New Wave Outpost Forum

I never heard of the mid-Eighties band when they were active, but in 2006 i found both of their albums at a thrift shop, and oh boy are they good. Recently I looked at their videos, and those are good too, but the last one is a little creepy. I really can't remember hearing them when they were out.

You never heard Happy Hour? Yes they have two albums but with B sides & compilations, they have tons more amazing songs way beyond just two albums. I recommend "I smell Winter"

Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook).

In the UK of course their big hit was "Caravan Of Love", an Isley Brothers cover - done acapella if I recall, Flying Pickets style!

I had the singles "Me & The Farmer" and "Think For A Minute" back in the day.

I posted the Happy Hour reviews here:

http://smashhitssingles.blogspot.com/20 ... discs.html

In 1986, I was a college student at the University of Hawaii and one of the only ways to hear new music was by listening to KTUH the college radio station. I would also sometimes record "modern music hours" on my boombox. This is how I first heard bands like The Jazz Butcher, Flesh For Lulu, and Expando Brain - bands that couldn't even get on MTV. Well, on one of my tapes there was a snippet of The Housemartins' "Anxious" but the DJ never identified the song or the artist! I really liked it but there was no way to find out what it was. Fast forward to 2002 when I began to videotape "We Are The 80's" off VH1Classic and saw the hilarious video for The Beautiful South's "You Keep It All In". Thank God for chyrons! I then did research into The Beautiful South and found that Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway had formerly been in The Housemartins and since cheap CDs of both groups were readily available in used record stores, I snapped up as many as I could find and lo and behold, there was "Anxious" on The Housemartins' debut LP London 0 Hull 4! Don't you just love it when a circle completes itself!

I can't remember hearing anything from them. I listened to KROQ back then. Of course, I also didn't remember hearing "Under the Milkyway" by the Church, when it felt like I was hearing it for the first time in 2008, and I think that is one of the best songs EVER.