Go2 - I Like My Own Company

7" Single, released in 1982

Go2 - I Like My Own Company (A-Side)

Go2 - My Heart Bleeds (B-Side)

Suburban Sprawl - Borders

7" Single, released in 1986

Suburban Sprawl - Borders (A-Side)

Suburban Sprawl - Album Excerpts (B-Side)

The only Suburban Sprawl album I could find information on was called Ice and was released in 1989-90. I'm presuming that an earlier album exists - the excerpts are quite tasty - but I can't confirm this.

Imajinca - The Very First Video Kiss

7" Single, released in 1984

Imajinca - The Very First Video Kiss (A-Side)

Imajinca - All In A Moment (B-Side) 

His Latest Flame - Stop The Tide

7" Single, released in 1986

His Latest Flame - Stop The Tide (A-Side)

His Latest Flame - Wake Up And Smell The Coffee (B-Side)

An earlier single by the gals. This vinyl was a bit more worn than I usually have so excuse the extra crackle on this one.

Native Tongue - History

7" Single, released in 1984

Native Tongue - History (A-Side)

Native Tongue - Lost Soul (B-Side)

This was the second (and final?) single release on Squanderlust Records, an independent Essex based label. Not much other information out there.

Real Macabre - White Horses

7" Single, released in 1985

Real Macabre - White Horses (A-Side)

Real Macabre - The Call (B-Side)

Jump The Nile - Like The Cruel Sea

7" Single, released in 1984

Jump The Nile - Like The Cruel Sea (A-Side)

Jump The Nile - Wire (B-Side)

Portable People - Passion Beat

7" Single, released in 1983

Portable People - Passion Beat (A-Side)

Portable People - It's For You (B-Side)

Portable People was a pretty obscure Pittsburgh band fronted by Rick Reynolds. Rick continues to record and release music through CD Baby. I don't know if PP recorded anything else.

Radio Earth - Never To Make You Cry

7" Single, released in 1987

Radio Earth - Never To Make You Cry (A-Side)

Radio Earth - Heart Of Stone (B-Side)

Italian Heroes - All For Nothing

7" Single, released in 1986

Italian Heroes - All For Nothing (A-Side)

Italian Heroes - Monte Carlo (B-Side)

Lemon Hearts - Shake Yourself

7" and 12" Single, released in 1987

Lemon Hearts - Shake Yourself (Extended Mix)

Lemon Hearts - Honey From The Spoon (B-Side)

Lemon Hearts - Pure Love (12" Single B-Side)

Lemon Hearts - Shake Yourself (7" Single A-Side)

Download

Although they only released one single, I love the Lemon Hearts. I took a chance on buying the single unheard several years ago, and then later I found the 12 inch. Last year I messaged producer Nick Tesco over Twitter and he confirmed that the Lemon Hearts had been a new incarnation of Epic pop hopefuls the Roaring Boys, last heard of in 1985. I may have featured a track or two before, but here's their entire recorded output, at least as far as I know.

The Bic - Musica Pop

7" Single, released in 1983

The Bic - Musica Pop (A-Side)

The Bic - Go Jo (B-Side)

This was the first single released by Go! Discs, famously the label of The Housemartins, The Beautiful South, The La's and, um, The Southernaires...

Vocalist Bric Brack appeared on a couple of other things, but this was a one-off - and pretty fun - single.

John Adams - Through The Eyes Of Love

7" Single, released in 1985

John Adams - Through The Eyes Of Love (A-Side)

John Adams - Don't Turn And Walk Away (B-Side)

Here's the solo 1985 single from Private Lives front man John Adams, produced by Andy Taylor of Duran Duran.

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.

Rent Boys - Kick Down The Door

7" Single, released in 1980

Rent Boys - Kick Down The Door (A-Side)

Rent Boys - Feeling Ice (B-Side)

For quite a long time I thought the Private Lives single, "Where Do I Go", was the earliest by John Adams and the band. Then I read about a year or so ago that "Kick Down The Door" was an earlier single released in the same year under a different name. In my continuing quest* to track down all the John Adams/Private Lives material I've noted the various different styles the man managed to commit to vinyl. Here John and co jump on the Police/pop reggae bandwagon. I believe I now have all the John Adams related singles from 1980 to 1987, so it's about time to put some sort of compilation together. You're welcome.

*like Star Trek, but without any kind of prime directive.

The Big Supreme - Please Yourself

7" Single, released in 1987

The Big Supreme - Please Yourself (A-Side)

The Big Supreme - Keep On Pushing (B-Side)

More pop merriment from Big Supremo Barry Flynn. I may have posted these tracks before, but I only just acquired the original vinyl - released just about exactly thirty years ago - so here's a fresh new set. This one actually had the song words printed in No. 1 magazine - but steered clear of the charts. The only Big Supreme single I don't have is "Let's Turn Our Love Around" which I think was the last one.

Lypbox - My House

7" Single, released in 1988

Lypbox - My House (A-Side)

Lypbox - This Town (B-Side)

I wasn't familiar with Lypbox before finding this single listed on eBay recently. It caught my eye looking as it does a bit like the great This Other Eden singles from the late eighties.  I'm not sure but they may have been a Cambridge based band, with this their only release.

Ward Brothers - Easy Prey

7" Single, released in 1986

Ward Brothers - Easy Prey (A-Side)

Ward Brothers - A Bridge Too Far (B-Side)

I've wanting to post something about the Ward Brothers for a few months now. I'm not sure why their album The Madness of It All is not available digitally, but to be fair there are a lot of releases on the Siren label (a Virgin Records sub-label) that have gone AWOL. Here's a nice introduction - their first single - coupled with a B-Side that was exclusive to this release. More from the Ward boys soon.

The Boys From Syracuse - I Cry For You

7" Single, released in 1986

The Boys From Syracuse - I Cry For You (A-Side)

The Boys From Syracuse - Some Day Soon (B-Side)

Another single that was much better than I anticipated. Credits mention the Bucherri brothers and New England Records seem to have been based in London - which leads me to suspect that the Syracuse reference was symbolic rather than literal. Good stuff.

The Frankies - Yo Yo

7" Single, released in 1980

The Frankies - Yo Yo (A-Side)
The Frankies - Holiday Magic (B-Side)

Probably a bit earlier and somewhat atypical of the kind of singles I look for. But look! Doesn't the young lass on the back cover seem familiar? Maybe, if you've watched British TV in the last twenty years. None other than comedienne Caroline Quentin, famous for playing Maddie in Jonathan Creek and Dorothy in Men Behaving Badly. She seems to have kept this gig quiet.

A fairly ridiculous track to be sure, and hardly likely to be officially licensed from Disney, what with all the sexual innuendo apparent. Her collaborator was a well travelled musician, the late Kevin Westlake, who you can read more about here.