Formed in 1982, the Australian band, Pseudo Echo, are best known for their cover of Funky Town. Overall, they never really made a major impact on the world of 80's music.
Members, Pierre Gigliotti, Anthony Johan Argiro, Tony Lugton, and Brian Canham, secured a contract with EMI Australia, after being discovered by Countdown host, Molly Meldrum, who convinced the band to perform on her show. Through the label, they released their debut, 1984's Autumnal Park. It spawned two Australian top twenty hits, and poised the band to be a formidable entry in the era, with the album peaking at number eleven.
Autumnal Park was released in the USA under the name, Pseudo Echo, but didn't garner much attention. Fun fact though. Their track, His Eyes, would go on to be featured in Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning.
Their 1985 follow-up, Love An Adventure, featured a change in personnel. Argiro, and Lugton left the band to join other groups, being replaced by brothers James and Vince Leigh. Their second studio venture also proved positive, once again charting in Australia, and peaking at number fourteen. Among the tracks were three chart topping singles, which included Funky Town.
Firing the album up, I was treated to a plethora of synth-pop goodness. It captured the sound of the era perfectly, and with it came an overall enjoyable listening experience. What I will say, is that while every track wasn't a contender for top ten, I didn't hear anything I necessarily found to be "bad".
Standout tracks for me were, Beat For You, Try, Listening, Love An Adventure, and of course, Funky Town. The latter is actually a pretty good cover of the original Lipps, Inc. version, giving it a little more rock than the former disco iteration provided.
It's also interesting to note that there are two variations of this particular album. Apparently, it was re-recorded in 1987, and re-released with alternate vocal tracks. Though I wasn't able to find any information as to why this happened, I suspect that the original Australian release was from 1985, and the 1987 version is the one which was released in the USA.
I think what I liked most about Love An Adventure, the album, is that it sparked that desire in me to delve more into the group. I'm definitely interested in picking up their debut album, as well as their 1988 follow-up, Race.
Unfortunately, following that album, the band broke up. However, in 2000, Gigliotti and Canham reunited, and reformed the group. Since then, Pseudo Echo has released a few more albums. None of these appears to have charted in any country, leaving them essentially locked in the 80's as their heydays.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS February 15, 1986 |
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