1-24-13 Smash Hits (Vol. 2, No. 2) January 24th, 1980 – February 6th, 1980
Sparks
1/24/81 XTC “Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)” 45 charts at No. 14 in England; Also on 1/24/81 Adam & The Ants “Kings Of The Wild Frontier” LP was No. 1 in England. 1/25/74 the Pilot 45 “January” charts at No. 1 in England. Happy birthday, Doug Kershaw, born 1936. Ray Stevens (“Ahab The Arab”), born 1941. And on the 25th: Antonio Carlos Jobim, born 1927.
Poor Sparks, past their sell-by date! Lene Lovich “Angels” lyrics are on offer – she’d already ‘lost her way’. Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers was sentenced to eight weeks in prison for “being caught in possession of dangerous drugs” (ever read his book “Inside Information”?). The Pretenders have the colour centerfold. The (English) Beat were doing well, too.
Singles!
- Holly & The Italians “Tell That Girl To Shut Up” (Oval Records)
- John Foxx “Underpass” (Virgin Records)
- The Buggles “The Plastic Age” (Island Records)
- The Revillos “Motor Bike Beat” (Dindisc Records)
- The Specials “Too Much Too Young” (EP) (Two Tone Records)
Albums!
- Simple Minds “Real To Reel Cacaphony” (Arista Records)
- Lene Lovich “Flex” (Stiff Records)
- Pretenders “Pretenders” (Real Records)
- M (Robin Scott) “New York – London – Paris – Munich” (MCA Records)
Gigs!
- Saturday January 26, 1980 – The Revillos @ Norwich East Anglia University
- Tuesday January 29, 1980 – Pretenders @ Portsmouth Locarno
- Friday February 1, 1980 – The Revillos @ London Marquee
All in all, not a bad 2 weeks. I got the Simple Minds LP at the recommendation of a friend; nobody ‘round here had been too impressed by their debut album, but word on the street was that the new one had ‘better songs’, ‘harder production’. I was also all over the John Foxx single; I saw him perform live with Ultravox several times, so I eagerly anticipated all of his solo works. I liked this Buggles 45 better than their big hit.
I was certainly aware of the Pretenders; I worked in a record distributor. Their singles were getting played to death on KROQ-FM, and I do not believe a US deal had yet been worked out. How many times did I have to hear “The Wait” on a daily basis?
I’d liked Lene Lovich, but I didn’t hear any singles on her 2nd album. Indeed, I did not even keep it, at the time. I hadn’t particularly noticed M (Robin Scott)’s big hit, so the release of this LP wasn’t on my radar. With M, The Pretenders and, to an extent, Lene Lovich – these artists were somebody else’s concern, not mine.
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