Second only to Madness in the highest number of weeks in the charts in 1980 (45), Bad Manners signed to Magnet Records and were for a time successfully treading the thin line between bubblegum pop and skinhead adulation. Later critisised for not progressing musically, nevertheless in Hyman, Kane & Marson, they could always boast one of the most competent Horn Sections of any of their contemporaries.

The band often played on the same bill as the other 2 Tone bands, and finally appeared on the label by way of their inclusion on the Dance Craze Film.

Always considered primarily a novelty act, most 2 Tone fans would have Bad Manners first couple of LP’s, and while they certainly didn’t take themselves too seriously, on a closer listen they managed some deft touches musically and these records form an important part of the movement and it’s success.

The Swinging Cats were another Coventry outfit, formed at the end of 1979 and after they replaced Holly & The Italians on The Selecter’s March 1980 tour, 2 Tone offered them a single. The release ‘Mantovani/Away’ CHS TT14, sank without trace despite the first 20,000 copies being sold at the giveaway price of 50p.

The line-up seemed to change every week, so below is a list of some of those who were at one time in the band, there was also Val, a singer who was going out with Jerry Dammers at one point.

• Toby Lyons Keyboards
• John Shipley Guitar
• Jane Bayley Vocals
• Paul Heskett Sax
• Billy Gough Drums
• Chris Long Percussion
• Steve Vaughan Guitar

Paul Heskett later toured with The Specials and played Sax on ‘Sock It To ‘Em J.B’ & ‘Braggin’ And Tryin’ Not To Lie’ on the More Specials album and Flute on Ghost Town.

Rex Brough writes…
“Years before Mike Flowers and the “loungecore” movement, this was a sort of “easy listening” ska band that recorded for 2 Tone. I remember them winning a competition at the Lanch, and being so much better than anyone else. John Shipley joined the Special AKA, Toby Lyons joined Colourfield, and Jane Bayley became Jane Bom-Bane ‘Queen of the Funky Harmonium’ performing at the Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe festivals.”

Rhoda Dakar was born in Hampstead, London, in 1960, and grew up in “a tower block full of social workers” in Brixton. She was working for the Department of Employment, signing people on the dole in Westminster when Nicky Summers saw her dancing in the audience at a Selecter gig and asked her if she could sing. She auditioned and became The Bodysnatchers singer and songwriter.

After the Bodysnatchers split, Rhoda became increasingly involved with The Specials, in fact one story tells of Jerry Dammers insistance at one point that she become a full member of the band. That never quite transpired, but after The Specials finally split she did become an ever-present member of The Special AKA.

The Boiler was the first release after The Specials break-up, and the idea had been around for a while to record & release the track which was one of the few originals in The Bodysnatchers live set.

Since The Special AKA, Rhodas’ work includes Palm Skin Productions Mo-Wax release ‘The Sunlight On The Garden’, Wiemer/Orensteins’ ‘How Are You’ and Dr. Roberts’ ‘Realms Of Gold’.

(A more in-depth article will be included shortly)

In addition to his vast knowledge of Reggae, John Bradbury was a dedicated fan of Northern Soul, which resulted in his production of ‘Sock It To ‘Em J.B’ appearing on The Specials second album. After The Specials split, and while remaining involved with The Special AKA, Bradbury decided the time was right to set up his own soul revue band, and so JB’s Allstars were born.

• Brad (JB) Bradbury Drums, D.M.X,Backing Vocals
• Dee Sharp Lead Vocals, Percussion
• Mark Hughes Harmonica
• Jason Votier Trumpet, Flugel Horn
• Robert Amalhi Rhythm Guitar
• Steve Nieve Piano, String Synth
• Big George Webley Bass Guitar

The project was signed by RCA, allowing the releases to be put out on their RCA Victor label, making JB’s Allstars the first artist to appear on the label since Elvis Presley…

Four singles were released on RCA Victor with only one reaching the UK Charts; ‘Backfield In Motion’ (RCA 384) reaching No. 48 in February ’84 was a revival of the 1969 US million-seller written and originally performed by Mel & Tim.

Their 5th & last single was released on 2 Tone becoming the label’s last single release proper. ‘Alphabet Army’ (CHS TT29) was released on 7″ & 12″ vinyl, with the 12″ featuring three versions of the song, which was a self penned comment in support of the struggle of Teachers in society.

The other three titles released by the band were ‘One Minute Every Hour’, ‘Sign On The Dotted Line’ (RCA 408) and ‘Ready Willing and Able’.

Distinguished BPCS Pupils

Founded “some time in 1980” at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, THE HIGSONS first recording was on the “Norwich – A Fine City” compilation album. Legend has it that John Peel was so amazed that anyone in the Norwich area was making music he invited the band in for a session.

• Charlie Higson Lead Vocals, Harmonica,
  Piano
• Terry Edwards Guitar, Trumpet, Sax,
  Piano, Vocals
• Simon Charterton Drums, Vocals
• Dave Cummings * Guitar, Vocals
• Colin Williams Bass, Vocals
• Stuart McGeachin Guitar, Vocals

Dave moved to London shortly after the band formed and was replaced by Stuart McGeachin who played on most of the records.

The first single, “I Don’t Want To Live With Monkeys” was released in 1981. According to Charlie Higson, “We were often accused of trying to be the English Talking Heads, which we always strenuously denied, but let’s face it, that’s what we were trying to be.” The band’s blend of high energy funk and groove brought them some chart success.

The Higsons folded “some time in 1986”. Charlie Higson found fame as a comedy writer and actor in “The Fast Show”, Terry Edwards now fronts his own band and is a prolific session player, Simon Charterton is in Camden based “The Aftershave”. Stuart McGeachin and Colin Williams have now got proper jobs.

Higsons Discography

Singles

• I Don’t Want to Live With Monkeys – Single on Romans in Britain label. Cat. No. HIG2
• Got to Let This Heat Out – Single on Waap Records. Cat. No. WAAP1 / 12WAAP1
• Conspiracy – Single on Waap Records. Cat. No. WAAP2
• Push Out the Boat – Single on Waap Recorrds. Cat. No. WAAP4
• Lost and Lonely – Single on Waap Recorrds. . Cat. No. WAAP5
• Run Me Down – Single on 2 Tone. Cat. No. CHSTT24
• Tear the Whole Thing Down – Single on 2 Tone. Cat. No. CHSTT21
• Music to Watch Boys By – Single on Upright Records. Cat. No. UP9
• Take It – Single on R4. Cat. No. FOR2

Albums

• The Curse of The Higsons
• Attack of the Cannibal Zombie Businessmen
• It’s a Wonderful Life (BBC sessions)

Videos

A 45-minute video of the Higsons, playing at the Jacquard Club in 1982-02, is available from MEI.

Most of the above info was nicked from the links below, including the fact that there is a song by Robyn Hitchcock called ‘Listening to the Higsons’, available on the albums ‘Gotta Let This Hen Out’ and ‘Invisible Hitchcock’.

http://www.terryedwards.co.uk/

Workers Playtime Records

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/profiles/charlie_higson.shtml

The Apollinaires began life as a six piece (and progressed to a 10 piece) from Leicester featuring:

• Paul Tickle – Vocals
• Tom Brown – Guitar
• Francis Brown – Guitar
• Kraig Thornber – Drums
• James Hunt – Bass
• Simon Kirk – Percussion
• Peter Millen – Alto Sax
• Laurence Wood – Tenor Sax
• Paul Hood – Trombone
• Chris Freestone – Trumpet

They’re a tough bunch to track down any info on, but they did release at least one post 2 Tone single in 1983 entitled “Put People First/Theme From Put People First” (Bfw/Apl 1) on what seems to have been a small Birmingham indie label.

Produced by Jo King, Engineered by John Rivers at Woodbine St. Studios. The sleeve expresses thanks to John Kehoe, Dave Rushton & 2-Tone Records. BFW/TURC Co-Production, Birmingham Film Workshop/Trade Union Resource Centre, Victoria Works, 7 Fredrick Street, Birmingham, B1 3HE.

Band member Peter Millen kindly contacted us and provided some info about the band…

The band was made up of several Leicester art schoolers and local Leicester characters who had been playing in various bands in the area for a few years (The Sincere Americans, Dead Fly Syndrome – the names probably changed everytime they played). They became The Volkswagens who moved from a Joy Division-y thing to an American dance inspired thing (like A Certain Ratio and others) which led to them working with those local funsters The Swinging Laurels.

Then came the 2 Tone signing (I guess Coventry wasn’t that far), the name change and the need for their own brass section to replace The Laurels who had a lot on their plate already. That’s when I joined and found myself a couple of weeks later in a recording studio with Jerry Dammers (a really nice bloke), playing alto saxophone along with the Laurels (who really helped me out as I had no idea what I was doing) on the first single “The Feeling’s Gone”. I think Jerry was trying for his version of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move on Up”.

Being on 2 Tone got us a lot of good bookings including Radio 1 “sessions” for John Peel and Kid Jensen -even filling in for The Beat onstage on occassions- and we played around a lot, getting as far as Paris at one point. We put together a pretty good (“knuckleduster”) horn section (and were a lot stronger live than on record in my opinion) and recorded the second single “Envy the Love” with this lineup (me on alto, Laurence Wood on tenor, Paul Hood trombone and Chris Freestone on trumpet).

It was a big band however (9 or 10 people on stage at a time) – a hard thing to keep together and after a TV appearance on channel 4’s “The Switch” (not the Tube as you thought Jason) it basically started to fall apart. It was a lot of fun though and everyone we met and worked with at 2 Tone were great plus it was a lot of fun playing with label mates The Higsons and the likes.

Hope this helps some. Best, Peter

Peter now runs his own Design Business in New York.

The penultimate single release from the label was Window Shopping from The Friday Club a seven piece outfit from Scarborough. The band played a blend of soul & jazz funk with a social conscience, and a listen to the track shows their sound being similar to that of Paul Weller’s Style Council.

• Andrew Brooks – Composer, Vocals, Guitar
• Michael Hodges – Lyricist, Vocals, Congas
• Adele Winter – Vocals and Vibes
• Terry Bateman – Vocals and Sax
• Eddie Eve – Keyboards
• Graham Whitby – Bass Guitar
• Anton Hilton – Drums

Info on the band is thin on the ground, with George Marshall’s book being about the only place to find anything on the band, but I was able to find a couple of mentions from the Madness fan club postings…

The Friday Club supported Madness on their 1985 Mad Not Mad tour…

“As a band member of The Friday Club this was the moment of a lifetime, to be on the Madness tour and be on Two Tone!! Ecstatic but always aware that we had to work hard, I will always remember being stood out front watching them perform It Must be Love and we all looked at each other and knew this was a moment from heaven!

Suggs wore a green suit and red gloves for much of the tour and had a thing about asking the audience to look under their seats only to find nothing there – he loved it! As people, Madness were always really friendly and supportive – Suggs, Carl and Lee were always making sure things were alright for us and reminding us that they started their first tour staying in tents. They gave away tickets to kids for their concerts, especially in Ireland.

I have many memories but one that stays in my mind. After performing in Cork, I was out front watching them when Suggs announced he had been helped back to his hotel after some lads found him collapsed drunk outside a local radio station! Immediately this lad of about 10 said to me That was us miss. It really tickled me and the same thing happened in Dublin!!!

They are such a lovely bunch and real family people. This was 15 years ago and I can still remember so much and know it was a really special time.”

Adele Winter.

When Elvis Costello’s first record was released in 1977, his bristling cynicism and anger linked him with the punk and new wave explosion. A cursory listen to My Aim Is True proves that the main connection that Costello had with the punks was his unbridled passion. He tore through rock’s back pages taking whatever he wanted, as well as borrowing from country, Tin Pan Alley pop, reggae, and many other musical genres. Over his career, that musical eclecticism has distinguished Costello’s records as much as his fiercely literate lyrics. Because he supports his lyrics with his richly diverse music, Costello is one of the most innovative, influential, and best songwriters since Bob Dylan.

The son of British bandleader Ross McManus, Costello (born Declan McManus) worked as a computer programmer during the early ’70s, performing under the name D.P. Costello in various folk clubs. In 1976, he became the leader of country-rock group Flip City. During this time, he recorded several demo tapes of his original material with the intention of landing a record contract. A copy of these tapes made its way to Jake Riviera, one of the heads of the fledgling independent record label Stiff. Riviera signed Costello to Stiff as a solo artist in 1977; the singer/songwriter adopted the name Elvis Costello at this time, taking his first name from Elvis Presley and his last name from his mother’s maiden name.

With former Brinsley Schwarz bassist Nick Lowe producing, Costello began recording his debut album with the American band Clover providing support. “Less Than Zero,” the first single released from these sessions, appeared in April of 1977. The single failed to chart, as did its follow-up, “Alison,” which was released the following month. By the summer of 1977, Costello’s permanent backing band had been assembled. Featuring bassist Bruce Thomas, keyboardist Steve Nieve, and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation to Bruce), the group was named the Attractions; they made their live debut in July of 1977.

My Aim Is True, his debut album, was released in the summer of 1977 to positive reviews; the album climbed to number 14 on the British charts but it wasn’t released on his American label, Columbia Records, until later in the year. Along with Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, and Wreckless Eric, Costello participated in the Stiffs Live package tour in the fall. At the end of the year, Jake Riviera split from Stiff Records to form Radar Records, taking Costello and Lowe with him. Costello’s last single for Stiff, the reggae-inflected “Watching the Detectives,” became his first hit, climbing to number 15 at the end of the year.

This Year’s Model, Costello’s first album recorded with the Attractions, was released in the spring of 1978. A rawer, harder-rocking record than My Aim Is True, This Year’s Model was also a bigger hit, reaching number four in Britain and number 30 In America. Released the following year, Armed Forces was a more ambitious and musically diverse album than either of his previous records. It was another hit, reaching number two in the U.K. and cracking the Top Ten in the U.S. “Oliver’s Army,” the first single from the album, also peaked at number two in Britain; none of the singles from Armed Forces charted in America. In the summer of 1979, he produced the Specials debut album.

In February of 1980, the soul-influenced Get Happy!! was released; it was the first record on Riviera’s new record label, F-Beat. Get Happy!! was another hit, peaking at number two in Britain and number 11 in America. Later that year, two collections of B-sides, singles, and outtakes called Taking Liberties was released in America; in Britain, a similar album called Ten Bloody Marys and Ten How’s Your Fathers appeared as a cassette-only release, complete with different tracks than the American version.

Costello and the Attractions released Trust in early 1981; it was his fifth album in a row produced by Nick Lowe. Trust debuted at number nine in the British charts and worked its way into the Top 30 in the U.S. During the spring of 1981, Costello and the Attractions began recording an album of country covers with famed Nashville producer Billy Sherrill, who recorded hit records for George Jones and Charlie Rich, among others. The resulting album, Almost Blue, was released at the end of the year to mixed reviews, although the single “A Good Year for the Roses” was a British Top Ten hit.

Costello’s next album, Imperial Bedroom (1982), was an ambitious set of lushly arranged pop produced by Geoff Emerick, who engineered several of the Beatles’ most acclaimed albums. Imperial Bedroom received some of his best reviews, yet it failed to yield a Top 40 hit in either England or America; the album did debut at number six in the U.K. For 1983’s Punch the Clock, Costello worked with Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who were responsible for several of the biggest British hits in the early ’80s. The collaboration proved commercially successful, as the album peaked at number three in the U.K. (number 24 in the U.S.) and the single “Everyday I Write the Book” cracked the Top 40 in both Britain and America. Costello tried to replicate the success of Punch the Clock with his next record, 1984’s Goodbye Cruel World, but the album was a commercial and critical failure.

After the release of Goodbye Cruel World, Costello embarked on his first solo tour in the summer of 1984. Costello was relatively inactive during 1985, releasing only one new single (“The People’s Limousine,” a collaboration with singer/songwriter T-Bone Burnett released under the name the Coward Brothers) and producing Rum Sodomy and the Lash, the second album by the punk-folk band the Pogues. Both projects were indications that he was moving toward a stripped-down, folky approach and 1986’s King of America confirmed that suspicion. Recorded without the Attractions and released under the name the Costello Show, King of America was essentially a country-folk album and it received the best reviews of any album he had recorded since Imperial Bedroom. It was followed at the end of the year by the edgy Blood and Chocolate, a reunion with the Attractions and producer Nick Lowe. Costello would not record another album with the Attractions until 1994.

During 1987, Costello negotiated a new worldwide record contract with Warner Bros. Records and began a songwriting collaboration with Paul McCartney. Two years later, he released Spike, the most musically diverse collection he had ever recorded. Spike featured the first appearance of songs written by Costello and McCartney, including the single “Veronica.” “Veronica” became his biggest American hit, peaking at number 19. Two years later, he released Mighty Like a Rose, which echoed Spike in its diversity, yet it was a darker, more challenging record. In 1993, Costello collaborated with the Brodsky Quartet on The Juliet Letters, a song cycle that was the songwriter’s first attempt at classical music; he also wrote an entire album for former Transvision Vamp singer Wendy James called Now Ain’t the Time for Your Tears. That same year, Costello licensed the rights to his pre-1987 catalog (My Aim Is True to Blood and Chocolate) to Rykodisc in America.

Costello reunited with the Attractions to record the majority of 1994’s Brutal Youth, the most straightforward and pop-oriented album he had recorded since Goodbye Cruel World. The Attractions backed Costello on a worldwide tour in 1994 and played concerts with him throughout 1995. In 1995, he released his long-shelved collection of covers, Kojak Variety. In the spring of 1996, Costello released All This Useless Beauty, which featured a number of original songs he had given to other artists, but never recorded himself. Painted From Memory, a collaboration with the legendary Burt Bacharach, followed in 1998.

The album was a success critically, but it only succeeded in foreign markets, outside of their home countries of the United States and Britain. A jazz version of the record made with Bill Frisell was put on hold when Costello’s label began to freeze up due to political manuevering. Undaunted, Costello and Bacharach hit the road and and performed in the States and Europe, then after Bacharach left Costello added Steve Nieve to the tour and travelled around the world on what they dubbed the “Lonely World Tour.” This took them into 1999, where both Notting Hill and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me featured significant contributions from Costello. In fact, he appeared with Bacharach in the latter as a pair of Carnaby Street musicians, albeit street musicians with a gorgeous grand piano at their disposal.

Continuing his tour with Nieve, he began singing the last song with a microphone, forcing the audience to sit in complete silence as he usually performed “Couldn’t Call It Unexpected #4” with nothing but his dulcet baritone filling the auditorium. After the record company’s various mergers ended, Costello found himself on Universal Records and he tested their promotional abilities with a second “Greatest Hits” record. The label promoted the album strongly, making it a hit in his native Britain. Unfortunately, they also made it clear that they had no intension of giving a new album the same promotional push, leaving him to venture into other fields as he awaited the end of his record contract. His first project was an album of pop standards performed with Ann Sofie von Otter, which included a few songs originally written by Costello. The album came out in March of 2001 on the Deutsche Grammophon label, and it neatly coincided with the extensive re-release of his entire catalog up to 1996 under Rhino Records. Each disc included an extra CD of rare material and liner notes written by Costello, making them incredible treats for fans.

In 2001 he found himself with a residency at UCLA, where he performed several concerts and was instrumental in teaching music during the year. He also began work on a self-produced album which featured Pete Thomas and Nieve entitled When I Was Cruel, and the album finally saw release on Island Records in the spring of 2002. — Stephen Thomas Erlewine