun  Ain't  Gonna  Shine"  which  isn't  the  Bacharach/David  song  but  an  awful  Albert  Hammond  and  Diane  Warren  "effort"  that  re-uses  the  backing  track  from  Starship's  Nothing's  Gonna  Stop  Us  Now , and  "Change  of  Heart"  written  by  Australian  Paul  Kelly  whose  strong  lyrics  about  domestic  abuse   don't  really  mesh  with  the  slick  production  and  feather-light  chorus. None  of  them  were  hits  either  in  the  UK  or  US.

With  that  the  group  more  or  less  called  time  on  their  recording  career  and  became  a  classy  cabaret  act. Motown  got  them  back  in  the  studio  once  more  for  the  album  "Christmas  Here  With  You"  which  is  as  essential  as  such  efforts  usually  are. The  guys  alter  the  melodies  to  suit  and  Arethra  turns  up  again  on  "White  Christmas "  and  "Silent  Night"  but  you  really  don't  need  to  hear  it.

Eighteen  months  later  Lawrence  Payton  died  of  liver  cancer   aged  59  forcing  the  first  line  up  change  in  44  years.They  toured  as  a  trio  The  Tops  for  about  a  year  and  then  recruited  one-time  Temptation  Theo  Peoples  to  fill  Lawrence's  shoes.  In  2000,  Levi  became  ill  with  cancer  himself  and  had  to  retire  though  he  lingered  on  for  another  eight  years. Peoples  moved  into his  role  and  Ronnie  McNeir  took  Lawrence's  part. This  line-up  performed  at  the  50th  anniversary  concert  in  2004,  at  which  Levi  made  a  brief  appearance  in  a  wheelchair . Obie  Benson   actually  predeceased  him, dying  of  lung  cancer  in  2005.  He  was  actually  replaced  by  Lawrence's  son.

This  has  left  Abdul  Fakir  as  the  sole  survivor  from  the  original  line  up  . In  2010  he  was  talking  about  a  new album  but  it's  never  materialised  and  the  group's  schedule  has  gradually  diminished  as  he  enters  his  eighties.

619 Hello Londonbeat - 9AM ( The Comfort Zone )

Chart  entered : 26  November  1988

Chart  peak :  19

Number  of  hits : 10

I  thought  we  were  done  with  saying  hello  to  anyone  who  had  recorded  in  the  sixties  but  I'd  forgotten  about  these  guys.

Londonbeat  started  to  come  together  in  1984  when  Paul  Young  decided  to  freshen  up  his  backing   band.  Out  went  The  Fabulous  Wealthy  Tarts  and  in  came  three  experienced  soul  guys  to  be  his  backing  vocalists. Jimmy  Chambers  was  born  in  Trinidad  and  came  over  to the  UK  in  the  late  sixties.He  joined  Dada  ( see  Hello  Elkie  Brooks )  but  was  one  of  those  dumped  when  they  slimmed  down  into  Vinegar  Joe.  He  hung  around  the  edges  of  the  music  scene  and  recorded  a  couple  of  singles  in  the  seventies.  I  haven't  heard  his  1977  single  "Love  Don't  Come  Easily  Girl". His  second  was  "You  Can't  Fight  It"  which  grafted  his  vocal , lyrics  about  urban  violence  and  some  Kenny  Lynch  brass  parts  to  the  brooding  main  theme  from  John  Carpeter's  terrifying  Assault  on  Precinct  13 . It  sounded  much  better  without  them  frankly. He  worked  with  Amii  Stewart, Elkie  Brooks, Chris  Rea  and  Wham ! before  taking  Young's  call.

George  Chandler  was  born  in  Atlanta. He  started  singing  in  his  local  Baptist  church  before  moving  to  Italy  in  1965. He  formed  a  group  The  Four  Kents  in  with  three  servicemen  posted  there  by  NATO,  George's  voice  was  similar  to  Levi  Stubbs  and  the  group  were  modelled  on  The Four  Tops . They  had  a  hit  there  in  1965  with  the  Italian-language  "Sei  Lontana"  , a  Latin -flavoured  soul  tune. In  1968  they  released  an  English  language  version  "The  Moving  Finger  Writes". Jimmy  was  briefly  in  the  line  up. The  band  broke  up  in  the  early  seventies  and  George  moved  on  to the  UK. He  was  immediately  snapped  up  by  the  funk  outfit  Gonzalez  who  also  acted  as  a  pick  up  band  for  visiting  soul  artists. George  was  their  lead  singer  when  they  got  a  deal  with  EMI  and  recorded  their  eponymous  debut. At  that  time  they  had  a  hard  funk  sound  as  on  debut  single  "Pack  It  Up". In  1974  George  was  replaced  by  Lenny  Zakatek.

At  the  same  time, George  was  recruited  by  producer  Mike  Vernon  along  with  a  number  of  session  musicians  to  make  an  album  with  American  blues  guitarist  Jimmy  Dawkins. Dawkins  missed  his  flight  and  the  boys  made  up  a  track  in  the  studio  while  they  were  waiting.  "Put  The  Music  Where  Your  Mouth  Is"  a  loose  funky  instrumental  ( I'm  not  sure  what  George  did  on  the  track  )  with  some  scorching  guitar  was  put  out  as  a  single  under  the  name  Olympic  Runners and  made  the  US R &  B  charts. Encouraged, the  guys  stayed  together  as  a    studio  act  ( though  they  appeared  on  Top  of  the  Pops )  and  made  a  number  of  albums  in  the  seventies. Towards  the  end  of  the  decade  they  went  in  a  more  disco  direction  and   enjoyed  a  short  run  of   modest  UK  hit  singles. "Get  It  While  You  Can " ( number  35, 1978 )  is  the  best  for  Pete  Wingfield's  manic  piano  solo.

George  also  started  releasing  solo  singles  from  1976  onwards. I  haven't  heard  the  handful  he  made  with  RCA  but  his  1982  single  for  Polydor  "This  Could  Be  The  Night "  is  a  solid  slice  of  George  Benson-ish  pop funk. He  also  recorded  a  dreadful  single  for  the  Burnley  Building  Society  "The  Best  Dreams"  with  truly  satanic  verses  by  a  young  advertising  hack  called  Salman  Rushdie.

Along  with  Tony  Jackson,  who  was  never  involved  in  Londonbeat,  they  sang  on  all  four  hit  singles  from  Young's  album  The   Secret  of  Association  including  the  US  number  one  Every  Time  You  Go  Away.  Jimmy  and  George  were  not  retained  for  his  next  album.

In  1987  they  were  contacted  by  Jimmy  Helms  about  forming  a  new  band. Jimmy  already  had  a  long  career  behind  him. He  was  born  in  Florida  in  1941  and  mastered  both  the  trumpet  and  the  guitar  as  well  as  singing. He  began  working  as  a  session  musician  in  the  late  fifties  and  released  his  first  single  "You're  Mine  You"  on  the  Symbol  label  in  1963. It's  a  likeable  early  sixties  R &  B  number  which  later  became  a  Northern  Soul  favourite. Jimy  then  joined  the  US  Army  where  he  played  trumpet  in  the  Fort  Jackson  Army  Band.

He  came  out  of  the  army  to  begin   the  most  frustrating  of   solo   careers. He  had  a  terrific  voice  like  Tom  Jones  with  an  added  falsetto  range  and  an  ear  for  a  good  song  but   it  only  came  together  for  him  once  at  the  beginning  of  1973  with  "Gonna  Make  You  An  Offer  You  Can't  Refuse ", a  soft  soul  classic   which  got  to  number  8   in  the  UK   at  the  dawn  of  my  interest  in  pop. It  was  the  first  pop  record  my  mum  liked  which  meant  I  wasn't  so  keen  at  the  time  but  it  now  sounds  glorious. It  was  almost  the  last  hit  for  songwriter  Johnny  Worth  ; he  also  wrote  the  follow  up  single  "Jack  Horner's  Holiday "  a  clever  if  a  little  over-elaborate  song  in  a  similar  vein  which  couldn't  break  into  the  Top  50. The  following  year  he  sang  the  theme  tune  for  the  Roger  Moore  film "Gold"  but  that  wasn't  a  hit  either. He  also  sang  on  Roger  Glover's  concept  album "The  Butterfly  Ball  and  the  Grasshopper's  Feast ". Earlier  American  singles  such  as  "That's  The  Way  It  Is"  and  "Your  Past  Is  Beginning  To  Show"  were  popular  on  the  Northern  Soul  scene  so  Pye  signed  him  up  in  1975  hoping  to  capitalise  on  that   but  half  a  dozen  singles  later  he  was  still  a  one  hit  wonder.  After  that,  he  worked  as  a  session  singer  specialising  in  jingles  for  independent  radio  stations  and  was  main  vocalist  on  former  Clash  drummer  Topper  Headon's  solo  album  "Waking  Up"  in  1986.

The  fourth  member  was  a  much  younger  white  guy  with  a  stupid  haircut , Willy  "M"  Henshall   who  had  been  producing  bands  in  the  Bristol  area. A  multi-instrumentalist,  he  took  on  the  role  of  arranging   and  producing  their  material. Their  demo  tape  was  heard  by  Eurhythmic  Dave  Stewart  who  made  them  one  of  the  first  signings  to  his  new  Anxious  label.

The  first  single  "There's  A  Beat  Going  On"  was  released  in  June  1988  and  was  a  mistake.Willy  came  up  with  a pounding  electrofunk  backing  track  over  which  the  boys  chant  slogans  and   then  produce  a  ham-fisted  self-referential  rap  section  which  is  just  embarrassing. The  title  is  endlessly  repeated  trying  to  bludgeon  you  into  submission. The  "boys"  dressed  in  leather  and  studs  and  leered  into  the  camera  in  the  video  which  only  compounded  the  impression  that  they  had  strayed  well  outside  their  comfort  zone. Having  said  all  that,  it  was  a  Top  20  hit  in  Holland  which  gave  them  some  encouragement.

For  the  second  single  "Falling  In  Love  Again"  they  changed  tack.  The  street  gang  image  was  jettisoned  and   Jimmy  H  emerged  as  the   lead  singer  on  a  piece  of  lush  pop  soul  not  too  far  removed  from  Jimmy  C  and  George's  former  employer. Jimmy  H's  voice  remains  completely  intact  and  there's  a  half-decent  tune. It  was  a minor  hit  on  re-release  in  1989.

"9 AM  ( The  Comfort  Zone )" was  their  third  single. I  know Jimmy  H  regards  it  as  his  best  song   but  I  have  to  say  it  doesn't  do  very  much  for  me  apart   from  the   nice  instrumental  break. The  premise  is  quite  original, a  man  on  a  train  going  to  work  thinking  about  the  woman  he's  left  in  bed   but  it  doesn't  go  anywhere   Willy's  arrangement  is  beatless   with  the  voices  floating  on  warm  synths  and  an  understated  bass. The  harmonies are  impressive  but  the  chorus  comes  round  too  often . There's  too  much   taste  and  not  enough  song.

Chart-wise  it's  difficult  to  think  of  too  many  solo  artists  who've  come  back  as  lead  vocalist  in  a  group  after  so  long  away. The  only  other  example  I  can  call  to  mind  is  Roy  Orbison  whose  debut  single  with  The  Travelling  Wilburys  was  coincidentally  in  the charts  at  the  same  time  as  this.

618 Hello Kym Mazelle - Useless ( I Don't Need You Now )

Chart  entered :  12  November  1988

Chart  peak : 53  ( 48  in  re-mixed  form  in  1990 )

Number  of  hits : 13


Like  Jocelyn  Brown  ( with  whom  she  duetted  on  two  of  her  hits )  Kym  is  a  serial  collaborator  though  not  quite  to  the  same  extent.

She  was  born  Kimberly  Grigsby  in  Gary, Indiana  ( 1960 )   and  knew  the  Jackson  family  growing  up  there. She  studied  Entertainment  Management  at  Columbia  College, Chicago  and  was  drawn  into  the  house  scene  there. She  started  working  with  producer  Marshall  Jefferson  and  was  featured  vocalist  on  his  1987  single  "Tate  My  Love"  under  the  nom  de  plume  House  To  House. A  generic  club  record, I've  haeard  it  twice  in  the  last  hour  and  it's  made  zero  impression  on  me. I  don't  think  it  was  released  in  the  UK.

Though  it's  more  celebrated,  as  an  I  Will  Survive  for  the  nineties, I  can't  say  that  "Useless"  does  much  more  for  me. Jefferson  wrote  and  produced  the  track ,inspired  by  Ktm's  dissatisfaction  with  a  rotten  boyfriend.  Kym  lets  rip  in  the  vocal  department  and  there's  certainly  a  powerful  pair  of  lungs  beneath  that  huge  chest. Jefferson  adds  piano, funky  guitar  and  chattering  percussion  to  the  mix  to  fill  out  the  sound  behind  her  but  the  chorus  is  a  repetitive  chant  of  the  subtitle  and  you  just  don't  come  away  from  it  singing.

617 Goodbye Bucks Fizz - Heart of Stone

Chart  entered :  5  November  1988

Chart  peak : 50

Bucks  Fizz  are  still  lauded  by  the  New  Pop  brigade   for  the  records  they  made  just  after  their  Eurovision  triumph ; there  was  a  tribute  piece  by  Bob  Stanley  in  The  Guardian  not  long  ago. Actually,  what  they're  really  praising  are  the  songwriting  and  production  skills  of  Andy  Hill  and  his  wife  Nicola  Martin. Beyond  singing,  the  four  members  of  Bucks  Fizz  made  almost  no  contribution  to  the  music  and  have  mustered  one  minor, TV- assisted, solo   hit  between  them. That  said, Hill  and  Martin  couldn't  get  arrested  in  the  guise  of  their  own  group,  Paris,  so  the  mannequins'  promotional  value  shouldn't  be  underestimated.

Bucks  Fizz  were  determined  not  to  fade  away  after  their  Eurovision  triumph  and  surfed  the  New  Pop  wave  to  score  two  more  chart-toppers  in  the  first  half  of  1982, both  over-praised  in  my  view  but  they  were  clearly  a  formidable  outfit. Album  sales  were  lukewarm  though;  despite  containing  those  two  number  ones, "Are  You  Ready"  couldn't  advance  past  number  10  suggesting  that  their  success  had  its  limits.  After  "When  We  Were  Young"  dropped  out  of  the  Top  10  in  summer  1983,  their  singles  started  peaking  at  lower  positions. The  wheels  really  started  coming  off   at  the  end  of  1984  when  their  tour  bus  crashed . All  four  members  were  injured  but  Mike  Nolan  nearly  died  from  serious  head  injuries  that  still  affect  him  today. His  condition  put  the  band  out  of  action  for  six  months. Just  as  he  recovered  enough  to  perform  on  their  next  single  in  May  1985, Jay  Aston   quit  the  band  in  acrimonious  circumstances, a  serious  loss  as  she  provided  the  band  with  some  sexual  charisma  and  had  increasingly  been  used  as  lead  vocalist  on  recent  singles. She  was  replaced  after   X-Factor  style  public  auditions  by  Shelley  Preston , an  attractive  21-year  old  who  had  been  singing  in  a  night  club  in  Sri  Lanka. Despite  a  huge  publicity  boost  from  this  process  , the  group's  first  single  with  Shelley  was  one  of  their  lowest  hits  to  date  and  RCA  let  them  go. Polydor  picked  them  up  and  were  rewarded  with  a  huge  hit  when  "New  Beginning  ( Mamba  Seyra )"  reached  number  8  in  the  summer  of  1986  but  subsequent  singles  stalled  in  the  forties  and  the  ironically  titled  LP  " Writing  On  The  Wall"   stiffed  disastrously  at  number  89.

With  "Heart  of  Stone"  they  were  very  much  in  last  chance  saloon. Written  by  Hill  and  his  lyricist  friend  Pete  Sinfield,  it  sticks  with  the  harder-edged  AOR  sound  they'd  been  trying  to  expand   their  audience  with  since  1983. Sinfield's  lyrics  use  some  evocative  metaphors  for  relationship  pain  and  Bobby  Gubby 's  lead  vocal   is  on  the  money  but  the  song  is  just  too  pedestrian  and  never  soars, a  point  proven  a  couple  of  years  later  when  Cher  couldn't  take  her  version  much  higher. The  video  featured  the  quartet  mooching  around  Robin  Gibb's  mansion  looking  morose  and  half-hearted. They  knew  the  game  was  up.

RCA  tried  to  squeeze  a  few  more  sales  out  of  them  six  months  later  by  releasing  a  track  from  their  third  album  "Hand  Cut ". "You  Love  Love"  is  a  dreary  ballad  featuring  a  rare  lead  vocal  from  Cheryl  Baker . It   achieved  nothing  except  to  spoil  their  100%  chart  record.

Now  the  fun  starts, Bucks  Fizz  having  one  of  the  more  colourful  post-fame  stories. They  had  no  record  deal  but  with  a  famous  name  and  a  shedload  of  hits  it  was  easy  to  fill  their  diaries  with  live  dates. They  toured  the  UK  in  1989  at  the  end  of  which  Shelley  decided  to  quit. Considerably  younger  than  the  others, endlessly  touring  the  hits ,most  of  which  she  hadn't  been  involved  with , had  little  appeal for  her ..She  became  a  successful  session  vocalist  and  toured  with  a  long  list  of  artists  including  Inxs, Go  West, Beverley  Craven,  Brian  May , Luther Vandross. She's  had  a  long  term  association  with   Belinda  Carlisle   and  a  side  career  as  a  model. She  also  found  time  to  marry  Spandau  Ballet  saxophonist  Steve  Norman.

The  band  continued  as  a  trio  and  released  a  live  album  "Live  at  the  Fairfield  Hall, Croydon" commemorating  their  tenth  anniversary  tour.  The  following  year  Cheryl  released  a  solo  single  "Sensuality"  a  lightweight  Janet  Jackson  impersonation  penned  by  fellow  eighties  refugees  Paul  Barry  of  The  Questions  and  Steve  Torch   of  White  and  Torch. Like  her  previous  solo  effort , ( a  version  of  Amen  Corner's  "If  Paradise Is  Half  As  Nice  in  1987 )  it  didn't  chart.
Its  failure  seems  to  have  persuaded  Cheryl,  who'd  had  a  parallel  career  as  a  TV  presenter  since  1985 , to  knock  music  on  the  head. At  the  end  of  1993  she  gave  them  notice  to  quit.

Bobby  had  now  taken  over  managing  the  group   and  he  and  Mike  recruited  two  new  girls ,
one  of  whom  Heidi  Manton  would  become  the  second  Mrs  Gubby, and  soldiered  on  for  a  couple  of  years  until  an  exhausted  Mike  quit  at  the  end  of  1995. Bobby's  fateful  brainwave  was  to  invite  David  Van  Day  in  to  replace  him. Under  the  deal  Van  Day  would  relinquish  Dollar  although  he  could  bring  his  latest  replacement  for  Teresa  Bazaar , Karen  Logan  into  the  band  alongside  Bobby  and  Heidi.

It  soon  went  wrong. Logan  left  and  Van  Day soon  felt  outnumbered. A  BBC  documentary  made  a  few  years  later  detailed  some  comical  disagreements  about  clothing  but  the  basic  faultline  appeared  to  be  that  Bobby  had  a  stoical  acceptance  that  the  group's  halcyon  days  were  over  while  Van  Day  still  longed  for  a  return  to  the  limelight. The  final  break  came  after  a  tour  of  the  Falkland  Islands  which  tells  you  how  far  the  group  had  fallen. Who  on  earth  would  accept  an  invitation  to  play  there ?  

Van  Day  quit  after  a  series  of  arguments  on  the  tour. Bobby  and  Heidi  renewed  the  Bucks  Fizz  trademark  as  a  precautionary  measure  and  carried  on  with  a  new  singer. Then  Van  Day  re-emerged  with  his  own  Bucks Fizz  line  up  which  featured  a  refreshed  Mike  Nolan. This  thwarted  Bobby's  move  at  the  Patents  Office  and  instigated  a  long  legal  battle.

In  the  meantime  David  wrangled  an  appearance  on  The  Generation  Game   and  a  record  deal  for  releasing  a  nineties  electronic  version  of  "Making  Your  Mind  Up"  which  failed  to  make  the  chart. They  followed  it  up  with  a  poorly  received  album  of  re-recorded  hits  and  a  robotic version  of  Rick  Astley's  Never  Gonna  Give  You  Up   in  2000.

The  following  year  it  was  Mike's  turn  to  fall  out  with  Van  Day  and  he  avenged  himself  by  withdrawing  his  objection  to  Bobby's  trademark  application. That didn't  stop Van  Day  getting  together a  new  line  up  as  David  Van  Day's  Bucks  Fizz. so   Bobby  went  to  court for  an  injunction  to  stop  him . He  didn't  get  it and  what  was  worse  the  judge  commented  that  there  wasn't  "much  fizz  left in  the  name". Bobby  was  incandescent  and  you  can't  really  blame  him ; there  should  be  something in  place  to  hold  judges  to  account  for   making  unnecessary  soundbite  comments  which  cause  reputational  damage  to  others  out  of  personal  vanity.

Bobby's  sister  of  mercy  turned  out  to  be  Bazar  whose  willingness  to  return  to  Dollar   prompted  Van  Day  to  abandon  his  Bucks  Fizz  project. That  didn't  help  Mike  who  launched  his  own  suit  against Van  Day  for  unpaid  earnings. He  won  the  case  but  Van  Day  then  declared  himself  bankrupt  and Mike  had  to  sell  his  house  to  pay  the  legal  costs.

In  December  2004,  Bobby   agreed  to  appear  with  Mike, Cheryl  and Shelly  as  "The  Original  Bucks  Fizz "  ( as  opposed  to  the  official  Bucks  Fizz  featuring  him  and  Heidi )  on  the  Here  and  Now  tour   though  he  couldn't  make  every  date  due  to  schedule  clashes. Mike, Cheryl  Shelly  performed  more  shows  together  and  appeared  at  Eurovision's  50th  Anniversary  bash.

In  2008  they  were  invited  to  take  part  in  a  makeover  show  on  Living  TV  called  Pop  Goes  The  Band. When  Bobby  declined  the  invitation  the  producers  invited  Jay  along , the  first  and  only  time   any  version  of  the  band  has  featured  three  females. Although  Shelly did  the  show,  she  wasn't  happy  with  Jay's  return  and  quit  the  group  shortly  after  the  programme  was  broadcast.

As  mentioned  above, Jay's  departure  in  1985  was  messy. After  a  vitriolic  war  of  words  in  the  tabloid  press  she  was  sued  for  breach  of  contract, barred  from  launching  a  solo  career  for  years  and  near- bankrupted. By  1990,  she  was  receiving  housing  benefit. Her  sister-in-law, Marcella  Detroit  of  Shakespear's  Sister,  advised  her  to  start  writing  songs. She  re-emerged  in  1993 with  a  single "Naked  Phoenix"  and  a  video  with  a  metal  phoenix  on  her  chest  which  appeared  to  be  pulling  her  boobs  to  the  floor. It's  a  typically  nineties  piece  of  burbling  electronica,  bereft  of  any  melodic  hooks. It  went  nowhere  and  Jay  couldn't  find  a  deal  to  release  her  album  "Lamb  or  Lizard" . The  material  eventually  came  out  on  a  box  set  in  2006. She  also  contributed  a  song  to  Michael  Winner's  reviled  ( as  usual )  film  Dirty  Weekend  causing  a  minor  stir  by  walking  out  of  the  premiere.

Her  brief  comeback  over, she  moved  back  in  with  her  parents  but  soon  met  guitarist  Dave  Colquhoun  and. moved  in  with  him. They  formed  a  band  called  Aston  and  played  locally. In  1999  they  got  married  and  two  years  later  she  set  up  The  Jay  Aston  Theatre  Arts  School  in  Kent. In  2003  her  daughter  Josie  was  born  and  she  also  released  her  album  "Alive  and  Well", the  bulk  of  it  written  by  her  husband. I  remember  reading  a  review  in  Q  and   thinking  hell  this  is  an  unexpected  comeback  but  the  only  track  I've  heard  is  the  crunchy  Garbage -like  "Rosie  Banks"   which  featured  in  the  film  The  Last  Days  of  Edgar  Harding  ( which  Jay  had  a  part  in )  a  few  years  later.  Two  years  later  she  was  celebrated  in  a  drag  show  Night  Of  A  Thousand  Jay  Astons  at  the  Edinburgh  Festival  Fringe   and  in  2007  the  four  original  members  collaborated  for  the  first  time  in  22  years  when  they  appeared  in  the  Comic  Relief  video  that  year.

The  Original  Buck's  Fizz  went  on  tour  with  Jay - in  great  nick  for  someone  in  their  fifties  I  have  to  say - in  autumn  2009  and  the  following  year  released  a  baffling  jazz  version  of  their  1984  hit  "I  Hear  Talk"  arranged  by  Cheryl's  husband.

At  the  beginning  of  2011  they  received  writs. In  spite  of  his  earlier  collaborations  and  the  defeat  to  Van  Day. Bobby  had  decided  to  sue  them  for  infringing  his  trademark. To  an  outsider  all  this  is  baffling. Bob  Stanley  likened  them  to  the  Beach  Boys  but  at  least  in  their  tussles  there's  usually  been  something  of  significant  value  at  stake. The  brand  value  of  the  Bucks  Fizz  name  can't  be  worth   anything  near  the  total  of  the  legal  costs. It  looks  like  a  textbook  case  of  two  bald  men  fighting  over  a  comb.It  rather  put  a  dampener  on  the  trio's  30th  anniversary  tour  that  year.

Anyway  Bobby  won  this  time  round  and  the  other  three  had  to  re-brand  themselves  OBF.  They  released  a  new  single  ironically  entitled  "This  Day  Is  Mine"   a  muted  synthpop  number  that  wasn't   nearly  strong  enough  to  break  through. They  made  an  album,  "Fame  and  Fortune"  available  through  their  website  that  was  half  re-arrangements  of  their  old  hits  and  half  new  songs. There's  a  surprising  amount  of  thought  gone  into  the  former, the  latter  are  a  bit  of  a  plod  but  both  suffer  from  the   starkly  obvious  decline  in  the  trio's  vocal  powers.

In  2013,  for  reasons  best  known  to  herself,  Jay  appeared  on  The  Voice,   at  the  same  time  ( or  at  least  it  was  edited  that  way )  as  Danny  "Shrek"  Foster  from  Hearsay,   performing  Muse's  Time  Is  Running  Out. Neither  persuaded  the  judges  to  turn  round.

The  following  year  they  had  another  re-brand  choosing  the  snappy  name   "Cheryl. Mike  and Jay - Formerly  of  Bucks  Fizz"  and  since  then  they  have  increased  their  touring  commitments. From  recent  appearances,  the  age  gap  between  Jay  and  the  others  now  looks  cavernous.  In  2015,   Bobby  McVay  from  1983  Eurovision  also-rans  Sweet  Dreams  joined  them  to  restore  them  to  a  quartet. The  other  Bobby  plods  along   with  his  version.

In  2014  Jay  released  another  solo  single  "True  Love ", a  sort  of  Lily  Allen  pastiche  with  a  mildly  amusing  video. It  trailed  an  LP  "I-Spy"  which  was  eventually  released  on  her  website  last  year  but  I  haven't  heard  anything  else  from  it.

Shelly  went  back  to  working   with  Norman  in  his  chillout  lounge act  Cloudfish   but  that  collapsed  when  their  marriage  ended  in  2013. She's  been  licking  her wounds  but  plans  to  go  out  on  the  road  as  a  solo  artist  soon.

616 Hello The Jungle Brothers* - I'll House You

(* Richie  Rich  Meets..... )

Chart  entered : 22  October  1988

Chart  peak : 22

Number  of  hits : 11

This  seems  like  a  turning  point. I recall  the  name  of  the  act  but  this  is  the  first  time since  Joan  Regan  back  in  1953  that  I've  looked  down  the  list  of  hits  and  not  recognised  any  of  them. It's  a  sign  we've  reached  the  point  where  I  started  to  disengage  from  the  charts. I  think  I  mentioned  on  Popular that  I   didn't  welcome  the  switch  in  1987  from  announcing  the  chart  on  a  Tuesday  lunchtime  to  a  Sunday  teatime. I  enjoyed  listening  to  the  old  chart  show  knowing  exactly  what  would  be  played  and  when  ( particularly  useful  in  the  seventies  when  I  was  taping  from  the  radio )  and  the  potential  excitement of  the  new  uncertainty  was  killed  stone  dead  by  the  ridiculous  way  in  which  Bruno  Brookes  presented  the  show  i.e. pretending  the  chart  was  still  being  compiled  while  the  show  was  on  air. It  would  be  mathematically  impossible  to  calculate  what  was  number  40  before  the  number  one  and  to  say  otherwise  was  just  infantile.

The  Jungle  Brothers  came  together  in  New York  in  1986  and  were  set  up  in  the  same  way  as  Salt  'n'  Pepa  with  two  rappers,  Michael  "Mike  Gee " Small ,  Nathaniel  "Afrika  Baby  Bam"  Hall   who  were  friends  at  high  school  and  a   DJ,  Sammy  ( DJ  Sammy  B )  Burwell. They  had  a  more  optimistic,  Afrocentric  approach  than  the  likes  of  Public  Enemy.

Their  first  single  was  a  double  A-side  "Jimbrowski / Bragging   and  Boasting"  on  the  small  Idlers  label  in  the  US  only  in  1987. "Jimbrowski"  is  the  more  inventive  of  the  two  tracks  utilising  samples  from  Tom  Browne's  Funkin  For  Jamaica  on  an  ode  to  the  male  member. "Bragging  and  Boasting"  does  what  it  says  on  the  tin  and  is  a  plodding  bore  but  the  self-aware  title  suggests  there  might  be  some  irony  involved. Both  tracks  have  a  somewhat  offbeat  feel  compared  to  the  Def  Jam  acts.

The  next  single  "Because  I  Got  It  Like  That"  was  also  released  in  the  UK  on  the  Ton Son Ton  label.  It's  based  on  a  riff  sampled  from  You  Can  Make  It  If  You  Try  by  Sly  and  the  Family  Stone  and  since  the  rap  is  about  being  effortlessly  talented  it  again  shows  a  sense  of  irony. It  goes  on  far  too  long  though.

 The  third  single  "On  The  Run "  makes  effective  use  of  brass  and  backing  vocal  samples  for  an  urgent  rap  about  being  a  fugitive  and  unlike  its  predecessors  doesn't  outstay  its  welcome.

All  these  singles  were  compiled  on  their  first  album  "Straight  Out  The  Jungle" . "I'll  House  You"  was  a  late  addition  to  the  album.  The  band  wanted   to  give  their  fairly  mindless  rap  about  bopping  to  house  music  an  appropriate  musical  setting  and  they  had  the  right  music  to  hand  ,   house  producer  Todd  Terry's  Can  You  Party    under  the  name  Royal  House  which  was  already  in  the  UK  charts  at  the  time  (  and  probably  depressed  this  record's  chart  performance) .  Terry  was  happy  enough  with  his  producer  credit  but  Champion  Records  who  held  the  licence  for  Can  You  Party   were  not  and  objected  to  the  single's  release   on  the  Gee  Street  label .  As   a  result  the  label's  owner, another  house  producer  Richie  Rich ,  gave  out  that  he  had  re-recorded  the  backing  track  hence  his  credit. Whether  he  actually  did  anything  is  open  to  conjecture.  As  a  cross  genre  standard  it  has  undoubted  significance  but  it  doesn't  do  anything  for  me.

615 Goodbye Bob Andrews* - Everything Good Is Bad

(*  as  part  of  Westworld )

Chart  entered :  15  October  1988

Chart  peak : 72

The  first  of  the  Generation  X  diaspora  bows  out  here. After  playing guitar  on  their  first  two  albums,  including  their  biggest  hit  "King  Rocker", Bob  fell  out  with   Billy  Idol  and  Tony  James  over  being  shut  out  of  the  songwriting  and  quit  the  band  at  the  end  of  1979. He  formed  Empire  with  drummer  Mark  Laff  who  was  sacked  from  Generation  X  shortly  afterwards. Empire  received  some good  notices  and  a  degree  of  success  in  Spain  but  their  records  bombed  and  they  folded  in  1984. Bob  formed  the  trio  Westworld  two  years  later  to  pursue  a  similar  musical   direction  to  James's  outfit  Sigue  Sigue  Sputnik  melding  rock  guitar  to  electronic  rhythms. They  had  immediate  success  early  in  1987  when  "Sonic  Boom  Boy"  reached  number  11  ( equalling  his  chart  peak  with  Gen-X )  after  exposure  on  The  Tube  but  hadn't  managed  to  crack  the  Top  30  with  subsequent  singles  and  their  debut  album  "Where  The  Action  Is"  stalled  at number  49.

"Everything  Good  Is  Bad"  was  the  lead  single  for  their  second  album. It's  a  cover  of  a  1972   soul  tune  co-penned  by  Chairmen  of  the  Board's  General  Johnson  for  the  group  100  Proof  ( Aged  In  Soul ). It  was  the  last  of  their  four  U.S.  hits, none  of  which  charted  here. The  band   have  ditched  the  Eddie  Cochran  riffs   of  the  debut  album  for  heavily  treated  guitar, which  together  with  the  synthetic  rhythm   track ,  gives  the  track  a  sleazy  feel  that's  not  a  million  miles  away  from  Goldfrapp.  Under-rated  American  vocalist  Elisabeth  Westwood's  rich  voice  retains some  of  the  soul  of  the  original  and  it's  not  a  bad  record  at  all.  Despite  being  opportunistically  promoted   in  the  music  press  with  a  mugshot  of  just-disgraced  sprinter  Ben  Johnson, the  single  could  only  scrape  into  the  lowest  reaches  of  the  chart.

After  the  failure  of  the  single,  RCA  would  only  release  the  new  album  "Beatbox  Rock 'N' Roll"  in  Germany  and  Australia. It's  a  decent  listen  that  follows  the  lead  of  the  single  in  increasing  the  electronic  content  of  their  bubblegum  rock   but  I  think  RCA  were  right  in  not  discerning  a  hit  amongst  its  other  tracks.

RCA  let  them  have  one  more  crack  with  the  single  "Dance  On"  in  1989  which  sounds  like  Transvision  Vamp  with  a  better  singer. However  the  song  is  so  utterly  vacuous  you  wonder  if  they're  taking  the  piss. The  disparity  in  success  between  the  two  bands  is  striking  and  it's  depressing  to  think  that  it  may  well  have  been  Westwood's  refusal  to  trade  on  her  sexuality  that  explains  it.

Cut  adrift  by  RCA  they  re-located  to  Arizona  and  signed  with  MCA  for  their  third  album  "Movers  &  Shakers"  which  came  out  in  the  U.S. only   in  1991. It  sees  the  band  further  refining  their  sound  but  the  singles  weren't  well  chosen.  "Do  No  Wrong"  chugs  along  on  the  most  boring  of  riffs  and  "Lipsyncher"  is  all  blustery  synth  noise  and  no  song. By  contrast,  "So  Long  Cowboy"  which  made  it  onto  the  Point  Break  soundtrack , "Stargazer"  and  "Time  Machine  Pop  Gun"  are  all  good  tunes  which  hint  at  a  greater  depth  in  their  songwriting.

In  1994  the  band  contracted  to  a  duo  of  just  Bob  and  Westwood , re-branded  as  Moondogg. They  returned  to  London  to  work  with  producer  Martin  Stephenson  ( not  the  guy  from  the  Daintees ). Their  first  release  was  a  four  track  EP  "Silver  Lining"  later  that  year. It  announced  their  intention  to  pursue  a  new  drum  and  bass  direction  with  guitars  firmly  in  the  background. The  first  three  tracks  are  defiantly  abstract  and  uncommercial  "Gasoline  Rain  is  a  more  conventional  song  but  still  tuneless. All  four  tracks  were  on  their  debut  LP  "Fat  Lot  of  Good"  in  1996.  The  more  recent  tracks, like  the  single  "Black  Pain"  set  a Southern  blues  against  skittering  drum  and  bass   patterns. It's  a  dark  uneasy  marriage  which  had  zero  potential  to  shift  many  units  although  they  got  some  good  press  for  it. Later  that  year  they  released  a  standalone  single  "Nothing's  Sacred "  which  saw  them  move  in  a  trip  hop  direction.

After  that  Bob  returned  to  America, got  married  and  worked  as  a  motorcycle  courier. He  formed  a  part-time  alt-country  outfit  Speedtwinn  with  singer  Gary  Twinn  who'd  been  in  Twenty  Flight  Rockers  with  his  former  Generation  X  band  mate  Mark  Laff.

He  reunited  with  Westwood  for  another  Moondogg  album  "God's  Wallop"  which  flits  between  drum  and  bass  and  Portishead- style  trip  hop  with  Westwood  sounding  very  close  to  Beth  Gibbons  on  some  tracks. Though  slightly  more  accessible  than  its  predecessor , it's  not  tuneful  enough  to  attract  casual  listeners.

In  2003  Speedtwinn  released  their  only  LP.  "California" , a  good  humoured  collection  of  country  tunes  including  one  or  two  Westworld  songs  given  an  appropriate  makeover. By  the  time  of  its  release  he  had  already  called  time  on  the  band.

The  following  year  he  released  the  last  Moondogg  album  to  date, "All  The  Love  In  The  World".  It's  a  lo-fi  collection   of  songs  still  heavily  indebted  to  Portishead  but  not  unpleasant  to  have  on  in  the  background.

After  that  he  became  a  reporter  for  a  local  radio  station  despite  retaining  a  recognisably  London  accent.  In  2006  he  and  Laff  reunited  to  release  a  re-recording  of   Empire's  debut  single  "Hot  Seat " . In  2011  he  would  record  a  few  tracks  with  a  new  version  of  Empire  though  they  appeared  on  a  solo  album  by  singer  Babel  Wallace.

For  the  last  decade  Bob  has  lived  in  California's  High  Desert  region  and  recorded  a  series  of  solo  albums  in  a   lo-fi  Ry  Cooder  style   playing  lap  steel  guitar  under  the  overarching  title  "Tone  Poet". There  have  been  three  volumes  to  date. Bob  toured  the  second   one  - the  only  one  to  have  a  physical  release  -  in  the  UK   in  2015. He  also  released  a  jokey  covers  album  "Cover  Yer  Arse "  in  2009.

614 Hello Enya - Orinoco Flow

Chart  entered  :  15  October  1988

Chart  peak  : 1

Number  of  hits  : 15*

One   of  the  more  enigmatic  artists  to  feature  here, Enya's  first  hit  seemed  to  come  out  of  nowhere, somewhat  akin  to  Wuthering  Heights  a  decade  earlier. That's  not  the  only  thing  the  artists  have  in  common.

Eithne  Ni  Bhraonain  ( or  Enya  Brennan )  was  born  in  Donegal  in  1961  to  a  Gaelic-speaking  and  intensely  musical  family. While  she  was  at  school  her  older  siblings  Maire, Pol  and  Ciaran  and  twin  uncles  Noel  and  Padraig  Dugain  formed  the  folk  band  Clannad.  She  went  to  college  to  study  classical  music  in  1979 . In  1980  she  was  invited  to  contribute  to  a  track  on  Clannad's  fourth  album  "Crann  Uil".  Enya  provides  backing  vocals, keyboards  and  percussion  on  "Gathering  Mushrooms"  one  of the  English  language  tracks  on  what  is  firmly  an  Irish  folk  album. Nevertheless  it  was  their  first  album  to  make  a  showing  in  the  UK  charts.

Enya  was   allowed  to  become  a  full  member  for  the  making  of  their  next  album  "Fu'aim"  which  came  out  in  1982. It's  less  precious  than  its  predecessor  as  the  group  groped  towards  a  fuller  sound  that  would  sell  internationally  and  there's  a  couple  of  really  lovely  instrumentals  led  by  Pol's  flute . Enya  did  the  lead  vocals  on  the  track  "An  Tull"  and  there's  footage  of  her  performing  it  on  an  Irish  TV  programme  with  her  eyes  shut  and  looking  absolutely  petrified.

When  the  album  failed  to  break  through  there  was  a  band  meeting  at  which  it  was  decided  to  dispense  with  the  services  of   long  time  manager  and  producer  Nicky  Ryan  and  his  wife  Roma. Enya  made  the  decision  to  stick  with  the  couple  and  have  them  nurture  a  solo  career.  She  moved  in  with  them  in  Dublin  and  started  recording  music  in  a  makeshift  studio  in  their  garden  shed. She  gave  some  piano  lessons  and  in  1983   played  synthesiser  on  an  album  by  the  duo  Mairead  Ni  Mahaonaigh  and  Frankie  Kennedy  who  were  also  clients  of  the  Ryans. She  recorded  two  piano  instrumentals  for  a  locally  released  cassette  which  led to  a   nervous  live  appearance  on  the  music  show  Festival  Folk .

The  Ryans'  next  move  was  to  send  out  a  demo  tape  to  film  producers. It  caught  the  ear  of  David  Puttnam  who  commissioned  her  to  soundtrack  his  1984  film  The  Frog  Prince.  Enya  wrote  nine  tunes  for  it  but  was  unhappy  that  only  two  of   them  were  used  as  performed  by  her, the  rest  beingh  rearranged  and  orchestrated  by seventies  one  hit  wonder  Richard  Myhill. Mind  you, given  how  desperately  insipid  those  two  songs, "The  Frog  Prince"  and  "Dreams",. are,  it's  not  surprising  Puttnam  felt  obliged  to  call  on  someone  to  tweak  the  others.

The  following  year  she  provided  some  backing  vocal  on  Christy  Moore's  album  Ordinary  Man  but  declined  an  invitation  to  work  with  Mike  Oldfield  on  his  Pictures  in  the  Dark  single  that  year. She  then  received  a  commission  to  write  the  music  for  a  BBC  documentary  series  The  Celts. This  came  out  as  her  first  solo  album  "Enya" in  1987  before  the  series  was  broadcast. It  introduced  her  trademark  sound  of  massed  choral  vocals, synthetic  textures, minimal  use  of  beats  with  a  range  of  influences  from  classical, church  music  and  Irish  folk. The  album  is  front loaded  with  the  vocal  tracks   like  the  single  "I  Want  Tomorrow "  ( nice  in  parts  but  too  sedate  to  break  through ) leaving  the  second  side  almost  entirely  instrumental  It  reached  69  in  the  UK. In  the  US  it  was  packaged  as  a  "New  Age"  album  which  apparently  displeased  the  Ryans  although  I  dare  say  they're  happy  enough  with  the  Grammys  Enya   consistently  wins  for  "Best  New  Age  Album" . The  album  reached  number  10  when  re-released  in  1992  as  "The  Celts"   with  its  title  track  making  number  29  as  a  single.

Enya  was  then  approached  by  Rob  Dickens  chairman  of  Warner  Music  UK  and  a  long  time  Clannad  fan. He  loved  The  Celts  and  signed  Enya  for  an  advance  of  £75,000.  She  set  to  work  on   her  next  album  "Watermark"   which  was  released  in  September  1988 . Dickins  asked  her  and  the  Ryans  to  choose  a  track  for  a  single  and  they  went  for  "Orinoco  Flow".

The  Popular  take  is  here


* Enya  has  been  credited  on  two  hits  where  a  sample  of  her  track "Boadicea"  has  been  used   but  I've  only  counted  it  once.