Some Kinda Wonderful: RPM Reissues Paul Young’s Retro-Flavored “Q-Tips”

Before blazing the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with songs like “Every Time You Go Away,” “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home,” “Oh, Girl” and “Love of the Common People,” Paul Young paid his dues.  The English-born singer served his time in bands including pub-rockers Kat Kool and the Kool Kats and Streetband, but the latter group’s success with the U.K. Top 20 novelty-esque hit “Toast” (a humorous B-side which was flipped to the band’s dismay) threatened to pigeonhole them.  In late 1979, the members of Streetband decided to go their separate ways after struggling with their odd and unexpected breakthrough.  Three of its members weren’t ready to throw in the towel quite yet.  The story of Paul Young, Mick Pearl and John Gifford can finally be told in the CD era thanks to Cherry Red’s RPM label and the first reissue of the eponymous album by Q-Tips.

Paul Young’s love of classic R&B might have been evident in his solo work, but it wasn’t as clear with Streetband.  Q-Tips gave voice to that passion.  Guitarist Dave Lathwell and drummer Barry Watts joined lead vocalist Young, bassist Pearl and guitarist Gifford as Q-Tips, with a four-piece horn section adding another dimension to the group’s blue-eyed soul sound.  Though this line-up played a successful run of live gigs, picking up where Streetband left off, Lathwell and tenor saxophonist Richard Blanchard opted to depart in the group’s first few months of existence.  Ian Kewley joined to replace Lathwell, and the horn section remained with just three players: Tony Hughes on trumpet, Steve Farr on baritone sax, and Stewart Blandamer on alto sax.  A self-released single – Joe Tex’s “S.Y.S.L.J.F.M. (The Letter Song)” b/w Gifford and Young’s “The Dance” – gained the attention of Chrysalis Records, who signed the band to record its debut LP.  Garth Watt-Roy would replace Gifford during the recording of the album produced by Bob Sergeant (The Beat), but otherwise, Q-Tips was off and running.

What will you find on the deluxe, expanded reissue of Q-Tips?  Hit the jump!

Wherever He Lays His Hat: Cherry Pop Collects Paul Young’s “Remixes and Rarities”

For Daryl Hall, “Every Time You Go Away” might have been “the one that got away.”  Hall recorded his song on Hall and Oates’ 1980 album Voices, where it languished as an album track in the shadow of hit singles “Kiss on My List,” “You Make My Dreams,” “How Does It Feel to Be Back,” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.”  But you can’t keep a great blue-eyed soul ballad down.  In 1985, Hall’s composition became the centerpiece of British-born Paul Young’s sophomore album The Secret of Association, reaching No. 1 in the U.K., going Top 20 in America, and propelling the LP to double platinum status in the U.K. and Gold in America.  It’s also the track leading off Cherry Pop’s new 2-CD set dedicated to Remixes and Rarities of Young’s eighties output for Columbia Records.

The 24-track compendium restores a number of said Remixes and Rarities back to print, alongside tracks new to CD and previously available only in Japan.  This eclectic selection of tracks – original, extended 12-inch mixes, B-sides and live recordings – has been drawn from the multiple singles accompanying Young’s first four Columbia albums: No Parlez (1983), The Secret of Association (1984), Between Two Fires (1986) and Other Voices (1990).  In all, the two discs include over 2-1/2 hours of music representing one-stop-shopping for the kind of material usually reserved for bonus tracks.

Let’s take a look after the jump!  Plus: the full track listing and order links!

Release Round-Up: Week of June 18

Patty Duke, Don’t Just Stand There/Patty / Sings Songs from Valley of the Dolls/Sings Folk Songs (Time to Move On) (Real Gone Music)

All four of Patty’s United Artists albums released on a pair of two-fers, including 1968’s unreleased Sings Folk Songs.

The Supremes, Cream of the Crop / Love Child / I Hear a Symphony / Join the Temptations / Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland / Supremes A Go-Go (Motown MS 649, 1966) (Culture Factory)

A bunch of Supremes classics – six albums from 1966’s The Supremes A Go-Go to 1969’s Cream of the Crop, their last with Diana Ross – all get the mini-LP treatment from Culture Factory.

Diana Ross, The Boss /An Evening with Diana Ross (Culture Factory)

Culture Factory also brings Miss Ross’ long out-of-print concert disc back to CD, along with a new, mini-LP edition of the Ashford and Simpson-helmed favorite The Boss.

Julia Fordham, Porcelain / Swept: Deluxe Editions (Cherry Pop)

The second and third LPs by U.K. singer Julia Fordham are expanded and remastered for the first time.

Porcelain: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Swept: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.

Various Artists, 20 Feet from Stardom: Music from the Motion Picture (Columbia)

The soundtrack to the anticipated new documentary about the best backup singers you might not have known, from Darlene Love to Merry Clayton. (Legacy’s releasing Clayton’s first-ever best-of compilation next month.) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Paul Young, Remixes and Rarities (Cherry Pop)

Two discs of rare or new-to-CD bonus material from the ’80s crooner. (Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.)

Various Artists, Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center (Legacy)

Not sure if this concert kills fascists, but this CD/DVD tribute to a folk legend, featuring John Mellencamp, Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash and more is a fitting way to honor one of the century’s best songwriters. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Cherry Red Round-Up: Kenny, KC, Carly and More Get New Expansions

Our friends at Cherry Red Group have had a stellar amount of new reissues in the past month, and we figured now was as good a time as any to highlight some of our favorites across the board.

The Lemon label has issued an expanded edition of Keep the Fire, the 1979 soft-rock classic by Kenny Loggins. While the singer-songwriter had put out two albums since the disbandment of Loggins & Messina, it was only recently that he started his ascendancy as one of the go-to pop writers and performers of the age; previous album Nightwatch featured Top 5 hit “Whenever I Call You Friend” with Stevie Nicks, and earlier in 1979 saw “What a Fool Believes,” written with Michael McDonald for McDonald’s Doobie Brothers, reach the top of the Billboard charts. Loggins and McDonald teamed up again for Keep the Fire‘s lead single, “This is It,” which reached No. 11 and won Loggins a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Strong guests bolster the album, with Michael Brecker contributing saxophone work and underrated album cut “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong” featuring sweet vocal harmonies from Michael Jackson. Lemon’s expanded disc features two live tracks of undetermined origin and a “clean version” of “This is It.”

One of Big Break Records’ newest titles harkens back to the days of disco and the unstoppable dance rhythms of KC and The Sunshine Band. Harry Wayne Casey, Richard Finch and their irrepressibly-produced band had a triple platinum hit with their self-titled sophomore album for T.K. Records in 1975, buoyed by No. 1 hits “Get Down Tonight” and “That’s the Way (I Like It).” (The effervescent “Boogie Shoes” was a Top 40 hit when included on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack LP two years later.) Bonus cuts include the original single mixes of “Get Down Tonight” and “That’s the Way (I Like It)” as well as a 1994 mix of the former by veteran disco man Tom Moulton.

It’s on to the ’80s and ’90s with some big hits and intriguing obscurities after the jump!