Two weeks at number one from w/e 28th May 1983
There's a rule in pop which feels as if it's been in place forever - if a highly critically acclaimed single or radio playlist monster is issued on an indie label and flops, the artist will release it again on a major label to give it a stronger chance. This applies to a single we've only recently covered (Aztec Camera's "Oblivious") which will finally grace the National Top 40 when it's reissued on WEA in the Autumn.
In the case of Robert Wyatt's "Shipbuilding", though, Rough Trade just had another crack themselves, issuing the single in a series of new sleeves and grinding the promotional gears a second time. As a result, the record entered the National Top 40, peaking at number 35 - the first time the man had breached the threshold since his cover of "I'm A Believer" reached number 29 in 1974. It also hit the number one spot on the NME Indie Chart for the third time, becoming the first record to do so on more than two occasions.
While this was marvellous news for Robert Wyatt, Elvis Costello, and anybody who appreciated the song, there's really little to be gained from us entering into a fresh discussion about it. Anyone who is interested should refer back to the previous entry, while we sniff around the nether regions of the charts down below.
Week One
13. Monochrome Set - Jet Set Junta (Cherry Red)
Peak position: 10
Arguably the Set's best known song thanks to its appearance on seemingly every early eighties Indie compilation in the world, "Jet Set Junta" is arguably also the group's best attempt at moulding their sound into something purposeful rather than gimmicky. Those Hank Marvin inspired guitar lines and Joe Meek-esque echos and futuristic atmospheres meet jolly, polite indie-pop which nags away at you without becoming irritating.
I'm slightly surprised it only reached number 10 on the indie list, but Cherry Red's constant hyping of this one has obviously distorted my view of its actual popularity at the time.
14. Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter (Rough Trade)
Peak position: 4
Produced by Tony Mansfield of New Musik fame, "Walk Out To Winter" is a subtler single than "Oblivious", featuring Roddy Frame at his most reflective, pondering love affairs which can only be measured in seasons, not years. "Despite what they'll say, it wasn't youth, we hit the truth" he tells us, sounding like a profound version of Donny Osmond. Oh to have been an eloquent teen.
This record also saw Rough Trade get very professional and corporate on us all, issuing it as a standard seven inch single as well as a four-track double-pack, all with the aim of pushing Aztec Camera over the line into the National Top 40. The single was too reflective and delicate to cope with such force behind it and predictably buckled, only reaching number 64.
It would also be Aztec Camera's last record for Rough Trade before jumping to WEA.
15. Tones On Tail - Burning Skies (Situation Two)
Peak position: 15
Tones on Tail were Daniel Ash's side project, and "Burning Skies" consists of low budget, sprawling post-punk goth churnings and metallic clangings for those who weren't already getting quite enough of that kind of thing. In its defence, there are moments where it feels closer to Wire than the next bunch of horror-show pretenders with reverb heavy drum machines, and the level of ambition on display here is impressive.
16. Sleeping Dogs - Beware EP (Crass)
Peak position: 16
19. Flash And The Pan - Waiting For A Train (Easybeat)
Peak position: 4
One of the oddest New Wave styled, disco-friendly trips into the National Top 40, "Waiting For A Train" was ex-Easybeats members Harry Vanda and George Young issuing records as the studio based Flash & The Pan.
Their adaptability to the youth market of 1983 proved itself when the single vaulted up to the number 7 position in the charts without a live band to promote it. It's possibly an odder record than you remember, with a Bob Dylan-esque vocalist hanging around a railway station jabbering to himself about whether stew and beans (or "Steeeew and beeeeans!") will be for dinner, and whose old shoe is rotting away on the railway line. While these bland ponderings continue, the music beneath him suggests he's somewhere else altogether, possibly skydiving over panoramic landscapes to crashland through the roof of Studio 54.
It all makes sense, but only just. I wonder if that man ever did fix his face.
22. The Box - Old Style Drop Down (Go! Discs)
Peak position: 22
26. Shriekback - Working On The Ground (Y Records)
Peak position: 13
Week Two
14. Aberdeen FC Squad - European Song (Aberdeen FC)
Peak position: 14
The football song may have a slightly lowly reputation among pop pickers, but these souvenir discs are probably regarded with far more affection by team supporters than even the biggest hits that year. It's also an interesting pop fact that Trevor Horn's first commercially issued record was for Leicester City FC - everybody's got to start somewhere, with or without an extended twelve inch mix.
This one was written by the Scottish songwriter Harry Barry, whose career has left less of a footprint than Horn's. The "European Song" celebrates Aberdeen FC winning both the European Cup Winners' Cup and also the European Super Cup. It's a strangely polite, oompah driven ditty under the circumstances - no roaring, cheering or passion for these boys, just a merry singalong to a simple melody. I'm sure their fans took it home and played it thirty times on the trot.
24. Patrick Macnee & Honor Blackman - Kinky Boots (Cherry Red)
Peak position: 24
One for the much-coveted "God, this song sounds dodgy nowadays" award, "Kinky Boots" is less than two minutes of jaunty trilling, hooting and honking about long leather boots on the feminine form. Patrick Macnee sounds unimpressed by how easily led the fashion conscious ladies are, but livens up enough for the "Sexy little schoolgirls!" line to sound as if he's spilling tea into his lap in the process.
This wasn't the first time "Kinky Boots" was released - it failed to chart when issued by Decca in 1964, and it didn't in 1983 either, having to content itself with a modest indie chart performance. By 1990, however, Decca would capitalise on current fashion trends enough to make it a Christmas Top Five hit. Toot and indeed toot.
26. The Three Johns - Men Like Monkeys (CNT)
Peak position: 22
28. Futura 2000 feat. The Clash - The Escapades Of Futura (Celluloid)
Peak position: 28
The Clash's solitary entry in the indie charts, acting as the backing group for graffiti artist Futura. Futura worked as an onstage artist, location scout and visual thinker for The Clash during their 1982 American tour and escapades, and this single was an attempt to place him front and centre.
Unlike Malcolm McLaren's attempts to tap into black American culture at the time, it was mostly ignored, but is a fascinating document of an era when graffiti artistry had to be explained as a basic concept. "Graffiti is a thing that's kind of hard to explain, it's not just running around spray-painting your name", he tells us somewhat defensively, before educating us.
His work would start to gradually find a home on album sleeves and clothes, making him one of the first street artists to jump into the mainstream.
Number One in the National Charts
New Edition: Candy Girl (MCA)
The Police: Every Breath You Take (A&M)
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