Tag Archives: topofthepops

Wendy & Lisa: Fruit At The Bottom (1989) Revisited

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Despite massive record industry buzz, Wendy & Lisa’s 1987 debut album, rush-released after they were asked to leave Prince’s Revolution, failed to set the world on fire.

It was time for a rethink, and time to sell some albums. They were sober, sane and serious, and it seemed as if ‘pop’ stardom might be just around the corner if they could just combine some catchy songs with their exemplary musicianship.

But which way to go on the sophomore release? The first album hinted at a Bangles/Fleetwood Mac/Joni Mitchell direction. In the end they went pretty much Full Prince – with varying degrees of success, though once again Fruit At The Bottom demonstrated what a superb multi-instrumentalist Wendy Melvoin was blossoming into.

Released in March 1989, the album was also a chance for Wendy and Lisa to demonstrate just how influential they had been on Prince’s music. They dusted off the Linn LM-1 drum machine (‘Are You My Baby’ even starts with almost the same snare fill as ‘The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker’, via Weather Report’s ‘Teen Town’?) and Wendy got busy with some slap bass and funky, sometimes varispeed rhythm guitar.

Aided by trusted engineer (and Prince veteran) Susan Rogers, who recorded and mixed all the basic tracks at Avatar Studios in New York, lots more time was taken over the drum sounds and Wendy and twin sister Susannah’s (also a Prince veteran and his ex-fiancée) vocals.

The lyrics were far more sexual/sensual than before too, but let’s be blunt – it was very difficult for two highly photogenic gay artists wanting to prove themselves as musicians and not kowtow to a mostly male music industry wanting ever more salaciousness (see the ladies’ slightly uncomfortable interview on GMTV, when they seemed to have arrived from a different universe).

It was also quite a big responsibility for Wendy to suddenly become frontwoman in a touring band (they were very good at London’s Town & Country Club in May 1989, one of the coolest gigs of that year).

Listening to the album again recently, it’s clear that they frontloaded it with three great singles, and took a lot of time over these (Prince even had a bash at remixing ‘Lolly Lolly’). ‘Satisfaction’ even briefly gatecrashed the UK charts, peaking at #26.

But the rest of the album – with the exception of ‘I Think It Was December’ – sounds worryingly like a succession of B-sides, despite Lisa’s always interesting chord changes and synth textures. There’s far too much minimalist/mid-tempo filler with rather hippy/drippy lyrics: ‘Everyday’, ‘Someday I’, ‘Tears Of Joy’, ‘Always In My Dreams’.

It’s quite a shock to hear Wendy’s dirty guitars on ‘From Now On’ but the track doesn’t quite cut through and lacks a good chorus, despite the fine efforts of drummer Carla Azar.

What a shame they couldn’t fashion seven or eight tracks of killer dancefloor material, with one or two ballads. Despite a great review in Q magazine which compared the album to Stephen Sondheim and Bill Evans, FATB stalled at #47 in the UK and failed to chart in the US.

Still, Melody Maker’s Caroline Sullivan interviewed them at length and they appeared on ‘Rapido’ and ‘Top Of The Pops’. They also became quite the live draw in Europe with a great band including Azar, guitarist Chris Bruce and Susannah.

But it was their third album Eroica, released in summer 1990, that probably best showcased their formidable skills and wide influences. But by then the game was up in terms of mainstream success.

Rumours abound that there’s a 1992 album in the vaults somewhere produced by Trevor Horn, after they had worked successfully together with Seal and on the ‘Toys’ soundtrack. C’mon Universal Music, let’s hear it…

Julian Cope: Full-On

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What I knew of Julian Cope pre-2016:

1. He was the singer in early-’80s pop band The Teardrop Explodes.
2. He was a solo artist later in the decade and had some decent hits like ‘World Shut Your Mouth’, ‘Trampolene’ and ‘Charlotte Anne’.
3. He is interested in paganism and various esoterica.
4. He has published a few well-regarded memoirs.

Well, that’s a start. But suddenly everything’s going Cope-crazy round my gaff. For starters, I recently read one of said memoirs ‘Head-On/Repossessed’ after coming across it in my local library, a hilarious, unhinged, Withnailesque account of a singer’s journey through the 1980s pop firmament.

Here’s a slightly-edited excerpt, an account of Cope’s first acid-assisted appearance on ‘Top Of The Pops’ alongside the other Explodes including arch nemesis/keyboardist Dave Balfe.

By the time we reached the BBC TV Centre in London, everyone was f***ed up. We seethed out of the car and moved as one gibbering person towards the dressing room. Tony Hadley (of Spandau Ballet) walked elegantly down the corridor.

‘Hey, there’s Spandoo!’, cried Balfe, and I danced around the singer, psychotically friendly and encouraging.

We piled into the dressing room. Waiting around was not a drag. We got to see Toyah lisp her way through some piece of kack and we got to dance on the stage during our rehearsals. The acid made us happy and nice. We gushed around the place like inbreds at a New England dinner party.

Then we were on. Suddenly the song (‘Reward’) sounded like a massive hit. ‘Top Of The Pops’, man. It’s total bullshit. But it’s brilliant. I loved it. Let’s be huge.

Afterwards, we partied at some club, as you do. Women were nice to me. Men complimented me. I just sat there drooling all night…

A few months later, Cope finds himself invited back to the ‘TOTP’ studios to perform ‘Passionate Friend’ for the 1981 Christmas special. He comes across another of his pop contemporaries:

A group called Bucks Fizz were doing their thing on the other side of the studio. I watched, fascinated. I felt sucked into their scene. God, they were brilliant. I wanted to be in Bucks Fizz…

‘Head-On’ continues very much in this vein, and it’s superb. ‘Repossessed’ concerns Cope’s life and solo career later in the ’80s. It begins with him surveying the wreckage of The Teardrop Explodes:

Here was I, struck down with shamanistic depression, while Balfe had immediately gone off and set up a new label called Food Records, with the cynical, f***-you-up-the-ass ’80s motto: LET US PREY!

F***, man, you invented the ’80s. Learn from your mistakes, you gormless, bug-eyed bushbaby! You’ve preyed on everyone these past years – d’ you have to make such a Thatcherite celebration of it, you unmystical f***er?

If there’s a better put-down in music-biography history, I’ve yet to read it. And then I had a vague recollection of Cope making a memorable appearance on a great programme from the late ’80s called ‘Star Test’ (though, perhaps tellingly, it’s not mentioned in ‘Repossessed’).

Finally, one last recent Cope discovery, fascinating and entertaining, creating lots of food for thought and travel tips. You certainly couldn’t call him an unmystical f***er.

(PS: Julian and Spinal Tap’s David St Hubbins: separated at birth?)