35. The Imposter (aka Elvis Costello) - Pills And Soap (Imp)

Three weeks at number from w/e 18th June 1983

Not really much of an “imposter”, more an interloper to the indie charts. While “Pills and Soap” was presented in some quarters as a pseudonymous “mystery single”, in reality Elvis Costello did virtually nothing to dupe the public with this, not even bothering to disguise his extremely distinctive voice. By the time it emerged in the UK National Top 40, he even appeared on Top of the Pops, where John Peel and “Kid” Jenkins both sarcastically pretended not to know his true identity (Peel: “It’s not Shakey, is it?”)




There were some very dull reasons underlying this quarter-hearted deception. In 1983, Elvis Costello’s record label F-Beat were undergoing a change in their worldwide distribution arrangements, moving from Warner Brothers to RCA. The protracted legal discussions had delayed the release of his next album “Punch The Clock”, and rather than also delay the release of the first single “Pills and Soap” longer than necessary, Costello opted to release it under a pseudonym on F-Beat’s “indie” subsidiary Imp Records.

There are two possible reasons why he took this path – firstly, there’s a strong chance that he may have been impatient while bureaucratic issues were being discussed in the background, feeing that if he didn’t get something fresh out soon, momentum may be lost. There was also the small matter of the imminent General Election in the UK, which caused the subjects touched upon during this single to potentially feel more relevant, pressing and explosive.

“Pills and Soap” could, to a half-listening person, be referring to animal cruelty with the references to Noah’s ark and melting animals “down for pills and soap”. This was the explanation Costello gave to the BBC when they nervously asked him what the song was about. Closer inspection reveals this to be nonsense, though. Firstly, the chorus refers to “children and animals, two by two”, then points its finger towards the aristocracy and perhaps even the royal family: “The king is in the counting house, some folk have all the luck/ And all we get is pictures of Lord and Lady Muck/ They come from lovely people with a hardline in hypocrisy/ There are ashtrays of emotion for the fag ends of the aristocracy”. There are other sharp, bitter tasting lines on offer besides, such as “You think your country needs you but you know it never will”, which totally give the game away.

If “Shipbuilding” was a sympathetic gaze at a community (and country) in crisis, “Pills and Soap” is unfocused invective – an unfixed list of the malaise that Costello feels the UK fell under in the early eighties; decadence, distraction, blind patriotism, the establishment worshipping view of the tabloid press. The animals and children being melted down are the expendable lower classes; though of course, the fact Costello is a vegetarian isn’t a complete coincidence here.

Musically speaking, it’s absurdly simple, with a drum machine generating simple, clicking beatnik Daddio rhythms which combine with Steve Naive’s thundering, Hammer Horror piano lines. It’s an extraordinarily daring first single to lift from an album, offering the polar opposite of so much eighties pop – while that was often elaborate and multi-faceted, “Pills And Soap” is threadbare and puts the emphasis and weight of the record’s worth on its lyrics.

How you feel about it really depends upon how receptive you are to such earnest singer-songwriter minimalism, and also crucially when you first heard this. In 1983, there’s little doubt that Costello’s observations were controversial and insightful. Britain was under the early spell of Thatcherism and the behaviour of the press and the Government in power was quite radical – earlier Conservative governments obviously held aspirations to defeat Trade Unions, but few had swung the axe with as much enthusiasm and as little regard for communities as Auntie Maggie.

34. Yazoo - Nobody's Diary (Mute)

One week at number one on w/e 11th June 1983

Imagine being the person who had to manage Vince Clarke’s career in the early eighties – that flibbertigibbet with the haircut of a sulphur crested bird who also seemed as unpredictable and (obvious pun intended) flighty as a cockatoo himself. Consider how it must have felt to have had a meeting with him, relaxed and confident about his current level of success and ready to talk about “cracking the USA”, only for him to tell you that he feels something’s wrong again and he's ready to move on.

Having quit Depeche Mode after only one album, Clarke then promptly formed Yazoo with Alison Moyet, only to discover that, primarily for personal rather than musical differences, they didn’t enjoy working with each other. Moyet’s extraversion appeared to jar with Clarke’s quiet, considered and non-communicative working practices, and neither could seem to find a way of making the duo feel like a satisfactory working partnership. The second album “You And Me Both” – appropriately housed in a sleeve showing two dogs baring their teeth at each other – was therefore recorded with Clarke and Moyet largely handling their parts in the studio at separate times, choosing to have as little to do with each other as possible.

It’s worth speculating whether a more experienced individual than Daniel Miller at Mute Records would have seen the signs or been able to intervene earlier. While there are exceptions to the general rule (Haircut One Hundred?) major labels are usually quick to smell groups whose working relationships are on flimsy or moribund territory. Yazoo were formed very quickly, not long after Clarke left Depeche Mode, and seemingly without a chance to get to understand each other – combine that pressure with the sudden rush of hit singles and touring, and the end result feels almost inevitable. In fact, it seems astonishing we even got two albums out of them in such short order.

“Nobody’s Diary” was the only single to be plucked from “You And Me Both”, and unusually was solely penned by Moyet without any of Clarke’s involvement. Whether the intention was that the record would act as a calling card to anyone wanting to sign Moyet as a solo artist or not, her subsequent view of the record has become unfavourable. Noting that she wrote the song at the age of sixteen, she appears embarrassed by the lyrical contents, feeling that her emotional experience was inadequate to handle the romantic subject matter.

There’s an interesting parallel with Depeche Mode’s “See You” here, the first Martin Gore written track to be released as a single following Clarke’s departure. That too was regarded grimly by Gore as he became older due to its schoolboy lyricisms, but unlike “See You” this single does at least feel more specific in places – “My head was so full of things to say/ But as I open my lips all my words slip away” summons a frustration we’ve all felt as a relationship collapses (ironically enough) into poor communication, and is followed then by a piece of bad, scattershot communication itself – “And anyway!” she snaps, changing the subject. It’s a world apart from walks in the park and sitting on benches, and shows that whatever her doubts were, Moyet’s sixteen year old self could handle this stuff as well as anyone else in the charts that week.

Melodically, the song is beautiful, opening with twitchy, metallic synth sounds before gradually blooming into something considerably more detailed and not as desperate and immediate as much of Clarke’s work. This is no pop banger, instead progressing gradually and unveiling itself, confident that while what it has to offer may be subtle, the song is strong enough to hold the listener’s attention without resorting to repetitive slogans or persuasive drum machine loops. Just when you’re finally admiring it and enjoying its company, it slides back to the icy, minimal synth riff it opened with before slowly fading away.

Moyet’s vocals ensure the song’s impact is fully realised. More so than on previous Yazoo releases, she gives the impression of fully throwing herself into this one, to the degree that when I read about her misgivings I was shocked – I had assumed she was singing about a deeply personal situation, so invested does she sound in the lyrics.

26c. Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding (Rough Trade)

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.

33. New Order - Blue Monday (Factory)

 

9 weeks at number one from w/e 26th March 1983

Is there a danger that I may be adding nothing here? If you head over to your favourite search engine now and try to find videos, blog posts and think pieces about “Blue Monday”, you’ll be spoiled for choice. Aside from a few smart Alecs on Internet forums playing devil’s advocate, you will find a set of almost unified voices gushing very genuinely about the song; its sound, the sleeve design, and the way it transformed Factory Records and therefore (arguably) Manchester.

What you tend to hear less about is how it was received when it was released in March 1983. Some journalists loved it unreservedly, as expected – New Order were, after all, press darlings even at this point – but there wasn’t the unified response you might expect. Right at the bottom of the Smash Hits singles review pages, almost as an afterthought, you can read David Hepworth’s uncharitable verdict:

“It had to happen. New Order have dumped moody, repetitive guitars in favour of moody, repetitive synths and a drum kit with a pronounced stutter. After the first twenty minutes or so, it starts to cause a tense, nervous headache”.

His Single Of The Fortnight was Bobby “O” with “She Has A Way”, which doubtless caused nods of approval from Neil Tennant on a nearby Carnaby Street office desk. Bobby “O” has certainly been influential on his career, but the verdict that “She Has A Way” is not only better than “Blue Monday”, but better by notable lengths and margins is surprising. It's playing on a field that's closer to New Order than you might expect, but is like a slap on the back from a mate on a crowded dancefloor in comparison to their record - bouncy, jovial and uncomplicated. 

Over at the NME, Julie Burchill was so frustrated by Factory’s reluctance to label the A and B sides properly that she reviewed the version on the flipside “The Beach” instead, fleetingly and half-heartedly, before moving on.

Record Mirror went one better and ignored “Blue Monday” in their review pages altogether.

Even New Order themselves have since seemed perplexed by the single’s dominance of dancefloors and the public imagination. Their original aim was to produce something they could leave a machine to play as an encore while they remained offstage, and Bernard Sumner once stated “It’s not really a song, it’s more of a machine that sounds good on club systems”. He then added, without further elaboration, “There was a lot of trickery going on that you don't realise. It's not just the bass, there's quite a lot of subsonic”, sounding slightly like Bill Drummond by way of Derren Brown as he did so. Maybe he was just genuinely dumbfounded by the single’s success and reached for the only explanation that made sense, that some kind of irregular sonic hypnotism was at play in making the track a success,

Whatever certain segments of the press or the group themselves thought, it was a given that the New Order single that followed “Temptation” was probably going to be a minor hit. The goodwill and the fanbase left hanging over from their Joy Division days would see to that, and “Blue Monday” confidently (but not breathtakingly) pushed its way into the national charts at number 37 on the week ending 19th March.

The expected run for singles by cult bands at this point was for the single to nudge another few places up the charts, perhaps resulting in a triumphant Top of the Pops appearance by the group, only for the single to fail to cross over to the general public and disappear. What “Blue Monday” did instead was far odder, hanging around the Top 100 for 38 straight weeks, often nudging up a few places or falling a few notches as if it had no bigger plans other than to hang around. By June it had fallen out of the Top 40, only to return again with a fresh wave of goodwill in September, eventually climbing to the top ten for the first time.

Early in its run on 31st March 1983, the group appeared on “Top Of The Pops” and put in a live appearance so nervous, chaotic and devoid of charisma that I found myself red-faced, desperately defending the record to my family - “But it usually sounds brilliant!” I yelled (to which my Dad’s admittedly sensible response was “Well, if you want to appear live on television you’d better make sure you can actually manage it first”).

The dominant myth is that the single dipped down the charts the following week as a result of disgusted would-be purchasers voting with their feet. This is actually not true – it climbed the chart defiantly. Had New Order decided to show up and put on a glove puppet show live on air, it wouldn't have killed the record’s momentum, if “momentum” is an adequate word to describe its mid-table stamina. Neither music critics, radio DJs refusing to play all seven-and-a-half minutes of it, its unavailability on seven inch single or Factory Records themselves could kill “Blue Monday” off – it knew it needed to reach everyone, and if it managed it slowly and stealthily rather than in a typical eighties rush, then so be it.

30b. Southern Death Cult - Fatman (Situation Two)

 

One week at Number One from w/e 19th March 1983

The early eighties indie charts show another unexpected burst of volatility which propels the weeks old "Fatman" back to the top of the chart for one week. Let's take a look at what's going on lower down, shall we?

New Entries

10. Action Pact - People EP (Fallout)

Peak position: 10

Hard-edged female fronted punk outfit from the modestly populated village of Stanwell in Surrey. "People" is all buzzsaw guitars playing descending chords while the rhythm section crunches behind them. It's all a little bit old hat by 1983's standards, but Action Pact were sharp enough to cut through the crowd despite that. 

14. Disorder - Mental Disorder EP (Disorder)

Peak position: 14

21. Sisters Of Mercy - Anaconda (Merciful Release)

Peak position: 2

The Sisters finally begin to position themselves as major players with "Anaconda". Metronomic drum patters combine with fat basslines, squeaky guitar riffs and Eldritch's dramatic vocals which are the dominant force here. The band are able to sit back and cruise while he ghoulishly vaults, seduces and sneers away, shimmying up to chew the scenery at gallery level. 

"Anaconda" put the group in a dominant position among the Goth set, which they would maintain until the plug was pulled on the project.

23. Urban Dogs - Limo Life (Fallout)

Peak position: 21

25. Wire - Crazy About Love (Rough Trade)

Peak position: 12

One of the most inexplicable - and largely forgotten - Wire releases of all time, "Crazy About Love" was a 16 minute improvised 1979 Peel Session track. It's not the absolute mess it might have been, with the group exerting an impressive control over some studio ongoings which sound in danger of sliding into disarray. Saxophones squawk and vocals occasionally snark through gritted teeth, but the jazzy pitter-patter of the drum kit and the certain foundations of the bassline stop everything from collapsing.

Some listeners and (allegedly) John Peel and his producer John Walters were unamused, but for all the anarchy offered this is still the closest the group sounded to the loosest, most unhinged examples of sixties psychedelia. Punk Floyd, if you will.

26. Emergency - Points Of View (Riot City)

Peak position: 26

If you're only going to release one single, you'd better make it sharp - and Manc punks Emergency certainly manage that here. "Points Of View" almost sounds like something the Good Vibrations label of Belfast might have put out five years before, bringing the anthems and bright melodies back to the underground. 

27. The Reptiles - Reptiles For Tea (EP) (Volume)

Peak position: 22

For the full charts, please go to the UKMix Forums. 

Number One In The National Charts

Bonnie Tyler: Total Eclipse of Heart (CBS)