No.55

ALTERED IMAGES HAPPY BIRTHDAY

The blithe and brilliant title track on Altered Images’ first album is in sharp contrast to the rest of a dark first effort for Clare Grogan and company.

The title song was cut by electronic spearhead Martin Rushent but the band hired Banshees bassist Steven Severin to produce the rest; creating an obvious contrast between lots of bass-heavy post-punk and one piece of synth-pop wedged in the centre.

The tracks are escorted by Johnny McElhone’s bass, while Severin’s instinct for gloom adroitly reduces the natural smile in Grogan’s voice to a grimace – she reverts to half-interested maverick in Real Toys and Midnight, bawling Toyahsoundalike in Leave Me Alone and off-key shower singer on the track Faithless.

Despite flopping as a single, A Day’s Wait is splendid, with a long intro and a melody that loosens Grogan up behind the mic. Legionnaire is odd; it’s essentially an instrumental but for some echoey la-las from Grogan, while Insects, Beckoning Strings and especially Love & Kisses are perkier. It hovered in mid-table on the album chart for most of its 21 weeks, peaking at No.26 in 1981 and going silver, with only the title track making the singles chart.

The band, which returned to Rushent to oversee their next album, had five more Top 40 hits before disbanding at the end of 1983.

Matthew Rudd

ONLY WHEN ROSS LEAVES

Ross William Wild, who briefly fronted Spandau Ballet until earlier this year, has new employers. The vocalist has now joined established alt-rock band, Mercutio. They have already released a single together, Where The Pain Lives, and Ross made his live debut with the band at this year’s Camden Rocks festival. Ross explains: “Finally, a chance to write and play with musicians who were inspired by the same artists as me and guys who want to achieve the same goal – to bring mainstream rock music back to the forefront of people’s musical consciousness with a bang.”