Geoff Gill turns his studio skills to actress/singer Mandy Montgomery
Label: Rocket
Year of Release: 1982
Let's all take a brief moment to drink in that sleeve, shall we? The fascination with all things Futuristic in the late seventies and early eighties saw some interesting styles and designs being used which dated quickly despite everyone's best intentions. The calculator styled font on this sleeve would be one prime example, then there's the clothes and backdrop for Montgomery herself. I'm not sure I quite understand what's happening here - did someone have an interesting premonition about a Dyson hoover? - but full credit to her for managing to rise above it all and seem extremely charismatic and confident. You notice Mandy's powerful gaze before you really look at any of the other "stuff".
Of course, it's the contents inside the sleeve we should be more concerned about, and perhaps also another credit on the label. Geoff Gill was an ex-member of sixties group The Smoke as well as a house musician at Morgan Studios in London, cropping up on all manner of celebrated popsike ditties of the period. Later, he would go on to write "Heartbreaker" for Pat Benatar as well as see his sixties psych classic "My Friend Jack" covered by Boney M, both of which must have kept him in reasonable royalties ever since.
This is an interesting outlier in his later career, though, which is seemingly an attempt to score a synth-drenched rock hit with an aspiring young performer. "In My Fantasy" wants to have its cake and eat it, filled with soft rock hooks and flourishes, but also a lot of synthetic space-age whooshing noises and propulsive bleeps. If it has an obvious influence, it would probably be Kim Wilde, but interestingly a middle-eight hovers into view which sounds faintly like the Blake's Seven theme (which would remain untouched again until Pulp used it as a reference point in the nineties). It's a reasonable piece of work, just not quite good enough to cut through the piles of innovation occurring throughout 1982, probably one of pop music's finest years.
Elton John obviously thought enough of it to push it out on to his Rocket label, but it clearly sold poorly and no follow-ups were attempted. Montgomery continues to be a draw on the live circuit in the north with her group Mandy Montgomery's Angels. She specialises in rock, blues, country and soul, and I have to wonder if the flip here "Sail Away" is more in keeping with her usual style.
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