Retro Spins: Swing Out Sister - It's Better To Travel

Swing Out Sisters were formed by Andy Connell and Martin Jackson, who later brought in vocalist, Corinne Drewery. The band would state on their website decades later that the name was an obscure Billie Burke B-musical from the '40s and was adopted because it was the only name they could agree upon. That agreement was that they all hated it.

Connell and Jackson had been producing successful electro tracks at the time, which garnered the attention of several labels. Among them was Phonogram / Mercury Records, who ultimately signed them. Leading up to their debut album's release, the single, Break Out was released. It would climb to number four on the UK charts, and peak at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. With this momentum already in place, upon its release, It's Better To Travel reached number one in the UK, and forty on the Billboard 200.

The next single, Surrender, would only be successful in the UK, peaking at number seven. However, their third single, Twilight World would reach thirty-one in the USA. Their last single, Fooled By A Smile, would prove to be lackluster, not charting at all.

Their successful debut would garner Grammy awards for Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group or Duo. The latter, specifically for Breakout. This popularity was amplified by the music video for Breakout being in consistent rotation on MTV.

Being on the cusp of the CD format explosion, the number of tracks you get with the album is dictated by the format you choose. For the cassette and vinyl cuts, the album contains nine tracks. For the CD, four additional songs have been added. However, these are nothing more than a mixture of remixes and instrumental versions of some of the already included tunes. Unless you're a massive fan of the group, these additional inclusions aren't really worth jumping up and down about.

As for me, I honestly wasn't a fan when they first hit the 80's scene. I remember as a kid singing, "Breakout and watch those zits come out." Which is why it was odd, but not unexpected, I suppose, that when I started building my 80's collection of CD's that Swing Out Sisters ultimately made it to the list. Though it was certainly not a high priority.

What I do appreciate in retrospect is their use of horns, and the blending of synth pop with a flare of jazz. It's unique not only for its time, but even today.

I also picked up on a Sade vibe from Drewery's vocals. In a way, it was a nice added bonus and also prompted me to pick up Sade's 1988 album, which is the last of her 80's era albums I didn't currently have.

As a whole, It's Better To Travel is a pretty okay album. I think it's definitely one I would need to be in the right mood for, and I guess today just so happened to work out for it. Despite my childhood opinion, Breakout is a pretty decent song, as is the aforementioned Twilight World. Beyond that though, there weren't really any more memorable tracks.

The trio would reduce to a due when midway through the recording of their 1989 follow-up, Kaleidoscope World, Jackson would opt to leave the band. Though there's not much information on why he left, and nothing I could find which could be corroborated as fact, some have stated it was from him not liking the direction the music was going and wanting to get back to more rock-oriented music. Or you could go with what one person commented on the subject, and simply sum it up as, "three's a crowd".

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