666 Hello The Shamen - Pro-Gen

Chart  entered : 7  April  1990

Chart  peak : 55 ( 4  in  re-mixed  form  and  re-titled  "Move  Any  Mountain"  in  1991 )

Number  of  hits : 12

Here  we  have  another  mid-eighties  indie  band  reborn  as  ravers.

The  Shamen  started  out  as  a  trio   named  Alone  Again  Or  ( after  the  Love  song  )  comprising  Colin  Angus  ( bass  and  keyboards ) and  brothers  Derek  and  Keith  McKenzie  ( guitar/vocals   and  drums  respectively .  They  released  their  first  single  "Drum The  Beat" in  1984, a  mix  of  dramatic  vocals  and  electronic  funk  that  sounds  like  The  Associates  given  a  dance  makeover. It  is  however  completely  tuneless  and  cluttered. By  1985  they  had  a  one  single  deal  with  Polydor  and  released  their  second  single "Dream  Come  True"  in  March  that  year.  It  has  a  cleaner  pop  production  and   the   semblance  of  a  tune  but  still  sounds  over-complicated  and  a  bit  like  King  in  trying  to  fuse    contemporary  rock  and  funk  sounds.

They  changed  their  name  to The  Shamen  towards  the  end  of  1985  in  time  for  their  next  single  a  12  inch  EP "They  May  Be  Right  But  They're  Certainly  Wrong". The  dance  moves  had  been  jettisoned  in  favour  of  a  Goth  rock  sound  somewhat  similar  to The  Bolshoi  but  with  Latin  touches. All  three  tracks  would  feature  on  their  debut  album eighteen  months  later. 

In 1986, Peter  Stephenson  joined  to  relieve  Colin  of  keyboard  duties  and  played  on  their  next  single "Young  Till  Yesterday"  in  November  that  year. The song  carries  a  simplified  Won't  Get  Fooled  Again  message  about  disillusion  in  a  murky  mix  of  psychedelic  guitars, harsh  drums and  echoey  keyboards  that  recalls  the  likes  of  Danse  Society  or  Comsat  Angels. I  haven't  heard  the  next  single  "Something  About  You".

The  album "Drop"  came  out  in  1987  and  was  mainly  a  compilation  of  previously  released  material. "Happy  Days"  is  the  best  realised  song  but  it's  strictly  fodder  for  the  independent  charts  at  this  stage.

By  the  time  of  its  release , Colin  was  ready  to  move  on  from indie  rock  and  pursue  a  more   electronic  sound   incorporating  sampling  and  other  studio  technology. This  was  evident  on  their  next  single  "Christopher  Mayhew  Says"  released  in  September  1987.Mayhew  was  a  Labour  MP  in  the  fifties  who  was  famously  filmed  taking  an  acid  tablet  for  research  purposes  for   Panorama  in  1955. It  was  never  actually  broadcast  but  footage  survived  and  was  sampled  by  the  group  for  the  single. It  retains  their  brittle  Goth-dance  sound  but  smothers  it  with   a  layer  of  electronic  bleeps  and  samples  from  the  experiment.  The  chorus  is  a  mantra  of  the  title.

It  was  a  step  too  far  for  Derek  McKenzie  who  decided  to  go  to  university  rather than  continue  with  the  band  just  after  its  release.  He  was  replaced  by  Glaswegian giant    Will  Sinnott who had  been  with  cabaret  troupe  Edith  and  the  Ladies. He  took  on  bass  duties  while  Colin  moved  up  to  the  frontman  role replacing  McKenzie  on  both  vocals  and  guitar.

The  first  single  to  feature  Will  was  "Knature  of  A  Girl"  in  February  1988,  a  tuneless  drone  but  still  anchored  in  their  old  sound. "Jesus  Loves  Amerika"  their  next  single  in  June 1988  was  their  most  coherent  effort  to date, an attack  on  right-wing  Christianity  in  America  that  prefigures  Jesus  Jones  in  its  mix  of  abrasive  vocals,  use  of  samples, loud  guitars   and  hip  hop  beats.

They  released  their  next  album  "In  Gorbachev  We  Trust"  at  the  beginning  of  1989.  Synthesisers  replace  guitars as  the  dominant  instrument  and  the  lyrics  are  predominantly  drug-inspired  as  Will  and  Colin  immersed  themselves  in  the  acid  house  scene. They  linked  together  sixties  psychedelic  tropes  with  the  sound  of  the  second  summer  of  love  on  tracks  like  "Adam  Strange"  whilst  others  are  straight  techno. There  was  still  no  likely  hit  though  and  the  album  didn't  chart.

Feeling marginalised  by  Colin  and  Will's  writing  partnership, Stephenson  and  McKenzie  left  the  band  shortly  after  the  album's  release  and  weren't  on  the  next  single  in  April  1989, " You, Me  And  Everything", a  grinding  industrial  funk  number  reminiscent  of  Cabaret  Voltaire.   It  was  the  opening  track  on  a  mini-LP  the  duo  whacked  out  the  following  month  called  "Phorward" . Now  free  of  all  baggage  from  the  past  the  album  boasts  a  full on  techno  sound  but  there's  also  a  hint  of  a  pop  sensibility  emerging  on  "Strange  Day  Dreams' 89"  and  Colin  tries  his  hand at  Scots-accented  rap  on  "Negation  State".

The  band  spent  the  rest  of  1989  on  the  Synergy  tour  with  Orbital  and  other  rave  acts  bringing  acid  house  to  rock  fans. It  led  to  a  new  deal  with  One  Little  Indian  Records. It  also  led  to  them  meeting  Richard  West, a  house  DJ  and  rapper  under  the  name  Mr  C.

He  was  invited  to  contribute  a  rap  part  to  their  next  single "Pro-Gen" . The  song  is  either  a  hymn  to  positive  thinking  or  about  the  feeling  of  invincibility  engendered  by  taking  certain  illegal  substances. The  Beatmasters  mixed  the  song  and  their  contribution  is  crucial  in  cleaning  up  the  sound  for  a  pop  audience. The  main  synth  riff  is  melodic  and  while   the  chorus  is  little  more  than  a  chant  of  "I  can  move , move, move  any  mountain"  ( hence  its  subsequent  title )  it's  a  strong  enough  hook  to  make  the  song  work  as  a  pop  hit. The  subsequent  version  has  a  brighter  sheen  but  isn't  that  much  different. In  the  cruellest  of  ironies,  it  was  filming  a  video  for  it  that  led  to  Will's  death. Far  from  being  invincible, he  drowned  while  swimming  shortly  after  the video  was  completed  in  Tenerife.

665 Hello Orbital - Chime

Chart  entered : 24  March  1990

Chart  peak : 17

Number  of  hits :16

This  was  the  Spiral  Scratch  of  the  nineties, a  home-made  record  made  in  the  duo's  dad's  converted  office  space  under  the  stairs  of  their  Sevenoaks  home.

They  were  brothers  Paul and  Philip  Hartnoll   making  records  for  the  Greater  London  rave  scene,  the  rough  boundary  of  which  was  the  M25  motorway  as  referenced  by  their  name. This  was  their  first  single  and  Paul  had  to  excuse  himself  from the  pizza  restaurant  where  he  worked  in  order  to  appear  on  Top  of  the  Pops  ( a  can't-be-arsed  debacle  which  ensured  they  weren't  invited  back  for  six  years ). If  the  appeal  of  Pacific  and  Loaded  escaped  me  the  success  of  this  just  baffles  me. "Chime"  is  an  instrumental track  played on  synthesisers  with  an  acid  house  rhythm  track  and  a  top  line  melody  that  is  so  monumentally  boring  and  repetitive  it  almost  seems  aggressive but  then  it  wasn't  composed  with  daytime  radio  play  in  mind.  I  suppose  the  real  question  is  why  would  e-stoked  ravers  who  danced  to  this  in  the  clubs  then  buy  it  in  sufficient  numbers  to  secure  a  high  chart placing ?  Does taking  a  pill  at  home  and  listening  to  the  same  music  on  headphones achieve  the  same  effect   or  is  the  record  just  a  souvenir  of  a  great  time. Answers  on  a  postcard  please.

664 Hello Snap ! -The Power

Chart  entered : 24  March  1990

Chart  peak : 1

Number  of  hits : 12

The  first  German  act to  feature  here for  a  while, Snap!  were essentially  a  duo  of  producers  Michael  Munzing  and  Luca  Anziloti  from  Frankfurt. They  started  out  as  a  sort  of  Teutonic Pet  Shop  Boys  called  16  Bit. They  enjoyed  a  big  hit  in  Germany  with  "Where  Are  You?" a  moody  synth-pop  chugger with  theatrical  vocals  rcalling  Yello. Their  other  singles  were  "Changing  Minds" a  Buggles-meets-KLF  stomper  and  "In  A Gadda Da Vida" which  you  suspect  is  a  cover  of  the  Boney  M  version  rather  than  Iron  Butterfly's  prog-rock  classic.

None  of  these  broke  out  internationally  so  the  duo  took  a  leaf  out  of  Coldcut's  book  and  became  a  production  duo  using  guest  vocalists  re-branded  as  Snap ! For  their  first  single  they  recuited rapper  Durron  "Turbo  B"  Butler, an  American  GI  stationed  in  Germany  who'd  previously  toured with The Fat  Boys. They   arranged  with Chaka  Khan  that  she'd  record  the  female  part  but  she  couldn't  make  the  session  and  recommended  one of  her  recent  backing  vocalists  Penny  Ford  for  the  task. Penny  was  an   experienced  singer  who'd  worked  with  The  Gap  Band, S.O.S. Band  and  Klymaxx  as  well  as  scoring  a  minor  solo  hit  ( number  43 ) with  the  robotic  electrodance  number "Dangerous"  in  1985.

They  were immediately  rewarded  with  an  international  smash. The  Popular  link  ishere

-663 Hello Primal Scream - Loaded

Chart  entered : 3  March  1990

Chart  peak : 16

Number  of  hits  : 21

Here's  another  landmark  record  in  the  rapprochement  between  indie  rock  and  dance  and  a larger  step  forward  for  Creation  Records.

We've  already  met  prime Screamer  Bobby  Gillespie  who  met  Alan  McGee  at  secondary  school  and  formed  a  short-lived  punk  band  The  Drains  in  1978  which  also  featured  teenaged  guitarist  Andrew  Innes. When  the  band  broke  up  , Andrew  and  McGee  moved  to  London  while  Bobby  remained  in  Glasgow. He  formed  the  first  incarnation  of  Primal  Scream  in  1982  with  another  old  school  friend  Jim  Beattie  making  "elemental  noise  tapes". While  the  band  remained  a  going  concern,  Bobby  joined  the  Jesus  and  Mary  Chain  as  a  drummer  in  1984.

Bobby  then  expanded  the  line  up  to  include  bassist  Rob  "Throb"  Young. They  signed  to  McGee's  new  label  Creation  and released  their  debut  single  "All  Fall  Down"  in  1985. it's  a  pleasant  enough  Byrdsian   jangle  despite  Bobby's  off key  vocals  but  doesn't  leave  a  lasting  impression. It  was  however  enough  to  trigger  an  ultimatum  from  the  Reid  brothers  and  so  Primal  Scream  became  Bobby's  sole  concern.

Their  second  single, "Crystal  Crescent" came  out  in  April  1986. It's  essentially  more  of  the  same  except  with  the  addition  of  some  tinny  brass  and  drum  tattoos  to  give  the illusion  of  more  musical  backbone. On  the  B-side  was  "Velocity  Girl", a  brief  but  tuneful  ode  to  a  junkie  which  was  licenced  by  the  NME  for  the  C86  cassette, in  fact  it  became  the  opening  track  and  means  that  Primal  Scream  are  the  second  and  final  band  from  that  compilation  to   qualify  for  this  blog. The  band  loathed  the  association  with  the  so-called  "shambling"  scene  believing  many  of  their  supposed  peers  to  be  musically  incompetent.

This  was  part  of  the  reason  for  switching  to  McGee's  new  label  Elevation  which  was  a  Warner  Brothers  subsidiary. They  started  recording  at  Rockfield  with  Smiths  producer  Stephen  Street  but  were  unhappy  with  the  results. The  sessions  also  resulted  in  the  rhythm  guitarist  and  drummer  quitting.  Andrew  came  into  the  ban  to  fill  the  former  vacancy. American  producer  Mayo  Thompson  who'd  helmed  a  lot  of  Rough  Trade  recordings  took  over  the  producer's  chair.

Their  next  single  in  June  1987  was  "Gentle  Tuesday"  which  had  a  bit  more  bite  to  it. Bobby's  singing  and  the  lyrics  remained  fey  but  there  was  a  crunching  backbeat  and  more  guitar  overdubs  which  in  places  sounded  like  Johnny  Marr. A  stronger  chorus  and  we  might  have  been  discussing  them  a  bit  earlier. It  was  followed  in  September  by  "Imperial" an  Eastern-flavoured  drone  produced  by  Clive  Langer  and  Colin  Fairley   that  sounds  too  like  The  Mission.

Their  debut  album  "Sonic  Flower  Groove"  came  out  the  following  month  featuring  Felt  keyboard  player  Martin  Duffy  who  would  later  join  the  band. It's  a  frustrating  record  because  it  starts  really  strongly  with  two  more  good  songs  following  "Gentle  Tuesday"  and  then  runs  out  of  ideas   and  loses  its  grip. Nevertheless, their  sound  at  this  time  is   very  close  to  The  Stone  Roses. It  got  to  number  62  in  the  album  chart  which  wasn't  bad  for  a  hitless  group.

It  disappointed  the  group  nonetheless  and  resulted  in  Beattie  quitting  the  band. As  he  was  the   co-writer  of  all  their  material  to  date,  this  heralded   a  substantial  shift  in  musical  direction.  Rob  stepped  up  to  second  guitarist  and  the  band  took  on  a  new  rhythm  section  of  Henry  Olsen  ( bass )  and  Philip  Tomanov  ( drums )  who'd  previously  played  together  in  Nico's  band. The  band  re-located  to  Brighton  and  re-signed  with  Creation.

In  July  1989,  they  released  their  first  single  in  nearly  two  years " Ivy  Ivy  Ivy".  Beattie's  jangly  guitars  had  been  put  to  bed  and  instead  you  had  a  hard  rock  track  not  too  far  removed  from  The  Cult  although  Bobby's  diffident  delivery  and  melodic  backing  vocals   prevent  it  going  too  far  down  that  route. Lyrically  it  takes  the  well-worn  route  of  assigning  a  girl's  name  to  the  drug  of  their  choice.

The  album  "Primal  Scream"  followed  two  months  later, divided  between  pummeling  rock  tracks  and  drowsy  piano  ballads  on  neither  of  which  Bobby's  vocals  are  adequate. It  lost  them  more  fans  than  it  gained  and  didn't  chart.

It  did  however  garner  one  important  fan  in  football  writer  and  club  DJ  Andrew  Weatherall  who  gave  it  a  good  review  in  his  fanzine. The  band  then  invited  him  to  re-mix  the  track  "I'm  Losing  More  Than  I'll  Ever  Have"  for  a  second  single. Weatherall's  re-shaping  of  the  track  was  radical. The  song  itself  was  almost  entirely  discarded; he  just  worked  on  the   brassy  two  minute  instrumental  coda  strongly  influenced  by  the  Stones' Sympathy  for  the  Devil. He  spliced  in  a  drum  loop  sourced  from  an  Italian  re-mix  of  Edie  Brickell's  What  I  Am, a  vocal  line  from  The  Emotions  I  Don't  Want  To  Lose  Your  Love  and  a  generous  sprinkling  of   Peter  Fonda's  libertarian  dialogue  from  the  biker  film  The  Wild  Angels   and  the  result  was  "Loaded".  The  band , particularly  Bobby, had  been  marginalised  on  their  own  record . It  didn't  make  too  much  sense  to  me; like  808  State's  Pacific  it  seemed  like  an  extended  intro  that  never  developed  but  then  I  wasn't  a  raver

662 Goodbye Gilbert O' Sullivan - So What

Chart  entered : 24  February  1990

Chart  peak : 70

This  was  Gilbert's  first  hit  in  nearly  a  decade.

Gilbert  was  hardly  a  glam  rocker  but  his  purple  patch  coincided  exactly  with   glam's  hey-day  peaking  when  the  unsurpassable  "Alone  Again  ( Naturally ) "  hit  number  one  in  the  US  in  1972. It  peaked  at  number  3  here  but  there  were  number  ones  with  "Clair", a  lovely  song  tarnished  by  tiresome  and  ill-founded  suggestions  of  paedophilia  and  "Get  Down"  which  is  unfortunately  most  remembered  for  a  disastrous  Pan's  People  routine   on  Top  of  the  Pops.  Thereafter  his  decline  was  swift  with  no  hits  between  1975  and  1980. By  that  time  Gilbert  was  in  dispute with  his  manager  Gordon  Mills  over  royalties . This  escalated  into  a  long  legal  battle  which  put  his  recording  career  on  hold  in  the  mid-eighties. Gilbert  eventually  won  the  case  with  the  judge describing  him  as  "a  patently  sincere  and  honest  man"  ( contrast  this  with  the  judicial  verdict  on  a  certain  Mancunian  singer  some  years  later ).  Gilbert  had  been  vindicated  but  there  was  a  price  to  pay  for  being  out  of   action  for  so  long. The  mordant  "Lost   A   Friend", his  first  single  in  seven  years  was  completely ignored.

For  this, his  next  release,  he  came  out  with  a  wheeze. The  song  was  set  to  an   electronic  dance  rhythm  pre-dating  Everything  But  The  Girls' bedsit/ electronica  fusion  by  half  a  decade.
It  was  then  released  to  clubs  as  a  white  label  under  the  name  "E-Allora and  Go'ss". The  deception  worked  until  the  album  "In  The  Key  Of  G"  was  released  in  November   1989  revealing  the  true  identity  of  the  artist.  Gus  Dudgeon  then  tarted  it  up  for  release  as  a  proper  single  at  the  beginning  of  1990. "So  What"  is  probably  the  angriest  Gilbert  has  got  on  record  having  digs  at  Mills ( probably ), his  critics  and  standing  up  for  unemployment  demonstrators. Gilbert  comes  up   with  a  Stevie  Wonder-ish  burbling  keyboard  riff  to  go  with  the  electronic  rhythms  and  it  is  genuinely  funky. What  it  hasn't  got  is  a  decent  tune, Gilbert  mislaying  his  old  gift  for  the wry  offbeat  melody  in  his  effort  to  sound  contemporary.

The  very  modest  success  of  the single  didn't  lead  to the  album  charting  and  the  next  single  "At The  Very  Mention  of  Your  Name",  a  reasonable  attempt  to  re-boot  his  old  romantic  whimsy  for  the  electronic  age,  made  no  impression.

After  this  failure,  Gilbert's  next  album  "Sounds  of  the Loop "  in  1991  was  initially only available  in  Japan. Not  all  of  it  hits  the  heights  but  there's  ample  proof  that  Gilbert's  gift  for  an  affecting  tune  with  a  smart  lyric  remained  intact  on  gorgeous  songs  like  "Divorce  Irish  Style  and  "Came  And  Went"  while  other  songs  like  "Are  You  Happy"   and  "Having  Said  That  "  embrace  new  sounds  and  could  grace  the  sets  of  artists  like  Red  Box  or  The  Lightning  Seeds. A  compilation  album  "Nothing  But  The  Best"  reached  number  50  in  the  UK  that  year.

In  1992  Gilbert  was  back  in  the  news  when he  sued  the  rapper  Biz  Markie  for  unauthorised  use  of  a  sample  from  "Alone  Again  ( Naturally )". Markie  had  approached  him  beforehand  but  Gilbert, all  too  aware  of  how  the  song  affected  people, refused  to  let  it  be  used  in  a comic  context. When  the  rapper  went  ahead  anyway  Gilbert  sued  and  was  once  again  victorious.

The  renewed  exposure meant  he  could  test  the  water  by  issuing  "Can't  Think  Straight"  his orchestrated whimsical  duet  with  Peggy  Lee  as  a  single  in  1992  and  the  album  followed  in  1993.

In  1994, he  released  "By  Larry", an  album  of  short  songs, some dating  back  to  the  sixties, performed  with  just  a  detuned  piano  and  a string  section. There  are  some  good  ideas  on  it   but  it  sounds  incomplete   and   wasn't  the  route  back  to  fame  and  fortune.

Gilbert's  next  LP  "Every  Song  Has  Its  Play"  was  a  sort  of  concept  LP  with  songs  to  compliment  his   autobiographical  touring  production.There  are  one  or  two  nice  songs  in  "Pretty  Polly "  and  "I've  Never  Been  Short  Of  A  Smile"  which  stand  comparison  with  his  best  work  but  the  rest  is  either  silly  ,as  in  "Showbiz" which  has  a  theatrical  part  for  Nicky  Henson , or  overblown  and  dreary.

In  addition  to  that  the  general  tone  of  the  lyrics  gave  him  a  reputation  for  bitterness   about  his  current  situation. That  didn't  go  away  with  his  last  album of  the  nineties ,"Singer  Sowing  Machine"  where  Gilbert  turns  his  attention  to  political  matters  on  songs  like  "Not  So  Great  Britain"  and  "Con-Lab-Lib"  without  anything  very original  to  say. The  album  also  contains  some  musical  experiments  which  allowed  Gilbert  to  get  off  his  stool  when  performing,  such  as  the  dry  funk  of  "Heavens  Above"  or  the  Northern  Soul  stomp  of  "I  Don't  Care",  but  don't  sound  very  comfortable.

The  noughties  have  put  Gilbert  in  a  strange  position. He's  increasingly  feted  as  a  national  treasure  and  compilation  LPs  charted  high  in  2004  and  2012. He's  played  prestigious  gigs  like  Glastonbury  in  2008  and  the  Royal  Albert  Hall  the  following  year.  And  yet  it's  all  based  on  those  seventies  hits. He's  released  five  more  studio  LPs  and  they  might  as  well  be  radioactive. His  rather  ace  2002  single  "Two's  Company" featured  on  Top  of the  Pops  2  but  otherwise  you  just  don't  hear  his  recent  stuff. Even  in  the  debased  album  chart  of  the  last  decade,  his  albums  don't  appear  and  it's  hard  to  believe  his  fanbase   are  all  inveterate  downloaders. Gilbert  does  interviews  when  he's  got  new  product  out  and  they're  always  laudatory  but  it  makes  no  difference  to  his  sales.

Now  70, Gilbert  carries  on  and  starts  his  50th  Anniversary  Tour  this  September.

661 Hello Thunder - Dirty Love

Chart  entered : 17  February  1990

Chart  peak : 32

Number  of  hits : 21

Like  Gun, these  hard  rockers  built  up  a  loyal  fanbase  who  gave  them  a  very  consistent  run  of  hits  without  ever  crossing  over  to  a  wider  audience.

Guitarist  and  songwriter  Luke  Morley  ( born  1960 ) , singer  Danny  Bowes ( born  1960 )  and  drummer  Harry  James  were  three  quarters  ( later  three-fifths )  of  a  band  called  Terraplane  in  the  eighties. They  began  their  recording  career   in  1983  with  the  single  "I  Survive"  on  an  independent  label  . It's  a  so-so  metal-lite  track. The  following  year  they  signed  with  Epic  who  encouraged  them  to  incorporate  synths  into  their  music  with  mullets  to  match. Their  debut  album  "Black  And  White"  was  a  minor  hit  reaching  number  74  but  none  of  the  four  singles  taken  from  it  were  hits  despite  Danny's  obvious  vocal  talents.

Their  next  single  "If  That's  What  It  Takes"  went  further  down  the  modernist  road  with   a  horribly  over  the  top  production ( from  former  Sailor  man  Phil  Pickett ),  featuring  a  ghastly  Fairlight  riff  and  backing  vocals  from  Ruby  Turner  and  Helen  Terry , that  completely  drowns  the  very  average  song .  I've  not  heard  the  subsequent  singles  from  the  "Moving  Target"  album  in  1987  but  both  were  co-writes  with  Pickett  and  I  gather  they  were  in  the  same  vein. Having  thoroughly  confused  their  audience  and,  one  suspects,  themselves , they  split  up  in  1988.

Luke , Danny  and  Harry  decided  to  re-group  as  Thunder  and  started  recording  demos  with  former  Duran  Duran  guitarist  Andy  Taylor  as  producer  and  Ben  Matthews  as  engineer. They were  signed  up  by  EMI  in  a  matter  of  months . The  line  up  was  fleshed  out  by  Ben  joining  as  keyboard  player  and  second  guitarist  and  Mark  Luckhurst, a  friend  of  Harry's  , on  bass.

In  October  1989  they  released  their first  single  "She;s  So  Fine". It's  a  crisply  produced ( by  Taylor )   hard  rock  number in  a  Guns  n  Roses  vein  with  no  keyboards  just  sizzling  riffs. As  a  statement  of  intent  that  their  new  incarnation  was  not  going  to  be  as  compromised  as  the  old  it  did  the  job. The  band  then  embarked  on  a  tour  of  the  UK  and  Ireland  including  two  dates  supporting  Aerosmith  at  the  NEC.

"Dirty  Love"  was  their  second  single, a  misogynistic  putdown  of  an  ex  that  doesn't  sound  too  far  removed  from  Aerosmith. With  its  na-na-na  hooks  in  the  chorus  and  general  pop  bounce,  it  might  have  succeeded  anyway  but  EMI  were  taking  no chances  and  there  were  limited  editions  of  a  gatefold  picture  booklet  and  a  log-shaped  disc.    

660 Hello Michael Bolton - How Am I Supposed To Live Without You ?

Chart  entered : 17  February  1990

Chart  peak : 3

Number  of  hits : 18

Michael  is  perhaps  the  ultimate  Marmite  artist.  You  either  love  his  over-wrought  vocal  style ( as  my  mum  did  )  or  you  can't  bear  it  ( as  I  can't ).

Michael  was  originally  Michael  Bolotin  born  in  Newhaven  in  1953  of  Russian  immigrant  stock. He  was  interested  in  music  from  an  early  age  and  joined  his  brother's  high  school  band  The  Nomads. Some  sources  say  they  were  signed  by  Epic  and  released  a  couple  of  singles  in  1968  but  I  can't  ind  any  trace  of  them.

His  solo  debut  was  in  May  1975  with  the  single  "Your  Love",  a  rocking  boogie  tune  featuring  a  puchy  sax  break  from  David  Sanborn  and  backing  vocals  from  Marcy  Levy. It's  not  a  bad  song  and  I  could  quite  like  it  without  the  excessive  Joe  Cocker-esque  vocals. It  was  followed  by  his  eponymous   debut  LP. It  was  divided  between  rockers  like  the  single  and  dreary  West  Coast  AOR,   fleshed  out  by  covers  of  "You're  No  Good"  9  ( so-so )  and  "Time  Is  On  My  Side "  ( wretched ).  Michael, whose  voice  is  too  high  in  the  mix,  throughout,  shows  himself  a  stranger  to  any  notion  of  restraint. Like  the  single  it  failed  to  chart  anywhere.

He  came  back  the  following  year  with  "Everyday  of  My  Life" , a  predominantly  covers  album. The  covers  are  all  disposable  and  while  his  own  songs  are  nicely  arranged - "If  I  Had  Your  Love"  dips  a  toe  in  disco  waters - they  are  ultimately  dragged  down  by  his  painful  singing. It  didn't  improve  on  its  predecessor's  showing.

Michael  changed  tack  and  decided  to  form  a  band  with  guitarist  Bruce  Kulick  who'd  previously  played  with  Meat  Loaf. The  band  was  called  Blackjack  and  they  released  their  eponymous  debut  LP  in  June  1979. The  lead  single  "Love  Me  Tonight"  is  a  decent  stab  at  commercial  hard  rock  in  the  Rainbow  vein  and  reached  a  respectable  62  in  the  US charts.  The  follow  up  "Without  Your  Love"  didn't  achieve  the  same  success  and  the  album  stalled  at  number  127. It's  OK  if  you  like  that  sort  of  thing ; Michael's  bawling  is  better  suited  to  belting  out  beefy  hard  rock  numbers.

The  band  toured  in  support  of  Peter  Frampton  , Ozzy  Osbourne  and  Marshall  Tucker  and  released  a  second  album  "Worlds  Apart"  in  1980. The  record  sounds  like  an  average  Whitesnake  album  and  received  little  support  from  the  record  label, Polydor. Discouraged , the  group  decided  to  call  it  a  day. At  the  end  of  1982  Michael  auditioned  for  the  vacant  snger's  role  in  Black  Sabbath  but  lost  out  to  Ian  Gillan.

In  1983, things  started  to  turn  Michael's  way. He  anglicised  his  surname  to  Bolton  for  his  third  solo  release, allowing  him  to  use  his  new  name  for  a  second  eponymous  album. Michael  retained  Kulick  as  his  guitarist  though  not  as  a  co-writer  and  stayed  within  the  hard  rock  genre  although   there's  a  much  more  prominent  role  for  synthesisers  than  on  the  Blackjack  records. He  started  to  tickle  the  bottom  end  of  the US  charts  as  the  album  reached  number  89  and  the  sparky  Bryan  Adams  pop  rock  of  "Fool's  Game"  got  to  82  in  the  charts.

However  these were  minor  triumphs  compared  to  Michael's  success  as  a  writer  with  "How  Am  I  Supposed  To  Live  Without  You  ?"  The  maudlin  lament  from  a  jilted  lover  was  originally  written with  Doug  James   for  wet  AOR  stars  Air  Supply  but  got  passed  on  to Laura  Branigan  who  recorded  it  as  a  straight  power  ballad. I've  got  some  time  for  Laura  and  much  prefer  her  version  to  the  one  we're  discussing, It  got  to  number  12  in  the  US.

Michael's  progress  was  not  maintained  by  1985's  "Everybody's  Crazy"  where  Michael  fell  prey  to  eighties  production  bombast  and  produced  an  entirely  vacuous  set  which  was  a  moderate  hit  in  Sweden  but  didn't  chart  anywhere  else.

The  following  year  he  had  another , more  moderate,  success  writing  for  Branigan  with  "I  Found  Someone"  which  reached  number  90. A  less  synth-y  version  by  Cher  reached  number  10  in  the  US  and  number  5  over  here  in  1988.

In  1987  he  released  "The  Hunger". With  Kulick  less  involved, Michael  dropped  most  of  the  hard  rock  elements  to  his  sound  and  acquired  more  sympathetic  producers. Though  of  little  interest  to  me, it's  a  polished  adult  pop  set  and  the  hit  singles  started  to  flow, "That's  What  Love  Is  All  About" , ""Wait  On  Love"  and  an  awful -though  widow-approved - version  of    "(sittin  On  ) The  Dock  of  the  Bay"  all  made  the  US  Charts  and  the  latter  single  narrowly  failed  to  make  the  chart  here. The  album  made  number  46  in  the  US  ( and  was  a  hit  here  in  1990 )  and  after  twelve  years of  slog  Michael  had  finally  arrived.

Michael  re-surfaced  in  June  1989  with  the  single  "Soul  Provider"  which  turned  out  to  be  the  title  track  of  his  next  album. By  this  point  he'd  left  rock  behind  and  the  song  is  bland  corporate  pop  , the  sort  of  thing  he  might  have  offered  to  Rod  Stewart  or  Tina  Turner; the  aggravating  pun  in  the  title  is  the  only  even  slightly  memorable  thing  about  it. It  reached  number  17  in  the  US  charts  but  wasn't  a  hit  here  until  1995  when  it  reached  number  35.

The  next  single  chosen  was  his  own  version  of  "How  Am  I  Supposed  To  Live  Without  You ?". It's  similarly  paced  to  the  Branigan  version  with  producer  Michael  Omartian  adding   some  nineties  gloss   with  his  sugary  production. There's  a  nod  to  Michael's  rock  roots  in  having  a  guitar  rather  than  sax  solo  but  it's  still  aimed  at  an  adult  audience. Michael's  straining  vocals  don't  convince  me  at  all  but  as  I  said, my  mum  loved  it  and  it  went  all  the  way  to  number  one  in  the  US. Here  it  was  kept  at  bay  and  he  hasn't  got  as  near  to  the  top  spot  since. I  guess  it  is  slightly  preferable  to  his  assaults  on  sixties  soul  standards  but  that's  damning  with  faint  praise  indeed.