Founded in 1982 by the core duo of Paul Bell (keyboards/vocals, ex Lookalikes) from Wexford and guitarist Grimmo AKA Andreas Grimminger AKA Andrias O'Gruama, later Cathal Coughlan's right hand man in Fatima Mansions. They were joined by Adrian Wyatt on bass. Another ex Lookalike Mike Mesbur played drums on the first demo. He was replaced by Korda Marshall in 1983, yielding the most stable lineup. Alison Kelly provided cello.
The early singles are interesting but as they developed their sound became a bombastic U2-meets-Psychedelic Furs which will not be to everyone's tastes. To make matters worse, Todd Rundgren produced the debut LP, emphasising all the worst aspects of the music. The second album is more balanced and makes better use of synths and is all the better for echoes (sorry) of Echo & The Bunnymen but there are still too many grandiose anthems. The artwork for their Mercury releases is consistently bad too.
Paul Bell (extreme left above) later formed a duo called Wild Swans (later just Swans) with Brendan Wade of Cry Before Dawn. Andreas Grimminger fronted his own band The Baby's Head before joining Fatima Mansions. Korda Marshall later worked in A&R and ran Infectious Records.
Lineup:
Paul Bell - vocals/keyboards
Andreas Grimminger - guitar
Adrian Wyatt - bass
Mike Mesbur - drums
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles and four Top Ten albums in the UK between 1980 and 1990. The band split acrimoniously in 1990 but announced their reunion in March 2009, complete with a tour that began in October 2009.
The band was formed in 1976 and was originally called 'The Cut', with Gary Kemp and Steve Norman on guitar, later saxophone and percussion. Kemp and Norman were both attending Dame Alice Owen's School, Islington, and were close friends, as they shared a similar interest in music and a common desire to form a band. They were joined by fellow student John Keeble, who had met Norman through storing his drum kit in the school's music room and would regularly meet at lunchtimes to practice. John was followed by bass player Michael Ellison. Tony Hadley, who knew Norman, then joined as lead singer. After a few months, Richard Miller replaced Michael Ellison on bass, before Kemp's brother, Martin Kemp, finally took over the role, joining the band a couple of years later. By this time, the band had already gained some live experience. Steve Dagger, a friend of the band members, was then asked by Steve Norman and Gary Kemp to manage them. He was to be an integral part of the band's initial and continuing success.
The band was called 'The Makers' in the early years, but profess to having changed their name after a friend of the band, journalist and DJ Robert Elms, saw the name scrawled on the wall of a nightclub lavatory during a visit to Berlin along the lines of "Rudolf Hess, all alone, dancing the Spandau Ballet" (Rudolf Hess was the sole inmate at Germany's Spandau Prison). The new Spandau Ballet, with Martin Kemp and Tony Hadley, began performing with this name and generating a positive buzz around London. Their music prior to then was in the style of the early Rolling Stones or The Kinks, but became more electronic as they began to hang out in clubs such as Sally's and Blitz, where they would listen to bands like Kraftwerk and Telex. The Blitz was regarded as the birthplace of a new 1980s music and fashion phenomenon called New Romanticism.
The band was involved in a major bidding war, but eventually signed to Chrysalis Records and released "To Cut a Long Story Short", produced by the electronic musician Richard James Burgess. Released just ten days after the band emerged from the studio in order to meet the huge demand created by the buzz they had established, "To Cut a Long Story Short" was an instant British top 5 hit in 1980. This was followed by hits with "The Freeze", "Musclebound" and the well-received and Gold-certified album Journeys to Glory in 1981. The sound of Journeys to Glory was typified by chanted vocals, a splashy snare drum sound, strongly rhythmic guitar parts and a lack of guitar solos; the hallmarks of what would become known as the New Romantic sound and the sound of the early eighties.
01 Walking Into Mirrors
02 Radio Active
03 Searchlights
04 Martian Summer
05 Screaming Jets
06 Three Minutes
07 Will You Dance With Me?
08 (SOS) Sending Out Signals
09 Dancing Dolls
10 Fantastic Light
"Born in Bethnal Green, London, Johnny Warman made his stage debut as a child, when his local school choir was judged proficient enough to appear in two productions at London's prestigious Royal Opera House, alongside Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi. By the mid-'70s, however, he had gravitated to rock, forming the band Bearded Lady and releasing a 1975 single, Rock Star. It went nowhere and, when the band split, Warman signed solo with Ringo Starr's Ring-O label, releasing a single in 1977 and a Germany-only album, Hour Glass, two years later. By 1980, Warman had formed a new band, Three Minutes - following their breakup, he took much of the band's repertoire for his next solo album, 1981's Walking Into Mirrors, released by Elton John's Rocket label. Recorded with Peter Gabriel's then-current band, with Gabriel himself guesting on backing vocals on the single Screaming Jets, Warman found himself with a major Australian hit. (...) A masterful, electronics-driven slab of wartorn paranoia whose edginess was only amplified by the presence of Peter Gabriel on effectively keening backing vocals. (...) Hints of the John Foxx-era Ultravox (not to mention the inevitable Gary Numan, too) shine through some of the sparser numbers, an impression heightened by both Warman's own, occasionally robotic vocal intonations and the sense that the entire album is an idiot dancing on the edge of Armageddon; the early '80s, of course, saw civilization perched on one of its way-too-regular nuclear precipices, and Walking Into Mirrors echoes both the scientific realities and the science-fiction romances of that scenario. (...) Unfortunately, the follow-up, 1983's From the Jungle to the New Horizons, did little, prompting Warman to abandon his own recording career and concentrate on songwriting".
(Dave Thompson, All-Music Guide)
From the Jungles to the New Horizons
Spirit in the Sky
Looking Back (to See If Someone's Looking Back at Me)
China's Moving (West)
I Love My Planet
(United) The State of America
Flying out of Windows
Dream, Dream, Dream
Johnny Warman (born John Robert Waughman 1951 in Bethnal Green, London) is an English singer-songwriter best known for his 1981 album Walking Into Mirrors and the hit single "Screaming Jets".
In the early 1970s Warman joined the group Bearded Lady (originally named Elmo's Fire) as a vocalist/rhythm guitarist with fellow members Freddy Sheriff on guitar, Chris Peel on bass, Mickey Irvine (Later replaced by Paul 'The Mouse' Martin and then Clive 'Short Bar' Brooks and finally Bryson Graham) on drums and Kim Jury and Theresa O'Neil as backing singers. Warman and Sheriff had been in school and The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme together and were brought together musically by a mutual friend named Yvonne. The group's first gig was at the Morpeth Castle, during which the only member of the audience walked out after the first song. Being managed by John Hunt and Barry Sullivan's Hunsul Enterprises very much a "Pub Rock" group, they performed at many London (as well as many other towns) venues including, The Hope And Anchor, The Brecknock, The Kensington, The Cock At Kilburn And The Lord Nelson, even being a support act for Humphrey Littleton in Fishguard. The group focused their efforts on their live act and had a solid following built up over four years, including Mickie Most who unsuccessfully tried to sign them to RAK Records three times. Chuck Berry also came to see the band. During the period in which Warman was in Bearded Lady he was often to be found frequenting the clubs of London where he was in contact with many other "scene" people including David Bowie, who referred to Warman by name, which was a true accolade for an aspiring rock star.
The band took out on a tour of West Germany (Zoom in Frankfurt and P.N. Club in Munich) to support a German release of the single on Bellaphon/Youngblood International which was as close as the group would ever get to a world tour. Warman worked a day job to support his wife and young family (Daughters Zowie born 1973 and Tammy) but still insisted the band commit to at least four nights of rehearsals a week. One day whilst Warman was waiting for the band to pick him up in their van the other band members had decided to sell all their equipment and the van and with that the group ceased to exist. The last performance by Bearded Lady was at the Marquee Club supported by The Jam. After the collapse of Bearded Lady, Warman set out with demos in hand to get a solo deal. It was around this time that he started spelling his surname "Warman" rather than "Waughman", as both "Johnny" and "Warman" have six letters.
With Warman's success with the Walking Into Mirrors he took to the road including live and television performances in Sweden, West Germany, Belgium, France, Spain (Music Express), Portugal (Fiesta Fiesta), Great Britain, performing second on the bill to Ian Hunter at the New Pop Festival in Rotterdam in 1982. Rocket encouraged Warman to start work on a second Rocket album which he took to at The Manor Studios in Oxford. Warman invited back Jerry Marrota and Tony Levin as well as inviting Chris Payne of Dramatis (who at that time were Gary Numan's backing band) and Andy Clark who had just returned from backing David Bowie on tour. Warman's concept for the From The Jungle To The New Horizons album was the process from Apeman to Spaceman. The album would be a more musically complicated production than the previous Walking Into Mirrors album. Kiki Dee was invited to contribute backing vocals to (United) The State Of America and Looking Back (To See If Someone's Looking Back At Me). Although Kiki was only scheduled to work in the studio for one day she (as all the other musicians) enjoyed herself so much she stayed for three days. "Dream Dream Dream" was the lead and only single from the album being released on Rocket a month before the release on the album. Neither the single nor the album managed to make any impact in the charts and once again with the downsizing of Rocket Records Warman found himself without a record label even with all the successes of 1981/2 under his belt.
01.Computer One
02.The Good Life
03.Talkin' To You
04.All Through The Night
05.Kids On The Street
06.On The Line
07.Restless
08.Bit Of Your Heart
09.Day To Day
Dear Enemy were an Australian New Wave, indie pop band formed in Melbourne in 1982 which had a Top 5 single, "Computer One", on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart from December 1983. They released a studio album, Ransom Note in 1984 on EMI and Capitol Records, which peaked at No. 15 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart, and they subsequently disbanded in 1988.
Dear Enemy were named from a Ginger Meggs comic strip–the hero receives letters from his rival which are always addressed to 'Dear Enemy'. The Melbourne band formed in 1982, with an original lineup of vocalist Ron Martini, guitarists Chris Langford and Les Barker (ex-Benders), keyboardist Martin Fisher (ex-Little Heroes), bassist Peter Leslie (ex-Little Heroes) and drummer Ian Morrison. Prior to taking the name Dear Enemy, they had played together as a covers band called Stonewall.
The band picked up a strong following on the live circuit and in 1983 signed a recording contract with the American label EMI/Capitol - one of the first Australian bands signed direct to an overseas label. They recorded their debut album Ransom Note in the United States under the guidance of producer Peter McIan (Men at Work, Mondo Rock) - in fact the band were signed with the condition that Peter McIan oversee the recording sessions. The impressive album generated three quality singles, the first of which "Computer One" (which was written in America by Langford and Fisher) proved to be Dear Enemy’s one and only major hit, peaking at No. 5 on the Australian charts in late 1983. The follow up single "The Good Life" stalled at No. 39 a few months later, whilst the slide continued with the third single "Kids On The Street" failing to chart. Ransom Note sold more than 25,000 units and reached No. 15 on the national album charts.
Dear Enemy released a new single a few months later with "New Hero", which featured on the soundtrack to the Australian motion picture Street Hero. The single however only reached No. 93 on the charts. A couple of lineup changes, with Joey Amenta replacing Barker in April, 1985, and two more flop singles, "Stay" and "You're Right, You're Right", followed over the next four years before Dear Enemy’s system crashed and they called it a day at the end of 1988. Dear Enemy did record tracks for a second album during this period but due to contract and legal problems the album didn’t see the light of day. Ron Martini also released a CD entitled Big Night Out in 1996 with backing band The Missiles Of Love. Ian Morrison went onto perform with Goanna.
In 2000 EMI released a CD Best of Dear Enemy (Ransom Note and Beyond) which was a compilation of all the band's releases, this was followed in 2004 by a Best of, which was basically Ransom Note and the inclusion of the single "New Hero".
Members
Ron Martini - vocals (1982–1988)
Chris Langford - guitar (1982–1988)
Les Barker - guitar (1982–1985)
Martin Fisher - keyboards (1982–1988)
Peter Leslie - bass (1982–1988)
Ian Morrison - drums (1982–1988)
Joey Amenta - guitar (1985)
Peter Holland
John Joyce
Jerry Leigh - drums
Discography
Albums
Ransom Note - EMI/Capitol (February, 1984)
The Best of Dear Enemy (Ransom Note and Beyond) - EMI (2000)
The Best of Dear Enemy - EMI (2004) Singles
"Computer One"/"Day to Day" - Capitol (1983)
"The Good Life"/On the Line" - Capitol (1984)
"Kids on the Street"/"Talking to You" - EMI/Capitol (1984)
"New Hero"/"Billy's Theme" - Festival (1984)
"Stay"/"Looking for Love" - EMI (1986)
"You're Right, You're Right"/"Love Flows" - EMI (December, 1988)
1. Lunapark
2. Is This Love
3. Minijupe
4. Baby
5. Plastic
6. Tanger
7. Tarzan And Jane
8. Machinedrum
9. Part Of You
STARTER was s minimal electronics/synthpop group from Switzerland, formed by vocalist and fashion designer Francis Foss, Claudine Chirac (from fellow electronic group Grauzone) and Jet Harbour. Later lineups also included Stephan Eicher, Pauchard and Reto Keller.
Starter formed in 1981 as a three piece, led by Francis Foss, who remained the only original member after a personnel switch in 1985.
Starter would release one LP in 1981, followed by several 12'' releases throughout the late eighties, calling it quits in 1989. Francis Foss was also active in Shy Rose, a Swiss Italo Disco act who released a handful of singles.
In 2004, Topfuel Entertainment collected Starter's discography and released it as an extremely limited CD-R pressing, sold alongside a DVD of various live performances over the years. Only sixty copies of this fine release exist.
"Karma Chameleon" – 4:12
"It's a Miracle" – 3:25
"Black Money" – 5:19
"Changing Every Day" – 3:17
"That's the Way (I'm Only Trying to Help You)" – 2:45
"Church of the Poison Mind" – 3:30
"Miss Me Blind" – 4:30
"Mister Man" – 3:36
"Stormkeeper" – 2:46
"Victims" – 4:55
Colour by Numbers is the second album by New Wave band Culture Club, released in 1983.
The album features several international hits such as "Church of the Poison Mind" and the worldwide hit "Karma Chameleon" which had sales of over one million in the United Kingdom alone. Colour by Numbers showcased the vocal talents of Helen Terry alongside Boy George, and chartwise improved upon the successful formula of Culture Club's début album Kissing to Be Clever.
In 1989, Colour by Numbers was ranked #96 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s. The album is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
The album has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and, like its predecessor, contained several hit singles. Released worldwide "Church of the Poison Mind" went Top 10 in UK, USA, Canada, Australia and many European countries. "Karma Chameleon", however, was the signature track from the album and charted #1 almost everywhere. "Victims" was released in Europe and Oceania and was a hit in several countries, including top five hit in the UK and Australia. "Miss Me Blind" was released in North America, South America, Japan, and Australia to great success (Top 5 in US and Canada), and "It's A Miracle" was issued next almost everywhere, becoming a Top 10 or Top 20 hit in several markets. "Mister Man" was released as a single in South Africa.
The album went gold, platinum, or multi-platinum in many countries. The album went 4x platinum in the United States at its time of release (more than 4 million copies sold). In Canada, Culture Club was the first group to have a diamond album in that country (10x platinum or one million copies sold).
In an interview in 1998, the four members of Culture Club agreed that "Colour By Numbers" was their best work. It was remastered in 2002 and 2003, for the Culture Club box set and for a re-release of the album. In 2005, the album was also released in Japan in a cardboard sleeve, similar to the original vinyl artwork, featuring also the remastered tracks and five bonus songs like the 2003 version.
01. A Minute In Black & White
02. The Tell Tale Heart
03. A Year In The Shade
04. I Write The News
05. Drink Drink Drink
06. A Seaside Song
07. All That Fall
08. She's Crying
09. Bright Penny
10. Drink Drink Drink (Extended)
11. Instrumental No. 1 (Bonus Track)
12. Lounge (Bonus Track)
Beargarden was a new wave band from Melbourne, Australia which, though well regarded critically, failed to achieve widespread success. It evolved directly from the post-punk group 'The Ears' which disbanded in 1981 and reformed under the new name with Ross Farnell replacing Cathy McQuade on bass. The other members were Sam Sejavka ( vocals) Mick Lewis (guitar), Carl Manuell (drums) and Gus Till (keyboards). Lewis was replaced later that year by Shane Andalou.
All That Fall is the debut album by Australian New Wave group Beargarden. It was released in 1986 on Chase Records.
Beargarden were selected by Virgin Records Australia as their first Australian signing. Under their new label the band released a single, "The Finer Things", which was produced by Ross Cockle at AAV studios in South Melbourne and released in October 1984 with a film clip directed by John Hillcoat and featuring a young Noah Taylor. The single however made little impact on the charts.
In July 1985, Beargarden began recording their debut album, All That Fall, at Albert Studios in Sydney with producers Bruce Brown and Russel Dunlop. A second single, "I Write the News", resulted from these sessions. The B-side, "Sixty Perfect Windows", had been recorded previously at Richmond Recorders, Melbourne, and was produced by Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farris (Hutchence provides backing vocals for the track). A film clip for "I Write The News" was directed by Paul Goldman (Australian Rules, The Night They Called It a Day, The Ben Cousins Story).
All That Fall took a great many months to complete and during this time the band's inner turmoil again boiled to the surface. Bassist Ross Farnell was replaced by Simon Polinski, and Shaun Andersen (brother of guitarist Shane Andalou) was recruited as second guitar. These changes exacerbated the band's pre-existing instability and, after the release of a third single "Drink Drink Drink"', it folded. Paul Goldman directed a clip for "Drink Drink Drink" but, given the suggestive nature of the song title and the mistaking of burning scarecrows for burning crucifixes by the producers of Countdown, it failed to air and the single made little impact.
Beargarden's disintegration was accompanied by acrimony and incidents of poor and/or outrageous behaviour on stage. Virgin quickly divested themselves of the product and All That Fall was ultimately released to little fanfare on Chase Records, accompanied by a fourth and final single "A Seaside Song".
Originally appearing on vinyl, it never received an official CD release, though in 2010 became available for download, initially through Bandcamp.
01. Hi Hi Friend
02. Casablanca
03. Circus Ring
04. Something We Can Do
05. Burning Flame
06. Angela
07. Every Time That I See You
08. Anybody Out There?
Vitamin Z were an English pop group, formed in 1982 by vocalist Geoff Barradale and bassist Nick Lockwood. Their lone hit "Burning Flame" charted well in the UK, but no further hits caught on. Geoff Barradale now serves as manager for the Arctic Monkeys.
Vitamin Z founders Geoff Barradale and Nick Lockwood were born and raised in Northern England’s Sheffield. The group originally took shape around a loose-knit collection of local musicians who came together in a common rehearsal space.
The band's debut album Rites Of Passage, was released in 1985. Its most prominent single, "Burning Flame," did well on the U.S. dance charts and the band toured England with Tears for Fears. Vitamin Z also made news when its video for the song "Circus Ring (We Scream About)" filmed in Istanbul, making them the first Western Europeans to be allowed to film in Turkey since Midnight Express prompted government officials there to close the border to foreign film units.
A year or so further on and the follow-up album was ready to go. "But we sat down and listened to it and it didn't do anything," recalls Barradale. "If it didn't move us, it wasn't going to move anybody else. The songs were good, but the treatment was wrong, contrived, plastic. We see ourselves as far more edgy, spiky. It was the wrong marriage with a producer."
While they awaited the results of a lawsuit that would hopefully allow them to re-work the songs, they wrote a number of new ones. They liked what they were hearing so much that they paid for another demo out of their own pockets. "We knew," says Barradale, "that this was our moment. We had to take it." By the time the legal matters were settled, they were already in the studio working on Sharp Stone Rain, beginning with producer Pete Smith (Sting, The Adventures) but ended up co-producing tracks.
Also seizing the moment, Lockwood decided to move from bass and keyboards to guitar. "In a songwriting sense, it's more creative being able to write on the guitar".
Barradale appeared on The Alan Parsons Project album Gaudi released in 1987. He sang lead vocals for the "Standing On Higher Ground" lead off single.
Vitamin Z recorded demos for a third album, which was never released.
Barradale continued to record and perform from his native Sheffield, teaming up with guitarist and songwriter Alan Smyth, later a producer based at his own 2-Fly Studios in the city. Their bands Fruit, Seafruit, were championed by Jeff Cooper (broadcaster)'s 'XS' show (now radio2XS) at the radio station Hallam FM, where they recorded two sessions in 1996 and 1997. Cooper also employed Barradale as the narrator of a 1995 radio documentary for the BBC 'Sheffield Music 1995', which also featured Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and others.
Barradale is currently the manager of the city's Arctic Monkeys.
ADazzle (7 Mins Plus Glamour Mix) 7:06
B1I Promise4:39
B2Throw Them To The Lions 4:52
Siouxsie and The Banshees
The Passenger 12''
1987
Post Punk New Wave Gothic Rock
England
Tracklist:
The Passenger (Llllloco-Motion Mix)8:00
She's Cuckoo4:15
Something Blue3:54
Siouxsie and The Banshees
Wheel's On Fire 12''
1987
Post Punk New Wave Gothic Rock
England
Tracklist:
AThis Wheel's On Fire (Incendiary Mix)
B1Shooting Sun
B2Sleepwalking (On The High Wire)
Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin. Initially associated with the English punk rock scene, the band rapidly evolved to create "a form of post-punk discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation". The Times cited Siouxsie and the Banshees as "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era."
The group also became inspirational in the creation and development of gothic rock and their music also combined elements of pop and avant-garde.
Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin met at a Roxy Music concert in September 1975, at a time when Glam Rock had faded and there was nothing new coming through with which they could identify. From February 1976, Sioux, Severin and some friends began to follow an unsigned band, the Sex Pistols. Journalist Caroline Coon dubbed them the "Bromley Contingent", as most of them came from the Bromley region of Kent, a label Severin came to despise. "There was no such thing, it was just a bunch of people drawn together by the way they felt and they looked." They were all inspired by the Sex Pistols – from watching them, they realized that anyone could do it. When they learned that one of the bands scheduled to play the 100 Club Punk Festival, organized by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, pulled out from the bill at the last minute, Sioux suggested that she and Severin play, even though they had no band name or additional members. Two days later, the pair appeared at the festival held in London on 20th September 1976. With two borrowed musicians at their side, Marco Pirroni on guitars and John Simon Ritchie later known as Sid Vicious on drums, their set consisted of a 20-minute improvisation based on "The Lord's Prayer".
While the band intended to split up after the gig, they were asked to play again. Two months later, Sioux and Severin recruited drummer Kenny Morris and guitarist Pete Fenton. After playing several gigs in early 1977, the band realized that Fenton did not fit in because he was "a real rock guitarist." John McKay finally took his seat in July.
The Banshees disbanded in 1996, with Siouxsie and drummer Budgie continuing to record music as The Creatures, a second band they had formed in the early 1980s. In 2004, Siouxsie began a solo career.
Side A. Love Cascade
Side B. A Way You'll Never Be
Leisure Process was a British New Wave duo formed in the early 1980s. They consisted of Ross Middleton, previously of post-punk Glasgow band Positive Noise, and session sax player Gary Barnacle. Four singles were released (one credited to 'Leisure Process International') before their split. They were signed to Epic Records and all singles were produced by Martin Rushent.
Leisure Process released four singles:
"Love Cascade" (1982)
"A Way You'll Never Be" (1982) (featuring Mark King and Phil Gould of Level 42)
"Cashflow" (1982)
"Anxiety" (1983)
Shine
Current Stand
Change In Mood
Place To Go
Cynical
Something That You Said
Bitter Desire
My Life
Not The Way
How Come?
Kids in the Kitchen was a band from Melbourne, Australia that enjoyed considerable local success during the 1980s. The band stood squarely within the New Romantic movement that dominated mid-1980s pop, showing influences of "New-Rom" groups such as Ultravox in its use of synthesisers, its angst-ridden lyrics, and the tendency of frontman Scott Carne to pronounce words such as "too" and "do" as if these had two syllables.
The band's original line-up when it formed in 1983 was:
Scott Carne (vocals)
Greg Dorman (guitar)
Craig Harnath (bass)
Greg Woodhead (keyboards)
Bruce Curnow (drums)
The band's debut single, "Change In Mood", (produced by Ricky Fataar and Tim Kramer) reached No. 10 on the Australian national charts in November 1983. A second single, "Bitter Desire", hit No. 17 in May 1984, after which Dorman and Woodhead quit the band and were replaced by Claude Carranza (guitar) and Alistair Coia (keyboards).
The first single released under the new line-up was "Something That You Said", another Top 20 hit in May 1985, and this was followed by a belated debut album, Shine, which was a big seller nationally and topped the Melbourne charts. Although the title track only reached No. 40 when lifted as a single, the next single release, "Current Stand", became the band's signature song and was a hit overseas as well as peaking at No. 12 in Australia.
Carne joined as guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins in 1985, for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", a charity project for research on Fairy penguins, which peaked at #10 on the Australian Kent Music Report in December.
A second LP, Terrain, was released in 1987 with several accompanying singles, but the band could not repeat the success of their debut. They broke up the following year.
Following the split, Carne formed a band called Priscilla's Nightmare, who released one self-titled album, then he embarked on a solo career. Carne's solo single "All I Wanna Do" was a minor hit in 1990. Curnow opened a Billy Hyde music store in Shepparton, Victoria in 2002. Harnath owns Hothouse Studios in St Kilda, Melbourne.
EP
"April Fool" - 5:19
"Trains" - 5:05
"Big White Clouds" - 4:06
"Me, Myself and I" - 4:08
"The Great Lake" - 4:09
"Superman (Meets the Man of Steel)" - 5:16 CD
"April Fool" - 5:19
"Trains" - 5:05
"Big White Clouds" - 4:06
"Me, Myself and I" - 4:08
"The Great Lake" - 4:09
"Superman (Meets the Man of Steel)" - 5:16
"20th Century Boy" - 3:42 *
"Come with Me" - 3:54 *
"Believe in Something" - 3:45 *
1988 CD reissue with three bonus tracks (tracks 8 and 9 feature as b-sides on "This Mourning" 12")
Chalk Circle was a Canadian Post Punk, New Wave, Pop Rock band in the 1980s. The band consisted of lead singer and guitarist Chris Tait, bassist Brad Hopkins, keyboardist Tad Winklarz and drummer Derrick Murphy.
Originally formed in Newcastle, Ontario, Hopkins and Tait were paired with Terry Miller and Stani Veselinovic in 1982 as "The Casualties". The band briefly changed its name to "The Reactors" and then to "New Edition" in 1984, and finally settled on the name Chalk Circle (taken from Bertolt Brecht's play The Caucasian Chalk Circle).
The band recorded a demo single "The World" (b/w "Black Pit") on cassette and played the Toronto area, subsequently winning the CASBY Award for Most Promising Non-Recording Group in 1985. After signing to Duke Street Records in Toronto, their 1986 debut release was a six-song EP called The Great Lake. Produced by Chris Wardman, it was recorded at Manta Sound in Toronto and Quest Recording Studio in Oshawa. The lead single "April Fool" became a Top 10 single in Canada, along with another single "Me, Myself and I". The band produced videos for both tracks which were regularly featured on MuchMusic, and the EP went on to become Duke Street's biggest seller at that time.
Their second release was a full length album entitled Mending Wall released in 1987, with the inspiration for the title coming from Robert Frost's famous poem. Recorded entirely on digital equipment, the crisp sounding album featured another Top 10 Canadian single "This Mourning", a blistering commentary about nuclear politics in the 'ray gun' (Reagan) era of the late 1980s. The album would later be reissued with a cover version of T-Rex's "20th Century Boy", which also became a Top 10 Canadian single.
The band's final album was 1989's As the Crow Flies, which featured two singles, "Sons and Daughters" and "Together". Citing 'creative differences', the band broke up in 1990, and Tait went on to form the indie band Big Faith.
In 2006, Universal Music Group released a Chalk Circle greatest hits compilation as part of its 20th Century Masters series. The release prompted the band to reconvene after 15 years and in February of that year, they began rehearsals at the Cherry Beach rehearsal studios in Toronto in anticipation of possible reunion shows.
On June 17, 2006, Chalk Circle played a reunion gig at Lee's Palace in Toronto.
Discography
Albums
The Great Lake (EP) - 1986
Mending Wall - 1987
As the Crow Flies - 1989
The Best of Chalk Circle - 2006
Singles
"The World" (1985)
"April Fool" (1986) #21 CAN
"Me, Myself and I" (1986) #92 CAN
"This Mourning" (1987) #28 CAN
"20th Century Boy" (1987) #44 CAN
"N.I.M.B.Y." (1987)
"Sons and Daughters" (1989)
"Together" (1989)
Positive Noise were a New Wave and Synthpop band from Scotland who had a number of indie hits in the 1980s. They released three albums and several singles and were together for over five years.
The band was formed in 1979 by Ross Middleton (vocals), his brothers Graham Middleton (keyboards, vocals) and Fraser Middleton (bass guitar, vocals), Russell Blackstock (guitar, vocals), and Les Gaff (drums). Their first released material was two tracks ("Refugees" and "The Long March") on the Statik label compilation album Second City Statik in 1980, and they followed this with two singles on Statik in 1981, both of which were top-ten hits on the UK Independent Chart. Début album Heart of Darkness was released in May 1981, after which Ross left to form the short-lived Leisure Process, with Blackstock taking over on lead vocals. Heart of Darkness peaked at number four on the independent chart, and the band's second album, Change of Heart (1982), also charted, reaching number 21. They released a third and final album, Distant Fires, in 1985, now with John Telford on drums and John Coletta on guitar, but their earlier success was not repeated and they split up shortly afterwards.
Ross Middleton went on to work as a music journalist, writing for Sounds under the pen name Maxwell Park.
Discography
Albums
Heart of Darkness (1981) - came with a bonus 7-inch single: "Love Like Property"
Change of Heart (1982)
Distant Fires (1985) Singles
"Give Me Passion" (1981)
"Charm" (1981)
"Positive Negative (1981)
"Waiting for the Seventh Man" (1982)
"Get Up And Go" (1982)
"When the Lightning Strikes" (1983)
"A Million Miles Away (1984)
"Distant Fires" (1985)
1. Blind Eyes (5:04)
2. Swallow It (5:42)
3. Saturday Night Special (6:39)
4. Incontinent (3:27)
5. Manual Dexterity (3:35)
6. Innocent Bystander (6:32)
7. King Of The Flies (4:29)
8. Diminished Responsibility (5:50)
9. Plain Clothes (4:40)
Fad Gadget is the stage name of Francis John (Frank) Tovey (8 September 1956 – 3 April 2002), an influential British avant-garde electronic musician and vocalist. He was a proponent of both New Wave and early Industrial music.
As Fad Gadget, his music was characterized by a distinctive use of synthesizers in conjunction with sounds of found objects, including drills and electric razors. His bleak, sarcastic, and darkly humorous lyrics, often layered in meaning and discussing subjects such as machinery, building construction, human sexuality, and physical violence, were sung in a droning, often expressionless voice.
Incontinent is the second album by Frank Tovey, better known as Fad Gadget, released in 1981. While developing the industrial sound of his debut Fireside Favourites in 1980, the new album relied less on drum machines and found objects, introducing more traditional instruments such as accordion and jaw harp, as well as making more frequent use of female backing vocals. The album's cover featured Tovey made up as the puppet Punch. Its lyrical content was informed by his tour of the US in 1980.
"Blind Eyes" satirised keeping the world's problems at arm's length, with lines such as "Send a few pounds to a charity / Now we're feeling so much better" and a chorus intoning "Hear no, see no, speak no evil". This was followed by the sexual innuendo of "Swallow It". "Saturday Night Special" took its title from an American revolver and ruminated on the right of men to bear arms and rule their home. It has been called a "baroque ditty for all gun lovers",[1] and "a comment on the macho attitudes of Reagan's America".[2] The title track and "Manual Dexterity", respectively the last track on Side 1 and the first track on Side 2 of the original vinyl LP, were the album's twin instrumentals. The former track featured Mute Records founder Daniel Miller, the latter Robert Gotobed of the band Wire.
A non-album single, "Make Room" backed with "Lady Shave", preceded Incontinent's release on 18 March 1981. "King of the Flies" was released as a flexi-single on 2 October 1981. "Saturday Night Special" backed with "Swallow It Live" (recorded at the Venue on 8 December 1981) was issued on 5 January 1982. A rerecorded version of "King of the Flies" backed with "Plain Clothes" was released on 6 April 1982. None of these singles, or the parent album, made the mainstream charts.
Personnel
Fad Gadget – vocals, Chinese shawm, saxophone, flute, percussion, synthesizer, sequencer
Nick Cash – drums (except track 5), percussion, steel drum, vocals, jaw harp, accordion
Peter Balmer – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals
David Simmonds – piano, synthesizer, voice
B.J. Frost – vocals
Anne Clift – vocals
Eric Radcliffe – guitar (tracks 6 and 9)
Robert Gotobed – drums (track 5)
Daniel Miller – sequencer (track 4)
John Fryer – percussion, voice
Keep On Dreaming
Little Thing
Fidgety Pete
Girls Of The Future
Othello
Jealous Girl
Outsider
Shake
Simulated Groove
Turn Table Turn
When You're The Only One I Love
Born Gabor Hegedus in 1948, his family fled Hungary and the political revolution there to England when he was only 8. Music didn't become a factor in his life until moving to Toronto at age 23. Gabor became a staple of the local underground scene during the late 70's, where his industrial pop/punk sound was pretty much the 'norm'.
His self-titled debut was released by Anthem Records in the spring of 1980. Co-produced by Terry Brown, whose work included among others Stampeders, Max Webster, Klaatu and Rush, it showed an instant sense of maturity, backed by the success of the two singles, "Metropolitan Life" and "Soviet Jewelry". Gabor made two cross-Canada tours, and enoyed the success of other hits from his debut including a remake of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi", "Lazer Love" and the social commentary "Hunger Poverty and Misery". Gabor's youth in the middle of a communist regime was also made known in "Soviet Drug Club".
GIRLS OF THE FUTURE hit the stands a year later. Produced by Gene Martynec, who'd worked with such Canadian stars as Edward Bear and Rough Trade, it continued along the veins put forward by its predecessor. The first single released was "Jealous Girls", a cover of the Extras' hit, which was followed later in '81 by "Little Thing." Also on the record was some of Gabor's most tightly-written music, including the upbeat "Keep On Dreaming" and "Shake", co-written by Jimi B.
After being cut from Anthem's roster in '83, Gabor's career came and went in spurts, but continued working in the industry the remainder of the decade. Some of his credits included production of The Extras, Ron Hedland and Jimi B, as well as doing session work with Todd Rundgren. Though he reformed a touring group in '87, he was finding the music scene had no room for his brand of pop. In 1990, Toronto police found Gabor dead in his apartment, the victim of an apparent suicide at the age of 42.
BB Gabor's life was one marred with tragedy, from his childhood in war-torn Hungary, to his struggling just to survive in England, working as a cab driver and even dabbling as a broker in precious metals, to his humble beginnings in the Toronto music scene, to his untimely demise. Though he only recorded two records, he left his mark on the industry by working with some of the industry's best, as well as writting some of Canadian pop's most cutting-edge music.
01. Real world
02. Break down and cry
03. Out of our hands
04. Wild boy
05. -------
06. New day
07. Cast my love
08. Tunnels and trains
09. The edge
10. Cross my heart
Sydney's Flaming Hands were an early 80s Australian new wave pop band that recorded some amazing songs. Unfortunately, their output never translated to much more than a cult following, and today there is very little information available on the band.
Flaming Hands' principal members were singer Julie Mostyn and songwriter/guitarist Jeff Sullivan, who together created something truly special. Sullivan delivered memorable, hook-filled songs that Mostyn made sparkle with her soaring, soulful vocals.
The band released their first single - I Belong to Nobody / The Stranger - on Phantom Records in 1980. They followed it up with four more singles - Wake Up Screaming / Sweet Revenge, It's Just That I Miss You / Go Or Stay, Cast My Love / Kismet and The Edge / Sacrifice. These singles were marked by an earthier sound than what Flaming Hands would be producing by the time they released their first and only full-length album in 1984. The self-titled LP, which featured Andrew Fariss and Kirk Pengilly from INXS, is enjoyable but relies a bit too heavily on synths.
Unfortunately, the LP failed to get them the recognition they deserved, and Flaming Hands called it quits shortly after its release.
Track 5 is missing, but I´ll try to find it. I posted it anyway, because it's a great album. When the album's complete I'll reupload it.
01 Say No To Funk
02 Ideal
03 Chalet D'Amour
04 Dog Eat Dog Eat Dog
05 Bad Samaritans
06 Parabola
07 Miserable Worm
08 Mon Repos
09 Wheel In the Bait
10 The Kissing of Gods
bonus tracks:
11 O.O.M.S.
12 Red Sea Burning Black
Shock Headed Peters was formed by Karl Blake (after the split of Lemon Kittens and the release of a solo album 'Prehensile Tales'), Lord Ashley Wales and David Cadbury Knight in 1982. They were joined by Mark Rowlatt (Metabolism) and Clive Tigger Glover to make the full first line-up of the band who recorded three EPs , Bloodbrother Be (£4000 Love Letter), The Kissing of Gods and Life Extinguisher and an album Not Born Beautiful. Knight had been in The Fast Set and, with Wales, Five or Six. Before a note of original music was recorded Blake insisted that the band rehearse for a month in Wales basement, playing only covers - in order to create as tight as possible a unit.
A very diverse album, not really in common with the post-industrial scene showing Karl Blake's fascination of 70's hardrock but taking it to a whole new level.
01 Homosapien
02 Yesterday's Not Here
03 I Generate A Feeling
04 Keats Song
05 Qu'est-Ce Que C'est Que Ca?
06 I Don't Know What It Is
07 Guess I Must Have Been In Love With Myself
08 Pusher Man
09 Just One Of Those Affairs
10 It's Hard Enough Knowing
bonus tracks
11 Witness The Change
12 Maxine
13 In Love With Somebody Else
14 Homosapien (Dub)
15 Witness The Change / I Don't Know What Love Is
16 Love In Vain
Pete Shelley (born Peter Campbell McNeish, 17 April 1955 in Leigh, Lancashire) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of Buzzcocks.
Homosapien was Buzzcocks frontman Pete Shelley's 1981 debut solo album, the title-track of which was released as a UK single the same year. The single was banned by the BBC, but was nevertheless a hit in several countries.
The album began as a collection of studio demos recorded by Shelley (and produced by Martin Rushent) for the next Buzzcocks' album. In the process, Shelley and Rushent grew enormously fond of the sound they had created in the studio, which featured an interesting blend of drum machines, synthesizers and sequencers coupled with guitars. Shelley, weary of the Buzzcocks' financial state, decided to leave the band after Island Records' Andrew Lauder offered him a solo record deal based on the demos.
Released at the start of the home computer boom, the album cover featured Shelley in a stylised 'office' leaning on a Commodore PET computer.
As was typical in the era, Homosapien had a different track listing in the United States, with three songs being excised and three single b-sides being added in their place.
In 1997, Razor & Tie Entertainment reissued the US version on CD with five bonus tracks taken from Shelley's follow-up album, XL1. In 2006, the original UK version was reissued on CD by Varep Records. It includes all the songs from the US version as bonus tracks, as well as two other b-side "dub" mixes.
Personnel
Pete Shelley - vocals, multi-instruments
Barry Adamson - bass
Martin Rushent - keyboards
Jim Russell - drums
