No holding back here, I absolutely adore this album. Brings back happy memories of my school days. Another album that went around the school like wildfire from D90 to D90.
The first time I heard the record I was convinced the band were American as their sound was so slick and soulful. It came as a complete surprise to hear a thick Scouse accent when I saw Garry Christian being interviewed on TV, I thought he was putting it on!
The album featured Tony Jones on bass who is Paul’s brother. Who is Paul Jones? My mate in school obviously! It was also recorded, in part, at Amazon Studios in Kirkby (which was later transformed into Romans nightclub I think - terrible, terrible place, went there a fair bit!) so it has an additional place in my heart.
Side 1 of the record spawned 4 of the albums 5 singles, ‘Forgotten Town’, ‘When The Fingers Point’, ‘Born Again’ and ‘Ideal World’. The other single, and my favourite from the album is track 2 on Side 2, ‘Hooverville’.
Talking of ‘Hooverville’, there was a rumour that went around our school that the song was originally called ‘Looprevil’ (Liverpool backwards) as the band were from here and the song is clearly about people struggling as Liverpool did in the mid-80s under Thatcher.
What 14-year-old me, without access to Wikipedia, didn’t know was that a Hooverville was a shanty town built by homeless Americans in the 1930s during the Great Depression.
They were named after President Herbert Hoover who was blamed for the economic decline. I still find myself singing ‘Looprevil’ from time to time though…
There is no filler on this album, I’m confident that the rest of the album could have been released as singles, such is the quality of the songwriting. ‘…And That’s Why’ should have been released…and ‘One In A Million’ etc.
This fantastic-sounding copy cost me the princely sum of £9 (delivered) after another drunken eBay scouting session. Absolute bargain.
Tracks To Try: ‘Forgotten Town’, ‘Born Again’, ‘Ideal World’, ‘…And That’s Why’, ‘Hooverville’, ‘One In A Million’.