The Bic - Musica Pop

7" Single, released in 1983

The Bic - Musica Pop (A-Side)

The Bic - Go Jo (B-Side)

This was the first single released by Go! Discs, famously the label of The Housemartins, The Beautiful South, The La's and, um, The Southernaires...

Vocalist Bric Brack appeared on a couple of other things, but this was a one-off - and pretty fun - single.

John Adams - Through The Eyes Of Love

7" Single, released in 1985

John Adams - Through The Eyes Of Love (A-Side)

John Adams - Don't Turn And Walk Away (B-Side)

Here's the solo 1985 single from Private Lives front man John Adams, produced by Andy Taylor of Duran Duran.

RAH Band - Sweet Forbidden

7" Single, released in 1986

RAH Band - Sweet Forbidden (A-Side)

RAH Band - Perfect Stranger (B-Side)

Eclectic and idiosyncratic, Richard Hewson's RAH Band flitted around the UK pop scene from the late seventies, enjoying a couple of sizeable hits - including "Clouds Across The Moon", a Top Ten smash which lead to a memorable Top Of The Pops performance including a Logan's Run-inspired 'Intergalactic operator'.

After releasing several singles from the resultant Mystery album, "Sweet Forbidden" was the first of a number of stand alone single releases, and after being dropped from RCA, their follow up album Something About The Music remained unreleased until appearing on iTunes a couple of years ago.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but personally I find it easy to warm to Liz Hewson's delightfully unaffected vocals. The band has a website and a Facebook page.

Random 80's Wednesday

Haven't done one of these for a while!

Figure 5 - Paradise (from Born To Vacation, 1985)
The MPs - Lavender Time (from Beater Release, 1987)
Black - It's Easy (Peel Session, 1982)
Naffi - D'Ya Hear Me (7" Single, 1981)
Some Now Are - Truth To Tell (7" Single, 1983)

Rent Boys - Kick Down The Door

7" Single, released in 1980

Rent Boys - Kick Down The Door (A-Side)

Rent Boys - Feeling Ice (B-Side)

For quite a long time I thought the Private Lives single, "Where Do I Go", was the earliest by John Adams and the band. Then I read about a year or so ago that "Kick Down The Door" was an earlier single released in the same year under a different name. In my continuing quest* to track down all the John Adams/Private Lives material I've noted the various different styles the man managed to commit to vinyl. Here John and co jump on the Police/pop reggae bandwagon. I believe I now have all the John Adams related singles from 1980 to 1987, so it's about time to put some sort of compilation together. You're welcome.

*like Star Trek, but without any kind of prime directive.

The Big Supreme - Please Yourself

7" Single, released in 1987

The Big Supreme - Please Yourself (A-Side)

The Big Supreme - Keep On Pushing (B-Side)

More pop merriment from Big Supremo Barry Flynn. I may have posted these tracks before, but I only just acquired the original vinyl - released just about exactly thirty years ago - so here's a fresh new set. This one actually had the song words printed in No. 1 magazine - but steered clear of the charts. The only Big Supreme single I don't have is "Let's Turn Our Love Around" which I think was the last one.

Lypbox - My House

7" Single, released in 1988

Lypbox - My House (A-Side)

Lypbox - This Town (B-Side)

I wasn't familiar with Lypbox before finding this single listed on eBay recently. It caught my eye looking as it does a bit like the great This Other Eden singles from the late eighties.  I'm not sure but they may have been a Cambridge based band, with this their only release.