In my endless dredging through dodgy mid-70s detritus, i fell upon this lot. I knew them as one of those bands that tried to make it in the time exactly when punk emerged, and were thus pushing against a closing door. I knew the single (“5705”) and never particularly bothered. I find this video compelling for it’s antique quality, and can imagine any of them saying, over a pint when we fall into discussing music in the pub, “it’s a shit business”.
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Ohhh that is some premium grade tat right there. It speaks of extremely flammable cream and brown soft furnishings in rooms wreathed in John Player Special smoke, and Arctic Roll for afters.
That song immediately takes me back to my summer job at the time – working on a machine in a grungy little Macclesfield back street factory making those foam blocks covered in abrasive for rubbing down paintwork etc. They made a massive foam block which was then sliced up into strips which went through a machine which smeared glue all over them then a gritter then onto a drying rack following which they were sliced up into the little blocks you buy in B&Q (though B&Q hadn’t been invented yet).
It was an early lesson in leadership – it was by any measure a shit job, not least due to the splitting headaches you went home with every night – probably high as kites too with the glue smell. A high point for me was washing the foam clean of the blood which spurted onto it when the guy on the slicer sliced off his finger tip. No point in wasting good foam. But the foreman was a seriously great manager, made sure we got breaks, let us cob off early sometimes, bought everyone a pint after work on friday, brought sliced bread and jam in for morning tea break toast and generally kept the team’s spirits up.
The radio played constantly and every timeI hear “5705”or “Airport” by The Motors I get a distinct whiff of glue.
Sorry @Twang but B and not forgetting Q was founded in 69. I remember discussing its name origin with a friend’s father in the early seventies. Block and Quayle if you wish to know.
Not in Macc it hadn’t. We were strickly hardware shops at that point, where you could buy one washer.
Now someone will tell me Macclesfield opened a B&Q in 1975.
Well it had reached Yorkshire by then, probably bypassed Macclesfield.
Understandably.
Couldn’t agree more!
Known, hilariously, as Bodge it and Quit.
Was a big fan of this band – especially the debut album and then the next two. They were good songwriters and had great melodies. Sadly their star faded after 5705 however who can resist The Oddball dance? ‘I first got my chance at the Oddball dance’.
There must be quite a number of musicians out there with one hit and a few TOTP performances to their name, who must’ve felt they were this close to the big time, but it never quite happened…
… mind you, part of City Boy went on to become The Maisonettes, one-hit wonders in their own right with the rather wonderful “Heartache Avenue”…
For those few who can’t remember how it goes…
The Maisonettes effectively had the rug pulled from under them when the session singers on that fine single showed no interest in joining when it became a hit. It stuck out like a sore thumb in 1983, with synth-pop all over the radio.
They released a handful of other singles (with different singers) and called it quits.
I bought the Cherry Red complete works CD, but it is a bit of a one-track album.
It’s a really good song. So is 5705. Most people don’t write any memorable pop songs, certainly not ones that can be used as alarm codes.
Agreed 100%. Two of the greatest pop songs of the late 70s.
Reading about “City Boy”, they were also touring Europe and the USA, and appealed to the pop-prog crowd (Supertramp, Styx) out there. I bet they were MASSIVE in Germany.
Here, they were another of the Birmingham Sound acts (like Steve Gibbons, and following on from the West Midlands scene that gave birth to Roy Wood and ELO), so of a more venerable heritage than Europeans/ Americans might know. All pushed out for Sham 69 or it’s equivalent.
@Vincent why do you think I was so fond of them? Brummies rule.
I recognised the tribal bias.. Working through their oeuvre today, only “The Oddball Dance” has so far stood out for me (another 3 albums to go), but live they were supposed to be quite good, and I do like bands that give it loads.
Sad Cafe were one of those bands. Brilliant live, mediocre on record (except Facades)
IIRC, they were originally called Back In The Band, and were regulars on the Birmingham pub circuit. They were one of the few such bands to follow a pop-rock path rather than the proto-heavy-metal stylings of most local bands at the time. Another local pop-rock combo, regularly popping up at places like Bogarts and the Golden Eagle, were Little Acre, who were even better and had the added attraction of two female vocalists (the third being Johnny Bryant, of Dudley’s initial-eponymous JBs Club).
The Peter Sutcliffe look was always going to work against them.
Another “nearly” band was New Musik.
A couple of albums and a few singles, but only one big hit
Living By Numbers
https://youtu.be/7gO0UUZs-9o
Lead singer and song writer Tony Mansfield became Captain Sensible’s co-worker and producer.
I come back to New Musik fairly regularly. Their album had cassette-borrowed-from-the-library status but it sat alongside other fine albums of its time by The Buggles and Landscape. All dismissed at the time as facile nonsense but featured actual well-written and clever pop songs.
And Living By Numbers, eh? As true today as it was then – they don’t want your name… they don’t want your name…
Don’t know if you did it deliberately BC, but the leaders of all those acts all went on to become big producers – Tony Mansfield not only worked with Captain Sensible (as mentioned by Mr Digit above), but also A-Ha and the B-52’s, Landscape’s Richard Burgess produced LAPHM King, Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant and er, Five Star, whereas the Buggles’ Trevor Horn produced , well, everyone…
… and I liked New Musik, too – World Of Water and Sanctuary are both great singles from that album…
No – that wasn’t deliberate. I wonder if there’s a thread in this i.e. Seemingly lightweight pop stars that turned into heavy hitters. Hmmm…
After reading the “what became of them afterwards”-section of their Wiki entry, I don’t think they’d moan too much at the pub about it being “a shit business”, as most of them seems to have gone on to do pretty well for themselves, in said business… 🙂
You’re right that’s interesting. And Mutt Lange’s fingerprints on it too – his first work when he moved to the UK.
On a related note, what happened to Mr Big?
Not the late 80s version I know and love…the Romeo, one hit wonder version.
Saw them on TOTP2 a few years back….not photogenic.
I remember them. Or that song at least. “Step inside me Romeo….”