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(reviewed by Rob Eustace)
HIGH POINTS: Hard Times, Give It To Me Now, Plastic Smile, You Need Wheels, Face In The Crowd. LOW POINTS: Tears Of A Clown, Empty Room
The curious late 70’s UK mod revival slipped in quietly on the same tide that swept out the new wave bands, but in reality many of the units from the two movements are not as far removed from each other as you might think as many of these mod bands were simply late period new wave outfits who re-invented themselves for changing trend. The Jam had broken through two years earlier in 1977 and will forever be depicted as the originators of this tuneful revival however their early releases were far angrier and aggresive than the sound generated by the wave of bands that followed, The Secret Affair, The Chords, The Lambretta’s and The Merton Parka’s.
Formed in the South London suburb of Merton Park (adjacent to the far more fashionable Wimbledon) the band named themselves by combining their base camp with the long hooded coats that the mods modelled and 1001 kids wore to school through October to February each winter. Quickly gaining a reputation via the London pub rock circuit (including a regular gig at the famous Marquee Club) they eventually secured a deal with Beggars Banquet Records.
Despite their early launch The Merton Parka’s (by comparison with some of the other bigger names of this era) became the nearly men of the mod revival and never quite broke the market in the way they deserved. Together the four members combined to deliver a simple but impressive mix of R & B laced sixties guitar pop, a kind of neat and tidy version of The Jam in many ways. The Talbot brothers, Danny guitar and vocals, and Mick handling the keyboards, were well supported by bass man Neil Hurrell and drummer Simon Smith (no Amazing Dancing Bear though!!!). The album is a straightforward package, mostly consistent, nothing groundbreaking but its generally an impressive and enjoyable debut. Standout tracks are the effective power pop of the opening title track “Face in the Crowd”, the steady pop of the debut single “You Need Wheels”, the upbeat follow up single “Plastic Smile”, the energetic “Hard Times" and the bouncy “Give it to me Now”. The two covers “Tears of a Clown” and “Steppin Stone” are nothing to write home about and the overall album impact may have been strengthened had the band delivered an entire set of original material.
The huge stumbling block for the Parka’s and many of the other straight mod outfits from this period was the commercial might of “2 Tone Records” and the ska revival. The Parka’s, The Secret Affair and The Chords were all certainly better bands than The Selecter, The Bodysnatchers, Madness and Bad Manners, and they were easily the equals of bands like The Specials and The Beat. The problem however was that music from this era (like music to this very day) appears to be far more appealing and saleable to the masses if it has a dancable rhythm, hence The Specials and their stablemates, as well as throwaway bands like Madness and Bad Manners are well remembered and respected, but who remembers Danny Talbot, Chris Pope, or Ian Page
The even greater irony for the Parka’s was that many of the bands that were initially supporting them on tour (i.e Dexy’s Midnight Runners & The Lambretta’s) ended up breaking the UK market whilst they didn't. In the end it was ultimately the bands inability to crack the UK singles Top 40 after 5 attempts and the ever growing preference for 2 Tones ska sound that led to Beggars Banquet deciding to drop them. No doubt disappointed and frustrated the band split with only Mick Talbot going on to greater success as Paul Weller’s partner in The Style Council, this following a spell with Dexys Midnight Runners.
A sad tale indeed as had they managed to crack the market just the once, bigger things would no doubt have followed, and had they been backed by a braver label than Beggars Banquet this could have been a reality. Face In The Crowd though remains a solid and enjoyable album, but sadly from one of the era’s nearly men.
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(reviewed by Rob Eustace)
HIGH POINTS: Hard Times, Give It To Me Now, Plastic Smile, You Need Wheels, Face In The Crowd, The Man With The Disguise, Put Me In The Picture (Demo). LOW POINTS: Tears Of A Clown, Empty Room, GI’s It, Band Of Gold.
A wonderful round up of all the Merton Parka’s material from Anagram Records, a division of the ever impressive Cherry Red label. Included is the entire 1979 Face In The Crowd album and a further ten tracks presenting the later singles, b-sides and demo’s thrown in for good measure. The Face In The Crowd tracks inevitably steal the show and if I’m going to be hyper critical I guess I would have preferred to see this package released as the original album with bonus tracks as that’s essentially what this package presents. The aforementioned album tracks make up the first twelve selections reproduced in their original running order. There follows the delightful “Plastic Smile” B side “The Man with the Disguise”, a charming slice of power pop, equal to any track on the album and worthy of an A side billing itself. The single version of “Give it to me Now” feels although it was re-produced to jump on the 2 Tone bandwagon and the B side “Gi’s it” is simply a frustrating dub version of the same track, the original album cut is surely the definitive version.
“Put Me in the Picture” the bands forth single is a worthy inclusion (although a stronger version is included later) unlike it’s B side a limp cover of “In the Midnight Hour” . An even worse cover follows, Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold” is destroyed by the band simply failing to instil any kind of originality or energy into the performance. The bands final catchy single “Flat 19”, which always feels a little like the Parka's do Madness, is followed by three demo’s which are all pretty impressive. The first "You Say You Will" sounds a little like a 60's Georgie Fame track in places and "Dangerous Man" is a further enjoyable upbeat original. The closing "Put me in the Picture (Demo)" is another gem, a far stronger version than the over produced single version, the demo is heavily Jam influenced with a driving rhythm underpinning the track from start to finish.
The Complete Mod Collection then round ups all the bands material on one CD very nicely, it’s unlikely to attract any new fans but for those who remember the band the first time round this is a most welcome release.
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