453 Hello Howard Jones - New Song

Chart  entered  :  17  September  1983

Chart  peak  : 3

Number  of  hits  :  14

This  guy  was  never  a  critics'  favourite  with  many  taking  great  pains  to  exclude  him  from  the  New  Pop  canon.

John  Howard  Jones  was  born  in  Southampton  in  1955. His  family  moved  around  a  lot  and  Howard's  first  band  was  a  prog-rock  outfit  Warrior  in  Canada. After  returning  to  England  he  took  a  piano  course  in  the  Royal  Northern  College  of  Music  but  dropped  out  due  to  its  perceived  musical  snobbery.He  moved  to  High  Wycombe  and  played  in  local  jazz  funk  bands  while  working  in  a  cling  film  factory  and  as  a  piano  teacher.  Early  in  1981  he  started  performing  as  a  solo  synth  act  with  a  mime  artist  Jed  Hoile  "interpreting"  his  songs. He  eventually  came  to  the  attention  of  David  Jensen  who  offered  him  a  Radio  One  Session  ( Allmusic  wrongly  attributes  this  to  Peel ). On  the  back  of  this  he  got  support  slots  with  China  Crisis  and  OMD  and  the  major  labels  became  interested. He  signed  for  WEA.

Dave  Rimmer's  book,  Like  Punk  Never  Happened   focussed  largely  on  Culture  Club  but  Howard  might  have  been  the  more  appropriate  subject. Outside  of  the  rock  world  he  was  the  first  eighties  pop  star  who  had  no  grounding  in  punk. At  28 and  a  married  man, he  was  a  late starter  from  the  Home  Counties  and  his  interest  in  Buddhism  and  self-improvement  suggested  an  early  seventies  mindset.

Howard  told  Smash  Hits he  made  "optimistic  music  that  provokes  thought". That  might  be  all  well  and  good  but  he  had  a  bloody  cheek  calling  his  first  single  "New  Song"  when  it  rips  off  Solsbury  Hill  no  end  in  its  melodic  structure,  another  tell-tale  pointer  to  his  affiliations.The  lyric  promotes  his  views  on  "personal  revolution"  but  there's  also  a  lot  of  defensive  prickliness -"not  under  the  thumb  of  the  cynical  few/ Or  laden  down  by  the  doom  crew"  - that  recalls  Adam  Ant  or  Kevin  Rowland. Like  them  the  staunchly  vegetarian  Howard  was  personally  abstemious.

 I  quite  like  the  synth  break  in  the  middle  of  the  song  but  elsewhere  it's  marred  by  his  horrible  pub  singer  drone. His  appearance  on  Top  of  the  Pops   with  the  neither  one  thing  nor  the  other  haircut  and  Hoile  prancing  around  with  his  plastic  "mental  chains"  killed  any  interest  I  might  have  had  in  him  though  it  obviously  worked  for  many.

452 Hello ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin

Chart  entered  : 3 September  1983

Chart  peak  :  61  ( 10  on  re-release  in  1984, 28  in  re-worked  form  with  Martay  in  1999 )

Number  of  hits : 15

In  1977  The  Clash  released  a  song  called  "I'm  So  Bored  With  The  USA" which  criticised   American  culture  as  well  as  foreign  policy  and  we  lapped  it  up. American  culture  might  feature  fairly  heavily  on  our  TV  schedules  but  at  least  as  far  as   pop  music  was  concerned  glam  rock  and  then  punk  had  kept  most  of  the  would-be  invaders  locked  out  of  the  chart  and  this  despite  the fact  that many  of  Radio  One's  daytime  DJs   - Emperor  Rosko, Paul  Burnett, Noel  Edmunds, David  Hamilton  - paid  more  attention  to the Billboard  chart  than  our  own . That  same  year  Pat  Boone's  daughter  Debby   recorded  the  best-selling  single  of the  seventies  in  the  US, ten  weeks  at  number  one  with  "You  Light  Up  My  Life" . Here  it  reached  a  derisory  48  which  was  at  least  better  than  Foghat  or   Grand  Funk  Railroad  ever  managed.

In  the  early  eighties  that  all  crumbled  away  and  by  the  autumn  of  1985  I  was  rejoicing  over  the  small  triumph  that  Ready  for  the  World's  Prince  rip-off  "Oh  Sheila"  had  become  the  first  US  number  one  for  a  few  years  not  to  make  the  UK  Top  40. A  general  cultural  shift  had  taken  place  where  the  big  scale  and  professional   was  now  accorded  higher  value  than  the  quirky  and quaint. Small  was no  longer  beautiful ; it  was just  small. Top  of  the  Pops  producer  Michael  Hurll  approved  and  gave  Jonathan  King  a  slot  to  vent  his  anti-patriotic  spleen  and  champion  the  US  charts  but it  would  all  have  happened  without  them.

At  first  bemused  by  the  wave  of  "haircut  bands"  hitting  the US  charts  via  heavy  rotation  of  their  promo  videos  on  MTV,  the  more  savvy  American  rock  bands  soon  worked  out  ways  to  use  the  new  medium  themselves , to  not  only  reverse  the  trend  in  their  homeland  but  increasingly  penetrate  the  UK   chart  too   as  the  New  Pop  faltered.  ZZ  Top  were  the first  of  many  US   bands  , previously  derided  in  the  British  music  press, to  become  chart regulars  in  the  eighties.

That  presents  me  with  something  of  a  problem. As  I'm  now  working  longer  hours  than  when  I  started  this  blog,  I  don't  have  the  time  or  appetite  to  slog  through  the  lengthy  back  catalogues  of   acts  I  have  little  interest  in  so  I'm  only  going  to  be  sampling  their pre-chart  albums  and  if  that  does  them  an  injustice  feel  free  to  tell  me so  in  the  Comments.    

ZZ  Top  are  a  case  in  point. Previously  pithily  dismissed  as  a  Southern  Status  Quo  with  comedy  beards , "Gimme  All  Your  Loving"  was  from   their  eightth   album.  They  were formed  in  Houston,  Texas  in  1969  by  guitarist  Billy  Gibbons  , keyboard  player  Lanier  Greig  and  drummer Dan  Mitchell. Billy  and  Dan  had  previously  been  in  the  psychedelic  band  Moving  Sidewalks . They  released  a  number  of  singles  starting  with   Billy's  song   "99th  Floor"  in  1967  which  makes  all  the  right  noises  , acid-fried  guitar, Farfisa  organ, druggy  lyrics  but  does  sound  a  bit  stiff  next  to  the  likes  of  Jefferson  Airplane.   This  was  followed  by  the  heavier , less  tuneful  "Need  Me"  and  then  a  Joe  Cocker-inspired  assault  on  "I  Want  To  Hold  Your  Hand".  The  final  single  was  "Flashback"  in  1969  which  sounds  like  Eric  Burdon  and  the Animals . This  was  from  their  one  album  "Flash"  which  effectively  charts  the  transition  from  psychedelia  to  less  appealing  blues  rock  sludge  and  lacks  any  memorable  songs.  Moving  Pictures  toured  as  a  support  act  to  Jimi  Hendrix  who  rated  Billy  as  a  guitarist.  

Moving  Sidewalks  came  to  an  end  when  two  of  its  members  were  drafted  and  Billy  and  Dan  formed  ZZ  Top.  Their  first  single  "Salt  Lick"  was  released  in  October  1969,  a  grinding  blues  track  that  sounds  like  Deep  Purple  with  the  Greig's  organ  prominent. Immediately  after  recording  it  he  was  ousted  and  replaced  by  a  bassist  Billy  Ethridge  and  Mitchell  was  bumped  in  favour  of  Frank  "Rube"  Beard.  

Frank  started  out  in  a  band  called  The  Cellar  Dwellers  who  released  a single  "Bad  Day"  in  1967 which  sounds  like  Revolver-era  Beatles.  They  played  the  same  venues  as  another  Texas-based  outfit  The  Warlocks  led  by  the  Hill  brothers  Dusty  ( bass )  and  Rocky  ( lead  guitar ).  Their  first  single  in  1966,  "Splash  Day",  sounds  like  The  Byrds  doing  a  Beach  Boys  song.  The  second  "If  You  Really  Want  Me  To  Stay"   still  sounds  like  The  Byrds  but  has  a  much  darker  and  heavier  vibe.  In  1968  the  two  bands  merged  into  American  Blues  They  released  one  single,  a  wigged-out  version  of  "If  I  Were  A  Carpenter "  which  isn't  bad. The  brothers  then  fell  out  over  which  direction  they  should  follow  and  Rocky, a  blues  purist,  quit  the  band. When   Ethridge  got  cold  feet  about   signing  a  record  deal,  Dusty  ( real  name  Joseph )  followed  Frank  into  ZZ  Top.

After  re-releasing  "Salt  Lick" on  London  at  the  beginning  of  1970  the  new  line up  made  its  recording  debut  in  1970  with  "( Somebody  Else  Been )  Shaking  Your  Tree" which  as  the  title  suggests  is  written  from  a  cuckold's  point  of  view. The  imaginatively  titled  "ZZ  Top's  First  Album "  soon  followed  at  the  beginning  of  1971.  At  this  point  they  were  clearly  in  thrall  to  Fleetwood  Mac  although  Billy  is  Jeremy  Spencer  rather  than  Peter  Green  as  a  songwriter  with  the   unimaginative  songs  chock  full  of  sexual  innuendos. It  established  their  sound  of   an  unflashy  rhythm  section  providing  a  rock  solid  platform  for  Billy's  blues  guitar.

The  follow-up, 1972's  "Rio  Grande  Mud"  was  slightly  heavier  but  still  more  of  the  same.  Neither  album  made  much  impression  on  the  charts  but  the  latter's  single,  "Francine",  a  reprehensible  ode  to  a  thirteen-year  old   that  could  have  come  straight  off  Sticky  Fingers  put   down  a  marker  on  the  singles  charts  by  reaching  number  69.

Their  commercial  breakthrough  came  with  the  next  album   "Tres  Hombres" . A  combination  of  a  burgeoning  live  reputation  and  a  quantum  leap  in  the  quality  of  the  songwriting  saw  it  go   gold  in  the  US.  Some  of  it  still  sounds  pretty  dull  to  me  but  when  it  catches  fire  it's  surprisingly  good  particularly  "Master  of  Sparks"  , a  lean , dread-laden  number  about  a  truly  bonkers  driving  escapade  the  teenage  Billy  and  his  mate  got  up  to  on  the  back  roads  of  Texas  which  could  almost  be  Kings  of  Leon. That  wasn't  chosen  as  the  single ; instead  they  went  for  the  conventional  Southern  boogie  tune  "La  Grange"  about  what  else, a  local  whorehouse. It  was  based  on  the  same  Slim  Harpo  tune  appropriated  by  the  Stones  for  Hip  Shake   and  reached  41 in  the  charts.

The  band  could  now  take  their  time  over  a  follow-up. "Fandango !"  didn't  come  out  until  April  1975  and  one  side  of  it  was  live  recordings. It  doesn't  move  any  further  on  than  its  predecessor   but  repeated  its  success. It  also  gave  them  their  first  hit  album  in  the  UK  reaching  number  60. It  was  the only  one  of  their  seventies  albums  to  chart  here  and  I'm  not  sure  why  as  they  don't  appear  to  have  toured  here   around  that  time. As  usual  they  took  just  the  one  single  , the  blunt  and  to  the  point  "Tush"  which  reached  number  20  in  the  US, their  biggest  hit  of  the  decade. With  Dusty  singing, and  sounding  not  unlike  David  Coverdale  it's  a  straightforward  boogie  tune  and  the  Status  Quo  comparison  never  seemed  more  apt.   

Their  success  plateaued  for  the  next  few  years  with  the  downbeat  "Tejas"  LP  reaching  number  17  in  1976  and  its  lead  single, the  humdrum  "It's  Only  Love"  distinguished  only  by  a  tuneless  harmonica  break,  peaked  at  44. They  released  a  second  single  , the  more  interesting  "Arrested for  Driving  While  Blind"  which  aroused  controversy  for  appearing  to  endorse  drunk  driving  and  it  only  scraped  the  bottom  of  the  US  chart.

With  their  record  contract  fulfilled,  the  band  then  took  an  extended  break  during  which  Billy  and  Dusty  grew  their  famous  beards  before  returning  with  the  album  "Deguello"  in  1979  on  Warner  Brothers.  The  album  trod  water  musically. A  neat  cover  of  Sam  and  Dave's  "I  Thank  You"  got  to  number  34  in  the  US   but  there's  nothing  else  to  interest  the  unconverted  including  follow-up  single  "Cheap  Sunglasses".  The  album  peaked  at  number  24.

Early  in  1980  they  came  to  the  UK  and  appeared  on  The  Old  Grey  Whistle  Test . Also  on  that  episode  were  Orchestral  Manoeuvres  in  the  Dark  and  the  Texans  were  much  impressed 
by  the  synthesizing  Scousers.  By  1981's  "El  Loco" ,  they  were  aware  of  the  need  to  diversify  if  cautiously  at  first.  The  first  three  tracks  are  as  dull  as  ditchwater  establishing  the  need  for  the  experimentation  that  follows. "Leila",  a  number  77  hit  in  the  US  is  a  country  rock  ballad  about  a  girl  moving  on  while  New  Wave  guitar  sounds  start  making  an  appearance  on  a  number  of  tracks. Synthesisers  are  used  sparingly  ( nobody  is  credited  with  playing  them ) until  the  eighth  track  "Groovy  Little  Hippie  Pad"  which  is  one  of  the  most  bizarre  cross-genre  experiments  I've  heard. The  album  improved  on  its  predecessor's  showing  reaching  number  17  which  encouraged  them  to  take  things  a  bit  further  with  the  next.   

ZZ Top  stuck  with  synthesizers  on  the  next  album  "Eliminator" ,released  in  March  1983. There's  an  ongoing  controversy  about  how  much  involvement  Dusty  and  Frank  had  with  the  album  and  the  role  of  sound  engineer  Linden  Hudson  who  won  a  long  legal  battle  over  the  copyright  to  at  least  one  song. "Gimme  All  Your  Lovin"  was  the  opening  track  and  lead  single. Frank  is  pretty  metronomic  anyway  so  it  could  be  him  playing  alongside  the  drum  machine ; it  does  sound  a  synthesised  bass  line. For  all  the  modern  sheen,  "Gimme  All  Your  Lovin"  is  pretty  traditional  fare, a  string  of  lewd  double  entendres   punctuated  by  Billy's   blues  licks  but  it's  difficult   to  resist  tapping  a  toe  to  it. Helped  by  an  iconic  video  featuring  the  band's  customised  Ford  Coupe  and  a  Playboy  model  it  reached  37  in  the  US  charts. It  took  its  time  in  breaching  the  UK  charts  and  only  fulfilled  its  potential  on  re-release  a  year  later.

.    

 

451 Goodbye The Beat - Ackee 1-2-3

Chart  entered : 7  July  1983

Chart  peak : 54

Bad  Manners  were  swiftly  followed  by  another  ska  act  in  vacating  the  charts.

The  Beat  peaked  early  when  third  single  "Mirror  in  the  Bathroom"  made  number  4  and  its  parent  album  "I  Just  Can't  Stop  It"  made  number  3. Though  the  follow-up  "Wha'ppen"   equalled  that,  it  quickly  fell  away  and  its  singles  performed  poorly. Dave  "Blockhead"  Wright  the  former  lighting  guy  who  played  keyboards  on  it  as  a  session  player  was  upgraded  to  a  full  member  afterwards  and  veteran saxophonist   Lionel  "Saxa  Martin  stepped  down  from  live  and  promotional  work  in  favour  of  Wes  McGoogan  previously  with  Hazel  O'Connor  and  responsible  for  the  famous  solo  on  Will  You . Both  Lionel  and  Wes  played  on  their  next  recordings.

  By  the  time  of  their  third  album "Special  Beat  Service"  in  1982,  they  were  clearly  toiling  and  despite  excellent  reviews  it  didn't  make  the  Top  20.  By  1983  singer  Dave  Wakeling  was  ready  to  call  it  a  day  and  they  released  their  version  of  Andy  Williams'  "Can't  Get  Used  To  Losing  You"  from  the  first  album  as  a  farewell  single. To  everyone's  surprise  it  raced  up  to  number  3. While  the  band  stuck  to  their  guns  Go-Feet  decided  to  strike  while  the  iron  was  hot  and  release  another  ( the  fourth )  single  from  "Special  Beat  Service".

An  ackee  is  a  tropical  tree  cultivated  in  West  Africa  and  the  Caribbean  for  its  fruit  which  are  edible  as  long  as  picked  at  the  right  moment. "Acky  1  2  3"  is  a  Midlands  variant  of  Hide  and  Seek  where  the  person  getting  to  the  post  has  to  shout  it  before  the  seeker  reaches  the  post. Therefore  the  title  is  a  little  pun  which  fits  in  with  the  tumbling  calypso  rhythm. Dave  Wakeling   wrote it  as  a  self-admonitory  instruction  to  stop  feeling  sorry  for  himself  ( presumably  at the  band's  declining  fortunes ). It's  a  nice  tune  embellished  by  child  voices  ( including  the  offspring  of  drummer  Everett  Morton )   on  the  chorus   but  Dave  does  sound  like he's  trying  to  cram  too  many  words   into  the  verses  which  makes  them  sound  slightly  clumsy. It's  got  a  great  brass  break  though.

The members  went  off  in  a  number  of  different  directions. We'll  come  to  the  next  venture  of  guitarist  Andy  Cox  and  bassist  David  Steele  soon  enough  and  that's   a  pretty  unique   story  ; I  can't  think  of  any  other  example  in  pop  where  the  side  men  have  so  emphatically  trounced  the  front  man  ( or  men  in  this  case  )  in   terms   of  subsequent  success.

At  the  time  it  was  assumed  that  the  best  bet  would  be  the  new  outfit  formed  by  Dave  Wakeling  and  co-singer  Ranking  Roger  . They  re-emerged  at  the  beginning  of  1984  in  General  Public   with  ex- Specials   bassist  Horace  Panter  and  ex-Dexys  men  Micky  Billingham  and  Andy  Growcott  on  keys  and  drums. Mick  Jones  from  The  Clash  was  initially  involved  but  quit  the  project  halfway through  the  recording  sessions   before  anything  came  out.

The  first  single  "General  Public"  was  a  big  disappointment.  The  loss  of  Everett  and  David  is  immediately  apparent  in  the  lumpen  ungainly  rhythm. Roger  does  the  lead  vocal  , mouthing  a  long  series  of  slogans  starting  with  a  string  of  "-ation"  rhymes  in  the  manner  of  Eve  of  Destruction . Lacking  any  hooks  at  all  it's  turgid  and  boring  and  did  well  to get  as  high  as  number  60. The  instrumental  B-side  "Dishwasher"  became  a  fluke  hit  in  Holland  after  its  use  as  a  closing  theme  to  a  radio  show. In  the  UK  it  scuttled  them  immediately  and  the  parent  album  "All  The  Rage"  failed  to  chart.


The  second  single  "Tenderness"  , a  slight  but  attractive  Motown-influenced  pop  tune  did  nothing  here  but  was  a  Top  30  hit  in  the  US  ( helped  by  a  video  which  excised  every  member  bar  the  front  two ) and  Canada. The  album  went  gold  in  the  latter  country.  As  a  result  I.R.S.  released  a  number  of  singles  across  the  Atlantic,  as  the  band  became  effectively  based  there,  whereas  Virgin  stopped  bothering  over  here. "Never  You  Done  That  "  was  another  pop  soul  tune  in  the  same  vein  while  "Hot  You're  Cool"  is  a  steamy  but  vacuous  modern  dance  pop  number. Neither  followed  "Tenderness "  up  the  charts.   

They  released  a  second  album  "Hand  to  Mouth"  in  1986. Panter  later  described  it  as  "rather  sterile"  and  it's  pretty  generic  mid-eighties  pop ; take  away  Dave's  distinctive  voice  and  you  could  be  listening  to  Brother  Beyond  or  Living  In  A  Box. None  of  it's  bad , just  forgettable. In  the  UK  just  the  one  track  the  chirpy  synth-pop  of  "Faults  And  All"  was  released  as  a  single. In  America  I.R.S. chose  "Too  Much  Or  Nothing"   (  a very  minor  hit  in  Canada )  which  is  all  gated  drums  and  Fairlight  brass  and  little  song  and  "Come  Again"  which  is  a  better  song  but  still  over-produced.  None  of  them  made  any  impression  and  at  Christmas  1987  Dave  called  time  on  the  group.

Dave  remained  in  California  under  contract  with  I.R.S.  and  re-emerged  in  1988  with  the title  track  to  a  John  Hughes  film  She's  Having  A  Baby .  It's   an  amiable  slice  of  Fairlight  pop  nothing  more  and,  like  the  film  itself , wasn't  successful  Dave  is  also  credited  with  producing  the  soundtrack  album  although  as  this  consisted  of  pre-recorded  work  by  other  artists  like  Kate  Bush  and  Kirsty  MacColl  I'm  not  sure  what  that  entailed.

The  song  cropped  up  again  on  Dave's  only  solo  album  to  date , "No  Warning"  in  1991. I  don't  think  it  got  a  UK  release  and  from  the  five  tracks  I've  heard  it  seems  to  have  been  a  low  key  set  of  mellow  reggae-influenced  pop. The  track  "Remember  in  the  Dark"  is  a  decent  song  though  needing  to  be  touched  up  if  it  was  going  to  break  through. Dave  then  left  the  music  business  for  a  while  and  took  on  an  administrative  role  with  Greenpeace

In  1994  he  and  Roger  reunited  in  a  new  line  up  of  General  Public  to  do  a  cover  of  The  Staple  Singers' "I'll  Take  You  There"  for  the  film  Threesome . It's   a  so-so  pop-reggae  treatment  of  the  old  soul  number  very  much  as  UB40  would  have  done  it. It  was  a  very  minor  hit  in  the  UK   but  reached  22  in  the  States  and  14  in  Canada  so  the  band  got  the  chance  to  do  another  LP  for  Epic.

"Rub  It  Better"  was  released  in  April  1995  produced  by  Talking  Head  Jerry  Harrison  and  featuring  some  work  from  Saxa. It  was  trailed  by  the  single  "Rainy  Days"  a  repetitive  but  reasonably  effective  pop  reggae  number  about  Nelson  Mandela.  I've  heard  the  bulk  of  the  album  and  it  seems  much  heavier  on  the  reggae  than  their  previous  work  apart  from  "Friends  Again"  a  Wet  Wet  Wet  style  piano  ballad  and  "Never  Not  Alone"  which  sounds  a  bit  like  Pet  Shop  Boys. It  sold  diddly  squat  and  the  band  dissolved  again. The  following  year  a  re-mix  of  "Mirror  in  the  Bathroom"  reached  number  44  in  the  UK.

Dave  got  himself  a  new  backing  group  called  Bang  and  recorded  a  new  version  of  The  Beat's  "Two  Swords"  for  a   ska   compilation  album  in  1998.  He  toured, drank  and  talked  about  new  material  but  never  found  a  deal  for  it. In  2003  he  reunited  with  Roger, Everett  and  Saxa   for  a  gig  at  the  Royal  Festival  Hall  as  The  Beat,  a  fact  conveniently  ignored  by  VH1  when  they  did  Bands  Reunited  the  following  year  and   which  explains  why  none  of  the  other  trio  look  fazed  by  Dave's  re-appearance  in  the  reunion  footage.

Since  then  Dave has  been  touring  the  US  as  The  English  Beat  starring  Dave  Wakeling. They  contributed  a  couple  of  songs   to  the  TV  show  Scooby- Doo ! Mystery  Incorporated   in  2014. They  were  supposed  to  be  releasing  a  new  album  "Here  We  Go  Love"  this  year  but  they  haven't  got  much  time  left  in  which  to  do  it.

So  let's  fill  in  the  gaps  with  Roger. After  General  Public  packed  up  the  first  time , he  toured  for  a  bit  with  Horace  then  they  returned  to  the  UK  to  make  the  LP  "Radical  Departure"  in  Roger's  home  studio  in  1988  which  came  out  under  Roger's  name. Saxa  played  on  a  couple  of  tracks. Roger  tries  his  hand  at  various  styles, often  ending  up  sounding  like  Big  Audio  Dynamite . Some  of  it  works  OK  although  he's   an  unsubtle   lyricist.  The  lead  single  "So  Excited"  features  lyrics  from  Dave  about  condoms  and  is  a  reasonable  pop  song  although  its  most  interesting  aspect  is  how  much  Roger  sounds  like  Seal  when  he's  singing  rather  than  toasting. "In  Love  With  You "  was   the  other  single   and  the  other  track  which  has a co-writing  credit  for  Dave  ( surely  no  coincidence )  and  again  it's competent  but  unexciting. The  album  attracted  minimal  interest.

The  following  year  he  started  his  career  as  a  featured  artist  on  other  people's  records , toasting  on  Children  of  the  Night's  "We  Play  Ska"  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  create  a  new  crossover  genre, acid  ska. In  1990  he  formed  Specialbeat  with  Horace, Brad  and  Neville   from  The  Specials  and  made  a  good  living  for  a  few  years  in  America  playing  the  old  hits  to  a  country  now  catching  up  with  the  music. He  showed  questionable  taste  in  1991  by  appearing  on  a  version  of  "Mirror  in  the  Bathroom"  by  Music  Factory  aka  Jive  Bunny's  Andy  Pickles. Thankfully  it  wasn't  a  hit. Also  in  1991  he  produced  and  did  backing  vocals  on "hitting  The  Line " the only  studio  album  by  The  International  Beat  ( see  below ).

Specialbeat  put  out  a  couple  of  live  albums  but  never  wrote  any  new  material. They  folded  up  in  1993  leaving  Roger  free  to  re-form  General  Public  as  covered  above. One  of  the  guest  performers  on  "Rub  It  Better"  was  Pato  Banton . He  and  Roger  hit  it  off  and  released  their  own  co-written  single  the  infectious  electro-reggae   "Bubbling  Hot"  which  ,unlike  any  of  the  General  Public  material, was  a  big  hit  reaching  number  15  in  April  1995. It  was  good  to  see  him  on  Top  of  the  Pops  again  although  he'd  swapped  the  pork  pie  hat  for  dreadlocks  by  then.

In  1996  Roger  joined  Sting  on  a  version  of  "Bed's  Too  Big  Without  You"  which  was  an  extra  track  on  his  Let  Your  Soul  Be  Your  Pilot  single.  He  then  joined  Big  Audio  Dynamite  for  a  couple  of  years  featuring  on  their  "Entering  A  New  Ride"  LP  which  became  one  of  the  first  download-only  albums  after  the  record  company  refused  to  release  a  double  album  of  uncommercial  electronica. During  this  period  he  also  guested  on  Jimmy  Nail's  cover  of  Greyhound's  "Black  and  White"  which  is,  as  you'd  expect, completely  dreadful.

Roger  left  in  1998  and  started  a  new  career  as  a  skating  instructor  in  Birmingham.  He  put  out  another  solo album  "Inside  My  Head"  in  2001  which  is  pretty  obscure  and  I've  never  heard  it.. In  2003  he  featured  on  a  Smash  Mouth  single  ( not  one  of  their  best ) "You  Are  My  Number  One"  and  appeared  in  the  video  alongside  bikini-clad  lovelies  on  a  beach  ( nice  work  if  you  can  get  it ).

Following  the  2003  partial  reunion  Roger  formed  a   new  version   of   The  Beat  with  Everett  and  Saxa . the  line  up  also  included  his  son  Matthew  aka  Ranking  Junior. Since  Everett  and  Saxa  left   they've  been  known  as  The  Beat  with  Ranking  Roger  and  there  seems  to  be  a  gentleman's  (  and  Roger  is  an  absolutely  top  bloke  ) agreement  with  Dave  to  stay  off  each  other's  patches.

To  say  he  was  semi-retired  during  the  group's  lifetime  Saxa   showed  no  sign  of  wanting  to  be  put  out  to  pasture. Besides  featuring  on  his  ex-bandmates'  albums ( including  Fine  Young  Cannibals ),  he  played  with  Everett  in  The International  Beat  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineties.
Unlike  the  other  successor  groups  The  International  Beat  set  out  to  sound  as  much  like  The  Beat  as  possible  and  some  of  their  songs  sound  like  very  thinly  disguised  re-writes. They  had  two  main  problems. One  was  that  new  singer  Tony  Beet  wasn't  as  distinctive  as  either  of  his  predecessors  but  more  fundamentally  they  were  reviving  the  sound  of  a  group  that  had  stopped  selling  many  records  nearly  a  decade  earlier. They  were  well  received  live  but  no  one  was  interested  in  the  records.  The  group  shut  up  shop  in  1995.  

As  stated  above,  Saxa  was  part  of  Roger's  new  Beat  for  a  couple  of  years  before  retiring  for  good. He's  still  alive  aged  90  at  the  time  of  writing.

We've  told  most  of   Everett's  story  above. He  doesn't  seem  to  have  done  anything  musically    away  from  Roger  or  Saxa  until  last  year  when  he  departed  from  Roger's  Beat. Everett  had  been  obliged  to  take  time  off  from  the  group  after  he  broke  his  knee  in  a  caravan  accident  and  Roger  preferred  to  stick  with  his  replacement. Everett  says  he  was  sacked. Roger's  take  is  "I  didn't  sack  him. I  retired  him  while  he  was  still  good" which  is  an  interesting  way  of  putting  it. Everett  now  goes  out  in  a  band  called  Beat  Goes  Bang  but  I  think  they're  a  Birmingham-only  concern. I  presume  he  has  a  day  job  but  I  don't  know  what  it  might  be.

So  what  happened  to  the  two  later  members.  The  sinister-looking   Dave  Blockhead   turned  up  again  in  1986   in  Two  Nations . a  pop -funk  outfit  where  he  and  singer  Alan  Watson  were  the  songwriting  partnership.  They  were  around  for  a  couple  of  years  releasing  five  singles  , all  of  which  ended  up  on  the  only  LP  "Both  Sides". I've  only  heard  the  first  "Any  Luck"  which  sounds  like  a  duller  Hue  and  Cry  ( and  they're  hardly  my  favourite  band  )  and  the  last  "That's  The  Way  It  Feels"  which  could  be  The  Lighthouse  Family.  Dave  W  mentioned  in  an  interview  that  Dave  B  had  been  a  geography  teacher  before  joining  the  band  and  I  suspect  he  might  have  gone  back  to  that. He  too  joined  Roger's  version  of  The  Beat  in  2003  but  left  at  some  point  after  2006.

As  you  might  have  expected  Wes  went  off  to  be  a  session  player  and  uniquely  doesn't  seem  to  have  crossed  paths  with  any  of  his  old  band  mates  since  The  Beat  split.  He  worked  with  Billy  Ocean, Joan  Armatrading , Brenda  Russell  and  Chaka  Khan  before  a  tragic  accident   with  a  circular  saw  abruptly  ended  his  playing  days. He  is  said  to  be  still  involved  in  the   TV  soundtrack  business.

 

450 Hello Marc Almond solo * - Black Heart

Chart  entered :  2  July  1973

Chart  peak : 49

Number  of  hits : 24

(*  as  Marc  and  the  Mambas )

Strictly   speaking  this  was  a  hit  for  Marc's  side  project  Marc  and  the  Mambas  but  as  the  Mambas '  line  up  changed  with  every  recording  they  can't  really  count  as  a  group  and  this  charted  on  Marc's  star  power  alone.

Having  driven  away  a  substantial  part  of  his  pop  audience with  Soft  Cell's  attritional  second  LP  The  Art  of  Falling  Apart  , Marc  then  decided  to  retreat  even  further  towards  the  margins  with  another  double  LP   by  his   less  commercial  side  project  Marc  and  the  Mambas.

"Black  Heart"  was  the  trailer  single  for  the  album  "Torment  and  Toreros"  and  was  co-written  with  pianist  Annie  Hogan, after  Soft  Cell's  Dave  Ball, his  most  enduring  musical  partner. It's  fairly  typical  of  his  style  , a  melodramatic  torch  ballad  in  a  vaguely  Latin  style  influenced  by  Jacques  Brel  and  addressed  to  a  cruel, suffocating  partner. In  other  hands  it  could  work  quite  well  but  here  you  have  to  contend  not  only  with  Marc's  increasingly  wayward  vocals - no  two  choruses  have  the  same  tune  here - but  also  quite  possibly  the  worst  drum  sound  ever  heard  on  a  hit  record  which  bashes  away  remorselessly  without  regard  to  the  rhythm of  the  song. I  remember  Simon  Bates  apologising  for  playing  it   and  you  do  suspect  that  Marc  was  deliberately  setting  out  to  aggravate  here, the  provocative  performance  artist  finally  winning  out  over  the  pop  star.

449 Hello Yello - I Love You

Chart  entered : 25  June  1983

Chart  peak : 41

Number  of  hits : 12

I  have  to  admit  I  wasn't  expecting  this  oddball  outfit  to  qualify  but  there  you  go.

Yello  began  as   a  duo  in  Switzerland  in  the  late  seventies , formed  by  friends  Boris  Blank  and  Carlos  Peron  who  shared  a  love  of  experimental  electronic  music. Boris  was  a  pioneer  of  sampling   and  using  tape  loops. The  latter  was  Carlos's  speciality. They  soon  realised  that  Yello  needed  a  singer  and  frontman  and  invited  the  unlikely  figure  of   Dieter  Meier  to  join  the  group. Dieter  is  probably  the  strangest  pop  star  of  all. He  was  born  into  a  millionaire  industrialist  family  and,  without  having  to  earn  a  living,  whiled  away  his  time  in   playing  golf  and   professional  poker,  gambling  and  performance  art.

They  released  their  first  single  "I.T. Splash"  on  an  independent  label  in  1979 , a  song  about  a  man  who  couldn't  stop  driving   which  sounds  a  bit  like  Kraftwerk  , using  the  same  phasing  effects  to  simulate  cars  passing  as  Autobahn,  topped  off  with  horror  movie  vocals    and  concluding  with  a  snatch  of  racing  commentary, a  device  they'd  re-use  years  later on  their  biggest  hit.

A  year  later  they  released  their  first  LP  "Solid  Pleasure"  having  signed  a  deal  in  the  UK  with  Do  It.  "Solid  Pleasure "  has  14  mainly  short  tracks  which  divide  between  experimental  art  rock  in  the  tradition  of  US  weirdos  The  Residents  and  which  is  hard  work  and  more  accessible  left  field  electronic  pop  somewhere  between  Kraftwerk  and  Sparks. Throughout  there's  an  interest  in  electronic  dance  rhythms.  The  opening  track  "Bimbo"  was  released  as  their  first  UK  single  in  April  1981.  Mocking  his  own  playboy  image  Dieter  sings  in  a  variety  of  voices  from  David  Byrne  to  B-52s'  Fred  Schneider  over  an  early  Human  League  electronic  backing  track . There's  no  tune  to  make  it  a  more  commercial  proposition.  The  follow  up   "Bostich "  is  a  cleaner  electronic  dance   track  that  raises  questions  about  the  parentage  of  both  Tom  Tom  Club's  Wordy  Rappinghood  and  particularly  New  Order's  Everything's  Gone  Green . 

At  the  end  of  the  year  they  put  out  a  second  LP  "Claro  Que  Si"  a  more  disciplined  set  of  songs  with  film  noir lyrics  and  less  abrasive  synthesised  music  but  with  most  of  the  vocals  delivered  "in  character"  there  wasn't  a  single  on  it. Nevertheless  the  half-spoken  "She's  Got  A  Gun"  which  recalls  Flash  and  the  Pan  and  "Pinball  Cha-Cha ",  an  electronic  mambo  as  sung  by  Lurch,   were  sent  out  to  do  battle  and  promptly  vanquished  by  uncomprehending  radio  producers.

Yello  then  abandoned  Do  It  for  Stiff  and  "I  Love  You"  was  their  first  release  for  the  label. It's  a  relatively  slight  song  based  around  a  Giorgio  Moroder  synth  pulse  and  various  production  effects , anticipating  the  Art  of  Noise  and  Frankie  by  six  months. Dieter  sings  once  more  of  his  driving  fetish  in  an  insinuating   whisper  sometimes  answering  the  sampled  female  "I  love  you's  " with  a  sleazy  "I  know !". The  lurching  fairground  organ  that  drops  in  and  out  of  the  mix  adds  to  the  queasy  feel of  the  track. It  doesn't  come  to  any  conclusion  just  fades  out  after  three  minutes  but  frequent  play  on  David  Jensen's  show   and  Stiff's  promotional  know-how got  it  to  the  brink  of  the  Top  40.

448 Hello Paul Young - Wherever I Lay My Hat

Chart  entered :  18  June  1983

Chart  peak  : 1

Number  of  hits : 21

This  entered  the  chart  the  week  of  my  last  A  Level  exams  and  so  marks  the  end  of  the  music  of  my  school  days.

Paul  Young  was  born  in  Luton  in  1956.  He  started as  an apprentice  in  the  Vauxhall  works. He  was  originally  a  bassist  in  his  early  bands  but  graduated  to  lead  singer  in  one  called  Kat  Kool  and  the  Kool  Kats. His  main  idol  was  Paul  Rodgers  and  he  explored  blues  and  soul  music   on  the  Free  singer's  recommendations. He  was  soon  poached  by  the  London-based  group  Streetband.

Streetband  were  a  straight  down  the  line  rock  band  who  wanted  to  sound  modern  but  eschewed  punk  moves; perhaps  The  Motors  or  City  Boy  are  the  best  comparison. They  got  a  record  deal  in  1978   and   were  set  to  record  with  Blockhead  Chas  Jankel. He  came  down  to  see  them  at  a  gig  where  their  rhythm  guitarist  broke  a  string. It  took  some  time  to  replace  so  the  band  played  around  with  a  little  jazz  rhythm  while  Paul  rapped  about  the  first  things  that  came  into  his  head  which  happened  to  be  toast. When  they  got  into  the  studio  Jankel  insisted  they  record  the  "song"  which  became  "Toast"  and  featured  on  the  B-side  of  their  first  single  "Hold  On",  a  reasonable  attempt  at  Hall  and  Oates-ish  pop  soul  marred  by  over-use  of  the  Heil  Talk  Box . Kenny  Everett  on  Capital  Radio  heard  the  flip  side  and  started  giving  it  heavy  play. The  record  company  Logo  promptly  reissued  the  single  with  "Toast"  as  the  A-side  against  the  band's  wishes  and  it  became  a  hit  reaching  number  18  in  November  1978..

Now  as  then  ,  I  find  it  irredeemably  irritating  and  the  band's  mugging  on  Top  of  the  Pops  made  it  seem  worse. It  absolutely  screamed  "one  hit  wonder"  - as  the  band  were  probably  aware - and  so  it  proved.  Mind  you  the  follow  up  "One  More  Step"  is  dull  pub  rock  and  didn't  need  "Toast  " to  scupper  its  chances  and  the  parent  album  "London"   is  over-produced  and  generic. The  third  single  "Love  Sign "  is  a  pretty  good  Hall  and  Oates  impersonation  but  the  drumming  is  a  bit  pedestrian.

The  second  album  "Dilemma" released  the  same  year   is  a  bit  more  supportive  of  the  idea  that  they  were  unjustly  dismissed  by  the  success  of  "Toast". The  band  took  a  more  determinedly  AOR  direction  with  a  louder  harder  sound  and  some  lengthy  guitar  solos. That  said,  the  songwriting  is  much  better  and  the  two  singles  "Love  Sign" , a  lush  Doobie  Brothers  pop-soul  number  and  "Mirror  Stars"  a  bright  New  Wave-influenced  song  about  bedroom  dreaming   could  both  have  been  hits  in  different  circumstances.

At  the  end  of  1979  Streetband  threw  in  the  towel. Paul  and  two  of  the  other  guys  decided  to  try  and  take  advantage  of  the  Mod  Revival  , acquired  a  horn  section  and  became  a  soul  revue  act,  Q-Tips. They  soon  attracted  a  sizable  live  following  and  a  record  deal  with  Chrysalis  but  famously  their  record  sales  didn't  match  their  reputation. Part  of  the  problem  was  that  they  were  perceived  as  a  covers  band; while  contemporaries  Dexy's  Midnight  Runners  were  putting  out  strikingly  original  material,   Q-Tips  played  it  safe  with  versions  of  "Tracks  of  My  Tears"  and  "Love  Hurts". Though  their only  studio  album  "Q-Tips" actually  has  seven  originals  to  four  covers,  two-thirds   of  their  singles  were  other  peoples's  songs. With  no  record  sales  the  septet  had  to  tour  near-constantly  and  that  of  course  took  its  toll.

The  Q-Tips  deal  ran  out  in  1982  and  with  no  group  deal  on  the  table  and  Robert  Palmer  making  commercial  headway,  Paul's  manager  persuaded  him  to  sign   a   solo  deal  with  CBS  in  early  1982,  bringing  Q-Tips  to  an  end  although  keyboard  player  Ian  Kewley  would  continue  to  work  with  him.

Given  Q-Tips'  commercial  failure , Paul  was  anxious  that  his  solo  material  should  sound  as  different  from  them  as  possible  so  in  came  drum  machines, synthesisers  , fretless  bass  and  a  couple  of  feisty  female  backing  singers, the Fabulous  Wealthy  Tarts. He  engaged  Laurie  Latham,  a  studio  engineer  then  best  known  for  co-producing  Ian  Dury's  New  Boots  and  Panties ,  to   mastermind  the  transformation. His  first  single  release  as  a  solo  artist  was  a  staccato  version  of  an  obscure  Booker  T  and  the  MGs  song  "Iron  Out  The  Rough  Spots "  released  in  November  1982. With  a  clunky  xylophone  riff, brutalist  Linn  drums  and  screechy  synths  it  certainly  achieved  the  aim  of  breaking  from  his  past  but  there  was  no  instant  reward.

Help  was  at  hand  though.  Both  the  girls  and  new  bass  player  Pino  Palladino   had  been  part  of  ex-Squeeze  keyboard  player  Jools  Holland's  new  outfit , the  Millionaires  who  had   previously  supported Q-Tips. Holland  was  now  presenting  Channel  4's  new  music  show  The  Tube  and  had  some  influence  on  artist  selection   so  when  Paul  released  his  next  single  , a  rather  lumpy  version  of  Nicky  Thomas's  "Love  of  the  Common  People"  in  January  1983  ,  he  got  a  more  than  generous  slot  on  the  programme  given  his  current  status. He  took  the  opportunity  to  showcase  his  critic-baiting  cover  of   Joy  Division's  Love  Will  Tear  Us  Apart   as  part  of  his  set. It   still   wasn't  enough  to  get  the   single  into  the  chart  although  it  reached  number  2  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  year  when  re-released.

Paul  then  got  another  publicity  boost  when  Weller  protege  Tracie  Young, at  the  height  of  her  allotted  fifteen  minutes , started  gushing  about  how  Q-Tips  and  how   he  was  her  favourite  singer. Number  One  magazine   ambushed  her  by  bringing  him  along  to  an  interview.  All  it  needed  now  was the  right  song.

The  Popular  link  to  this  song  is here. I  think  it  covers  everything.     


         

447 Goodbye Billy Fury - Forget Him

Chart  entered  : 4  June  1983

Chart  peak : 59

A  sad  one  here  as  Billy  had   passed  away  at  the  start  of  the  year.

Billy's  biggest  hits  fell  mainly  in  the  pre-Beatles  era  with  "Jealousy  "  reaching  number  2  in  1961   but  he  could  still  get  his  records  into  the  Top  40  as  late  as  1966  and  Parlophone   kept  faith  in  him, releasing  his  singles  until  1970.  The   seventies  were  a  rough  decade  for  Billy. He  made  few  records  and  two  instances   of   open  heart  surgery  in  1972 and 1976,  following  on  from  his  bouts  of   rheumatic  fever  as  a  child,  restricted  his  ability  to  tour. He  dabbled  in  acting  with  a  part  in  That'll  Be  The  Day He  lived  on  a  farm  in  Wales  and  became  interested  in  wildlife  conservation. In  1978  he  was  declared  bankrupt  due  to  unpaid  taxes  and  lost  his  song  publishing  royalties. In  March  1981  he  almost  died  after  collapsing  on  his  farm.

  Nevertheless   the  success  of  Shakin  Stevens  prompted  thoughts  of  a  recording  comeback  and   he  signed  for  Polydor.   Although  his  first  single  in  seven  years  didn't  chart  it  attracted  the  attention  of  Shaky's  producer  Stuart  Colman  who  started  working  with  him  and  two  singles  became  minor  hits  in  1982  peaking  at  57  and  58 .  Unfortunately  Radio  One  wasn't  interested  in  any one  who  pre-dated  the  Beatles  ; that  was  Radio  Two  territory.  and  they  were  completely  ignored  by  the  more  popular  station.

In  January  1983  Billy  made  a  live  appearance  performing  some  of  his  hits   to  be  recorded  for  a  Channel  4  show  Unforgettable .  He  looked  fragile  but  his  voice  seemed  to  have  held  up. He  then  returned  to  the  studio  for  further  work  on  an  album  with  Colman  but  four  days  later  collapsed  at  his  home   and  died  the  next  day  aged  42.

"Forget  Him"  was  issued  posthumously  though  not  from  the  sessions  with  Colman.  It  was  a cover  of  the  1963  Bobby  Rydell   hit  written  by  Tony  Hatch  under  the  pseudonym  "Mark  Anthony".  Billy's  version  seems  to  belong  in  the  seventies  with  its  soft  rock  electric  piano  and  Osmonds  harmonies   and  is  a  perfectly  acceptable  MOR  pop  number. There's  not  a  great  deal  else  to  say  about  it  except  that  it  maintained  the  pattern  of  BIlly's  comeback  releases  by  peaking  at  number  59.

The  album  with  Colman  "The  One  And  Only"  was  also  released  posthumously  and  charted  at  56. No  more  singles  were  released  from  it  and  there  was  nothing  left  in  the  vaults  so  this  post  wraps  up  quickly. In  1999  his  1960  hit  "Wondrous  Place"  was  used  in  a  TV  ad  for  the  Toyota  Yaris  but  if  it  was  released  as  a  single  it  didn't  chart.  Documentaries, a  musical, tribute  shows  , a  statue  in  Liverpool  and  a  road  in  Camden   have  kept  his  memory  alive  in  the  ensuing  decades.

446 Hello Spear of Destiny - The Wheel

Chart entered : 21 May 1983

Chart peak : 59

Number of hits : 10

It's  not  too  easy  to fit  this  lot  into  a  ready-made  category  and  they  didn't  last  the  decade  as  a  chart  act  but  qualify  fair  and  square.  

Kirk  Brandon  was  born  in  Westminster  in  1956. He  formed  his  first  band  The  Pack  in  Clapham  in  1978.  The  Pack  played  a  muscular  form  of  punk  somewhere  between  Killing  Joke  and  The  Ruts  topped  off  with  Kirk's  sonorous  wail  that  made  the  lyrics  unintelligible. They  released  two  singles  in  1979, "Heathen"  and  "King  of  Kings"  reflecting  Kirk's  ongoing  preoccupation  with  religion. The  latter  is  more  coherent  and  contains  a  hint  that  Kirk  might  be  able  to  pen  a  tune.

The  following  year  Kirk  dissolved  the  group  and  formed  Theatre  of  Hate. The  bass  player  was  Stan  Stammers  from  Essex  who'd  had  short  stints  with  punk  bands  The  Epileptics  and  The  Straps  though  in  both  cases  he'd  left  before  they  recorded  anything. He  turned  down  a  counter-offer  from  the  UK  Subs  to  join   up  with  Kirk.  Guitarist  Steve  Guthrie, drummer  Luke  Rendle  and  saxophonist  John  Lennard  completed  the  line  up.  As  punk  degenerated  into  Oi ,  mere  yob-rock  peddled  by  the  likes of  The  Exploited  and  Cockney  Rejects, Theatre  of  Hate  stood  out  as  the  one   UK  "punk"  band  who  seemed  to  be  offering  something  more    intelligent.

They  soon  picked  up  a  flamboyant  fan  in  Kirk's  flatmate  and  alleged  lover  Boy  George  who  linked  the  group  tenuously  to  the  New  Romantic  movement  as  Kirk  could  sometimes  be  found  in  Billy's. With  a  growing  live  following  the  band  released  their  first  single  "Original  Sin"  in  November  1980. The  song  could  be  interpreted  as  a  comment  on  the  relationship  with  George  with  a  first  line  like  "Since  you  came  in  my  life  I've  had  to  rearrange  my  whole  reality ". The  song  is  a  bit  under-written  but  it  showcases  a  powerful  tight  sound  and  it  reached  number  5  in  the  independent  charts.

Five  months  later  came  the  follow  up  "Rebel  Without  A  Brain"  released  on  their  own  label  Burning  Rome  and  featuring  Mick  Jones  as  producer. It's  pretty  bracing  with  an  ultra-dry  sound  highlighting  the  Steven  Morris-ish  drum  patterns  , Kirk's  apocalyptic  lyrics  and  little  melodic  content. "Nero"  arrived  shortly  afterwards  and  follows  pretty  much  the  same  formula  with  the  added  treat  of  screechy  violin  playing. The  lyric  about  debauchery  might  be  a  comment  on  the  New  Romantics. These  singles  reached  3  and  2  in  the  indie  charts  and  the  live  album  "He  Who  Dares  Wins"  recorded  in  Berlin  went  one  better  and  topped  the  indie  album  chart.  Guthrie  then  quit  so  the  band  recorded  their  only  studio  album  "Westworld"  as  a  four  piece.

By  the  time  it  came  to  release  a  single  Billy  Duffy  from  The  Nosebleeds  - we'll  say  more  about  him  in  a  future  post - had  joined  on  guitar. "Do  You  Believe  In  The  West  World"   released  in  December  1981  , was  less  attritional  than  its  predecessors  with  a  recognisable  chorus  hook  and  an  attractive  Spaghetti  Western  guitar  hook. In  the  immediate  post-Christmas  lull  it  picked  up  some  daytime  radio  play  despite  its  anti-nuclear  lyric  and  got  to  the  edge  of  the  Top  40. The  band  appeared  on  Top  of  the  Pops  where  they  were  the  first  act  introduced  by  John  Peel  who'd  been  persuaded  to  come  back  to  the  programme  for  the  first  time  in  14  years. The  single  peaked  at  number  40  and  despite  some  scathing  reviews  the  album  "Westword"  reached  number 17.

Rather  than  release  another  single  from  the  album  which  Duffy  hadn't  played  on, the  band  waited  until  May  to  release  a  new  song  "The  Hop"  and  lost  some  vital  momentum.  I  bought  it  and  think  it's  superior  to  its  predecessor  with  a  more  controlled  sound  ,  Kirk  curbing  his  vocal  excesses  and  Duffy's  fat  guitar  sound  adding  a  new  element  to  the  mix. The  song  is  a  youthful  call  to  arms  with  a  rousing  chorus  and  an  exciting  sax  and  guitar  break  but  it  was  only  played  on  the  evening  shows  and  peaked  at  number  70. They  signed  off  in  style  with  the  splendidly  bonkers  "Eastworld"  in  October  1982  with   Kirk  intoning  tunelessly  over  Stan's  throbbing  bassline  ( the  only  hook  in  the  song ) ,   Cossack  chants   of   "Hey"   in  the  background  and  balalaikas  tumbling  in  and  out  of  the  mix . The  last  line  of  the  song  is  "Who  will  be  rid  of  troublesome  comrades ?"  and   there's  a  spear  on  the  back  of  the  sleeve  so   there  were  plenty  of  hints  of  what  was  to  come.

The  band  had  started  recording  a  second  album  but  broke  up  just  before  Christmas  1982  announcing  they  were  splitting  up  due  to  "musical  and  religious  differences". Kirk  and  Stan  would  be  staying  together  in  a  new  band  called  Spear  of  Destiny.  They  recruited  Chris  Bell,   the  recently  laid  off  drummer  from  The  Thompson  Twins  and  saxophonist  Lascelle  James  from  a  funk  band  Body, Soul  and Spirit  who  had  a  single  out  ( "Show  Me  The  Way "  which  I  haven't  heard )  in  1979.

Spear  of  Destiny  basically  commandeered  the  songs  that  had  been  written  for  that  second  Theatre  of  Hate  album  and  so  were  off  the  mark  quickly  with  "Flying  Scotsman", released  in  February  1983.  I  don't  know  what  tempted  Kirk  and  the  boys  to  divert  into  Celtic  rock   with  a  sound  somewhere  between  Big  Country  and  OMD's  Maid  of  Orleans   and  a  song  that  could  be  about  soldiers  or  Inter-rail  voyagers. Though  it's  slightly  ponderous  and  the  guitar  solo  at  the  end  sounds  like  it's  going  to  break  into  Ten  Green  Bottles,  I  liked  it  and  was  surprised  it  didn't  at  least  tickle  the  bottom  end  of  the  charts.

The  album  "Grapes  of  Wrath"  followed  in  April  and  peaked  at  62.The  opening  track  "The  Wheel"  was  released  a  fortnight  later  initially  as  a  double  pack  with  two  other tracks  from  the  album  on  the  extra  disc. "The  Wheel"  is   pretty  vague  lyrically  but  exudes  an  air  of  menace  with  a  rumbling  rhythm   and  an  ominous  riff  played  on  Lascelle's  double  tracked  sax. He  wouldn't  be  in  the  band  much  longer  but  he  makes  this  track  which  is  at  its  best  when  Kirk  is  wordlessly  improvising  around  his  playing. The  second  half  of  the  track  is  virtually  instrumental  with  a  nifty  false  ending.  I  thought  this  one  should  have  done  better   too  but  Kirk  seemed  fated  to  eternally  underachieve.

     

445 Goodbye Bad Manners - That'll Do Nicely

Chart  entered  :  14  May  1983

Chart  peak : 49

By  1983  the  ska  boom  had  well  and  truly  dissipated  and,   Madness  apart  , all  its  leading  lights  were  finding  it  harder  to  chalk  up  decent-sized  hits. The  Selecter  had  already  broken  up  two  years  earlier  and  now  it  was  Bad  Manners'  turn  to  feel  the  chill  wind  of  public  indifference .

Bad  Manners  were  summarily  dismissed  in  Rip  It  Up   as  " a  comedy-ska  troupe  with  a  fat  frontman"  which  is  unfair. Bookending   their  version  of  "Can  Can, their  joint  biggest  hirt  in  the  summer  of  1981,  were  two  fine  straight  songs  in  "Just  A  Feeling"  and  the  doleful  "Walking  In  The  Sunshine". The  latter  was  a  deserved  Top  10  hit  in  the  bleak  autumn  of  1981  but  after  that  they  faltered  badly.  Their  "R  and  B  Party  Four"  EP   , headed  by  a  throwaway  cover  of  Louis  Prima's  "Buona  Sera"  failed  to  make  much  headway  in  the  Christmas  market  and  peaked  at  34. The  next  single  "Got  No  Brains"  didn't  make  the  Top  40  and  although  a  cheap  cover  of  "My  Girl  Lollipop"  restored  them  to  the  Top  10  in  the  summer  of  1982, the  next  single  "Samson  and  Delilah"  was  their  lowest  charting   to  date. The  latter  three  singles  were  on  their  fourth  album  "Forging  Ahead"  which  spent  a  single  week  in  the  charts  at  number  78.

As  the  fourth  single  from  that  LP   and  given  their  declining  fortunes  you  might  have  expected  "That'll  Do  Nicely"  to  bomb  completely  but  it  was  boosted  by  a  television  ad  campaign  for  the  compilation  album  "The  Height  of  Bad  Manners"  which  reached  number  23.  "That'll  Do  Nicely" , which  for  younger  readers  was  the  advertising  slogan  for  American  Express  credit  cards, goes  for  the  same  Everyman  sentiments  as  "Walking  in  the  Sunshine"  with   Buster  Bloodvessel   singing  as  a  commuter  dreaming  of  the  escape  untold  riches  could provide. It's  a  skank  rather  than  a  lope  with  the  horn  section  as  excellent  as  ever  but  it  comes  unstuck  in  the  middle  eight  with  a  Cossack  section  ( punning  on  the  rush  hour  / Russia  similarity )  giving  way  to  a  Latin  tune  for  a  few  bars  and  suddenly  it  sounds  like  they're  trying  too  hard.

The  band  had  already  left  Magnet  before  the  single  came  out.  Harmonica  player  Alan  Sayag  ( aka  Winston  Bazoomies )  left  the  band  for  health  reasons  at  this  point.

 It  was  either  in  1984  or  1985  ( I  suspect  the  latter  but  can't  find  any  confirmation )  that   Bad  Manners  played  the  annual  Ball  at  my  Hall  of  Residence  in  Leeds. They  were  a  somewhat  reluctant  choice  ( sorry  if  you're  reading  this  chaps ) as  they  weren't  thought  to  be  a  "student  band"  but  were  the  best  option  available. I  didn't  go  but  I  remember  my  friend  telling  me  a  bunch  of  skinheads  had  turned  up. It  was  of  course  a  private  gig  for  students  at  the  university  but  they'd  got  wind  of  it  and  begged  for  admittance. The  guys  at  the  door  decided  it  was  a  lesser  risk  to  let  them  in  and  to  their  credit  they  did  behave  themselves.

In  1985  the  band  signed  a  new  deal  with  the  US  label  Portrait. It  was  a  strange  move  as  the  band  had  made  no  impression  there  at  all  although  there  was  a  building  ska  scene  headed   by  L.A.'s  Untouchables  and  Portrait  might  have  been  hoping  to  get  in  on  the  action. It  didn't  work  out  and  to  make  things  worse  contractual  difficulties  meant  their  new  album  "Mental  Notes"  didn't  get  a  UK  release  to  the  frustration  of  their  fans. Confusingly  two  singles  from  it  did  get  released  in  the  UK, the  thoroughly  tuneless  reggae  stomp  of  "Blue  Summer"  and  the  more  melodic  "Tossin  In  My  Sleep"  which  suffers  from  over-production  with  the  song  drowning  in  clutter. Neither  got  any  attention.

Realising  that  they  weren't  getting  anywhere  with  Portrait  the  band  decided  to  return  to  the  UK  where  they  had  to  tour  constantly  to  pay  off  a  tax  bill. Despite  this  Buster  formed  a   leaner  side  band  Buster's  All  Stars  to  do  extra  gigs  and  in  1988  decided  to  merge  the  two  groups  which  meant  bringing  Alan  back  in  and  ousting  four  of  the  original  members, saxophonist  Andrew  Marson, bassist  David  Farren , trumpeter  Paul  Hyman   and  drummer  Brian  Tuitt . 

Andrew  went  back  to  being  a  joiner   and  makes  his  living  that  way  in  the  East  End . He  also  plays  pedal  steel  guitar  in  a  part  time  country  and  western  band  The  Drawbacks. David  now  makes  a  successful  living  as  a  graphic  artist   and  is  "Keith  Richard"  in  a  Stones  tribute  band.  Paul  works  in  finance  in  the  City  but  did  write  some  new  songs  with  Buster  a  few  years  back,  Brian  works  at  a  recording  studio  in  Kent.

The  reconstituted  band   revived  the  Blue  Beat  label  and  ran  it  from  a  barge  in  the  back  garden  of  Buster's  former  home. Their  first  single  for  three  years  was  "Skaville  UK"  penned  by  new  bassist  Nicky  Welsh,  a  decidedly  retro  sax  romp  which  nevertheless  came  close  to  postponing  this  post  for  another  six  years.  Their  next  release  was  a  cover  of  the  old  Patience  and  Prudence  number  "Gonna  Get  Along  Without  You  Now" with an  otherwise  unknown  singer  Verona. Although  Buster  produced  the  single  he  doesn't  seem  to  be  on  it. It's  a  decent  version  and  could  well  have  been  a  hit  with  some  airplay. They  tried  again  in  December  1989  with  "Christmas  Time  ( Again )" , an  almost  rockabilly  number,  to  no  avail. There  was  some  consolation  for  Buster  himself  in  1989  as  he  featured  on  Longsy  D's  minor  hit  "This  Is  Ska".

Blue  Beat  folded  up  at  the  beginning  of  the  new  decade  and  saxophonist  Chris  Kane   decided  it  was  time  to  call  it  a  day. He  became  a  music  teacher  but  in  recent  years  has  been  musical  director  for  a  Billy  Fury  musical. Guitarist  Louis  "Alphonso" Cook   was  allowed  to  become  a  part  time  member  while  he  studied  for  a  French  philosophy  and  language  degree  in  Paris.

In  1992  they  put  out  an  LP  "Fat  Sound"  that  was  mostly  covers.Keyboard  player  Martin  Stewart  and  Welsh  then  joined  Pauline  Black  in  her  re-vamped  Selecter. Alan  had  to  drop  out  again  in  1993 and  left  the  music  business  so  Louis  and  Buster  were  the  only  originals  left  when  they  recorded   a  fun  cover  of  Deep  Purple's  "Black  Night "  in  1996. It  featured  on  their  1997  album  "Heavy  Petting".  

By  this  point  Buster  had  a  new  venture  on  the  go. He  opened  a  hotel  in  Margate  and  named  it  "Fatty  Towers"  . It  catered  for  people  with  huge  appetites  and  attracted  some  media  attention  for   Buster   after  years  out  of  the  spotlight  but  it  collapsed  after  a  couple  of  years.

Buster  went  back  out  on  the  road  though  without  Louis  who  made  his  move  to  Paris  permanent  in  1998. Since  then  Bad  Manners  has  pretty  much  been  Buster  and  whoever  he  wants  to  take  with  him  on  the  tour.  At  some  point  - consultation  with  my  friend  The  Voice  Of  Spotland   favours  16th  December  2000 - our  paths  crossed. Bad  Manners  were  playing  a  gig  in  Lincoln  on  the  same  Saturday that  Dale  were  visiting  Sincil  Bank  and  somebody  thought  it  would  be  a  good  idea  to  invite  Buster  down  to  do  the  pre-match  warm  up , perhaps  knowing  he  had  some  experience  of  this  from  his  time  as  a  sponsor  of  Margate  FC  during  the  "Fatty  Towers"  period.  I  wasn't  listening  to  the  tannoy  properly  and  it  took  me  a moment  or  two  to  realise  who  it  was. He  was  wearing  a  cap  and  was  much  shorter  than  I  imagined. It  was  pitiable. Nobody  around  me  showed  any  sign  of  recognition  and  his act - wandering  round  the  centre  circle  while   attempting  to  get  some  chants  going  in  a  reggae  stylee  - was  just  embarrassing. My  friend  who  specialised  in  abusing  any  veterans  in  the  opposing  line  up  shouted  "Retire  Bloodvessel !"  at  him  which  was  far  more  amusing  than  Buster's  antics.

 Louis  did  play  on  the  last  album, 2003's  "Stupidity"  which  again  was  mainly  covers.  Three  years  later  he  teamed  up  with  Martin  who  had  recently  quit  The  Selecter  in  the  part  time  supergroup  Skaville  UK  who  thus  have  more  original  Bad  Manners  members  than  Bad  Manners  themselves.

In  December  2012  came  the  first  Bad  Manners  single  for  well  over  a   decade,  a  charity  single  for  the  Trussell  Trust   called  "What  Simon  Says"  a  chugging  ska  tune  taking  a  pop  at  Mr  Cowell,  described  in  the  lyric  as  "a  wart  on  the  arse  of  Britain". I  doubt  it  caused  him  too  many  sleepless  nights.  Fans  organised  a   reunion  night  that  same  month  which  attracted  seven  out  of  the  nine  original  members , Buster  and  Louis  being  the  absentees.

Buster's  clearly  going  to  go  on  until  he  drops  - which  I  think  many  people  expected  to  have  already  happened   by  now   -  and  good  luck  to  him .