Sometimes there’s only so much can be said about a singer or band due up in this series that it’s easier to go back and repeat what was said on the one occasion they’ve featured previously on the blog. From 17 May 2014, which itself relied on wiki:-
Positive Noise were a new wave and synthpop band from Scotland who had a number of indie hits in the 1980s. They released three albums and several singles and were together for over five years.
The band was formed in 1979 by Ross Middleton (vocals), his brothers Graham Middleton (keyboards, vocals) and Fraser Middleton (bass guitar, vocals), Russell Blackstock (guitar, vocals), and Les Gaff (drums).
Their first released material was two tracks (“Refugees” and “The Long March”) on the Statik label compilation album Second City Statik in 1980, and they followed this with two singles on Statik in 1981, both of which were top-ten hits on the UK Independent Chart.
Début album Heart of Darkness was released in May 1981, after which Ross left to form the short-lived Leisure Process, with Blackstock taking over on lead vocals. Heart of Darkness peaked at number four on the independent chart, and the band’s second album, Change of Heart (1982), also charted, reaching number 21. They released a third and final album, Distant Fires, in 1985, now with John Telford on drums and John Coletta on guitar, but their earlier success was not repeated and they split up shortly afterwards.
Ross Middleton had earlier worked as a music journalist, writing for Sounds under the pen name Maxwell Park.
I’ve one single on vinyl – Give Me Passion, released in 1981 on Statik but not included on the debut album. I’ve picked up a digital copy of the 12″ version of a follow-up single, also from 1981 and which would appear on the album, Change of Heart, the following year.
mp3: Positive Noise – Positive Negative (12″ version)
mp3: Positive Noise – Energy
It’s not the worst example of early 80s synth-pop that you’ll ever come across but there’s not really enough to have made it stand out in what was an increasingly crowded market back then. It’s also got that early 80s thing of where perhaps too much of the kitchen sink has been thrown at the extended version.
Worth also mentioning that the previous time the band appeared on the blog, a few folk left comments indicating they had seen them as the support act for one or more of the chart acts with Toyah, Hazel O’Connor and Ultravox all getting a mention. It would seem that they were a decent enough live band. It’s a strange one for me in that I do remember a lot of positive (pardon the pun) coverage in the Glasgow papers and airplay on Radio Clyde, the local commercial station, but I never ever took to them.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 