— David Hepworth
Having been at Smash Hits for over three years up until this point, it's odd that David Hepworth thinks he had credibility points to begin with. This wasn't the Melody Maker or the NME he was working for (thank god for that), he was writing and editing a magazine whose primary mission was to publish songwords for young music fans. Credibility points? Seriously, Dave?
Of course, few in pop and rock journalism carry as much cred as Hepworth nowadays. A lot of people love the podcast he hosts alongside fellow erstwhile Hits, Q and The Word scribe Mark Ellen. (I was just think about the two of them the other day and something struck me: their ideas about music are really no more considered than my own) His books are also popular. UK musicology owes a great deal to the seventy-something Hepworth which is all the more remarkable considering he never indulged in lengthy philosophical rants about the influence of Sartre on Sheffield's post-punk scene nor did he use his position at one of the inkies to get high with the subjects he was meant to be critiquing.
In any case, what's the point of credibility when your throwaway Single of the Fortnight is the clear best new release here? "The Only Way" is anything but groundbreaking and remarkable but it is surprisingly sturdy for a club hit. There's something sweet about guiding a sixteen-year-old talent show winner towards the dance clubs of the time, rather than in the direction of tried and tested balladry. The Lisa Stansfield who would finally achieve mass success around the world at the tail end of the eighties didn't resemble the one who was struggling to make it seven years' earlier and her voice wasn't even all that similar but launching herself through the medium of contemporary dance trends would be something she would stick to, (Until she promptly abandoned it in an attempt to be more of a mainstream, all around vocalist with her third major label "effort" So Natural)
No doubt Stansfield oozed promise, which is more than can be said for the tiny label that had signed her up. While there's no doubt that string vest is indeed fetching, the sleeve is ruined by the headache-inducing Times New Roman uppercase 'L' and 'S' followed by lowercase lettering in italics. Worse still, the title, which for some reason is buried at the bottom left-hand corner, typed as 'The Only way'. Bloody hell, Devil Records, you really spared no expense! I guess your vast roster of young, up and coming artists made you drop the ball on...(checks notes) the only singer on your bloody label. You had literally one job to do.
This was the downside of these small indie record labels moving away from new wave and post-punk and on to club music. Youngsters who happened to be interested in a local band they'd heard about — and possibly even saw — could pop into the record shop to see if they had their latest single or the E.P. they cut from the year before but dance artists didn't get the same exposure that led the curious to investigate further. If a popular discotheque happened to play a record like "The Only Way" then it might have gone over well but what good would it have done the next day?
It was in this environment that enterprising blokes Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman could step in. They didn't write songs that were any better than "The Only Way" or Stansfield's other early singles but they had the business acumen, the pluck, the eye for talent and the instincts for marketing that gave them a massive edge over the competition. They even had sufficient club credibility (the kind David Hepworth didn't have while at ver Hits) that would aid them right up until, coincidentally, Stansfield's long-awaited breakthrough. It's all connected.
Nevertheless, Lisa Stansfield needed the experience of producing quality product that very few were interested in or even knew about. Self-righteous indie rock types are always on their high horse about struggling and dues paying seem unaware or unconcerned that everyone trying to make it in the music industry is trying to do the same thing. Plus, they don't have addictive and instantly listenable material like this one. Stansfield would better it with her first Top 40 hit "People Hold On" but it's not too far off. The moral of the story? Keep at it, kids. You may be in fetching vests on a label with no ideal about packaging but there's always the chance you'll one day be on the charts anyway. You might even hang on to that credibility which seems to matter to some.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Heaven 17: "Let Me Go"
What if B.E.F. had been the intended day job of Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware while Heaven 17 was just their fun little side project? It kind of makes sense but the record buying public had different ideas as they bought a handful of copies of the latter's releases to the former's none. "Let Me Go" isn't a patch on "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and only serves to further reinforce the question of why they left The Human League in the first place. Phil Oakey and the others may not have had the musical training of Marsh and Ware but they could've taught their old bandmates a thing or two about crafting glorious pop. Heaven 17 still have their fans to this day but I can't say I'm one of them. I'll always be a sucker for both sophisti-pop and synth-pop but it's obvious the two do not belong together. Sorry Hepworth, it didn't grow on me but maybe I ought to give it at least a second listen before I'm sure.
(Click here to see my original review)
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