Yachts (band)

Yachts were a British power pop/new wave band, best remembered for their 1977 single "Suffice to Say", and minor new wave classic, "Love You, Love You".[3]

Yachts
OriginLiverpool, England
GenresPower pop,[1] new wave,[1] rock[2]
Years active1977–1981
LabelsStiff Records
Radar
Polydor
Demon
Associated actsIt's Immaterial
The Christians
Past membersBob Bellis
J.J. Campbell
Martin Dempsey
Henry Priestman
Martin J. Watson
Mick Shiner
Glyn Havard
Ray 'Chopper' Cooper

Career

The group was formed by art students in Liverpool in April 1977 out of an earlier band, known variously as 'Albert Dock' or 'Albert and the Cod Warriors', who had supported the Sex Pistols on one of their infamous early gigs the previous year.[4]

The band originally consisted of Bob Bellis (drums, vocals); John (J.J.) Campbell (vocals); Martin Dempsey (bass guitar, vocals) (later replaced by first Ray "Chopper" Cooper, then Mick Shiner and finally Glyn Havard); Henry Priestman (born Henry Christian Priestman, 21 June 1955, Hull, and brought up in Liverpool) (vocals, keyboards); and Martin Watson (guitar, vocals).

They played their first show (as 'Yachts') at Eric's nightclub in Liverpool, supporting Elvis Costello. This led to a recording contract with Stiff Records, where they released one single, the witty and self-referential "Suffice To Say", written by Priestman and Campbell and produced by Will Birch.[5] They also released a novelty single, "Do The Chud", as the Chuddy Nuddies.

With label mates Costello and Nick Lowe, they then joined the newly formed Radar label. On 9 October 1978, a few weeks after releasing "Look Back in Love (Not Anger)", their first single on Radar, the band recorded the first of two sessions at Maida Vale 4 studio, for John Peel at BBC Radio 1. The track listing was "Hits", "Yachting Type", "Look Back in Love", and "Then And Now".[6] (The band's second session was recorded in June 1979).

The band recorded their debut LP in New York City with producer Richard Gottehrer. One reviewer raved that "[the Yachts have] got this cool cheesy (sic) keyboard sound with a nice chunky guitar underneath and in addition to being catchy tunes, their songs have hysterically funny lyrics, like "Yachting Type", where the guy's girl runs off with a yachtsman, or "Mantovani's Hits", which hypothesizes a rock and roll world where Elvis records had not been hits but Mantovani's had, or "Box 202", where the guy's girl is killed in an aircraft crash so he puts out a classified ad to look for a replacement. The others deal with romance in equally oddball ways, but always rocking and always catchy as hell".[7] Reviewing the LP in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "You have to hand it to a group that can give itself such a ridiculous name and then come up with credible songs called 'Yachting Type' and 'Semaphore Love.' Actually, most of these songs are pretty credible, even (or especially) the one structured around the word 'tantamount.' Funny boys, no doubt about it. But their biggest joke is a mock-snooty, mock-operatic rock crooning style that I'm not eager to hear again."[2]

They toured in the US and Europe with Joe Jackson and The Who, and released a second album with producer Martin Rushent. Both albums were released by Polydor in the US

Campbell left the group in 1978, and Dempsey departed in 1980. Dempsey became a member of Pink Military; and Campbell helped to found It's Immaterial. Yachts finally split up in 1981. Priestman, who for a time was a member of both Yachts and Bette Bright & the Illuminations, then went on to join It's Immaterial, Wah! and, most notably, The Christians, more recently working as a producer with Mark Owen and Melanie C.

Retrospective appraisals of the band's output vary. M.C. Strong dismisses Yachts as "one of the many outfits jostling for recognition in the overcrowded pop / rock marketplace".[8] Colin Larkin is more generous, writing that "Yachts' popularity was fleeting but they left behind several great three-minute slices of pop, including a cover of R. Dean Taylor's "There's a Ghost in My House".[3] Vernon Joynson summed up Yacht's approach. "Lyrically, much of their material was in the usual boy / girl realm but with humour. Musically, they ranged from sixties influenced rock with [farfisa] organ to fast-paced punk-cum-[new wave]".[9] Steve Gardner loved this approach. "They hammered out these rocking pop songs surrounded by swirling washes of cheap keyboards. Lots of their songs strung together common threads of boating and strange tales of love, and they had some hysterically funny lyrics, like "I wouldn't climb any mountain for you/Ford any stream that's a daft thing to do/'Cos I'm cynical cynical cynical through and through" from 'Love You, Love You'".[10]

Legacy

Film critic Mark Kermode, who plays the double bass for the skiffle band The Dodge Brothers, names Yachts as one of his favourite bands.[11]

Discography

Albums
  • Yachts (Radar, RAD 19, June 1979) – released as S.O.S. in the US – Billboard 200 No. 179
  • Without Radar (Radar, RAD 27, May 1980)

Singles
  • "Suffice to Say" / "Freedom (Is a Heady Wine)" (Stiff Records, BUY 19, September 1977)
  • "Do the Chud" / "Big in Japan" on the flip-side (as The Chuddy Nuddies, Eric's, November 1977)
  • "Look Back in Love (Not in Anger)" / "I Can't Stay Long" (Radar, ADA 23, September 1978)
  • "Yachting Type" / "Hypnotising Lies" (Radar, ADA 25, November 1978)
  • "Love You, Love You" / "Hazy People" (live) (Radar, ADA 36, May 1979)
  • "Box 202" / "Permanent Damage (live)" (Radar, ADA 42, July 1979)
  • "Now I'm Spoken For" / "Secret Agents" (Radar, ADA 49, November 1979)
  • "There's a Ghost in My House" / "Revelry" / "Yachting Types" (Radar, ADA 52, April 1980)
  • "I.O.U. (In the Oddments Drawer)" / "24 Hours from Tulsa" (Radar, ADA 57, August 1980)
  • "A Fool Like You" / "Dubmarine" (Demon, D 1005, February 1981)

Appearances on various artists compilations
  • "Yachting Types" on DIY: Starry Eyes – UK Pop II (1978–79) (Rhino Records, 1993)
  • "Suffice to Say" on A Hard Nights Day: A History of Stiff Records (Double album, MCA / Universal, 1997)
  • "Suffice to Say" on 1-2-3-4: A History of Punk & New Wave 1976 – 79 (5 CD box set, MCA / Universal, 1999)
  • "Suffice to Say" on North by North West: Liverpool & Manchester from Punk to Post-Punk & Beyond (3 CD box set, Korova, 2006)

See also

References
  1. Woodstra, Chris. "The Yachts – Artist Biography". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: Y". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 23 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Larkin, Colin (1992) "Indie & New Wave Music", Guinness Publishing, Enfield, p. 317, ISBN 9780851125794
  4. "Our story so far". 26 February 2007. Archived from the original on 26 February 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  5. "Will Birch Record Production". Willbirch.com. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  6. "Radio 1 – Keeping It Peel – Sessions". BBC. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  7. "Hiljaiset Levyt: PUNKNET 77 - 100 Best Punk LP's". 22 November 2007. Archived from the original on 22 November 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  8. Strong, M.C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, Edinburgh, p. 187, ISBN 978-1841953359
  9. Joynson, Vernon (2001) Up Yours! A Guide to UK Punk, New Wave & Early Post Punk, Borderline Productions, Wolverhampton, p. 455, ISBN 3-931624-85-4
  10. "Hiljaiset Levyt: PUNKNET 77 - 100 Best Punk singles / EP's". 24 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  11. Kermode, Mark (2019). How does it feel?.
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