Bad Manners – Bang The Drum All Day
Leisure Process – Cashflow
I Am Siam – Talk To Me (I Can Hear You Now)
The Hitmen – Bates Motel
All of these tracks are from the compilation, Wave Goodbye To The 80’s. This is a very strange record for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it came out in 1995. Five years removed from the 80s is too soon for nostalgia, and too late for decade-ending retrospective/greatest hits of the decade type thing.
But the weirdest thing about the album is its tracklist, a very bizarre assortment of lesser-known tracks by moderately established artists and bizarre deep cuts from underground acts that never even came close to the mainstream. Why would a label decide to throw Mi-Sex’s “Grafiti Crimes” on a decade retrospective? Was anyone in 1995 clamoring for a re-release of Freur’s “Doot Doot” aside obsessive Underworld fans? Probably not. No one wanted to hear Men At Work’s “Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive” ever again, I know that for sure.
The four tracks I’m sharing tonight are the four on the album that appear to still be out-of-print. The biggest of these is Bad Manners’ cover of “Bang The Drum All Day.” This track was on the band’s 1985 album Mental Notes. That wasn’t as big as the four that preceded it, but I’m surprised that it remains out of print on CD save for a late-90s UK only re-release. Perhaps the album has some rights issues. It’s a great cover!
The other three rarities are some real obscurities. “Cashflow” was a single by Leisure Process, a synth-pop duo who released several singles on Epic in the first half of the decade, but never an album proper. A lot of bands like that have had their singles compiled for retrospective compilations, but not Leisure Process. Only a couple of their songs have made their way to CD, and only on bizarre releases like this one. “Cashflow” is some good mid-tier synth-pop with a unique sound. It has that 80s sax, and a bouncy, almost ska-like beat, combined with some dissonant post-punk guitars and sardonic vocals. I get a poppy Romeo Void vibe from them.
Gary Barnacle made up one half of Leisure Process, and while you might not know his name, you almost certainly have albums he appeared on if you enjoy 80s music. Dude is on albums by Kim Wilde, The Clash, Tina Turner, Soft Cell, Visage…the list goes on. He has over 900 credits on Discogs. I like it when “failed” acts can find success behind the scenes.
I Am Siam were a synth-pop act from New York, which means their singer was either a UK transplant or he’s faking that accent Al Jorgensen With Sympathy style. “Talk To Me (I Can Hear You Now)” is some typical-ass typical mid-80s synth-pop. If you told me that this was Wang Chung, Simple Minds, Thompson Twins, or any other moderately decent act from the era, I’d believe you. It’s the kind of track that you dig while you’re listening to it, but immediately forget it five seconds into the next track on the album.
Finally, there’s “Bates Motel” by The Hitmen, the actual reason why I bought this album. I’ve been obsessed with this track ever since I found it on some MP3 blog in the mid-2000s. I don’t know which one, all those blogs are gone now (EXCEPT MINE). But ever since then I’ve been trying to score a decent-sounding recording of it. I first posted this track back in 2013, recording it off of a promo 12″ single. That rip wasn’t great since the record was pretty beaten up. Since then, I bought the band’s 1981 sophomore (and final) release Torn Together twice! Each time only to rip this track, but in both instances the album was too torn up to get a halfway decent rip.
I was shocked when I discovered that the track somehow made its way onto this CD compilation, so I paid two bucks for this CD (…and $14 in shipping) to get it. But it was worth it! I was fearful that the track was going to be a cheap vinyl rip, but it seems to have been taken from the master, or at least a decent tape source. It’s the best version of the song I’ve ever heard, crystal clear. If I can ever have a Halloween party again, I can finally put it on the playlist.
The Hitmen were really good. I can’t figure out why their stuff has never been re-released on CD. There was even some pedigree in the band. Alan Wilder from Depeche Mode was there for a bit (albiet not on their albums) and other members in the group went on to work with artists like Gladys Knight, Nick Lowe, Kristy MacColl, and Allison Moyet. Have you seen some of the stuff that re-issue labels like Cherry Red put out? If acts like Dollar and Shoes can get their completely forgotten albums re-issued in deluxe box sets, the The Hitmen should get their stuff re-released too. That shit ain’t right.
Seriously, who is Dollar?
*goes to Wikipedia*
Wait, they had 10 top 40 singles in the UK? Listen, UK, someone needed to stage an intervention with you guys in the 80s. You took this shit too far. This is how you ended up with Living In A Box. You got no one to blame for that shit but yourself.
The “Living in Oblivion” comps started hitting the various artist bins starting in 1994.
Thanks for this, weird selection indeed. But the whole Risky Business series are kind of odd, I have several of those CDs… Unusual track listing (blindly selected?), limited playing time (around 40 min. for a CD!), shoddy cover art and virtually no liner notes! Still, it has a kind of charme…
Thank you for sharing these. I saw you mention the Hitmen track on your Twitter and wanted to hear it.
Bad Manners were a comedy band who resorted to covers when the hits dried up. There is no demand for any of their old stuff. But you are right with the Hitmen though it is a puzzle as to why Cherry Red or Cherry Pop record label hasn’t looked at them.
Dollar, by the way were huge in Japan back in the day because the singers were both short and blond and when they visited there people couldn’t get enough of them. You’ve see photos of Theresa Bazar so you can see why they were popular in the UK
Oh man, I’ve been looking for a good-sounding version of Bates Motel forever too! Thanks, you rule!!
One of Dollar’s albums was produced by Trevor Horn. I reckon I have almost everything Trevor Horn produced, even t.A.T.u. albums, apart from that one, although Martin Fry said it that was what made him ask for Trevor Horn to produce the wonderful Lexicon of Love.