713 Goodbye T'Pau - Walk On Air

Chart  entered  : 27  July  1991

Chart  peak : 62

T' Pau  of  course  scored  big  with  their  second  hit  "China  In  Your  Hand"   in  1987, one  of  those  number  ones  that  has  you  scratching  your  head  as  to  how  it  became  so  popular. The  follow  up  "Valentine"  got  to  number  9  but  they  never  returned  to  the  Top  10  after  that  and   interest  in  the  band  ebbed  away  quite  quickly. Lead  guitarist  Taj  Wyzgowski  left  after  the  first  album  and  was  replaced  by  Dean  Howard  from   hard  rock  outfit  Airrace .

"Walk  On  Air"  was  the  second  single  from  their  third   album  "The   Promise"  which  was  fast  slipping  out  of  the  charts  after  entering  at  number  10  a  month  earlier. "Walk  On   Air "  indicates  that  the  band  were  still  chasing  the  US  dollar , despite  the  fact  that  "Heart And  Soul"  remained  their  only US  hit, with  a  keyboard  heavy  AOR  sound  similar  to  Heart  although  Carol  Decker  is  no  match  for  Ann  Wilson  in  the  vocal  department. It's  actually  one  of  their  better  efforts  with  lyrics  that  make  a  reasonable  stab  at  expressing  the  pain  of  desertion  and  less  caterwauling  than  some  of  their  other  hits. It  does  sound  somewhat  similar  to  Martika's  Toy  Soldiers   though  and  maybe  it's  just  the  echoes  of  that  that  I'm  liking.

The  third  single  from  the  album ,  "Soul  Destruction"  uses  a  synthesiser  pulse  to  try  for  some  dancefloor  action  but  it's  a  tuneless  bag  of  hot  air  that  never  gets  off  the  ground. It  brought  their  run  of  hits  to  an  end. There  was  a  fourth  single  in  the  US  and  Japan,  "Only  A  Heartbeat ", a  would-be  anthem  celebrating  the  demise  of  the  Berlin  Wall  which  sounds   much  like  John  Farnham's  You're  The  Voice  with  its  bombast  and  military  tattoo  drumming.

The  band  decided  to  call  it  a  day  later  in  the  year. In  1993, a  compilation  LP,  "Heart  and  Soul - The  Very  Best  of  T'Pau"  was  released  which  made  number  35.  The  re-released  "Valentine"  was  a  minor  hit,  reaching  number  53.

Carol  was  quiet  for  a  number  of  years  although  she  released  a  solo  single  "One  Heart"  to  commemorate  the  Halifax  Rugby  League  Centenary  World  Cup  in  1995   which  isn't  a  bad  slice  of  Rainbow-ish  pop  metal.  She  got  to  perform  it  at  Wembley  Stadium  but  it  didn't  chart.

Carol  decided  to  resurrect  T'Pau  in  1997  with  herself  as  the  only  original  member,  her  relationship  with  mullet-haired  guitarist  and  co-writer  Ronnie Rogers  having  bitten  the  dust. A  re-recording  of  "Heart  and  Soul"  made  no  impression  but  Carol  persevered  and  worked  on  a  new  album  "Red"  despite  being  pregnant  with  her  new  partner's  child. Ronnie's  present  on  four  tracks  as  a  writer  and  credited  as  an  additional  producer  on  two  but  doesn't  play  on  the  album. "Red"  is  actually  a  pleasant  surprise, a  listenable  mainstream  guitar  rock  album  although  it  only  has  one  knockout  track  "Let  It  All  Fall". Released  on  her  own  label,  Carol  had  to  tour  hard,   after  the  birth  of  her  child  Scarlett, to  sell  any  copies  including  a  European  tour  supporting  Status  Quo.  Chronically  missing  her  daughter , Carol  dissolved  the  band  once  the  tour  finished.

The  following  year  she  began  a  brief  acting  career  with  an  appearance  in  Doctors. Two  years  later  she  was  in  the  controversial   comedy  9  Dead  Gay  Guys.  In  2005,  she  came  runner-up  to  Shakin'  Stevens  in  the  TV  series  Hit  Me  Baby  One  More  Time . 

Carol  married   her  long-time  partner  Richard  Coates  in  2006  and  they  opened  a  restaurant  near  Henley  which  lasted  for  six  years.

At  the  beginning  of  2007  Carol  took  part  in  the  second  series  of  Just  the  Two  of  Us   but  was  the   first  to  be  eliminated.  Later  in  the  year  she  released  a  new  single  "Just  Dream", a  rather  bland  pop  effort  co-written  with  Ronnie. The  following  year  they  put  a  new  T'Pau  line  up  together  to  do  a  Here  and  Now  tour  and  Carol  released  an  instantly  forgettable  dance  version  of  "Don't  Stop  Believin".

In  2013  Carol  and  Ronnie   put  together  a  new  version  of  T'Pau  and  went  on  a  28  date  tour  to  mark  the  25th  anniversary  of  the  band. They  followed  it  up  with  an  album  "Pleasure  and  Pain"  in  2015. Apart  from  "Sammy  and  Dave"  which  borrows  heavily  from  World  Party's  Is  It  Like  Today  , it's  very  bland  and  colourless.  Carol's  still  in  good  voice  but  the  songs  aren't  memorable  enough.

Carol  admitted  in  2013  that  she  didn't  know  the  whereabouts  of  the  rest  of  the  original  band  and  information  is  pretty  scarce. Bassist  Paul  Jackson  is  a  pick-up  musician  based  in  Telford  and  was  last  seen  working  with  soul  singer  Lisa  Carter. Keyboard  player  Michael  Chetwood  was  last   spotted  on  a  Deborah  Bonham  LP  in  2004.  Taj,  now  known  as  Mike,  came  up  with  some  music  for  a  Japanese  anime  TV  series  Bleach  in  1995   and  drummer  Tim  Burgess  seems  to  have  left  the  music  business  altogether.

Only  Dean  is  still  an  active  recording  musician. In  2004  he  put  out  an  obscure  solo  album  "Number  One"  out  online. Ian  Gillan  was  among  the  guest  vocalists  and  Dean  toured  with  him  in   the  US  in  2006. Five  years  later  he  was  part  of  an  Airrace  reunion  with  the  album  "Back  To  The  Start "  which  is  as  good  a  re-creation  of  late  seventies  AOR  ( Foreigner, REO  Speedwagon  etc )  as  you''re  ever  likely  to  find. In  2015  he  joined  the  band  Cats  in  Space  who've  put  out  two  albums  of    tuneful  AOR   , "Too  Many  Gods " ( 2015 ) and  "Scarecrow " ( 2017  )  and  played  a  number  of  prestigious  support  and  festival  slots.

712 Hello Moby - Go

Chart  entered :  27  July  1991

Chart  peak : 10

Number  of  hits : 22

Richard  Melville  Hall  got  his  nickname  from  a  supposed  descent  from  the  author  Herman  Melville. He  was  born  in  New  York  in  1965  and  first  emerged  on  the  music  scene  as   guitarist  in  a  hardcore  punk  band  the  Vatican  Commandos  in  1983 when  they  released  a  six  track  EP  "Hit  Squad  For  God"  a  bracing  blast  of  noise  for  nine  minutes after  which  Richard  was  sacked. In  1989  he  re-emerged  as  a  live  guitarist  for  the  indie  act  Ultra  Vivid  Scene , a  nom  de  plume  for  Kurt  Raiske  who  did  all  the  playing  on  the  recordings. After  that  Richard  put  the  guitar  down  and  started  turning  his  attention  to  electronic  techno  music. He  signed  with  a  small  independent  label  called  Instinct.

In  1990  he  released  a   self-titled  single  as  "Voodoo  Child",  a  repetitive  instrumental  for  the  clubs  with  a  sampled  chant. Though  clearly  influenced  by  A  Guy  Called  Gerald's  Voodoo  Ray , it  avoids  using  any  acid  house  squelches. The  following  year  he  released  "Drug  Fits  The  Face"  a  more  overtly  house  record  as  "Barracuda"  which  has  some  decent  keyboard  work  alongside  the  relentless  repetition  of  the  title. Also  in  1991  he  released  "Rock  The  House"  as  Brainstorm  which  sounds  pretty  similar  to  Jack  Your  Body  to  me.

Richard's  first  release  as  Moby  was  a  12  inch  single  called  "Mobility", a  deep house  cut  with  a  moody  vibe ,  in  November  1990 . There  are  some  listenable  moments  but  over  six  minutes  it's  a  bore.

The  third  track  on  the  12  inch  was  a  propulsive  squiggly  electronic  track  called  "Go". Shortly  afterwards  Richard  was  watching  cult  soap  Twin  Peaks  and  was  inspired  to  re-mix  the  track  incorporating  part  of  Angelo  Badalamenti's   score  entitled  Laura  Palmer's  Theme  as  a  sample. The  Adamski-style  rave  track  already  had  a  sampled  shout  from  rap  group  Tones  on  Tail's  Go  and  Richard  also  now  added  a   sung "yeah"  from  Jocelyn  Brown's  Love's  Gonna  Get  You . He   also  flung  in   a  rather  odd  piano  solo.  The  additions   made  the  track  more  interesting  and,  given  that  the  TV  series  was   outstaying  its  welcome  by  this  point, it   was  probably  a  success  on  its  own  merits. It   took  him  a  while  to  return  to  the  Top  10. 
  

711 Goodbye Transvision Vamp - If Looks Could Kill

Chart  entered :  22  June  1991

Chart  peak : 41

Transvision  Vamp   had  enjoyed  their  best  year  in  1989  with  a  number  one  album  "Velveteen"  and  a  number  3  single  "Baby  I  Don't  Care", one  of  four  Top  30  hits  from  the  LP. They  then  spent  a  bit  too  long  on  the  follow  up. The  lead  single  "( I  Just  Wanna  )  B  With  U"  peaked  at  30, lower  than  any  of  the  "Velveteen"  singles,  in  April  1991  and  MCA  began  to  have  doubts  about  their  prospects. They  delayed  the  release  of  the  new  album  "Little  Magnets  Versus   The  Bubble  of  Babble".

"If  Looks  Could  Kill"  was  therefore  something  of  a  deal  breaker.  It  was  never   going  to  rescue  them. Written  by  guitarist  Nick  Sayer  , it's  just  an  empty, blustering  rocker,  bereft  of  a  tune,  a  sharp  lyric ,a  decent  riff  or  any  of  the  sense  of  fun  that  made  their  earlier  hits  reasonably  attractive. Wendy  James's  vocal  inadequacies  stand  out  more; she  has  to  drawl  her  way  through  the  second  verse. It's  an  ugly  record  and  got  higher  than  it  deserved.

The  band  made  MCA's  decision  on  the  album  for  them  by  deciding  to  split  up  which  was  announced  at  the  beginning  of  1992. Wendy  wrote  to  Elvis  Costello  for  some  career  advice  and  received  in  response  an  album's  worth  of  songs, some  co-written  with  his  wife  Cait  O'  Riordan. Not  one  to  look  a  gift  horse  in  the  mouth, Wendy  recorded  them  as  the  album  "Now  Ain't  The  Time  For  Your  Tears"  released ( still  on  MCA ) in  1993. Pete  Thomas  was  the  drummer  on  the  sessions.

I  haven't  heard  the  entire  album   but  from  6  out  of  the  ten  tracks  I'd  concur  with  the  view  that  it  was  better  than  expected. Producer  Chris  Kimsey  does  his  best  with  Wendy's  voice; this  was  as  good  as  she's  ever  going  to  sound, aiming  for  a  Marianne  Faithful  vibe  on  "Basement  Kiss" and  third  ( non-hit )  single  "Do  You  Know  What  I'm  Saying ". The  album's  chances  were  not  helped  by  someone's  bizarre  decision   to  put  out  the  cacophonous  alt -rock of  "The  Nameless  One"  as  the  first  single. Wendy  sounds  like  she's  more  interested  on  getting  on  the  bill  at  Lollapalooza  than  having  another  hit. It  stalled  at  34.  The  less  bracing  Clash  tribute  "London's  Brilliant "  reached 62, not  enough  to  rescue  the  album  which  had  a  single  week  in  the  chart  at  43.

Wendy  dropped  out  halfway  through  a  tour  to  promote  the  album. MCA  cut  her  loose  and  she  took  an  extended  sabbatical  from  the  music  business, no  doubt  looking  wryly  on  at  the  success  of  the  likes  of  Garbage  and  Sleeper.  She  had  her  own  studio  and  taught  herself  to  play various  instruments   in  order  to  come  back  as  a  genuine  solo  artist. There  was  an  attempt  to  work  with  Nick  again  in  the  mid-nineties  but  it  was  soon  aborted. In  the  early  noughties  she  moved  to  New  York and  became  a  fan  of  drag  car  racing.

She  eventually  re-emerged  in  2004  at  the  head  of  a  group  called  Racine  where  she  called  all  the  shots. She  wrote  all  the  songs, produced  it  and  released  it  on  her  own  label. Optimistically  entitled  "Number  One ", the  album  has  a  certain  lo-fi  charm  matching  kitchen-ish  vocals  to  grunge-lite  guitars  and  programmed  beats, sounding  a  bit  like  mid-eighties  shamblers  Talullah  Gosh  discovered  a  drum  machine. There  are  one  or  two  decent  tunes  in  there  like  "Princess  Patience  Blues"  and  the  reggae  number  "W13th "  though  the  latter  also  proves  that  Wendy  still  suffers  from  the  delusion  that  name  dropping  serious  cultural  figures  conveys  some  gravitas  on  her.  The  muted  electronica  of  "Grease  Monkey"  was  released  as  a  single  with  an  odd  video  of  Wendy  wandering  distractedly  around  a   drag  race  meet. Wendy  came  to  the  UK  for  a  tour  and  received  a  moderate   amount  of  publicity  but  sales  were  minimal. Their  second  LP  "Racine  2"  sank  without  trace  in  2007  and  Wendy  put  the  band  to  bed  around  2009.

That  year  she  released  a  second  single  the  grunge-y  "You  Tell  Me"  heralding  a  return  to  guitar  rock.  An  album,  titled  with  characteristic  modesty, "I  Came  Here  To  Blow  Minds", followed  in  2010. The  opening  track  "The  Moon  Dead  In  The  River"  is  agreeable  enough  perhaps  because  the  guitar  work  has  distinct  echoes  of  Losing  My  Religion   but  thereafter  it  just  offers  further  proof  that  Wendy  isn't  the  talent  she  thinks  she  is. The  singing  remains  inadequate, the  spiky  lyrics  are  often  clumsy  and  pretentious  - the  title  track  offers  the  customary  meaningless  bran  tub  namechecking   and  "One  Evening  in  a  Small  Cafe"  drops  in  a  line  from  The  Wasteland   for  no  discernible  reason - and  none  of  the  tunes  are  memorable.

But, six  years  later  she  was  back  again  with  "The  Price  of  the  Ticket "  with  her  breasts  out  on  the  cover  ( not  in  bad  shape  for  50  actually )  and  she  appeared  just  up  the  road  from  me  at  Darwen  Live  in  the  summer.  It  was  funded  by  Pledgemusic  and   recorded  with  punk  legends  Glen  Matlock  and  Lenny  Kaye  ( and  ex-Stooge  James  Williamson  on  two  tacked-on  covers )  but  having  famous  names  on  board  isn't  much  help  when  your  songs  are  crap  and  this  is  barrel-scraping  stuff  with  Wendy  drawling  rather  than  singing  much  of  the  time. Maybe  her  new  trout  pout  got  in  the  way.

Nick  became  a  single  parent  and  has  had  no  further  involvement  in  the  music  industry.

Bassist  Dave  Parsons  really  fell  on  his  feet,  joining  the  band  Bush  who  proceeded  to  sell  a  shedload  of  albums  in  the  States  with  their  take  on  grunge. Their  debut  album  "Sixteen  Stone"  wasn't  released  until  six  months  after  Kurt  Cobain's  death  so  we'll  never  know  what  he'd  have  made  of  these  British  copyists. They  got  a  predictably  rough  response  from  the  UK  music  press  but  I  don't  think  they  were  that  bad, a  bit  same-y  but  I'd  sooner  listen  to  them  than  Pearl  Jam. Their  commercial  peak  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  came  with  their  second  album  "Razorblade  Suitcase"  a  US  number  one  and  number  4  here  in  1996. Its  lead  single  "Swallowed "  was  their  only  Top  20  hit  here  reaching  number  7. Their  appeal  waned   with  the  twentieth  century  and  they  disbanded  in  2002  after  relatively  poor  sales  for  2001's  "Golden  State  " LP. In  2010  the  band  re-formed;  Dave was   invited   to  re-join  but  ultimately  decided  the  commitment  was  too  much  and  declined.

Keyboard  player  and  drummer    Anthony  "Tex  Axile"  Doughty  joined  Max  who  we   covered  in  the  Goodbye  post  for  Adam  and  the  Ants. After  they  broke  up  in  1994,  he  moved  to  New  York  where  he  co-owned  a  bar. He  put  out  two  very  obscure  solo  albums  "Diary  of  a  Genius"  ( 1998 )  and  "Little Monsters  ( 2000 ) . In  2001 he  moved  to  the  Pyrenees   and  worked  on  a  documentary  about  female  ski  racers.

Original  drummer  Pol  Burton   was  subsequently  in  the    bands   Angora  and  Tom  Patrol, fronted  by  ex  - Heart  Throbs  singer  Rose  Carlotti  but  they  never  amounted  to  much.

710 Goodbye Mantronix - Step To Me ( Do Me )

Chart  entered :  22  June  1991

Chart  peak : 59

Mantronix  had  moved  away  from  being  strictly  a  hip  hop  outfit   after  rapper  MC  Tee  left  the  group  to  join  the  US  Air  Force  in  1989. Although  he  was  replaced  as  an  MC  by  Bryce "Luvah  " Wilson,  main  man  Kurt  Mantronik  had  become  more  interested  in  contemporary  R & B  and  electro-funk  after  working  with  Joyce  Sims. With  his  mysterious  cousin, D.J.D.  joining  the  group  at  the  same  time  as  Bryce, their  1990  album  "This  Should  Move  Ya"  produced  two  Top  10  hits  in  "Got  To  Have  Your  Love"  and  "Take  Your  Time" both  featuring  R &  B  singer  Wondress  and  no  rapping  at  all.  In  1991  vocalist  Jade  Trini  replaced   D.J.D.  in  the  group  and  the  next  album , "The  Incredible  Sound  Machine"  largely  co-written  with   Angie  Stone  moved  even  further  away  from  hip  hop.

"Step  To  Me  ( Do  Me )"  was  the  second  single  from  the  album. The  song  is  a  sexual  come-on  which  didn't  really  need  all  the  phallic  symbols  packed  into  the  video  to  make  its  point. Jade  proves  herself  an  able  vocalist  and  it  works  up  a  steamy  vibe  similar  to  En  Vogue  with  Soul  II  Soul  drums  and  house  piano . However  it  does  suffer  from  Kurtis's  over-production   with  the  chorus  in  particular  being  smothered  by  multiple  synth  lines  and  vocal  overdubs.

"Flower  Child"   the  follow  up  suffers  from  the  same  problem  while  featuring  a  sample  that  I  recognise  but  can't  place.  It  was  a  minor  hit  in  Holland  but  nowhere  else.

Kurtis  was  very  disappointed  with  the  reception  the  album  received  and  dissolved  the  group  at  this  point. He  took  an  extended  break  from  the  music  industry, first  re-surfacing  in  1996  with  the  rather  dated  house  track "It's  Time  To  Party"  which  he  wrote  for  Althea  McQueen. It  was  released  as  "Mantronix  featuring  Althea  McQueen"  but  none  of  the  other  ex-members  were  involved.

Kurtis  then  moved  to  London  and  resumed  his  career  as  a  producer  working  with  Kylie  Minogue, Liberty X, Fatboy  Slim  and  The  Chemical  Brothers  amongst  others.  In  August  1998  he  released  the  sample  heavy  rap  track  "Strictly  Business  "  as  Mantronik  vs  EPMD   which  reached  number  43.  The  following  month, he  released  his  first  solo  album  "I  Sing  The  Body  Electro".  The  predominantly  instrumental  album  sounds  more  like  an  advertisement  for  his  production  skills  than  a  cohesive  LP  with  one   rap track, "Mad"  featuring  foulmouthed  female  rapper  Traylude,  a  Kraftwerk  tribute  "Original  Electro"  a  Prodigy-esque  brekbeat  number  "Baby, You  Blow  My  Mind"  and  a   fair  few   electrofunk  numbers  like  the  opener  "King  of  the  Beats". It  didn't  see  any  chart  action.

Kurtis  also  turned  his  hand  to  writing  music  for  video  games  such  as  Trick  Style   ( released  on  an  EP  in  2000 ).

He  re-surfaced  in  2002  with  the  party  tune  "77  Strings"  as  "Kurtis  Mantronik  Presents  Chamonix" . It  reached  number  71  after  being  plugged  by  Fatboy  Slim. The  following  year  he  had  a  much  bigger  hit  in  the  same  guise  with  "How  Did  You  Know"  which  is  basically  the  same  tune  with  a  female  vocal  from  Miriam  Grey  superimposed  on  it. It  reached  number  16, but  was  his  last  hit  as  an  artist.

Kurtis's  career  as  a  producer  continued  unabated  through  the  noughties  with  clients  including  Atomic  Kitten, NSync, Goldfrapp  and  La  Roux . Then  in  2015  he  relessed  a  second  solo  album  "Journey  To  Utopia" from  which  I  haven't  heard  anything.

I 'm  not  sure  how  long  MC  Tee's  stint  in  the  Air  Force  lasted  but  he's  never  returned  to  the  music  business. In  2003  he  was convicted  of  aggravated  child  molestation  in  Georgia  and  served  six  years  of  a  fifteen  year  sentence. He  is  on  the  sex  offenders  register  in  the  state.

Bryce  signed  with  Rondor  Music  as  a  producer  and  was  paired  up  with  R  &  B  singer  Amel  Larrieux. They  formed  the  duo  Groove  Theory. In  1995  they  scored  a  huge  hit  in  the  US  with  the  slow-burning  R &  B  of  "Tell  Me"  which  reached  number  5  there. Their  eponymous  album  reached  number  69  in  the  US   and  spawned  two  more  US  hits  in  "Keep  Tryin"  and  "Baby  Luv"  which  reached  64  and  65  respectively.  Both  tread  similar  ground  to  "Tell  Me"  but  sound  a  bit  pedestrian. In  Britpop  Britain  they  made  much  less  impact; "Tell  Me"  reached  number  31  but  that  was  it.

In  1996  Bryce  co-wrote  Toni  Braxton's  US  number  one  "You're  Making  Me  High"   with  Babyface.

The  band  was  effectively  stymied  by  Larrieux  quitting  to  start  a  solo  career  in  1999.  Bryce  recruited  a  new  singer   Makeda  Davis  and  continued  work  on  a  new  album. However  after  the  failure  of  the  single  "Shure"  , he  fell  out  with  the  record  label  and  the  album  went  unreleased.  

Bryce  then  concentrated  mainly  on  his  acting  career  on  US  TV  but  he  also  produced  an  album  for  Brandy  in  2008. In  2010,  he  and  Larrieux  were  reported  to  be  working  together  again  but  nothing  has  been  forthcoming.

D  J  Dee  does  not  appear  to  have  re-entered  the  music  business.

Jade   went  on  tour  with  Monie  Love in  1991  as  a  backing  singer  but  a  year  later  became  a  Born  Again  Christian  and  went  to  work  at  the  Christ  Alive  Christian  Center  in  New  York. She's  released  at  least  one  gospel  album  independently.

 

709 Hello P.M. Dawn - A Watcher's Point of View

Chart  entered : 8  June  1991

Chart  peak : 36

Number  of  hits : 10

More  hip  hop  now,  from  the  softer  end  of  the  genre.

P.M. Dawn  were  two  brothers  from  New  Jersey, Attrell and  Jarrett  Cordes. Their  father  died  when  they  were  young  and  their  mother  married  George  Brown  of  Kool  and  the  Gang. the  two  started  DJing  at  parties  while  at  school. In  1988  they  named  their  partnership  P.M. Dawn , adopted  the  aliases  Prince  Be  ( Attrell )  and  D J  Minutemix  ( Jarrett )  and  made  a  demo  tape  financed  by  Attrell's  job  as  a  bouncer  at  a  homeless  shelter.  Tommy  Boy  rejected  them  for  sounding  too  much  like  De  La  Soul  so  it  was  an  independent  label  that  released  their  first  single in  1989.

"Ode  To  A  Forgetful  Mind"  sees  Attrell  gently  chiding  his  rivals  for  their  ignorance  in  unhurried  style  over  a  catchy  bass  line. It  didn't  get  them  much  attention  in  their  homeland  but  it  was  licensed  to  a  UK  label  Gee  Street  who  did  like  the  track.  They  invited  PM  Dawn  to  London  to  record  tracks  for  an  album  in  1990. Due  to  financial  difficulties  which  saw  the  label  having  to  be  bailed  out  by  Island, this  second  single  was  delayed  until  the  summer  of  1991.

"A  Watcher's  Point  of  View"  outdoes  De  La  Soul  in  its  hazy  positivity  with  few  of  the  lines  making  much  sense though  you  get  the  general  gist  that  Prince  Be  is  privy  to  some  great  cosmic  secret  unknown  to  us  lesser  mortals. Perhaps  he  was  influenced  by  David  Icke  who broke  cover  around   this  time. Nevertheless  it  is  quite  palatable  with  a  recognisable  chorus  and  a  funky  vibe  helped  along  by  a  sample  from  The  Doobie  Brothers'  Feelin  Down  Farther. It  was  their  first  hit  anywhere  in  the  world.

708 Hello Manic Street Preachers - You Love Us

Chart  entered :  25  May  1991

Chart  peak : 62  ( 16  in  re-recorded  form  in  1992, 49  on  re-release  in  1997 )

Number  of  hits  : 37

This  was  the  next  release  on  Heavenly  after  Nothing  Can  Stop  Us, the  contrast   between  the  bands  emphasising  what  a  fractured , confusing  period  the  early  nineties  was.

Manic  Street  Preachers   were  formed  at  Oakdale  Comprehensive  School  in  Blackwood, South  Wales   in  1986  as  a  straight  punk  band. James  Dean  Bradfield  ( vocals/ guitar )  was  a  teenage  guitar  prodigy  who  sometimes  went  out  busking, Sean  Moore  ( drums )  was  classically  trained  and   Nicky  Wire  ( guitar ) was  a  copious  lyricist. Miles"Flicker" Woodward  made  up  the  original  quartet   on  bass  but  quit  in  early  1988,  feeling  they  were  moving  too  far  away  from  punk. That's  hard  to  credit  when  you  hear  "Suicide  Alley", the  self-financed  single  they  released  as  a  trio   ( Nicky  had  switched  to  bass ) on  SBS  a  few  months  later. Though  the  sound  is  surprisingly  clean, it  is  still  a  punk  thrash  with  snarly  vocals  and  lyrics  of  youthful  disaffection  and  sounds  pretty  similar  to  The  Clash's  Tommy  Gun  although  some  of  James's  guitar  work  also  has  echoes  of  The  Rods' Do  Anything  You  Wanna  Do.  Only  300  copies  were  pressed  at  the  time  so  few  heard  it  but  Stephen  Wells  of  the  NME  made  it his   single  of  the  week  after  a  re-pressing the  following  year.

The  sleeve  for  the  single  was  designed  by  another school  friend  Richey  Edwards  who  was  in  his  last  year  at  university  in  Swansea, studying  political  history.  He  often  drove  the  band  to  gigs  and  acted  as  their  roadie. After  graduating  he  joined  the  band  as  principal  lyricist  and  rhythm  guitarist  although,  like  Sid  Vicious,   he  couldn't   actually  play.

Richey  was  fond  of  slogans  both  on  shirts  (  as  per  The  Clash  )  and  in  his  lyrics  e.g  "And  consumer  self  hate  leads  to  designer  bullshit"  throwing  up  challenges  for   the  band's  musicians  Sean  and  James  to  fit  them  into  disciplined  songs, particularly   the  latter  who  had  to  sing  them. Their  first  record  with  Richey  was  a  four  track  EP  "New  Art  Riot"  on  Damaged  Goods  in  1990  which  again  is  pretty  much  in  thrall  to  The  Clash  although  the  final  track  "Teenage  20/20"  borrows  heavily  from  Sham  69's  If  The  Kids  Are  United .

The  deal  with  Damaged  Goods  was  just  for the  one  EP  and  the  band  then  signed  with  Heavenly. They  released  their  first  mass  produced  single  "Motown  Junk"  in  January  1991. It's  not  a  direct  attack  on  the  label  more  of  a  rejection  of  eighties  values  such  as  holding  Motown  up  as  a  touchstone  of  quality. The  line  "I  laughed  when  Lennon  got  shot"  was  included  for  shock  value. The  music  remains  rooted  in  1977  sounding  a  bit  more  like  The  Sex  Pistols  than  The  Clash.

"You  Love  Us"  was  the  follow  up  single.  Despite  starting  with  a  sample  from  the  modern  classical  piece,  Threnody  to  the  Victims  of  Hiroshima  by  Polish  composer  Penderecki  , it's  one  of  their  simpler  songs, a  statement  of  their  dedication  to  provocation. It's  also  their  first  to  have  any  sort  of  hook  in  the  chorus. It's  still  in  a  punk  vein,  with  a  coda  based  on  Iggy  Pop's  Lust  For  Life, although  James's  guitar  solo  betrays  a  desire  to  appeal  to  the  metal-loving  hordes  in  provincial  Britain. The  video  takes  the  provocation  a  stage  further  with  both  Richey  and  Nicky  flirting  with  make-up. The  band  re-recorded  it  for  their  debut  album  on  Columbia  , dropping  the  Lust  For  Life  segment  and  it  became  their  biggest  hit  to  date  for  a  second  time. The  song  charted  again  in  the  wake   of  their  fourth  album's  crossover  success.
      

707 Hello Saint Etienne - Nothing Can Stop Us

Chart  entered : 18 May  1991

Chart  peak : 53

Number  of  hits  : 23

I've  always  been  a  bit  baffled  by  this  lot. One  of  my  best  mates  is  really  into  them  and  they  just  seem  at  odds  with  everything  else  he  likes,  making  me  think  there  must  be   some  depth  to  them  that  I'm  not  seeing. Perhaps  it's  just  that  they  were  getting  favourable  coverage  in  the  NME  when  he  first  started  buying  it.

Saint  Etienne  were  formed in  1988   by  Bob  Stanley  and  Pete  Wiggs   who  were  childhood  friends  in  Croydon. Bob  is  precisely  two  days  younger  than  me  which  is  no  doubt  why  I  can  usually  identify  their  pop  cultural  references  easily. Bob  started  out  working  in  record  shops  and  began  creating  fanzines  in  the  mid  eighties  including  one  with  Pete  called  Caff.  This  led  to  work  for  the  NME  from  1987  to  1989  when  he  switched  to  Melody  Maker.  That  same  year  he  started  the  Caff  record  label. Saint  Etienne  were  named  after  the  French  football  team  best  known  for  a  tempestuous  European  Cup  Winners  Cup   tie  with  Manchester  United  in  1977.  The  duo's  basic  idea  was  to  combine  contemporary  club  music  with  sixties  pop  tropes  using  a  variety  of  mainly  female  vocalists  as  neither  fancied  singing.

Their  recording  career  started  in  1990  with  an  unlikely  cover  of  Neil  Young's  first  solo  hit  in  the  US , "Only  Love  Can  Break  Your  Heart" , which  he  reportedly  wrote  about  Graham  Nash's  break-up  with  Joni  Mitchell. The  formerly  acoustic  ballad  was  set  to  a  dub  bassline,  funky  drumming  and  house  keyboard  riff  not  too  dissimilar  to  Beats  International. The  chosen  vocalist  was  Moira  Lambert  from  obscure  shoegazing  band  Faith  Over  Reason  whose  wan, inexpert  singing  emphasises  the  D.I,Y  nature  of  the  recording. The  track  features  a  sped  up  sample  of  drums  from  Led  Zeppelin's  When  The  Levee  Breaks. Radio  One's  Nicky  Campbell  smashed  the  record  on  air  in  outrage  at  their  treatment  which  is  as  good  a  recommendation  as  you  could  hope  for  and  the  record  did  become  a  club  hit. Having  said  that,  it  washes  in  one  ear  and  out  the  other  for  me. It  became  their  second  hit  on  re-release  in  1991  reaching  number  39. It  was  one  of  the  first  releases  on  the  Heavenly  record  label.

The  second  single  was  "Kiss  and  Make  Up"  a  song  originally  recorded  by  an  obscure  indie  group  The  Field  Mice  whose  Michael  Hiscock  was  a  drinking  pal. It  was  originally  recorded  with  Lambert  but  they  later  decided  to  replace  her  vocal  with  one  from  Donna  Savage  of  equally  obscure  New  Zealand  ex-pats  Dead  Famous  People. It's  stunningly vacuous, a  nebulous  song  with  back-of-a-fag  packet  lyrics  with  possibly  the  most  boring  one  finger piano  riff  ever.   Nevertheless  it  got  them  that  bit  closer  to  the  chart. The  B-side  "Sky's  Dead"  was  their  first  self-written  effort.

For  this,  their  third  single, they  alighted  on  Sarah  Cracknell  , suggested  by  Bob's  girlfriend  Celina. She's  routinely  described  as  an  actress  but  in  truth  she'd  just  finished  a  year  at  drama  school  and  had  only  a  walk-on-part  in  Maureen  Lipman  vehicle  About  Face  to  her  credit. She'd  also  sung  on  a  couple  of  obscure  dance  tracks. They  invited  her  to  join  the  band  almost  straight  away. "Nothing  Can  Stop  Us"  is  an  original  song  by  Bob  and  Pete  but  is  based  on  a looped  sample  of  a  flute  and  trumpet   motif  from  a Dusty  Springfield  song  I  Can't  Wait  To  See  My  Baby's  Face. It  also  incorporates  a  snatch  of  dialogue  from  Allan  Surtees  in  the  1969  film  The  Reckoning,  a  drama  about  social  mobility  starring  Nicol  Williamson. Sarah  does  two  over-lapping  vocals, a  sugary  croon  and  a  spoken  word  recital  of  complimentary  lyrics.  The  pop  element  is  slightly  stronger  than  the  club  on  this  one  which   makes  it  a  bit  more  interesting  to  me  and  probably  accounts  for  it  making  the  chart  but  I  still  can't  get  too  excited  about  it.

706 Hello Paul Weller ( solo ) - Into Tomorrow

(* as  The  Paul  Weller  Movement )

Chart  entered : 18  May  1991

Chart  peak : 36

Number  of  hits : 37

British  pop's  greatest  survivor  began  the  third  and  probably  final  phase  of  his  career  with  this  one.

We  know  where  he  came  from. The   failure  of  his  post-Style  Council  project,  Slam  Slam,  was  probably  the  best  thing  that  ever  happened  to  him  , making  it  clear  that  house  music  wasn't  going  to  be   his  musical  salvation. In  early  1991  he  took  to  the  road  with  a  new  band  including  drummer  Steve  White  and    James  Taylor  Quartet  bassist  Paul  Francis  as  The  Paul  Weller  Movement  playing  Jam  and  Style  Council  songs  as  well  as  new  material.

"Into  Tomorrow"  was  released  on  the  independent  label  Freedom  High  as  Paul  had  no  record  deal  at  the  time. Although  there's  a  strong  seventies  funk  influence   in  the  music , it  still  marked  an  unashamed  move  back  into  rock   as  is  clear  from  the  first  few  notes  of  Paul's  muscular   guitar  riff . Paul  gruffly  sings  of  his  own  personal  restlessness  with  his  usual  commitment  while  the  rhythm  section  try  and  inject  some  spring  into  it  but  it's  all  very   workmanlike  and  completely  forgettable  melodically. I've  never  heard  it  on  the  radio  since.
Still,  a   Top  40  hit  without  major  label  backing  indicated  that  he  still  had  an  audience  and  put  him  back  in  the  game.    

705 Goodbye Electric Light Orchestra* - Honest Men

(* Electric  Light  Orchestra  Part  2 )

Chart  entered  :  11  May  1991

Chart  peak  : 60

This  is  somewhat  ironically  titled  as  the  single  features  only  one  person  who'd  featured  on  any  of  their  other  hits.

It's  hard  to  work  out  who  exactly  counted  as a  member  of   the  band  in  the  early  days. At  the  time  they  recorded  the  first  hit  "10538  Overture"  they  were  a  quintet  of   Jeff  Lynne  ( vocals/ multiple  instruments ) , Roy  Wood  ( vocals / multiple  instruments ),  Bev  Bevan  ( drums ), Bill  Hunt  ( horns )  and  Steve  Woolam  ( violin ).  By  the  time  of  the  second  hit  "Roll  Over  Beethoven "  in  1973,  Steve  , Roy  and  Bill  had  departed  ( the  latter  two  into  Wizzard )  and  in  had  come  latter-day  Move  man  Richard  Tandy ( keyboards ), Mike  de  Alberqueque  ( bass), Mike  Edwards  ( cello ),  Colin  Walker  ( cello )  and  Wilfred  Gibson ( violin ) . Just  after  that , Wilf  quit  after  a  dispute  over  money  and  was  replaced  by  Mik  Kaminski    and  during  the  sessions  for  the  third  album  Colin  left  due  to  family  pressures. He  was  shortly  replaced  by  Hugh  McDowell, a  refugee  from  Wizzard. During  the  sessions  for  the  next  album  Mike  A  departed  for  much  the  same  reason  and  was  replaced  for  the  subsequent  tour  by  Kelly  Groucutt. Mike  E  completed  the  album  then  handed  over  to  Melvyn  Gale. This  established  the  line  up  for  the  band's  golden  era  of  success  with  a  run  of  platinum  albums  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  in  the  late  seventies. The  latter  two  barely  featured  the  string  players  and  in  1979  Jeff  decided  they  were  surplus  to  requirements  and  dispensed  with  their  services  although  Mik  returned  as  a  hired  hand  for  two  tours  in  the  eighties. In  1980,  they  scored  their  only  number  one  hit  in  tandem  with  Olivia  Newton-John  on  "Xanadu"  although  you  could  count  the  number  of  ELO  fans  who  think  it's  their  best  song  on  one  hand.   In  1983  Kelly  was  sacked  on  completion  of  the  "Secret  Messages "  album. After  its  performance  in  the  charts  indicated  that  their  popularity  was  waning,  Jeff  lost  interest  in  continuing  the  band  but  was  contractually  obliged  to  make  a  final  ELO  album  "Balance  of  Power"  in  1986  which  reinforced  their  commercial  decline.

Bev  approached  Jeff  about  making  another   LP  in  1988. With  The  Travelling  Wilburys, about  to  launch , Jeff  declined  but  agreed  to  let  Bev  put  together  a  new  line  up  as  Electric  Light  Orchestra  Part  Two.  Reportedly  Bev  invited  Roy  back  but   his  invitation  was  declined. Instead  Bev  recruited  Eric  Troyer , an  American  keyboardist  and  vocalist  with  a  long  list  of  session  credits, Peter  Haycock , former  guitarist  and  vocalist  with  the  Climax  Blues  Band  and  Neil  Lockwood  , also  a  guitarist  and  vocalist. Louis  Clark  was  also  on  board  as  co-arranger  without  joining  the  band.

Their   debut  album  "Electric  Light  Orchestra  Part  Two"  was  first  released  in  1990. The  band  seem  to  have  taken  a  two-pronged  approach  with  half  the  tracks  aiming  to  replicate  the  sound  of  their  late-seventies  hey-day  as  closely  as  possible  and  the  other  half   locked into  an  AOR  present  at  least  as  envisaged  by  the  likes  of  Mike  and  the  Mechanics. The  former  are  the  more  appealing.

"Honest  Men"  was  released  as  a  trailer  single  for  the  album's  UK  release. By  that  time  Kelly, Mik  and  Hugh , who  had  been  trading  as  OrKestra , had  been  recruited  to  give  the  band  more  authenticity  and  appeared  in  the  video. "Honest  Men "  is  a  plea  for  someone  to  save  the  world  composed  by  Eric  and  packed   with  as  many  string  flourishes, high  harmonies  and  earworm  hooks  to  please  anybody  who  enjoyed  "Out  of  the  Blue"  and  "A  New  World  Record". You'd  think  Jeff  must  have  been  flattered. A  single  week  at  number  60  indicated  how  much  interest  there  was  in  this  incarnation  of  the  band. The  album  hung  about  for  four  weeks  but  never  got  past  its  entry  position  of  34.  The  follow  up  single  "Thousand  Eyes", also  written  by  Eric  was  even  catchier  but  didn't  chart.

The  band  toured  in  1992  after  which  Hugh, Peter  and  Neil  left  the  band. They  toured  again  in  1993  then  released  a  second  LP  "Moment  of  Truth"  which  repeated  the  same  formula   as  the  first  but  with  even  less  success.  The  band  continued  to  tour  in  the  later  nineties. In  2000  Bev  decided  to  quit  and  sell  his  rights to  the  name  to  Jeff  forcing  the  remaining  members  to  change  the  name  to  The  Orchestra.

The  Orchestra  released  an  LP  in  2001  called  "No  Rewind"  although  it's  even  more  retro  than  the  LPs  released  with  Bev, every  track  looking  to  resurrect  the  ELO  sound  or  more  directly  the  Beatles. It's  all  at  least  listenable  but  was  only  released  as  a  limited  edition. It's  the  last  new  material  they  put  out  and  the  band  has  seemed  to  content  to  play  the  hits  since  then. In  2009,  Kelly  suffered  a  heart  attack  just  after  returning  from  a  show  in  Berlin  and  died  the  following  day,  leaving  just  Mik  from  the  classic  line  up  and  Eric  from  ELO  Part  2 in  the  band.

Bev  took  it  easy  until  2004  when  he  formed  Bev  Bevan's  Move  which  included  Neil  and, from  2007  to   2014  original  Move  man  Trevor  Burton. In  the  latter  year  the  band  was  wound  up. He  also  had  The  Bev  Bevan  Band  as  a  backstop. He  played  on  Paul  Weller's  Wake  Up  The  Nation  album  in  2010. He  now  has  a  radio  show  in  the  West  Midlands  and  a  reviewing  spot  in  the  Sunday  Mercury. 

Neil  now  gigs  with  his  own  band.

Pete  went  into  soundtrack  work  with  Hans  Zimmer. He  toured  as  Pete  Haycock's  True  Blues  in  2008  then  five  years  later  went  out  as  Pete  Haycock's  Climax  Blues  Band. They  had  just  completed  an  album  "Broke  Heart  Blues"  when  he  died  of  a  heart  attack  aged  62  in  October  2013.

Hugh  has  had  a  finger  in  many  pies, including  designing  music  software, lecturing  and  playing  as a  session  cellist  for  many  artists  including  Saint  Etienne, Simon  Apple   and  John  Wetton.

Always  a diffident  performer,  Jeff  went  behind  the  mixing  desk  and  established  himself  as  a  top  producer  by  masterminding  George  Harrison's  return  to  the  big  time  with  the  album  "Cloud  Nine"  in  1987  although  some  Beatles  fans  were  aghast  that  George  had  turned  to  the  number  one  wannabe  Beatle  for  help. It  was  while  recording  a  B-side  for  one  of  the  singles  that  first  Roy  Orbison, then  Bob  Dylan  and  finally  Tom  Petty  offered  to  help  out  and  from  that  the  supergroup  Travelling  Wilburys  was  formed  though  only as  a  one-off  studio  project. Jeff  wrote  two  of  the  ten  songs  on  their   first   album, the  undistinguished  rockabilly  number  "Rattled " ( the  only  one  on  which  he  does  a  full  lead  vocal )  and  the  Roy  Orbison  showcase  "Not  Alone  Anymore ". The  album  was  released  in  October  1988  and  was  a  much  bigger  success  than  anyone  anticipated  particularly  in  the  US  where  it  went  triple  platinum. The  singles  "Handle  With  Care"  and  "End  of  the  Line"  were  UK  hits  ( 21  and  52  respectively ). This  success  was  tempered   by  the  death  of  Orbison  from  a  heart  attack  just  six  weeks  after  the  album's  release.  Jeff  also  produced  three  tracks  on  Orbison's  final  album Mystery  Girl   ,all  of  which  he  had  a  hand  in  writing  including  the  biggest  hit  You  Got  It .

He  then  moved  on  to working  with  Del  Shannon  and  co-wrote  his  comeback  song  "Walk  Away". This  led  to  much  speculation  that  Shannon  would  be  asked  to  replace  Orbison  on  the  planned  second  Wilburys  album  but  his  suicide  in  February  1990  put  paid  to  that. Jeff  would  later  finish  off  songs   they  had  been  working  on  for  Shannon's  final  posthumous  album , Rock  On.

Before  the  second  Wilburys  album,  Jeff  released  his  first  solo  album  "Armchair  Theatre "  which  featured  Richard  on  over  half  the  tracks. The  first  single  "Every  Little  Thing" , an  ordinary  amalgamation  of  ELO  tropes  incorporating  a  snatch  of  Going  To  A  Go  Go was  a  minor  hit  in  1990  reaching  number  59. The  follow  up  "Lift  Me  Up"  is  cut  from  the  same  cloth  and  didn't  chart.  The  album  does contain  one  or  two  tracks   that  are  better  than  those  two   including  "Now  You're  Gone" ,  a  rumination  on  the  death  of  his  mother  with  striking  classical  Indian  vocals ,  but  generally  it's  a  mellow  ramble  through  familiar  territory. With  Jeff  having  no  intention  of  touring  to  support  the  album , it  was  only  a  moderate  success  , reaching  24  in  the  UK  and   83  in  the  US.

The  remaining  Wilburys   reconvened  in  the  spring  of  1990, letting  out  a  cover  of  "Nobody's  Child"  for  release  on  a  charity  album  for  Romanian  orphans. It  became  their  third  and  final  hit  in  the  UK  reaching  number  44.  The  album,  jokingly  titled  "Travelling  Wilburys  Volume  3",  came  out  in  October  1990. Who  wrote  what  was  carefully  obscured  but  Jeff's  most  substantial  vocal  contribution was  a  shared  lead ( with  Petty ) on  one  track  "Poor  House ".  The  album  fared  less  well  than  its  predecessor,  not  making  the  Top  10  or  yielding  a  hit  single  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic. The  band  never  reconvened  although  a  box  set  of  both  albums  went  to  number  one  in  the  UK  when  released  in  2007.

In  1991  Jeff  had  a  big  hand  in  Petty's  album  Into  The  Great  Wide  Open  as  both  producer  and  writer  . In  1992 he  pulled  together  another  Orbison  album  King  of  Hearts . Two  years  later,  he  realised  the  ambition  of  a  lifetime  when  Harrison  brought  him  in  to  produce  the  "new"  Beatles  singles   from  unused  Lennon  demos  Free  As  A  Bird  and  Real  Love. McCartney  gracelessly  accepted  him  because  George  Martin  was  suffering  impaired  hearing   though  his  reluctance  was  probably  because  Jeff  was  so  thick  with  Harrison  rather  than  lack  of  respect  for  his  abilities. In  any  case  he  invited  Jeff  to  work  on  his  next  LP  Flaming  Pie  afterwards.

Perhaps  not  surprisingly  Jeff  took  things  a  bit  easier  after  that  though  he  made  either  writing  or  production  contributions  to  records  by  Ringo, Roger  McGuinn, Tom  Jones, Aerosmith, Joe  Cocker  and  Hank  Marvin. When  Bev  sold  his  rights  to  the  ELO  name, Jeff  responded  by  releasing  a  new  ELO  album  although  it's  more  of  a  solo  record  than  "Armchair  Theatre"  since  Richard's  only  on  one  track. In  fact  none  of  the  guest  musicians  appear  on  more  than  three  tracks. However,  it  is  a  more  conscious  attempt  to  recapture  the  old  ELO  sound. It's  a  solid  set  with  the  ballads  like  "It Really  Doesn't  Matter"  and  "A  Long  Time  Gone", pregnant  with  the  passage  of  time, carrying  more  conviction  than  the  rockers. The  opening  tracks  "Alright"  and  "Moment  in  Paradise", both  serviceable  facsimiles  of  classic  ELO, were  both  released  as  singles  in  Europe  and  were  Top  40  hits  in  Poland. The  album  got  to  number  34  in  the  UK  and  number  94  in  the  US, prompting  Jeff  to  cancel  the  planned  tour.

Six  months  later, George  Harrison  died  and  Jeff  concentrated  on  finishing  off  the  album  on  which  they'd  been  working. He  also  organised  the  Concert  for  George   at  the  Royal  Albert  Hall  in  November  2002.  He  then  had  a  pretty  quiet  decade  watching  as  ELO's  critical  stock   began  to  rise  as  the  Roy  Wood-Genius  lobby  shrivelled  away.  He  re-emerged  in  2012  with  two  albums  released  on  the  same  day, a   brief  covers  album  of  songs  from  his  childhood  called  "Long  Wave"   - a  strange  move  from  a  guy  whose  voice  has  never  been  very  distinctive  -  recorded  under  his  own  name  and  "Mr  Blue  Sky"  an  album  of  re-recorded hits  under  the  ELO  moniker. They  charted  at  7  and  8  respectively. He  and  Richard  played  a  set  of   ELO  songs  which  was  broadcast  on  TV  that  year  prompting  widespread  comment  on how  well-preserved  he  is. At  the  time , I  was  working  with  a  guy  who  was  a  minor  player  in  the  Brum  music  scene  and  had  a  slight  acquaintance  with  him  and  he  said  it  was  down  to  Jeff's  total  abstention  from  any  drugs. The  following  year  Jeff  and  Richard  played  a  couple  of  songs  at  a  Children  in  Need  concert  in  London.

In  September  2014,  he  played  his  first  full  concert  for  over  25  years  as  Jeff  Lynne's  ELO    at  Hyde  Park  in  London. Richard  was  part  of  the  line  up. "Jeff'  Lynne's  ELO"  released  a  new  album "Alone  in  the  Universe"  in  2015. It's  actually  the  most  solo  of  all  Jeff's  recordings   with  no  involvement  from  Richard  and  just  engineer  Steve  Jay  credited  with  some  percussion  and  Jeff's  daughter  Laura  doing  backing  vocals  on  a  couple  of  tracks. Although  it  got  generally  good  reviews  I'm  not  all  that  impressed  with  it; I  think  it's  a   bit  bland  compared  to  "Zoom"  and  the  fact  that  it  did  so  much  better  ( 4  in  the  UK , 23  in  the  US )  is  more  an  indication  of  how  far  Jeff's  rehabilitation  has  progressed  rather  than  the  relative  quality  of  the  albums. Jeff  did  a  proper  tour  in  2016   including  an  appearance  at  Glastonbury  and  has  played  further  shows  this  year.

In  1985 , Richard  had  released  a  concept  album  with  his  friend  Dave  Morgan,  "Earthrise",   which  was  similar  to  ELO's  1981  album  "Time",  but  since  ELO   split,  he's  been  largely  happy  to  wait  on  calls  from  Jeff  before  venturing  into  the  studio. He  briefly  worked  with  a  Russian  singer  Nadina  Stravonina  in  the  mid-nineties  but  nothing  was  ever  released. He  then  played  with  the  Trevor  Burton  Band  for  a  while. He  has  suffered  from  tinitus. He  now  lives  in  Wales.

Melvyn  formed  a  partnership  with  vocalist  Frank  Wilson  as  "Wilson, Gale  & Co" . They  released  a  single  "I  Wanna  Stay"  in  1979 a  dated  soft  rock  number  that  sunk  without  trace. It  featured  on  their  only  album  "Gift  Wrapped"  the  following  year  which  I  haven't  heard. Since  then  Melvyn  has  taught  piano  and  cello  in  Kent.

Mike  E  joined  the  controversial  Osho   religious  sect  and   changed  his  name  to  Swami  Deva  Pravada.  He  lived  in  a  number  of  communes  and  for  many  years  his  musical  output  was  connected  to  the  sect. He  later  moved  to  Devon  and  established  a  conventional  cello  and  viol  teaching  practice. He  was  instrumental  in  founding  the  Devon  Baroque  Orchestra. In  2010  he  was  killed  in  a  road  accident  when  his  van  collided  with  a  rogue  hay  bale.

Mike  A  released  a  solo  album  "Stalking  The  Sleeper"  in  a  soft  rock  vein akin  to  the  likes  of  John  Miles  or  Boz  Scaggs  but  it  didn't  sell,  not  helped  by  his  not  very  attractive  singing  voice. He then  joined   Mik's  spin-off  band  Violinski  which  operated  between  1979  and  1984  and  released  two  albums.

In  1981  he  joined  with  former   Springfield  Mike  Hurst  and  the  sixties'  most  elusive  star  Mary  Hopkin  in  the  supergroup  Sundance . They  released  one  single  "What's  Love"  an  uncomfortable  marriage  of  sixties  folk  and  synth  pop  which  reached  the  Top  10  in  South  Africa. They  did  a  few  gigs  supporting  Dr Hook  which  only  served  to  remind  Hopkin  how much  she  disliked  touring  and  the  group  foundered. Since  then  Mike  has  been  very  quiet; he  played  in  a  functions  group  The  Rubber  Band  in  the  nineties  and  recently  popped  up  on  an  album  by  Reichenbach  Falls  but  that's  all  I  can  find.

Like  fellow  cellists   Melvyn  and  Mike  E,  Colin  became  a  music  teacher.

Wilfred  became  a  session  violinist , appearing  on  albums  by  Hothouse  Flowers  and  The  Beloved  and  on  Oasis's  single  Whatever.  In  the  late  nineties  he  played  in  Alan  Gout's  Berkeley  Square  Society  Band  playing  the  music  of  the  rwenties  and  thirties. He  died  in  2014  after  a  short  illness.

We've  already  covered  Roy. Bill  left  Wizzard  during  the  sessions  for  the  group's  second  album  "Introducing  Eddy  and  the  Falcons"  but  some  of  his  piano  work  was  included.  He  remained  a  face  on  the  Midlands  music  scene   and  joined  the  short-lived  band  Blessings  in  Disguise  with  Slade  guitarist  Dave  Hill . He  was  on  their  cover  of  "Crying  In  The  Rain"  in  1989. He  appeared  on  Slade's  last  album  proper   ( we'll  be  talking  about  that  soon  enough )  and  then  a  couple  of  Slade  II's  album. He's  also  played  on  an  album  by  his  nephew, Wonder  Stuff  singer  Miles  Hunt.    

Steve  committed  suicide  not  long  after  leaving  the group  by  jumping  off   a  building. He  had  financial  problems  and  had  got  into  drugs.
            

704 Goodbye Damian O Neill* - Sensitize

(* as  part of  That  Petrol  Emotion )

Chart  entered : 27  April  1991

Chart  peak : 55

Damian  wasn't  long  in  following  his  ex-bandmate  Feargal  Sharkey  out  of  the  charts.

After  the  Undertones  split  in   1983,  Damian  stayed  in  London   without  much  money  to  support  himself . He  was  briefly  in  a  band  with  Undertones  bassist  Micky  Bradley  called  Eleven   who  did  a  Peel  session  and  a  few  gigs  but  not  much  else. He  was  rescued  by  brother  John ( now  Sean ), who  had  put  together  a  new  band  with  DJ  friend  Raymond  Gorman  and  invited  Damian  to  join  on  bass. That  Petrol  Emotion  were  a  much  darker, more  overtly  political  band  than  The  Undertones  and  quickly  won  the  approval  of  Peelie  and  the  NME.  After  a  few  independent  singles,  they  were  signed  to  Polydor  in  1986. Their  first Polydor  single  "Big  Decision"  looked  set  to  chart  but  they  shot  themselves  in  the  foot  by  putting  a  diatribe  about  plastic  bullets  on  the  sleeve  which  scared  off  the  daytime  DJ's  and  the  single  stalled  at  number  42. They  would  never  get  as  close  again; their  singles  tickled  the  lower  end  of  the  chart  but  they  became  perennial  underachievers. They  found  a  loophole  to  escape  the  Polydor  contract  and  signed  to  Virgin in  1988 . That  same  year ,  Sean  quit  the  band  and  their  third,  confused  album, "End  of  the  Millennium Psychosis  Blues"  failed  to  yield  any  hit  at  all. The  band  got  a  new  bassist  and  Damian  switched  to  guitar. They  used  REM  producer  Scott  Litt  for  their  fourth  album  "Chemicrazy" . Although  it  stalled  at  number  62  it  yielded  four  minor  hits, none  getting  higher  than  49.

"Sensitize"  was  the  last  of  those  and  it  does  sound  a  bit  fourth  choice. The  lyrics   about  senses  being  overwhelmed  might  be  referencing  drugs  and  Damian's  guitar  sound  has  a  touch  of  John  Squire  about  it. I  always  suspected  Steve  Mack's  vocals  might  have  been  one  of  the  things  holding  them  back. He  himself  said "I  can't  sing  but  I  know  how  to  fake  it"  and  like  Mick  Jones  of  The  Clash, his  voice  has  a  needling  quality  to  it. On  this  one  he  sounds  a  bit  like  Neil  Sedaka. It's  a  reasonable  guitar  rock  track  but  somewhat  lacking  in  punch.

It  marked  the  end  of  their  time  with  Virgin  and  they  can  have  had  few  complaints  about  being  dropped  in  the  current  climate. The  band  signed  with  the  independent  label  Koogat  for  one  last  album  "Fireproof"  in  1993. It's  much  better  than  I  was  expecting, a  strong  alt-rock  set  with  some  fine  guitar  work  and  no  obviously  duff  track Neither  of  the  singles, " Detonate  My  Dreams"  and  "Catch  A  Fire",  charted   and  the  album  received  little  attention. Their  time  had  gone, they  had  the  wrong  sound  for  Britpop  and  their  subsequent  split  was  inevitable. They  played  a  couple  of  farewell  concerts  in  London  which  formed  the  basis  of  a  documentary  and  live  album  released  in  2000.

In  1998,  Damian  contributed  an  arty  instrumental  track  "Moon  Tide"  to  an  EP  on  a  French  label  which  was  later  used  in  the  2000  film  version  of  Hamlet.  

The  following  year,  the  Undertones  reunited  almost  casually. Drummer  Billy  Doherty  had  been  playing  "Teenage  Kicks"  on  stage  with  The  Saw  Doctors  and  invited  Bradley  along. They  then  asked  if  the  rest  of  the  band  would  play  the  Galway  Arts  Festival  with  them. Doherty  approached John  O  Neill  who  unexpectedly  said  yes  and  Damian  said  if  John  was  in  he'd  do  it. No  one  approached  Sharkey  and  the  Saw  Doctors' singer  provided  the  vocals. The  band  were  pleased  with  the  reaction  and  drafted  in  local  DJ  Paul  McLoone  as  singer  to  play  more  gigs. They've  remained  together  on  a  part-time  basis  ever  since, both  Bradley  and  Doherty  having  day  jobs..

In  2001,  Damian  released  a  solo  album  under  the  name  "A  Quiet  Revolution"  on  Alan  McGee's  new  Poptones  label. It's  a  far  cry  from  either  of  his  previous  bands, an  instrumental  album  of  trip-hop  inluenced  electronica, but  it  has  its  moments. It  sold  diddley  squat  of  course.

In  2003,  the  reformed  Undertones  released  a  new  LP  "Get  What   You  Need" . The  first  three  tracks, including  the  single  "Thrill  Me"   make  a  good  case  for  their  continued  existence  with  McLoone    sounding  a  good  replacement  for  Sharkey  and  the  band  re-creating  their  ramalama  pop-punk  sound. It  does  lose  its  grip  thereafter slipping  into  generic  garage  rock  that  could  be  anyone  with  only  "Oh  Please"  grabbing  the  attention. It  saw  no  chart  action.

In  2004,  the  band  met  up  with  Sharkey  at  John  Peel's  funeral; according  to  Bradley  the  relations  were  civilised  but  cool.  In  2005,  they  played  Glastonbury  partly  in  tribute  to  Peel. Two  years  later  there  was  another new  album  "Dig  Yourself  Deep". With  fourteen  tracks  clocking  in  at  under  33  minutes  in  total, the  album  was  a   more  conscious  attempt  to  replicate  the  classic  Undertones  sound  with  numerous  little  echoes   of  past  glories.  It's  hard  to  dislike  an  album  where  no  track  outstays  its  welcome  but  again  there's  only  about   four  that  you  want  to  hear  again .

Damian  also  participated  in  a  reformation  of  That  Petrol  Emotion  playing  gigs  between  2008  and  2010. In  2012  they  reconvened  without  Mack  as  The  Everlasting  Yeah.

In  2013  The  Undertones  released  their  most  recent  new  material  with  a  double  A-sided  single  "Much  Too  Late /  Another  Girl"   to  mark  Record  Store  Day. It  was  restricted  to  1,000  numbered  copies, underlining  just  how  the  importance  of  a  band   actually  releasing  records  has  declined  in  recent  years. I  haven't  heard  "Another  Girl"  but  "Much  Too  Late"  is  an  average  garage  thrash  that's  instantly  forgettable.

In  2014  The  Everlasting  Yeah  released  their  PledgeMusic  funded  LP  "Anima  Rising". With  seven  long  tracks  developed  from  jams  and  influenced  by  krautrock  , it's  not  particularly  accessible  but  would  probably  appeal  to  TPE  fans. Damian  also  released  a  vinyl-only  ( 500  copies  )  solo  single  "Trapped  In  A  Cage"  but  I  haven't  heard  that.