RAH Band - Sweet Forbidden

7" Single, released in 1986

RAH Band - Sweet Forbidden (A-Side)

RAH Band - Perfect Stranger (B-Side)

Eclectic and idiosyncratic, Richard Hewson's RAH Band flitted around the UK pop scene from the late seventies, enjoying a couple of sizeable hits - including "Clouds Across The Moon", a Top Ten smash which lead to a memorable Top Of The Pops performance including a Logan's Run-inspired 'Intergalactic operator'.

After releasing several singles from the resultant Mystery album, "Sweet Forbidden" was the first of a number of stand alone single releases, and after being dropped from RCA, their follow up album Something About The Music remained unreleased until appearing on iTunes a couple of years ago.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but personally I find it easy to warm to Liz Hewson's delightfully unaffected vocals. The band has a website and a Facebook page.

RAH Band - Across The Bay

7" Single, released in 1987

RAH Band - Across The Bay (A-Side)

RAH Band - Jammin' On The Byte (B-Side)

Flip Me!

It's All Geek To Me

After a flurry of posts with little actual written content, I decided it was time for a round up of things going on in MFL country. Fasten your seat belt.

I'm not quite sure why I have such a soft spot for the RAH Band. I mean, most of their singles mine pretty much the same sonic territory, they all sound a bit dated, and of course there is really no image to speak of. Maybe that's the point. The "band" is no more than the images on their stylized record covers and inoffensive electrpop fluff. Having said that, I was curiously proud to notice that several of the earlier albums are now included on iTunes and Amazon MP3, including the classic Mystery. I'll have to put up one of those Amazon widget-e-bob thingies. Anyway, the other comment I wanted to make was that while looking for info on A Bigger Splash, a band I posted about recently, I discovered a French band also called A Bigger Splash, who have recorded a delightful downtempo version of "Clouds Across The Moon", a RAH Band classic. I'm not going to post it, because everyone can hear it at Myspace here and then buy it yourselves here if you so choose. How do I know they're French? Well, there's the album cover for one thing... (NSFW, kiddies!!!)

Yeah, no wonder I didn't see it at Wal-Mart.

So, what else is new. Well, one thing that annoys me about living stateside is that I don't have a clue about British telly. I'm still watching League of Gentlemen and Jonathan Creek reruns from ten years ago. I recently discovered That Mitchell And Webb Look, which I thought was pretty funny. The job interview sketch has me in stitches every time.

Remember that (fairly lame) movie Phenomenon with John Travolta? The one where he turns into a genius because he has cancer or some (yeah okay that's enough "written content" - Ed. Sniiiiiiiip)

RAH Band - Mystery (1985)

In which we imagine a world where the compact disc was introduced in 1980, and now-obscure artists and albums could be preserved for posterity...

The RAH Band was in effect one person, Richard Anthony Hewson (hence the initials) who was an acclaimed arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Surfacing from time to time, the project's largest hit was "Clouds Across The Moon", which was a top ten hit in many countries, including an Australian Number One.

Despite this success, the parent album Mystery, which was briefly released on CD, is very rare with copies being sold for in excess of $200 each. Even some of the various RAH Band compilations now command high prices.

"Clouds Across The Moon" was re-recorded in 2007 and perhaps one day this interesting album might be re-released. (UPDATE - the album is now available on iTunes and Amazon MP3 on both sides of the pond.)

RAH Band - Mystery (1985)

1. Clouds Across The Moon
2. Night Wind
3. Sorry Doesn't Make It Anymore
4. Float
5. Mystery Boy
6. Are You Satisfied
7. The Shadow of Your Love
8. Out On The Edge

Official Website
Wikipedia Entry

Further investigation courtesy of A Kick Up The Eighties