566 Goodbye Dionne Warwick* - Love Power

(*...and  Jeffrey  Osborne )

Chart  entered  :  15  August  1987

Chart  peak : 63

For  all  her  undoubted  talent  as  a  soulful  interpreter  of  others'  material, Dionne  had  never  been  consistently  successful  in  the  UK. After  her  first  flurry  of  hits  in  the  mid-sixties, she  disappeared   from  the  charts   until  1974  when  she  scored  one  moderate  hit  with  "Then  Came  You". We  then  had  to  wait  until  her  storming  comeback  with  the  Barry  Gibb-helmed  "Heartbreaker"  album, the  title  track  reaching  number  2  in  the autumn  of  1982.  Subsequent  albums  had  done  OK  but  the  only  significant  hit  was  the  AIDS  charity  single  "That's  What  Friends  Are  For " a  US  number  one  which  reached  number  16  here.

"Love  Power"  was  the  lead  single   for  her  duet-heavy  album,  "Reservations  For  Two". It  was  written  and  arranged  by  long-time  collaborator  Burt  Bacharach  and  Carole  Bayer  Sager. Her  duetting  partner  was  US  soul  singer  Jeffrey  Osborne; this  was  also  the  last  of  his  half  dozen  hits. It's  slick, adult   pop  soul  and  starts  off  in  quite  an  interesting  way  with  both  singers  the  parties  to  a  break-up  and  pondering  what  would  happen  if  they  picked  up  the  phone. Unfortunately  the  chorus  when  it  arrives  is  crushingly  dull  and  there's  only  half  a  verse  more  to  take  the  story  further   before  a  depressingly  generic  sax  solo. It  just  sounds  like  its  illustrious  writers  got  bored  halfway  through  the  song  and  couldn't  be  bothered  to  develop  it  fully. It  did  better  in  the US  where  it  reached  number  12, her  last  Top  40  placing  there.

Her  follow-up  was  the  album's  title  track. a  duet  with  US  singer/ producer  Kashif, sixteen  years  her  junior.  It's  more  of  a  ballad  with  a  better  chorus  than  its  predecessor  but  nothing  to  set  the  world  alight. It  reached  number  62  in  the  US.  A  third  duet  single  "Another  Chance  To  Love"  with  ex-Shalamar  singer  Howard  Hewlett  was  released . Written  by  Albert  Hammond  and  Sue  Shifrin ,  I  think  it's  the  best  of  the  trio  with  a  bit  of  bite  in  the  music  but  it  failed  to  register  on  both  sides  of  the  pond.

In  1989  Dionne  released  a  compilation  album  "The  Love  Songs"  trailed  by  a  second  duet  with  Osborne. Written  by  Bacharach, Bayer  Sager  and  Gerry  Goffin  it's  just  shlock , five  middle-aged  talents  sitting  on  their  laurels  and  churning  out  tasteful  easy  listening  fodder. It  failed  to  chart  although  that  didn't  hurt  sales  of   the  album   which  reached  number  6  in  the  UK  , second  only  to  "Heartbreaker "  in  terms  of  chart  position.    

In  the  US  she  released  a  different  compilation  of  her  work  between  1979  and  1990. There were  two  new  tracks  released  as  singles  in  1990. "I  Don't  Need  Another  Love"  is  a collaboration  with  the  (  Detroit  )  Spinners  and  sounds  like  an  early  seventies  soul  track   re-tooled  with  an  eighties  production. "Walk  Away"  is  a  gloopy  R  &  B  ballad. Neither  raised  much  interest  and  the  album  only  made  number   177  in  the  US. Later  in  the  year  Dionne  released   the  self-explanatory  "Dionne  Warwick  Sings  Cole  Porter". It's  a  listenable  marriage  between  Tin  Pin  Alley  and  modern  production  with  Dionne  in  great  voice  but  it  was  a  serious  career  misstep. It  was  her  last  album  of  new  material  to  chart  in  the  US  reaching  155  but  it  seemed  to  alienate  her  existing  audience  without  picking  up  a  new  one.

In  1991  Arista  allowed  her  to  make  a  one-off  single  in  Europe  with  Dieter  Bohlen  from  Modern  Talking  now  trading  under  the  name  Blue  System. She  does  most  of  the singing  on  the  dreary  ballad  "It's  All  Over"  which  only  charted  in  Germany , reaching  number  60. At  the  same  time  she  began  a  side  career  as  spokesman  for  the  Psychic  Friends  Network  which  was  financially  lucrative  for  a  time  but  Dionne  later  became  distressed  that  public  recognition  was  deriving  from  that  rather  than  her  music .

In   January 1993  she  released  a  new  album  "Friends  Can  Be  Lovers". Helmed  by  Clive  Davis it  represents  the  last  attempt  to  put  Dionne  back  in  the  mainstream  with  a  host  of  starry collaborators  and  up  to  date  production. The  first  single  "Sunny  Weather  Love"  was  hyped  as Bacharach  and  David's  first  song  for  her  since  1972   and  it  isn't  a   bad   pop  soul  track  but   it  failed  to  trouble  the  chart. The  second  single, the  risque  "Where  My  Lips  Have  Been" sounds  a  bit  like  Tina  Turner's  Private  Dancer  and  indicated  that  the  52  year  old's  vocal range   was  diminishing. The third  single  was  the  title  track  recorded  with  Lisa  Stansfield's production  team;  it  too  is  perfectly  listenable  but  failed  to  resuscitate  the  album.  It  didn't chart, a  conspicuous  failure. She  was  also  hit  by  a  news  report  that  her  AIDS  charity, the Warwick  Foundation  was  misusing  funds. She  claimed  the  report  was  racially  motivated  and an IRS  investigation  found  nothing  wrong. In  December  that  year  she  did  a  Christmas  concert  as  guest  of  Placido  Domingo  ( replacing  Diana  Ross  the  previous  year )  at  the  Hofburg  Palace, Vienna. It  was  released  as  a  classical  LP  "Christmas  in  Vienna  II"  to  moderate  chart  success  in  Europe  ( including  the  UK  where  it  reached  number  60 ).

Dionne  completed  her  contract  with  Arista   in  1994  with  a  rather  desperate  attempt  to  move  into  the  Latin  market  on  the  album  "Aquarela  do  Brasil".  Apart  from  a  ( very  good ) Bacharach-Bettis  song  "Captives  Of  The  Heart" , the  songs  are  all  Latin  tunes,  though  largely  translated. Dionne  sounds  OK  on  the  slower  songs   but  seriously  mismatched with  the  uptempo  material.  It  sank  like  a  stone  and  Dionne  was  cast  adrift.

With  no  record  deal  and  her  vocal  powers  fading , Dionne  had  only  her  legend  status  to  trade  on. Interest  in  her  back  catalogue  remained  buoyant  as  another  compilation  "The  Essential  Collection "  made  number  58  in  the  UK  in  1996. Her  appearances  as  a  guest  on  other  artists'  records  were  drying  up ; the  last  one  appears  to  have  been  a  track  on  B.B. King's  1997  album  Deuces  Wild.

In  1998  she  started  re-recording  her  old  hits  for  the  cheap  CD  market  although  the  first  one  "Dionne  Sings  Dionne"  included  some  new  tracks. The  very  dreary  ballad  "I  Promise  You "  was  released  as  a single   as  was  "High  Upon  This  Love"  a  vocal  version  of  the  theme  to  U.S.  soap  The  Bold  and  the  Beautiful. 

Neither  made  the  chart  but  she  did  scrape  a  last  chart  appearance  in  the  US  charts  that  year  with  "What  The  World  Needs  Now  Is  Love"  , a  charity  single  which  reached  number  87. Credited  to  Dionne  Warwick  and  the  Hip  Hop  Nation  United,  it  features  Dionne  drearily  intoning  the  song  while  various  rap  illuminati  including  Coolio  and  Big  Daddy  Kane  do  their  thing  over  the  top  of  her.

The  turn  of  the  millennium  was  a  very  lean  time. Neither  her "new"  albums  nor  compilations  were  charting  until  "Heartbreaker : The  Very  Best  of  Dionne  Warwick"  reached  number  32  in  the  UK. That  same  year  she  became  a  Goodwill  Ambassador  for  the  United  Nations  ' Food  and  Agricultural  arm.

In  2006  she  got  a  deal  with  Concord  for  "My  Friends  And  Me "  an  album  of  duets  on  her  old  hits  with  female  artists. It  proved  she  had  an  impressive  address  book  with  Gloria  Estefan, Cyndi  Lauper  and  Kelis  amongst  the  guests  but  it  didn't  sell  and  Concord  didn't  take  up  their  option  on  a  similar  album  with  male  partners. Another  compilation made  a  minor  mark  in  the  UK  charts.

In  2007  she  got  together  with  her  Houston  cousins  for  the  single  "Family  First"  from  the  Daddy's  Little  Girls  soundtrack. It's  difficult  to  listen  to  it  without  bringing  up  your  lunch. Despite  Whitney's  presence, it  mercifully  failed  to  chart. In  2008  yet  another  compilation  made  number  27  in  the  UK.

In  2008  she  made  a  gospel  album  "Why  We  Sing"  featuring  a  last  contribution  by  her  sister  Dee  Dee  who  died  in  October  that  year.

Three  years  later  she  made  a  jazz  covers   album  "Only  Trust  Your  Heart"  and  appeared  on  The  Celebrity  Apprentice  4  where  that  man  whose  name  I  can't  bear  to  write  sent  her  packing  after  the  fourth  task.

In  2012  she  released  "Now"  an  album  celebrating  50  years  in  the  business  with  a  smattering  of  new  tracks  amongst  the  re-recordings. One  of  them  "Is  There  Anybody  Out  There ? "  an  unremarkable  pop  soul  track  was  released  as  a  single. It  didn't  chart  but  the  album  reached  number  57  in  the  UK, her  last  chart  action  anywhere  despite  its  nomination  for  a  Grammy  in  the  "Traditional  Pop"   category  in  the  US. In  May  that  year  she  came  to  London  for  the  World  Hunger  Day  concert  and  performed  a  duet  with  X-Factor  muppet  Joe  McElderry  on  a Tony  Hatch  composition  "One  World  One  Song"  which  was  released  as  a  single.  I  didn't  get  to  the  two  minute  mark  before  having  to  turn  it  off.

With  her  reluctance  to  do  much  touring,  Dionne  had  been  skating  on  thin  ice  financially  for   years,  particularly  in  relation  to  her  taxes  and  in  2013  she  had  to  file  for  bankruptcy. That  didn't  stop  her  putting  out  another  album  of  duets  with  famous  names  on  her  old  songs"Feels  So  Good"  the  following  year. "A  House  Is  Not  A  Home"   ( with  Ne-Yo )  and  "Hope  Is  Just  Ahead"  ( with  Billy  Ray  Cyrus )  were  released  as  singles.

Dionne  Warwick  is  now  75.

565 Hello T' Pau - Heart and Soul

Chart  entered  :  8  August  1987

Chart  peak : 6

Number  of  hits  : 10

One  of  the  eighties'  least  loved  bands, I  think  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  this  lot  get  rehabilitated.

T'Pau  started  life  at  Shrewsbury  Art  College. Carol  Decker  was  born  in  Liverpool  in  1957. Her  family  moved  to  Warwickshire  when  she  was  in  her  teens. Carol  went  to  the  college  after  failing  her  A  Levels. While  there  she  joined  a  band  called  The  Lazers  and  hooked  up  with  their  guitarist  Ron  Rogers  ( born  1959 ). She  did  dead  end  jobs  while  writing  songs  with  Ron who  was  a  telephone  engineer. They  sent  out  demos  under  the  name  "Talking  America"  which  gives  a  clue  to  their  musical  direction. When  Virgin  bit , through  their  Siren  subsidiary   in  1986 ,  they  changed  the  name  to  T' Pau   after  a  minor  Star  Trek  character   and  assembled  a  full  band.  The  drone  members  were  Tim  Burgess  ( drums ) , Michael  Chetwood ( keyboards ) , Paul  Jackson  ( bass )   and  Taj  Wyzgowski  ( guitar ). Only  Michael  seems  to  have  had  a  previous  recording  history , playing  on  two  prog  rock  albums  by  the  re-formed  Band  of  Joy  ( without  Plant  and  Bonham  of  course )  in  the  late  seventies. Taj  had  been  working  as  an  in-house  musician  for  the  BBC  in  Glasgow.

Virgin  put  them  in  the  studio  with  Queen  producer  Roy  Thomas  Baker  and  "Heart  And  Soul"  was  their  first  single  in  January  1987. By  the  time  they  came  to  shoot  a  video  Taj  had  left  the  band  and  they  were  a  quintet  for  a  time. It's  a   medium-paced  chugger  , synth-led  in  the  verses  with  the  rock  guitars  coming  in  on  the  chorus, very  similar  to  what  the  likes  of  Heart  were  doing  at  the  time. The  distinctive  feature  is  that  Carol  does  a  sort  of  slow  rap  of  the  verses  and  then  starts  crooning  over  the  top  of  herself.  She  does  have  a  good  voice  which  lets  rip  on  the  chorus. It's  a  shame  that  so  much  of  her  lyric-writing  is  trite  on  this  plea  to  an  unsatisfactory  lover  - "Walking  on  the  water, walking  on  the  air / That  was  the  heart  of  the  love  we  shared". The  song  wasn't  a  hit  at  first   and  the  band  released a  follow-up  single  "Intimate  Strangers "  ( later  a  hit  as  the  abysmal  "Sex  Talk "  in  1988 )  in  May.  Then  Pepe  Jeans  picked  up  "Heart  And  Soul"  for  an  ad  and  it  was  a  big  hit  in  the  US   reaching  number  4. This  revitalised  the  single  in  the  UK  where  it  did  almost  as  well.

564 Hello Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up

Chart  entered :  8  August  1987

Chart  peak : 1

Number  of  hits  : 12

This  one  won't  detain  us  for  long.

Rick  was  born  in  Newton-le-Willows , Cheshire  where  his  father  had  a  market  gardening  business. He  started  out  as  a  drummer  in  local  pub   bands  while  driving  for  his  dad. He  fetched  up  in  a  band  called  FBI  where  he  took  over  as  lead  singer. He  was  spotted  by  Pete  Waterman  and  signed  to  RCA. He  was  initially  employed  by  PWL  in  the  studio  as  , according  to  Waterman, he  wasn't  yet  ready  for  pop  stardom.

His  first  single  in  May  1987  was  actually  a  duet  with  Lisa  Carter  under  the  name  "Rick  and  Lisa". Rick  co-wrote  "When  You  Gonna"  with  producers  Phil  Harding  and  Ian  Curnow  and  one  presumes  he  contributed  the  chocolate  box  lyrics  as  the  music  seems  to  consist  of  running  the  backing  track  to  Mel  and  Kim's  Showing  Out  once  more.  It's  a  very  routine  pop  house  number  with  no  real  hooks, the  only  point  of  interest  being  the  suspicious  similarity  of  Lisa's  voice  to  Kylie  Minogue's.

Then  came  "Never  Gonna  Give  You  Up". The  Popular  thread  is  here.

563 Goodbye Elkie Brooks - We've Got Tonight

Chart  entered : 11  July  1987

Chart  peak : 69

This  was  the  final  hit  single  in  a  career  with  more  ups  and  downs  than  most.

Elkie's  initial  run  of  hits  faltered  after  "Don't  Cry  Out  Loud"  in  1978  partly  due  to  new  motherhood  but  this  was  completely  turned  around  by  the  unexpected  success  of  the  "Pearls"  LP . This  compilation  of  hits, flops  and  new  material  was  released  at  the  tail  end  of  1981  and  exceeded  all  expectations,  reaching  number  2  and  spending  18  months  in  the  album  charts  ( none  of  her  previous  LPs  had  made  the  Top  10).  A  second  volume  "Pearls  II"  was  released  within  a  year  and  also  did  well  if  not  on  the  same  scale  as  its  predecessor. Both  albums  yielded  further  hits  for  Elkie.  Then  things  went  downhill  again. Still  hankering  after  the  rock  stardom  that  eluded  her  in  Vinegar  Joe,  Elkie  recorded  a  rock  album  "Minutes"  which  A  &  M  didn't  like  and  failed  to  promote . Her  standards   album  "Screen  Gems",  which  they  did  promote,   performed  disappointingly   and  her  association  with  A & M  came  to  an  end. She  was  picked  up  by  the  Legend  label  who  were  immediately  rewarded  by  her  biggest   hit  single  "No  More  The  Fool"  ( number  5 ) . The  album  of  the  same  name  became  her  biggest -selling  album  of  all  new  material.

"We've  Got  Tonight"  was  the  third  hit  from  the  same  album. It's  a  cover  (  though  full  marks  to  Elkie  for  ignoring  the  hideous  misspelling  of  the  title's  last  word  ) of  blue  collar  rocker  Bob  Seger's   signature  tune, a  crusty  AOR  ballad  that  had  already  been  a  hit   for  Seger   ( twice )  and  as  a  duet  between  Sheena  Easton  and  Kenny  Rogers.  Russ  Ballard  arranged  it  as a  European  power  ballad , very  much  in  the  Jennifer  Rush  mould. For  the  most  part  it's  a competent  version  of  a dull  song; it becomes  tiresome  in  the  latter  half  when  Elkie  starts over-emoting  and  the  gated  drums  start  thrashing  around.

Elkie  was  shortly  to  find  that  that  this  resuscitation  of  her  career  had  brought her  scant financial  reward. Thanks  to  Legend's  murky  accountancy  practices,  the  album  wasn't  recorded as  showing  any  profit  and  worse,  there  wasn't  any  money  around  to  finance  the  next  one. With  the  help  of  her  husband  , sound  engineer  Trevor  Jordan  she  managed  to  cut  costs  and  complete  "Bookbinder's  Kid"  for  release  in  May  1988. The  lead , in  fact  only , single  was  the strangest  of  her  career. "Sail  On"  is  not  a  cover  of  the  Commodores  hit  but  an  original  composed  by  the  duo  which  serenades  a  ship  with  a  Depeche  Mode  stark  rhythm  track, gospel  vocals  from  the  London  Community  Gospel  Choir  and  a  heavy  metal  guitar  solo. Unfortunately  there's  no  tune  in  the  mix  and  despite  featuring  on  After  Ten  With  Tarbuck   ( no  I  don't  remember  it  either )  it  didn't  chart. She  performed  another  track  "You  Ain't  Leavin", a  deadly  dull  power  ballad  on  Sunday  Night  Live  At  The  Palladium  but  it  never  came  out  as  a  single.  I've  only  heard  two  other  tracks  from  the  LP   which  were  typically   over-produced  AOR  stodge  from  the  arse  end  of  the  eighties. With  no  hit  singles, the  album  stalled  at  number  57.

Her  association  with  Legend  ended  there  but  she  was  picked  up  by  Telstar  Records  and Ballard  came  back  on  board  to  produce,  and  write  four  songs  for ,  her  next  album "Inspiration"  in  1989.  It's  not  entirely  mis-titled . The  lead   single  "Shame"  ( a  Eurovision  entry   for  a  girl  singer  earlier  in  the  year )  is  a  likable  attempt  at  Cher-style  pop  rock  and  the  follow  up  "I'll  Never  Love  This  Way  Again"  (  one  of  Ballard's  songs  )  is  a  good  tune. There's  also  a  superb  re-working  of  Vinegar  Joe's  death  of  the  hippy  dream   lament   "Black  Smoke  From  The  Culumet"  as  a  futurist  epic. But  the  album's  too  long  with  too  many  routine  covers  of  recent  AOR  hits  ( "Broken  Wings" , "Is  This  Love" ).  It  stalled  at  number  58.

The  nineties  were  a  difficult  time  for  Elkie . Now  consigned  to  Radio  Two  , three  of  her  five  albums  on  four  different  labels  still  charted,  but  none  hung  around  long  enough  to  earn  her  much  money. She  had  to  tour  constantly  to  support  her   young  family  and  maintain  her  devoted  but  static  fanbase. A  hit  compilation  LP  in  1997  gave  her  a  bit  of  breathing  space  but  she  was  then  hit  with  a  huge  bill  for  back  taxes  and  had  to  rent  out  the  family  home  and  live  in  a  trailer  park  for  a  while. Her  house  in  Devon  was  eventually  sold  in  2002  to  clear  her  debts.  During  this  period  she  didn't  put  out  any  records.

In  2003  she  agreed  to  take  part  in  the reality  series  Reborn  In  The  USA  . In  case  you  missed  it , this  humiliating  show  put   9   faded  pop  acts  ( the  show  used  numerous  euphemisms  for  "has-been" )  on  a  tour  bus  around  America  to  see  who  would  be  most  popular,  freed  from  the  baggage  of  the  past  (  a  very  dubious  assertion  in  the  cases  of  Tony  Hadley  and  Peter  Cox  whose  bands  had  enjoyed  significant  US  success ). Elkie  was  by  some  distance  the  oldest  competitor  and  would  dive  straight  for  the  piano  wherever  they  stayed  rather  than  get  involved  in  jostling  with  the  likes  of  David  Van  Day.  She  was  the  third  to  be  eliminated  after  performing  "When  Will  I  See  You  Again "  in  Philadelphia. My  US  pen-pal  attended  that  show  and  singled  her  out  for  criticism.

Nevertheless , Elkie's   participation  in   the  show  financed  the  release  of  a  new  album Shangri-la"  her  first  for  seven  years.  Her  son  Jermaine  Jordan  produced  it. It  didn't  chart  and  I  haven't  heard  anything  from  it. In  the  same  year  she  released  an  album  of  jazz  covers  with  veteran  trumpeter  Humphrey  Lyttelton  "Trouble  In  Mind".

Two  years  later  she  released  "Electric  Lady"  by  which  time  Jermaine  was  an  integral  member  of  her  touring  band. He  plays  bass, guitar  and  drums  as  well  as  producing  the  album. It's  primarily  a  slow   blues  album  with  occasional  country  influences.  Elkie's  voice  is  starting  to  show  a  few  signs  of  wear  ( she  was  60  by  this  time ) but  that's  not  necessarily  to  the  detriment  of  the  material.  There  are  a  few  covers  and  "Try  Harder"  is  close  to  being  one  ( Fleetwood  Mac's  Don't  Stop  )  but  the most  interesting  tracks  are  the  autobiographical  ones."White  Girl  Lost  In  The  Blues"  is  the  sort  of  self-referential  homage  artists  of  her  vintage   are  prone  to  recording  while  "Trailer  Trash"  is  a  wry  account  of  her  financial  difficulties. She  also  released  a  live  album  "Don't  Cry  Out  Loud "  that  year. Neither  charted.

In  2007  she  made  her  last  appearance in  the  charts  to  date  when  another  compilation  "The  Silver  Collection "  reached  number  25. She's  made  just  one  more  record  since  then, 2010's  "Powerless ". I've  heard  three  of  the  tracks, all  of  them  murderously  dull  piano  ballads  so  that's  not  a  recommendation. In  2012  Elkie  published  her  autobiography  "Finding  My  Voice".

Elkie  is  in  the  middle  of  a  UK  tour  as  I  write  and  plays  the  Capitol  Theatre, Horsham  tomorrow.It  runs  through  to  July 2017. Long  may  she  continue.  

562 Hello L.L. Cool J - I'm Bad

Chart  entered : 4  June  1987

Chart  peak : 71

Number  of  hits : 23


An  appropriate  title  in  more  ways  than  one  for  the  first  solo  rapper  to  make  the  cut.

James  Todd  Smith  was  born  in  Bay  Shore, New  York  in  1968. His  first  musical  influence  was  The  Treacherous  Three  from  the  Sugar  Hill  rap  stable. His  grandfather  bought  him  some  recording  equipment  and  James  started  making  demo  tapes  at  home  and  sending  them  out. He  chose  his  stage  name  ( short  for  Ladies  Love  Cool  James )  as  a  deliberate  move  away  from  the  prevalent  drug  culture  ( e.g  Kurtis  Blow ). In  1984  he  ran  into  Rick  Rubin  at  a  party  and  became  the  first  artist  on  the  Def  Jam  label.

His  first  single  was  the  12 inch  "I  Need  A  Beat"  co-written  with  Rubin  and  the  Beasties' Adam,  Horowitz. It's  a  beatbox  percussion  track  punctuated  by  scratching  noises  with  James   declaring  how  great  he  is   over  the  top . The  appeal  of  that sort  of  thing  is  always  going  to elude  me. It  didn't  make  the charts  but  sold  100,000  copies  and  along  with  the  Beasties'  Rock Hard , led  to  Def  Jam  getting  a  distribution  deal  from  Columbia.

J  set  about  making  his  first  album  "Radio"  trailed  by  the  single  "I Can't  Live  Without  My  Radio"  in  October  1985. It  sounds  pretty  much  identical  to  its  predecessor  except  the  drum  pattern's  a  bit  more  interesting  and  J  is  homaging  his  beatbox  rather  than  his  skills. It  got  him  on  Soul  Train   but  didn't  cross  over  to  the  main  chart.

As  the  first  album  released  on  Def  Jam  "Radio"  sticks  to  Rubin's  minimalist  blueprint  and  it's  a  hard  listen  for  anyone  wanting  melody  or  even  bass  lines. J  writes  with  more  wit  than  say  Run  DMC  but  it's  not  nearly  enough  to  compensate. Ladies  might   indeed  love  him  for  the  softer-edged  tracks  "I  Can  Give  You  More"  and  "I  Want   You"  but  it's  not  clear  if  he loves  them  back. "Dear  Yvette "  is  a  sustained  attack  on  a  supposed  slag  and  pretty  unpleasant. Hip  hop's  association  with  misogyny  begins  here. "You''ll  Rock"  and   "Rock  The  Bells "  were  released  as  further  singles,  helping  the  album  reach  number  46  in  the  US  charts ( number  71  in  the  UK ).

"I'm  Bad"  was  the  lead  single  for  his  next  album  "Bigger  And  Deffer" . It  marks  a  retreat  from  the  rhythmic  minimalism  of  his  debut  by  having  a  simple  bass  line  and  that   small  concession  seem  to  have  been  enough  to  make  it  his  first  minor  hit  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. Otherwise  it's  business  as  usual  with  J  taking  a   wearing  16  verses  to  tell  you  how  great  he  is. I'm  presuming  there  was  a   radio  edit  that  lost  the  oedipal  compound  noun  in  the  second  verse.

561 Hello Hue and Cry - Labour of Love

Chart  entered : 13  June  1987

Chart  peak : 6

Number  of  hits : 10

There's  a  nice  irony  that  this  sibling  duo , the  textbook  example  of  a  "soulcialist  band"  , entered  the  charts  in  the  same  week  that  their  political  hopes  were  crushed  with  the  1987  election  delivering  another  landslide  victory  to  Margaret  Thatcher.

Hue  and  Cry  were  formed  in  Coatbridge  in  1983  by  brothers  Patrick  ( born  1964 )  and  Gregory  ( born  1966 ) . Greg  was  a  classically  trained  pianist  but  started  out  playing  saxophone  in  a  band  called  Valerie  and  the  Week  of  Wonders  who  released  two  very  obscure  singles  in  1983-4, neither  of  which  I've  heard.  Pat  was  in  a  synth  band  called  Rodeo  who  recorded  a  demo  with  Midge  Ure  that went  nowhere.

The  demarcation  in  Hue  and  Cry  was  clear. Greg  wrote  the  music  while  bookworm  Pat  was  the  lyricist  and  singer. Both  of  them  liked  Prince, Frank  Sinatra  and  Miles  Davis  but  gave  the  press  to  understand  that  otherwise  their  relationship  was  extremely  fractious. They  were  staunch  supporters  of  the  Labour  Party  but  weren't  high  profile  enough  to  get  on  the  Red  Wedge  tours.

In  1986  they  released  their  first  single  "Here  Comes  Everybody"  on  a  tiny  independent  label. Again , I've  never  heard  it  but  someone  from  Virgin  subsidiary  Circa  did  and  signed  the  band  to  the  label.

Their  first  single  for  Circa  was  "I  Refuse" , the  only  record  of  theirs  in  my  collection.  Pat's  lyrics  instructing  a  young  woman  and  then  an  army  recruit to  reject  their  predetermined  roles  are  set  to  a  tight  jazz  funk  tune  with  an  excellent  funky  bass  line  and  embellished  with  strings  from  Sinatra  arranger  Jimmy  Biondolillo. Pat  delivers  a  very  assured  vocal  sounding  like  a  more  soulful  version  of  Level  42's  Mark  King. What  I  don't  like  about  the  record  is  the  loose  jazzy  middle  eight  where  the  tune  disappears  and  that  might  be  the  reason  it  didn't  succeed  although  a  re-mixed  version  reached  number  47  in  1988.

"Labour  of  Love"  was  the  follow  up. Although  constructed  on  similar  lines ,  it's  more  brash  and  funky  and  less  tuneful  than  its  predecessor  with  Pat  working  hard  to  cram  in  his  lines  comparing  backing  out  of  a  relationship  to  going  on  strike. I  didn't  like  it  but  my  view  was  perhaps  a  bit  coloured  by  reading  interviews  with  Pat. I  didn't  take  to  being  lectured  about  socialism  by  a  man  in  a  designer  suit  who  advocated  shoplifting  in  Smash  Hits. Listening  to  it  again  away  from  all  that  nonsense  I  think  it's  aged  pretty  well.

560 Hello Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over

Chart  entered  :  6  June  1987

Chart  peak :  25

Number  of  hits  : 15

This  was  an  early  hit  for  one  of  my  favourite  groups  of  the  nineties.

Crowded  House  were  something  of  a  successor  band  to  New  Zealand's  Split  Enz.  They  had  been  formed  at  Auckland  University  in  1972 . They  are  best  described  as  art  rock  with  elements  of  glam, music  hall, rock  and  pop  in  their  music   presented  with  a  garish  theatricality. The  band  had  weird  haircuts ,  lavish  make-up   and  wore  bizarre  colour-coded  suits.  This  was  the  province  of  their  art  director  Noel  Crombie  but  he  also  appeared  on  stage  with  them  despite  not  being  able  to  play  anything  bar  a  couple  of  spoons, a  prototype  Bez  if  you  like. They  released  their  first  album  "Mental  Notes"  in  1975  which  was  only  released  in  the  Antipodes  but  it  was  a  hit  in  both  Australia  and  New  Zealand. It  attracted  the  attention  of  Roxy  Music  guitarist  Phil  Manzanera  who  brought  them  over  to  London  to  record  the  second  album  "Second  Thoughts"  though  it  contained  four  tracks  re-recorded  from  the  debut. Despite  Manzanera's  involvement  and  some  press  interest  the  album  failed  to  chart  in  the  UK.

Up  to  that  point  the  band  had  been  led  by  twin  front  men   Tim  Finn  and  Phil  Judd  but  they  found  it  increasingly  difficult  to  work  together  and  there  was  a  major,  er,  split  in  the  band  in  1977  with  Judd  and  two  others  departing. One  of  the  replacements  was  Tim  Finn's   younger  brother  Neil   who  joined  as  guitarist  and  took  the  image  of  a  dissolute  public  schoolboy. The  next  album  "Dizrythmia"  was  pretty  much  already  written  so  Neil  had  no  songwriting  credits  on  it  and  it's  hard  to  spot  any  influence  he  might  have  had  on  the  record. It's  a  rewarding  listen  but  few  of  the  tracks   have  immediate  appeal  bar  the  pre-Madness  music  hall  romp  of  the  single  "My  Mistake".  "Crosswords"  directly  references  the  situation  with   Judd  - "We're  still  friends  but  we're  still  fighting"  and  is  strikingly  followed  by   the  macabre  "Charlie"  a  morning  after  lament  from  someone  who's  just  killed  his  mate.
The  album  outperformed  its  predecessors  in  Oz and  NZ  but  there  was  still  no  international  breakthrough  and  the  band   parted  company  with  their  UK  label  Chrysalis.

Their  history  becomes  a  bit  confusing  now. They  recorded  a  series  of  demos  in  a  small  studio  in  Luton  early  in  1978  which  became  known  as  "The  Rootin'  Tootin'  Luton  Tapes". 28  songs  were  recorded  in  total.  Neil  wrote  three  songs  and  co-wrote  two  others  with  Tim.  Later  in  the  year  the  band  went  to  Manor  Studios  and  re-recorded  some  of  the  songs  for  their  second  album  "Frenzy"  which  was  released  in  the  Antipodes  only. The  band  were  not  happy  with  the  results,  blaming  co-producer  Mallory  Earl  for  its  woolly  sound  and  it  did  not  match  the  performance  of  "Dizrythmia"  in  the  charts. Two  years  later  keyboard  player    Eddie  Rayner  re-mixed  the  album  and  dropped  three  of  the  tracks  in  favour  of  other  songs    from  the  Luton  sessions  including  the  awesome  "Semi-Detatched.  In  the  UK  it  was  given  away  alongside  their  1982  album  "Time  And  Tide. That's  the  version  of  Frenzy  reviewed  on  my  albums  blog  here .

By  the  time  of  their  next  album   in  1980  they  had  new  deals  with  Chrysalis  in  the  USA  and  A &  M  in  Europe. "True  Colours "  saw  the  band  embrace  the  new  wave  on  most  songs  with  two  synth-led  instrumentals  among  the  eleven  tracks. The  album  was  a  major  commercial  breakthrough  largely  due  to  the  global  hit  single  "I  Need  You", one  of  three  tracks  written  by  Neil. This  examination  of  an  unhealthily  possessive  relationship is  masterfully  constructed with  the  sinister  uncoiling  of  the   verses  giving  way  to  an  explosive  pop  chorus.  It  reached  number  12  in   the  UK  after  being  championed  by  Simon  Bates. It's  equalled  by  Tim's  "Nobody  Takes  Me  Seriously"  ( the  flop  follow-up  in  the  UK  ) an  anthem  of  Everyman  self-pity   given  extra  potency  by  his  squeaky  tenor. The  other  tracks  don't  quite  reach  those  heights  but  it's  a  very  solid  album  which  made  the  Top  40  in  both  the  UK  and  US.

Their  next  album  "Waiata"  in  1981 ,where  they  moved  in  a  synth-pop  direction,  is , I  think, their  strongest  set  of  songs  although  it  failed  to  chart  in  the  UK. Neil  got  the  lion's  share  of  the  singles  with  the  Beatles-influenced  "History  Never  Repeats"  becoming  a  minor  hit  in  the  UK,   largely  due  to  its  still-impressive  laser  etching. However  some  of  Tim's  songs  like  "Hard  Act  To  Follow"  and  "Ghost  Girl"  are  every  bit  as  good.

You  can  find  my  review  of  the  next  album  "Time  And  Tide"  on  the  same  link  above.  After  that  Tim  did  a  solo  album  with  songs  that  he  felt  didn't  fit  the  Enz  mould. The  album  "Escapade"  and  single  "Fraction  Too  Much  Friction"  did  much  better  ( in  the  Antipodes )  than  he  expected  . He  also  acquired  an  impressive  new  girlfriend  in  UK  actress  Greta  Scacchi   and  so  came  to  the  next  Enz  album  "Conflicting  Emotions"  in  a  somewhat  distracted  frame  of  mind. It's  the  first  album  on  which  Neil  wrote  the  majority  of  the  songs. It's  a  decent  song  collection  but  conspicuously  short  on  real  magic. Neither  single , the  lacklustre  funk  workout  "Strait  Old  Line"  or  the  bland  pop  of  "Message  To  My  Girl"  which  could  fit  neatly  on  any  Crowded  House  album, shines  and  it  was  their  first  album  of  the  eighties  not  to  top  the  charts  in  Oz  and  NZ.

Though  he'd  filled  the  stool  adequately  enough  on  the  previous  album , Crombie  had  no  real  desire  to  be  the  band's  drummer  and  hardly  played  on  the  LP  which  employed  drum  machines  or  ex-Beach  Boy  Ricky  Fataar  instead. The  band  decided  a  new  drummer  was  needed  for  the  tour  and  engaged  Paul  Hester , a  24 year  old  veteran  of  various  Melbourne    bands  including  Deckchairs  Overboard. They  were  a  new  wave  pop  act  who  enjoyed  some  minor  chart  success  in  Australia . Paul  co-wrote  their  first  three  singles,  on  the  evidence  of  which  they  were  useless,  despite  having  a  very  attractive  female  bassist / singer. Paul  quit  them  in  1983.  

Not  long  after  the  tour  was  completed  , to  no  one's  surprise,  Tim  Finn  announced  that  he  was  leaving  and  moving  to  England  with  Scacchi,  leaving  Neil  to  inherit  the  band. After  reviewing  the situation ,  Neil  unilaterally  decided  that  the  band  was  not  viable  without  Tim  and  announced  that  their  next  album  would  be  their  last.  To  make  matters  worse,  Neil  only  had  an  EP's  worth  of  material  written  for  the  album  so  the  other  members  were  requested to  throw  in  one  song  each  to  make  up  the  required length. "See  Ya  Round" ( 1984 )  isn't  entirely  worthless. Although  the  lead  single,  "I  Walk  Away" , is  bland  and  forgettable  , the  follow-up  "One  Mouth  Is  Fed"  shows  that  their  talent  for  throwing  in  the  unexpected  hadn't  entirely  deserted  them  with  a  big  male  voice  choir  refrain  where  you  least  expect  it. Neil's  collaboration  with keyboard  player   Eddie  Rayner  , "Years  Go  By"  is  another  good  track  but  the  songs  from  the  others  only  prove  they  should  have  left  it  at  an  EP. Crombie's  "Ninnie  Knees  Up"  is  three  minutes  of  my  life  I'll  never  get  back.

Tim  agreed  to  come  back  for  the  final   Enz  With  A  Bang   tour . During  the  tour  Neil  met  bass  player  Nick  Seymour   who  had  been  in  a  number  of  Melbourne  bands  most  notably  avant-garde  outfit  Plays  With  Marionettes. He  was  invited  to  audition  for  the  new  band  Neil  was  starting  with  Paul  and  passed.

The  new  band  was  initially  called  The  Mullanes  and  originally  featured  another  guitarist  who  quit  when  the  band  re-located  to  Los  Angeles  to  record  their  debut  album  for  Capitol  records. The  label  didn't  like  the  folk-ish  name  of  the  band  so  they  came  up  with  Crowded  House  referring  to  their  cramped  living  quarters. At  some  point  Eddie  Rayner  was  invited  to  join  the  band  but  he  declined  due  to  family  commitments. Producer  Michell  Froom  played  keyboards  on  the  album  instead.

Their  debut  album  "Crowded  House"  was  released  in  June  1986. The  singles  were  released  in  a  different  order  in  different  territories   but  it  started  with  the  opening  track  "Mean  To  Me"  being  released  in  Australia  a  fortnight  before  the  LP. A  shaggy  dog  story  with  Neil  as  a  decent  guy  trying  to  escape  his  involvement  with  a  nightmare  date   it's  a  slice  of  brash  guitar  pop  driven  by  Paul's  hard  drumming  and  the  Heart  Attack  Horns. It  was  followed  in  October  by  the  bland  Monkees-pop  of  "Now  We're  Getting  Somewhere"  which  features  session  musicians  as  the  rhythm  section  in  place  of  Nick  and  Paul. At  the  same  time  "World  Where  You  Live"  was  released  as  the  first  single  in  the  UK.  A  slightly  more  interesting tune  about  the  impossibility  of  knowing  what's  going  on  in  someone  else's  mind,  it  suffers  from  the  lack  of  a  strong  hook  and  the  over-prominence  of  Paul's  bass  drum, a  sign  of  the  times  unfortunately. It  later  reached  number  65  in  America.

"Don't  Dream  It's  Over"  followed  in  Oz  in   October  1986  and   opened  their  US  account  the  following  January.  An  instant , much-covered  ( despite  some  very  specific  lyrics  about  Neil's  car  breaking  down  during  a  re-location )  the  song  glides  along  on  a  melodic  bassline  with  clipped  rhythm  guitar  and  woozy  Hammond  organ  ( which  sounds  like  it's  going  to  break  into  A  Whiter  Shade  of  Pale  at  one  or  two  points  )  from  Froom. It's  topped  by  one  of  Neil's  best  plaintive  vocals  before  the  rest  of  the  lads  come  in   for  that  killer  chorus. Even  without  the  motivational  words,   the  track  generates  a  tremendous  warmth  that   has  attracted  covers  like  flies  starting  with  Paul  Young's  redundant  cover  that  somehow  managed  to  get  higher  than  the  original  in  the  UK. In  the  US  it  reached  number  2  in  April  1987  and  on  the  back  of  that  started  to  climb  the  charts  here  too.