BEATFOR78 - April Singles Weekender II

After the Dolls' breakup in 1977, Sylvain remained with Johansen for the next two years while forming a band called the Criminals, featuring keyboardist Bobby Blain, bassist Michael Page, and drummer Tony Machine.
In the immediate aftermath of the Doll's demise, Sylvain declined Malcolm McLaren's invitation to become a Sex Pistol and teamed up with David Johansen instead.
For a talented songwriter with a classic swoony pop sensibility, life as a permanent sidekick to David Johansen's solo career was not on Sylvain's agenda nor was a 13th Street van smash in January 1977.
The accident left Syl hospitalized for several months with a broken leg but the financial compensation he received was to benefit his new band. The Criminals had been forced to lay low while their leader recuperated, but on his release, the band featuring - Sylvain: guitar, lead vocals, Bobby Blaine: keyboard, vocals, Tony Machine: drums, and Michael Page: bass, vocals - cut a single. 5,000 copies of The Kids are Back/The Cops are Coming were issued on The Criminal's own Sing Sing label. With little publicity, the 45 did amazingly well both in the U.S. and the U.K.

The Apartments was an Australian indie band that first formed in 1978, broke up in 1979, and reformed in 1984.
The constant in the band was songwriter and frontman Peter Milton Walsh. While in The Apartments, Walsh briefly joined the Go-Betweens. The Go Betweens commemorated Walsh's time with them on their track "Don't Let Him Come Back".
After breaking up, The Apartments released their debut EP, "Return of the Hypnotist" in 1979, which includes this lost pop tune wonder.
They were signed for their debut LP, The Evening Visits... by English label Rough Trade in 1985. A second LP, Drift, was released in France in 1992. Three more LPs followed in quick succession; A Life Full Of Farewells (1995), Fête Foraine (1996), and Apart (1997).

Blending surf, new wave, power pop, psychedelia, R&B, ska, and rockabilly sounds into a warped sci-fi-inspired style, The Clocks were new wave's answer to the Cleveland’s first wave of art-rockers. Formed in 1979, by ex-Pagans guitarist Mike Metoff and ex-Chronics singer/guitarist Dave DeLuca, the band's wacky charisma attracted a devoted following. They got together in an attic studio in Ohio City to record what was to be a one off single. The A-side, inspired by sci-fi author Harlan Ellison, was entitled "Ticktockman" hence the band's name. The B side is Confidentilay Reneé, built around a simple, sing-song acoustic guitar riff, capturing teen angst with sensitivity and humor, a catchy and infectious tune.
After playing more than 150 shows in town, the band called it quits in '82, a year before the release of their Wake Me When It's Over LP under the moniker Radio Alarm Clocks (it was changed after the band discovered a Chicago-based band with the same name). Metoff went on to join the Cramps.

The Boize were an early Boston band featuring longtime Lyres bassist Rick Coraccio, who had yet to join DMZ at the time both bands appeared on the Live at The Ratz album. Marc first appeared is on this Live At The Ratz compilation, featuring tracks by The Real Kids, DMZ, Willie “Loco” Alexander and other local Boston bands.
Thor and Nola Rezzo, by the mid-1970s, had established themselves as important parts of Boston's emerging rock underground.
Holiday Fire was his first single for Indy Records from 1976 or maybe earlier, took its inspiration from the Kinks' "Hollywood Boulevard" days. Brilliant song.