i-want-more

Record box #4

4. Terry Hall

Fun Boy Three 'Our Lips are Sealed'
The Colourfield 'Thinking of you'

I've only seen Terry Hall in the flesh once and it was one of those moments that made me catch my breath. I was outside the Kilburn National, having just seen Beck do a gig. That was pretty good, but seeing Terry was 100 times better. I looked up and there he was, wandering down the street with a look on his face than can best be described as 'hangdog'. If there was ever an illustrated dictionary, they'd surely print a picture of Terry next to that word.

As a kid, I loved The Specials and from an early age I have associated Terry with some of the best moments of socially-concious (yet un-preachy) British pop music. [Apart from Vegas, his collaboration with Dave Stewart - I have just about forgiven him that particular transgression.] Here he is, represented in the record box by two of his finest moments, in my opinion.

Fun Boy Three were formed by Hall following the breakdown of The Specials and sounded very odd indeed when you consider the landscape of music at the time (over-produced new romanticism; the remainder of new wave and the re-heated leftovers of punk). Their sound was sparse and percussion-led. They are a criminally under-rated band that have always been overshadowed by the success of Hall's former project.

'Our Lips are Sealed' was co-written between Hall and Jane Wiedlin, of superior all-girl power-poppers The Go-Gos - whom also recorded a version of the song. From a comparison standpoint the two versions couldn't be more different - the Go-Gos version sounds positive, upbeat: it's a sort-of jaunty 'fuck you!'. The version by FB3 is melancholy-sounding and resigned. Hall's delivery gets me every time: every line is like a separate, stand-alone statement. In a nutshell, he sounds worn and bitter. It's a superlative '80s pop moment.

I must admit that I know relatively little about the Colourfield, Hall's next project after FB3. It strikes me that 'Thinking of you' was designed as an exercise in reproducing a lush, strings-laden 1960s pop song of the old style. What a good job they made of it too - as a duet between boy and girl, it recalls Nancy and Lee (and maybe even Peters and Lee!). Again, what is an ostensibly cheery love song has an edge - mainly because the lyrics are quite negative.

It's even more heartening for me that Terry Hall has recently admitted that most of his music collection has been bought at service stations. A confessed lover of cheesy pop music, he has rather smartly aligned himself to Sean Rowley's rather excellent franchise Guilty Pleasures. I'm going to get myself along to one of these soon to see him DJ, I think.

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On another note: hope you all caught the mighty Prince on the Brit Awards last night. Perhaps this is a turning point for him, and he will be re-established in the bosom of the nation.

posted by deafdisco @ 12:30 am