Messengers

Once upon a time, a young man who loved synth-based New Romantic music went to a concert at the Kabuki Nightclub in San Francisco to see one of his ultimate favorite bands, Ultravox, fronted by the amazing singer-songwriter Midge Ure, on their 1983 Quartet/Monument Tour. It was a magical night but what remained an enigma for this young man was the opening act whose name he never did get: two men on synths who sounded eerily similar to Midge Ure himself. He really liked all he heard, and the lyric of one song in particular leapt out, a song about a Dancing Bear. After this opening act and before Ultravox took the stage, a friend of this young man said he thought perhaps the song was a metaphor for Russia.

Over the next many decades, the young man aged, but every now and then he would recall this concert and think wistfully of the mysterious opening act. If only he could find some information about them, maybe he could find their music. Eventually, there was an electronic medium that spanned the world and connected people in ways never dreamt of. He decided to cast a net out onto this electronic medium and immediately found what he had been dreaming of all those years.

The band he heard over forty years ago was Messengers, a Scottish duo of drummer Colin King and guitarist Danny Mitchell. Their music was produced by Ure, explaining the resemblance to that unmistakable, heart-stopping tenor and the soaring sound of Ultravox. He found their music on a worldwide electronic video encyclopedia called YouTube. In 2004, twenty years after recording songs for an album, the duo released "It's Been Twenty Years...Let's Try Turning Up The Volume." The now-older man reveled in hearing familiar sounds, in particular, "Art," "Departure," and "T.D.P." He is so grateful for finding these sounds, the sounds of his youth, sounds that inspire him to this day.

Thus, after decades of yearning and searching, the enigmatic melodies that had once filled the Kabuki Nightclub on that fateful night were no longer a mystery. They were brought back to life, rekindling the spirit and passion of a time long past, and adding a melodious chapter to the story of a man and his eternal love for music. And he lived happily ever after. The end.

And here is "The Dancing Bear" that stuck in his mind...

L to R: Colin King, Midge Ure, Danny Mitchell

New Romantic Nostalgia

Today I am feeling a bit of nostalgia for a time when I was a New Romantic, and the music I listened to then...

Happy Birthday, Iva Davies of Icehouse!

A very happy birthday to Mr. Iva Davies, founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and immensely talented songwriter of the Australian band Icehouse.

I am feeling great love and nostalgia for this 1980 song from their debut album. Not only is Icehouse the name of the group, having changed it from their original name Flowers, but the song itself is also titled "Icehouse." Although Icehouse was never truly seen as a New Romantic band (yet they were tagged with the catch-all New Wave title by some), I sure felt they belonged with other fantastic New Romantic groups like Ultravox. The "Icehouse" song and their debut album (as well as their sophomore album "Primitive Man") was an atmospheric, synth-heavy affair with a marvelous use of texture. The accompanying video resembles New Romantic classics like Ultravox's "The Thin Wall" and "The Voice," and even Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and "Draw Of The Cards," all directed by Australian film director Russell Mulcahy. Follow this haunting, touching narrative that beautifully supports the chilling, profound lyrics and aching, moving melody.

It's always cold inside the icehouse
Though the rivers never freeze
There's a girl outside the icehouse
I can see her clearly though the trees

Now she's dreaming of a new love
And she hopes he'll be there soon
She's got so long to wait for him
Because he needs another year to get there

She'll wait another lifetime out there

There's no love inside the icehouse

The devil lives inside the icehouse
At least that's what the old ones say
They say He came along time ago
He came here in the winter snow
Now it's colder every day

But she's still dreaming through the summer
And she's hoping through the spring
She says she's got no time for winter nights
She doesn't notice as the days grow darker
She can't remember getting any older

There's no love inside the icehouse

 
Now she's dreaming of a new love
And she hopes he'll be there soon
She says she's got no time for winter nights
She doesn't notice as the days grow darker
She can't remember getting any older

There's no love inside the icehouse
There's no love inside the icehouse
The icehouse

Happy Birthday, Iva! Thanks for sharing decades of your music with us.

https://icehouse-ivadavies.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--TOPMAN SS'18

TOPMAN looked back to a specific moment in English culture--the 1980s Bowie-inspired Blitz Kids of the Blitz Club and the subsequent New Romantic movement (I was a New Romantic, previously here!)--for a fun, flashy, New Wave-y Spring Summer 2018 collection at London Fashion Week Men's. I love how the suits invoke the 1940s silhouettes sported by Ultravox--and I really  love the cut of the trousers in the second row!

http://topman.com

BEAUTY: Man--Noah Huntley

Gorgeous actor/model Noah Huntley is featured in the October issue of Harrod's Magazine in a feature called "Stand and Deliver" which plays into my love of New Romance and evokes mages of Adam Ant's video for his song "Stand and Deliver." Of course the clothing--ranging from McQueen to Bottega Veneta--are sumptuously New Romantic as well...

http://magazine.harrods.com/#!/issue/126646/article/122049

R.I.P. Steve Strange

Steve Strange--lead signer of the 1980s group Visage, night club host and promoter, and all-around inspiration for the New Romantic movement in the 80s--has died at the young age of 55. It is reported that Strange died in his sleep of heart failure at Sharm El Sheik International Hospital, Egypt.

In the late 1970s, Strange and DJ Rusty Egan began a New Romantic night at Blitz, a nightclub in London. It quickly grew to be the place to be, as an alternative to the increasingly stale punk scene.

He was a founding member of the group Visage along with Rusty Egan and Midge Ure who would later go on to front Ultravox. Their hit "Fade To Grey" is a New Romantic classic. Strange (who was born Steven Harrington) was responsible for his own style and ever-changing fashion and make-up. In fact, Strange was more fond of make-up than even Nick Rhodes!

In the above photo, Strange, far left, is seen with bandmates Midge Ure, center and Rusty Egan, right. The group was eventually fleshed out with the additions of keyboardist Billy Currie (also from Ultravox), guitarist John McGeoch (later of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Ltd.), keyboardist Dave Formula, and bassist Barry Adamson.

Here is the video for their hit "Fade To Grey."

Fade to grey and rest in peace, Steve.

http://www.visage.cc

When I Was A New Romantic...

Your blogmaster circa 1981... I was seventeen and inspired at the time by Ultravox videos like "Vienna," "Passing Strangers," "The Thin Wall," and "The Voice" with a bit of Adam Ant thrown in for good measure.

The New Romantics

New Romanticism was a music and fashion movement in the early 1980s. Grown out of a reaction to the hardness and anger of punk, the New Romantics, male and female, were eager to wear make-up, dress up in exotic clothing, look glamorous, and dance. The movement expressed itself in many ways. The look was inspired by many different eras and cultures such as the Victorians, the Goths, the “Noble Savage” (which is how Native Americans were thought of in England in the early 1800s, when engravings and accounts of Native cultures were making their way back to the UK), Pirates, the Edwardians, 1920s-30s glamour, film noir of the 1940s, and a touch of space-agey science fiction. Musically, the sound was the opposite of punk: taking the opulent sound of electronic/ synth-pop as a base, some bands added elements such as horn or string sections. The music was richer than punk, more ornate…and certainly dance oriented. Some groups chose to emulate a somewhat tribal sound to accompany the “Noble Savage” look.

Adam and the Ants had two drummers to recreate a sonorous, thrumming African percussion sound. Here, in “Stand and Deliver,” Adam is seen in his Levantine Pirate/ Highwayman/ Fierce Indian Warrior incarnation, hence the tri-corner hat, braided vest, cape and adorned braids in his hair. The white stripe under his eyes is a mark used by Apache warriors going into battle.

“Prince Charming” featured a dandified version of Adam’s previous incarnation, only this time with brocade, satin, velvet and gold lamé. The Native American war paint is still there, but is now “prettified” with the more feminine eye make-up. The sound is still inspired by tribal music and the legendary British bombshell Diana Dors makes a cameo appearance as his Fairy Godmother.

Ultravox, fronted by the amazing tenor Midge Ure, featured a cold, rich, mysterious dance sound. In this highly cinematic video for their nearly-operatic song “The Thin Wall,” the New Romantic interest in the 1930s and 40s can clearly be seen.

The puppet master and creator of Bow Wow Wow was Malcolm McLaren, the musicality came from Leigh Gorman the bass player, and the charm came from lead singer Anabella Lwin (born Mayant-Mayant Aye in Burma) who was only 14 when the band started. The look was conceived by fashion genius and McLaren’s partner, Vivienne Westwood, who exclusively used pieces from her tribal, swashbuckling, heroic collection “Pirate.” Musically, they share a lot with Adam and the Ants (Bow Wow Wow was once Adam’s band) in terms of a percussion-heavy sound based in Native/ African cultures.

Duran Duran were merely one of the biggest musical acts of the 1980s but their roots are firmly in New Romance. Donned in pirate shirts, ruffles and sashes, they were the house band for the Rum Runner nightclub in Birmingham. With a slick and sleek synthesizer sound and Nick Rhodes’ heavily mascara-ed eyes, they were an exciting phenomenon. First up is the original video for “Planet Earth” which has a great example of a couple performing a particular New Romantic dance style that was immensely popular. Next is an alternate video for "Planet Earth" featuring footage of Duran playing their first gig at the Rum Runner back in 1980!

Visage and its clothes-horse front man Steve Strange, with his penchant for drawing hieroglyphs and unusual symbols on his heavily made up face, were at the epicenter of it all. He ran Blitz, a London nightclub—seen here in this video for the eponymous song “Visage”—where all the fashionable New Romantics gathered, and were therefore known as Blitz Kids. A sweeping, Romantically lush dance sound, bolero hats and white gloves… ah, glamorous...