Nick Heyward: "You're My World"

24 August 1988

"So has "young" Nick adandoned his old ways and given up on those fearlessly commercial snorters of yesteryear? Has he heck!"

— Alex Kadis

I'm on Twitter quite a bit (@PaulMargach, gimme a follow!) and I recently began participating in a challenge called #PopInjustice. Every day, we post a single that somehow missed the UK Top 40 and then moan about how moronic the British public were for spurning said record in favour of some giant pile of flaming crap from The Firm or Bombalurina. Of course, it's easy to bemoan a beloved flop but there are more factors at play than simply blaming a bunch of dumbass consumers and their lousy taste in music. Some records fail due to poor or nonexistent marketing, others because a lack of budget behind them. Some because of bad reviews, others because of pop stars refusing to play the game. And some just slip through the cracks.

This issue of Smash Hits includes a feature in Bitz about once-big pop acts that had disappeared but were back (BACK!). "Being a pop star," the piece begins, "is a lot like being the pilot of an interstellar vehicle that's a-whistlin' its way through the galaxies and byways of outer space, is it not?" The intro goes on to describe the pop life as reaching the heavens before slipping into a black hole, never to be heard from again. But some manage to climb their way out of ver hole and the Hits was determined to celebrate them all! "Returning" are Marc Almond, Dead or Alive, Europe, Billy Mackenzie, Spandau Ballet, Midge Ure and Nick Heyward. All had once enjoyed pop success (Almond, Mackenzie, Ure and Heyward with Soft Cell, The Associates, Ultravox and Haircut One Hundred respectively) but their fortunes had begun to dry up more recently. Of this lot, only Almond would enjoy a sustained return to the charts while the rest would return to the black hole from which they crawled out of. Or something.

I was a bit hard on Nick the last time he came up in this space (let me just say that I wrote it in haste at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea just prior to taking a lengthy trip back to Canada for a visit and my lack of consideration clearly shows; I'll be revising it at some point in the future) despite the fact that I've long been fond of Haircut One Hundred and "Love Plus One" in particular. But being only four or five years old back in their Pelican West heyday, I wouldn't discover them until much later. It was only in 1988 that I started to become aware of Heyward and it was all because of Smash Hits.

"You're My World" is practically the definition of the term 'radio friendly' but I never heard it at the time. I would be starting school in Billericay, Essex in September so perhaps I missed Heyward's "comeback" record playing during the day. He also appeared on Wogan at around this time but we were a family still trying to work out English culture and what happened to be on the telly (my parents gravitated first towards sitcoms like Square Deal and No Frills). If he did happen to pop up on Saturday pop-centred show Going Live, I wouldn't have seen it since my parents were determined to spend as many weekends away from our sad little Basildon hovel as possible. In effect, this was a single that existed only on the pages of Smash Hits — even though I was still a fortnight away from discovering the magazine at all. (My real introduction to Nick would be in reviews of the sadly overlooked I Love You Avenue album and in a future Single of the Fortnight that I'll be getting to before long)

"You're My World" doesn't crop up on any of Heyward's compilations which makes me wonder if he has a low opinion of his work from this time. While the eccentricities of his Haircut One Hundred material have been ironed out, this is still the work of an exceptional craftsman. The early eighties for many songwriters had been about mixing indie curios with jazz and funk influences and his resulted in the rise of acts such as Aztec Camera and Prefab Sprout. By the end of the decade, much of this quirky pop had transformed into smooth sophisti-pop with groups like Breathe and Johnny Hates Jazz and Living in a Box dulling what had come before. Heyward still looked to sixties pop for inspiration while also adding touches of synth-pop and even a sly bit of Stock Aitken Waterman to keep things current (those generic backing vocals on the chorus are straight out of the SAW playbook, though they were also being used by the Pet Shop Boys).

The single slipped by this young Canadian who had just arrived in the UK and hadn't yet begun to explore the charts. As for everyone else, there may be all sorts of reasons they chose to take a pass on "You're My World". But we all missed out. Great singles by gifted songwriters don't come along all the time. We would have to wait until the next time Nick Heyward would be back (BACK!).

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Level 42: "Heaven in My Hands"

A consistent chart act coming off their biggest album, it probably seemed like the good times were only going to continue for the jazz funksters, especially with this being best single they'd ever release. Little did they know it was beginning to wind down. "Heaven in My Hands" got snapped up by loyal Level 42 fans but neutrals weren't having it and it quickly slid down the charts. Considering the abundance of pop hooks, strong metal influence and a nice horn section, you'd think they were open for business to as many listeners as possible. (Even Bros bassist Craig Logan constantly bringing up his idol Mark King in interviews didn't help them reach a new audience; though, in fairness, "Ken" was the one that no one paid any attention to) All over the place in 1987, it's possible that people had had enough of them a year later but, yet again, they were the ones missing out. The black hole of pop beckoned.

Joan Armatrading: "All the Way from America"

21 August 1980

"There's no trace of fabricated funk here; just a beautiful lyric, a spellbinding vocal performance, the best of which is brought out by a guitar hook that lifts the whole record effortlessly."

— David Hepworth

"It's funny the pressures people feel," Joan Armatrading told Mike Stand, "Black guys come to my gigs and tell me they like my stuff, and maybe Joni Mitchell, but they have to hide my records when their friends come round."

It's hard to imagine more than forty years on anyone being ashamed of owning a Joan Armatrading album. Of course, this is a different time. People no longer have giant stereos and record/tape/CD collections on display in their living rooms. No one goes round to their friends' places and immediately begins thumbing through their music. No one has guilty pleasures anymore and it isn't even considered odd that sixty-year-olds might be into K-Pop. Being into someone like Joan Armatrading is now considered to be cool, just as she always should have been.

Joan Armatrading has carved out a career of almost half a century just doing her thing without much thought to the concerns of others. She has long had the image of a generous, warm performer but behind this lies a woman who is as strong willed as anyone in the business. In the same Hits interview quoted above, she finds herself dismissing most of Stand's suggestions (Why don't you go solo? Why don't you get an all black band? Why don't you form a real street band? Why don't you form a permanent group? I'm assuming issues of space forced him to cut further queries like Why don't you go synth-pop? or Why don't you help spear a barber shop revival?) and concludes that she has to be the one in charge of what's going on. To think: an ego on such a humble woman. "Me Myself I" may not have been quite the joke people took it to be.

America tried to change her. Up until then, the bulk of her output had been recorded in London. Most of it is great but all of it is distinctly her own sound: elegant folk-pop anchoring her deep, expressive voice. Looking to shake things up, she went to New York to work with an admirable selection of sessioners and producer Richard Gottehrer, who would also be at helm of recordings by Dr. Feelgood, The Go-Go's and Richard Hell. I won't fault anyone for trying something new but the results are mixed. David Hepworth also reviewed Armatrading's album Me Myself I in Smash Hits and found the arrangements to be "heavy handed", which detracts from the "easy intimacy of her delivery and touching honesty of the songs". This isn't a problem on "All the Way from America", where the hired hands service the song beautifully. Elsewhere, however, her desire to call the shots seems to have vanished into the hazy Manhattan skyline.

With "All the Way from America" you get the pain of a long-distance relationship, with the one that has been left behind feeling that there's much more than physical distance keeping this couple apart. Given that it was recorded in the US, it is natural to conclude that Armatrading is the one getting on with her life while her lover dejectedly waits back in the UK. Did Joan sense that America called to her the same way it did Charlie Chaplin, John Lennon and generations of British entertainers? It's just as well she has always been so single-minded that she never let that happen.

"All the Way from America" came up short of the Top 40 but the Me Myself I album became the biggest of her career. It didn't make her into a superstar but that's just as well since the quality of her output could have suffered had her popularity grown to superstar levels. Feet firmly placed on the ground, Joan Armatrading would never have to answer to anyone and we're all the better for it.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Jackson Browne: "Boulevard"

The "dear old wimp" tries to go rock and it doesn't quite work on this attempt. Reading Hepworth's review, you'd think the singer-songwriter had done nothing but heartbroken laments like "Late for the Sky" and "Fountain of Sorrow" over the past decade but he could go uptempo when called upon. The quicker pace doesn't let "Boulevard" down, instead it's his pursuit of sleazy subject matter that is what's wrong. Browne is at his best when he's reflecting on his own experiences and not observing how other people go about living their lives. Still, North Americans were impressed enough to give him a hit with this nonsense even though it would soon be forgotten about once the masterful sunshine pop of "Somebody's Baby" came out from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Jackson Browne clearly went right back to expressing his own feelings — either that or he simply got high schoolers better than sex traffickers (and there's no faulting him there).

Spagna: "Every Girl and Boy"

10 August 1988

"But, phoenix-like, the mighty Italian singer with the extraordinary hair cut and a cat called Bimbo has risen — risen! — again."

— William Shaw

It was early August and a nice summer was moving along. We had only just moved into our new house a few weeks' earlier and I was too busy enjoying myself to think much about the changes that were still to come. August 19th was only a few days away but it might as well have been months as far as I was concerned. I was too busy enjoying my childhood to notice that my world of comic books, swimming lessons, Saturday afternoon wrestling shows and tree climbing was winding down.

What awaited me in England was a world of Aussie soaps, school discos I never attended (even if I secretly wanted nothing more, especially if it meant getting the chance to chat up a girl), wearing a uniform and pop music to be obsessed by. Of course, childhood doesn't disappear overnight, nor did I instantly become a cool first year with mature interests. We had been in Britain a while and I suddenly began reading The Beano — and I wasn't bothered that my mates look down upon it as "childish". Good thing, then, that there was Smash Hits to ease the way for young people suddenly dealing with maturity and puberty who weren't quite ready to be properly grown up.

This issue of Smash Hits was in the newsagents when we arrived in the UK on the 20th of August 1988. My sister and I were still some ways away from discovering the music scene for ourselves (which wouldn't really begin until after we started school in September) but the contents here only bear a passing resemblance to the pop scene we'd quickly become obsessed with. Brother Beyond are on the cover and they were only just starting their year-long ride on the giddy carousel of pop and Kylie is featured in Bitz but many of its other pages are filled with people who'd be just about irrelevant a month later. Five Star, The Funky Worm, Voice of the Beehive, even Climie Fisher and Mica Paris were just about done as hit makers. But just as I was still clinging to childish things, a top pop mag wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to some relics (a fortnight later they'd even profile faded pop types who were back — BACK!! — to try their luck again; it didn't work out for the bulk of 'em). (For more on this issue, please check out the excellent Giddy Carousel of Pop's interview with the great Jude Rogers)

Spagna was another one of those people who seemed to new arrivals like they were from a whole different time. Sporting a notoriously frightful wig and looking older than your typical popstar (was it the piece that did it?), the Italian singer was a disco throwback who ended up falling just short of the number one spot with her 1987 hit "Call Me". There's not much to it but it is indeed highly catchy and I'd even say it's a shame it wasn't able to usurp MJ's "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" from the top spot. Much to my surprise, it had been her only previous UK hit until "Every Girl and Boy" and it's probably her only song people of a certain age will remember.

"Every Girl and Boy" (not "Every Boy and Girl" as Smash Hits has it, though I will say the line "every boy and girl / in the world" would've worked about as well as "every girl and boy / enjoys" if not better) has grown on me a bit over the past few days. I'm still not especially crazy about the metal guitar solos and power chords but I have caught myself singing it at random every so often so there is that. The sort of number that I don't need, didn't ask for and would never seek out but I'm glad it exists all the same.

With all due respect to Spagna, her Single of the Fortnight needs to be looked at in the context of the miserable collection of new releases it is up against. I'm the first person who will defend late-eighties' pop but even I have to admit the selection here is poor. While many will knock the Italian singer for being dated, at least what she was doing at the time could be described as "current". Big Country were churning out that same old uninspired stadium rock, Van Halen had long since become a parody of themselves and as for Heaven 17, well it's rich that they chose to leave The Human League because they didn't want to go pop. It's more of the same from Natalie Cole and UB40 only vastly inferior to what they used to be capable of. A-ha sounding like they're in the midst of losing the plot (though they would come roaring back a bit at the end of the year with the charmingly daft "You Are the One"). A batch of singles that would've doubtless led me to periodically sticking a pencil in my (insert orifice of your choice here) just for some relief. Critics can be a prickly bunch and it's to William Shaw's credit that such a grim selection of records didn't open the door to a page of deeply hostile prose.

~~~~~

Also of some cop

Climie Fisher: "I Won't Bleed for You"

"Love Changes (Everything)" had been on the radio a bit that summer in Canada. I liked the song a bit but wasn't thrilled by the guy with the raspy voice, who sounded an awful lot like all those other raspy-voiced singers of the age. But there was something of a tune in there. This one, not so much. "Love Changes" and the excellent hip hop mix of "Rise to the Occasion" gave people the impression that they were yet another top notch synth pop duo in the tradition of Yazoo, Pet Shop Boys and Erasure but they show their true colours as professional songwriters trying to make it as stars with this. It didn't even matter how many photos they took of Simon Climie in a vest, they didn't look the part and didn't sound like it either. But they weren't going to trouble the charts for much longer and could return to what they were best at.

Run-DMC: "Mary, Mary"

27 July 1988

"This is a completely brilliant single which is refreshingly free of all that guff that rappers usually go on about i.e. "Look how tough, wonderful and fabulously rich I am." Simply splendid."

— Graeme Kay

It was 1986. A moderately famous hip hop trio had been working on their third album since the end of the previous year with a producer who could see beyond genres and race. Rick Rubin would eventually become renowned for reviving the careers of washed up rock and country stars but by this point he was still all about promoting metal, punk and rap. Fusing them was still a rarity and there was no guarantee that even if the finished product of fused hip hop and rock worked in the studio that anyone would go out and buy it. Run-DMC's first attempt was risky but it turned out to be a hit around the world. "Walk This Way" is still their best known number — and one that would return Aerosmith to pop music relevance. (Indeed, it's likely that the single did more for their careers than it did for Run-DMC)

That same summer, another old pop group came back but it didn't result in a return to the charts. The Monkees had been a popular sit com in the late-sixties and it got picked up by cable TV music channels MTV and Canada's MuchMusic for its twentieth anniversary. While the likes of "Last Train to Clarksville", "I'm a Believer" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" were huge hits that accompanied the show, this time the music was much more of an afterthought. The show was still funny and that was all that mattered. A Michael Nesmith-free Monkees attempted to cash in on the notoriety by releasing a new album the following year but no one cared. Similarly, an updated New Monkees series was developed but it was quickly cancelled. All people in the eighties wanted from the prefab four was for them to be a bunch of goofs in their surprisingly timeless show with songs that ranged from decent to forgettable. They weren't a real group then so why would anyone treat them any differently now? Still, a Monkees musical revival was coming and some were already paying attention.

Jump ahead to the summer of 1988 and the two have come together. "Mary, Mary" was by a then unknown Michael Nesmith and originally recorded by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band before its composer offered it for his new band The Monkees on their 1967 second album More of the Monkees. While the tune is pretty good, neither of these recordings are up to much. Butterfield's is just your bog standard gut bucket blues which is fine if you like that sort of thing while The Monkees' version is tame and inoffensive garage rock and Mickey Dolenz's bland delivery does it no favours. (In fairness, I don't think Nesmith, Davy Jones or the underutilized Peter Tork would've done any better)

How "Mary, Mary" found its way to the members of Run-DMC is anybody's guess but the show being back on the air couldn't have hurt. While people might assume it's a sequel to "Walk This Way", the two aren't as similar as one might expect. First, Aerosmith's original had already been a hit single while The Monkees had tucked "Mary, Mary" away on their second album. If they had wanted to steal the thunder of a silly old sit com and the manufactured band that grew out of it, they could have used that simple riff from "Last Train to Clarksville" or the dinky little piano from "Daydream Believer" rather than a song that hardly anyone remembered. Yet, they chose well: here was an oldie with untapped potential and in serious need of a hardcore kick.

The other main difference is the use of samples. Run-DMCs first three albums had been relatively clean affairs with guest musicians (people often forget that Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry rerecorded their vocal and guitar parts for "Walk This Way") but 1987 had been all about sample-heavy hits like M|A|R|R|S' "Pump Up the Volume" and Erik B & Rakim's "I Know You Got Soul". Why pay sessioners for their time when you can "borrow" a bassline or drum pattern and pay nothing for it? Nesmith doesn't return to play on it and Dolenz's voice barely registers. All you've got instead is an excellent tune for the NYC trio to do their "thing".

Ultimately, this is the first version that justifies Nesmith's song. "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" had affirmed their cred when the post-Lydon version of the Sex Pistols covered it and this is much the same only far better. Still credited solely to the heir of the Liquid Paper millions, Run and DMC wrote some strong verses that they deliver with their usual hard-hitting raps and Jam Master Jay scratches up a storm. The sound isn't as full as on "Walk This Way" but "Mary, Mary" is the superior record. Aerosmith stole the show the last time but it's all Run-DMC here. 

This same issue of Smash Hits also includes an album review of one of 1988's most seminal releases. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was Public Enemy's second album and is generally regarded as their finest work. I like lots of it but there's filler too and reviewer Tom Doyle seems genuinely worn out with it. Though he concludes by stating that it's "very entertaining", it's obviously that this brand of rap is heavy going. (Public Enemy had a "message", you know) Graeme Kay expresses boredom of overly boastful hip hop but this kind of serious, weighty rap could grate just as much. Meanwhile, Run-DMC began to slip through the cracks and it would be several months before a lighter approach to hip hop began appear. Rap rock would return with Bootsauce, Living Color and Urban Dance Squad in the early nineties but they were never like the originals. 

As if sensing changes in the hip hop air, the promo for "Mary, Mary" features a group of conservative women protesting at a Run-DMC concert. This is still at least a year out from the 2 Live Crew controversy and the subsequent not-at-all-racist decision to paste those stupid 'PARENTAL ADVISORY' labels on every rap album but a backlash to the hip hop revolution was coming. The video humourously sends up these reactionaries but suggests that rap was soon to leave its innocence behind. Run-DMC could hide behind The Monkees but their contemporaries weren't so lucky.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Jane Wiedlin: "Rush Hour"

I was staying with my grandparents during the very warm Canadian summer of 1988 when I noticed the music video for "Rush Hour". There were dolphins swimming all over the place and a pretty, fun-sized woman singing along and playing the guitar. She even got to swim along with the dolphins for a bit. The video was good but I loved the song. A little over a month later I was in England with my family. Everything was different. Cars drove on the other side of the road, the food tasted funny, I had no idea how to answer the question "how do you do?" and cans of Coke had to be opened by pulling on a sticker tab. (I would eventually grow into the annoying adult who finds differences to be cute and funny but, mercifully, I was still a ways away from that) Nothing familiar. Then, we visited Canterbury and Dover just prior to the school year starting and I heard "Rush Hour" playing in a shop. It was nice that something had come over the Atlantic with us, especially when it's a fantastic piece of California sunshine pop-rock that's impossible to dislike. And who knows, maybe there would be some more music for me to enjoy.

Adam & The Ants: "Kings of the Wild Frontier"

7 August 1980

"A record packed with activity and sounding like a new wave Indian war dance."

— Deanne Pearson

Between Deanne Pearson giving her thumbs up to "Kings of the Wild Frontier" in August, 1980 and Dave Rimmer making "Strip" his Single of the Fortnight right at the end of 1983, Adam Ant was on fire. He guided the Ants to seven Top 10 hits, including a pair of number ones, and then went solo and had three more big hits, with another chart topper added for good measure. Three number ones and ten Top 10 hits isn't exactly unprecedented but it's still very impressive and there weren't many people doing better. But both "Kings of the Wild Frontier" and "Strip" initially missed the Top 40; flops that bookend their imperial period.

Like virtually everyone of the time, Adam Ant came out of punk. He wasn't a punk in the conventional sense but that's probably for the best since orthodox punks tended to produce the least impressive music. Yet, his interest in fetish gear and S 'n' M lyrics had been a firm part of punk's early days being associated with Malcolm McLaren, Vivian Westwood and their famed London shop known as Sex. Siouxsie Sioux had managed to get away with looking like a dominatrix because that was what was expected of her; male punks were supposed to puke on stage, flash V signs and be ready for a scrap with the audience. Simon Price contends that The Ants were considered to be a "joke" in punk circles and at least part of this may simply be down to their desire to dress up like gimps and hardcore sex fiends.

'Dress up' is the optimal term here. Though they developed a loyal following, they weren't getting anywhere special in the late seventies and their record label Decca decided to drop them. They signed to an indie but not much changed. Then, McLaren swooped in and nicked the Ants away from Adam to form Bowwowwow. Deciding to go forward with a new line-up, Ant decided to change up their image and the Dandy Highwayman was born, albeit one that also incorporated Native American face paints into his image. Veteran 'Antpeople', as their fanbase had become known, reacted badly to this change because while dressing like Dick Turpin is clearly stupid, leather fetishwear is for real. Everybody knows that.

Boring old charges of selling out aside, his most loyal original followers must have known there was a fetching pop star hiding in there somewhere. Like Marc Bolan a decade earlier, you wonder what took him so long to figure this all out. Not especially handsome, he nonetheless had a face that a camera couldn't turn away from. Glam rockers were always able to cut a presence on stage and Ant is very much from this tradition.

The only thing lacking in this attractive package is quality music. I'm willing to acknowledge that Deanne Pearson isn't wrong about everything she has to say about "Kings of the Wild Frontier" only it sounds poorly recorded, the bass-heavy new wave sound has been done to death and Ant is a very workmanlike vocalist. (Did he ever need to be a good singer? Probably not but it still never helped his boring records) The single is one of his last with a real "punk" sound and, thus, could be a much more "authentic" document but, as I already suggested above, I tend to think it was all artificial.

So, what did people see in "Kings of the Wild Frontier" as a record free of Adam Ant's poses? Well, not much at first. Upon this release in August of 1980, it only peaked as high as 48 and wouldn't make it into the Top 10 for several months once the ball really got rolling. The foot stomping chorus that could've come straight out of a Slade song should've had instant appeal with kids in the UK of the time but it drifted away before the majority of them had the chance to give it a listen. With the likes of ABBA, Blondie and The Jam dominating the charts, there may not have been room for Ant even if he was trying to force his way in. Notably, it wasn't until that autumn that things began to change. "The Tide Is High" and "Super Trouper" were both dutifully taken to number one but without that same thrill of old. Paul Weller and his mates were done releasing singles from Sound Affects and were looking to go in another direction. The Police were on the rise by then but they were a bit older; Bucks Fizz had won Eurovision but they were appealing to a less discerning pop fan. Adam & The Ants suddenly had a void they were happy to fill.

As I've said before, you probably had to be there to fully appreciate Adam Ant's genius. I'm sure that seeing him strutting his stuff on Top of the Pops doing "Stand and Deliver" was a sight to behold that had the kids yammering away in awe the following morning on playgrounds all over Britain. I'm equally sure that critics — who otherwise may not have taken him seriously — appreciated having a media-friendly star who could sell magazines after years of punks giving flippant interviews. I'll even acknowledge his importance as a bridge from punk to the New Romantics and as the template of the pop star for the eighties (surely Boy George, the compelling figurehead in a band with three other members who were all much better looking, was paying attention). An important figure and a character that demanded attention; so much going for him. A pity I've never liked any of his actual music.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

David Bowie: "Ashes to Ashes"

Pearson infamously dismissed Dame David's latest single as a "strange choice for a single" and "not a hit". Imagine her surprise, then, when it shot to the top of the charts a little over two weeks after this issue of Smash Hits was published. It's tempting to belittle her lack of foresight but how was she to know? "Heroes" only got to 24 in the charts and it's a killer record, so how could she have predicted a number one from this one? And, hey, I lack taste as far as Adam Ant's discography is concerned so why shouldn't she fail to see what an astonishing single "Ashes to Ashes" is? Whatever, it ended up topping the charts for a fortnight and is still the Bowie record I'm most interesting in going back to. Impressionistic, sparse, immensely creative, sort of catchy but not quite the kind of thing you might sing along with, highly individual: all the elements that made him so special and very much missed. "Ashes to Ashes" is a monster and should easily have been this issue's Single of the Fortnight.

Brother Beyond: "The Harder I Try"

13 July 1988

"A more apt title for a single there has not been since "When Will I Be Famous", since no other band has ever tried harder to snatch a whiff of success than the 'Yond."

— Mike Soutar

Needless to say, the majority of pop groups don't make it. Most aren't even close. Lowest on the totem pole is your typical hopeless high school band, a foursome who play just the once at an end of the school year assembly and then fold up shop due to creative differences (i.e. the girls didn't throw themselves at them following that first "gig"). Then, you've got your respectable workaday band that plays around their hometown, develops a bit of a following but aren't able to cut it any further. It's still a bit of a climb before record labels begin to pay attention and, even then, there's still no guarantee of the pop charts.

This blog has seen some less-than-household names. Many were still feeding off the D.I.Y. energy of punk, were on tiny labels and didn't stand much chance of a hit single. As the eighties progressed, however, the big record companies began to reassert their dominance and they put considerable funds behind their signings. Some paid off but lots of others didn't.

The way out for many groups was to have a hit elsewhere, especially those lucky enough to do so in the US. Breathe couldn't snag themselves a Top 40 placing back home to save their lives but as soon as their, well, breathy ballad "Hands to Heaven" got released on the other side of the Atlantic, it flew up the Hot 100. The British, for their part, acted suitably and  the single became a belated hit. The same thing happened with Chris Rea, Dire Straits, Danny Wilson and Waterfront, of all people. Yet, it would often prove a band-aid situation: American success might remain but the hits back home would quickly dry up, as Breathe themselves experienced.

Brother Beyond didn't have the luxury of foreign charts, even though they initially did well in Italy, where they were known as 'Brother Behind'. Four flops came and went and the promising young group looked finished. Their early work isn't bad though and it isn't difficult to imagine them all cracking the charts had their luck been going for them. (This is even brought up in two different singles reviews with both Barry McIlheney and Ro Newton suggesting that Nathan Moore putting a hat on backwards — just like Ben from Curiosity Killed the Cat — was all that was stopping them from hitting it big) To their credit, however, they didn't have that easy answer ballad in their back pockets to give them that elusive hit.

Then came Stock Aitken Waterman to the rescue. To help raise funds for the Young Variety Club of Great Britain, SAW auctioned off their services. Record label EMI made the highest bid and one of their struggling acts would be gifted with a composition and studio time. Brother Beyond were selected and their fortunes would soon change.

SAW referred to themselves as a 'Hit Factory' but this label wasn't yet accurate. Assembly line writing and production for cookie cutter acts only really began as their work diminished in quality over the course of 1989 with the abominable trio of The Reynolds Girls, Sonia and Big Fun. Rewind back a year and they were still craftsmen, piecing together songs and sounds with various acts in mind. Bananarama had been around a bit and came across as kindly older sisters giving advice to younger siblings. Mel & Kim were a pair of tough sisters from hardscrabble east London who'd been through a lot. Rick Astley was a sensitive lad who tried to do what was right for his sweetheart. Kylie was the ultimate girl next door. SAW's best stuff for each of these acts reflects these roles.

Brother Beyond were not a part of the SAW sphere for long enough to get themselves boxed into playing a part but I'd argue that some thought had been put into what they shouldn't be like. Bros had begun dominating the charts in 1988 with hits such as "When Will I Be Famous?" and "I Owe You Nothing" and what set them apart was a sort of angry confidence. While there had been traces of humour in their first hit, subsequent singles were deadly serious affairs and they would prove to be no different in real life interviews (but more on that in a few weeks). The 'Yond weren't exactly shy themselves — Moore smiling, chiseled features made him an instant pinup but "The Harder I Try" displays a newfound vulnerability that contrasted nicely with the Goss twins and the other one. Matt Goss wasn't about to put up with any of your nonsense, girls; Nathan Moore, by contrast, will not stop hoping.

With a Northern Soul/Motown feel, "The Harder I Try" may have seemed like a throwback but it was a fresh sound compared to much of the British blue eyed soul that had been all over the charts for the past two years. Matt Stock and Mike Aitken have admitted to giving "Never Gonna Give You Up" an old-fashioned pop sound but they perfected the art here. It's a little more casual that what Brother Beyond had done before but still very much in keeping with what they were interested in doing. As Mike Soutar notes, it's recognisable SAW but not drowning in their cliches. Sure, it opens with their patented bit-of-the-chorus-in-instrumental-form and has those cooing female backing singers that they used to death but, otherwise, it isn't the most SAW thing around at the time.

The 'Yong are now described as a 'boy band' (notably, a term no one used back then) and it was likely their Top 10 hits with SAW compositions and connection to Bros that earned them this label. This is something I hope to go into in greater detail in an upcoming entry but I will say that it may be possible that their breakthrough smash became their undoing. The songs that band members Carl Fysh and brothers David and Eg White had written didn't go anywhere but they were suddenly big with a track created by the biggest songwriting/production team in the land; how they would fare without that safety net is a whole other matter.

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Also of some cop

Fairground Attraction: "Find My Love"

Soutar reckons this follow up to the number one hit "Perfect" is "rather basic" but I beg to differ. He only really hears guitar and bass but there's also an accordion in there too and it's a nice touch. And there's even a mandolin! Instrumentation aside, "Find My Love" is superior to its better known predecessor. I always associate it with visiting a windswept seaside town on the coast of Ireland during February half-term break. There's a photo that my dad took of the rest of us (my mum, sister and myself, as well as my aunt and cousin who were visiting from Canada) and you can see I have my headphones on. I'm listening to "Find My Love" and it's a perfect mix of location and song. Yes, it's much more typical of Fairground Attraction but that's no bad thing. Fortunately, it managed to give them another Top 10 hit but Soutar ultimately isn't wrong when it comes to the pop ride coming to an end, as we'll see soon.