Country United Kingdom Style Melodic Rock/New Wave/Synth Pop
Rating 83/100
Band Members
Nick Richards – Vocals,keyboards, Brian Chatton – Keyboards, Jeff Seopardi – Drums, Nico Ramsden – Guitars, Mark Smith – Bass, Loui Beau – Girl Vocals
Additional Musiacians
Mel Collins – Saxophone, Adrian Lee – Guitar, Graham Broad – Drums, John Ward – Keyboards
Tracks
01. Cities on Fire, 02. 22nd Century Boy, 03. Hearts Bin Broken, 04. I Wanna Be a Cowboy, 05. Josephine, 06. Lipstick, 07. Take my Love and Run, 08. Turn Over (I Like it Better That Way), 09. Ships in the Night
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Profile The band was formed in 1983 as the brainchild of lead vocalist/keyboardist Nick Richards, who had just purchased Maison Rouge Recording Studios in London. Their debut self-titled album came out in 1986, where Mercury Records won the bidding for Canada and Intercord Tontrager GmbH handled their releases in Germany.
The single “I Wanna Be a Cowboy” was released in 1986. A novelty song with deadpan humour and kitschy references, the song has been described as the perfect musical realization of a spaghetti western movie. It hit No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 13 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart in 1986–1987, and was R&R No. 8. “I Wanna Be a Cowboy” was also a top 10 hit in Australia and South Africa. The video featured a cameo appearance by Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead. The other hit song of the record “Cities On Fire”, an energetic rush of synth-rock which was released in 7″ and 12″ remix form, received early attention from MTV but failed to connect with fans of the novelty hit and didn’t receive enough airplay to create a new fanbase.