November 1984. As we have previously seen, a decent enough month for the ‘proper’ singles chart, albeit there was still all sorts of rubbish polluting the air waves of radio stations. But what were the new 45s that might have been getting aired later at night on Radio 1 or perhaps were from folk whose start was no longer in the ascendancy and who were prone to getting completely ignored. Like this fella:-
Yup, he decided to drop his forename in 1984 for what was the first single to be released by Immaculate Records, a London-based indie-label whose perhaps best known act in later years would be One Thousand Violins, who would enjoy some indie chart success in the late 80s. For this one, Pete had Barry Adamson on board playing bass, but even that great man’s involvement can’t stop this being all just a bit ‘meh’.
mp3: The Ramones – Howling At The Moon (Sha La La)
It had been at lest four years since The Ramones had last enjoyed any sort of commercial success, and the band was losing a lot of love among fans and critics by making records that were a long way removed from their punk origins. For 1984’s Too Tough To Die, former member Tommy Ramone, under his real name of Thomas Erdelyi, was in the producer’s chair, and for the most part the critics proclaimed it as a return to form, albeit it would end up selling as poorly as Pleasant Dreams (1981) and Subterranean Jungle (1983). The one exception to the production duties was Howling At The Moon (Sha La La), which has Dave Stewart of Eurythmics at the controls. And yes, it ends up being as strange and confused in real life as it does on paper.
A few years back, all the XTC singles were looked at in some detail on the blog. This World Over was Part 20 of the series. Here’s what was said at the time by myself and others via the comments section (as it illustrates just how wonderful such contributions/observations have long been:-
JC : In an era when the protest song was again becoming hugely fashionable, XTC did things in a really understated way in which there was no rabble-rousing or sing-a-long chorus; instead it’s a melancholy and resigned number that sadly looks back at the aftermath of the bomb dropping on London as a parent tried to explain the madness of it all. It’s very listenable and has dated ok, but I should add it reminds me a bit of later-era The Police.
JTFL : In a continuing attempt to say something nice about XTC’s ’83”84 period, here goes: (a) another great sleeve by Partridge and (b) Moulding started using a Wal bass around this period and it sounds really good on this track. Otherwise, not too crazy for this song, with its minimal emphasis on guitar. Peter Phipps is solid as a timekeeper, but the drums are so up front in the mix that it seems like the band is playing around him.
Echorich : This is just a magical, melancholy tour de force. This World Over is tender and emotionally charged with a crescendo that builds leading ultimately to a sad resignation as the song ends. It is a song that ranks very high in the band’s canon for me and one that once heard, stays with me all day.
postpunkmonk: Hmm. Yeah, I guess there is a Police/Synchronicity sound to it all; albeit with better lyrics/performance. It’s on a whole different level of maturity and sophistication as compared to the Police, though I’ll concede the vibe.
Reached #99 in the ‘proper’ chart. Don’t recall ever hearing it on the radio.
mp3: A Certain Ratio – Life’s A Scream
Still ploughing a lonely furrow on Factory Records, with Anthony H Wilson never losing faith. This one has the catalogue number FAC 112 and was a 12″ release only, albeit there are 7″ white label and promo copies kicking around. It’s one of those rare beasts – a mid 80s number with mid 80s production/gimmickry that somehow has managed to date well.
mp3: Marc Almond – Tenderness Is A Weakness
Where Marc Almond’s first two solo singles had made small dents in the charts earlier in the year, the third and last selection lifted from the album Vermine In Ermine went nowhere. I think a lot of this is to do with timing. Joe and Josephine Public wanted the poppier side of Marc and weren’t geared up at all for the torch-like and dramatic sounding tunes that he would later find some success with, albeit often through cover versions such as Jacky (1991) and The Days of Pearly Spencer (1992). Tenderness Is A Weakness is one of the best of his early solo songs, and it’s a pity it’s not better known
mp3: Aztec Camera – Still On Fire
The second 45 taken from Knife. I’ll damn it with faint praise by saying it’s marginally better than All I Need Is Everything, the #34 hit from a few months earlier.
mp3: Goodbye Mr Mackenzie – Death Of A Salesman
I only learned of this one from its inclusion in The Great Indie Discography, the book by Martin C Strong that has provided almost all the info for the Part 2 sections of this series. It was recorded and released a full two years before GMM were signed to any sort of mainstream label, and it came about courtesy of a further education college in West Lothian which was running a pilot music industry course for students. It was a split 7″, on a label called Scruples, with the other track being Locked Inside Your Prison by Lindy Bergmann, of which and of whom I can tell you nothing despite me searching. Just 1,000 copies of the single were pressed, and while the music sounds quite unlike anything GMM would later release, there’s more than enough interest in it nowadays that it can fetch a more than decent sum on the few occasions a copy makes its way onto any second-hand market (and no, I don’t own a copy!)
mp3: The Jesus and Mary Chain – Upside Down
The debut single, and their only recording for Creation Records, before they signed to Blanco y Negro after being wooed by Geoff Travis of Rough Trade. The sleeves for the first 1,000 copies were in black with red words and listed an address to write to the band. Subsequent copies, without the band address, were produced in several colour variations including red, yellow, blue and pink. In 1985, the single was re-released by Creation with a totally different sleeve. It was again later reissued in November 2024, by Warner Brothers, in a red sleeve with white writing to mark its 40th anniversary and is reckoned, in total, to have sold over 50,000 copies without ever charting.
mp3: Buba and The Shop Assistants – Something To Do
The debut single from the band that would later become Shop Assistants was produced by Stephen Pastel and came out on Edinburgh-based Villa 21 Records. By the time the next single came out a year later, Buba had dropped from the name, singer Aggi had been replaced by Alex Taylor and they had a deal with The Subway Organisation in Bristol, albeit it didn’t last long.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 