Bryan Evans - Turnaround Sunday/ Re-united

 

Glam-tinged gospel from Mumbles star of the stage

Label: Columbia

Year of Release: 1972

We've stumbled briefly upon Bryan Evans before on this blog, documenting his unexpected efforts to de-campify the Howard and Blaikley glam flop "Don'tcha Like Boys" and turn it into a chart sensation. He failed miserably, of course, but had the project been launched a few years earlier than 1978 he may well have been on to something. Timing is everything in pop.

For most of the seventies, though, Evans was an ever-present background figure in light entertainment, appearing in West End productions and also having a long recording career across multiple record labels, starting with CBS in 1971 and finishing with EMI International in 1979. It's rare for an unsuccessful artist to be given so many chances by the music business, and it's usually a display of enormous faith in their abilities, suggesting that Evans was seen as a highly polished performer capable of competing with the big boys (and girls) of the day. 

"Turnaround Sunday" was actually his third single and first for Columbia after a two-single stint with CBS. It's an interesting mix of styles, combining happy clappy gospel influences with a faint tinge of glam. The first time I played this, I accidentally left my laptop speaker on and ended up hearing the track with an unintentional and tinny slap of reverb delay, and when I found out it wasn't supposed to sound like that and the extra high-end slap was just due to my own absent-mindedness, I was faintly disappointed - but still, even without such gimmicks the track has its own euphoric stomp.

Reupload - Bryan Evans - Dont'cha Like Boys/ I Cry For Me

 

Camp glam classic given a straighter approach

Label: Pye
Year of Release: 1978

Keen "Left and to the Back" readers will know that some months ago, I uploaded Starbuck's "Do You Like Boys?" for everyone's delight and delectation. There's much more about the flop disc here (beneath the blurb about the equally fascinating Prowler single) but in a nutshell, it was a gay glam rock record which failed to pick up much radio airplay. "Do you go for a mean, aggressive bear?" Starbuck asked their listeners forcefully.

The plot gets much thicker, because a full five years after that single flopped, Bryan Evans decided to have another bash at making it a hit, albeit with Howard and Blaikley's original lyrics dramatically altered to obscure the original reading. Gone are the references to homosexual attraction, and instead the song could be interpreted as Bryan selling himself as something of a ladies man, seemingly questioning whether the woman of his desires is either asexual or a lesbian. "Dont'cha Like Boys?" he asks, while squealing analogue synths go off around him like personal attack alarms. Of course, if you've heard the Starbuck original first, it's hard to hear the question in quite such a way, and it still manages to seem flamboyant and camp. The directness is lost, and it's become an object of ambiguity instead.

It's a baffling addition to the Howard and Blaikley canon, but you can't blame them for trying to turn a brilliant single into a proper hit. By 1978, though, the analogue keyboard sounds and stomping glam beats really were yesterday's news, and it stood not a hope in hell. A shame, as this is a spirited and different approach which at another point might have lead to success.

Bryan Evans - Dont'cha Like Boys/ I Cry For Me

Label: Pye
Year of Release: 1978

Keen "Left and to the Back" readers will know that in July of last year, I uploaded Starbuck's "Do You Like Boys?" for everyone's delight and delectation. There's much more about the flop disc here (beneath the blurb about the equally fascinating Prowler single) but in a nutshell, it was a gay glam rock record which failed to pick up much radio airplay. "Do you go for a mean, aggressive bear?" Starbuck asked their listeners forcefully.

The plot gets much thicker, because a full five years after that single flopped, Bryan Evans decided to have another bash at making it a hit, albeit with Howard and Blaikley's original lyrics dramatically altered to obscure the original reading. Gone are the references to homosexual attraction, and instead the song could be interpreted as Bryan selling himself as something of a ladies man, seemingly questioning whether the woman of his desires is either asexual or a lesbian. "Dont'cha Like Boys?" he asks, while squealing analogue synths go off around him like personal attack alarms. Of course, if you've heard the Starbuck original first, it's hard to hear the question in quite such a way, and it still manages to seem flamboyant and camp. The directness is lost, and it's become an object of ambiguity instead.

It's a baffling addition to the Howard and Blaikley canon, but you can't blame them for trying to turn a brilliant single into a proper hit. By 1978, though, the analogue keyboard sounds and stomping glam beats really were yesterday's news, and it stood not a hope in hell. A shame, as this is a spirited and different approach which at another point might have lead to success.

As for who Bryan Evans is or was, he had a string of 45s out in the seventies on a variety of labels from CBS to EMI, including a much-fancied (by collectors) version of Cream's "We're Going Wrong" - but beyond the fact that he briefly worked with Giorgio Moroder, I've struggled to identify him. If you have any clues, please leave me a comment below.