BEATFOR69 - March Singles Weekender II

Jack Lee – Hanging On The Telephone [7" single Disclexia Records 1982]
Song originally performed by The Nerves, but popularized by Blondie, who put it as the lead-off track on their 1978 breakthrough album, Parallel Lines. The original is so obscure that many are unaware that Blondie is not the original artist, but it was written by Jack Lee and first performed by Lee's short-lived West Coast power pop trio The Nerves, who also placed it as the lead-off track on their 1976 EP, the band's only release.
...”A few years later, in the hopes of parlaying that big score into a solid songwriting career, Lee released a musical résumé of his best work, including four Nerves-era numbers. (Those early tunes are, for the most part, better than the later efforts showcased here.) Case, Collins, the Rubber City Rebels (who had recorded a great cover of his "Paper Dolls") and others provide rocking instrumental and vocal support, but Lee never again reached the bigtime. (Although Paul Young did throw Lee a few dollars in publishing money two years later by turning "Come Back and Stay" into an international hit.) But don't wait up for Vol. 2.” Ira Robbins –Trouser Press -

Brian Copsey & The Commotions - Love's Made A Fool Of You [7" single Chrysalis 1981]
Another lost gemm. Brian released two singles for Chrysalis, the timeless “Boys In Love” (will be posted), and this “Love’s Made A Fool Of You”, with a Rockpile style mixing driving guitars, traditional rock and roll, pop and country licks fitted easily into the post-punk new wave at the beginnig of the eighties.
As you can read in his site : ...” Pretty soon after that a guy called Dave Courts who makes most of Keith Richards jewellery, introduced me to Marianne Faithfull, and I played guitar with her for a while. I must have developed a taste for working with women, because when the punk thing took off, I let Hazel O Connor cut off all my hair, and I backed her for a year or so. This was all great fun, but eventually I felt it was time to do something with my own songs,so I managed to blag a month in a residential studio in France with what was basically Sniff and the Tears backing me , and a great engineer called Steve Lipson. The resulting album’s worth of material brought me a recording contract with Chrysalis. It was at this point that things went astray for a while. In my naivity, I thought that I had earned the right to have fun making records, but the label I had signed to was a serious, no prisoners taken, commercial outlet who were used to releasing hit records with career minded people.... Anyway we spent a year or so at cross purposes, releasing a couple of singles that were well received in Europe, and got good reviews in the British music press, but on top of an unofficial BBC ban on any future recordings, I refused to go touring in America, and from that point on it’s not so much that
I was dropped, as we just stopped talking to each other ..permanently “ www.briancopsey.com


Jo Allen & The Shapes - Cryin' Over You [7" single 415 Records 1980]
Alan Powell is a drummer from Manchester, England who was mainly active during the 1970s. His first notable appearances were with Chicken Shack, appearing on the 1974 live album Goodbye, and Vinegar Joe. Following his friendship with Robert Palmer from Vinegar Joe co-writing Gotta Get a Grip on You, Part 2 (from 1976's Some People Can Do What They Like), The Silver Gun (from 1983's Pride) and Life in Detail (from the soundtrack to 1990's Pretty Woman).
During 1974 he joined Hawkwind as a second drummer, recording two albums; in 1977 he formed the short lived touring band Kicks; also in 1978 he formed Tanz Der Youth with The Damned leader Brian James, released the great single "I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry"/"Delay", recorded a Peel Session, toured with Black Sabbath and appeared at Turner's Bohemian Love-In event. A really musician globe-trotter.
At the end of the 1970's he emigrated to San Francisco and fronted his own new wave Jo Allen and the Shapes band, releasing the 1980 single "Cryin' Over You"/"Lowlife".

Richard X Heyman - Vacation [7" single Flying Records 1980]
Multi-talented, and sadly overlooked craftsmen of the '90s, New York power pop genius Heyman does it all — vocals, Rickenbacker guitars, keyboards, drums (his initial instrument), etc. This is his first sparkling single, with two great songs.
“Richard X. Heyman recorded his very first release at the House of Music Studio in New Jersey in the winter of 1980. Richard played guitar, and sang all the vocals, along with one of his heroes, Dino Dannelli (of Rascals fame) on drums, and there was a bass player, whose name eludes memory. The song was produced by Eric Thorngren, who had been in the band Bulldog with Dino and fellow ex-Rascal Gene Cornish.
The two songs were part of a group of demos Richard did with Dino. They recorded five songs together, and Richard and his manager Richard Velinsky pressed up the single of "Vacation" and "Takin' My Chances" just "for the hell of it". These demos were songs from the repertoire of Richard's group The Rage, based in Washington, D.C. in the late '70s.
The single was reviewed in Billboard as a "Pick Hit" and received airplay on WNEW in New York City, along with other rock stations around the country.” www.richardxheyman.com