Yachts (band)
Encyclopedia
Yachts were a British
pop/rock band
, best remembered for their 1977 single
, "Suffice To Say", and “minor new wave classic”, "Love You, Love You".
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.
The band originally consisted of Bob Bellis (drum
s, 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 July 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. 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 tracklisting was "Hits", "Yachting Types", "Look Back In Love", and "Then And Now". (The band’s second session was recorded in June 1979).
The band recorded their debut LP
in New York
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 hadn't been hits but Mantovani's had, or "Box 202", where the guy's girl is killed in an airplane 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”.
They toured in the U.S.
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 U.S.
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”. 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". 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]”. 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’”.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pop/rock band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
, best remembered for their 1977 single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Suffice To Say", and “minor new wave classic”, "Love You, Love You".
Career
The group was formed by artArt
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
students in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
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
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
on one of their infamous early gigs
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
the previous year.
The band originally consisted of Bob Bellis (drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s, vocals); John (J.J.) Campbell (vocals); Martin Dempsey (bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals) (later replaced by first Ray "Chopper" Cooper
Oysterband
Oysterband is a British electric folk or folk rock band formed in Canterbury in or around 1976.-Early history:...
, then Mick Shiner and finally Glyn Havard
Jade Warrior (band)
Jade Warrior are a British group that were formed in 1970, originally evolving out of a band named July. The founding members were Tony Duhig , Jon Field and Glyn Havard...
); Henry Priestman
Henry Priestman
Henry Priestman is an English rock singer, keyboardist, record producer and songwriter.-Biography:...
(born Henry Christian Priestman, 21 July 1955, Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, and brought up in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
) (vocals, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
); and Martin Watson (guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals).
They played their first show (as ‘Yachts’) at Eric's
Eric's Club
Eric's Club was a music club in Liverpool, England. It opened on October 1, 1976 in a building basement on Mathew Street opposite The Cavern Club where The Beatles and other bands of the 1960s played, and became notable for hosting early performances by many punk and post-punk bands.The club was...
nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
in Liverpool, supporting Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
. This led to a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with Stiff Records
Stiff Records
Stiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
, where they released one single, the witty and self-referential "Suffice To Say", written
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
by Priestman and Campbell and produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Will Birch. They also released a novelty single, "Do The Chud", as the Chuddy Nuddies.
With label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
mates Costello and Nick Lowe
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...
, they then joined the newly formed Radar
Radar Records
Radar Records was a UK-based record label formed by Martin Davis who had previously worked at United Artists Records, and Andrew Lauder, who had previously been head of A&R at the UK divisions of Liberty Records and United Artists...
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
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
at BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
. The tracklisting was "Hits", "Yachting Types", "Look Back In Love", and "Then And Now". (The band’s second session was recorded in June 1979).
The band recorded their debut LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with producer Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive.-Career:Gottehrer came to prominence as a songwriter in the 1960s with his most notable songs being "My Boyfriend's Back" and "I Want Candy". As Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer , he wrote various songs including...
. 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 hadn't been hits but Mantovani's had, or "Box 202", where the guy's girl is killed in an airplane 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”.
They toured in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
with Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson (musician)
Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001...
and The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, and released a second album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
with producer Martin Rushent
Martin Rushent
Martin Rushent was an English record producer, best known for his work with The Human League, The Stranglers and The Buzzcocks.- Early life :Rushent was born on 11 July 1948 in Enfield, Middlesex. His father was a car salesman...
. Both albums were released by Polydor
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
in the U.S.
Campbell left the group in 1978, and Dempsey departed in 1980. Dempsey became a member of Pink Military
Pink Military
Pink Military were a post-punk band from Liverpool. Led by former Big in Japan singer Jayne Casey, other band members included former Deaf School drummer Tim Whitaker, guitarist Martin Dempsey who also played in Yachts and It's Immaterial and drummers Chris Joyce and Budgie Pink Military...
; and Campbell helped to found It's Immaterial
It's Immaterial
It's Immaterial were a band from Liverpool, England, formed in 1980. They were best known for their 1986 single "Driving Away From Home ", which reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart.-Career:...
. Yachts finally split up in 1981. Priestman, who for a time was a member of both Yachts and Bette Bright
Bette Bright
Bette Bright is an English rock singer.-Career:In the late 1970s Bright was a singer for the art rock band Deaf School. After Deaf School disbanded, Bright went solo with her backing band, 'The Illuminations'. Band members were Henry Priestman , Rusty Egan and Glen Matlock...
& the Illuminations, then went on to join It's Immaterial, Wah!
Wah!
Wah! is a U.S. band performing and creating music for the New Age and yoga market. The female lead singer Wah! and the band’s name are synonymous....
and, most notably, The Christians, more recently working as a producer with Mark Owen
Mark Owen
Mark Anthony Patrick Owen , is an English singer-songwriter. He is a member of pop band Take That. The band were hugely successful during the 1990s and have enjoyed even more success since their reunion in 2005...
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”. 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
R. Dean Taylor
R. Dean Taylor is a Canadian singer, most famous as a recording artist, songwriter and record producer for Motown Records company during the 1960s and 1970s...
’s "There’s a Ghost in my House". 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]”. 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’”.
Singles
- "Suffice to Say" / "Freedom (Is a Heady Wine)" (Stiff Records, BUY 19, September 1977)
- "Do the Chud" / "Big in JapanBig in JapanBig in Japan was a punk band that emerged from Liverpool, England in the late 1970s. They are better known for the later successes of their band members than for their own music...
" on the flip-sideA-side and B-sideA-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
(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 Types" / "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)
Albums
- Yachts (Radar, RAD 19, June 1979)- released as S.O.S. in the U.S.United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- Billboard 200Billboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chartRecord chartA record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
#179 - Without Radar (Radar, RAD 27, May 1980)
Appearances on various artists compilations
- A Hard Nights Day: A History of Stiff Records (Double album, MCA / Universal, 1997)
- 1-2-3-4: A History of Punk & New Wave 1976 – 79 (5 CD Box Set, MCA / Universal, 1999)
- North by North West: Liverpool & Manchester from Punk to Post-Punk & Beyond (3 CD Box Set, Korova, 2006)
External links
- [ Yachts] at Allmusic
- 2004 interview with Henry Priestman
- Yachts page on ‘The ModPopPunk Archives’