A Friday night record

So no comments for the Way of the West post. I can’t pretend I’m not disappointed, they are pretty good records after all. I know just the thing to get you all going. How about a record featuring Chas Jankel and Kenny Young, writers of ‘Ai No Corrida’ no less? Not that I would pretend these songs are in the same class but ‘Muchas Gracias’ is a ‘fun’ party record with an unmistakeable Chas feel and b-side ‘Limelight’ should really have been the a-side.

The Pack - Muchas Gracias (1981)

(Kenny Young/Chas Jankel)
Produced by Kenny Young, Chas Jankel, Chris Warwick

The Pack - Limelight (1981)
(Kenny Young/Herbie Armstrong)
Produced by Kenny Young

So eighties...

Back in the early 80s when a group of us were house sharing one of the guys was also an avid record buyer and had similar tastes to my own. This gave a competitive edge to record buying which was good because you always wanted to be the one to come home with that great record from some undiscovered band. Occasionally one of us would rave about their latest discovery and the other just didn’t get it, which was pretty much the case with these two records. To my ears they weren’t contemporary enough, for that read not electronic enough. When we moved on we made tapes from each others record collections and I put these two songs at the end of a C90 more or less to use up the tape and because I quite liked them. The last few bars of Drum were chopped off and I was a perfectionist when it came to making tapes but I let it go, an indication of how essential I thought it was.

Fast forward about 30 years and one day I couldn’t get these tunes out of my head so I’ve managed to acquire new copies. Now the production sounds quintessentially 80s to me. Don’t know what I was thinking. Back in the day clippety-clop percussion part in Drum irritated me. I find I can live with it now but I’m sure it still has the potential to irk if I put it on in the wrong mood, say after one of my epic battles with the kids.

Way of the West - Drum (It’s Just A March In Time) (Social Mix) (1981)

Way of the West - See You Shake (1981)

Bargain



There are a lot of things I like about this record. For a start there’s the synthy/new wavey/power poppy A-side. Then there’s the wonderful instrumental B-side which, just when you think it’s going to just repeat the same riff all the way through, goes into a sparkly bridge/middle eight before the wordless vocal in the final verse almost takes it into ‘Telstar’ territory. I strongly urge you to listen to both sides of this 45.


Best of all it only cost me £1 at a record fair last May. I love a bargain. It was almost like the old days when I would take a gamble on a single because it looked like the sort of thing I might like.

I’m pretty sure this single represents the entire recorded output of The Corvettes which is a shame.

The Corvettes - Love To Hate You (1980)

The Corvettes - Heartbeat (1980)

Penny Heathcote - Vocals
Robyn Banks - Keyboards
Blotto Williams - Bass
Mike Stand - Drums
Jeremy King – Guitar

For more info on the Corvettes check out this website on the Brighton punk scene.

P.S. I know it's been a while but so please leave a comment so I know you're all still out there.

Cedric Sharpley

Just heard the sad news that Cedric Sharpley, drummer of Tubeway Army and Dramatis has died. I really liked his style. To put it bluntly he made some of Gary Numan's more dirgey efforts listenable.

Love Dance

Sheffield band Vision's only UK chart hit (plus b-side), No 74 in July 1983. It's classic 80s synth music but you get the feeling as it fades out that you've listened to half of a really good 12-inch single. I'll probably be buying the 12-inch in the coming weeks so stay tuned and we'll see if I'm right.

Vision - Love Dance (1983)
Vision - Vision (1983)

Mystery

If I see an interesting looking single from the late 70s/early 80s that I’ve never heard for the right price I take a punt. That’s how I got today’s offering. I’d never heard of Scarlett Von Vollenman and Google didn’t help much. There’s a Scarlett Von Wollenmann who sang backing for Kissing the Pink and had some sort of car accident in the 90s that left her in a wheelchair who may or may not be the same person. Anyone out there know?

As for the record, I think it would have gone down well on alternative night in the clubs back in 1981. If you like Hypnotised try the b-side. It’s pretty much more of the same.

Scarlett Von Vollenman – Hypnotised (1981)
Scarlett Von Vollenman – Warm Love (1981)

Friday treat

Somehow I missed this back in 1979 despite the fact it got to No 28 and the band appeared on Top of the Pops. I stumbled on it whilst messing around on Youtube a few weeks ago and I had to have it. This copy, still in its HMV shrink wrap cost me just 99p from Ebay. It’s a sort of mutant Blondie with nice Mick Glossop production.

The Doll - Desire Me (Extended Version) (1979)