''Liverpool Express'' Three for one!

Today here are three albums from Liverpool Express. Liverpool Express was a successful pop/rock quartet that formed out of the remnants of Rockin' Horse, a short-lived early-'70s oldies-oriented band organized by '60s Liverpool music veterans Jimmy Campbell and Billy Kinsley. Kinsley restarted Rockin' Horse in 1975 with Tony Coates on guitar and vocals, Roger Scott Craig on keyboards, and Derek Cashin on drums, while Kinsley played bass. Signed to British Warner Bros., they had a slow start with the abortive debut single "Smile," but scored with their second record, "You Are My Love," which reached number 11. They became fixtures in the mid-level of the U.K. charts for more than five years, with the occasional run up to the Top Ten, and in later years Cashin was succeeded by Pete Kircher and Coates was replaced by Kenny Parry. Their history came to an end when Kinsley rejoined his '60s outfit the Merseybeats in the early '90s.allmusic.com

Their greatest success was found in South America where three of their singles ("You Are My Love", "Every Man Must Have A Dream", and "Dreamin'") reached No. 1 in the charts. They were the first band to do a major stadium tour there, playing to more than a quarter of a million people.
They appeared on British television quite frequently, including on Top of the Pops. Whilst away on tour, more TV appearances followed, recording their own TV specials in Brazil, Finland, and for the BBC in the UK.
Liverpool Express toured the UK and parts of Europe with Rod Stewart, and by personal request, played for Prince Charles at a Royal Gala show held in Liverpool.
All four band members had previously played with the band The Merseybeats, Billy Kinsley being a co-founding member in the 1960s. In the 1990s, Kinsley re-joined The Merseybeats. Pianist Roger Scott Craig, went on to join Fortune in 1982, and formed the bands Harlan Cage in 1996, and 101 South in 2000. He also played and recorded with German singer, Nina Hagen, in the mid-1980s. Their tour schedule included playing to hundreds of thousands of people at the Rock in Rio concert in Brazil.
When Cashin, Coates and Scott Craig left the group, Kinsley recruited musicians, Dave Goldberg (keyboards) and Kenny Parry (guitar). Kinsley, Goldberg and Parry have since remained the three core members of the band. The original line-up were reunited in mid-2002, when Scott Craig came up with the idea of compiling and releasing a 'Best Of' CD, due to fan interest. A year later, Scott Craig and Kinsley met in Liverpool to write and record new material for the album, Once Upon A Time. (wiki)

In this post are three albums: ''Tracks'' from 1976, ''The Best Of'' 2002 and ''Once Upon A Time'' from the reunited band in 2003. Once Upon...is very different compared to that seventies stuff. Some songs remember me to Alan Parsons Project but not because Ian Bairnson (guest) plays lead on two tracks.  But listen for yourself. ''Best Of'' is 192 ''Once'' and ''Tracks'' 320. If there is anybody with an upgrade, please email me.
 Greetings  Frank
              

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Martin Newell - The Off White Album (1995) mp3@320

One of the great eccentrics of modern English pop/rock, Martin Newell's songs are recommended listening for anyone who enjoys the peculiarly British eccentricities of Ray Davies, Andy Partridge, Syd Barrett, and the like. His grasp of the pop hook was second to few throughout the 1980s and '90s; his arrangements favor a guitar jangle but are usually infused with a whimsical eclecticism full of goofy sound effects and unusual garnishes of unexpected percussion and string instruments. His voice is winningly quizzical, but his chief assets are his compositions, which reflect contemporary English life with a wry combination of affection and cynicism.
For most of the 1980s, Newell was the mainstay of Cleaners from Venus, who recorded most of their albums at home for cassette-only self-release, although they eventually put out some vinyl product. After a short stint as head of the similar Brotherhood of Lizards, Martin started a solo career in the 1990s that was essentially a continuation of the territory he'd explored in the 1980s; sometimes he re-recorded songs from the previous decade. The difference, if any, was that he was concentrating on the proper official album market instead of the cassette underground, with somewhat higher (though not slick) production values.

Newell's most acclaimed album was 1993's The Greatest Living Englishman, which was produced by Andy Partridge of XTC. The Off White Album (1995) was a bit more baroque in approach, with occasional string arrangements. Spirit Cage was issued in fall 2000, and a collection of home-brewed recordings from 2010 through 2014, Teatime Assortment, appeared in 2015. Newell has co-written material with Captain Sensible and is a poet/humorist of some renown in Britain, publishing his own prose with a good deal of success and writing humorous pieces for the Independent newspaper. Ironically, his music is virtually unknown on his home turf, although he enjoys a considerable cult following in Germany, Japan, France, and on certain American college radio stations.(allmusic.com)

 Newell's second widely distributed album (he self-released some tapes under his own name in the 1980s) is a bit more precious and ornate than The Greatest Living Englishman, particularly when the songs employ string arrangements. At these times especially, this sounds a bit like Elvis Costello's unplugged/string quartet releases. Newell's phrasing, too, is getting more deliberate in a way that also faintly recalls Costello, though Newell doesn't sound as calculated in his delivery. As far as the songs go, it's largely more of the same: witty, affecting vignettes about British characters, simultaneously evoking a glorious past and a somewhat unsettling, frustrating present. It's not his best record, but it's still more inventive, intelligent British pop than what you hear from most other such artists that try to carry this kind of thing off.(Richie Unterberger)

My impressions of the album are in some points (Costello) different from Mr Unterberger's. But today is that kind of day i should better stay in bed anyway. Okay take a listen and enjoy.

Cheers
            Frank

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