695 Goodbye Deep Purple - Love Conquers All

Chart  entered : 2  March  1991

Chart  peak : 57

We're   going  to  see  quite  a  few  stalwarts  of  the  heavy  rock /  metal  scene  exiting  around  this  time  as  their  cosy  assumption  that  the  genre  was  future-proofed  was  blown  away  by  the  tsunami  from  Seattle.

Deep  Purple's  short  run  of  hits  following  "Black  Night"  was  soon  over  and  thereafter  their  appearances  in  the  singles chart  were  very  sporadic . This  was probably  due  to  the  constant  churn  in  the  band's  line  up. In  the  summer  of  1973  singer  Ian  Gillan  and  bassist  Roger  Glover  quit  the  band  after  a  tour  of  Japan. Roger  had  given  them  notice  so  the  band  quickly  drafted  in  Glen  Hughes  , bassist  with  Midlands  rockers  Trapeze. He  could  sing  as  well  but  didn't  want  to  be  lead  vocalist  so  auditions  were  held  and  the  unknown  David  Coverdale  from  Saltburn   was  chosen. Glen's  interest  in  funk  had  an  impact  on  their  music  which  wasn't  to  Ritchie's  taste  and  he  quit  in  June  1975  describing  their  recent  material  as, ahem, "shoeshine"  music. He  was  replaced  by  American  Tommy  Bolin  who  had  a  long  cv  and  a  real  drug  habit (  as  did  Glen  by  this  point ). He  turned  the  live  band  into  a  shambles  causing  them  serious  reputational  damage. The  band  split  up  in  March  1976 when  David, keyboardist  Jon  Lord  and  drummer  Ian  Paice  all  decided  to  quit; Bolin  was  dead  by  the  end  of  the  year.

The  members  went  into  various  projects, some  of  which  we've  covered  already while  a  set  of  live  EPs  issued  by  the  record  company  were  minor  hits  and  kept  the  name  alive. In 1980  former  singer  Rod  Evans  led  an  unauthorised  version  on  tour  and  paid  dearly  for  it  when  taken  to  court.  Discussions  took  place  behind  the  scenes  and  by  1984  the  classic  line  up  had  all  agreed  to  a  reformation. Ritchie  dissolved  Rainbow  which  also  released Roger  of  course. Jon  quit  Whitesnake  with  David's  blessing  and  Ian  P  was  free  anyway  having  quit  Whitesnake  in  1982 . Ian  G  was  fresh  from  an  unhappy  stint  in  Black  Sabbath. The  band's  reunion  was  successful  up  to  a  point. They  were  a  major  live  draw but  their  albums  were  better  received  in  Europe  than  here  and  the  US.  In  1989  Ian  G  was  fired  and  ex-Rainbow  singer  Joe  Lynn  Turner  replaced  him.

"Love  Conquers  All "  was the  second  single  released  from  their  poorly  received  1990   album  "Slaves  And  Masters"  ( 87  in  the  US, 45  here ). Written  by  Ritchie, Roger  and  Joe  it  unsurprisingly  sounds  like  Rainbow's  latter  day  AOR  material  with  Ritchie's  solo  and  Jon's  string  arrangement  just  window-dressing  on  a  very  plodding  and  dated  power  ballad.

Joe  started  work  with  the  others  on  the  next  album  but  was  fired  in  1992  and  eventually  replaced  by  Ian  G   who  management  wanted  back  for  a  25th  anniversary  tour.  The  band  went  back  to  a  harder,  more  metal  sound  on  the  album  "The  Battle  Rages  On"  released  in  1993 . Neither  of  the  singles  ,the  empty  epic  "Anya"  or  bludgeoning  "Time  To  Kill"  were  hits. Ritchie  was  not  happy  with  the  album  and  quit  mid-tour  that  November.  Joe  Satriani  helped  them  finish  the  tour but Steve  Morse  beame  his  permanent  replacement. Their  next  single "Purpendicular"  had  a   great  single  in  "Sometimes  I  Feel  Like  Screaming" although  without  Ritchie  they  experienced  a  sharp  decline  in  sales  with  the  album  failing  to  chart  in  the  US. "Abandon"  in  1998 only  made  number  76  here.

With  sales  of  their  new  material  so  low  the  band  had  to  tour  extensively  and  by  2002 Jon, an  increasingly  marginalised  figure on  their  last  two  albums,  had  had  enough  and  announced  his  retirement. His  replacement  was  former  Rainbow  keyboard  player  Don  Airey. After 2003's  "Bananas" they  were  dropped  by  EMI  and  their  follow  up  "Rapture  of  the  Deep"  in  2005  was  issued  by  the  German  label  Edel. After  that  the  band  were  divided  on  whether  it  was  worth  continuing  to  record  and  didn't  issue  any  new  material  until  after Jon's  death  in  2012. .The  album  "Now  What ?"  included  a  couple  of  tracks  dedicated  to  him  and  with  Bob  Ezrin  producing  did  markedly  better  than  any  of  their  other  post-Ritchie  albums.

The  band  are  currently  in  the  middle  of  a  world   tour  called  The  Long  Goodbye  Tour  although  they're  coy  about  confirming  that  it  is  intended  to  be  final. Ian  P  suffered  a  minor  stroke  last  year. Another  album  with  Ezrin, "Infinite"  was  released  earlier  this  year  which  reached  number  6 .

We've  covered  Ritchie's  subsequent  career  in  the  Goodbye  Rainbow  post . David's  post-Purple  career  is  of  course  covered  in  the Whitesnake  posts.

Glenn  has  had  a  long  and  busy  career  as  a  session  musician  as  well  as  working  with  Black  Sabbath's  Tommy  Iommi. He  also  had  a  stint  as  Sabbath's  lead  vocalist. He's  released  a  number  of  solo  albums  over  the  years  which have  varied  in style  but  not  achieved  commercial  success. As  he  only  played  on  one  of  Purple's  hits  I  don't  intend  to  investigate  them.

 Similarly  Joe  has  released  a  string  of   AOR   solo  albums,  although  not  in  the  last  decade,  and  makes  a  living  from  touring  in  Eutope

 

694 Hello Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy

Chart  entered : 23   February  1991

Chart  peak : 13

Number  of  hits  : 12

Before  we  go  on  to  talk  about  Massive  Attack,  I  should  mention  that  this  came  into  the  chart  a  week  after  Queen's  Innuendo   entered  the  album  charts. The  significance  of  that  is  that  we  have  now  overtaken  Then  Play  Long,  chronologically  speaking.

Massive  Attack  emerged  from  a  soundsystem  collective  operating  from  Bristol  from  1983  onwards   known  as  The  Wild  Bunch. Their  signature  sound  was  slowing  down  the  rhythm  tracks  and  bringing  in  samples   from  a very  eclectic   range  of  genres  to  create  a  moodier  vibe. This  was  soon  associated  with  having  a  spliff  and  eventually  gave  rise  to  the  term  "trip  hop".

In  1987  three  members  decided  to  peel  off  and  start  recording  as  Massive  Attack. Robert  "3D "  Del  Naja   was  a   white  rapper  and  grafitti  artist  ( now  the  prime  suspect  for  the  real  identity  of  "Banksy" ). Grantly  "Daddy  G"  Marshall   and  Andrew  "Mushroom"  Vowles  were  black  DJs, the  former  pushing  30, hence  the  nickname.

They  put  out  their  first  single  "Any  Love  "  a  12  inch  on  their  own  label  in  1988 . It  was  produced  by  fellow  Bristolians   Smith  &  Mighty  and  featured  singer  Carlton  McCarthy  on  a  tale  of  a  guy  on  the  pull. It's  got  a  mid-tempo  hip  hop  beat  with  dated  scratching  sounds  and  a  reggae  feel  and  it's  OK.

The  band  got  a  fillip  at  the  end  of  the  year  when  their  friend  Neneh  Cherry  broke  big  with  Buffalo  Stance.  Robert  co-wrote  her  follow-up  hit  Manchild  and  her  husband  Cameron  McVey  helped  them  get  a  record  deal  with  Circa  in  1990  and  became  their  first  manager. They  released  their  next  single  "Daydreaming"  that  October.  The  track  is  a  quiet  statement  of  intent  with  all  three  members  plus  friend  Tricky  rapping  at  low  volume  punctuated  by  a  soulful  refrain  from  Londoner  Shara  Nelson who'd  gravitated  to  the  Wild Bunch  after  a  string  of  flop  singles  in  the  eighties. The record  samples  jazz-funker  Wally  Badarou's   1984  track  Mambo.

"Unfinished  Sympathy"  was  their  next  release.   The  song  originated  with  Nelson   when  it  was  titled  "Kiss  and  Tell"   and  the  group  encouraged   her  to  develop  it  with  the  aid    producer  Johnny  Dollar , who  helmed  Cherry's  Raw  Like  Sushi . It  was  then  topped  with  a  string  arrangement   (  which  the  group  had  to  sell  their  car  to  afford ) by  veteran  Will  Malone   and  re-titled  "Unfinished  Sympathy"  as  a  pun  on  Shubert's  Unfinished  Sumphony  although  I  think  it  might  also  have  been  influenced  by  the  recent  success  of  the  similarly  chorus-free  Unchained  Melody  which  had  been  a  huge  hit  again  in  1990. It  also  incorporates  samples  from  J  J  Johnson  and  the  Mahavishnu  Orchestra.

The  song  itself,  with  Nelson's  opaque  lyrics  about  an  uneasy  relationship  expertly  sung.  only  occupies  half  the  track  before  she  drops  out  and  lets  the  string  arrangement  carry  the  mood.
There's   echoes  of  the  Pet  Shop  Boys ' West  End  Girls  in  the  stately  melancholic  chords,   carrying  the  same  suggestion  of  urban  unease.There's  some  discreet  scratching  but  no  rapping  on  the  track . It's  frequently  cited  as  one  of  the  greatest  singles  of  the  nineties  and  while  I  wouldn't  go  that  far  it  certainly  deserves  its  recognition  as  a  pioneering  work  of  art  kickstarting  a  whole  new  musical  genre.

The  "Attack"   was  temporarily  dropped  from  their  name  at  the  suggestion  of  McVey  who  feared  the  single  wouldn't  get  any  airplay  while  the  Gulf  War  was  ongoing  although  who  exactly  would   find  time  to  get  upset  about  the  name  of  a  then-unknown  pop  group  from  the  UK  is  not  very  clear.

693 Hello Dina Carroll* - It's Too Late

(*  Quartz  introducing....)

Chart  entered : 2  February  1991

Chart  peak : 8

Number  of  hits : 14

Dina  was  born  in  Newmarket  in  1968. She  was  signed  to  the  London  dance  label  Streetwave  as  a  teenager  and  was  on  a  couple  of  singles  by  the  studio  group  Masquerade  including  the  1986  number  54  hit  "One  Nation",  an  electronic  re-working  of  Funkadelic's  One  Nation  Under  A  Groove. You'd  be  hard  pressed  to  pick  out  her  contribution  on  that  one.

She  left  Streetwave  after  less  than  a  year. In  1989  she  signed  a  contract  with  Jive  and  released  a  couple  of  singles. "People  All  Around  The  World "  , an  attractive  Lisa  Stansfield-esque  dance  pop  number  and  a  so-so  cover  of  "Walk  On  By"  helped  by  members  of  The  Pasadenas. Although  the  latter  was  a  minor  hit  in  Europe  it  wasn't  enough  to  keep  her  on  the  label. In  1990  she  made  a  couple  of  collaborative  records, singing  on  the  house  tune  "Peace  and  Harmony"  with  Brothers  in  Rhythm  and  Simon  Harris's  remake  of  Yarbrough  and  People's  "Don't  Stop  The  Music"  on  which  she  got  a  featuring  credit.

She  was  then  approached  by  Dennis  Ingoldsby  of  First  Avenue  Management  Company  to  work  with  their  production  duo  Quartz  who'd  chalked  up  a  minor  hit  with  We're  Comin  At  Ya'  in  1990.  "It's  Too   Late"  is  a  cover  of  the  Carole  King  break-up  classic  from  Tapestry. a  US  number  one  in  1971. Quartz's  chilled  out  house  arrangement  doesn't  improve  on  it  but  it's  not  unlistenable  either. It's  heralded  by   an  unusual  clunking  keyboard  riff,  represented  by  tapping  empty  wine  bottles  in  the  video. Dina  performs  the  song  without  any  Whitney /  Mariah  histrionics  but  her  vocal  lacks  the character  of  King. The  other  quibble  I  have  is  that  the  middle  eight  goes  on  too  long  without  anything  much  happening   as  if  they  don't  have  enough  ideas  to  get  the  song  over  the  three  minute  mark.    

692 Goodbye Daryl Hall and John Oates - Everywhere I Look

Chart  entered :  26  January  1991

Chart  peak  : 74

The  American  superstar  duo  were  never  as  big  here, taking  four  years  to  chalk  up  another  UK  hit  after  "She's  Gone". Their  peak  year  in  the  UK  was  1982  when  " I  Can't  Go  For  That"  and  "Maneater"  ( both  US  number  ones  )  were  Top  10  hits.  Most  of  their  subsequent  UK  hits,  including  their  last  US  number  one, "Out  of  Touch",  were  fairly  minor  and  1980's  "Private  Eyes"  was  their  only  album  to  crack  the  Top  10. In  1985  their  LP  "Live  At  The  Apollo"  fulfilled  their  contract  with  RCA  and  they  decided  to  have  a  break  from  each  other. Daryl  made  a  second  solo  LP  "Three  Hearts  In  The  Happy  Machine"  which  yielded  the  hit  "Dreamtime"   ( number  28  in  1986 )  although  it  was only  a  moderate  hit  compared  to  the  duo's  albums, in  the  US. John  scored  a  success  as  co-writer  of  Icehouse's  big  US hit  "Electric  Blue"  in  1988. Later  that  year  they  reconvened  on  Arista  and  released  the  album  "Ooh  Yeah"   which  marked  a  huge  decline  in  their  popularity  by  peaking  below  the  Top  20. None  of  its  singles  charted  in  the  UK. This  continued  with  1990's  "Change  of  Season"  ( which  doesn't  include  a  single  co-write  between  the  duo ),   which  only  reached  number  60  in  the  US,  though  it  yielded  two  very  minor  UK  hits.

"Everywhere  I  Look"  , penned  by  Daryl, was  the  second  of  those.  Ironically  for  a  song  that  proclaims  "Everywhere  I  look I  see  people  shaking  off  the  old  ways  so  why  can't  we ?"  it  sounds  like  classic  Hall  and  Oates  to  me, frequently  threatening  to  turn  into  "Everytime  You  Go  Away"  or  a  slowed-down  "Kiss  On  My  List". Only  the  ugly  drum  sound  suggests  1991  rather  than  1981. Perhaps  that's  the  point  Daryl  was  making  but  I  doubt  it.

The  album  caused  a  real  rupture  between  Daryl  and  Arista  supremo  Clive  Davis  who  forced  him  to  re-record  the  song  "So  Close"  with  Jon  Bon  Jovi  in  order  to  ensure  a  hit  single. Daryl  hated  the  new  version  and  insisted  the  original  version  closed  the  album   but  Davis's  calculation  proved  sound  when  the  single  became  their  last  Top  20  hit  in  the  US. The  row  ended  their  tenure with  Arista. The   break-up  of  the  duo  was  much  more  amicable, two  adults  deciding  that  after  working  closely  together  for  two  decades  they'd  reached  a  creative  dead  end .

While  John  decided  on  a  break  from  the  music  business, Daryl  signed  with  Epic  and  resumed  his  solo  career. In   direct   contrast  to  the  duo's  records, his  1993  album  "Soul  Alone"  was  much  better  received  in  the  UK  than  the  US. It  marked  a  shift  from  pop  and  rock  to  contemporary  jazz  and  soul  and  spawned  three  UK  hits  , the  biggest  of  them  being  "Stop  Loving  Me  Stop  Loving  You"  which  reached  number  30  in  1994. In  the  US  "I'm  In  A  Philly  Mood"  limped  to  82, his  last  hit  single  there.  He  had  two  more  UK  hits  in  the  nineties  in  collaborations  with  Sounds  of  Blackness  ( "Gloryland" .number  36 and  the  official  theme  for  the   1994  World  Cup )  and  Dusty  Springfield  ( "Wherever  Would  I  Be", number  44 ).  

Neither  of  Daryl's  next   singles  in  1996 "Cab  Driver"  and  "What's  In  Your  World", both  mellow  soul  grooves   with  Daryl  in  superlative  vocal  form  , made  the  chart  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  consequently  the  parent  album  "Can't  Stop  Dreaming"  was  only  released  in  Japan  until  2003.

That  might  be  what  prompted  a  reunion  with  John  for  1997's  "Marigold  Sky"  album, released  on  their  own  Push  label. Although  we're  now  well  into  the  CD  era  it  seems  to  have  been  conceived  as  a  vinyl  LP  with  a  pop/rock  Side  One  and   a  more  soulful  Side  Two. It's  a  solid  set  that  pleased  their  existing  fanbase  but  didn't  contain  anything  that  was  going  to  reignite  their  career  and  peaked  at  a  disappointing  95  in  the  US.

In  2002  John  released  his  first  solo  album  "Phunk  Shui",  the  first  of  four  soft  rock  efforts  featuring  his  less  distinctive  voice  that  have  sold  diddly  squat.

He  reconvened  with  Daryl  for  the  following  year's  "Do  It  For Love". For  this  one  they  called  in  more  outside  songwriters   including  Gregg  Alexander  and  eighties  refugees  from  the  UK, Paul  Barry  and  Steve  Torch  and  eschewed  the flash  production  of  yore  for  more  acoustic-based  arrangements. The  opening  track  "Man  On  A  Mission"  is  particularly  good  and  it's  a  much  stronger  set    of  songs  than  its  predecessor. Alas  that  wasn't  really  reflected  in  its  chart  performance  as  it  only  got  to  77  in  the  US  although  it  reached  number  37  here.

It  was  their  last  album  of  primarily  new  songs. 2004's  "Our  Kind  Of  Soul"   ( number  69 in  the  US, number  86  here  )was  mainly  made  up  of  lo-fi  covers  of  their  favourite  soul  songs  and   2006's  "Home  For  Christmas"   ( recorded  after  Daryl  recovered  from  a  bout  of  Lyme's  Disease )  contained  mainly  seasonal  favourites  and  didn't  chart.

Daryl  and  John  then  announced  that  they  would  continue  as  a  live  act  but  wouldn't  be  releasing  any  more  new  material. Since  then  John  has  plugged  away  at  his  underwhelming  solo  career  while  Daryl  has  diversified  into  historic  house  restoration  with  projects  in  both  the  UK  and  the  US . In  2007  he  started  his  own online  show  Live  from  Daryl's  House  , using  it  to  promote  his  most  recent  solo  album  2011's  "Laughing  Down  Crying"  which  from  what  I've  heard, is  very  much  in  the  classic  Hall  and  Oates  pop/soul  vein.

691 Hello Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - Bloodsports For All

Chart  entered :  26  January  1991

Chart  peak : 48

Number  of  hits : 13

Here's  a  band  that  time's  forgotten. The  last  time  I  heard  them  was  at  The  Crown  Ground, home  of  Accrington  Stanley  FC,  a  few  years  ago  when  an  airing  of  their  version  of  Sinatra's "The  Impossible  Dream"  provoked  an  attack  on  the  unwisely  low  speakers  by  younger  members  of  the  Dale  following.

James  Morrison   ( guitar / vocals  )  and  Les  "Fruitbat"  Carter   ( bass )  were  originally  members  of  a  "shambling "  band  Jamie  Wednesday  who  released  a  couple  of  singles "Vote  For  Love "  and  "We  Three Kings  of  Orient  Are"  in  that  scene's  peak  year  of  1986.   Musically  they  sound  a  bit  like  The  Housemartins  with  Lindsey  Lowe's  trumpet  prominent  but  the  fly  in  the  ointment  is  James's  angry and  abrasive  reedy  snarl. On "Vote  For  Love" , James  starts  quoting  Martin  Luther  King's  "I  Have  A  Dream"  speech  in  splenetic  fashion, becoming  completely  decoupled  from  the  music  behind  him.

Carter  the  Unstoppable  Machine  emerged  in  1987 when  the  rest  of  the  band  pulled  out  of  a  charity  gig  at  the  London  Astoria   at  the  last  minute  leaving  James  and  Les  to  go  on  with  a  beatbox  and  backing  tapes. They  released  their  first  single  "A  Sheltered  Life"  in  1988  showcasing  their  new  sound  : punk  guitars, sequenced  bass, elementally  simple  synth  lines  and  drum  machines  with  James's   inimitable.  semi-rapped vocals  riding  on  top. The  song  was  told  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  straight  guy  who  never  indulged  in  risky  behaviour  but  devoid  of  any  melody  or  hooks  it  was  ignored. Their  second  single  "Sheriff  Fatman"  in  1989  was  a  protest  at  slum  landlords  in  London. The  notorious  Nicholas  van  Hoogstraten  is  referenced  in  the  lyrics  as  "Nicholas  van-what'shisface"  but  as  he's  not  noticeably  corpulent  the  main  target  may  have  been  an  associate. It  became  their  second  hit  on  reissue. The  band  developed  a  distinctive  live  show   performing  in  front  of   a  wall  of  white  lights  designed for  heat  more  than  illumination  creating  a  sweaty  moshpit  into  which  the  two  would  repeatedly  dive.

In  January  1990  they  released  their  first  album,  "101  Damnations" . In  one  sense , you  can  see  Carter  USM  (  as  they  were  often  abbreviated )  as   a  sort  of  politicised  Half  Man  Half  Biscuit. In  both  cases,  they  want  you  to  pay  attention  to  the  lyrics to  catch  all  the  pop  culture  references  which   in  Carter's  case  are  deployed   sarcastically  to  underline  that  the  injustices  they're  targeting  are  happening  right  under  our  nose  like  sink  estates  ( "Twenty  Four  Hours  From  Tulse  Hill" )  , an  atrocity  against  a  homeless  person ( "An  All  American  National  Sport ", the  standout  track ), violent  crime ( "The  Taking  of  Peckham  123" ), absent  fathers  ( "Good  Grief  Charlie  Brown" ) and  getting  mugged  (" Midnight  on  the  Murder  Mile" ) . Like  Sisters  of  Mercy, the  inflexible  beats  and  Marmite  vocals  can  make  them  indigestible  at  album  length  but  in  this  case  at  least  there's  enough   musical  variety  to  sustain  interest. The  album  didn't  chart  initially  but  reached  number  29  in  1991  when  reissued by  Chrysalis.

They  followed  it  in  June  1990 with  a  non-album  single  "Rubbish"  about  teenage  joy-riders. It  had  a  hook  of  sorts  with  the  line  "Rubbish  on  the  radio"  and  featured  a  John  Peel  sample  but  generally  it's  a  punk  thrash. It  became  their  fourth  hit  on  re-release  in  1992.

In  the  summer  they  signed  with  Rough  Trade  who  released  their  next  single  "Anytime  Anyplace  Anywhere"  in  October. For  younger  readers  the  title  was  derived  from  a  long-running  advertising  slogan  for  Martini  and  the  song  as  you  might  expect  deals  with  alcoholism. Until  the  abrasive  guitars  come  in  on  the  second  verse  there's  a  strong  Pet  Shop  Boys  feel   to  it  with  the  sequencer  pulse  and  big  dramatic  chords  which  eventually  overpower  the  guitars  at  the  end  of  the  song. It  came  close  to  charting.

They  were  then  signed  up  by  Chrysalis  who  released  "Bloodsport For  All "  just  ahead  of  the  next  album. Despite  the  opening  synth  riff  and  electronic  rhythms, it  has  a  more  glam  rock  feel  with  its  fat  guitars  and  terrace  chant  chorus. The  song  concerns  racism  in  the  army , outlining  the  misery  facing  any  black  guy  foolish  enough  to  enlist. Les  makes  his  vocal  debut  towards  the  end  when  the  music  drops  out  and  he  repeats  the  chorus  in  a  deadpan  tone  reminiscent  of  Terry  Hall. The  song  ends  with  another  nod  to  glam  , stealing  the  "Oh  Yeah"  refrain  from  Gary  Glitter's  Do  You  Wanna  Touch  Me, not, you  suspect,  a  choice  they'd  make  today.

690 Goodbye Thin Lizzy -Dedication

Chart  entered :  26  January  1991

Chart  peak : 35

This  was  another  posthumous  hit, the  band  having  been  defunct  for  nearly  eight  years  at  this  point.

The  band  struggled to  follow  up  "Whiskey  In  The  Jar"  in  1973  and  guitarist  Eric  Bell  buckled  under  the  pressure  quitting  the  band  at  a  gig  in  Belfast  on  New  Year's  Eve. Gary  Moore  came  in  for  a  few  months  followed  by  a  couple  of  fly  by  nights  then  singer / bassist  Phil  Lynott  and  drummer  Brian  Downey  decided  to  expand to  having  two  guitarists  and  held  auditions  in  1974. They  picked  17  year  old  Brian  Robertson  from  Scotland  and  Scott  Gorham  a  Californian  who  had  hoped  to  join  his  brother-in-law  in   Supertramp   but  was  now  at  imminent  risk  of  deportation. With  the  new  guys  able  to  play  harmony  guitar, Thin  Lizzy  jettisoned  most  of  their  old  material  from  the  set. They  gradually  built  up  an  audience  again  and  their  1975  LP  "Fighting"  was  their  first  to  chart. It  all  came  good  in  1976  with  the  album  "Jailbreak"  and  the  classic  single  "The  Boys  Are  Back  In  Town", the  anthem  for  that  long  hot  summer. They  had  a  string  of  UK  hits  in  the  late  seventies  although  American  interest  in  the  band  declined  with  each  album. They  also  indulged  heavily  in  rock  and  roll  excess  and  eventually  the  hard-drinking  Brian  R  was  fired  and  replaced  by  Gary  in  1978.   Phil became  interested  in  new  wave  encouraged  by  his  friend  Midge  Ure  and  collaborated  with  the  ex-Sex  Pistols  as The  Greedy  Bastards  in  1979  then  flirted  with  synth  pop  on  his  solo  album  in  1980. At  the  same  time  his  heavy  drug  use  was  alienating  his  colleagues. Gary  left  for  a  final  time  and  producer  Tony  Visconti  refused  to  work  with  Phil  anymore. Gary  was  replaced  by  blues  guitarist  Snowy  White   for  the  album  "Chinatown"  which   contained  their  last  Top  10  single  "Killer  On  The  Loose". Touring  keyboard  player  Darren  Wharton  was  upgraded  to  a  permanent  member. The  band  went  into  rapid  commercial  and  artistic  decline becoming  a  routine  metal  act, confirmed  by  Snowy's  departure  in  1982  and  replacement  by  John  Sykes  from  metal  toilers  The  Tygers  of  Pan  Tang. The  band  then  announced  that  their  next  album "Thunder  and  Lightning" and  subsequent  tour  in  1983 would  be  their  last.  Phil  had  plans  for  a  new  group  Grand  Slam  but  largely  due  to  his  drug-addled  state  it  never  got  off  the  ground. He  returned  to  the  charts  in  1985  in  tandem  with  Gary  on  the  single   "Out  In  The  Fields"   which  reached  number  5  although  his  mumbled  contribution  is  peripheral  and  his  co-credit  a  very  generous  gesture  by  Gary.  Barely  six  months  later,  he  succumbed  to  pneumonia  ,his  body  weakened  by  the  years  of  drug  abuse. In  1986  Gary, Scott, Brian  D  and  Darren  played  the  Self  Aid  concert  in  Dublin  with  a  guest  bassist  and  Bob  Geldof  helping  out  Gary  on  vocals.

"Dedication"  was  a  similar  effort  to  The  Beatles'  Free  As  A  Bird  a  few  years  later.  It  was  the  nearest  thing  to  a  completed  song  on  Phil's  voice  and  bass  demos  for  the  Grand  Slam  project. Brian  and  Scott  agreed  to  work  on  it  for  inclusion  on  a  Thin  Lizzy  compilation  to  mark  the  fifth  anniversary  of  Phil's  death  and  release  as  a  single. Gary initially  agreed  to  work  on  it  then  changed  his  mind. Scott  managed  to  come  up  with  a  melodic  punky  riff  to  match  Phil's  tune  and  it's  as  good  as  it  could  be  given  that  it's  a  half-formed,  repetitive  song  - you're  certainly  not  in  any  doubt of  the  title -  and  Phil  sounds  like  he's  singing  through  a  scarf.

The  album  reached  number  8  and  a re-release  of  "The  Boys  Are  Back  In  Town" had  a  week  in  the  charts  at   number  63  a  couple  of  months  later. At  the  end  of  the  year  the  two  Brians  did  a  brief  tour  of  Ireland  as  Thin  Lizzy  with  Bobby  Tench  on  vocals. In  1994  they  joined  Eric  and  Darren  for  a  tribute  concert  in  Wolverhampton  which  also  featured  Lizzy  tribute  acts. There  was  another  one  on  the  tenth  anniversary  of Phil's  death  which  involved  John  instead  of  Brian  R. Following,  that  John decided  to  reactivate  the  group  on  a  more  permanent  basis  and  persuaded  Scott, Brian  D  and  Darren  to  come  on  board  though  it was  understood  that  the  band  would  not  record  new  material. Brian  D  quit  on  health  grounds  the  following  year  and  Darren  left  in  2001. John  and  Scott  balanced  the  group  alongside  other  projects  until  2009  when  John  quit  leaving  Scott  to  arrange  a  new  line  up. Brian  D  and  Darren  both  rejoined  and  ex-Almighty  singer  Ricky  Warwick  joined  to  replace  John  on  vocals.

With  Warwick   in  the  band , thoughts  turned  to  writing  new  material  but  with  Brian  and  Darren  declining  to  take  part   (  though  both  remained  willing  to  play  live  occasionally   as  Lizzy  ) it  was  decided  to  record  as  Black  Star  Riders . Since  2012  they  have  released  three  albums  and  toured  heavily. Their  melodic  hard  rock  does  owe  a  lot  to  Lizzy  and  Warwick  has  started  to  sound  like  Phil  but  they  are  writing  decent  songs  like  recent  singles  "Testify  Or  Say  Goodbye"  and  "Dancing  With  The  Wrong  Girl"  and  each  album  has  done  better  than  the  one  before.

Brian  D  cited  the  touring  schedule  as  the  reason  for  pulling  out  of  Black  Star  Riders  but  earlier this  year  formed  Brian  Downey's  Alive  and  Dangerous  to  perform  Thin  Lizzy  songs  in  Europe.

Darren  went  back  to  his  main  group  Dare. They  had  formed  in  Oldham  back  in  1985, their young   keyboard  player  being  future  TV  scientist  Brian  Cox. Eventually  they  signed  with  A & M   and  had  four  very  minor  hits  in  1989-91  playing  Mike  and  the  Mechanics-style  AOR  with  Celtic  leanings. Their  first  hit  "The  Raindance"  sounds  very  similar  to  John  Farnham's  The  Voice.  They  were  dropped  after  two  albums  and  broke  up. They  reformed  in  1998  ( without  Cox )  but  have  pursued  a  more  overtly  Celtic direction  on  Darren's  own  label  Legend.  Terry  Wogan  gave  them  support  on  Radio  Two . Their  most  recent  album  was  "Sacred  Ground"  last  year.

Eric  joined  The  Noel  Redding  Band  for  a  couple  of  albums  in  the  mid-seventies, then  the  blues  ensemble  Mainsqueeze  in  the  early  eighties. For  the  past  three  decades  he  has  ploughed  his  own  furrow in  the  Eric  Bell  Band  staying  firmly  in  the  blues  rock  genre.

Brian  R  joined  Motorhead   and  John  joined  Whitesnake  so  we'll  pick  up  their  stories  in  the  appropriate  posts. Gary  of  course  had  a  successful  solo  career  so  we'll  come  back  to  him  as  well.

Snowy  went  on to  score  a  fluke  hit  single  in  the  post-Christmas  lull  in  1984  with  "Bird  of  Paradise" from  his  debut  album  "White  Flames"  which  then  became  the  name  of  his  band.  Like  Eric  he's  stuck  with  the  blues  rock  scene   releasing  a  steady  string  of  albums. He's  also  known  for  his  long  association  with  Roger  Waters  with  whom  he  has  frequently  toured.  

689 Goodbye Brother Beyond - The Girl I Used To Know

Chart  entered :  19  January  1991

Chart  peak : 48

And  so  we  move  into  1991, a  transitional  year. It  was  the  last  year  in  which  vinyl  singles  were  mass  produced , most  of  them  THAT  bloody  record. Everything  I  Do  ( I  Do  It  For  You )  had  a  double-edged  effect. It  got  people  talking  about  the  charts  again   but  also  highlighted  how  weak  the  competition  was  that  nothing  could  shift  it  for  so  long.

There  were  also  big  changes  in  the  music  press. In  March  Record  Mirror  and  Sounds  became  victims  of  the  early  nineties  recession. The  former  had  a  big  effect  on  me  as  I'd  been  buying  it  regularly  for  a  decade. More  to  the  point  I'd  taken  out  a  subscription  for  it  the  previous October . It  didn't  disappear  entirely ; two  features  survived, Alan  Jones's  excellent  Chartfile   and  James  Hamilton's  in-depth  analysis  of  the  week's  dance  records  ( a  section  I'd  usually  skip anyway) , and  became  a  little  insert  in  the  deadly  dull  trade  magazine  Music  Week. As  compensation,  I  was  sent  that  for  the  remaining  six  months  of  my  subscription. I  pulled  out  the  chart  pages  and  the  insert  and  threw  the  rest  of  the  paper  away. When  the  deliveries   ceased   in  September,  so  did  my  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  chart.

Two  other  developments  occurred  which  both  have  a  relevance  to  the record  we're  discussing. One  was  a  major  consolidation  of  the  major  record  labels  through  acquistions  and  mergers. Well-known  labels  like  MCA vanished  overnight  and  artists  now  found  they  were  dealing  with  complete  strangers  who  had  no  personal  stake  in  their  fortunes. The other was  the  crumbling  of the  Stock,  Aitken  and  Waterman  empire  as  the  public  tired  of  their  ubiquity.

Brother  Beyond  had  their  biggest  hit  in  1988  with  the  SAW-penned  "The  Harder  I  Try"  from  the  album "Get  Even"  which  contained  7  hit  singles. The  band  then  decided  to  go  it  alone  and  their  1989  album "Trust"  was  entirely  self-written  bar  a  cover  of  Three  Degrees'  "When  Will  I See  You  Again".  It  didn't  work  out, the  three  singles  taken  from  it  were  only  minor  hits  and  the  album  stalled  at  number  60.

Surprisingly  perhaps.  EMI  America  still  had  faith  in  them  and  invited  the  band  over  to  record  a  couple  of  new  tracks  before  they  released  the  album  there.  "The  Girl  I  Used  To  Know" was  written  by  producers  Carl  Sturken  and  Evan  Rogers  who'd  masterminded  Donny  Osmond's  recent  comeback. The  track  has  a  sledgehammer  beat  and  a  new  jack  swing  arrangement  with  dated  Fairlight  keyboard  sounds. It's  an  indifferent  song  and  Nathan  Moore' s  wispy  vocals  don't  sell  it  that  well. With  the  aid  of  an  Anton  Corbijn  video,  it  was  a  sizeable  hit  in  America  in  the  summer  of  1990  reaching  number  27.

Sturken  and  Rogers  also  wrote  the  follow  up  "Just  A  Heartbeat  Away"  a  wimpy  ballad  with  gospel  backing  vocals  that  steers  the  band  into  Glenn  Medeiros  territory. It  didn't  chart  making  the  band  one  hit  wonders  in  the  US.

Over  here,  EMI  seem  to  have  released  "The  Girl  I  Used  To  Know"  at  the  beginning  of  1981  to  test  the  strength  of  their  fanbase. A  number  48  placing  was  not  satisfactory  and  the  band  came  back  from  touring  America  to  hear  they'd  been  dropped. They  split  up  immediately.

Nathan  was  soon  handed  a  huge  tax  bill  and  had  to  declare  himself  bankrupt. He  did  not  attempt  a solo  career  but  got  a  very  lucky  break  in  1994  when  he  was  invited  to  join  Simon  Cowell's  boy  band  Worlds  Apart  as  replacement  singer. Their  five  UK  hits , mainly  shite  covers, were  all  scored  before  he  joined  the  band. However  they  were  massive  in  Europe  and  Asia  particularly  in  France  where  Nathan's  first  album  with  the  band  "Everybody"  went  to  number  one  and  spawned  four  hit  singles . Their  success  lasted  for  6  years  before  interest  started  waning  at  the  turn  of  the  millennium. They  went  on  hiatus  in  2002  and  Nathan  returned  to  the  UK  although  he's  been  involved  whenever  the band  have  got  back  together. In  2004  he  pleased  guilty  to  kerb  crawling  in  Soho. At  the  time  he  was  managing  some  reality  show  also-rans  without  any  conspicuous  success. Since  then  he's  kept  his  head  above  water  on  the  nostalgia  circuit  with  Worlds  Apart  in  Europe  and  performing  Brother  Beyond  material  here. He's  appeared  on  both  Hit  Me  Baby  One  More  Time  and  The  Voice  

Drummer  Steve  Alexander  resumed  his  session  career. In  1995  he  joined  Duran  Duran  as  a  hired  hand  and  stayed  with  them  until  original  drummer  Roger  Taylor  rejoined  the  band  in  2001. He  returned  to  session  work  but  also  plays  in  a  part-time  band  The  Fabulous  Lampshades  who  do  gigs  for  cancer  charities.

What's  most  interesting  about  the  band's  subsequent  careers is  that  the  two  members  who  wrote  their  original  material  are  the  ones  who  no  longer  make  music . Guitarist  David  White  went  to  St  Martin's  College  in  London  and  now  makes  a living  as  an  artist. Keyboard  player Carl  Fysh  now  works  for  public  relations  agency  Purple  PR  whose  clients  include  Goldfrapp, Coldplay  and  Adele.

688 Hello Clivilles and Cole* - Gonna Make You Sweat

( * as  part  of  C & C  Music  Factory ( featuring  Freedom  Williams )

Chart  entered :  15  December  1990

Chart  peak : 3

Number  of  hits : 11  ( 8  as  C & C Music  Factory, 2  as  Clivilles  &  Cole,1 as  part  of  2  Puerto Ricans, a  Blackman  and  a  Dominican  )

I'll  own  up  to  a  mistake  here; we  should  have  said  hello  to  these  guys  back  in  1987   when  they  were  both  part  of  a  house  act  called  2  Puerto  Ricans, a  Blackman  and  a  Dominican  and  had  a  number  47  hit  with  "Do  It  Properly"  a  re-tooling  of  a  track  by  house  producer  Adonis  called  "No  Way  Back".

Robert  Clivilles  was  born  in  New  York  in  1964. His  parents  were  from  Puerto  Rica. David  Cole  was  slightly  older  and  came  from  Tennessee.  They  started  working  together  on  the  New  York  house  scene  in  the  1980s  with  David  Morales  and  Chep  Nunez  making  up  the  rest  of  the  group. After  the  aforementioned  single  Robert  and  David  started  working  as  a  production  duo  and  launched  the  Brat  Pack  with  the  single  "So  Many  Ways  ( Do  It  Properly  Part  II  )".

In  1989  the  quartet  released  another  single  "Scandalous", a  deep  house  track,  before  Morales  and  Nunez  went  their  separate  ways. Their  next  project  was  Seduction. This  was  intended  as  a  studio  project  only  featuring  female  vocalists  but  when  their  second  single  "(You're  My  One  And  Only  ) True  Love"  featuring  former  Weather  Girl  Martha Wash  became  a  Top  30  hit  in  the  US  they  put  together  an  attractive  trio  of  girls  to  become  the  band.

Their  next  single  "I  Need  A  Rhythm " sampling  Arethra  Franklin's  Respect  was  released  under  the  name  The  28th  Street  Crew. In  1990  they  abbreviated  it  to  The  Crew  and  released  "Get  Dumb ( Free  Your  Body )  which  features  a  vocal  sample  that  sounds  very  like  Time  Team's   Tony  Robinson. More  pertinently  it  also  featured  a  sample  of  Boyd  Jarvis's  The  Music  Got  Me  without  permission  and  he  sued  them.

It  was  after  that  that  they  settled  on  C &  C  Music  Factory  and  recruited  Wash, fledglng  rapper  Freedom  Williams  who  was  working  as   a  studio  hand and  Liberian  singer  Zelma  Davis  to  do  the  vocals  on  their  first  album. Wash  was  a    large  lady  who'd  emerged  in  the  late  seventies  with  the  similarly  rotund  Izora  Rhodes  as  Two  Tons  o'  Fun , the  backing  singers  for  gay  disco  icon  Sylvester.  In  the  early  eighties  they  peeled  away, re-christened  themselves  The  Weather  Girls  and  eclipsed  their mentor   with  the  ultimate  Hi-NRG  anthem  "It's  Raining  Men" , a   belated  number  2  hit  here  in  1984.  After  further  recordings  failed  to  match  its  success  they  disbanded  in  1988.

"Gonna  Make  You  Sweat"  was   the  first  single  released  under  the  new  name. To  me  it  sounds  pretty  identical  to  Snap's  The  Power  with  Martha  shrieking  "Everybody  Dance  Now"  instead  of  "I've  Got  The  Power " , a  similar  staccato  guitar  riff  and  a  couple  of  slow  rap  verses  courtesy  of  Freedom. In  the  US  they  went  one  better  than  Snap, reaching  number  one  and  staying  in  the  chart  for  six  months. It  was  a  big  step towards  hip  hop's  takeover  of  the Billboard  chart  and  has  become  a  ubiquitous  anthem  for  sports  events   and  wedding  parties   across  the  US.

Its  significance  didn't  end  there  however. Robert  and  David  decided  to  use  the  more  lithe  Zelma  to  front  the  group  in  the video  and  mouth  Martha's  parts. It  should  be  noted  that  Zelma  was  a  competent  singer  and  made  genuine  vocal  contributions  to  other  songs  on  the  forthcoming  single. Martha  wasn't  happy  and  despite  having  knowingly  acquiesced  in  a  similar  arrangement  with  Black  Box  she  eventually  decided  to  sue  and  won  an  out  of  court  settlement. The  explosion  in  "featuring"  credits  in  the  nineties  is  down  to  federal  legislation  which  followed  on  from  her  case.    

687 Hello Seal - Crazy

Chart  entered : 8  December  1990

Chart  peak : 2

Number  of  hits : 15

It's  another  slice  of  chart  irony  that  just  as  Holly  Johnson  made  his  departure, his  old  adversaries  at  ZTT  resurrected  themselves  with  this  one.

Seal  Samuel  was  born  in  London  to  a  Nigerian  mother  and  Brazilian  father  in  1963. He  was  raised  by  a  foster  family  and  studied  architecture  at  college. He  started  singing  in  bars  and  joined  a  funk  band  Push  in  1987.  He  toured  with  them  in  Japan  and  stayed  in  the  Far  East  travelling  for  a  while. He  had  a  bout  of  lupus  which  left  scars  on  his  face. He  had  his  first  brush  with  fame  when  he  sang  on  S'Express's  1988  hit  "Superfly  Guy"  and  appeared  in  the  video. While  living  in  a  squat  in  London, he  started  attending  illegal  raves   and  met  producer  Adamski  who'd  recently  had  a  hit  with  "N-R-G".

The  two  got  together  to  work  on  a  track  marrying  Adamski's  instrumental  track  " The  Killer"  to  Seal's  lyric  about  overcoming  adversity. It  was  an  update  of  the  old  Yazoo  formula  of  matching  up  cold  electronics  with  soulful  vocals. Although  cheaply  recorded, the  track  took  off  like  a  bomb  and  quickly  reached  number  one  in  the  summer of  1990. Although  many  sources  now  refer  to  the  single  as  being  by   "Adamski  featuring  Seal"  or  similar  wording, the  release  at  the  time  credited  Adamski  alone. Seal  had  a   hit  with  a  re-recorded  version  in  November  1991.

Seal  was  now  a  hot  property  and  ZTT  won  the  race  for  his  signature  , Seal  wanting  to  work  with  Trevor  Horn. Seal  wrote  the  lyrics  to  "Crazy"  about  the  ordinary  man's  response  to  momentous  events  like  the  fall  of  the   Berlin  Wall and  Tiananmen  Square  and  keyboardist  Guy  Sigsworth  wrote  the  music. Horn  worked  on  the  song  for  a  couple  of  months  before  he  was  satisfied  with  the  mix. "Crazy"  is  set  to  a  lightly  funky  rhythm  helped  along  by  the  wah-wah  work  of  Simply  Red  guitarist  Kenji  Suzuki   and  a  swirling  semi-ambient  keyboard  wash  that  became  one  of  the  signature  sounds  of  the  decade. Seal  rasps  in  laidback  version  until  the  impassioned  section  after  the  hip  hop  break. Seal's  New  Age  leanings  were  not  to  everyone's  taste  but  this  is  one  of  the  most  well-crafted  singles  of  the  nineties. It  was  a  Top  10  hit  all  over  the  world  reaching  number  7  in  the  US.    

686 Goodbye Holly Johnson - Where Has Love Gone ?

Chart  entered :  1  December  1990

Chart  peak : 73

Frankie  Goes  To  Hollywood's  career  is  the  textbook  case  of  too  much  too  soon. After  their  trio  of  number  one  singles, there  was  general  disappointment  with  the  "Welcome  To  The  Pleasuredome  "  album  where   too  few  ideas  were stretched  to  breaking  point. That  didn't  augur  well  for  the  follow up  "Liverpool"  in  1986  which  was  derided  in  the  music  press  and  sold  relatively  poorly. When  the  band  toured  it, the  relations  between  Holly  and  the  rest  of  the  group  deteriorated  beyond  repair with  stories  leaking  out  of  Holly  having  a  separate  dressing  room. He  quit  the  group  while  the  third  single  "Watching  the  Wildlife"  was  still  in  the  charts  in  March  1987. He  then  spent  the  next  18  months  locked  in a  highly  acrimonious  court  battle  with  ZTT  who  wanted  to  hold  him  to  his  contract. Part  of  their  case  was  that  the  band  were  talentless, merely  a  front  for  Trevor  Horn's  production  skills  with  Holly's  vocals  having  to  be  electronically  treated  to  make  them  fit  for  purpose. That  does  beg  the  question  why  they  were  then  so  keen  to  keep  him and  that  contradiction  may  have  helped  Holly  to  win  the  case  and  sign  with  MCA. He  was  vindicated  the  following  year  when  his  solo  album "Blast" reached  number  one  and  yielded  four  hit  singles  ( two  of  them  Top  5 ). He  also  returned  to  number  one  as  a  named  participant  on  the Hillsborough  charity  single "Ferry  Cross  The  Mersey". However, later  that year  his  remix  album  "Hollelujah"  failed  to chart, suggesting  his  solo  career  might  have  similarly  shaky  foundations  particularly  as  he  didn't  intend  to  tour.  

By  the  time  "Where  Has  Love  Gone ?"  was  released  as  the  trailer  for  his  next  album, Holly  was  already  at  loggerheads  with  the  record  company  over  his  promotional  budget. He  would  have  preferred  to  release  a  different  track,  "Penny  Arcade", though  they  sound  much  of  a  muchness  to  me.  The  song's  critique  of  consumerism  is  quite  sharp  lyrically  but  musically  producer  Andy  Richards  keeps  it  in  average  Erasure  territory  without  either  Vince  Clarke's  sonic  twists  or  Andy  Bell's  vocal  warmth. It's  bright  and  breezy  enough  but  fairly  forgettable.

The  follow-up  was  "Across  The  Universe"  in  March  1991   and  again  the  funny  camp  lyric  is  let  down  by  Holly's  vocal  limitations  and  the  toytown  Hi-NRG   backing  track. When  that  failed  to  chart  MCA  lost  all  faith  in  him  and  stalled  on  releasing  the  album  "Dreams  Money  Can't  Buy "  until  the  autumn  and  then  pressed  only  a  few  thousand  copies,  deleting  it  almost  immediately. While  that  ensured  its  failure  to  chart , it's  difficult  to  make  a  case  for  an  album  where  one  track  sounds  much  like  another  and  only  "Boyfriend  65", a  welcome  duet  with  Kirsty  McColl  stands  out  and  might  have  given  him  another  hit  if  released. Instead  the  flat-footed  "The  People  Want  To  Dance"  was  sent  out  instead  and  bombed.

It  was  then  that  Holly  received  the  diagnosis  that  he  was  HIV  positive  and  disappeared  from  the  public  eye  for  a  few  years, re-emerging  in  1994  with  his  autobiography  "A  Bone  In  My  Flute "  and  a  standalone  single  "Legendary  Children" , a  list  of  famous  homosexual  men  ( some  of  them  very  contentious  )  set   to  his  trademark  Hi-NRG  beat. It's  not  a  bad  song  but  sounds  like  it's  from  1984  rather  than  1994  and  didn't  chart. He  also did  a  single  with  Ryuchi  Sakamoto  "Love  &  Hate"  an  episodic,  electronic  epic  with  Holly  supplying  the  state-of-the-world  lyrics

For  the  next  few  years,  Holly  concentrated  on  his  painting  and  had  exhibitions  at  the  Tate, Liverpool  and  the  Royal  Academy. He  re-surfaced  in  1998  with  the  promotional  single  "Hallelujah" , a  gospel-tinged  house  tune  with  a  good  sax  break  but  otherwise  very  average. Holly's  vocals  are  less  commanding  but  just  as  reedy  as  before  which  isn't  a  great  combination.

It  was  followed  nearly  a  year  later  by  "Disco  Heaven"  his  tribute  to  the  friends  he'd  lost  through  AIDS. This  updates  his  sound  a  bit  to  the  early  nineties , has  a  decent  tune  and  could  have  been  a  hit  if  anyone  had  been  interested  enough  to  give  it  some  airplay. The  album "Soulstream "  followed. There  is  some  evidence  of  Holly  shifting  his  pitch  away  from  Hi-NRG  to  more  contemporary  dance  pop,  with  trip  hop  influences on  the  title  track,  but  it  still  sounds  dated. His  re- recording  of  "The  Power  Of  Love"  was  a  minor  hit  in  the  Christmas  market  but  that  wasn't  enough  to  get  the  album  in  the  charts.

A  very  lengthy  recording  silence  then  ensued. In  2003,  Frankie  Goes  To  Hollywood  were   the  subject  of   a  Bands  Reunited  programme.  The  producers  were  partially  successful  in  that  they  got  all  5  members  together  in  the  same  room  for  the  first  time  in  16  years  but  Holly  wasn't  happy  with  the  idea  of  playing  live  without  extensive  rehearsals  and  guitarist  Brian  Nash  took  his  side. Similarly,  both  declined  the  invitation  to  appear  at  Trevor  Horn's  25th  anniversary  concert  in  2004, after  which  the  remaining  trio with  a  couple  of  new  additions   did  a  tour  of  Europe  as  Frankie.

Holly  started  easing  his  way  back  into  the  spotlight  towards  the  end  of  the  noughties , performing  the  odd  song  on  TV  and  then  playing  a  full  set  at  2011's  Rewind  Festival. The  following  year,  he  was  part  of  The  Justice  Collective  who  had  the  Christmas  number  1  with  "He  Ain't  Heavy  He's  My  Brother"  in  2012  for  the  Hillsborough  cause.

In  May  2014  he  announced  his  first  solo  tour   ( though  it  was  only  7  dates )  to  be  preceded  by  a  new  album. A  single  "Follow  Your  Heart"  was  released  that  July, an  over-wordy  but  inoffensive  piece  of  electronica.  The  follow-up  "In  and  Out  of  Love"  in  September  makes  a  better  fist  of  coming  up  with  a  chorus  hook  but  it's  still  not  very  exciting. The  album  "Europa  came  out  a  week  later, its  title  track  a  collaboration  with  Vangelis  that  was  first  recorded  in  1990  but  tweaked  since. I  think  its  tuneless  bombast  about  the  fall  of  the  Berlin  Wall  would  have  been  better  off  left  in  the  vaults.  The  album  is  slightly  stronger  than  its  predecessors  with  the  next  single,  "Heaven's  Eyes",a  cheery  number  about  the  approach  of  death, the  standout  track. Elsewhere  the  more  uptempo  numbers  are  more  appealing  than  the  slower  ones  where  Holly's  inimitable  vocals  start  to  grate. It  charted  for  a  week  at  63  while  the  tour  was  underway.  Holly  released  a  live  album  "Unleashed  from  the  Pleasuredome"  , recorded  at  one  of  his  shows, later  in  the  year.

In  2015,  he  decided  to  do  another  six  shows  and  released  a  fourth  single  "Dancing  With  No  Fear"  ,  one  of  his  usual  pleas  for  love  and  tolerance  set  to  a  mid-tempo  dance  track  with  vague  echoes  of  Orbital's  Chime  in  the  keyboard  work.

Last  year  he  recorded  a  song  "Ascension"  for  the  film  Eddie  the  Eagle  with  the  dreaded  Gary  Barlow. It  was  released  as  a  single  and  is   an  overblown  piece  of  nonsense.

685 Goodbye Loose Ends - Love's Got Me

Chart  entered  :  17  November  1990

Chart  peak :  40

The  Britfunk  trio  had  plugged  away  under  the  radar  without  looking  likely  to  top  their  early  peak  of   number 13, achieved  by  "Hanging  On  A  String"  in  1985. Latterly,  there  had  been  more  misses  than  hits  and  composer  Steve  Nichol   and  singer  Jane  Eugene   quit  in  1989   leaving  singer  Carl  McIntosh   with  the  name. He  recruited  two  new  singers  Linda  Carriere , who'd  previously  written  a  few  songs  for  Shalamar,  and  Sunay  Suleyman  and  carried  on.  It  looked  quixotic  since  Steve  had  handled  most  of  the  musical  chores  but,  like  Phil  Oakey.  Carl  defied  expectations. The  first  single  with  the  new  line  up  "Don't  Be  A  Fool"  equalled  the  chart  peak  of  "Hanging  On  A  String"  and  became  their  second  hit  in  the  US. The  parent   album  "Look  How  Long"   made  the  UK  Top  20 ; its  predecessor  had  fallen  well  short .

"Love's  Got  Me"  was  the  second  single  from  the  album. Like  most  R &  B  of  the  time,  it  utilises  a  Soul II  Soul  shuffle  beat. Apart  from  a  constant  keyboard  motif  that  reminds  me  of  Talking  Heads'  Once  In  A  Lifetime  that 's  about  it  for  the  instrumentation. Carl  does  a  loose  jazzy  vocal  in  falsetto  which  the  girls  anchor  with  incessant  repetition  of  the  title. It's  further  proof  of    continued  musical  competence  ( although  two  writers  outside  the  band  are  credited )  but  has  little  to  attract  the  casual  listener.

They  released  two  more  singles  from  the  album. "Cheap  Talk"  has  a  slinky  groove  and  a  decent  chorus. "Time  Is  Ticking"  has  the  girls  taking  the  lead  and   is  very  Soul II  Soul. Both  sound  like  more  commercial  propositions  than  "Love's  Got  Me "  and  might  have  outperformed  it  if  chosen  as  the  next  single. As  it  was  neither  made  the  chart.

In  1992  a  re-mix  of  "Hangin' On  A  String"   by  Frankie  Knuckles  got  to  number  25. It  was  followed  by  a  renix  of  "Magic  Touch"  which  scraped  a  week  at  75, their  last  chart  entry.  That  same  year  Linda  quit  the  band .and  was  replaced  by  Laurnea  Wilkerson.The  new  line  up  managed  one  last  single  "My  Way"  in  1993  which  boasts  some  impressive  singing  but  no  hooks  with  which  to  break  out  of  the  clubs.

They  then  disbanded. The  original  line  up  reconvened  in  1998,   to  appear  in  a  video  for  Pete  Rock's  single  "Take  Your  Time"  which  heavily  sampled  their  song  of  the  same  name,  and  for  a  couple  of  appearances  in  the  US   in  2006  but  since  then  Steve  and  Carl  have  been  at  loggerheads.

Steve  and  Jane  relocated  to  LA  after  leaving  the  band. Steve  has  written  songs  for  Big  Daddy  Kane, New  Edition, Rakim, Michael  Jackson  and  Mariah  Carey. Jane  tours  her  own  version  of  Loose  Ends  in  the  US  with  occasional  guest  appearances  from  Steve. Carl  has  remained  in  the  UK  and  worked  as  a  producer  in  the  nineties   for  Kwesi, Caron  Wheeler , Beverley  Knight  and  the  first  Sugababes  singles, He  was  credited  on  a  single  by  Avani "Watching  You"  which  samples  Loose  Ends's  1988  single  of  the  same  name. He  currently  tours  in  the  UK  with  his  own  version  of  Loose  Ends.  

Linda  relocated  to  Germany  where  she  established  a  solo  career  starting  with  a  collaboration  with  the  production  outfit  Sweep  on  a  trance  version  of  Kate  Bush's  "Running  Up  That  Hill"  in  1993. In  1994  she  released  the  self-written  "Is  This  Life", a  decent  Eurodance  effort. She  also  released  a  credible  version  of  Tim  Hardin's  "How  Can  We  Hang  On  To  A  Dream" in  2000  and  "The  Letter", a  very  good  moody  synth-pop  number. I  don't  know  if  any  of  them  were  big  hits  in  Germany  but  she  had  enough  standing  to  be  a  support  act  for  visiting  megastars  including  Elton  John, Whitney  Houston, Celine  Dion  and  Michael  Jackson. In  2002   she  tried   to  be  Germany's  representative  in  the  Eurovision  Song  Contest  with  her  dreary  aspirational  hymn  " Higher  Ground"  but  didn't  get  the  nod. She  doesn't  seem  to  have been  musically  active  in  the  last  decade.

Sunay  helped  write  Shara  Nelson's  1994  hit  "Nobody"  but  other  than  that  I  couldn't  tell  you  what  she's  been  up  to.