Berlin Blondes

[newwavepopman]

They were no relation at all to the band Berlin.And they were around 2 years before Berlin as a band.Their self titled album is from what I gather to be their only album that they did.I have no idea what their sound and style was like,as I never got a chance to hear any of their music.Can anyone give me a clue on what this band was all about? Thank you.

[devildog]

All I know is that they certainly were not from Berlin. Never heard there sound, though.

[Mr Fittler]

They came from Stirling, Scotland, halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow. A friend, Michael Arthur (ex-Ed Kuepper band) was a member for a while and they shared another couple of members with Those French Girls (Mike Scott of Waterboys).

[gilson80boy]

I've got their album remastered to CDR, and it's not bad at all, a couple of stand out tracks. Very new wave sounding with synths and vocals.

[Johnnyboy]

Ahhh....... The Berlin Blondes - A ghost from my past and one of GLASGOW's finest bands ever in my opinion. I first saw them around spring of 1979 at Glasgows "Mars Bar" club, who's regular bands had included Simple Minds, The Zones and other Glasgow post punk bands.
A local fanzine writer that that I knew had been following them since
a support gig they played with the Simple Minds the previous year thought they were "ripping off' Simple Minds..I could see comparisons but the Blondes took off in a more electronic or Techno direction by only using drum machines in their "Classic" line-up ( Bonomi, Spender, Farrel, Rudden), and their homage to this is the fact that they used to play a rocking version of Kraftwerk's "The Model" during this period. Bass player David (Endgames) Rudden's bass lines were simple and effective and suited the minimalistic drums well, James Spender( AKA Jim McKinven -Altered Images/One Dove)played swirling piano/strings and synths and Robert Farrell played excellent lead/rhythm guitar. This was fronted by Steve Bonomi's "Numanesque" monotone vocals. All songs and Musicians provided lots of hooks to keep the music interesting, but visually the group were stunning, looking like early Roxy Music clones (lots of make-up, eyeliner, mascara etc).
Rudden left the band when they signed to EMI and went on to form Endgames, while Spender(McKinven) left soon after to play guitar for other Glasgow new-waver's Altered Images.
The bands sound was never the same after this and on the one album the band recorded, the sound is much "thinner" than the early days ( not saying it may not suit other peoples tastes), and although the band recruited Bass virtuoso Nick Clark from the "Cuban Heels", I never thought his flamboyant style of Bass playing suited the band, although thats only my opinion, but may have been a deliberate change after the departure of Rudden.

[O]

Does anyone have any photos of this band? The only one I've seen is the picture on the cover of the "Science" 7".

I read in an old NME mag that EMI was not happy with their finished album.
I'm a big fan of the record, especially the guitar sound.

[Rubellan]

As some may already know, I love this band and their lone LP is one of my all time favorites. Not a bad song on it! For the originator of this thread, if you would like to give me an email address, I can send you a couple of MP3's once I get home from work.

I do not have any photos of the band, outside of the Science 7" sleeve. A couple of weeks ago I did a Yahoo seach on Stephen Bonomi. I ran across photos of a Scottsman who was now a prestigeous chef. Could it be the same man? My only gripe about the LP is there is no lyric sleeve, and many of the vocals are muted and indecypherable.

Their last release, which was a 1981 7", is a not so great song called Marseille. Definitely losing the heavy synth/guitar sound and going towards more pretense. The flip side, titled The Poet, is much better but still not up to par with any of the LP tracks.

Scott

[O]

Here is a photo of the later version of the band from Steve Allan Jones' site:

http://www.steveallanjones.co.uk/images ... londes.jpg

Steve played the keyboard riff on the "Marseille" single. I emailed him a while ago. I'm sure he said Gary Numan was going to work with the band or was with them in the studio when they recorded that single.

Apparently they also toured with Hot Gossip!

[O]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Rubellan[/i]
<br>I ran across photos of a Scottsman who was now a prestigeous chef. Could it be the same man?
[/quote]

I googled him - yes, that's probably him. Did you find out for sure?

Also came across these 2 bits, an ad for the first single and a photo:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v439/OOO/blondes1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v439/OOO/blondes2.jpg

[Rubellan]

So cool! Thanks for posting the links. On a side note, I've recently purchased an Australian 7" single of "Science", purely to have an alternate pressing. BONUS: It turned out to be a completely unique mix of the song not on the UK single, and (as far as I know) unavailable elsewhere.

Scott

[O]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Rubellan[/i]
<br>a completely unique mix of the song not on the UK single, and (as far as I know) unavailable elsewhere.
[/quote]

I'll have to keep a look out for that version. Here's something else, a demo review from Scottish punk zine The RAG:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v439/ ... AG1980.jpg

[Rubellan]

Well, at least they were given positive reviews at that stage. I'd love to know if they had any chart success with either the singles or the LP. They seemed in time, or even a bit ahead, of what was going on in 1980. Synthesizers and the New Romantic look. They should have been huge.
I once read an old interview with Clare Grogan of Altered Images fame. She was asked what one of the funniest things she'd ever seen was. Her response was something like "Seeing a Berlin Blondes concert". I think it may be been a dig at the band.

[Johnnyboy]

I never noted any chart success at the time, but do stand to be corrected,and they seemed limited to local popularity (central Scotland)
They were definitely ahead of their time, as it was a while later that Bands like DuranDuran etc came to prominence.
As for Ms. Grogans comments, I am sure this would most likely have been a personal jibe at band member Jim McKinven,who played keys for the Blondes. Jim had a chameleon-like persona in the Blondes and would change his appearance from one show to the next,looking at times like a David Bowie clone from either "low" or "Ziggy" period, and latterly took on the appearance of a "wax dummy" by applying some strange glaze to his face. Ms Grogan on the other hand was one too talk, as her "Hats" were usually the highlight of any early Altered Images shows.
FYI, the line up shown in th second link above (and on the "science" cover is not what I would call the classic lineup.

[O]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Rubellan[/i]
<br>They seemed in time, or even a bit ahead, of what was going on in 1980. Synthesizers and the New Romantic look.
[/quote]

Yes, the first single was released early in 1980, so that was before the phrase 'New Romantic' had been coined. I guess they would have been called 'Futurists'.
Something I've noticed from looking in old copies of Sounds mag from 1980 is they often used term "New Musik" for anything weird that used synths. Though maybe this was just Sounds!

[O]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Johnnyboy[/i]
<br>Ms Grogan on the other hand was one too talk, as her "Hats" were usually the highlight of any early Altered Images shows.
[/quote]

Talking of Altered Images, have you seen the 1980 Leeds Futurama clip on YouTube?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAoSsLDdtBA