A very quick follow-up to some of the comments offered up in respect of yesterday’s edition of Shakedown, 1979.
Flimflamfan. It really did surprise me that Rainbow were responsible for your favourite new 45 back in September 1979. It’s not one that I care much for, and I certainly have never owned a copy, physically or digitally, but given that you are such a wonderful supporter and contributor to the blog, how could I not find a way of getting my hands on this.
mp3: Rainbow – Since You’ve Been Gone
It’s also dedicated to WinterInMayPark who considers the song to be ‘perfect pop rock’.
One of the anonymous contributors offered up this intriguing comment:-
“Hitting the charts at number 66 in September 1979 was what John Peel described as his “single of the decade”: ‘There must be thousands’ by the Quads. Sadly, it never threatened the top 40 despite plenty of airplay.”
I have to be honest and say that I can’t recall the song whatsoever. It had a two-week stay in the charts, coming in at #75 on the week of 16-22 September, and reaching the afore-mentioned giddy heights of #66 the following week. It was the only time the band had a hit single:-
mp3: The Quads – There Must Be Thousands
I’ve turned to wiki for the skinny.
“The Quads were a new wave band from Birmingham, England, active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The band was formed in Birmingham by three brothers, Josh Jones, Colin “Jack” Jones and Terry “Johnny” Jones, plus bassist Jim Doherty.
Their 1979 debut single There Must Be Thousands was a favourite of the BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who selected it as his “single of the decade!” Josh Jones later described the recording of “There Must Be Thousands”:
“It was a grass roots protest and two fingers to the corporate record company stranglehold on the industry. We recorded our ‘hit single’ in the cellar of a house for 30 quid and then a ‘proper’ studio to get a decent vocal sound, taking the total cost to a heady 130 pounds.”
Despite receiving considerable airplay on the main BBC Radio 1 daytime programmes, “There Must Be Thousands” only reached No. 66 in the UK singles chart, but in 2001 John Peel still listed it as one of his all-time favourite records. Then, in 2013, to coincide with its use on a promotional video by natural skincare company JooMo, the track was re-released by Big Bear Records.
The band released further singles, including Gotta Getta Job, which they performed during the People’s March for Jobs in 1981, a march in which they took part. They continued to perform until the mid-1980s, when Doherty left. They reformed in the 1990s and made further recordings but they were not released.
Josh Jones later moved to Auckland, New Zealand and became an Anglican priest, while still creating and recording new music”
Can’t say that I agree with John Peel’s take on it………
And as I’m doing my best to keep readers happy, I’ll offer up some Kate Bush tunes from the On Stage EP, which came into the chart of 9-15 September at #35, eventually peaking at #10 during a nine-week stay in the Top 75.
mp3 : Kate Bush – Them Heavy People (live)
mp3 : Kate Bush – Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake (live)
mp3 : Kate Bush – James And The Cold Gun (live)
mp3 : Kate Bush – L’Amour Looks Something Like You (live)
The price, however, is to court controversy by re-posting something that was originally featured on the old blog in August 2010 and on the current blog in January 2017.
“The thing is, while browsing in a second hand vinyl emporium a wee while back, I came across a copy of a 1979 EP, and given it was going for £2, I thought it worth giving a listen to again all these years later.
It has four live tracks, all recorded at a London gig in May 1979. This turned out to be the only time that Kate Bush ever toured in her entire career*, although over the years there would be sporadic live appearances, either solo or as alongside a whole range of other performers, suggesting that it wasn’t a fear of playing live that she suffered from.
The four songs all originally featured on The Kick Inside or Lionheart, her first two LP
So as it is spinning round the USB Turntable and doing whatever thing it is gadgetry wise to turn the tracks into instant mp3s, I’m thinking to myself…….this is shite.
It just feels as if it is music played by top-notch session players incapable of hitting a bum note, but who are just as incapable of adding any meaning or feeling to a song. It’s got wanky solos all the way through as well, and the sort of music that punk/new wave/post-punk was determined to banish forever (not that they ever had a chance of succeeding).
I’ve recently read reviews of that six-week tour that Kate Bush undertook in 1979 and by just about every account, it seems to have been an event that was ahead of its time with its use of theatre and dance and multi-median innovations including the use of a head-mic. But tucked away in the middle of such reviews, you cotton-on to the fact that the musicians were drilled to the Nth degree with no room at all for improvisation. It sounds as if it was more akin to going along to a musical than a gig…….and I reckon that’s what comes across on the tracks on the EP. They lack any real depth or soul……but I bet they were astonishing if witnessed in the flesh.
Oh well. I’ve said it.
Bring on the brickbats.
* written and published years before the London residency of 2015 which so many got really excited about.”
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 