I was going to do it eventually, but as Stuart has now outed himself as a fellow Haircut 100 fan in response to the previous post, I thought I'd draw people's attention to this excellent old article from the Church of Me blog that was linked to in the last post but was buried deep amongst the self-absorption and mono-mania.
It's a track by track breakdown and celebration of the Haircut's debut album, Pelican West. The Smash Hits generation know of the Postcard connection when talking about Haircut 100's style and influences but were you aware of Pelican West's tipping the hat to No Wave and Steely Dan, amongst others?
It also pleases that there is a few knowing barbs aimed at those bands that were supposedly inspired by new pop of the early eighties but bit the hand that fed it by sucking all the joy and life out of what was a great period for music. I mean, I do have a soft spot for a couple of early tracks from the Kane brothers but I know what the blogger means when he writes of Hue & Cry:
" . . . despite borrowing an album title from Baudrillard, [they] always came across to me as Haircut One Hundred with a Lanarkshire Ben Elton on vocals."
The mid-eighties has a lot to answer for.
