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.
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