Living in the 80's, heading for the 90's!
The Escape Club was formed in 1983 by Trevor Steel, John Holliday, Johnnie Christo (a.k.a. John Christoforou, and Milan Zekavica). They'd sign with EMI America in 1985, and release their debut album, White Fields (1986). The album would go relatively unnoticed, and the group would move to Atlantic Records to work on what would become their 1988 breakthrough album, Wild Wild West.
Credited on the album, but not part of the band is Tessa Niles on backing vocals. While she never emerged as a solo artist, Tessa has been featured on numerous albums, working with some of the biggest and best of the era. I'm talking, ABC, The Police, Tina Turner, Duran Duran, Gary Numan, Eric Clapton, Pet Shop Boys, Steve Winwood, The Rolling Stones, Tears For Fears, Howard Jones, and the list goes on and on.
The album spawned three singles, the first becoming their biggest success. Wild Wild West, the song, would shoot up the Billboard Hot 100 to number one, helped by its heavy rotation on MTV. This was followed by Shake For The Shiek (peaked at twenty-eight), and Walking Through Walls (peaked at eighty-one). While the band found major success in the US, they were shunned by their UK home, where they failed to chart. Further, the country banned their video for Wild Wild West, with no official reason cited for doing so.
I've had this CD on my shelf for the longest time. Far too long for it to have gone ignored. It's one you'll find in most dollar bins, in droves. It's time to rectify that.
Things kick off with their biggest hit, a tactic that always worries me. I can't help but wonder if the best has come, and from there, it turns into mediocrity fast. Fortunately, this didn't happen.
What I began to notice was that their style of music, particularly the guitar work, had a funky jam akin to that of Prince. A lot of strummed chords lead the rhythm section and get filled in with edgy lead guitar work. It's quite enjoyable.
Among the bunch, I found (for me) the forgotten hit, Shake For The Shiek, and while I didn't particularly care for their final single, noted above, I did enjoy Goodbye Joey Rae, Working For The Fat Man, and Staring At The Sun. The latter really showcases the aforementioned funk. Overall, the album was quite enjoyable.
The Escape Club followed up with 1991's Dollars For Sex, which produced the Billboard Hot 100 number eight single, I'll Be There. However, they would slowly drift apart in 1992. The root cause seems to stem from the members fearing about being in a long-term band, while also facing major debt. Johnnie Christo and Milan Zekavica left to pursue other ventures, while John Holliday and Trevor Steel began a successful career as a songwriting and production team called 'Bump and Grind.
They did, however, release a self-published album in 2005, Cloud Nine. This was followed in 2012 with Celebrity, which featured new drummer, Red Board. Unfortunately, both Red, and Johnnie Christo would pass away in 2024.
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