One-off EMI 45 from Ska revivalists
Label: Parlophone
Year of Release: 1980
This record acts as a good consumer trap if you think a record seller is lying when they claim their discs are "play tested". If they list it as an "early 45 from everyone's favourite computerised TV host!" then you know there's no damn way they've listened to more than three seconds of the thing (and also, zero points for their music trivia knowledge. Max Headroom the host was born in 1984. This record was released in 1980).
The only real comparison you could draw between the two is the bad joke that surrounds them - Max Headroom is, after all, what used to be written on all car park signs with a height afterwards to denote who would or wouldn't be able to get away with parking their vehicle there. Sometimes two people coincidentally make the same joke in public at around the same time and the fame of one eclipses the other.
So this record offers no glitchy computerised showbiz irony, but is in fact a piece of surprisingly raw ska. The A-side has been compiled elsewhere and remains available to buy on various mp3 sales sites, but the B-side "Rhythm & Blue Beat" is arguably better and remains under-exposed, consisting of hard hitting rhythms and sweet, simple melodies. It takes no liberties with the tight ska revival template and there's no particular reason the group should have been given another release on EMI after this one flopped - but there are worse examples out there from groups who went on to become ever-present fixtures on the scene.
