If I was Clever I'd Have Posted This Back in June...

It's nearing midnight & I just had a nice coffee with a few spare Chinese food burps.
I don't really have much up my sleeve for the night. If I was going to go anywhere I'd have left a few hours ago and with the leftover Chinese in the fridge I'm able to put off going to the grocery store for another couple of days. The only thing I really had on the docket this week was a haircut anyway.

And I really need a haircut.
Really.
It's currently at that inelegant length that suggests that I may or may not have a 280Z blasting Def Leppard in the 7-11 parking lot while I ogle high school girls.

I don't.

So on with the show.

D-Day (1983)

So last October I had posted this band's two singles from 1979 & 81. They're pretty good. I mean, the first one is a novelty song about an underage girl, but you know the other one is a good skinny tie New Wave bopper. I knew that they had a full length on a major label. (A & M to be precise), but I was pretty wary since that tends not to work out so well based on past experience. At best a spit warm slab of vinyl mediocrity steeped in enormous heaps of 80s production touches that have not aged well.

I was wrong. This record is actually a hell of a lot better than it really has any right to be.

Based on the credits on the back they took their money and flew to the UK and worked with producer Bob Sargeant who besides helming the Fall's "Live at the Witch Trials" which already makes him a king in my book, was fresh from successful production work on the English Beat records, had a decent hit with Haircut 100 and would produce XTC's "Mummer" the same year.
Dude was a good choice.

So instead of making the jump to a major and making a steaming dump of a record, they managed to make quite an enjoyable New Wave slice that deserves a little credit. Performances, songs and production are all spot on and should have at least accounted for something. The only thing it really seems to lack is an obvious single. "Dance It Off" has a flair that might have made a decent 12" remix for discos. "More Than That" is a great pop number with a bit of ska flavor that could have done well in some markets. The closer "Lonely People" is strong.

The real stand out track for me is "Secret Worlds" which is just catchy as fuck but sung by the bass player, so not quite as representative of them as a whole. But it's a great song. No wonder he kept it for himself to sing.

But for whatever reason, the record came out and likely went straight away into the cut-out bins and was forgotten. The good thing is that it's dirt fucking cheap on Discogs. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy of your own. It's worth the few bucks.

I feel like I owe Bob Sargeant a beer.