Maybe I'll get some extra google hits if I quote artist and title in conjunction with yesterday's federal election in Australia?
I had not heard of The Fools before but picked up the record because the sleeve made them look like a power pop / new wave band.
Thankfully, they are, though they have bar band roots.
Wikipedia: Hailing from Ipswich, Massachusetts, the band was previously named "The Rhythm A's", where future Nervous Eaters' Steve Cataldo, Robb Skeen, and Jeff Wilkinson were joined by singer Mike Girard and guitarist Rich Bartlett. By 1975, Girard and Bartlett teamed up with Stacey Pedrick (guitar), Doug Forman (bass), and Chris Pedrick (drums), becoming The Fools.
In 1979, the band released "Psycho Chicken", a parody of The Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer", and it was an immediate hit on Boston radio stations. The group followed it up with "It's a Night for Beautiful Girls," which peaked at #67 on the Billboard charts. EMI signed the band and sent them on a U.S. tour with The Knack. Shortly after, they recorded their debut album, Sold Out.
The Fools lean more to old school power pop than new wave though the short songs punctuated by sharp guitars are an effective antithesis to the bloated prog rock and slick soft rock of the time, and could easily be assumed to be new wave.
The band, clearly, has its ear to the ground and has incorporated some electronic new wave which creates an infectious mix of new wave, pop and power pop.
The trouble is the recording.
allmusic say in their review of this album, “the band escaped the curse of New England groups suffering inferior recordings in major studios”.
I disagree.
The sound is thin and this is an inferior recording in a major studio.
Maybe it’s the mix?
The album was recorded in Florida (why Florida?) and produced by Pete Solley (who also played piano on the album).
Solley was wrong for the band.
Solley was quite an experienced musician and producer. Wikipedia: Peter "Pete" Solley (19 October 1948, London) is a Hammond organ player, pianist and a Grammy-nominated record producer. He has recorded with Eric Clapton, Al Stewart and Whitesnake as well as producing records for Ted Nugent, Oingo Boingo, Motörhead, The Romantics, Peter Frampton, The Sports, Wreckless Eric and many others.
But he was wrong for power pop.
For fuck sake he was in Procul Harum.
He smooths out the rough edges and probably makes the band more commercial (circa 1980) but he also makes them sound like many other bands.
So, why Solley?
He had a name for this style of music having produced the hit 1980 single "What I like about You" by The Romantics. (#49 in the US, #2 in Australia) as well as producing Australian 60s retro power pop band The Sports and 60s retro rootsy power pop band Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons in 1979.
On the Romantics he nailed it (arguably) but on the other bands, The Sports and Jo Jo Zep, he created pop out of adrenaline fuelled old school rock. (I remember a mate, Doug, pointing that out to me many ears ago at his share house in Hawken Drive, St Lucia)
The Fools themselves, being an old school bar band, lean to the jokey end of the power pop spectrum. The music is geared to live shows and “putting on a show”, not that there is anything wrong with that, but occasionally the songs as separate entities, suffer.
Lyrically, all the usual power pop teen concerns are here, but they are subdued.
If anything the band sounds like a lower fi follower of Grin or perhaps The Kinks (not that there is anything wrong with that either).
This is new wave power pop for adults as opposed to for young adults and teens, if you know what I mean. You would expect to see this music in films like “Valley Girl” or “The Breakfast Club” to punctuate the actions of the middle class protagonist kid rebelling against everything.
And yet, despite all that, it works, albeit in parts.
Ultimately, the songs are strong and the band plays well. There is something engaging and strangely memorable about the album which makes it a really good first album even though it may have been a great one.
Tracks (best in italics)
- Night Out – A good song but it should have more punch . The production is underwhelming.
- Fine With Me – a song which sounds (a little) like a 60s British Invasion pop band playing their song in the 70s, if you know what I mean.
- Don't Tell Me – punchy, full throttle power pop with some meat on the bones vocals and guitar
- Sold Out – good but not great
- Sad Story – the obligatory ballad and a really good one of that. It's vaguely reminiscent of Grin with Nils Lofgren.
- Mutual Of Omaha – strange and endearing.
- It's A Night For Beautiful Girls – a reggae feel on this one – dire. Freakin’ reggae – this must have been the suggestion of the British producer.
- Spent The Rent – another slightly humorous one – catchy though with a thumping chuga lug (power pop) style back beat
- Easy For You – dull
- I Won't Grow Up – a very funny reworking (and rewording, in part) of this song from the Peter Pan Broadway musical from the 50s. Despite its origins this is as good a statement of faith as any.
And …
Despite some flaws this is quite good …. I'm keeping it.
Chart Action
US
Singles
1980 It's A Night For Beautiful Girls The Billboard Hot 100 #67
Album
1980 The Billboard 200 #151
England
Singles
Album
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Sounds
http://recordlective.com/The_Fools/Sold_Out/efc4ac7f-df6b-3672-8b56-101ae46b9ff7/
Don't Tell Me
MP3 attached
Others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnBlst3T7bY
fame is fleeting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZabXMkCe3Mg
I also like one of the user comments "Peter Solley Sucks! He produced their first album. he did a horrible job! they would've been a national hit if it wasn't for ? that tool. he almost ruined the romantics too."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP7dculV5nI
Review
http://www.allmusic.com/album/sold-out-mw0001878812
amazon.com “This Boston band ruled the local scene during the late 70s and early 80s, but never quite broke nationally despite these two fine records they cut for EMI. A mixture of power pop, British Invasion, and smartass zaniness well suited for that college town to end all college towns, 'Sold Out' and 'Heavy Mental' refuse to take themselves too seriously even as they also refuse to stop sinking their hooks deep into your psyche. Long-requested, finally here courtesy of our American Beat label!”
Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fools
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-fools-mn0000762791
Website
Trivia
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1 Response to THE FOOLS – Sold Out – (EMI) – 1980