Prefab Sprout: "Hey Manhattan!" / Bomb the Bass: "Don't Make Me Wait"

29 June 1988

This entry is the start of an occasional series in which pop groups review the singles and fail to agree on a favourite. The results of this are mixed but Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles of The Communards prove up to the task by choosing the two best records available. This would also prove to be one of they final print appearances together. Somerville would release a pretty good solo album a year later and Coles would go on to becoming a renowned man of the cloth.

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"People may say they're namby-pamby but I love them!"

— Richard Coles

They may deny it now but 1988 in Britain was all about loving America. People were flocking to Disneyworld and spurning France and Spain as holiday destinations. American football was growing in popularity and looked to be the next big thing. Pop stars and famous actors who would visit the UK were treated like royalty and even someone as innocuous as Sylvester Stallone's mother fawned upon on the popular talk show Wogan. American-themed restaurants were all over the country too. And if all this wasn't enough, I was subjected to the question "are you Amer-eee-can?" (emphasis on the third syllable just as they liked in Essex) wherever I went.

Rock and roll being American, it's easy to see why so many British pop stars fell for the US. Many of them live there, including some who've moaned about the UK being too American. The Rolling Stones embodied the idea of being English yet wanting to be a Yank but luckily they had Mick Jagger to send it up even as they were drowning in Americana. Others haven't had lead singers as clever. Being pro-American is one thing but losing one's Britishness is another.

America has always been at the heart of Prefab Sprout's work. Paddy McAloon's heroes are Burt Bachrach, Brian Wilson and Phil Spector so this would naturally have led him to look across the Atlantic. At first, references to the US were subtle. Their debut album Swoon includes a song about chess legend Bobby Fisher ("Cue Fanfare"), as well as opening with a puzzling number about their neighbour to the south ("Don't Sing": "don't blame Mexico"). "I Never Play Basketball Now" deals with a popular sport that the British hadn't really taken to. Their follow up album Steve McQueen had been named after the great American actor and it opened with a number "dedicated" to country crooner Faron Young (a SOTF back in 1985).

But it was on their third album From Langley Park to Memphis that America became the focal point. "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" would prove to be their biggest hit and it dealt with an aging rocker still clinging to fame due to his one novelty hit. Its subject may or may not be American (I suspect he's British which makes the whole tale even sadder) but it is loaded with references to the US. "Cars and Girls" was an undeserved flop that took the mickey out of Bruce Springsteen. And with "Hey Manhattan" (aka "Hello Manhattan" as Smash Hits erroneously has it) you've got a wide-eyed youngster who has just arrived in New York and has big plans for success — or so he thinks.

What makes this trilogy wonderful — you know, aside from them all being brilliant songs — is how distinctly British their take on America is. The British singer from the fifties with that one solitary hit probably never went to the US — or he flopped spectacularly if he did. Springsteen did much more than make records about "Cars and Girls" but that was the reputation he got lumped with, especially on the other side of the pond. NYC was this destination where dreams either came true or went to die and this is what's celebrated here. The hopeless hopeful who arrives in the States is initially "star struck, Uncle Sam" before admitting that his struggles and failure is down to "bad luck". The promise of making something of himself is dulled by the feeling that he's already being chewed and is about to be spat out by the Big Apple.

"Hey Manhattan!" gave Prefab Sprout their third Single of the Fortnight but once again it failed to connect with enough people to get it into the Top 40. It's difficult to say whether their less-than idealistic take on the American Dream kept the punters away since they'd had plenty of flops that didn't hit a similar nerve. If anything, it only reinforced the narrative that they were "too clever by half" (whatever that means) and that they were only able to capture fellow musicians and pop critics. There was already a small but loyal cult of Sprout out there and it's one that remains to this day but they couldn't quite catch on the way we all thought they deserved. Oh well, it's their loss.

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"Ah, this is more like it. A great dance record. Fab."

— Jimmy Somerville

The singer from The Communards is none too impressed with "Hey Manhattan!" and opts instead for the second single from Bomb the Bass. A project helmed by young DJ Tim Simenon, it first came to attention in the early part of 1988 with "Beat Dis", a sampled-filled acid house single which reached number 2 on the charts. Coming in between "Pump Up the Volume" by M|A|A|R|S and "Theme from S'Express" by S'Express, it should have joined them as chart toppers but it failed to dislodge Kylie Minogue's massive "I Should Be So Lucky" from the top spot.

Being DJs, Simenon, Mark Moore, The Beatmasters and Coldcut struggled to make pop music a top priority. They had raves to appear at and they were all in demand to produce and/or remix other people's records. They didn't dream of pop stardom and didn't chase it. While Smash Hits and Top of the Pops had difficulty presenting them as performers and pinups, they in turn weren't as accessible and didn't seem aware of how to play the pop game. As a result, follow ups were slow. Not to mention the fact that for the talk of sampling being "theft", piecing together these jigsaw puzzle records proved to be tiring, thankless work. In any case, churning out the product was better left for the likes of Stock Aitken Waterman.

This review of "Don't Make Me Wait" is from the 28 June edition of Smash Hits. The single, however, wouldn't appear on the charts until just shy of two months later, debut at 20 in the last week of August. Did ver Hits get their copy too early? Did Bomb the Bass' record label Rhythm King decide to hold it back? Or were they trying to build up hype? It's impossible to say but it's more than a little odd that a "group" that was taking its time releasing records would have their hotly anticipated second single delayed.

There's another curiosity surrounding this release and that's the status of the other song. The single would eventually be released as "Megablast"/"Don't Make Me Wait" and was a double A-side. Somerville doesn't mention this other track, nor is its title printed on the singles review page. To be fair, I don't blame his nibbs from The Communards. "Don't Make Me Wait" is absolutely superb and it didn't need another tune on the flip to prop it up. A case could even be made that "Megablast" itself was more than good enough on its own and they wasted two potential Top Ten hits by throwing them onto the same record.

Being potentially viewed as "Beat Dis, Part 2" may have made those concerned cool towards "Megablast" so I suppose the more pop friendly "Don't Make Me Wait" had the upside of being something different and unexpected. That said, the former also had a radically different version with British rapper Merlin (who introduces it by asking "who's in the house?" which will crop up when he guested with The Beatmasters the following year) which could also have had single potential of its own. Nevertheless, the single version of "Megablast" is extraordinary and could have been the single of the year had it got the notice it deserved. It is an absolutely thrilling record with all the samples placed with care

Though I do prefer "Megablast" there's no arguing with "Don't Make Me Wait" either and the two could very well be the finest double A-side cut by anyone since The Beatles. With Lorraine McIntosh (not to be confused with the singer from Deacon Blue) on vocals, it has the appearance of a pop song but this can't disguise the devastating sounds within. Simenon would go off the rails slightly with the follow up — a cover of Aretha Franklin's "Say a Little Prayer" — but this once he found a balance between sample-heavy house and dance-pop. Somerville wants nothing more than to dance to it but it's also a great pop song that can be appreciated by those of us who have no interest in doing so. Though they were slow to take to the pop world, the house DJ's of the time proved more than capable of bringing the clubs and the raves into our homes.

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Also Reviewed This Fortnight

The Special AKA featuring Ndonda Khuze & Jonas Gwengwe: "Free Nelson Mandela"

A well-intentioned remake to mark Nelson Mandela's seventieth birthday but one that doesn't come close to the original "Nelson Mandela" from four years' earlier. There are some good ideas present and Jerry Dammers was right to bring in some African vocalists for this re-recording but it doesn't work. He may have been better off handing everything over to a crack group of singers and musicians from Africa to see what they could make of it. There's also a too-obvious attempt at keeping things current with some house music that just doesn't fit. The excitement of the original is nowhere to be found here but hopefully it still played well at the Mandela Tribute concert that summer.

The Communards: "Never Can Say Goodbye"

4 November 1987

"In fact they really should do this sort of thing more often."

— Richard Lowe

Not everyone can be a Dylanesque voice of a generation — and fewer still should ever bother trying to be one. Political figures in pop are supposed to be earnest folkies but they come in all shapes and sizes and play all kinds of music. Some don't even "look" particularly political and their best music may have nothing to do with protest whatsoever. The rise of Thatcher resulted in a lot of great anti-Tory pop but standing up to the Iron Lady shouldn't have been just for Billy Bragg and Paul Weller — and, indeed, the Red Wedge movement wouldn't have gotten very far had it been so limited. Jimmy Sommerville and Richard Coles represented the synth-pop side of political protest in the UK at the time when most of their colleagues were disinterested in getting heavily involved. The Communards weren't the most talented of synth acts but it's a credit to them that they devoted much of their time during their two year peak to socialist causes when they could've been doing more lucrative forms of promo. (Notably, they were probably the biggest group in Britain in the late eighties not to get a Smash Hits cover)

I have previously been down on The Communards in this space and with good reason since "Disenchanted" wasn't very good. They would go on to enjoy a massive number one success with their cover of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' "Don't Leave Me This Way" which seemed to put them in the company of Marc Almond, Simply Red and UB40 as acts that seemed to do better with other people's material than with their own. They weren't around long enough to fully descend into cover version hell but if they couldn't reach people with the so-so stuff that Jimmy Sommerville and Richard Coles wrote, they could always fall back on a standard. And quite right too. Their covers represented a creative step forward while their originals seemed to hold them back. 

Originally a hit for The Jackson 5 in 1971, "Never Can Say Goodbye" wasn't one of their more distinguished hits. Michael Jackson's youthful vigour on "I Want You Back" and "I'll Be There" is nowhere to be found and their recording just glides by. It sounds like a filler on one of their studio albums and it's surprising Motown deemed it good enough for single release. (The fact that it did as well as it did probably says as much about The Jacksons as a cash cow than the record itself) Gloria Gaynor's discofied cover is much better and it's clear that Sommerville was a fan. (It's also a welcome reminder that she had far more in her than "I Will Survive") Still, it sounds reigned in by seventies' dance music production orthodoxy. Can't anyone do this song and just let it all hang out?

Emulating Gaynor wasn't a difficult task for Sommerville but the spark of genius here was from whoever it was who figured the music should try to keep pace with the high octave vocalist. Sommerville often sounds out of place when attempting balladry or cod-reggae and the best solution is a hi-NRG recording that tries to be every bit as audacious. This is the music The Communards love to listen to but it is also fantasy of how they wish their favourite records would sound. The single's video  Admirably avoiding sticking to the safe formula that made "Don't Leave Me This Way" so big, they don't leave anything on the table as they go for a big dancefloor sound. The song's video presents Sommerville and Coles in a disco with several musicians who may or not have played on it but their performance quickly evolves into a giant discotheque rave up. Need a palette cleanser from all the agit-prop at a Red Wedge gig? "Never Can Say Goodbye" could rip a crowd into a frenzied ecstasy no matter their musical affiliation. Much like Stevie Wonder's epic "Another Star" on Songs in the Key of Life, it's the kind of dance track that you hope will never end.

Sommerville's political convictions were such that he didn't have to prove anything to anyone through the medium of his songs. "Smalltown Boy" had been his one truly successful issues number and it may have eaten at him that he hadn't been able to replicate it with The Communards. Yet, "Never Can Say Goodbye" indicates that his pop instincts had remained sharp. His partnership with Coles was soon to wind down and a solo album beckoned. It would only be at this stage that he was able to marry his gay rights activism with this kind of hook-leaden dance music. The result was "Read My Lips (Enough Is Enough)", another piece of dancefloor magic. 

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Also Reviewed This Fortnight

John "Cougar" Mellencamp: "Cherry Bomb"

He looked like a more put together Jon Bon Jovi with a voice even more rugged than Bruce Springsteen. John Mellencamp was never the superstar either of them were but 1987 was his year, especially if you happen to be from Canada where his album sold and sold and sold and where "Cerry Bomb", "Paper in Fire" and "Check It Out" were on a seemingly never-ending loop on the radio. He didn't make the same impact in Britain but it's nice to know that Richard Lowe is charmed by the Coug. Roots rockers love their nostalgia and few did it better. It certainly helped that Mellencamp had such an outstanding band to back him. Props in particular to Lisa Germano for some lovely violin. Maybe all those Canadian dads who bought The Lonesome Jubilee were on to something.

The Communards: "Disenchanted"

7 May 1986

"Proud, dignified and an excellent return to earlier form."

— Ian Cranna

As the classic synth-pop groups of the eighties go, The Communards don't feature especially prominently. They seemed to combine all the weaknesses of their competitors while lagging way behind in terms of strengths. Like Erasure, they took themselves too seriously but they lacked Andy Bell and Vince Clarke's songwriting chops. Like Soft Cell, they had to rely on a cover version to put them over the top but Jimmy Somerville was no frontman compared to Marc Almond. Like New Order, they presented to the public a dull, everyday image but were without those distinctive qualities of a Sumner or a Hooky to set them apart. Like the Pet Shop Boys, they weren't particularly showy but they cared little for playing the pop star game. Like Yazoo, they were a short-lived entity but one that failed to make the most of their moment. True, they had their political convictions but that hardly translates into sturdy pop.

Somerville had previously been in Bronski Beat, who enjoyed a worldwide smash with "Smalltown Boy" in 1984. It's one of those numbers that seems like it should have been even bigger but it has managed to remain in the public consciousness.  The "return to earlier form" that Ian Cranna alludes to is this very same band which must have made Somerville's newest group seem an offshoot project at the time — not only were they fronted by the same fun-sized, helium-voiced singer but keyboardist and future minister Richard Coles had also been an unofficial member of ver Beat. Both groups had members who were openly gay and were very much following the example of Tom Robinson by singing about it at every turn. Bronski, however, was a three piece and utilized many more talented figures in their work; The Communards were a duo with much less at their disposal.

I have to agree with Ian Cranna that "Disenchanted" is a definite step up from "You Are My World" which is over-lush and a prime example of how Somerville could make his very strong voice sound so unlistenable (the chorus is ghastly). Nevertheless, this follow-up is a dreary outing. No longer singing from the outsiders perspective, Somerville offers guidance and hope to a young outcast who could easily be the same character in "Smalltown Boy". His isn't a very insightful perspective but there's nothing wrong with a little tried and true homespun wisdom. And Somerville does a commendable job keeping his vocal histrionics in check. Where it goes wrong is the punchless tune. It drifts along, betraying the beats per minute as though it's meant to be a bedsit gay anthem divorced from the clubs and is far more restrained than it needs to be. Is it too much to expect to be thrilled by a record anymore? I might be inclined to agree with Cranna that it's "dignified" ('proud' would be a judgement call) but that's precisely the point: it holds itself back, doesn't reveal anything and is surprisingly conservative for something by a pair of hardcore lefties. And if the 'bedsit gay anthem' bit above seems like a fine prospect, I would offer up for consideration The Smiths: lyrics that really speak to human inadequacies, a real sense of a vocalist-listener connection and tunes to cherish. 

Where The Communards managed to connect was with their politics. Somerville had always been outspoken on gay rights — Bronski Beat had been formed around the idea that LGBTQ groups of the time weren't addressing their community in their music and felt that needed changing — and was now becoming more involved in the left in general. But where the likes of Billy Bragg and The Style Council could effectively communicate what they stood for through their music, Somerville and Coles needed to have something to stand on away from their recordings. "Once you get geared into pop music, Coles observes, "you become part of the thing you decried. Red Wedge was a career enhancing thing for us in a funny way and gave us more of a profile". It does a group with strong principles but some duff records good to be focusing on what they really cared about.

A retooled Bronski Beat were still doing well by this time but getting ver Nards going proved a slower prospect. "Disenchanted" crawled up just inside the Top 30, a modest single placing higher than the performance of "You Are My World". Clearly the Somerville-Coles originals weren't going to cut it and they'd need to fall back on a cover version. It worked spectacularly (more in terms of sales than actual song quality) but at the price of their own tunes never quite being able to cut it. They were much like all those great synth-pop groups only they weren't much cop for the most part.

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Also Reviewed This Fortnight

The Go-Betweens: "Head Full of Steam"

"Disenchanted" might have been an okay choice for SOTF if not for all the vastly superior records on offer. Kate Bush milking it in the best possible sense with "The Big Sky", OMD's powerful rockist workout "88 Seconds in Greensboro" ("B-side of the fortnight"), Pet Shop Boys' "Opportunities", Blancmange's "I Can See It" (synth-pop groups all showing Somerville and Coles how it's done) but the latest from The Go-Betweens tops 'em all. (And that's not even including the latest single from former Buzzcock Pete Shelley which I'll be dealing with before long) A taster for their great fourth album Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, "Head Full of Steam" has it all: intriguing and funny lyrics, addictive jangle pop, lovely harmonies and co-leaders Robert Forster and Grant McLennan in makeup, wigs and halter tops in the video. Their earlier work showed promise and this is where they begin delivering on it. Hot take: there wasn't a better group on Earth for the next three years.