vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 6, 2010 21:19:40 GMT 1
Thunderbugs"Friends Forever", no. 5, September 1999 "It's About Time You Were Mine", no. 43, December 1999 A slightly different approach was taken by Sony. Thinking that the Spice Girl market, which was about 10 when they started, would now be more into serious music, they decided to throw serious amounts of spondulix on a more serious "girl power" type band. And I mean serious. The band was groomed for 18 months before release and they spent 4 days making the high-six-figure video for their debut, which was launched with a live concert on the penthouse floor of the Park Lane Hilton. The story was all in place. No, they're not manufactured. They're a totally credible band that met in the most credible way. Stef Maillard (bass) and Nicky Shaw (drums) formed a duo at a songwriters' open mike session in London. Brigitte Jansen (guitar) played in a band at the same club a few weeks later and agreed to join. They needed a vocalist, and Nicky knew Jane Vaughan, and persuaded her to front up. First Avenue (the people behind Eternal, Michelle Gayle and, oh dear, Bad Boys Inc) were taken with the idea of a girl band appealing to the newly mature audience, especially as Stef is French and Brigitte German giving an automatic selling point in Europe, and snapped them up within weeks of their first performance. They teamed them with (amongst others) Simon Climie, before they put their first tracks down. At least that was the story - Nicky had drummed with Rock Goddess for a while, and was known as a sessionista, and Jane had also been with bands before. There were only three problems with the launch. Firstly, their debut single was probably worse than their follow-up. Not much "girl power" in such a lovey-dovey group-hug vibe. Secondly, despite all the grooming, Stef and Brigitte were still uncomfortable with their instruments and live shows featured a shadow band backstage to help out - and after 18 months their repertoire still did not extend to an album. Thirdly, their entire raison d'etre had been scooped a few months before. By, er, Sony. Which had already released material by a girl band in May 1999 - Hepburn. Why would Sony sabotage their own project? Perhaps they never meant to. I still wonder if it is coincidence that Hepburn's second single was called "Bugs", and whether it was a nascent attempt to recreate the Oasis-Blur war with two acts under their control. Or whether it was two Sony imprints acting independently and nobody cottoned on. Whatever, Hepburn's star only just outlasted Thunderbugs', but at least Hepburn got their album out. Thunderbugs are perhaps about the only act whose entire UK long-player output was released solely on minidisc... And then came the killer blow - First Avenue split. Suddenly Thunderbugs were left alone, marooned on a subsidiary, with no management to fight their corner. Sony gave up on Thunderbugs very quickly, and Hepburn soon after, and they both faded from the limelight. Brigitte and Stef seem never to have done anything else in the music industry, whereas Nicky got something more out of working with Simon Climie - Simon Climie. The two are now married, and worked together on various songs (including one for Louise Nurding); Nicky herself scored the soundtrack for the film "Rag Tale" and has worked as arranger and producer with Climie on loads of MOR albums, including by legends like BB King and Eric Clapton. Oh, and Taylor Hicks. Jane has also had a bit of a career, she guested on Gregg Alexander side-project Nipster's one non-charting single, did session work on both sides of the Atlantic (including helping out, oh dear, Clea), has done other staff songwriting (including for, oh dear oh dear, Blazin Squad) and wrote and sang a song for a Rimmel advert last year. A fuller 2009 comeback was planned but aborted. And, to link in with the above, she sang backing vocals on the b-side to "Sound Of The Underground", a cover of the East 17 "Stay Another Day", alongside Easther from Eternal. Britain still awaits a genuinely commercially successful girl band (as opposed to group). So, if the industry really WERE looking for the next big thing...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 8, 2010 20:03:58 GMT 1
To give you some idea of just how lacking in imagination the music industry is, here's a wrap-up of just SOME of the Spice Girl ripoffs that have been promoted. And I am restricting it just to those who had one hit and a follow-up that scraped/missed the charts - the likes of Supersister or Lemonescence, with three or more hits, or Masai, whose biggest hit was their last, just about escape that... BardotSongs: Poison (no. 45, April 2001), ASAP (dnc, July 2001) Distinguishing factors: won Australia's PopStars Reasons for failure: Hear'Say beat them to it Fate: Katie left between singles to star in the musical "Hair" (which flopped), then Sophie went solo and when she flopped with that became - guess what? - a kids' TV presenter, before an actress (and is engaged to one of Good Charlotte), Belinda and Tiffani are both (like Katie) flopping releasing solo material The FadersSongs: No Sleep Tonight (no. 13, April 2005), Jump (no.21, July 2005) Distinguishing factors: play own instruments, Molly Lorenne (McQueen) is Midge Ure's daughter Reasons for failure: impatience on the part of Polydor Fate: drummer Cherisse Osei is part of Mika's band, bassist Toy Valentine has recorded one acoustic track under the name Valentine Wild and plays with harder-Fader-soundalike trio Bullets For Kisses, Molly is still songwriting and recording and co-wrote a track with Katie Melua for the latter's album FrankSongs: I'm Not Shy (no. 40, August 2006), Never Left A Girl (dnc, possibly unreleased) Distinguishing factors: had their own TV show Reasons for failure: they were recording songs written by Xenomania (and, indeed, the songs originally planned for the failed Xenomania project Mania), and Xenomania only get hits with the sort of all-saturating publicity FiX Factor gets Fate: three of them are still acting, guitarist Bryony possibly the most successful (she was in Survivors) although drummer Hayley has been in The Bill (then again, who hasn't?). In a bizarre art imitating life imitating art singer Lauren is in a new movie about an executive who creates a girl band called F**k and has to find people with no talent to populate it (which also features Pooja Shah, whom, I understand, one of 3SL is rumping); Helena (keyboards) is a professional dancer (pre-Frank she appeared in Curly Monologue and Rachel Stevens videos) and was one of the oh-so-spontaneous people in a recent T-Mobile advert Girls@PlaySongs: Airhead (no. 18, February 2001), Respectable (no. 29, October 2001) Distinguishing factors: female Village People Reasons for failure: the SAWmill, let alone the Village People, had had their day Fate: Rita (mechanic) Simons went on to appear in EastEnders as Roxy Mitchell (is that a famous character? I never watch the blessed thing), Vicky (cowgirl) formed Honeybeat with some Scandinavian seductress that had even less success, Lynsey (policewoman) does bits and dabs in the industry (backing vocals, contributed tracks to HedKandi albums under the name Miss Lynsey) and has moved to LA, Shelley (pilot) does weddings/parties/anything as a singer (as well as with female G4 analogue Sirena) and is so embarrassed about her past she doesn't even mention it in her promotional material; fudge knows where Lisa-Jayne (the other one) is now Love BitesSongs: You Broke My Heart (no. 13, October 2005), He's Fit (no. 48, March 2006) Distinguishing factors: a proper band Reasons for failure: guitarist Nicki Wood "left" because of "musical differences", which, according to the band's myspace, did NOT mean the band was splitting up; then bassist Dani Graham left, which only left Aimee and Hannah Haddon... Fate: no idea Latter half of the alphabet to come, if you can bear it...
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Post by Smurfie on Aug 8, 2010 20:24:10 GMT 1
Oh, I really liked the second Thunderbugs single, I thought it was a vast improvement on the debut effort, which I didn't rate at all. I remember the video being on high rotation on the music channels at the time, but the single just didn't do anything - I guess it didn't help they released a couple of weeks before Christmas. Lou Bega's follow up to his massive #1 fared even worse that week. Though that might have been down to the fact it was a little crappy. I still love this song to this day. I don't think I have taken it off my iPod/MP3 player for the last 5 years.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 8, 2010 22:08:01 GMT 1
NyLonSongs: Losing A Friend (no. 29, July 2006), Closer (no. 64, November 2006) Distinguishing factors: Icelandic Reasons for failure: Emilia got married and left the band. As a result, Universal had no idea how to market a threesome, and they were dropped. It finished off their Icelandic career as well; after 9 number ones there, they only had one more release (another number one) before seemingly retiring. Fate: dunno, seems that they still occasionally perform, but I can't find any releases in the last 3 years TommiSongs: Like What (no. 12, July 2003), What Part Of No (dnc, some time in 2003) Distinguishing factors: TLC with one more (they even had stupid names - Lil Chill, Mi$ Thang, Stylus, Bambi and Peekaboo - sic, and sick); put together by Overlord X, so they had some hip-hop credibility... Reasons for failure: lack of success - Sony tried to make them more pop, and Lil Chill left to become an actress; in 2005, after a third single was ready, two more of them left, leaving only the last two named above; they teamed up with Juice to fade into obscurity. So obviously a take-off of TLC that their only hit was written by T-Boz for Left-Eye. No wonder Chill left Fate: Bambi, Peekaboo and new girl Flick are still around, calling themselves F.A.T. (Fresh As Tommi - Juice left after being embarrassed on a naked beauty contest show with Gok Wan). Stylus occasionally DJs but is a full-time youth counsellor; Lord alone knows what happened to the others 21st Century GirlsSongs: 21st Century Girls (no. 16, June 1999), Teenage Attack (dnc, September 1999) Distinguishing factors: schoolgirls with guitars, gained a place on "Surprise Surprise" as a shock arranged by their mothers - supposedly, it was all a part of Simon Fuller's machinations to recover from being sacked by The Spice Girls Reasons for failure: fell between two stools; the Spice Girl generation wanted to see people older than them, they were too loud for the new ones. Before they could find their feet, EMI merged with Time-Warner and they were one of the manya acts dropped; Fuller scrapped them quickly and concentrated on his next project, S Club 7 (oh god) Fate: Kate Turley, the real musician in the band formed The Fight, with her brother, who were still around mid-last year and have released an album and a couple of singles; Leanne Garner is the singer for metallist band Elle Diablo. Leanne's sister Fiona became the bassist for April 28, who recorded an album in 2001, can't find anything that drummer Meriam "Mim" Mohammad did other than go to college VanillaSongs: No Way No Way (no. 14, November 1997), True To Us (no. 36, May 1998) Distinguishing factors: being so rough that even I would turn them down Reasons for failure: they were never serious in the first place, only recruited from the fleshpots of Barnet (three of them were dancers at Stringfellows - must have been a time of near full employment) as the result of a bet between two industry moguls as to who could get the worse band in the charts. The songs, incidentally, were mixed by Xenomania... Fate: I don't know anybody on the entire planet that gives a flying monkey's toss where they are now. One thing's for sure, there's no chance they would ever get a job in the music industry on merit
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Post by Smurfie on Aug 8, 2010 22:13:34 GMT 1
100% NyLon was a great album!
This cover, however, was not:
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 9, 2010 22:00:36 GMT 1
From Bardot to... Bardo"One Step Further", no. 2, April 1982 "Talking Out Of Line", dnc, June 1982 Guilty pleasure time. I adored their singles. "One Step Further" is the perfect pop hit, great chorus and spiky bridge, Abbaesque harmonies and key uplift. Only problem is a microphone problem meant Sally-Ann Triplett was practically shouting it on Eurovision evening... Yes, this was Britain's attempt to defend the 1981 Eurovision crown. And about a hundred million billion trillion times better than the load of rubbish that started this thread. Which ended up winning. It should have been number one, only blocked by an appalling morass of overblown tendentiousness, and had what was in those days a lightning storm up and down the chart. Triplett was no stranger to Eurovision when Bardo got the nod; she had represented Britain in 1980 as one of the numerous backing singers with Prima Donna (along with Kate Robbins, a two hit wonder), and had filled the time in between as one of the totty presenters on Crackerjack (Craaaackerjaaaack!!!), the brunette to Leigh Miles' blondeness (I always preferred Ling Tai, who replaced Triplett when popdom re-beckoned). Stephen Fletcher, the other member, was a musical star; indeed he missed out on appearing with Buck's Fizz in 1981 because he was starring in Godspell. In one sense, a lucky break, because he hit it off with Triplett so well that the two became an item. The two met in panto, and when the Fizz writing partners (Andy Hill and Nichola Martin) invited Fletcher to audition for what was to become Bardo, Triplett went along - and Martin suggested the two sing together. The success of "One Step Further" saw them signed to a decent deal, but unfortunately, the ambitious follow-up proved to be too convolutedly staccato for the ever-simpler public tastes, and bombed. A third single - "Hang On To Your Heart", sounding rather like Dollar, unfortunately - followed suit, and that was the proverbial for Bardo. Post-Eurovision, Triplett remained in musical theatre (she is currently in Mamma Mia!), Fletcher (sometimes credited as Fischer) reverted to keyboards as well as acting and continued to work in the industry (he also plays with the Penguin Cafe Orchestra); they teamed up together for a one-off Bardo reunion earlier this year for charidee.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 10, 2010 22:01:59 GMT 1
Keith West"Excerpt From A Teenage Opera", no. 2, August 1967 "Sam", no. 38, November 1967 From one guilty pleasure to another; a tear-jerking ballad more often known as "Grocer Jack". And one of the more unusual stories from the late sixties. Rock band The In Crowd were never very successful; there were so many jostling for position in the mid-sixties, but they did manage to scrape the top fifty with one of their three singles. So when psychedelia started to meander into position they changed their name to Tomorrow and recorded some psychedelic classics. They still were not successful, despite being one of the first bands championed by John Peel, but, like the Velvet Underground, they proved influential. They even featured in the Antonioni film "Smashing Time" (alongside icons Lynn Redgrave and Rita Tushingham) under the nom de film The Snarks. The problem was that they were too late. The album was becoming an art form in its own right, and Tomorrow recorded their eponymous debut in early '67, but it was not released until the following year - by which time psychedelia had become passe. By which time West had another project on the go. Tomorrow producer Mark Wirtz had a great idea for albums; the concept. Use the 70 minutes available to tell one coherent story. Indeed, an opera. Why not? Musicals had been big sellers. So he worked on a project that he would call A Teenage Opera. All he needed was the personnel. Hey, he was a producer, no problem; he had the first song, which he called an excerpt, a taster for what was to come; and he had a singer. Tomorrow's lead singer, Keith West. In fact, Wirtz had the concept and the tune, and even the children's voices (from the London Corona school) but he did not have the final lyrics, which West wrote almost on the spot when hearing what had been recorded. Tomorrow guitarist Steve Howe worked on the final version of the song and it was released to fabulous indifference. EMI refused to release it. Only a bootleg copy was smuggled out by Wirtz and handed to John Peel. Who adored it. His continual plugging on Radio Caroline forced EMI to release it, then forced it into the charts, onto the nascent Radio 1, and then within a Humperdinck of the top spot. EMI, sniffy that it had been caught on the hop, refused to release it in America and licensed it to an indie (who did have a minor hit with it). EMI in not bothering to promote music? Say it ain't so. The big problem came when following it up. It's easy enough to make a splash with a novelty, it's making the same impact a second time that causes the problem. EMI felt the same way. Even though there was a wave of publicity and intrigue in the Teenage Opera, EMI demanded a second hit before funding the album. Just to skew the odds, EMI again failed to promote the follow-up "Sam". And two key allies of Wirtz had gone. Pirate radio had been shut down. It was all Radio 1 and Radio Luxembourg now. And whereas Radio 1 had played the excerpt, it was not interested in "Sam". Secondly, the hyper-succesful producer Norrie Paramor, the man who had recruited Wirtz to EMI in the first place, had been eased out from his job as managing director. Semper idem; no airplay, no hit. So EMI's demand for a second hit had not been fulfilled. Wirtz worked on a third single, but without West, who was disenchated with the whole idea of fame. Tomorrow gigs had been infiltrated by bobbysoxers demanding he sing "Grocer Jack" and he wanted to get back to what he really cared about. Wirtz himself sang the third single "Weatherman", which again lacked promotion, and missed the chart entirely. That was it; EMI refused to go any further with the Teenage Opera. Tomorrow soon split, as well; West going solo (and still working in making jingles), Steve Howe forming the prog band Yes and enjoying success beyond anyone's wildest dreams, and drummer Twink Alder became a member of The Pretty Things, who DID create a concept album, SF Sorrow, before founding the equally legendary Pink Fairies. Bassist John Wood worked with Twink for a while and also with the Jeff Beck Group. Meanwhile, what of the Opera? Vanished forever? No. Wirtz worked off and on in the industry for the next ten years, then retired to LA. And then unretired to scratch the opera itch. In 1996 RPM Records decided to release what was left of the Opera - four songs and some associated Wirtz psychedelia that could have been tied in with the theme - and Wirtz contributed some new opera tracks to it. And five years later the others were released by RPM on a Wirtz retrospective. At long last, the Opera was released...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 11, 2010 21:04:05 GMT 1
See the kind of rubbish reportage up with which one has to put? The Buggles were not only not a one-hit wonder, they weren't even a two hit wonder; two top twenties, another top forty...so they comfortably miss this list. But there is a link with the next one...another set of synth pioneers who used video to gain an unexpected hit... Landscape"Einstein A Go Go", no. 5, February 1981 "Norman Bates", no. 40, May 1981 The still-single-digit-aged Little Lord Vas was captivated by synth music (Big Lord Vas still is), it was the sound of tomorrow, today. There was an intergalactic feel to the soundscapes created by the likes of the Human League and OMD and Numan, and when combined with the surrealistic imagery that Landscape used it was the most outrageously dynamic thing this side of Star Wars. Alas it lasted all too briefly (I blame Thriller), but I get a real Proustian moment when I see this... The original incarnation of Landscape was more on the avant-garde instrumental side, but as synths took off bandmembers Richard James Burgess and John L. Walters discovered computers and, in an avant-garde way, used them to make music. Burgess even inventing a drum-machine... Burgess, brought up in New Zealand, spent his time with Landscape producing numerous other New Romantic acts of the era - Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant, Visage, even Kim Wilde and King - and had pre-Landscape success in producing Kate Bush's "Never For Ever" with his brand-new Fairlight synth. He also drummed as a session drummer for many acts, including...The Buggles (see?). The album from which these two singles were taken, "From The Tea-Rooms Of Mars To The Hellholes Of Uranus", was delayed for nearly a year waiting for NewRom to hit its peak before being issued, and was slightly proggy, finishing with a three-movement title track. Burgess is perhaps even more successful as an author, in that his work on record production is constantly in print. Walters worked as a producer with Burgess post-Landscape and also in his own right albeit for less famous acts like Kissing The Pink (KTP) and Swan's Way, and edits (and owns) the graphic design magazine Eye. Daughter Jessie was a semi-finalist on Britain's Got (No) Talent a couple of years ago. The other members of Landscape were less successful elsewhere, although guitarist Andy Pask wrote the theme to The Bill. Brass instrumentalist Peter Thoms worked with Thomas Dolby and is still in demand as a jazzist and keyboardist Chris Heaton remained as a producer for acts like Second Image. But what of Landscape? After the album came out, Heaton and Thoms left, the remaining three naming themselves Landscape III and just missing the chart with "So Good So Pure So Kind". After that, the group dissolved. As mentioned above Burgess and Walters teamed together as producers for a while before Walters moved into art criticism and thence his magazine, which he bought in 2008 as part of a management buy-out. Burgess moved to the States and into ambient, he was involved with Praise and is still involved in recording and producing.
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Post by Shireblogger on Aug 12, 2010 11:58:18 GMT 1
Thoroughly enjoying the random / "it's not random - see how they're all linked" nature of this thread. One minute we're reviewing some momentously unfunny comedy acts, then it's a superbly researched history of 90s girlbands, and now we're onto classic synth pop.
I bought the Girl Thing thing, and both of their CD singles. Weren't their songs written and produced by Tim Lever, who was co-writer for Dead Or Alive, who'd made it big thanks to SAW production, who I'm sure had something to do with 90s pop (see it's all linked) ?
And Landcsape's album is one I upgraded to CD a few years ago, with "So Good So Pure So Kind" included as a bonus track. "From The Tea Rooms..." is horribly dated, but still atmospheric and slightly unhinged.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 12, 2010 22:10:59 GMT 1
Yes, Tim Lever had a hand in writing both of the Girl Thing hits, they were also managed at one point by Mr Bowell. "Everything is connected to everything else" - Lenin. From one quirky hit to another... Lieutenant Pigeon"Mouldy Old Dough", no. 1, March 1972 "Desperate Dan", no. 17, December 1972 This is very close to being my favourite number 1 hit of all time. And perhaps the most leftfield ever. Even Leftfield would be to the right of Genghis Khan in comparison. Lieutenant Pigeon were never meant to exist. Robin Woodward (piano and vocals) and Nigel Fletcher (drums) had formed a songwriting duo in the late 1960s and recorded under the name Stavely Makepeace, named for the village in which they were born, and produced home-made recordings for release. Literally. They were done in Woodward's mum's front room in her semi in Coventry. They took a very can-do attitude to instruments, using all sorts of random stuff (see for example their 1970 single " Edna") which saw their music nicknamed the scrap-iron sound. Has to be said that they were not successful. Five singles, one unreleased album, no chart action. But Woodward and Fletcher were undaunted. They had various experimental semi-comic songs down and decided to form a side-project. Stripped down to two keyboards, a bass and drums, no vocals. They brought in Steve Fletcher, one of the many peripatetic musicians that had aided Stavely Makepeace, and who better to stick on the other piano than the woman who owned their "studio"? Rob's mum Hilda was an accomplished pianist and was happy to honk the honk as well as tonk the tonk. And so "Mouldy Old Dough" was born. And followed the Stavely Makepeace mould of flopping. As per. Indeed it was a double flop. A Stavely Makepeace single released at the same time also missed the chart. But in one of those curious twists of fate it was picked up by a Belgian news programme and used as a theme. Which saw literally some Belgians demanding its release. And it became a hit in Europe, got played on Radio Luxembourg, and people became intrigued by this weird pounding piano with 1920s flapper-encouraging vo-de-o-doe growling. No airplay, no hit; some airplay, massive hit. 16 September 1972 saw the first chart action for the band, at a lowly 38; two weeks later it was top five, another fortnight and it was number one, the biggest-selling British single of the year and an Ivor Novello award winner. Wow. It couldn't last, of course; soundalike follow-up "Desperate Dan" just about caught some of the Christmas market, but the next few singles were back to the old form and all missed the chart. The Pidge were never able properly to exploit their fame via touring given Hilda was a sexagenarian, but they did remain popular throughout Europe and eventually released three albums. And in 1974 their cover of " I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen", although not a British hit, was an Australian top 5. 1978 saw the last Lt. Pigeon single and appearance, other than a bizarre occurrence when fellow Coventry resident Neville Staple (of The Specials) released a hitherto unreleased track on his Shack Records. Stavely Makepeace still continued, as indeed they had done throughout the Pigeon run (indeed one SM single was released just as "Mouldy Old Dough" hit the top of the charts), but remained resolutely unsuccessful. In the end they released 13 singles on 8 labels and never hit the charts... Johnson, with Woodward and Fletcher's blessing, formed a chicken in a basket version of Lt Pigeon for tours in the late 1980s onwards, to exploit Euronostalgia. Hilda died in 1999, aged 85, but Woodward and Fletcher still record under the SM name; last year they made a cameo appearance in indie film "Tramlines" and in 2004 even produced the original 1960s Makepeace album "The Scrap Iron Rhythm Review" on their own label. Only 35 years late. Incidentally, if you want to be a Woodward/Fletcher completist, note that in the 1970s they produced recordings of steam trains...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 14, 2010 14:29:01 GMT 1
From one side-project that hit it big to another... Jilted John"Jilted John", no. 4 August 1978 "I Was A Pre-Pubescent", dnc, January 1979 The biggest novelty punk hit. John was of course Graham Fellows, an actor/comedian, still studying drama at Manchester Poly (and incidentally exactly the same age as fellow Manc Morrissey), who adopted a pseudo-punk persona as record labels tried to exploit the latest big thing. And found himself with a top five hit apropos of nothing, really. Fellows had written a couple of songs and went to a store to ask if they had any contacts with local labels. They suggested Stiff or Rabid. (A sentence that could have different meanings in different contexts.) Geography was the decisive point; Rabid Records was founded by the uber-legend Martin Hannett up in sunny Manchester. So Fellows took his demo along, Hannett loved it, and recorded it, with himself on bass. Original plans were to credit it to John Thomas...perhaps fortunately they decided not to surname the eponymous character. There were no real plans to follow it up, indeed Fellows claimed his few live performances were just so he could qualify for an Equity card, but music business number-cruncher Barry Lazell (compiling an unofficial indie chart) fell in love with it, suggested to EMI that they pick up the rights to it, and after John Peel plugged it the major took over and released it on a national footing. And had a half-million seller on their hands. Given this level of success an entire album - "True Love Stories" - around John's love-life was developed. None of the singles based on this however were hits. And the album was released just before Christmas. Bad times. There were even more thematic follow-ups. Gordon The Moron tried to hit the charts with "Fit For Nothing", and missed. Unsold copies were transformed into Gerry & The Holograms' " The Emperor's New Music" - a record that you couldn't actually play, because the vinyl had been glued to the sleeve... Gordon was fellow student Bernard Kelly, who wrote the b-side to "Jilted John" and played Gordon on TOTP and subsequent live appearances. One other follow-up was that Fellows was recruited to play a character called John in Coronoation Street, in one scene, in which he had been stood up for a date at the same time and place as Gail - and when he asked her out at the same time he was jilted a second (third?) time... Incidentally, another answer record, a duet between Julie and Gordon, was nothing to do with the originals; it was basically a cash-in by Alan Blakely of The Tremeloes and his wife. Martin Hannett threatened legal action, but the flop made it pointless. Fellows is far, far more famous now as the peripatetic performer John Shuttleworth, with TV series, DVDs and loads of recordings behind him (as well as musicologist Brian Appleton. Yet oddly Shuttleworth, despite a generous following, has yet to trouble the chart compilers. Even being the brother-in-law of Ainsley Harriott has not helped. Kelly also still performs, usually accompanied by ukelele, and last year he teamed back up with Fellows to tour their hit.
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 15, 2010 16:30:55 GMT 1
Martha & The Muffins"Echo Beach", no. 10, March 1980 "Black Stations/White Stations", no. 46, July 1984 Hm. Wondered under what category this band comes. Really a bit of a cheat, as the follow-up single was under the name M+M, following some rather serious personnel changes, but there were still two original members there, so what the hey. Toronto-based Martha & The Muffins actually had two Marthas, singer Johnson and keyboardist Ladly, before the schism that turned them into M+M and the Martha count was reduced by 50%. The Muffin bit came because the band was formed in 1977, the height of punk, and they wanted something totally un-punk; they chose Muffin as something soft and squeezy as a temporary fill-in (similar to the later Pixies), but could never think of anything better... Within a year, the band's synth sound saw them signed up to DinDisc Records, a Virgin imprint that was set up as entirely staffed by women, although the artists they signed up were general new-wave performers of either (or indeterminate) sex. DinDisc's only real success was OMD, but the first top ten for the label came from the Canadians, the lead single from their second album. Their third album saw Jocelyne Lanois replace Carl Finkle on bass; she brought brother Daniel along to produce, much to Virgin's chagrin, as they didn't want an unknown with a band for which they had high hopes. So they cut the recording budget. Perhaps a mistake, as Daniel Lanois later became a huge success as a producer, behind albums such as "The Joshua Tree" and "Achtung Baby" for U2 and "Time Out Of Mind" for Bob Dylan. The cut in budget meant their more clinical sound, as exemplified on single " Women Around The World At Work", was barely heard outside Canada. The band then gradually fell apart. Ladly left, to work with, inter alia, the Associates, duetting with Billy Mackenzie on perhaps the greatest song of 1982, " 18 Carat Love Affair" (a song about a cross-dressing homosexual affair, they never told you that sort of thing on Swap Shop, but, my God, Martha is BREATHTAKING in this clip; lucky Stephen Street, Smiths producer, who was Mr Ladly at the time), and move into academia (where she still remains at the Ontario college of art and design; indeed it was thanks to her art studies that she came up with the name "Architecture And Morality" for labelmates OMD's third-best album). Drummer Tim Gane, brother of guitarist Mark (and not the Stereolab one), left, not wanting to tour. Then saxophone player Andy Haas quit, with vitriolic letters to the music press as to the reasons why, and after a tour an exhausted Johnson and Mark Gane, the sole original members (and now a romantic item), decided to go it alone. They took the opporunity to get rid of the Muffin monicker and become M+M. Not without leaving it behind entirely - the old name was included on record sleeves in small print. They had the one decent-sized hit, "Black Stations/White Stations", about racist radio playlists, and then married, moved to their own studio and, frustrated with a lack of promotion in Canada, quit and moved (temporarily) to England. With time on their hands, M+M spent five years recording " Modern Lullaby", only to have their label Intrepid collapse insolvently just after release, and parenthood and film-scoring kept Johnson and Gane occupied for the next few years. The original name returned for one-off reunion shows, occasionally with Tim Gane and Jocelyne Lanois appearing with M+M, and earlier this year, on Johnson and Gane's own Muffin Records, the Muffins (Johnson, Mark Gane and Lanois of the "classic" line-up with session musicians) released a surprisingly engaging new album called " Delicate". Lanois is still in demand as a session bassist and occasionally produces her own instrumental music, and Haas, now based in New York, has released five albums of sax/electronica since 2005.
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Post by Earl Purple on Aug 15, 2010 17:02:40 GMT 1
To give you some idea of just how lacking in imagination the music industry is, here's a wrap-up of just SOME of the Spice Girl ripoffs that have been promoted. And I am restricting it just to those who had one hit and a follow-up that scraped/missed the charts - the likes of Supersister or Lemonescence, with three or more hits, or Masai, whose biggest hit was their last, just about escape that... The FadersSongs: No Sleep Tonight (no. 13, April 2005), Jump (no.21, July 2005) Distinguishing factors: play own instruments, Molly Lorenne (McQueen) is Midge Ure's daughter Reasons for failure: impatience on the part of Polydor Fate: drummer Cherisse Osei is part of Mika's band, bassist Toy Valentine has recorded one acoustic track under the name Valentine Wild and plays with harder-Fader-soundalike trio Bullets For Kisses, Molly is still songwriting and recording and co-wrote a track with Katie Melua for the latter's album Jump reached #2 in my chart. No Sleep Tonight was a smaller hit. I would hardly call them a Spice Girls rip-off - they had been gone long ago and Girls Aloud were going strong at this point so if anything they were more of a Girls Aloud rip-off or maybe Bananarama or even Shampoo - who knows? They were just a girl band who made catchy pop songs. You Broke My Heart was also fun catchy girl-fronted pop.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 15, 2010 17:14:33 GMT 1
It's more trying to fit the Spice Girls market. The girls who liked the Spice Girls had grown up, so to match that demographic the labels tried to find "proper" bands on the basis that those girls would now be into real music rather than manufactured pap. Only thing is they were not interested in manufactured "proper" bands and had gone straight into the Stereophonicses of this world. The Faders might have done better, musically speaking, to start from first principles, rather than straight into the charts - although doubtless, like all the un-promoted girl bands who have done likewise, they would never have had ANY success.
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 16, 2010 20:40:13 GMT 1
And now for a tale of evil and skulduggery so fell, it would thy knotted and combined locks to part, and stand on end like the quills of the fretful porpentine, or something... The Pinkees"Danger Games", no. 8, September 1982 "I'll Be There", dnc, February 1983 Back in the days when I paid attention to the chart, running back from school on a Tuesday to hear the Peter Powell rundown. Keeping a keen ear out for favourites. And trying to guess the chart before it was announced. If a record went from 28 to 16, I would guess it would now be at 10 or 11. If from 37 to 14, it would be top five. If it went from 30 to 30, it would drop. Except for one, which crawled up to 27. Fine, not much of a rise, back down to 34 the following week. I was not expecting it to leap to 8. Yet that is what happened to The Pinkees. Out of absolutely nowhere a stalled record shot into the top ten and gained a Top Of The Pops appearance. It dropped again pretty sharpish, but the extra exposure of Ver Pops kept it in the top twenty for another week. What had happened? Chart hyping. Creole Records did a sweetheart deal for supplies with the chart-registered shops if they did them a favour. Trouble was it was far, far too blatant. Especially as at the exact same time Ultravox' " Reap The Wild Wind" had a similar post-stutter surge, from 29-21-20-12. Similarly the tropical gangster Kid Creole and the Coconuts' adoption-news-breaking " Annie I'm Not Your Daddy" had an unusually meteoric rise and fall, albeit without the stall. And within a month the same sort of thing happened with Magnet Records and " Cry Boy Cry", which went 39-35-34-21-21-13-22. Anyhoo, the upshot of such shenanigans was that by 1983 there was a new chart compiler and the Pinkees' brief chart career was over. Who were the Pinkees anyway? Songwriter/performers Paul Egholm (vocals/rhythm guitar) and Andy Price (vocals/guitar), with Paul Reynolds (drums), Max Reinsch (lead guitar/keyboards) and Nev Kiddier (bass). All somewhat veterans in the industry - Kiddier and Price had played together in AOR band Glyder - and purveyors of a powerpop output that some compared to a pale imitation of the Beatles. Indeed they were so similar that post-Pinkees Egholm recorded vocals for a cover of the Sgt Pepper album. A smattering of singles and one album. Only one chart appearance and one bubbling under. But with an unlikely top ten. Egholm is now a music craftsman of the most literal kind, he makes and repairs string instruments, with a specialism in lutes. Andy Price (who co-founded the Pinkees fresh from a stint in seventies AOR band Glyder) became a DJ, Reinsch moved into jingle writing and teaching music, Reynolds still seems to drum for Essex bands and Kiddier is one of the Welfare Mothers who back alt-country star Bob Collum. It does give me a chance to offer a bonus act, though... The Photos"Irene", no. 56, May 1980 "And Now You Tell Me That We're Through", dnc, September 1980 Why am I bothering with a band that had such an anodyne chart record? They hardly fit the archetype of a decent hit then next to nothing. Well, this is because their debut, eponymous album, off the back of "Irene", reached number 4. Wow, was this because the buyers fell so in love with Wendy Wu and the boys that they decided to wait for twelve inches of her rather than seven? No. It was that Epic Records offered free cameras to the chart shops... Note: in real life, do NOT explain to your daughter that the proof that she is adopted is that she is ugly. This is bad, mkay?
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 17, 2010 22:30:59 GMT 1
Toto Coelo"I Eat Cannibals", no. 8, August 1982 "Dracula's Tango", no. 54, November 1982 See how this works? One hit about horror-film madness, so they try to follow it up with a different genre. Unfortunately the public only liked the joke once (which IS unfortunate, as I think the follow-up better than the original). Toto Coelo didn't move into further horror memes, so no songs about mummies or piranhas. Leave that to The Tammys. Instead they moved into botany with " Milk From The Coconut" (an even better record) and missed the chart. Toto Coelo were a creation of songwriter/performer Barry Blue, who had had a big hit with " Dancin' On A Saturday Night", who will also make an appearance on another thread when I have the time...he went on to write for Five Star and had previously written for Brotherhood Of Man, and is still involved with writing for such creations as The Saturdays and Pixie Lott. Coelo were his Spice Girls avant l'heure (look, there's a ginger one, an ethnic minority one, a babyfaced blonde, a filling-in-the-numbers one and one who was the key voice). They were picked for acting rather than singing. Lacey Bond (Baby Toto) had been in Grange Hill, and post-Coelo moved into musical theatre via a failed SAWmill project and she was even in Doctor Who last year as Sarah (and before Coelo had been in Grange Hill). And she used to run a bar with a Teletubby. (Tinky Winky, if you must know, the second one.) Sheen Doran (Ginger Toto) was the group's choreographer, and is still involved in teaching dancing and singing, and producing theatre work. Anita Mahadervan (Mel B Toto), who, in one of the odd musical shifts, formed Cherry Bombz with members of metal band Hanoi Rocks, is also now an actress and directrix, albeit mostly on film. Lindsey Danvers (Mel C Toto, the -looking blonde) has done lots of theatre, in 2008 she released a solo album of the songs of Charles Miller and Adam Bard (me neither). And finally, Ros Holness (Posh Toto) is more famous for being the daughter of the man who did not play the sax in "Baker Street". She wasn't meant to be in the group; her role was going to be played by Posh lookalike Carol Holness, her sister, only she signed a solo deal with EMI and left to have a minor hit with Missing Persons-soundalike single " No No No" under the name Nancy Nova (and who still self-releases her self-penned stuff). Toto Coelo - the name means roughly "with the whole sky" - were known as Total Coelo in the States to avoid confusion with the AOR bore-sters. They did have some success there, their bin-bag couture featuring heavily on the infant MTV when the radio stations wouldn't bother touching it with a 40 foot bargepole and so "I Eat Cannibals" made the Hot 100, but their chances of more serious success were scarred by Sheen and Anita both leaving before their debut album was completed. The group continued as a trio for a couple more singles but as they both missed the chart there was no call for a follow-up. So TC split back to their thespian roots, where all bar Ros are still involved today.
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 21, 2010 20:48:16 GMT 1
Very busy week...and another one coming up... The Burke And Jerk ConnectionOK, so there isn't a band with that name, but it seems to be the best way to stick the smorgasbord of connected artistes together. Besides which, videos for the official follow-ups seem to be missing (perhaps thankfully). Brian & Michael, "Matchstick Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs", no. 1, Feburary 1978 This duo had plenty of follow-ups; the immediate one “Evensong” missed the chart, but it didn’t stop them recording two albums. This particular act is a bit confusing. Brian and Michael were not Brian and Michael, they were Kevin and Michael, and used first names rather than calling themselves Parrott and Coleman, which sounds like a firm of solicitors from a seventies sitcom. They met up when they performed with The Big Sound, NOT Simon Dupree's but a Stalybridge brass-infused soul band in the mid-sixties. After that band broke up, Parrott joined a rockier outfit called Oscar, whereas Coleman moved into the folky scene and started writing mock-traditional songs. Including one about the Mancunian painter LS Lowry, famous for his dioramic working-class crowd scenes (one of which the Professional Footballers' Association bought for £1.9m 11 years ago). Coleman had remained friends with Parrott, who had formed a comic side-project with Brian Burke, named Burke & Jerk (I think "comic" might be stretching the definition of the word to breaking point), and offered the song to Parrott. Parrott thought that it would be more suitable for Burke & Jerk than for Oscar, and borrowed a grand to get the record cut. But as Parrott was signed to DJM Records via Oscar, he could not perform on it, so he produced as Coleman guitared with Burke singing; so instead of Burke & Jerk it was Burke & Coleman. But they decided to use first names instead as Brian & Michael. Thing is, the recording was eventually picked up by Pye, and Brian Burke decided that he did not want to continue with the project. So Parrott quit Oscar and became Brian. The song became an unexpected number one hit, and although Brian & Michael recorded an album and a number of other singles, they never hit the charts again (although a 1983 recording of the Dave Barry song "Mama" did bubble under). But they both remained involved in the industry, and had other hits by proxy...Parrott produced The Ramblers, aka the Abbey Hey Children’s Choir, who had a top 20 with “ The Sparrow” (Lisa Wray as lead singer) who hit the top twenty late in 1979. But as it was not a huge hit there was apparently no follow-up. More successful was the children's choir that backed Brian & Michael on their hit single... St Winifred's School Choir, "There's No-one Quite Like Grandma" (other than presumably your other grandma), no. 1 sadly, November 1980 This is the only video of that particular group worth watching. Story is uber-familiar, Dawn Ralph chosen as lead singer for no evident reason, two of the choir becoming actresses in Coronation Street (Sally Lindsay and Jennifer Hennessey), fears that the John Lennon assassination would prevent them from an ill-deserved number one, and the only hit single for budget label Music For Pleasure, familiar from many a school record collection. The choir was only on the B&M record because the owner of the recording studio's daughter went there. Songwriter Gordon Lorenz penned a follow-up single for them, "My Mum Is One In A Million". In a rare lapse into good taste, the music teacher decided that that was a cash-in too far, and instead The Children of Tansley School had a top 30 scrape with it (jeez, it makes you really warm to Herod). Instead, the St Winifred's choir followed up with another Coleman composition, "Hold My Hand", but missed the chart. Instead Merseybeat pioneer Ken Dodd had a minor Christmas hit with it. But St Winifred's DID make a return to the chart, albeit under a different name (which maybe ought to be in theme 1). Claire & Friends, "It's Orrible Being In Love When You're 8 And A Half", no. 13, June 1986 Remember when you watch talent shows on television that it's all manipulated. This lot appeared on "Saturday Superstore's Search For A Superstar" (oh God, I wish it were Tiswas) and won. A school choir that had already (albeit with different members) had a number one hit. And written by number one hitmakers as well. By whom? Er, Parrott & Coleman... The main redemption factor in this record is the rather disturbing point that the Stephen in the video and performance over whom Claire Usher is mooning is her brother. Claire and Friends’ follow-up single “Superman”, in a consistent theme, missed the chart, making Brian & Michael serial one-hit wonders. At least Ms Usher remained vaguely involved in music, becoming a chorus dancer in “Riverdance” on Broadway and now a dance teacher. And, if you want to feel old, this is a now and then... (yes, there was an album) Brian & Michael remain together as occasional performers, indeed they put an album out in 2009 and have done reunion shows with occasional St Winifred’s members.
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 22, 2010 11:24:24 GMT 1
Paul Da Vinci"Your Baby Ain't Your Baby Anymore", no. 20, July 1974 "If You Get Hurt", dnc, October 1974 On the face of it, one of the minor hitmakers. One week in the top twenty, a non-charting follow-up. But worthy of inclusion because Mr Prewer has had lots of success elsewhere. Decca Records famously rejected The Beatles in favour of Brian Poole & The Tremeloes. Anxious to avoid the same mistake, they signed up a couple of members of Beatle reject Pete Best's Four, Tony Waddington (not the Leicester City manager) and Wayne Bickerton, and placed them with their prog imprint Deram. They didn't have much success, and were released, but in 1974 they came up with a little tune and sought session musicians in to record it. Drummer John Richardson (from Carl Douglas' band) rang up a few mates, including former bandmate Tony J Thorpe as guitarist, bassist Mick Clarke (a member of The Symbols, who had had a couple of hits in the late sixties) and another former bandmate from a different band, keyboardist Bill Hurd. Polydor staff session musician Peter Arnesen also played keys on it and his label was so taken with the demo that it was released "as was" and the session musicians donned white caps (in a nod to Gene Vincent's Blue Caps) and called themselves The Rubettes. Thanks to being ready, willing and able to stand in on Top Of The Pops for a work permit-missing Sparks, " Sugar Baby Love" was rocketed from outside the top 50 to number one in a fortnight. Thing is, there was one difference between the recording band and the performing band. You will see Alan Williams - another ex-bandmate of John Richardson, from yet another different band - taking lead for these purposes. But the actual singer was Paul Prewer, aka Paul Da Vinci, well-known in the session industry for his 3 and a half octave voice, which had been put to good effect backing the likes of Elton John and on adverts for British Airways and Harp. But, before "Sugar Baby Love" was released, had signed up to a solo deal by Penny Farthing Records... I suppose the thought was that a bird in the hand was better than a flyer. Problem was The Rubettes took off in a big way. Another three top tens (including "Juke Box Jive", which had an odd mid-chart run of 8-4-3-8-3-3-3 as the Christmas market kicked in) and a smattering of top 40 hits. And even an album. Whereas Da Vinci had the one charting solo single. Nevertheless, he had been signed up as a songwriter as well, and had some success with other writers (indeed his solo hits were his co-compositions). He worked with Adrian "Beach Boy Gold" Baker amongst others, and featured in various musical shows; a tribute to the Four Seasons (his falsetto neatly doppelgangering Frankie Valli's), sang in the "Tommy" stage show, appeared in "Joseph And His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat" and "That'll Be The Day" and even wrote a musical. He scratched a 30+ year itch by joining with one of the touring versions of The Rubettes (Bill Hurd's) and last year recorded an album with his new band The Justice Department. And he continued with session musicianship throughout the seventies and eighties - his was the falsetto voice on the Tight Fit mk 1 medley "Back To The Sixties". So, a continuing musical career for Da Vinci. The Rubettes themselves have had some interesting follow-ups - John Richardson became a programmer with The KLF, whereas Tony J Thorpe did vocals for The Firm's " Arthur Daley E's Alright"...
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 28, 2010 8:56:54 GMT 1
Althea & Donna"Uptown Top Ranking", no. 1, December 1977 "Gone To Negril", dnc, June 1978 An object lesson in how not to choose a follow-up...Althea Gibson (short hair) had had a single released at age 16, which was a hit in Jamaica, and teamed up with Donna Reid (glasses, just one year older) the following year for producer Joe Gibbs. Gibbs had mashed up some earlier bassline and rhythm guitar from the Alton Ellis song "I'm Still In Love" and recorded it with vocalist Trinity as "Three Piece Suit" (featuring Sly & Robbie). Gibbs decided to re-use it for an answer record and gained a ginormous hit out of it, helped perhaps by its timing. Although it had been around for months, John Peel took advantage of the post-Christmas lull to give it some serious plugging (perhaps the reason why Peel was marginalized and never replaced, he could make a hit out of things the mainstream had little control over - different mores applied in the 1970s) and helped by sheer boredom with Wings it snuck a week at the summit. Problem was that the song was, in some ways, too good. Trinity had boasted about his promenading, and Gibson and Reed wrote their own lyrics saying girls could do that too. And their image was that of sassy, streetwise singers who were very much in control. So how did they follow it up? With puppy dogs. Oh dear. Perhaps it wasn't the teens' fault. Richard Branson had quickly snapped them up for his Caribbean-releasing subsidiary Front Line (maybe they were annoyed that Althea's name had been mis-spelt on the single). Perhaps someone had suggested they needed to widen their appeal beyond the reggae audience. But whatever it is, reworking a nursery rhyme about puppy dog tails was not a good move. All the street cred straight out of the window. The song seems to have been erased from internet memory. Front Line rush-released a more rootsy second follow-up (shown above) but it was too late. The lightning was out of the bottle... They recorded an album together, but its naivety didn't really work; they continued recording as a duo and both singly (check out Althea's wonderful "Down Town Ting", but without any British follow-up. Can't find out what happened to them since, but I do seem to remember it being claimed that Reid had become a nurse.
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 29, 2010 8:51:59 GMT 1
Jasper Carrott"Funky Moped", no. 5, August 1975 "Twelve Days Of Christmas", dnc, December 1975 There's something about supporting Birmingham City that drives one to comedy and/or depression. Like Sid Field and Tony Hancock, the Carrott is a Bluenose, and was a director of the club in the late seventies and early eighties, until he had a bust-up with the then chairman over the dismissal of Jim Smith. And his big hit came with his song about a moped sung in a slightly exaggerated Brummie accent. Born Robert Davies, Carrott's fame on the Midland stand-up circuit came as a comic folk singer, like Billy Connolly (ex-Humblebums with Gerry "Baker Streer" Rafferty), whose intra-song routines gradually took over. However Davies/Carrott was intending to wind down his comedy work in favour of promotion - only he kept finding the bookers wanted him rather than his acts. Even so, he may have stayed a regional phenomenon, like Aynuk and Ayli or Lizzie Wiggins or Malc Stent, had it not been for Mike Harding. Remember when I said the music industry was always looking for the last big thing? Well, at the beginning of 1975 Max Boyce had an unexpected hit album, so the industry was piling in on trying to get comic records. Mike Harding and Connolly had hits, and in between Carrott got signed to DJM Records. Carrott had self-released an album of stand-up material ("Jasper Carrott In The Club", cover with Jasp outside Mothercare with a pillow shoved up his jumper) in 1973, which had been touted around the labels and turned down, but now he had his chance. Carrott had been a schoolfriend of Bev Bevan, who helped spend the £1,000 advance for a promo single. Having come in just under budget, Carrott was taken aback when asked what the b-side was going to be. So he just stuck his most popular routine from "In The Club". An x-rated script of The Magic Roundabout. So, the song got released, "Funky Moped" picked up a modicum of airplay and bubbled under. Then some DJ had the bright idea of playing the b-side. It became an unexpected dance hit. Because everyone could take a break and listen. The BMRB got confused by this, it went 50-45 and then - rumours of a BBC ban fuelling the sales - up to 13. Which meant Top Of The Pops. DJM and Carrott had agreed that the one programme he could not appear on was Top Of The Pops. It would be ridiculous. But a record plugger was contacted by the Beeb to get the Carrott on. Let's face it, Pan's People would have been challenged. So the plugger rings Carrott. "You must do TOTP." "No." "My job's on the line here. If I don't get you on I won't get to plug anything else again." "Look, we agreed I won't do it." "If you're on TOTP you will sell half-a-million." "OK, I will do TOTP." On one condition. There was no moped in the studio. What's the first thing that Carrott sees in the studio? A moped. Once that was removed he could perform, to the bemused audience, and he did sell half-a-million and got launched to superstardom. To avoid a repeat of the embarrassment a promo video was filmed. Only problem was the ending - they needed someone to throw Carrott's moped gear at him for the line "me mum won't let me mend it in the kitchen". And the director's mum refused to do it. She got a neighbour in to play the part - she was from Barbados... So, although DJM tried to cash in on a Christmas hit, it didn't work. Carrott had a moderately successful album chart career, but it was his investment in Celador that has really made him wealthy... As you probably know, Carrott has mostly retired from stand-up; he still promotes a Christmas charity show in Brum every year (with some very big names) and presents Goldenballs, and daughter Lucy was famous as Dawn in The Office.
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