Smash Hits 1980

4-17-13         Smash Hits (Vol. 2, No. 8) April 17 – April 30^th, 1980

Happy birthday, Lester Square! (of The Monochrome Set) (Born 1954).  On 4/17/65 The Beatles 45 “Ticket To Ride” charts at No. 1 in England.  Also on 4/17/65 the Roger Miller 45 “King Of the Road” charts at No. 1 in England.  Happy birthday, Roy Estrada (of The Mothers of Invention and Little Feat), born 1943.  Happy birthday, Pete Shelley (of The Buzzcocks), born 1955.

Madness on the cover.  What?  No flexidisc or free badge?  Lyrics to “Clean Clean” by The Buggles.  An article about…The Monkees?  An advertisement for The Revillos “Scuba Scuba”!  The Vapors in colour!  “The Face” is coming soon!

45’s:

Delta 5 – “Anticipation” (Rough Trade Records)

Orange Juice – “Falling and Laughing” (Postcard Records)

Paul McCartney – “Coming Up” (Parlophone Records)

Telex – “Eurovision” (Sire Records)

The Cure – “A Forest” (Fiction Records)

Martha & The Muffins – “Saigon” (Dindisc Records)

LP’s:

The Undertones – “Hypnotized” (Sire Records) (Limited edition containing free mobile!)

Mark Andrews and The Gents – “Big Boy” (A&M Records)

Martha & The Muffins on tour, England 1980!

The Marquee (April 22), Newcastle Mayfair (April 25), Huddersfield Poly (April 26), Birmingham Top Rank (April 27), Tiffany’s, Edinburgh (April 29), Sheffield Poly (May 1), Manchester Russell Club (May 2), The Electric Ballroom (May 3), East Anglia (May 5), Canterbury Odeon (May 6) and Brighton Top Rank (May 7).

I believe I saw them play live in Los Angeles @ The Whisky A-Go-Go shortly thereafter.

I really liked Delta 5’s album on Pre / Charisma.  I didn’t get Orange Juice then, but I like them just fine right now.  Sir Paul’s 80’s style!  OK Telex 45, but likely not as good as “Dummy”.  I remember this Cure 45 coming out so well – seemed to be like progressive rock, didn’t it?  And I easily bought anything I could find by Martha & The Muffins.

I more recently found some 45’s by Mark Andrews and The Gents, but I do not recall ever seeing this LP.  The Undertones didn’t exactly do it for me, so this one never troubled my shoulder bag.

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