Review:

on 2011-02-22 CharlesMartel Said:

Do you know, somehow I forgot I had this. Yet it is only a relatively recent purchase. I only found out when I went through my collection to sort out the mess it had got into that I discovered I had it. That is a shame because this album should not be forgotten, not by anyone. Bad Boy!! Bad Bad Boy!!!!! Go and listen to the Pussycat Dolls and no Chameleons for a week! That will teach you to make the continued mistake of overlooking one of the oft-overlooked bands of British Post-Punk.

Yes, B-Movie were just such an outfit, when they weren't trying to crack America or be new romantics that is. I first got into them through the stunning single "Remembrance Day". That is and remains one of my favourite all time tracks. This album came out a few years back featuring their sessions on the BBC with John Peel, charting their rise and fall. It serves to remind you of what a great outfit this lot could have been if fate had dealt them a kinder hand. Although they became a fixture of the American college scene in the eighties, they never made it in the UK. Their sole album release came out in 1985 and this collection of songs performed in sessions for the John Peel show between 1981 and 1984 is one of the few pieces of their work which is still available today.

Led by vocalist Steve Hovington, B-Movie could initially have been mistaken for any one of half a dozen other bands from Britain who emerged around the same time. For a start they collectively suffered from a similar bout of bad hair as many of their contemporaries, though they were never in the same league as A Flock of Seagull's Mike Score, or the ridiculous Limahl. And they brought with them a similar moodiness and broodiness, which often conflicted with the pretensions for new romanticism which were thrust upon them by their controllers.

The songs feature the haunting synthesisers, the strong rhythm guitars and the snappy drumming, all highlights of any decent post punk outfit. What is noticeable is the way the sound changes between sessions, with the last session taking place after the band's ill-starred attempt to break into the American market and out of its narrow college radio scene. The former prominence of the guitars has been muted and the synthesisers dominate. They had morphed into not the same band as had stunned me in 1981 with "Remembrance Day".

Sadly, their record company decided that the best thing for them was to try to make it big in America and after years of fruitless touring, nothing came of it. Like the Comsat Angels, the record company forced the band to commercialise its sound in the hope of achieving the sort of success the record company deemed desirable. It was never a step which B-Movie really approved of or felt comfortable with. The tracks from this session sound a little jaded and weary by comparison with the earlier material

Still, none of this is an excuse for overlooking this fine collection of songs from a forgotten band. So, as a punishment for not having this on my list of albums to be reviewed, let alone having reviewed it, I now have to subject myself to crap for a week. Oh, well, it's going to be a very un-merry Xmas for me. I wonder what is on the telly?
Rating: 7/10