Red Box, they were an odd outfit. No real image unlike the spanners and vest motif of Go West but with poppy earworms that were a cross between nursery rhymes and world music. Why would anyone buy a box set.
I came into this from that place. I affectionately remember For America and Lean On Me (Everybody else
say I) along with the TOTP Friday night Twitter Massive. Simon Toulson Clarke and …. er the other fella “checks liner notes” Julian Clarke. So what do you get?
From our wallet emptying friends at Cherry Red, the box contains 4 CD`s. First up is the debut, The Circle and the Square. More hooks than Paul Whitehouses tackle box, along with the aforementioned singles, you may also recognise Chenko and Saskatchewan which seemed to have lots of airplay back in the day. Little pop gems abound and feet will be tapped.
Next is the follow up, Motive. A different beast altogether though the opening track, Train is another
” should have been a hit” . The rest of the album is a more melancholic, reflective listen not unlike mid period A-ha . In fact Toulson Clarkes voice is not dissimilar to Morten the cheekbones.
CD 3 is the dreaded 12″ and remixes disc. However this contains no Ben Liebrand plinky plonky piano versions. The extended mixes have been carefully refashioned and rebuilt to give the songs a completely new feel. Train goes from a glam rock stomper to smokey nightclub swing number!
The fourth CD is Demos… “Shivers”. But no, these are tracks recorded before the debut album with only one making the grade but all the others are not cast offs and this`ll do`s. They have been sequenced to give an actual album feel and ever with a less than epic production quality still bears repeated plays.
Overall, a bargain! It has actually been on permanant rotation since I got it and there are another two CDs by the band to investigate (Pleeease Cherry Red).
Red Box’s original drummer Martin Nickson is an old friend of mine.
Nice review, thanks!
My sister bought The Circle and The Square when it was released. I was a bit sniffy having heard the singles that they were just a lightweight pop act (like that was a bad thing). But listening to the album, it really grew on me and I always enjoy it when I hear it. “Deviate to contemplate this audio visual opiate” indeed. There isn’t a bad track on there.
I’d be intrigued to hear the other discs, though not desperate from the description above. Apparently there have been two more albums released since 1990.
Oh, and it’s Julian Close. (Speaking on behalf of all Julians, as that’s my given name)
If I remember correctly, Glyn Johns did a lot of pro-bono production/engineering work with them early on, it sounds like CD4 might finally see him get paid (although, knowing Cherry Red, probably not much)
I highly rate their two original albums (haven’t heard anything more recent.) ‘Moving’ and ‘Now Ask’ from Motive are two of my favourite songs, they were like a warm empathetic hug to anyone who needed it; way before that kind of thing was fashionable really. The first album is crazy and there is nothing else remotely like it, anywhere.
I loved For America when it was released and got the 12″, picked up Motive secondhand in the 90s and eventually got around to getting The Circle and the Square with the 2008 Cherry Red re-release. That had several extra tracks but I notice CD1 here has a couple that are different. I must say I’m very tempted, TC&TS in particular is terrific and there’s enough consistency to encourage further investigation.