549 Hello The Christians - Forgotten Town

Chart  entered : 31  January  1987

Chart  peak : 22

Number  of  hits : 13

As  one  Liverpudlian  group  bowed  out of  the  charts, another  took  its  place  although  all  four  members  were  a  fair  bit  older  than  the  lads  in  China  Crisis.

The  three  mixed  race  Christian  brothers  Roger  ( born  1950 ),   Garry  ( born  1955 ), Russell ( born  1956 )  were  from  a  large  family  with  musical  leanings. There  was  an  elder  bother  Dennis  who  committed  suicide  in  his  twenties. Another  brother  Richard, a  classical  music  teacher  started  a  family  group  called  Equal  Temperament  in  1974  doing  a  cappella  numbers  around  Liverpool. They  went  nowhere  in  particular  for  nearly  a  decade  and  some  of  the  brothers  dropped  out  to  pursue  alternative  careers.  Roger  and   Garry  took  time  out  to  sing  in  a  soul  band , Natural  High,  who  performed  a  version  of  "People  Get  Ready"  on  Opportunity  Knocks  but  didn't  win.  Reduced  to  a  trio  by  1983 , their  fortunes  turned  after  appearing  way  down  the  bill  on  that  years  "Larks  In  The  Park"  festival.

Their  act  was  noted  by  Hull-born  white  keyboard  player  Henry  Priestman.  Henry  came  to  Liverpool  as  an  art  student  in  the  mid-seventies  and  joined  a  punk  band called  Albert  and  the  Cod  Warriors  who  supported  the  Sex  Pistols  at  an  early  gig. They  soon  re-christened  themselves  as  Yachts  and  played  their  first  concert  supporting  Elvis  Costello  at  Eric's. As  a  result  they  found  themselves  with  a  deal  from  Stiff.

Yachts  are  one  of  the  best  bands  never  to  have  a  hit  single. Henry  co-wrote  their  first  single  " Suffice  To  Say " in  September  1977  with  droll  singer  John  Campbell . A  song  about  writing  a  song  ( more  than  a  decade  before  the  over-rated  Paul  Heaton )  - "And  though  the  rhyming's  not  that  hot, it's  quite  a  snappy  little  tune " - it's  an  early  new  wave  classic  with  Henry's   swirling  organ  an  integral  part  of  the  sound. After  recording  a  silly  B-side  for  mates  Big  In  Japan  as  The  Chuddy  Nuddies   they  followed  Costello  and  Nick  Lowe  to  Radar.

They  put  out  a  string  of  splendid  singles , all  but  one  of  which  Henry  had  had  a  hand  in  writing  and  two  solid  LPs  , "Yachts"  ( which  made  a  very  minor  mark  on  the  US  chart )  and  "Without  Radar". The  former  includes  the  fabulous  "Mantovani's  Hits "  which  posits  a  world  in  which  Elvis  never  broke  through - "I  watch  my  Dansette  wait  in  vain /  For  that  pure  pop  that  never came". The  second  album is  slightly  the  weaker  due  to  Campbell's  departure  but  benefits  from  a  shinier  production  courtesy  of  Martin  Rushent. Despite  working  with  top  calibre  producers  ( besides  Rushent  they  recorded  with  Clive  Langer  and  Richard  Gottehrer  )  and  getting  prestigious  support  slots  ( The  Who, 1979 ) they  never  sold  many  records  and  their  final  single,  Henry's  "A  Fool  Like  You" on  the  Demon  label,  sounds  doleful  and  defeated  ( though  still  pretty  good ).

Henry  had  already  begun  working  with  others  such  as  Wah  and  Bette  Bright  but  settled  with  Campbell  in  his  new  band,  It's  Immaterial  or  did  he  ? It's  Immaterial  are  one  of  the  most  poorly-documented  bands  to  have  a  hit  in  the  eighties  and  Henry's  exact  status within  it   seems  open  to   question. What  is  clear  is  that  he  didn't  write  much  for  them  with  Campbell  writing  most  of  the  songs  with  new  partner  Jarvis  Whitehead  although  he  stayed  involved  with  them  right  up  to  the  formation  of  The  Christians.

Their  first  single  "Young  Man  ( Seeks  Interesting  Job )"  in  1980  is  an  unremarkable  slice  of  mod  pop  that  could  be  Secret  Affair  or  Dexy's.  By  the  time  of  their  first  session  for  Peel  and  next  single  "Imitate  The  Worm"  in  1981 they  were  a  post-punk  outfit  somewhat  akin  to  the  original  Thompson  Twins. Both  that  single   and  the next , "A   Gigantic  Raft  In  The  Phillipines",  are  percussion-heavy  rafts  rather  than  songs  although  the  latter  is  more  melodic. By  autumn  1983  they  had   moved  towards  a  more  commercial  sound  with  "Whiteman's  Hut" ( well  I  bought  it  anyway )   and  its  kiddie  chorus.

The  band  moved  at  a  glacial  pace  and  it  was  nearly  two  years  before  the  next  single  "Ed's  Funky  Diner" in  1985  . Henry  was  still  involved  and  the  guys  accepted  his  suggestion  that  the  song  could  be   beefed  up  by  some  male  harmonies  from  the  group  he  had  seen  at  the music  festival.  He  was  certainly  right  as  the  brothers  really  make  the  chorus  soar  on  a  rollicking  song  about  Campbell's  eclectic  mixture  of  cultural  heroes  ( including  Viv  Nicholson  and  Malcolm  X ) meeting  up  at  a  fictional  diner. It  was  a  minor  hit  the  following  year  on  re-release .

Henry  struck  while  the  iron  was  hot  and  proposed  the  brothers  continue  working  with  him  on  some  new  songs. They  were  big  fans  of  Jerry  Dammers  and   2 Tone  and  liked  the  idea  of  melding  their  soul  influences  with  Henry's  new  wave  pop  background  to  create  something  new. Island  bought  into  it  and  sent  them  into  the  studio  with  Laurie  Latham. "Forgotten  Town"  was  their  first  single  and  got  a  sharp  push  from  their  appearance  on  The  Tube   ( obviously  nothing  to  do  with  Latham  having  recently  produced  Squeeze  ) just  after  Christmas.

Henry  was  quick  to  point  out  that  his  song  was  not  directly   about  Liverpool  but  someone  wishing  to  quit  town  after  a  relationship  gone  wrong  and  the  town  could  just  as  easily  be  a  sleepy  southern  conurbation. The  song  is  tuneful, Garry's  a  strong  lead  vocalist  and  the  four  part  ( Henry  sang  too  )  harmonies  are  impressive  but  it  has  two  main  faults. One  is  that  it  takes  too  long  ( two  minutes  )  to  reach  the  chorus   but  more  importantly  it's  massively  over-produced. Record  Mirror   described   Latham's  sound  as  "suffocating  smog"  and  that's  pretty  accurate.  Anthony  Moore  who   wrote  the  title  track  to  Paul  Young's  No  Parlez   worked  with  Latham  on  this  and  it  has  a  very  similar  feel. There's  just  no  need  for  all  the  chattering  percussion  tracks  and  synth  buzzes,   let  the  voices  do  the   work .   It  didn't  prevent  the  single   reaching  a  respectable   position  for  a  first  release  but  it  remains  unlovable.