Haircut 100 - Cadogan Hall Pictures, December 2009

So, what was the long-awaited Haircut 100 comeback like?  Was it worth the train fare?  The cost of a hotel room?  You bet!  It was bloody brilliant.  They sailed through most of Pelican West, but sadly didn't do Nobody's Fool.  There were only four of them, Mark Fox and Phil Smith deciding not to join in the fun, but that didn't spoil the night at all.  Hopefully, they'll do another tour in 2010.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I only had my Blackberry and it's not the best for this kind of thing.

Nick Heyward

Here's a bit of Nick to get us in the mood!

The World

Rollerblade

Today

New Songs

Haircut 100

I'm excited.  There, I've said it.  Tomorrow night myself and my mate go down to London on a big adventure to see the newly reformed Haircut 100 with Nick Heyward at the Cadogan Hall.  To celebrate I'm posting the three Haircut 12" singles from their second album Paint and Paint, already posted on here sometime ago.  Note:  I've haven't included the b-side to Prime Time as it appeared as a single in it's own right anyway.

Prime Time

So Tired

Too Up Two Down

I'll tell you all about it and post some pictures next week.

The Light

Final single from The Light, aka Brian Atherton who's previous band Box Of Toys also released some fine records.  Good China Crisis connection here, the record was produced by Jeremy Lewis who produced some of the early China material and features Eddie Lundon on guitar.

Leisure Process

A couple of Leisure Process 12" singles; Anxiety and Love Cascade.

Blue Zoo

One and only album from the excellent Blue Zoo.

The Great Divide

Only single from Boo Hewerdine's pre-Bible outfit, The Great Divide.  Not too good to be honest, but interesting to hear.  Released in 1984.

Thirteen At Midnight

Their best single, I reckon.

Troy Tate

Troy Tate is probably best known as the guy who was in Teardrop Explodes for a bit and who produced the first Smiths album, although the album those sessions were shelved and re-recorded with someone else.  John Porter? 

Unfortunately because of that history his solo material tends to be ignored and it's a shame, because it's good stuff.  This is a great single, though it does sound a little like Crossroads at the beginning.

The Men Men

I never bought this single at the time ('84) and in fact I'd never heard of the band.  The record was sent to me by H20 guitarist David Wells in the early 00's after I posted a raft of records by them on my Rare 80s MP3 site.  The Men Men was his next project.  Interestingly, it's engineered by Bobby Patterson who went on to join Love & Money.

Random Hold

Nice catchy single from the short-lived, second incarnation of the wonderful Random Hold.

21 Strangers

 

Nice obscurity this.

Blue Zoo

More from Blue Zoo.

Two People

Posted after several requests for more Two People.

Claudia Brucken

For those who requested more Claudia after I posted The Brain CD.  Here's the two CD singles, Absolute and Kiss Like Ether.  Lovely.

Rouen

Really liked Rouen back in the day.  Don't listen to them much now as it does seem a little AOR.  I remember searching for years for this CD version too. 

Passion Puppets

The Passion Puppets were a group who were very popular on my old Rare 80s MP3 site.  I was a big fan of them at the time though obviously they didn't make any headway in the UK charts.

While doing my Rare 80s site one of the guys from the band contacted me and thanked me for posting their stuff.  He seemed pleased they hadn't been totally forgotten.  This CD was released in the US some years ago.  Not sure if it's still in print or not.  If it is, buy it!

King L

Gary Clark's fantastic mid-90s project.

Love & Money

I'm sure most would agree with me when I say that Strange Kind Of Love was L&Ms finest album.  There were quite a few singles and without exception they included extra tracks which could have easily graced the album.  This was the lead single and includes the sublime, She Carved Her Name.  Beautiful.

Kevin Kitchen

Don't really know much about KK.  I bought all his singles in the mid-80s and the album, all of which were produced by Spandau producers Swain and Jolley.  I also have a couple of pretty awful late 70s disco type singles, less said about those the better.  This 12" contains my favourite Kitchen track, the excellent remix of one of his earlier singles, Put My Arms Around You.