625 Hello Texas - I Don't Want A Lover

Chart  entered : 4  February  1989

Chart  peak : 8 ( 16  in  a  remixed  version  in  2001 )

Number  of  hits :  27

Well  here  we  touch  on  one  of  pop's  greatest  persistence  stories, a  guy  who  took  nearly  two  decades  to  achieve  lasting  success.

 John  McElhone  was  born  in  Glasgow  in  1963, a  few  years  before  his  father  Frank  became  one  of  the  city's  MPs. Fired  up  by  punk,  he  formed  the  band  Altered  Images  with  school  mates  in  1979.  He  played  bass  in  the  line  up . Their  demo  tape  attracted  the  attention  of  Siouxsie  and  the  Banshees  who  invited  them  to  be  their  support  on  the  Kaleidoscope  tour  in  1980  and  in  turn  John  Peel  who  quickly  had  them  in  for  sessions. 

By  the  start  of  1981  they  had  a  contract  with  Epic  and  put  out  their  first  single  "Dead  Pop  Stars "  in  March  produced  by  Banshee  Steve  Severin. It  was  a  bad  move  all  round. Firstly  , their  similarity  to  the  Banshees  was  accentuated  with  only  the  fact  that   Clare  Grogan's  delivery  owed  more  to  Toyah  than  Siouxsie  Sioux, suggesting it  was  a  different  band. Secondly,  it  was  tuneless. Most  significant  of  all,  the  timing  was  horrendous. Although  the  song  was  an  ironic - and  prescient - rumination  on  the  fickle  nature  of  pop  fame  and  had  been  in  their  set  for  months, the  death  of  John  Lennon  meant  most  DJs  wouldn't  touch  it  and  in  the  circumstances Epic  did  well  to  get  it  to  number  67  in  the  chart.

The  follow  up  "A  Day's  Wait"  was  less  controversial  and  a  bit  more  melodic  but  it's  inexpertly  recorded  and  sounds  out  of  time.  It  didn't  chart  at  all. Most  of  their  debut  album  had   already   been  recorded  with  the  clumsy  hands  of  Severin  at  the  controls  but  Epic  insisted  they  work  with  a  real  producer  for  the  next  single  and  brought  in  Martin  Rushent. With  his  hand  on  the  tiller, "Happy  Birthday"  soared  to  number  2    although  it  left  me  completely  cold. I  didn't  fancy  Grogan  and  thought  the  song  was  tinny, irritating  drivel, its  success  incomprehensible. I  preferred  the  follow-up  "I  Could  Be  Happy"   which  had  some  good  guitar  work  and  reached  number  7  in  the  Christmas  chart.

They  retained  Rushent's  services  for  the  next  album  "Pinky  Blue"  but  it  wasn't  well  received  with  even  some  of  the  band's  earlier  champions  suggesting  they'd  taken  Grogan's  childish  cutie  shtick  a  little  too  far. The  title  track  was  released  as  a  single  not  long  after  Not  The  Nine  O  Clock  News  had  skewered  them  with  a  song  called  "Happy, Crappy  Nappy "  and  there  was  little  to  tell  them  apart. The  single  stalled  at  35  and  the  band  broke  under  the  strain. John  remained  in  the   new  line-up  which  included  multi-instrumentalist  Steve  Lironi. He  brought  added  musicality  and  the  band  pursued  a  more  soulful  and  sophisticated  sound. Their  "comeback  "  single  "Don't  Talk  To  Me  About  Love"  restored  them  to  the  Top  10 at  the  beginning  of  1983  but  each  single  after  that  did  less  well  than  the  one  before  and  the  band  broke  up  for  good  at  the  end  of  the  year.  It  had  been  a  textbook  case  of  too  much  too  soon.

John  resurfaced  the  following  year  in  an  all-male  four  piece  band  Hipsway.  They  quickly  got  a  deal  with  Mercury  and  their  first  single  came  out  in  the  summer  of  1985. They  played  a  blend  of  rock  and  white  funk  which  sounded  like  Matt  Johnson  fronting  Inxs  and  scored  a  handful  of  hits, the  biggest  being  "The  Honeythief"  in  1986, a  Top  20  hit  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. There  was  an  air  of  style  over  substance about  them  and  their  eponymous  debut  album  sold  poorly .

With  Hipsway  short  of  ideas  for  a  follow-up, John  quit  to  form  his  own  band  in  1986. His  first  recruit  was  hairdressing  friend  Sharleen  Spiteri   to  be  the  vocalist. She  was  born  in  Scotland  in  1967  of  mixed  European  nationality, They  gradually  added  others  to  the  line  up   including  guitarist  Ally  McErlaine   ( born  1968 )  and  drummer  Stuart  Kerr  ( born  1963 ). They  called  themselves  Texas   in  homage  to  the  film  Paris, Texas  an  existential  road  movie  with  a  soundtrack  from  Southern  blues  guitarist  Ry  Cooder.

They  started  playing  live  in  1988  and  had  a  deal  with  Mercury  by  the  end  of  the  year.  "I  Don't  Want  A  Lover"  was  their  debut  single. It  was  written  by  John  and  Sharleen. The  song  has  an  arresting  intro  with  a  Cooder  -ish  blues  slide  guitar  lick   before  a  throbbing  rhythm  track  that  sounds  like  a  synth  kicks  in. Sharleen  then  gives  a  slow  rendition  of  the  chorus  in  her  rich  bluesy  voice  before  the  drums  make  their  entrance. The  song  has  a  once  bitten  twice  shy  message  belying  Sharleen's  youth. It's  well  constructed  with  harmonica  flourishes  and  a  piano  break   and  it's  certainly  distinctive   but  I  remain  fairly  indifferent  to  it, probably  because  they're  paying  homage  to  a  genre  that's  never  interested  me. It  reached  number  77  in  the  US. It  would  be  some  time  before  they  reached  the  Top  10  again.