Label: Logo
Year of Release: 1980
A total mystery, this one - a record which, according to most vinyl cataloguing sites online, doesn't even exist. Naturally, scarcity is no guarantee of value and I managed to pick it up for less than the price of a glossy magazine.
As you might suspect, "Over My Head" is a cover of the Fleetwood Mac track, only given a particularly sultry Marshall Hain treatment. Electronic keyboards coo underneath a shuffling rhythm and a male and female duet, and it sounds slightly more date-stamped than the original. This kind of hushed, silky smooth, slightly dancefloor orientated MOR was all over the late-night FM airwaves during the late seventies and very early eighties, and brings to mind the sleeve (and occasionally music) of the K-Tel compilation "Night Moves". That it's stylistically firmly locked in that era doesn't render it irrelevant, however - I've a sneaking appreciation for this single, and if I'd ever been sleazy enough to have a bedroom seduction tape, I'm sure it might have made its way on. And I'm sure it would have improved my prospects with the opposite sex little.
The Crying Shames are also a mystery, and for reasons more intriguing than usual. They appear to have only had one other single out on Logo (although as this one was largely unaccounted for by the Internet, there may be others hidden away). Entitled "That's Rock 'n' Roll", it was credited as featuring Andy Taylor, who online auctioneers and record dealers alike have always assumed was occasional "Left and to the Back" reader Andy Taylor out of Duran Duran. However, he has consistently denied any involvement. As the single also pre-dates the release of their debut single "Planet Earth" by six months, it's also unlikely that a credit for his work would have given the record any particular advantages even if he had worked his way on to the track then subsequently forgotten the entire session.
Anyway, if you know more, drop me a comment. And Happy New Year! There are lots of interesting records coming up over the next few weeks, so please stick with us.
