The Records: “Starry Eyes”
Some of my favorite bands are the ones who got maybe two forkfuls of success before imploding, dissolving, or otherwise disappearing. British power popsters The Records definitely have a neatly-printed placecard at that table, seated between several other bands with impeccable harmonies and noun-based names.
The Records were pieced together in 1978 by Will Birch1 and John Wicks who’d been bandmates in the late Kursaal Flyers. Will & John had a handful of songs they’d written together and a name for their new group—The Records—before they even found another pair of musicians to round out their early lineup. They found some work as an opening act before scoring a contract with Virgin Records who dug their Hollies-style harmonies and sharp lyrics. Their first (and all-around best) single was “Starry Eyes”, a scathing critique of their former manager that was softened by their soaring voices:
While you were off in France we were stranded in the British Isles.
Left to fall apart amongst your passports and your files
We never asked for miracles, but they were our concern
Did you really think we’d sit it out and wait for your return?
That song was enough to get ‘em in the studio with Mutt “I Cheated On Shania Twain” Lange who cut their first (and—again—all-around best) album, Shades in Bed.2 The LP had another stellar pair of mildly-successful singles, “Teenarama” and “Rock n Roll Love Letter”3. And then… that was it.
One guitarist split. His replacement stayed in America after a tour for their poorly received sophomore album. The record company ditched ‘em. Nobody listened to their third release, ever. Roll end credits on The Records.4
But they’ll always have a seat at my table.
1 Birch has a special place in the sub-cockles of my heart for his excellent book No Sleep Till Canvey Island: The Great Pub Rock Revolution. Long title, great “I Was There” perspective on the whole scene.
2 Released as The Records in the US.
3 Yeah, the Bay City Rollers song. WHAT OF IT.
4 There are countless reasons why I wish I’d been born a decade earlier but one of the things I’d like to add to the list is “Ability to have called record stores to ask ‘Do you have The Records?’” because it would’ve been as brilliant and frustrating a prank call as The Great Rick’s Fried Chicken Incident of 1988, when my neighbor and I repeatedly called that very restaurant to ask the all-female staff if they had chicken breasts. Every single time they’d sigh heavily, say ‘yes’ and both of us would shout “I BET YOU LOOK LIKE HELL IN A BATHING SUIT”.
We made our own fun.
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