Feargal Sharkey: Loving You (1985)

Perhaps one might have high hopes of a collaboration between Undertones (more HERE) singer-extraordinaire Feargal Sharkey and The Rezillos brilliant song-writer Jo Callis ((more HERE) , that is until one remembers how cold and unforgiving the musical climate of the mid-eighties was. I mean, it is rather baffling how many of the eighties synth-pop artists tried to ape American R & B and soul music by using some of the most soul-less, rythm-less and blues-less instrumentation and production of all time. Sometimes, like say Soft Cell's distortion of "Tainted Love" it clicked but so much of the time it was just painful. 'Twas a weird decade, the eighties...



Here's "Loving You" attached to the 1991 "I've Got News For You" e.p., which also includes the follow-up smash hit, "A Good Heart' making it like a CD-Maxi-single Greatest Hits.


So MRML readers any comments on Feargal's solo work? Is it gonna be brickbats or crickets in the comments section? Awaiting your reply...

Speaking of comments should you want to hear the I've Got News For You e.p, the link is in the comments.


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The Human League: Don't You Want Me (Now DMCA compliant!)

(This post contains no download links!!)

The Human League, originally a more experimental synthesizer band, experienced a rift just like The Rezillos (more HERE) , with the more musicianly types forming Heaven 17 while the remaining members had to recruit some song-writing muscle quick. Enter Jo Callis (more HERE), who not only co-wrote the world-wide smash hit "Don't You Want Me Baby" but also left his indelible stamp on it. The song not only employs those male-female lead vocals (lead singer Phillip Oakley originally thought having one of the back-up singers do a duet was just a novelty) of his earlier band but it also hearkens back to their kitschy retro B-movie lyrical angle (though in this case, more like some "A Star is Born" knock-off).




It would be easy for a rockist, such as myself, to sneer off this massively-successful synth-pop tune but it is not only stamped on my brain due to its hitting the charts when I was young and impressionable but it is also a superbly well-written pop song - one that had novelty appeal at the outset but has endured even as time has set in.



If you're as fascinated with rock doc's as myself, you'll probably get hooked right into this BBC 30 minute documentary on the Human League's twisted history.




PART TWO HERE PART THREE HERE


Update1 : For an fantastic read go check out this interview with Jo Callis over at It's **** Thing.

Update 2: MRML is looking for a rip of Jo Callis' post Human League band SWALK, let us know if anyone out there has a copy of it!


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Jo Callis: Whoah Yeah (1981)

"Woah Yeah!" (b/w "Sinistrale", "Dodo Boys") finds a newly-solo Rezillo/Shake guitarist/song-writers Jo Callis "trapped in the twilight zone", somewhere between the summit of glam-rock and the pit of synth-pop. Actually this single still evinces a lot of kicky pop attitude and should not be consigned to the middle ground between light and shadow.



What do you make of Jo Callis sole venture into solo recording? Let us know in the comments section.

Speaking of comments that's where you'll find the Whoah Yeah 7" link

Update1 : For an fantastic read go check out this interview with Jo Calllis over at It's **** Thing.

Update 2: MRML is looking for a rip of Jo Callis' post Human League band SWALK, let us know if anyone out there has a cop0y of it!