Community - Louisiana/ Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast

 

Fernando Arbex of Los Brincos does his bit for the Community

Label: Spark

Year of Release: 1973

I've always found it perplexing how many non-American acts have chosen to sing full-heartedly about US towns, states and cities they can surely have only had a fleeting relationship with. Two factors seem to be at play here - the fact that the US has often been perceived as a land of exotic promise, therefore a topic likely to appeal to casual record buyers, and the distant hope of a transatlantic smash.

No luck here on either count, sadly, but a very interesting person does at least seem to have been involved in the process. The author of the A-side Fernando Arbex (confusingly credited on the label as two different people) was the leading creative force in Spanish pop group Los Brincos, as well as their drummer. Their tracks "Passport" and "Nobody Wants You Now" are two of the finest sixties offerings from that country, showing a group who had the maturity and ability to become a truly global act. Not for nothing was their LP "Contrabando" regarded as their "Sergeant Pepper".

By the time the Los Brincos jig was up, Arbex formed a short-lived act called Alacran, then finally relocated to Britain to form Barrabas, who managed to release nine LPs of a largely funky Latin flavour between 1972-1983. Not wishing to rest on his laurels, he also put his songwriting skills to use elsewhere too, perhaps most famously (and least credibly) for Middle of the Road, for whom he penned the hit "Soley Soley".

Reupload - Izzy Royal - Coronation Street/ Dub

 

Proof, if proof were needed, that there's been a reggae cover version of everything...

Label: WEA
Year of Release: 1985

I don't know why so many reggae artists have a penchant for covering well-known but unlikely songs, but the habit runs deep. Beatles fans will be aware of the Trojan box-set of reggae Fabs covers, and readers of this blog will doubtless remember such gems as "Rupert The Bear" and "Space Oddity".

To say I was surprised by the existence of this 45 would be an understatement, however. The soap opera "Coronation Street" is familiar to just about anyone with a British birth certificate, but its bluesy, world-weary instrumental theme - perfect for singing "Oh Coronation Street" along to over and over again if you're that way inclined - wouldn't seem to translate well to any other genre at all.

This single proves that a lilting reggae beat was just waiting to be dropped on to the song after all, as the whole thing hangs together astonishingly well. The cheeky dub version on the flipside even manages to give it a thunderous, clattering, stoned atmosphere.

Paul Henry - Benny's Theme

 

Paul Henry, aka Benny off Crossroads, treats us to a vinyl monologue

Label: Pye

Year of Release: 1977

If a North American wanted me to give them an unequivocal example of the cultural differences between our societies, I've sometimes wondered if some video clips of Benny from the soap opera "Crossroads" would do the job. While I've no doubt that Americans have had close equivalents to Benny in both TV and film, it's rare for the innocent idiot of any soap to capture the American public's imagination to such a degree.

And capture our hearts Benny did. True, the character weaved his way into the popular lexicon in ways which weren't always positive - being called a "Benny" at school was far from a compliment, for example - but there was also a sense that he was held close to the pinnies of most of Crossroad's mature female audience, his harmless boyishness resulting in huge public affection. 

Paul Henry, who took on the role, obviously spent a lot of time considering how the character should be played, but his guiding principle remained straightforward. Benny, he once claimed, was someone so breathtakingly stupid that if somebody walked into a room claiming that it was "raining cats and dogs outside", he would assume that canines and felines were literally being dropped from the sky. Ignorant of metaphors, similes, irony, duality of meaning or even a life beyond that of being a simple handyman, he was an innocent abroad with woolly hair, puppy eyes, a bobble hat and some simple needs and dreams.

This being soapland, Benny had his fair share of disappointments and tears, of course, and this record gave him a chance to air his doubts and miseries simply and sweetly while Simon May weaved a tear-jerking orchestral tapestry behind. Inexplicably, the track wipes the syrup off the table halfway through and suddenly develops a more optimistic discofied edge, before jerking straight back into keening strings and misery again without explaining why. Henry does his best with the material available, sounding like nothing so much as a distressed abandoned Labradoodle if it could talk. 

It is, of course, remarkably bad. I try to see the good in just about any record I upload, but there's no disguising the fact that this record was just a horrible misconceived idea - but one that's so out-of-whack with any other novelty pop hits or trends that it's miraculous it found its way out. It even sold in reasonable enough quantities to slip into the Top 40 at number 39, such was Benny's ubiquity at the time. 

All The Cats/ Carole Jenner/ Neon Barbs/ Radio Cairo - The Stand

Edinburgh label's eighties showcase compilation

Label: Logical Step

Year of Release: 1984

"Can a group of devoted penniless people succeed in their painful struggle to gain attention, recognition and success?

Well, if there is to be a new-wave of enthusiasm to overcome the nonsense it begins with you, and movements like ourselves progressing together within the realms of trust and respect for the creation of music.

Logical Step is endeavouring to provide an opportunity for talent to flourish in an atmosphere of co-operation and consent and you are the stand."

Oh man, I love a mystery. Logical Step were an Edinburgh based label who volleyed three records out into a savagely competitive marketplace in the early eighties, namely the Neon Barbs single "Break Your Chains" in 1981, and two records by Synthetic Dreams, "Obsession" (1981) and "Sulphate Suicide" (1982). As back catalogues go, this is slender pickings and hardly justification for a label sampler. Just as well that "The Stand" wasn't really a sampler in the traditional sense, then, and seems to have been a way of attempting to get fresh work from as many new artists on to record store shelves as possible. We've all heard of cash-strapped indie bands shoving out split seven inch singles together; this LP appears to be the work of four performers splitting two sides of 12" vinyl, presumably in the hope they could make a bigger splash for less outlay than four singles. 

That didn't happen, of course, and the trail they've all left behind is actually borderline non-existent. Neon Barbs are probably the best known artists here, as their "Break Your Chains" single has gone on to attract a fringe cult following among those who are fascinated by eighties esoterica. The rest? There's nothing out there. All The Cats, Carole Jenner and Radio Cairo arrived with this release, then subsequently disappeared again.

Fascinatingly, the record seems to evidence some kind of micro-scene up in Edinburgh, filled with antiseptic synthetic washes, anguished vocals and sulky moods taking priority over sharp hooks. The opening track from All The Cats, "Landsend", is yet another example of how much the mid-eighties were filled with minor groups for whom Talk Talk and Japan were bigger inspirations than Orange Juice or Human League. The track sails its way through misty atmospheres instead of hitting the listener with big choruses, grooves or mission statements. For all its subtlety, it's surprisingly memorable and haunting. 

Carl Simmons - Angel/ Hold On Ruby

Opportunistic pop-glam from rock and roll stalwart

Label: Antic

Year of Release: 1974

Sometimes it's hard to make a judgement call on whether an artist is opportunistically jumping on a bandwagon, or whether the world around them shifted and enabled them to be sucked into dominant trends. By the early seventies, Carl Simmons was already making something of a living by putting out fifties rock and roll covers on budget labels like Forest and Avenue - then by the time glam rock hit its peak, he suddenly added a glittery thump and thwack to his work. 

In doing so, he didn't really do much more than tinker around the edges of his existing style, bringing him close to the likes of Alvin Stardust in making the noises and poses of deepest rock history relevant for the seventies. Glam rock was always fascinating in this respect; finding room for the weird and wonderful (Bowie, Roxy) as well as revivalists who just wanted to take the best of the past and squeeze it into a spacesuit, hoping the kids could be tricked into eating up a side order of rock and roll if it was painted to look like the future.

Generally they could, but unlike Alvin, Glitter or Roy Wood, Simmons had no luck with his seventies recordings and most ended up in bargain bins as unwanted items. You can hear on "Angel" that he could have been a contender - this is catchy, wiggly glam at its plastic catchiest - but he probably needed something brighter and bolder than this, and ultimately it didn't cut through. 

Prior to this period of career, he had been a drummer in the Ember signed act Count Downe and the Zeros whose solitary release can be heard here. They later morphed into Peter and the Headliners who became the resident group on BBC2's "Beat Club".