546 Goodbye Dexy's Midnight Runners - Because Of You

Chart  entered : 22  November  1986

Chart  peak : 13

It's  take  a  deep  breath  time  as  I   attempt  a  coherent  account  of  all  the  line  up  changes  since  the  first  hit.  Keyboard player  Pete  Saunders  and  drummer  Bobby  Ward   left   immediately  after  "Dance  Stance"  to  be  replaced  by  Andy  Leek  and  Andy  Growcott  respectively.  When their  next  single  "Geno"  got  to  number  one,  Andy L  took  fright  and  left. Pete  temporarily  returned  to  record  the  album  "Searching  For  The  Young  Soul  Rebels"  before  being  replaced  by  Mick  Talbot  from  The  Merton  Parkas. Ructions  around  the  next   ( flop ) single  "Keep  It"   contributed  to  the  departure  of  Talbot  , bassist  Pete  Williams , sax  players  Geoff  Blythe  and  Steve  Spooner  and  Andy  G  to  form  The  Bureau.  Their  replacements  were  Steve  Wynne  ( bass ),  Micky  Billingham ( keyboards ), Brian  Maurice  ( sax ), Paul  Speare  ( sax )  and   Seb  Shelton, formerly  drummer  with  briefly  successful  mod  band  Secret  Affair.  Guitarist  Kevin  Archer  joined  the  exodus  shortly  afterwards  but  didn't  join  The  Bureau  and,  crucially,  remained  on  good  terms  with  singer /dictator  Kevin  Rowland. He  was  replaced  by  Kevin "Billy"  Adams.  This  new  line  up  recorded  the  hits  "Plan  B"  and  "Show  Me"  then  Wynne  was  sacked  and  replaced  by  Mick  Gallick.

Kevin  A   then  asked  Kevin  R  for  his  opinion  of  a  demo  he'd  made  with  his  new  group  The  Blue  Ox  Babes  which  matched  Motown  soul  with  strings . Kevin  liked  it  so  much  he  filched  the  idea  for   Dexy's - something  for  which  he's  repeatedly  expressed  contrition -  and  asked  his  horn  players  to  learn  string  parts.  He  then  invited  violinist  Helen  Bevington  who'd  featured  on  The  Blue  Ox  Babes  tape  to  join. She  brought  along  Steve  Shaw ( and  briefly  Roger  Huckle ) , fellow  violinists  at  Birmingham  School  of  Music. Kevin  re-christened  them  with  Irish-sounding  surnames  as  part  of  his  new  vision. Seeing  which  way  the  wind  was  blowing,  the  sax  players  and  trombonist  Big  Jim  Paterson   ( the  last  survivor  , besides  Kevin R, of  the  original  line  up )  left  at  the  end  of  1981  although  they  all  featured  on  the  next  album  and  Jim  co-wrote  their  mega-hit "Come  On  Eileen" .  One  new sax  player  Nick  Gatsfield   was  recruited.

At  the  beginning  of  1983,  Micky  and  Mick   left  to  be  replaced  by  Bob  Noble  and  John  Edwards  for  a  US  tour  during  which   Helen  and  Kevin  became  an  item. After  the  tour  finished  Noble, Edwards, Seb  and  Steve   dropped  out  ( though  some  were  re-hired  as  session  musicians )   leaving  a  quartet  of  Kevin, Billy, Helen  and Gatsfield  for  the  next  album  "Don't  Stand  Me  Down"  . The  latter  had  left  by  the  time  it  came  out  in  the  summer  of  1985  though  he's  featured  on  the  cover.

"Don't  Stand  Me  Down"  has  divided  critics  ever  since. It's  either  a  self-indulgent  mess  or  misunderstood  masterpiece  according  to  taste. What's  not  in  dispute  is  that  it  was  a  huge  commercial  failure. There  were  no  singles  on  it; the  belated  release  of  an  edited  version  of  the  track  "This  Is  What  She's  Like "  only  proved  the  point.

Given  that  album's  long  gestation  period,  the  appearance  of  a  new  single  the  following  year
was  quite  a  surprise. The  band  had  been  approached  to  write  a  theme  tune  for  Brush  Strokes , Esmonde  and  Larbey's  new sitcom  about  a  womanising  painter  and  came  up  with  "Because  Of  You"  . The  song  is  deceptively  simple  with  a  basic  romantic  lyric  and  a  woozy  country  rock  feel  but  there  are  sophisticated  string  and  brass  parts  interwoven  in  the backing. Kevin  sings  it  like  he's  had  a  skinful  which  adds  some  unpredictability. It's  mellowness  though indicates  Kevin's  future  direction. It's  a  shame  it's  associated  with  a  fairly  dire  TV  programme.

It  wasn't  long  after  it  finished  its  chart  run  that  Dexy's  officially  disbanded  with  the  ending  of   Kevin's  relationship  with  Helen. Kevin  emerged  in  May  1988   with  "Walk  Away"  billed  as  "Kevin  Rowland  of  Dexy's  Midnight  Runners". It  was  a  different  beast  from  his  previous  work  with  Kevin  singing  in  his  normal  voice  with  none  of  the  General  Johnson  affectations. Producer  Deodato  underpins  the  sound  with  discreet  electronics but  it's  still  an  old fashioned  pop  tune  with  a  reasonably  catchy  tune  so  you  would  have  expected  it  to  get  out  of  the  bubbling  under  zone.

The  follow-up  "Tonight" put  the  beat  upfront  and  got  a  fair  amount  of  airplay  although  it  took  me  a while  to  realise  who  it  was  with  Kevin  sounding  more  like  Mick  Jagger  than  his  former  self . It  too  failed  to  chart  which  put  the  album  "The  Wanderer"  at  something  of  a  disadvantage. It's  a   pleasant  collection  of  adult  pop  songs,  and  "Young  Man" , the  third  single  is  quite  affecting , but  it  is  all  a  little  bland  compared  to  Dexy's.  This  impression  was  compounded  by  Kevin's  public  appearances  at  this  time, a  guy  who  could  easily  come  across  as  an  arrogant  arsehole  replaced  by  a  quietly-spoken  amenable  everybloke. He  did  a  spot  for  Record  Mirror   reviewing  the  singles  and  went  out  of  his  way  not  to  offend  anyone ; "Another  hit  for  Belinda"  ( Carlisle )  was  one  of  his  penetrating  analyses. I  also  recall  him  appearing  on  one  of  ITV's  night  time  shows  that  Christmas  on   which  they  had  a  Juke  Box  Jury  cum  Gong  Show slot  where  the  panel  buzzed  when  they'd  had  enough  of  a  particular  video. Of  course  the  producers  always  threw  in  a  complete  turkey  and  when  Kevin  did  it  there  was  a  children's  choir  singing  a  Christmas  song  to  the  tune  of  the  Eastenders  theme. The  other  panellists  buzzed  straight  away  then  stared  bewildered  as  Kevin  beatifically  hummed  along  and  let  it  play  to  the  finish.

The  album  didn't  chart, a  complete  disaster . It's  difficult  to  think  of  any  lead  singer  coming  out  of  a  successful  band  faring   quite  so  badly  with  a  mainstream  release. The  nineties  were  almost  a  lost  decade  for  Kevin, sunk  in  depression , bankruptcy  ( due  to  the  debts  incurred  recording  "Don't  Stand  Me  Down ") and  drug  addiction . A  compilation  LP  in  1991  made  number  12 and  helped  fund  spells  in  rehab and  there  was  a  brief  union  with  Jim  and  Billy  mooted  in  1993. Kevin  didn't really  return  to  music  until  1997  when  Alan  McGee, wanting  to  give  him  a  leg  up, signed  him  to  Creation.  The  result  was  1999's  "My  Beauty"  a  covers  LP  of  songs  mainly  from  the  sixties  performed  in  a  low  key,  under  produced  fashion. Some  of  the  lyrics  , particularly  on  Squeeze's  "Labelled  With  Love"  were  changed  to  reference  Kevin's  own  drug  problem. His  vulnerability  at  the  time  is  obvious  , the  occasional  spoken  interjections  of  "It's  gonna  be  alright"  are  tear-jerking. It  was  never  going  to  sell  anyway  but  Kevin  appearing  in  a  dress  and  briefs  on  the  cover  killed  it  stone  dead. When  he  appeared  like  that  at  the  Reading  Festival  he  was  bottled  off. Kevin  commented  at  the  time "Insanity  is  no  fun  mate. People  try  to  romanticize  the  idea  of  the  suffering   artist. At  my  lowest  ebb  there  was  no  romance  to  it  at  all".

Kevin  spent  another  three  years  out  of  the  public  eye  but  in  2003  EMI  planned  another  Dexy's  compilation  and  gave  him  the  opportunity  to  record  two  new  songs  for  it. With  the  help  of   Jim ,Pete  W  and  Mick  Talbot  among  others  he  recorded  "Manhood"  and  "My  Life  In  England"  and  in  April  2003  announced  that  Dexy's  were  back  in  business. The  album  "Let's  Make  This  Precious"  didn't  do  very  well  peaking  at  75 and  EMI  weren't  confident  that  either  of  the  new  tracks  would  work  as  singles  but  the  new  look  band  had  a  successful  tour and  stayed  together. After  working on  it ,  on  and  off  for  nine  years , a  new  album " One  Day  I'm  Going  To  Soar"  was  finally  released  in  2012 .   It  got  excellent  reviews  across  the  board  but  I  think  there  was  an  element  of  wishful  thinking  involved. There  are  some  good  songs  like  the  single  "She  Makes  A  Wiggle"  and  "Lost"  is  a  devastating,  plainly  expressed  account  of  his  mental  troubles   but  it's  patchy. Some  of  the  songs  drag  and  anyone  expecting  anything  of  the  energy  and  attack  of  the  first  album  will  be  disappointed.

The  album  reached  number  13  and  the  band  went  on  tour  to  promote  it.  Talbot  left  after  the  tour; well  it  wouldn't  be  Dexy's  without  a  casualty  would  it  ?  He  was  replaced  by  Sean  Read.  They  did  a  few  dates  in  2013  and  2014  then  earlier  this  year  they  released  their  fifth  album  "Let  The  Record  Show : Dexy's  Do  Irish  And  Country  Soul". Pete  W  was  not  involved  but  Jim  appears  once  more  as  does  Helen  for  a  guest  appearance. There  are  no  new  songs  it's  all  covers   mostly  of  traditional  Irish  favourites  like  "  I  Will  Take  You  Home  Kathleen "  and  "Carrickfergus". The  tracks  I've  heard  have  been  pleasant enough  but  it's  not  going  to  change  the  world. It  reached  number  10  in  the  album  charts.

So  what  have  the  other  guys  been  up  to  ?  Pete  S  moved  to  London  and  joined  a  post-punk  outfit  called  The  Decorators. They  had  some  good  ideas - Pete's  first  single  with  them  "Strange  One"  anticipates  baggy  by  eight  years  - but  they  were  never  going  to  break  out  of  night  time  radio  with  singer  Michael  Bevan  who  sounds  like  he's  got  a  peg  on  his  nose. They  recorded  two  LPs,  "Tablets " and  "Rebel  Songs"  before  splitting  up  in  1984. Pete  also  played  organ  on  Carmel's  most  successful  album  "The  Drum  Is  Everything"  and  co-wrote  their  1984  hit  "More  More  More". He  played  as  a  guest  on  the  first  album  by  Norwich  punks  and  Peel  favourites   Serious  Drinking   then  joined  the  band  for  their  final  single  in  1984,  "Country  Girl  Became Drugs  and  Sex  Punk"  an  entertaining  cross  between  The  Smiths  and  Half  Man  Half  Biscuit.

 After  they  dissolved,  Pete  was  picked  up  by  ex-Stiff  Little  Fingers  singer  Jake  Burns  for  his  new  band  The  Big  Wheel  in  1986.   They  released  three  singles  , "She  Grew  Up", "On  Fortune  Street"  and  "Breathless"   which  are  all  OK  in  an  Alarm  with  extra  Hammond   way  but  not  really  strong  enough  to  overcome  the  punk  has-been  tag  hanging  over  their  leader. They  didn't  get  the  chance  to  release  an  album  before  Burns  decided  to  reform  Stiff  Little  Fingers  but  a  compilation  of  their  material  was  released on  CD  in  2001. Stiff  Little  Fingers  didn't  need  a  keyboard  player  and  Pete  dropped  out  of  music  to  become  a  real-life  decorator  for  a  few  years.When  he  returned  in  the  early  nineties  he  was  a  jazz  pianist  playing  with  a  variety  of  artists. In  2005  he  started  working  at  a  burlesque  club . He  formed  his  own  troupe  known  as  Blues  and  Burlesque  and  tours  with  them.

Bob  went   on  to  university. He  now  works  for  the  London  School  of  Economics  as  Policy and  Communications  Director  for  an  Institute  based  there  and  attracts  internet  abuse  for  his  views  on climate  change.

Andy  L initially  joined  Kevin  A  in  The  Blue  Ox  Babes but  was   poleaxed  by  Kevin  R's  appropriation  of  their  sound  and  quit. He   put  out  a  couple  of   solo  singles  in  1984  and  through  his  friendship  with  Kirsty  McColl, had  one  of  his  songs  recorded  by  Frida.  In  1988  he  befriended  Robert  Plant  who  recommended  Andy  sign  with  the  management  company  he  used, Hit  and  Run. They  forwarded  Andy's  demo  to  George  Martin  who  agreed  to  come  on  board  and  produce  an  album, much  to  Andy's  surprise. I  don't  think  Andy's  brief  part   in   the   Dexys   story  justifies  a  full    analysis   of  his  subsequent  work  but  if  you  go  to  his  channel  on  Youtube  you'll  find  he  gives  a  very  entertaining  account  of  it  there.

 Hit  for  six  by  Andy  L's  departure  Kevin  A's  band  didn't  get  round  to  recording  anything  until  1988. Dexy's  had  split  up  by  then  of  course  and  Steve  W  and  Steve Sh.  had  joined  up  with  them.I  saw  the  video  for  their  first  single  "There  Ain't  No  Deceiving  You"  on  The  Chart  Show  and  bought  it. It's  an  excellent  Celtic  soul  number  with  a  real  swing  and  melancholic  lilt  but  only  bubbled  under. The  instrumental  B-side  "The  Last  Detail"  is  really  good  as  well. It  wasn't  well  received  in  the  press; I  remember  a  review  in  Record  Mirror  referring  to  them  as  a  Dexy's  rip-off  which  must  have  pleased  Kevin  A  no  end.  The  follow  up  "Apples  and  Oranges  ( The  International  Hope  Campaign )  is  more  abrasive  and  less  melodic   with  Kevin's  rather  raw  singing  voice  too  upfront.  A  third  single  "Walking  On  The  Line"  sounds  like  a  lesser  cousin  of  the  first.  They  didn't  get  the  chance  to  record  an  LP  but  a  compilation  of  their  work  came  out  on  CD  in  2009.

Sadly  Kevin  A's  music  career  ended  there. He's  been  diagnosed  a  paranoid  schizophrenic  but his  long  time  girlfriend  Yasmin  has  stuck  with  him  and  Kevin  R  gives  him  10% of  his  own royalties  from  Too-Rye-Ay.

The  Bureau  recruited  a  new  singer  and  guitarist  from  former  Dexys  support  band  The  Upset  and  later  a  trombonist  to  replace  Jim  and  were  ready  to  go  at  the  beginning  of  1981. Their  first  single  "Only  For  Sheep"  was  released  in  March  1981. Written  by  new  singer  Archie  Brown  , it's  a  cry  of  frustration  at  the  lack  of  personal  liberty. With  producer  Pete  Wingfield  on  board  it  sounds  exactly  like  Dexy's  Mark  1 with  the  important  exception  of  Brown's  snarly  Van  Morrison-esque  vocals. It  was  a  Top  10  hit  in  Australia  but  despite  a  hectic  gigging  schedule  it  didn't  chart  over  here.  In  the  summer  they  released  "Let  Him  Have  It"   an  angry  but  tuneful  song  about  the  execution  of  Derek  Bentley. Radio  wouldn't  touch  it  and  it  too  failed.  With  two  flop  singles  behind  them,  WEA  would  only  release  their  eponymous  LP  in  Canada  and  Australia  and  it  didn't  see  a  UK  release  until  2005. In  the  winter  of  1981  they  toured  with  The  Mo-dettes  and  Roddy  Radiation  and  the  Tearjerkers  then  decided  to  call  it  a  day.

Peter  W  formed  his  own  band  These  Tender  Virtues  with  him  as  vocalist. Their  single  "Waltz"  from  1985  is  horrible,  a  mix  of  queasy  fairground  organ  and  overwrought  vocals  that  doesn't  seem  to  be  in  time. I've  heard  one  other  track  from  their  album  "The  Continuing  Saga  ",  "Cruel  Estella " ,which  is  more  palatable  if  still  somewhat  over-theatrical  with  Peter  sounding  not  unlike  his  former   leader.  The  band  continued  for  another  ten  years  as  a  touring  act  without  a  record  deal.  Pete  then  formed  a  band  called  Baseheart  who  never  got  a  deal.  In  2003  he  got  the  call  to  rejoin  Dexys  as  co-vocalist   and  this  built  up  some  interest  in  his  solo  album  of  2012  "See"   which  included  a  lot  of  the  songs  demoed  by  Baseheart. In  2015  he  released  another  solo  LP  "Roughnecks  and  Roustabouts". From  what  I've  heard  of  it  his  solo  stuff  isn't  far  away  from  Dexy's  latter  day  sound, rootsy  singer-songwriter  stuff  with  less  of  a  Celtic  edge,

Andy  G  was  picked  up  by  General  Public  whose  adventures  we've  already  covered. He  left  the  band  after  the  first  album , in  1985. He  also  worked  with  Stephen  "Tin Tin  " Duffy  in  the  mid-eighties. After  that  he  transferred  to  the  other  side of  the  mixing  desk  and  became  a  recording  engineer. In  1997  he  released  a  CD  of  jazz  covers  under  his  stage  name  "Stoker". He's  now  based  in  Los  Angeles.

Ironically  Geoff  joined  The  TKO  Horns the  outfit  set  up  by  the  second  brass  section  to  quit  Dexy's  as  a  replacement  for  Brian  who'd  originally  placed  him. They  worked  extensively  with  Elvis  Costello  particularly  on  the  Punch  The  Clock  album  and  later  with  Madness, Squeeze, Howard  Jones  and  others. Geoff  and  Jim  had  a  short  spell  in  a  band  called  The  Neighbourhood  in  1989  before  Geoff  emigrated  to  New  York. For  25  years  he  played  in  the  Irish  nationalist  rock  band  Black  47  who  were  too  politicised  to  get  a  UK  deal; they  sound  like  they  might  be  worth  further  investigation. In  2013  he  released  his  own  CD  of  brass-driven  pop  "Lost  In  Space" under  the  name  G  I  Blythe. He's  also  done  some  work  on  film  soundtracks.

Steve  Sp  left  the  music  business  when  The  Bureau  split  up  and  moved  to  Cornwall. He  was   going  to  join  the  reunion  in  2003  but  there  wasn't  the  finance  for  full  brass  and  string  sections. He  was  part  of  The  Bureau's  brief  reunion  in  2005  which  got  the  first  album  released. A  second  CD  of  material  contributed  by  various  members  was  distributed  at  their  gigs  but  never  officially  released.

I've  no  idea  what  Steve  W  did  after  Blue  Ox  Babes  split  up.

As  already  mentioned  Jim, Brian  and  Paul  formed  themselves  as   The TKO  Horns, a  brass  section  for  hire.  Brian  left  and  was  replaced  by  Geoff  then  Brian  came  back  when  Paul  dropped  out.  Brian  now  works  at  Heathrow  Airport  and  lives  in  France. Paul  went  into teaching  and  was  a  music  and  media  lecturer  at  various  colleges  until  2005. Since  then  he  has  been  a  session  musician. After  his  stint  in  The  Neighbourhood , Jim  put  down  his  trombone  and  battled a drink  problem  until  Dexys  reconvened.

Micky  too  went  into  teaching  after  leaving  General  Public  and  teaches  singing  and  performance  at  Dudley  College. He  has  played in  Ranking  Roger's  version  of  The  Beat  but  is not  currently  in  the line-up.

I  have  no  idea  what  happened  to  Mick.

Seb  put  down  his  sticks  and  went  into  band  management, working  with  Tackhead, Adrian  Sherwood, The  Woodentops  and  Julian  Cope. I  would  imagine  managing  the  latter  is  an  interesting  job.

After  the  demise  of   Blue  Ox Babes  Steve  Sh  played  with  The Proclaimers  and  Ricky  Ross  but  had  to  retire  about  ten  years ago  due  to   a  shoulder  complaint.

Helen  became  a  sought  after  session  player  working  with  Mary  Coughlan  and  Graham  Parker. She  recorded  and  toured  with  Tanita  Tikaram  during  her  initial  burst  of  success  in  1988-1990. She's  put out  two  albums  of  instrumental  music  in  the  1990s  and  has  recently  gone back  out  on  the  road  with  Tikaram.

Billy  was  going  to  be  part  of  the  abortive 1993  reunion  and  appeared  in  the video  for Kevin's  "Concrete  And  Clay"  single  from  "My Beauty" but  hasn't  been  involved  with  him  since.  



 

545 Goodbye Roy Wood* - Waterloo

( * Doctor  and  the  Medics  featuring.... )

Chart  entered :  22  November  1986

Chart  peak : 45

As  undignified  exits  go  this  takes  some  beating -  a  guest  spot   by  invitation  from   a  cartoon   band  on  an  "ironic"  cover  of  a  song  that   you  largely  influenced  in  the  first  place.

I  have  to  say  that  I  dissent  from  the  consensus,  which  seems  universal  among  music  fans  a bit  older  than  me , that  regards  Roy  as  the  great  lost  genius  of  pop. He's  an  excellent musician  and  led  a  good  band  in  The  Move  but  his  three  chart-toppers  are  all  well-executed pastiche . Moreover , he's  largely  rested  on  his  laurels  for  the  last  forty  years. A  clever  and  nice  bloke,  yes. Genius ?  no  way.

Roy's  post-ELO  outfit  Wizzard  disintegrated   in  1975  after  two  number  ones  and  a  Christmas  perennial. Roy  spent  too  much  time  in  the  studio  and  not  enough  on  the  road  to  maintain  such  a large  line  up and  the  members  drifted  away. That  same  year  he  had  his  last  solo  hit; even  before  punk  made  his  prog-leanings  politically  suspect , public  interest  was  waning. He  released  a  string  of  singles  , sometimes  under  the  name  "Helicopters"  but  they  were  all  ignored.

Doctor  and  the  Medics  had  been  going  since  1982   finding  a  small  audience  for  their  tongue  in  cheek   mixture  of  Goth, psychedelia  and  glam. They  had  long  been  doing  camp  versions  of  early  seventies  hits  but  in  the  early  summer  of  1986  their  not  very  adventurous  cover  of  Norman  Greenbaum's  "Spirit  In  The  Sky"  took  off  like  a  bomb  and  reached  number  one. Cominhg  to  the  end  of  my  time  at  university  I  couldn't  get  why  sensible  friends  with  good  taste  were  enjoying  it. I  never  did  get  to  grips  with  student  irony, probably  as  a  result  of  my  half-in  half- out   approach  to  university, now  a  matter  of  some  regret.  After  following  it  up  with  one  of  their  own  compositions  , the  instantly  forgettable  "Burn"  and  seeing  it  just  squeeze  inside  the  Top  30,  the  band  tried  to  replicate  the  winning  formula  and  brought  in  a  venerated  glam  icon  to  augment  the  sound  with  his  sax.

Actually  Roy's  playing  is  the  best  thing  on  the  record. Usual  singer  Clive "The  Doctor"  Jackson  handed  the  lead  vocal  to  the  two  girl  backing  singers  The  Anadin  Brothers  who  drone  through  the  song  so  robotically  they  make  The  Human  League  girls  sound  like,  well,  Abba. Benny's  arrangement  is  replaced  with  rockier  guitar  and  cheap  synth  sounds. It's  dreadful  and  pointless. Katie  Boyle, Lemmy  and  Captain  Sensible   popped  up  to  make  the  video  seem  like  an  event  and  it  got  on  The  Chart  Show   but  the  joke  was  wearing  thin  and  the  record  failed  to  breach  the  Top  40.

The  following  year  Roy  put  out  "Starting  Up", his  first  album  for  eight  years  and  his  last  to  date. It's  short  at  just  under  36  minutes  and  includes  two  previously  released  singles. The  opening  pair   of  tracks  are  quite  good  old  fashioned  pop  songs  and  "On  Top  of  the World"  is  a  cheeky  attempt  to  ape  ELO  but  the  rest  is  quite  ugly , Roy  showing  the  world  that  he  can  use  synths  and  modern  production  techniques  like  the  rest  but  not  bothering  to  write  a  decent  song  to  go  with  them. When  you've  lost  your  audience  you  need  better  than  this  to  get  it  back.

And  that  was  it  basically. Roy's  just  lived  off   his  royalties , popped  up  on  TV  occasionally  and  sporadically  gone  out  on  the  road. In  1995  Channel  4's  Glam  Top  10  proclaimed   that  he  was  on  tour  with  all  new  material  but  none  of  it  made  it  on  to  record.  In  December  that  year  he  got  to  59  with  a  re-recording  of  "I  Wish  It  Could  Be  Christmas  Everyday"   and  five  years  later  mashed  it  with  The  Wombles  A  Wombling  Merry  Christmas  reaching  22. In  recent  years  he's  toured  with  Status  Quo. He  turns  70  later  this  year.

544 Goodbye Ultravox - All Fall Down

Chart  entered : 22  November  1986

Chart  peak : 30

Ultravox  were  perhaps  the  next  victims  of  the  post-live  Aid  pop  purge  but  I  think  they  were  pretty  much  finished  anyway.

The  Midge  Ure  line  up  peaked  early  when  their  third  hit  "Vienna"  reached  number  2  and  became  one  of  the  defining  records  of  the  eighties. Island  capitalised  with  a  reissue  of  "Slow  Motion "  from  the  John  Foxx -era  which  reached  number  33. The  band  then  went  to  Germany  to  record  a  more  challenging  LP  "Return  To  Eden" which  saw  their  commercial  stock  slip  a  bit  and  they  settled  into  a  very  consistent  run  of  singles  usually  peaking  in  the  mid-teens. 1984  saw  an  upturn  when  "Dancing  With Tears  In  My  Eyes"  reached  number  3  and  a  greatest  hits  collection  went  triple  platinum. Then  came  Band  Aid  and  Midge  Ure's  solo  success  with  If  I  Was   and  the  album  "The  Gift ". They  fell  into  the  same  trap  as  Blondie; audiences  will  accept  compilation  LPs  and  solo  projects  but  if  one  follows  immediately  after  the  other  it  sends  out  a  signal  the  band  is  over. The  band  reconvened  in  1986  with  no  one  feeling  particularly  enthusiastic. According  to  Ure's  autobiography  they  had  agreed  the  next  album  would  be  a  more  organic  effort  and  when  Warren  Cann  showed  a  reluctance  to  return  to  playing  real  drums  the  others  told  him  he  was  fired  and  temporarily  borrowed  Mark  Brziecki  from  Big  Country  as  a  replacement. Ure  concedes  it  was  more  of  a  case  of  hoping  a  change  of  personnel  would  trigger  some  inspiration.

The  resulting  album  "U-Vox"  has  been  largely  disowned  by  both  Midge  and  keyboard  player  Billy  Currie   as  muddled  and  directionless  but  there is  some  decent  music ( if  not  lyrics  )  on  it   and  the  singles  chosen  don't  give  a  true  representation. The  lead  single  "Same  Old  Story"  ( a  dangerous  title  for  a  band  who've  been  around  a  while  )  hinted  at  commercial  decline  by  peaking  at  number  31.

"All  Fall  Down"  was  the  second  single  chosen with  an  eye  on  the  Christmas  market. It's  not  really  an  Ultravox  record  at  all.  Although  the  band  maintained  the  fiction  of  equal  credits  ( though  not  for  Brzezicki ) on  every  song,  it's  a  Midge  solo  effort  , a  cod-Celtic  folk  song  about  the  futility  of  war  on  which  The  Chieftains  provide  most  of   the  instrumentation  ( I  remember  Billy  Connolly  on  Roundtable  being  appalled  that  they'd  soiled  their  hands  with  this ).  Billy  ( Currie )  and  bassist  Chris  Cross  looked  uncomfortable  when  they  appeared  on  Wogan. Midge  sings  at  the  very  edge  of  his  vocal  range  and  while  his  conviction's  not  in  question  the  lyrics  are  only  one  notch  above  Culture  Club's  The  War  Song  in  their  banality. Nor  do  they  fit  particularly  well  with  the  music.  Far  from  challenging  from  the  Christmas  number  one, it  went  down  from  its  entry  position.

The  band  dutifully  toured  the  world  promoting  an  album  that  had  already  died  in  the  charts. At  the  end  of  it  Midge  told  the  others  he  was  quitting  the  band . Following  his  lead  Chris  decided  to  leave  as  well  and  pick  up  his  previous  career  in  psychotherapy.  This  wasn't  announced  publicly  and  in  the  summer  Chrysalis  belatedly  released  a  third  single  from  "U-Vox", the  Live-Aid  inspired  "All  In  One  Day". Apart  from Midge's  desultory  vocal  this  one  was  all  Billy  , with  an  overblown  orchestration  by  George  Martin. For  all  the  bombast  there's  really  no  song  there  at  all  and  it  was  the  first  single  since  the  last  of  the  Foxx-era  to  miss  the  charts.

The  world  generally  realised  there  was  no  more  Ultravox  the  following  year  when  both  Midge  and  Billy  released  solo  albums. We'll  pick  up  on  Midge's  solo  career  later  but it's  safe  to  say  that  Chrysalis's  hopes  he  could  become  another  Sting  or  Peter  Gabriel  went  unrealised.

Billy's  first  effort  "Transportation"  was  an  instrumental  album  featuring  guitar  work  from Yes-man  Steve  Howe. It's  fine  if  you  like  Mike  Oldfield's  work  but  it  ran  into  a  stone  wall  of complete  indifference  from  both  press  and  public  , something  he  was  gong  to  have  to  get used  to  for  the  next  couple  of  decades.

The  following  year  he  put  together  a  new  group  called  Humania  which  featured  former  Ultravox  guitarist  Robin  Simon, now  back  from  America . They  played  live  and  recorded an  album's  worth  of    material  including  re-workings  of  a couple  of  Ultravox  songs  but  couldn't  find  a  deal. It  was  eventually  released  in  2006  and  is  a  fairly  routine  stab  at  epic  pop  rock  like  Then  Jericho  with  extra  emphasis  on  the  keyboards.

In  1990  he  played  electric  viola  on  Dead  Or  Alive's  Japan-only  album  "Fan  The  Flame".  In  1991  he  set  up  his  own  label  Hot  Food  Music  to  release  his  next  solo  album  "Stand  Up  And  Walk" . I've  only  heard  one  track  "Ukraine"  which  was  developed  from  an  old  Ultravox  demo  and  is  quite  impressive.

Billy  then  decided  he'd  be  better  off  trying  to  revive  the  Ultravox  brand. Warren  agreed  to  give  it  a go  but  pulled  out  long  before  they  recorded  anything  so  Billy  was  the  only  original  member   on  the  two  albums  they  put  out. The  first  single  in  1992  was  the  rather  desperately  titled  "I  Am  Alive", a  colourless  piece  of  stadium  pop  that  could  be  Mike  and  the  Mechanics. It  got  no  attention  and  was  a  fitting  trailer  for  the  album  "Revelation"  the  following  year  which  is terrible. The  revelation  is  that  it  sounds  nothing  like  Ultravox; only  "Perfecting  the  Art  of  Common  Ground"  comes  close  and  it's  B-side  quality  at  best.  To  rub  salt  in  the  wound  a  re-issue  of  "Vienna"  got  to  number  13  in  the  UK.

Two  years  later  Billy  tried  again  with  a  completely  different  line  up . The  single  "There  Goes  A  Beautiful  World"  is  more  recognisable  as  an  Ultravox  song  with  new  singer  Sam  Blue  making  a  credible  attempt  at  sounding  like  Midge. I've  heard  most  of  the  album  "Ingenuity"  and  it's  not  a  bad  facsimile  of  classic  Ultravox  but  it  didn't  do  any  better  commercially. The  band  were still  together  the  following  year  when  they  got  do  a  short  set  on  Live  TV  and  put  out  a  live  album  "Future  Picture".

Billy  then  dropped  out  of  music  for  a  while  when  his  kids  were  very  young. When  he  re-emerged   in  2001  with  the  solo  albums  "Unearthed"  and "Keys  and  the  Fiddle"  he  was  making  neo-classical  music  rather  than  pop  although  the  latter  opened  with  the  doomy  "Memories  Don't  Go"  featuring  Hazel  O  Connor  ( a  former  girlfriend  of  Midge )  on vocals.

While  Billy  ploughed  his  lonely  furrow,  Chris  got  on  with  working  as  a  psychotherapist. He  only  appeared  in  public  for  Midge's  appearance  on  This  Is  Your  Life   , Midge  noting  that  his  personality  had  completely  changed  from  extrovert  to  a  quiet, reserved  man.

After  working  for  a  time  with  Kim  Wilde,   Warren  retreated  to  L.A.  and  appeared  in  the  obscure  horror  comedy  film  The  American  Scream  in  1988 . He  had  the  looks  and  voice  to  be  an  actor  but  I  haven't  seen  the  film  so  I  can't  talk  about  his  ability. After  his  brief  reunion  with  Billy,  he  dabbled  in  soundtracks  and  is  credited  as  musical  director  on  a  straight-to-video  action  film  Deadly  Currency  in  1998.  By  the  noughties  he  was  "doing   a  boring  job  with  spreadsheets".

In  autumn  2008  both  Midge  and  Billy  accepted  an  invitation  from  Absolute  Radio  to  do  an  acoustic  version  of  "Vienna" . The  two  men  had  generally  avoided  each  other  for  20  years  but  had  managed  to  resolve  difficulties  without  going  to  court. The  response  was  so  positive  that  their  former  manager  set  about  organising  a  reunion. When  all  four  had  signified  they  were  up  for  it  the  Return  To  Eden  tour  was  announced ostensibly  celebrating  the  30th  anniversary  of  recording  the  "Vienna"  album.

My  wife  and  I  went  with  friends  to  the  Manchester  gig  at  The  Apollo  which  Midge  informed  us  was  the  first  one  to  sell  out. Apart  from  Warren's  dyed  hair , there  was  no  attempt  to  disguise  their  age- Chris  Cross  looked  like  the  gig  had  interrupted  a  board  meeting  but  they  sounded  great.

At  the  start  of  that  tour  Midge  said  there  were  no  plans  to  record  new  material  but  two  years  later  they  were  working  on  a  new  album. By  his  own  choice, Warren's  involvement  was  limited  so  he  has  no  songwriting  credits  on  "Brill!ant" . The  album  came  out  in  2012. It's  very  much  one  for  the  fans  using  analog  synths  to  recreate  the  old  sounds; where  they  try  to  be  a  little  more  contemporary as  on  "Change", they  come  a  bit  unstuck. The  opening  track  "Live"  is  really  good; they  don't  maintain  that  standard  and  some  of  the  songs  are  a  bit  ponderous  but  it's  still  worth  a  listen. It  did  OK  peaking  at  number  21  but  the  title  track  didn't  chart; their  audience  is  too  long  in  the  tooth  to  be  buying  singles.

After  touring  the  album in  2012  they  did  a  four  date  UK  tour  with  Simple  Minds  in  2013.  Both  Midge  and  Billy  have  put  out  solo  albums  since  then . Whether  there's  any  more  group  projects  to  come  is  an  open  question.

Given  that  John  and  Robin  only  appeared  on  one  hit , achieved  in  the  slipstream  of  a  record  with  which  they  had  nothing  to  do,  I  don't  think  a  lengthy  resume  of  their  output  is  justified.

John  re-emerged  at  the  start  of  1980  with  the  seminal  "Metamatic"  LP  which  included  some  music  written  by  Billy, Chis  and  Warren  without  being  credited  which  set  the  seal  on  their  estrangement  from  their  former  singer. John's  Ballardian  vision  of  an  alienated  machine-driven  world  with  its  harsh  metallic  sound  spawned  two  hit  singles  and  was  a  big  influence  on  Joy  Division's  Closer  later  that  year  although  few  critics  acknowledge  the  debt.  I  saw  him  do  the  album  in  full  in  2007  or  thereabouts  and  that  was  a  pretty  good  gig  too.

He  then  retreated  from  that  nihilism  into  a  more  romantic  vein  as  heard  on  his  last  Top  40  hit  "Europe After  The  Rain"  in  1981  but  didn't  really  have  the  voice  for  it  and  gradually  faded  from  public  view. In  the  late  eighties  he  began  working  as  a  graphics  artist  under  his  real  name  Dennis  Leigh   and  in  the  early  nineties  started  lecturing  in  art.

In  1997  he  began  recording  again  as  John  Foxx  and  since  then  has  maintained  a  dual  career  as  lecturer  and  musician  with  some  of  his  work  attracting  good  reviews  if  not  mainstream  recognition.

After  the  dissolution  of  Humania,  Robin  had  a  low  profile  (  and  probably a  day  job ) . He  was  most  recently  a  member  of  Steve  Strange's  revived  Visage  and  played  on  both  their  albums,  "Hearts  and  Knives"  and  "Demons  to  Diamonds", the  latter  released  after  the  singer's  death  last  year.








   



 

543 Goodbye Phi Fearon - Ain't Nothing But A House Party

Chart  entered : 15  November  1986

Chart  peak : 60

When  we  said  hello  to  Phil  he  was  a  member  of  the  group  Kandidate. They  ran  out  of  steam, after  four  hits, in  1981. Phil  had  invested  his  earnings  wisely  in  a  home  studio   and  soon  started  releasing  his  own  records  under  the  name  "Phil  Fearon  and  Galaxy"  (  or  some  similar  variant ) . Galaxy  were  basically  a  studio  collective  but  the  girls  who  sang  on  the  records,  Dee  Galdes  and  Julie  Gore , appeared  on  Top  of  the  Pops  with  him. The  records  were  very  lightweight  dance  pop  but  he  chalked  up  a  string  of  hits  , the  biggest  being  the  first , "Dancing  Tight"  which  reached  number  4. Latterly  Phil  found  it  hard  to  keep  up  the  pace  so  the  last  few  Galaxy  singles  were  covers  like  this  one.

"Ain't  Nothing  But  A  Houseparty"  is  a  cover  of  The  Showstoppers'  R &  B  hit  of  1968,  a  Northern  Soul  favourite.  For  this  one  Phil  contracted  out  the  production  as  well,  bringing  in  our  friends  Stock, Aitken  and  Waterman. They  supply  the  house  backing  track  and  it's  very  easy  to  sing  Mel  and  Kim's  Respectable  over  the  top  of  it.  Phil's  voice  is  too  airy  and  smooth  to  conjure  up  much  of  the  excitement  of  the  original  and  it's  more  suited  to  a  suburban  Tupperware  party  than  an  all-night  rave.

And  that  was  just  about  it  for  Phil  as  a  performer.  In  1987  he  retreated  behind  the  mixing  desk  and  founded  Production  House  Records  to  feed  the  underground  rave  scene. He  also  married  Dee  and  began  a  large  family. These  two  preoccupations  came  together  in  the  early  nineties  when  Dee  began  recording  under  the  name  Baby  D , resulting  in  the  major  crossover  hit  "Let  Me  Be  Your  Fantasy "  which  hit  number  1 in  1994. Acen  also  scored  a  hit  on  the  label.

In  2010  Phil's  daughter  Stephanie  was  a  semi-finalist  in  the  BBC 1  talent  contest  Over  The  Rainbow   and  that  seems  to  have  inspired  him  to  return  to  performing  himself  and  he  has  appeared  at  soul  weekenders  across  the  country  in  the  last  few  years. 

542 Hello Sybil - Falling In Love

Chart  entered : 1  November  1986

Chart  peak : 68

Number  of  hits : 12

Here's  an  artist  that  I  wouldn't  recognise  on  the  street. It's  always  been  just  about  the  music  with  Sybil  and  there's  not  too  much  information  floating  around  about  her.

Her  full  name  is  Sybil  Anita  Lynch  and  she  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1966. She  began  performing  around  1983  and  signed  with  Next  Plateau  Records  in  1986. This  was  her  first  single  for  them.

"Falling  In  Love" was  written  by   producers  James  Bratton  and  Dolores  Drewry.  After  an  unhurried  intro , it's  a  slow  burning  late  night  R  &  B  groove  with  an  uncompromising  drum  machine  balanced  out  by  some  stately  piano  chords  and  Sybil's  warm  vocal .  The  lyrics  are  nothing  to  write  home  about  but  don't  need  to  be . It  would  slip  very  easily  onto  Trevor  Nelson's  radio  show. For  1986,  it  wasn't  immediate  enough  to  be  a  smash  without  radio  support  but  sustained  club  play  allowed  it  to  tickle  the  lower  reaches  of  the  chart.

541 Goodbye Little Richard - Operator

Chart entered  :  25  October  1986

Chart  peak : 67

We  now  say  goodbye  to  another  fifties  survivor.

Little  Richard  had  already  made  quite  a  few  comebacks  since  originally  forswearing  rock  and  roll  for  a  life  in  the  ministry  way  back  in  1957. He  had  a  couple  of  hits  in  the  early  sixties  when  he  toured  Britain  with  both  the  Beatles  and  Rolling  Stones  as  support  band  then  fell  into  decline  at  least  as  far  as  recording  went. He  spent  most  of  the  seventies  as  a  session  musician  although  he  chalked  up  another  hit  in  the  UK  in  1977  with  a  single  featuring  re-recordings  of  "Good  Golly  Miss  Molly"  and  "Rip  It  Up". His  eighties  comeback  was  fuelled  by  an  authorised  biography  in  1985  which  led  to  a  lot  of  TV  appearances. Now  comfortable  with  the  idea  that  he  could  preach  and  rock  simultaneously,  he  made  a  big  impression  on  chat  shows  with  his  humour  and   larger  than  life  personality. He  got  a  part  in  the  film  "Down  And  Out  In  Beverley  Hills "  and  scored  a  number  62  hit  with  the  song  "Great  Gosh  A  Mighty"  earlier  in  1986.

That  gave  some  impetus  to  his  new  album  "Lifetime  Friend" mixing  secular  music  with  religious  lyrics. "Operator "  was  the  next  single.  It's  an  effective  piece  of  pop  evangelism with  Richard's  still powerful  vocals  boosted  by  gospel  backing  voices  as  he  asks  to  be  put  in  touch  with  the  Man  Upstairs.  It  was  recorded  in  London  with  traditionalist  Stuart  Colman  producing  and  so  avoids  the  usual  80s  trademarks  relying  instead  on  scorching  sax  and  piano  solos  rather  than  synth  washes. If  you  ignore  the  message  it's  still  a  decent  R &B  workout  but  it  fell  foul  of  radio's  usual  avoidance  of  religious  singles.

On  the  next  single  "Somebody's  Comin'", Colman  took  the  exact  opposite  approach  with  a  backing  track  straight  from  a  Paul  Young  album. It's  a  bland  and  boring  song  and  Richard  sounds  like  he's  singing  it  in  a  key  that  he  can  no  longer  manage. His  sincerity  is  obvious  but  it's  not  a  comfortable  listen.

For  the  next  few  years  Richard  concentrated  mainly  on  his  acting  career  his  only  recording  being  the  title  song  for  Twins  (  he  wasn't  in  the  film )  , an  ugly, tuneless  piece  of   Fairlight  bombast  in  1988.  In  1990  he  contributed  a  rap  to  the  Living  Colour  song  Elvis  Is  Dead  and  in  1991 was  part  of   the  charity  ensemble  Voices  That  Care  with  their  eponymous  Gulf  War  single, a  number  11  hit  in  the  US  but  not  a  hit  here. In  1992  he  accepted  a  commission  to  do  an  album  rocking  up  children's  songs  "Shake  It  All  About"  which  sort  of  counts  as  his  last  album  of  new  material.

The  acting  work  tailed  off  towards  the  end  of  the  nineties  and  Richard  has  spent  his  time  doing  guest  appearances  on  other  people's  records  and  one  off  live  showcases. In  the  last  decade  his  health  has  declined . He  has  had  problems  with  sciatica in  his  left  leg  and  his  hip  and  his  heart. Earlier  this  year  there  were  rumours  that  he  was  on  his  deathbed  forcing  him  to  put  out  a statement  refuting  that. Having  not  performed  since  2013  I  think  it's  safe  to  say  his  career  has  come  to  a  close.

540 Goodbye The Real Thing - Straight To The Heart

Chart  entered : 25  October  1986

Chart  peak : 71

The  Liverpudlian  lads  looked  like  they'd  shot  their  bolt  back  in  1980  and  settled  for  being  David  Essex's  backing  band. However  earlier  in  '86  PRT  had  got  hold  of  their  three  biggest  hits, re-mixed  them  and  all  made  the  chart  again, wedding  favourite  "You  To  Me  Are  Everything"  reaching  number  5. As  a  result  Jive  took  a  punt  on  them  being  able  to  capitalise  on  the  renewed  interest.


"Straight  To  The  Heart"  was  their  first  single  for  the  new  label . As  you  might  expect  the  sound   has  been  updated for  the  eighties  with  synth  bass  and  clattering  drum  machines  but  they  don't  seem  entirely  comfortable  with  it. The  song  finds   Chris  Amoo   in  good  voice  but  you  feel  it  would  be  better  framed  by  Biddu  or  some  other  70s  pop  soul  luminary. As  it  is  this  bumps  along  when  it  should  roll.

Obviously  number  71  was  not  quite  the  return  Jive  had  been  hoping  for. They  were  allowed  a  couple  more  shots. The   follow-up  single  "Hard  Times"  which  again  has  a  lot  of  synth work  but  actually  sounds  a  bit  smoother  perhaps  because  Eddie  Amoo  takes  the  lead  with  a  falsetto  vocal  that  makes  them  sound  a  bit  like  Freeez. They  got  to perform  it  on  3-2-1  , itself  an  acknowledgement  of  diminished  status,  but  it  could  only  bubble  under  the  chart. The  next  one, a  cover  of  "I  Can't  Help  Myself"  didn't  even  manage  that.

That  was  the  end  of  their  regular  recording  career. Since  then  they've  primarily  been  touring  the  oldies  with  the  occasional  foray  into  the  studio  for    one-off  singles. I think  I  said  in  the  Hello  post  that  much  of  their  music  is  hard  to  find  in  the  normal  sources  so  I  haven't  heard  "The  Crime  of  Love"  ( 1989 )  or "I  Love  Music" ( 1993 ). In  2000  they  were  reduced  to  a  trio  ( the  Amoo  brothers  + David  Smith )   with  the  death  of  Ray  Lake.  They  returned  to  the  chart in  2005   as  a  featuring  credit  on  Freeloaders'  "So  Much  Love  To  Give"  which  was  based  around  a  sample  from  their  1977  hit  "Love's  Such  A  Wonderful  Thing".

Chris  of  course  is  also  famous  as  a  dog  breeder  whose  Afghan  hound  won  the  Best  In  Show  category  at  Crufts  in   1987.

539 Goodbye The Commodores - Goin' To The Bank

Chart entered : 25  October  1986

Chart  peak :  43

Like  Rose  Royce  and  Shalamar,  The  Commodores  were  attempting  to  soldier  on  after  the departure  of  key  members.

The  seeds  of  the  group's  demise  were  sewn  by  their  greatest  success  in  1978  when  the  gruesomely  boring  Our  Tune  favourite  "Three  Times  A  Lady"  topped  the  charts  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. From  then  on  piano  ballads  written  by  Lionel  Richie  with  limited  involvement  from  the  other  guys  dominated  their  singles  output   and  after  the  enormous  success  of  "Endless  Love"  his  duet  with  Diana  Ross  he  made  the  inevitable  decision  to  go  solo  in  1982. He  was  replaced  by  a  guy  called  Skyler  Jett  but  in  the  UK  the  hits  stopped  immediately. The  following  year  guitarist  Thomas  McClary  quit  the  group   and  was  replaced  by  Sheldon  Reynolds   who  had  played  with  Millie  Jackson  and  the  Ohio  R &  B  outfit  Sun.  Sheldon  does  not  appear  on  the  record  sleeves  so  I'm  not  sure  he  was  counted  as  a  full  member  of  the  group. In  1984  Jett  was  replaced  by  J.D. Nicholas  who  had  been  the  touring  singer  for  Heatwave since  1979   when  vocalist  Johnnie  Wilder  was  left  paralysed  by  a  car  accident. They  immediately  enjoyed  a  huge  comeback  hit  with  "Nightshift"  an  affecting  tribute  to  the  recently  deceased  Jackie  Wilson  and  Marvin  Gaye  which  reached  number  3  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  but  subsequent  singles  from  the  LP  of  the  same  name  were  less  successful.

In  1986  they  switched  labels  to  Polydor  and  lost  bassist  Ron LaPread  who  emigrated  to  New  Zealand  to  be  with  his  new  wife..  

"Goin  To  The  Bank"  was  their  first  release  on  Polydor  and  the  lead  single  from  their  album  "United "  released  at  the  same  time.  Lyrically  it  pursues  the  same  theme  as  Wham's  Everything  She  Wants, bemoaning  a  stay-at-home  partner  who  sucks  up  all  the  singer's  hard  -earned  income. The  band  prove  their  ease  with  contemporary  electro-funk  and  JD  supplies  a  very  Anglo-sounding  rap section  towards  the  end.  It  does  lack   the  strong  chorus  that  would  probably  have  got  it  into  the  Top  40. It  was  their  last  new  hit  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, peaking  at  65  in  the  US.  The  follow-up  "Take  It  From  Me" , a  jittery  Michael  Jackson  style  dance  pop  number  isn't  noticeably  inferior  but  again  lacks  a  real  hook. "United  In  Love"  is  a  cloying  electro-ballad  with  terrible  cliched  lyrics. They'd  never  been  a  strong  albums  act  in  the  UK  but  "United"  failed  to  chart  here  and  did  poorly  in  the  US.

Sheldon  ended  his  association  with  the  group  in  1987 to  join  Earth  Wind  and  Fire  although  some  of  his  work  was  on  the  next  album  "Rock  Solid  " in  1988.  At  the  same  time  as  its  release , their  1977  number  9  hit  "Easy"  was  a  hit  again  in  the  UK  following  its  use  in  a  popular  commercial, this  time  reaching  number  15. There  was  no  such  luck  with  the  contemporary  singles. "Solitaire"  is  a  routine  80s  R&  B  number  only  distinguished  by  some  nice  sax  work  and  "Grrip"  is  a  tuneless  trip  through  Cameo  and  Prince  territory.

Polydor  cut  them  loose  and  in  1989  keyboardist  Milan  Williams  was  sacked   after  a  row  over  plans  to  tour  South  Africa  ( which  in  the  event  was  cancelled ). The  band, now  reduced  to  a  trio  of  JD, Walter  Orange  and  William  King,  had  to  set  up  their  own  label  to  release  new  material. They  cobbled  together  a  Christmas  album  in  1992  which  was  ignored  then  a  year  later  came "No  Tricks".  The  single  "Everything  Reminds  Me  Of  You " is  a  competent  enough  wallow  in  Richie  territory  but  didn't  sell  and  the  album  failed  to  chart.

Since  then  the  trio  have  stayed  together  as  a  touring  act  and  have  re-recorded  some  of  their  old  hits   but  there's  been  no  more  new  material.

We're  not  through  with  Lionel  yet  of  course  and  Sheldon's  story  will  be  picked  up  when  we  say  goodbye  to  EWF..

Milan  does  not  seem  to  have  been  musically  active  after  leaving  the  band. He  died  of  cancer  in  2006  aged  58.

Ron  is  still  involved  in  music  in  New  Zealand  and  played  bass  on  an  album  by  Johnny  Croot. He  has  occasionally  joined  Lionel  on  stage.

Thomas  signed  a  solo  contract  with  Motown   and  released  an  eponymous  album  in  1984. It's  a  very  generic  R & B  effort. Thomas's  voice  is  up  to  the  task  but  it  never  really  catches  fire  and  sounds  like  the  sort  of  thing  one  of  the  other  Jackson  brothers  would  churn  out.  The  single  "Thin  Walls"  wasn't  a  hit  and  the  album  failed. He  did  some  writing and  producing  fr  other  artists  such  as  Klique  and  Michael  Henderson  but  in  1986  retreated  to  Florida. He  set  up  his  own  label  for  gospel  music  and  eventually  released  his  own  contribution  to  the  genre with  the  2008  album  "A  Revolution  Not  A  Revival". His  image  was  tarnished  in  2011  when  he  faced  battery  charges  after  harrassing  the  wife  of  an  old  friend. Like  Ron  he  has  occasionally  appeared  on  stage  with  Lionel. In  2014  he  set  up  his  own  version  of  The  Commodores  to  go  out  touring.

538 Hello Fish solo * - Shortcut To Somewhere

( * ... and  Tony  Banks )

Chart  entered :  18  October  1986

Chart  peak : 75

Number  of  hits  : 10

We've  already  covered  where  this  guy  came  from ; this  was  as  close  as  he  got  to  joining  his  idols  Genesis.

Fish  was  recruited  by  Banks  to  write  the  lyrics  and  sing   on  a  track  to  feature  in  the  film  he  was  scoring, Quicksilver.  The  film  was  garbage  - see  my  review  here.  Fish's  lyric  is  typically  flowery   but  vaguely  fits  the  story  of  a  high  flying  stockbroker  who  decides  to  become  a  bicycle  messenger  after  a  financial  crash  and  he  sings  it  with  his  usual  conviction. Tony's  track  is  muscular  synth  rock  with  that   awful  screechy  synth  sound  most  successfully  employed  on  Van  Halen's  Jump   which  this  resembles. It's  OK  in  its  way  but , lacking  any  real  hooks,  sounds  like  an  average  album  track  from  Abacab  or  Duke.  

As  an  incidental  note  this  record  may  have  prevented  Fish  from  joining  Genesis  when  Phil  Collins  left  as  he  reportedly  didn't  enjoy  working  to  Bank's  overly  prescriptive  approach.

537 Goodbye The Monkees - That Was Then , This Is Now

Chart  entered  : 18  October  1986

Chart  peak : 68

This  was  another  comeback  hit, 17  years  after  "Someday  Man".

The  Monkees  had  survived  the  cancellation  of  the  TV  series  and  battled  on  against  both  the  record  company's  reluctance  to  let  them  record  their  own  music  and  the  lingering  stigma  of  being  a  "manufactured "  ( still  a  pejorative  term  in  music, fifty  years  on ) band. They  largely  won  the  first  one  but  despite  making  some  decent  music  it  wasn't  commercially  successful. Peter  Tork  quit  in  1969  claiming  exhaustion  and  bought  himself  out  of  the  recording  contract. Michael  Nesmith  left  to  recommence  his  solo  career  the  following  year  so  the  last  Monkees  records  in  1971  actually  featured  just  Micky  Dolenz  and  Davy  Jones.

The  latter  pair  often  toured  together  in  the  seventies  though  they  had  lost  the  rights  to  the  group  name.  Both  put  out  solo  material  without  much  success  although  Davy  had  a  number  52  hit  in  the  US  with  " Rainy  Jane" in  1971. They  also  took  acting  roles  although  latterly  Micky  had  moved  behind  the  cameras  and  directed  the  successful  Metal  Mickey  series  in  the  UK.  Davy  also  went  back  to  the  turf  and  started  developing  a  stable  of  racehorses. Peter  had  a  chequered  post-Monkees  career  including  a  spell  in  stir  for  hashish  and  three  years  as  a  teacher  but  mainly  he  was  a  touring  musician  unable  to  cut  a  solo  deal.  Michael  was  much  more  comfortably  off.  He  enjoyed  a  reasonable  amount  of  success  as  a  solo  artist  and  songwriter; his  1977  single  "Rio"  is  the  only  UK  hit  ( number  28  )  by  a  solo  Monkee. That  came  with  an  early  pop  video  which  gave  him  the   idea  for  a  TV  show  Pop  Clips  which  he  sold  to  Time  Warner /Amex  in  1980  for  development  into  MTV. That  year  he  also  inherited  his  mother's  fortune  from  inventing  Tipp-Ex . He  didn't  need  to  work  again  but  kept  himself  busy  in  video   direction  and  production.

While  the  lads  carved  out  new  careers   for  themselves  , the  TV  show  remained  popular  on  repeat  and  Arista  put  out  a  steady  string  of  re-releases  to  try  and  capitalise  on  it.  "The  Monkees  EP "  a  good  value  package  of  their  four  biggest  hits  made  the  Top  40  at  the  beginning  of  1980.

In  1986  Micky  ( who  needed  some  persuading ) , Davy  and  Peter  ( now  looking  a  dead  ringer  for  Gordon  Burns  from  The  Krypton  Factor  ) signed  up  for  a  20th  anniversary  tour  of  the  US . Michael  was  originally  going  to  participate  but  when  demand  mushroomed  and  the  tour  was  massively  extended   he  had  to  pull  out   due  to   business  commitments . He  did  appear  with  them  during  the  encore  when  they  came  to  L.A.  I  remember  a  friend  at  university  speculating  that  they  were  doing  it  because  Davy  was  almost  broke. It  was  a  huge  success  helped  by  MTV  and  Nickelodeon  and  a  new  compilation  LP   followed. This  was  to  include  three  new  tracks . Davy  didn't  want  to  be  involved to  the  extent  of  leaving  the  stage  when  they   were  performed  and  objecting  to  the   group  credit  when   this  was  released  as  a  single.

"That  Was  Then ,This  Is  Now"  ( no  relation  to  the  ABC  hit )  was  not  the  self-referential  shlock  the  title  may  have  suggested. It's  actually  a  cover  of   a  song  by  The  Mosquitos,  a  New  York  band  on  the  "Paisley  underground  circuit,  released  on  an  EP  the  year  before.  Ironically  it  was  Davy  who  was  a  friend  of  the  writer  Vance  Brescia. It's  a  likable  semi-acoustic  number  affirming  personal  redemption  but  nothing  to  get  too  excited  about.  Micky  sings  it   ( rather  better  than  the  original  nasal  vocalist )  and  Peter  makes  sure  his  acoustic  guitar  work  is  high  in  the  mix. Their  version  is  smoother  with  more  synth  work  but  still  rather  bland. It  came  with  a  video  ( not  featuring  Davy )  mixing  contemporary  live  performance from  the  duo   with  sixties  footage. It  reached  number  20  in  the  US  which  was  doubtless  very  welcome  to  its  writer  Vance  Brescia. The  tour  never  came  to  the  UK  and  the  single  wasn't  playlisted  by  Radio  One   so  it  only  managed  a  single  week  on  the  chart  here.

The  anniversary  tour  went  so  well  that  the  trio  stayed  together  for  the  next  three  years. A  re-mix  of  "Daydream  Believer "  reached  number  79  in  the  US  as  a  follow-up  single. Davy  was  then  persuaded  to  return  to  the  studio  for  a  new  album  "Pool  It ! "  in  1987.  With  Michael  still  unavailable,  this  time  round  they  were  happy  to  let  session  musicians  do  most  of  the  work . Davy  contributed  two  songs, Peter,  one  and  the  rest  were  covers. Davy  did  six  lead  vocals, Micky,  four  and  Peter,  two. Although  the  reception  was  largely  negative  and  it  only  got  to  number  72  in  the  US  ( it  was  completely  ignored  here )  it  isn't  as  bad  as  you  might  expect. The  generic  MTV rock  of  the  singles  "Heart  And  Soul"  ( their  last  US  hit  at  a  measly  89 )  and  its  follow-up  "Every  Step  of  the  Way"   don't  invite  further  exploration  but  there  was  more  interesting  stuff  on  the  LP. Peter's  song  "Gettin  In"  is  a  strangely  compelling  blend  of  Sparks  and  Duran  Duran , Micky  does  a  remarkably  feminine  vocal  on   " Secret  Heart "  and  Davy's  "Midnight"  sounds  a  bit  like  Al  Stewart ( the  less  said  about  his  other  song  "Love  You  Forever"  which  makes  Lionel  Ritchie  sound  like  Joy  Division the  better ! ).

"Pool  It"  proved  that  the  audience  for  new  Monkees  material  was  limited  but  they  remained  a  potent  live  draw  and  did  tours  of   America ( 1987 ), Australia  ( 1988 ) and  "Europe"  in  1989. In  fact  the  latter  tour  was  almost  entirely  in  the  UK  ( bar  one  date  in  Amsterdam ). Arista  cashed  in  again  with  a  less  generous  three  track  EP  which  got  to  number  62  , their  last  appearance  in  the  singles  chart. After  they  returned  from  Europe  they  did  another  tour  of  the  US  and  Japan. The  L.A. date  was  marked  by  another , more  substantial,  guest  appearance  from  Michael. There  were  plans  for  two  more  years'  touring  but  Micky  changed  his  mind  and  the  trio  went  their  separate  ways  after  the  last  gig  in  Missouri  in  September  1989.

Over  the  next  few  years  Davy  had  the  highest  profile  with  regular  acting  roles  on  TV. He  and  Micky  did  tours   of  the  US  in  1994  and  1995  without  claiming  the  group  name. In  1995  the  four  appeared  together   to  announce  plans  for  a  30th  Anniversary  celebration.  This  involved  both  a  tour  of  the  US  and  a  new  album. A  complicated  lawsuit  involving  his  film  company  meant  Michael  had  to  pull  out  of  the  tour  once  again  but  he  was  fully  on  board  for  the  album. Without  MTV  support, the  guys  played  smaller  venues  than  the  1986  tour.

"Justus"  , as  the  title  suggests , was  a  clear  attempt  to  finally  put  to  bed the  idea  that  the  group  relied  on  outside  help. All  the  songs  were  written  by  one  of  the  quartet   and  all  instruments  were  played  by  the  group. All  four  were  credited  as  producers  but  most  of  the  work  was  done  by  Michael  while  the  others  were  on  tour. They  proved  their  self-sufficiency  but  unfortunately  it  wasn't  very  good  with  the  individuals  sounding  like  they  were  pulling  in  different  directions. Michael  and  Micky's  songs  lean  in  a  grunge-lite  direction  while  Davy's  contributions  hark  back  to  their  pop  hey-day. Peter  contributes  another  oddity  in  "I  Believe  You"  which  sounds  like 10cc. Across  the  board,  it  sounds  only  half-developed  and  under-produced. It  bombed  completely.

In  spring  1997  they  toured  the  UK  with  Michael  finally  on  board. In  commercial  terms  it  was  a  success,  culminating  in  two  sold  out  shows  at  Wembley  Arena, but  was  savaged  in  the  press. The  main  target  was  Michael  who  was  pilloried  for  both  his  surly  demeanour  and  the  rustiness  of  his  playing. Unsurprisingly,  the  multimillionaire  decided    "I  don't  need  this"  and  pulled  out  of  the  subsequent   US   tour ,  saying  he  would  work  on  the  planned  second  Monkees  feature  film  instead.  This   makes  the  second  Wembley  show  the  last  time  all  four  Monkees  appeared   together.

The  film  never  happened; perhaps  it  was  just  a  smokescreen. The  others  played  the  tour  then  disbanded. In  2000  VH-1  did  a  programme  on  the  band  and  the  renewed  interest  spurred  Peter, Micky  and  Davy  to  go  out  on  the  road  again  the  following  year. Michael  was  not  invited. As  it  progressed  Peter , a  recovering  alcoholic, became  increasingly  disturbed  by  the  heavy  drinking  back  stage  and  had  a  meltdown  halfway  through  the  tour. He  gave  his  notice  to  quit  but  the  other  two  told   him  to  drop  out  immediately.  He  was  invited  to  do  a  UK  tour  in  2002  but  declined.

The  40th  anniversary  went  by  without  any  reunion  but  Peter, Davy  and  Micky  reunited  for  a  final  time  in  2011  for  a  45th  anniversary  tour  which  ran  until  August  2011  Promoters  wanted  them  to  extend  it  but  the  guys  called  a  halt  with  Davy  commenting "let's  face  it, we're  not  kids". He  died  six  months  later  of  heart  failure  linked  to  atherosclerosis  aged  66.

Davy's  death  jolted  Michael  out  of  exile  and  he  joined  Peter  and  Micky  for  three  relatively  low  key  tours  of  the  US  in  2012, 2013  and  2014. He  sat  out  last  year's  tour .

This  year  they  have  released  another  album  "Good  Times !" to  mark  their  Golden  Anniversary. It's  partly   a  mopping-up  exercise  with  unused  material  from  the  vaults  hence  a   posthumous  vocal  from  Davy  ( and  one  from  Harry  Nilsson ) ,  partly  a  contemporary  covers  album  tackling  songs  by  Paul  Weller, Rivers  Cuomo  and  Andy  Partridge  and  the  guys  contribute one  new  song  each. I've  only  heard  the  tracks  released  as  singles  which  are  pleasant  enough  retro-pop  but  instantly  forgettable. It  hasn't  yet  charted  anywhere.

Peter  and  Micky  are  currently  on  tour  in  the  US  with  Michael  , pleading  the  need  to  finish  his  autobiography,  having  made  one  brief  guest  appearance  a  couple  of  weeks  ago.  Whether  they'll  finally  call  it  a  day  after  that  remains  to  be  seen.