My Bird Performs

I've had company throughout the weekend, so updates have been understandably sparse. Expect a return to form in the coming week, including exciting news out of Interview-Land and music that was actually produced recently.

With that in mind, here are another couple of "slick traxx" from the vault that is my laptop.



Haircut 100 - 40-40 Home. During my New Wave phase in high school, I learned the hard truth about the careers of some of my favorite bands: once the singles stopped coming, so did the support. This type of dog-eat-dog competition for radio slots resulted in tons of one-hit wonders and even more then-undiscovered classics. Take, for example, Haircut 100. Most people (and by "most people", I mean "casual 80s enthusiasts/pop culture types") know the band for its first release, Pelican West; usually described as being too effervescent for its own good, the album is most known for the single featured in the video above. However, I always thought the band had more potential than they had the chance to exhibit. Combining cleancut United Colors of Benetton good looks with jazzy synth pop, they had all the makings of rising stars... except, however, for a stable frontman. Vocalist Nick Heyward (who did a smashing Morrissey impersonation three years before Moz himself hit the scene) bolted from the band just after Pelican West dropped in 1982, leaving the rest of the band to the task of crafting an appropriate sequal. The result, 1984's Paint and Paint, featured percussionist Mark Fox on vocals, but, despite featuring uptempo radio tracks like this one, failed to deliver on the promise of its predecessor. The band folded soon after, while Heyward enjoyed middling success as a solo artist.

Haircut 100 - Prime Time. Here's a tantalizing bit of information culled from the band's Wikipedia entry:

"In 2004, all of the group's ex-members reunited for an episode of VH1's series Bands Reunited. The group has seriously discussed the idea of reuniting to record a new album, with Heyward being quoted as saying 'We're all older and have commitments, but wouldn't it be good to dedicate two weeks of our lives to creating a follow-up to Pelican West. It would have that magic because nobody as a player has gone off the boil.'"

Let's just hope any reunion recording is more Mission of Burma and less Duran Duran.

Posted by Tyler on Sunday, July 16, 2006 at 11:07 PM | Permalink