aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser
#058: Martha & The Muffins– ‘Echo Beach’ (Dindisc ’80)
Good morning friends,
today our singles-journey (thinking about this term: it sounds like a weekend trip of desperate middle-aged losers from the village into the big city. Which, of course, can’t be more far from the truth!) takes us to Canada, to Toronto in fact. Toronto is a place which has a certain meaning to our humble host, JC, but no: he did not put any pressure on me in putting this record in, I always liked it, and I still do … despite the fact that it has been a big hit and everything.
There are of course nerds or purists who automatically rule out a song just because it had some brief chart success. Mrs. Loser often accuses me of the very same behaviour, but obviously she does not know what I know: 99.9 percent of what’s in the charts these days is utter rubbish. Bring in something really good there and I will approve of it, promised!
As I would have done in 1980, when Martha and The Muffins lifted today’s song from their debut album ‘Metro Music’. Now, if you ask me, ‘Metro Music’ is one of those tragic cases where the success of the single fully overshadowed the excellence of the album. If you don’t know it yet, do yourself a favour and get your hands on it. It can easily be found for small money in nearly every second-hand crate on your preferred flea-market, I would think. It really is a listenable album (still today) which does not only live from Martha Johnson’s wonderful voice, but also from some great dynamic melodies. Comparisons to Blondie are, or rather: have been back then, so I assume, inevitable somehow.
But either way, another underrated record, this. Plus: sleeve design by Peter Saville, for you Factory-completists!
It’s fair to say though that it was the right decision to release ‘Echo Beach’ as the single from ‘Metro Music’ – it is the best number on the record, I would think. Again, the tune has everything a good tune needs: musically, but also lyrically. I mean, don’t we all have a place where we’d rather be sometimes, even if it doesn’t exist in real life? Apparently Mark Gane, the guitarist with the band, had such a place in mind when he wrote ‘Echo Beach’, but, unlike us, he had the chance to have it immortalized by one of the finest songs ever:
mp3: Martha & The Muffins – Echo Beach
As JC will surely be able to confirm: the map shown on the cover of the Canadian and US version of the single is of the eastern part of Toronto, including the Beaches neighborhood, the Leslie Street Spit, and a portion of the Toronto Islands.
All other versions though, mine as well (from Portugal of all places) – they show Dorset’s bloody Chesil Beach! Which is probably a nice place to go to, but still: come on …. !
Take care,
Dirk
JC adds……
The sleeve for the US/Canadian release of the 45 (on Dindisc/Virgin) did indeed have a different sleeve, with a map of the south-east area of Toronto, taking in part of the Beaches area, a community I spent a fair bit of time during my time working there in 2007 – and indeed when I went back to the city in 2013 as part of my 50th birthday celebrations, accompanied by my brother SC, and my two dear friends Aldo and Jacques the Kipper, we visited the Islands and the Beaches area as they are both well worth the effort).
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Cannot overstate how crucial this tune was in the NYC clubs. And I still remember my sister singing “from9to5ihavetospendmytimeatwork” from her bedroom on the other side of the wall. An absolute classic. Far away in time…
Absolutely fully worth its place in any list. This was on repeat play in Potterrow union bar in Edinburgh during my student days and the sound of it brings back so many memories, I can smell the beer soaked carpet, the clouds of dope smoke from the discreet booths, the botulism-infused chilli con carne… Thank you Sexy Loser!
Robert Forster does a pretty poor version of this on his disowned covers album. Fraser’s 80s Potterrow memories are very familiar (I would add the perpetual scowl of Tam the barman), although my food poisoning incident came from the sweet ‘n’ sour.
chaval
A song that has transcended time and generations. It’s long been a fave of my eldest daughter as well as myself and MrsRobster.
Of course the band featured another Martha…. everyone’s favourite muffin… keyboardist Martha Ladly. Ms Ladly went on to design sleeves with Peter Saville for many Factory bands. Ms Ladly not content with this string on her bow, joined the classic 1982 Associates line-up and did lots of TOTP’s and promo clips with them. Ms Ladly also dropped a couple of stonking singles off her own bat plus plenty of other collaborations. She is a professor at Ontario College of Art and design.
I first heard Echo Beach about two years ago – exactly at this place. It was part of a guest mix called Phew…What a Scorcher!!. I liked the song so much that I dared to write a little note (I chose Echo Beach as my favourite of the mix). Today I was very happy to hear it again. In German I would summarize it in the following way: “Ich freue mich über Echo Beach immer wie Bolle.” [sk]
Love Martha + The Muffins! I have the US LP, the US CD, and 2 US 7” singles (promo w/mono mix, commercial) as well as the UK 7”. So much good music from Gane and Johnson over the years. Martha Johnson now has Parkinson’s but still keeps musically active. Blonde like? In having a singer with an XX chromosome. I feel the two bands were worlds apart musically. Blondie were intellectual with a strong kitsch undercurrent. No kitsch at all in Martha + The Muffins. Both did have a dryly sardonic vein, I’ll admit.
Love this track as well as M+M’s. If readers have not listened to their 2nd Lp (This is The Ice Age) & their 3rd Lp (Danseparc), jump on them pronto’. Thank you VV… Muddy Mike