Shriekback? Never heard of them. That was my stance about a month ago when I came across the group.
Formed in 1981 by former XTC member, Barry Andrews, and Dave Allen, and later adding Carl Marsh, Shriekback would find minor success on dance charts. However, they never really had a breakthrough album which saw them skyrocket into mainstream success. They released albums between 1982 and 1988, and then broke up.
It would be their 1988 album, Go Bang!, which would turn my attention to them. Specifically for their cover of the 1975 KC And The Sunshine Band hit, Get Down Tonight. Was it a perfect or superior cover? No. Are they ever? It was, however, familiar, and overall, a cheap album to obtain, pretty much the driving force that made it appealing at the time.
Even then, the album really only made it into my collection as fast as it did because of a bulk purchase from a seller who had it amongst the other items I was looking for. This turned out to be a very surprisingly good purchase.
I really didn't expect to be as hooked as I was with Go Bang! Nothing about it on the surface seemed like it was going to have so much goodness packed inside, but that is exactly what I found. I actually ended up grabbing seven of the nine tracks for my shuffle list.
It's hard to really pinpoint what was appealing about it because from song to song, things seemed to change. Overall, I would definitely label this an "alternative" genre, but there's also songs which feature a very familiar soda shop vibe. This comes in waves from the backing harmonies of Sarah and Wendy Partridge, who compliment the monotone vocals of Andrews perfectly.
I'm intrigued to go back to their 1986 release, Big Night Music, but I don't know that I'll go any further. The reason being that albums released prior to that don't feature Andrews as the lead singer. Rather, those duties belonged to Carl Marsh. Could those albums still be good? Sure. But, I want to stay in familiar territory if I branch out. At least at first.
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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution. |
| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS January 25, 1986 |
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