This lot were from Glasgow. Between 1981 and 1985 they released eight singles and three LPs all on the Statik record label. I honestly don't remember all that much about them, but I must have seen them live at some point given that I went to plenty of gigs across the city during that time as it coincided precisely with my four years at University. But as I say, I can't recall too much about them.
Doing a bit of research, wiki throws this up:-
The band was formed in 1979 by Ross Middleton (vocals), his brothers Graham Middleton (keyboards, vocals) and Fraser Middleton (bass guitar, vocals), Russell Blackstock (guitar, vocals), and Les Gaff (drums). Their first released material was two tracks ("Refugees" and "The Long March") on the Statik label compilation album Second City Statik in 1980, and they followed this with two singles on Statik in 1981, both of which were top-ten hits on the Début album Heart of Darkness was released in May 1981, after which Ross left to form the short-lived Leisure Process with Blackstock taking over on lead vocals. Heart of Darkness peaked at number four on the independent chart, and the band's second album, Change of Heart (1982), also charted, reaching number 2. They released a third and final album, Distant Fires, in 1985, now with John Telford on drums and John Coletta on guitar, but their earlier success was not repeated and they split up shortly afterwards.
Ross Middleton went on to work as a music journalist, writing for Sounds under the pen name Maxwell Park.
Maxwell Park incidentally is the name of a railway station not too far from Villain Towers.....and there's also a Russell Blackstock who writes for newspapers here in Glasgow - I'm guessing it's the same bloke who was in the band.
Anyway, I saw a Positive Noise single in a box in a charity shop and thought I'd give it a try. Turns out to be their actual debut release from February 1981 And the TVV verdict? Not too bad but nothing earth-shattering. And like many tracks from the era, it all sounds just a wee bit dated. Maybe there's a few of you out there who recall them with a bit more fondness and can fill in the blanks:-
mp3 : Positive Noise - Give Me Passion
mp3 : Positive Noise - Ghosts
Happy Listening
11 comments:
Jim I believe I saw them supporting either ultravox or toyah at the Glasgow appolo around this time by the way toyah was my first ever gig and ultavox my second I remember being very afraid as I was stil at school and cr***** myself as the balcony bounced.
Son of the rock
Ross Middleton ended up in Berlin with Nick Cave and all the Neubaten type guys....dunno if he is still alive.
Fraser was the music journalist on the Evening Times all through the 1990`s and Russell `wrote` for the Sun......
Saw them in Glasgow, the Tech I think and at the Bungalow in Paisley. Great live band.
Never saw them as nobody used to come to Belfast!! Well slight exaggeration, Though "When lightning strikes" is without doubt one of the greatest songs ever.
I think 'Charm' is their best-known single. Bloody great it is too.
Like Son of a Rock mentions PN did tour with Toyah in March of 83. That was my first concert I attended at Poole Arts Centre. Never heard of PN before or after so thanks for posting JC but now I feel old :-) Cheers Ian
I bought this single back in the day and along with the first album, loved it to bits. CHeers for the reminder.
Rich C
As Londonlee says, Charm is the one. A truly great single from 1981. One of my faves of that era in fact. After reading your post yesterday I had a look on youtube for Charm and found there was a video for it there. The 1st LP is pretty good, too. Didn't hear that much after Ross left but what I did hear didn't sound anywhere near as good. I thought Ross disappeared after Leisure Process. I remember reading there was a sighting of him looking like a sown and out in Paris.
that should, of course, read 'down and out'!
Love this track, used to play the 12" all the time. Leisure Process were pretty good too.
I don't remember Postive Noise but I liked Leisure Process a lot and had the 12" of Cashflow and some other stuff as well.
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