So, what about those marvellous singles released in May 1979 that didn’t bother the charts. There’s a couple of personal favourites in here….
mp3: The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry
Seven years after its initial release, this wonderful 45 got to #22 when it was reissued in support of a Greatest Hits package. It’s not that The Cure had few fans in the UK, but they had shown they were more likely to buy the debut album, Three Imaginary Boys (#44) than they were for any singles, with this failing to chart in much the same way as the debut Killing An Arab.
Another 45 whose time would eventually come. The 1979 release on Hansa Records sunk without trace, a rare misfire for anything associated with Giorgio Moroder. By 1982, Japan had become popular thanks to the album Tin Drum and its associated singles, all of which came out on Virgin Records. Those involved over a Hansa weren’t slow to miss a trick, and three singles from the 79 era – I Second That Emotion, Life In Tokyo and European Son – together with a compilation album, Assemblage, were put into the shops, with all of them subsequently charting.
Lara Logic had been the saxophonist with X-Ray Spex, but chose to leave the band after the debut single Oh Bondage Up Yours. She then formed Essential Logic, for whom she also provided lead vocals. Virgin Records signed the band and an eponymous EP was released in May 1979 to no fanfare at all. Wake Up was the lead track. The band would move to Rough Trade before the year was out.
Talking of Rough Trade….
mp3: Stiff Little Fingers – Gotta Getaway
A great largely forgotten post-punk 45 that was later polished up and re-recorded for inclusion on the 1980 album Nobody’s Heroes by which time Stiff Little Fingers had moved to the bosom of a major label in the shape of Chrysalis.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 