The Best of The Rest : March 1981 Releases

Devo : Freedom of Choice Theme Song

In March of 1981 Warner Brothers experimented with selling EPs by some of their new acts that appealed to younger buyers. DEV-O Live is made up of six songs recorded live at the band's 1980 concert in San Francisco, including their US#14 hit "Whip It". American FM radio ignored the EP.

The Pretenders : Porcelain

The Pretenders' Extended Play was another Warner Bros/Sire extended play release that sold well at its discount price, peaking at US#27. It certainly seemed like a good deal to me at the time to get "Talk of the Town", "Cuban Slide" and "Message of Love" for $5.99, while we waited to hear Pretenders II, not out until August. In a way it backfired too, because we had already purchased the best songs on the album.

Romeo Void : White Sweater

415 Records has released the Romeo Void debut It's A Condition. The Bay Area band is fronted by Debora Iyall, who speaks/sings observations on empty love. The critics went nuts. Creem reviewer Iman Labadedi wrote that" if you tore Romeo Void's debut LP down to its essence , what you'd get wouldn't be a million miles away from a collection of torch songs. The type Billie Holliday once did so magnificently...it's easily one of the best albums I've heard all year". The album finished #17 on The Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll

The Greg Kihn Band : The Breakup Song

The Bay Area cult band breaks out with the hook-filled US#15 hit "The Breakup Song(They Don't Write 'Em)" from his mostly bland power pop album Rockihnroll. Greg Kihn, one of the original Beserkley label acts, would hit it big again in 1983 with his US#5 hit "Jeopardy".

The Producers : What's He Got

The Producers, a new wave quartet out of Atlanta, get some buzz from their debut album thanks to the ear worm "What's He Got".

Robert Plant and Rockpile : Little Sister

The line-up alone got record buyers excited about the double album, Concerts For The People of Kampuchea. Recorded in late 1979 as a fundraiser to benefit the starving refugees of Cambodia, the album featured British rock royalty highlighted by The Rockestra supergroup, featuring Wings, John Paul Jones and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, Ronnie Lane of the Faces, Kenney Jones and Pete Townshend of the Who, and Hank Marvin of the Shadows. But it was Robert Plant's cover of Elvis Presley's "Little Sister" that got my bandmates excited enough to do a cover at our final high school concert.

John Cale : Dead Or Alive

Much of John Cale's Honi Soit was written spontaneously in the studio. Critics acclaimed the album which reached #154 on the charts, the highest the former Velvet Underground member has yet to achieve. Cale toured the album beginning in April of the year.

Oscar Wilde hits the UK Top 11 thanks to The Pretenders

The Pretenders : Message of Love

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Released on February 6, 1982 The Pretenders' "Message Of Love" would peak at UK#11 and raise expectations for Pretenders II. Like a lot of people, I got my copy on the low-budget Extended Play EP, which came out in March of '81.

The song was composed in the studio, based on a sketch Chrissie Hynde had.Chambers explained, "We never really got into the studio without any rehearsal and record[ed] a song, [but] we have done that once and that was 'Message of Love'. ... [Hynde] likes to come to [the band] when she has [a song] finished in her mind ... but this time she hadn't really finished it and so we just ... rehearsed it already set up in the studio and it was on tape in two hours, basically."

The song namechecks Bridget Bardot and quotes Oscar Wilde in the line "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" .

Trouser Press Rant:

The New Wave Woodstock

On August 23, 1980 Heatwave, a day-long New Wave music festival held near Toronto on August 23rd drew more than 60,000 people who saw Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Talking Heads, the Pretenders, the B-52's and Rockpile. Promoters need 90,000 to break even and failed.  They blamed the lower-than-expected turnout on four factors: a limited advertising budget that didn't penetrate U.S. markets deeply enough and didn't include a sufficient budget for print ads; the lack of a big-name crossover artist like Tom Petty or the Cars, which would have attracted a broader audience; the riot that broke out a few days before the festival when Alice Cooper failed to appear at a concert at the nearby Canadian National Exhibition; and lack of support from record companies which were were reluctant to help with advertising costs and even wanted to charge the festival for photos and biographical material. It didn't help that The Clash dropped out. Overall promoters lost a million dollars.

But even if Heatwave wasn't a smashing commercial success, it was an artistic triumph. Particularly noteworthy were performances by Talking Heads and Elvis Costello (his only North American appearance so far this year). The Heads appeared with an expanded — and funk-infused — lineup of nine musicians, including keyboardist Bernie Worrell from Parliament-Funkadelic and guitarist Adrian Belew, who's played with David Bowie. Costello appeared friendlier than usual as he chatted and joked with the crowd ("Hi, we're the Clash" were his opening words), which brought him back for three encores.

Talk of the Town and other great singles from March of 1980

The Pretenders : Talk Of The Town

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On March 30, The Pretenders returned to the UK charts  at #26 with "Talk Of The Town" b/w "Cuban Slide". The song peaked at UK#8 and was immediately embraced by critics like David Hepworth who wrote:

"Talk of the Town" represents the kind of risk more bands should take more often; an undisciplined, almost jazzy sort of ballad thingy with a vocal that hovers above brilliant guitar textures. It takes three plays to pull you towards it and kisses you full on the mouth on the fourth.

The name of the song is inspired by a London nite club. The lyrics are inspired by a kid who would hang outside the clubs when The Pretenders were touring that Hynde says she never talked to"

It's not my place to know what you feel 

I'd like to know but why should I? 

Who where you then? Who are you know? 

Common laborer by night, By day highbrow 

OTHER SONGS FROM MARCH 1980:

The UK #39 hit "Rough Boys" is the first single from Pete Townshend's Empty Glass. Known for its homoerotic lyrics, the song's meaning has been altered by Townshend several times. 

A #72 ht for Fischer Z who would go on to sell two million albums across Europe.

Popular pub rockers Slaughter and the Dogs wear their Springsteen influences on their sleeves.

The all-female Bodysnatchers hit UK#22 with their cover of Dandy Livingstone's "Let's Do Rock Steady". They'd spend the summer touring with their two-tone label mates The Specials and the Go-Gos.

NME described Graduate's single single as an "energetic little beast of comedic intent, with a nice line in machine-gun burst guitar jabs. Difficult to tell which Elvis they mean, the old one should be fairly two-tone by now anyway." In a few years the band will break up and members Curt and Roland will reform as Tear For Fears,

This Rough Trade single is a real grower by art rockers Swell Maps.

It's kind of a toss-up. Which American rockabilly trio from New York State is going to hit it big? Buzz and the Flyers or Stray Cats? Our money is on Buzz.

The new XTC single has a reggae beat and some fine bass playing by Colin Moulding, but the re-worked B side from Drums and Wires,  "Ten Feet Tall", is ten times better.

Album of the Month: The Pretenders

The Pretenders : Tattooed Love Boys

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In January of 1980, The Pretenders released their self-titled debut album, a commercial and critical hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Within a month, the UK #1 hit "Brass in Pocket" would be racing up the American charts to #14. Not bad for a song Chrissie Hynde never wanted anyone to hear.

"I didn't like it very much," she told BBC2's "The Art of Artists"."It was one of the few collaborations I did at the time because I brought the songs in on my own. And thats what I did like about it . Jimmy ( Honeyman-Scott) played this great riff in the studio one day and I went 'Wow, what was that?' and I managed to tape it so I could write a song around it. That was great. I wish we had time to develop that because collaboration is the most fun thing. But I didn't really like my voice. I didn't like my contribution to it and I said 'That goes out over my dead body'".

Raised in Akron, Ohio, "The Rubber Capital of the World", Hynde was immediately drawn to rock music, getting most of her education from the radio. She moved to London in 1973, working odd jobs, writing for NME, surrounded by friends who were making headlines in punk rock bands.

"I wanted to be in a band so bad. And to go to all the gigs, to see it so close up, to be living in it and not to have a band was devastating to me," she told Rolling Stone.

In 1978 she met bass player Pete Farndon, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and Martin Chambers, musicians from the cathedral city of Hereford. They practiced seven days a week, developing a sound that was heavy on riffs and more pop-oriented than punk (though "Precious" is about as punk as punk can get). By securing a demo session with Honeyman-Scott's idol Nick Lowe, Hynde convinced everyone to move to London and give The Pretenders a go.

The debut album, produced by Chris Thomas ( Roxy Music, Sex Pistols)  heralded a band of rockers lead by a woman, which may not have been a big deal in the egalitarian punk rock scene, but was the subject of a lot of writing by mainstream journalists.  

“It’s not easy to be in her position,” Pete Farndon told Rolling Stone. “You know— locked up with four or five guys who are talkin’ about tits and ass all the time. On the road, you’ve got nothing that most women would want. Chris isn’t like most women.” 

On the first American tour in March, The Pretenders ended their show with the Kinks cover that had been their first UK single. By now the reviews were all in and The Pretenders were on their way.

From Robert Christgau of the Village Voice, a grade of A-

Tough gals, tough gals--suddenly the world is teeming with tough gals. And Chrissie Hynde is a good one. Maybe not all of her songs are championship singles, but she's got more to offer emotionally and musically (and sexually) than any of the competition, unless Patti counts. She's out for herself but she gives of herself as well; when she alternates between rapacity and tenderness you don't feel she's acting coy or fucked up, although she may be. And she conveys these changes with her voice as well as with her terse, slangy, suggestive lyrics. James Honeyman Scott's terse, slangy, suggestive guitar steals don't hurt either.

   From Red Starr of Smash Hits a 9/10:

GREAT hard sound, especially guitar, 46 minutes playing time, high writing ability throughout, concentrated rock'n'roll energy, staying power...As one who'd previously thought The Pretenders nothing more than a collection of pleasant odd bits cobbled together, this comes as a very welcome surprise/ I'm converted! Great album. Best tracks "Tattooed Love Boys", "Brass in Pocket".

By the end of the Summer of 1983, drugs had taken the lives of both both Farndon and Honeyman-Scott. Forty years later, Hynde and Chambers are still touring as The Pretenders, performing on a double bill this coming Summer with Journey.

The Concerts for Kampuchea

Rockpile ( with Robert Plant) : Little Sister

[Purchase]

For four nights, from December 26-29 of 1979, some of the biggest names in rock and roll performed at the Hammersmith Odeon in London to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia. The shows, billed as the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, featured Queen, The Clash, The Who, Elvis Costello, The Pretenders, and the last show by Wings. A double album recorded during those evenings would finally be released in March of 1981. My high school band The Geeks performed our own version of the single from that album, "Little Sister",  with lyrics changed to make fun of teachers.

The first night, on Boxing Day, featured a 28-song set by Queen just as their  UK#2 single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" began dropping out of the Top 30. They were the only band playing that night.

Ian Dury and The Blockheads performed 11 songs on the second night, followed by the British reggae band Matumbi.

Then came The Clash, just weeks after releasing London Calling in the U.K. Seven of the 16 songs they played came from the new album. Here they are playing "Armagideon Time", the B side of their single "London Calling" which had just entered the U.K.  Top 30 at #29.

The Pretenders kicked off night three followed by The Specials and The Who. Their debut album was still a week of two away.

The Who's set featured 25 songs and their new drummer, Kenney Jones. 

Elvis Costello and the Attractions opened up the final night. Rockpile came on next with a short set highlighted by the surprise appearance of Robert Plant. Finally Wings took the stage , playing 20 songs including Beatles numbers "Fool On The Hill" "Yesterday" and "Got To Get You Into My Life". 

It all ended with a four song set by Rockestra, a thirty musician supergroup.

In January of 1980 some American bands, The Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Starship ,  would perform at a benefit concert at Oakland Coliseum for the people of Kampuchea.

Howard the Duck and Mr Stress

The Pretenders : Precious (Regent Park demo)

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  By July 24, 1978 guitar virtuoso James Honeyman-Scott had joined The Pretenders. "As soon as I heard Jimmy Scott, I knew I was getting close," said Chrissie Hynde. " Jimmy and I turned out to have a genuine musical affinity".

Honeyman-Scott could play anything. His solo on "Tattooed Love Boys" from the band's debut album tells the history of rock guitar. The band spent an enormous amount of time together in the early days. 

"We did lots of rehearsing - seven days a week, all hours of the day and night. At first a lot of the licks were very heavy - like 'Up the Neck' started off as a reggae song. I said, 'Let's speed it up,' and put in that little guitar run. The melodic parts of the numbers really all started coming together by me putting in these little runs and licks. And then Chrissie started to like pop music, and that's why she started writing things like 'Kid'". 

The band didn't even have a name when Honeyman-Scott joined Hynde, fellow Herefordian Pete Farndon  and a session drummer at Regent Park studios in London for demo sessions that included "Precious", "The Phone Call",  and a version of "Stop Your Sobbing " ( a Kinks cover) that attracts the attention of Nick Lowe who agrees to produce the band's first single, "Stop Your Sobbing" b/w "The Wait" on Real Records.

It would make the U.K. Top 40 in early 1979 sending The Pretenders ( named for the Platters song "The Great Pretender")  on their way.