With Jude Cole replacing Huw Gower, The Records recorded this power pop version of the song they gave away to The Searchers, releasing it in April of 1980. Like Crashes, the album that would follow, the single lacked promotion and remains a cult item despite Stereo Review naming it Album of the Month.
On May 23, 1979 Ian Dury and the Blockheads had high hopes for their follow-up to New Boots And Panties!, especially because Do It Yourself was released in the wake of the chart topping "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick". That song did not appear on the original version of the album and neither did the U.K. #3 hit "Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3". Nevertheless, the album reached number 2 on the album charts and sold 200,000 copies, enough to reach platinum status in the U.K. The album was released with 32 different covers each featuring a different kind of wallpaper.
The sessions were not especially easy as Dury's drinking and addiction to pills led to wild mood swings and difficult moments among band mates. Still, most of The Blockheads would hang on for at least another year
Thanks to one of the greatest power pop singles ever recorded the British band The Records scored a record deal with Virgin who released their debut Shades in Bed in May of 1979. "Mutt" Lange, who also produced AC-DC's Highway to Hell and The Boomtown Rats' Fine Art of Surfacing this year, only helped record a few songs before moving on to another project. The album didn't chart in the U.K but peaked at #41 in the United States on the strength of "Teenarama"and "Starry Eyes" . Americans preferred the original single recording over the U.K. album's polished version.
In November of 1978 The English power pop band The Records released the single "Starry Eyes", a Byrds-inspired song that would peak at US #56 nearly a full year later. Formed from the ashes of the pub rock band The Kursaal Flyers, The Records featured drummer Will Birch (who wrote Dave Edmunds' "A.1. on the Jukebox") and his songwriting partner, vocalist John Wicks who unfortunately passed away in October of this year.
Sometimes things just come together. I was listening to the radio and heard “Do Anything You Wanna Do” by Eddie and the Hot Rods. I said to Will Birch, who wrote the lyrics, “We’ve got to write a song like this!” It was really cool. I did the music.
At the time that song was written, we had this whole thing with our manager. He was a nice guy; he would always put things off. We felt like if we don’t move on faster, things would fall apart. It was my instigation to look for somebody else, which we did.
Will wrote this song and put it in front of me in this rehearsal room. It didn’t have a title; it just had a place where “starry eyes” went. Because the then-ex-manager’s name was Frank Silver, I called it “Silver Song.” I just used the same kind of jangly chords I’d used as a kid, and five minutes later it was done.
I said to Will, “This is a classic! This is gonna be big!”
