Archive for the ‘The Hit Men’ Category

The Hitmen and other obscurities (special appearance by Bad Manners)

Monday, February 15th, 2021

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.

Posted in The Hit Men | 5 Comments »

Song About Serial Killers and Nuclear War

Sunday, October 27th, 2013

I wrote a thing about soundtracks (again) at Mostly-Retro if you’re interested. And I also did a quick write-up about an awesome arcade in San Francisco that you should check out.

Now for awesome songs by bands you’ve probably never heard of.

The Hitmen
Bates Motel
After exhausting the rarities collections of just about every well-known new wave artist worth my time, I think I’m finally going to have to start crate digging for the forgotten side-notes of the era. I’m sure there were a ton of great new wave acts out there that got lost in the shuffle, and I intend on finding them. I’ve already done this a bit in the past. I’ve written numerous times on the brilliance of Polyrock, and about half of Urgh! is a who’s who of “who’s that?” from the 80s post-punk and new wave scenes, but I really have to start digging deeper. So if anyone has any suggestions, please shoot them my way. And yes, I am aware of Lost Bands of the New Wave Era, and am currently combing their archives. I’m also on the lookout for every band that’s tangentially related to my favorite unsung new wave act, The Wild Swans, so I’m already on the aware of Care, Teardrop Express, Lotus Eaters, The Woodentops and The Lightning Seeds.

And of course there are The Hitmen, a band I already kind of knew thanks to their appearance on one of the 101 Records compilations I found a few years back (which I’ll be re-uploading as well as a third compilation in the coming months). From the comments that post got, I know that The Hitmen put out two albums, and that at one point Depeche Mode’s Alan Wilder was in the group, but I don’t think he recorded anything with them either than a single. Their track on the 101 album is “She’s All Mine,” and while it’s a pretty good tune, it’s also pretty generic. It sounds like a pub rock reject from a Dave Edmunds jam session, or like I said back when I wrote about I the first time, an Elvis Costello b-side.

“Bates Motel,” on the other hand, is pretty great. It was a single off of the band’s second (and last) LP and even had a video that made it to MTV at some point.

There aren’t a lot of horror-themed new wave tracks, in fact I can’t think of any at the moment (although I’m sure I’ll be corrected on that shortly), so “Bates Motel” is a pretty unique track that’s worth a listen. It definitely makes me want to track down a copy of the album from which it came to see if there’s anything else on it worth hearing.

Fay Ray
Heatwave
Modern Lovers
Fay Ray are another band who should have made it big but didn’t. They only released one album, Contact You, in 1982 and that was it. Like The Hitmen, I discovered them on a 101 Live compilation, but unlike The Hitmen, I can tell I’m not the only person on the Internet to become someone obsessed with them. They were showcased on Lost Bands of the New Wave era, and they continue to pop up on other blogs dedicated to lesser-known acts (this one included). I routinely read rumors that Contact You is going to get a CD re-release with bonus cuts, but after reading that for six years, I’m starting to have doubt that will ever happen. Still, I don’t want to post the entire album in case it does, so I thought I would post these album highlights instead.

“Heatwave” is the clear standout track on the LP, and was the closest thing the group had to a hit, probably in part to their awesome video for the tune. As new wave tracks about nuclear war go, it’s pretty great. Not as great, but still killer is “Modern Lovers.” It’s the most upbeat track on the album, and it also has a video, one that is also sublimely 80s in all the best ways.

Posted in Fay Ray, The Hit Men | 6 Comments »

Band’its At Ten O’Clock – Bands Featured At The 101 Club

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

 

Band’its At Ten O’clock is another 101 release that came out the same year as Live Letters. Unlike that album, this record is a collection of studio cuts and not live records. But it’s equally, if not more so, impressive and well worth the listen today.

The Scene
All People Go Mad
You like mod music? These guys sure did. This album came out in 1980, but this song sounds like it was ripped straight out of the late-60s. Great stuff, very soulful and fun. I don’t know how these guys didn’t manage to get a deal with Stiff Records. As it was, they never put out a proper album, just a couple 7″ singles and one 12″ before vanishing forever. A shame.

The Hit Men
She’s All Mine
If  you told me that this was really an Elvis Costello b-side I would believe you. The singer even kind of sounds like him. Who were these guys? With a name as vague as “The Hit Men,” its kind of hard to track them down online.  From what I can tell they did seem to put out two albums. Anyone know if they’re any good? This song is great.

The V.I.P.’s
Causing Complications
This song is catchy as hell! Amazing harmonies and a great beat. Once again, I couldn’t find much about this group, but they did put out enough singles and have enough of a following to have gotten a compilation release in the late 90s. If their other songs were as great as this one then I’m definitely going to have to pick it up.

The Piranhas
Yap Yap Yap
First wave ska! I love early ska. It all should have stopped with Madness. Fucking Bosstones…anyways, these guys only put out one record, which has never seen the light of day on CD. Bummer too. This is another great track. Damn, can this album do any wrong?

Real To Real
White Man Reggae
Yes, yes it can. British white boys should not attempt reggae, even if one of them is Alan Wilder. That’s right, Alan Wilder from Depeche Mode was in a white reggae group.  I bet if you walked up to him with a Real To Real 7″ single (they released a few) he’d break it in two and offer you $20 never to tell anyone about it ever again. Yikes.

Holly And the Italians
Chapel Of Love
And we’re back on track with this number, a great cover of The Ronnettes classic. Holly And The Italians were an American group based in the UK (I’ll give you a second to wrap your head around that) and they released just one album, 1981’s The Right To Be Italian. It was re-released on CD and digitally in 2008, and judging by the cavalcade of positive reviews it has on Amazon, it apparently has a small but very devoted following.

Electric Eels
Thoroughly Modern
Slightly glam-influenced synthpop. I have no idea who these guys are. Anyone got an idea? They released a couple of 7″ singles before apparently selling their keyboards and vanishing into the night.

Jane Kennaway & Strange Behaviour
Catch Cool
Another unknown who released a few singles before vanishing. Catching a pattern here? Jane’s voice reminds me a little bit of Toyah Wilcox, but her sound is far more aggressive and downbeat.

Thompson Twins
Squares And Triangles
This sounds nothing like the Thompson Twins who brought us the 80s hits “Hold Me Now” and “Lies” and that’s probably because it literally is not that band. Because while most people know of the Thompson Twins as a trio featuring Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway, there were about a billion people in that group before it finally settled on that line-up. I have no idea which line-up is featured here, but I wish they would have recorded more music, I dig this stuff a hell of a lot more than their poppy stuff.

Wang Chung
Baby I’m Hu-Man
The Wang Chung tracks on Live Letters had one foot in New Wave, but they were also clearly embracing their pop tendanices as well. On “Baby I’m Hu-Man,” Wang Chung (still going by Huang Chung) are still way into a new wave sound reminscint of Joy Division and early Cure, at least until the sax solo kicks in at the end.

If these early Wang Chung recordings have taught me anything is that you can’t simultaneously be “edgy” and have a sax player in your band.

Comsat Angels
Independence Day
More sparse, minimal pop from the Joy Division school, and according to some they were even better. They have a surprisingly in-depth Wikipedia entry, and out-of-print CD re-issues of their albums go for a mint on Amazon. I’m going to try and track down some of their stuff on vinyl, because this song is great, probably my favorite track on this record.

Wasted Youth
Jealousy
No, not the LA hardcore punk rock band (that would be weird). This Wasted Youth was from east London and kind of sound like a mix between good Lou Reed and the Young Marble Giants. This is a sad song, but I’ll be damned it if doesn’t sound adorable as all get out. I want to hug it.

Posted in Complete Albums, Comsat Angels, Electric Eels, Holly And The Italians, Jane Kennaway, Real To Real, The Hit Men, The Piranhas, The Scene, The V.I.P.'s, Thompson Twins, Wang Chung, Wasted Youth | 10 Comments »