RADIO STARS IN MOTION HOT PRESS OCTOBER 1978

Recently staying still long enough to be photographed amidst sand, beach balls and lawn furniture in the centre of one of London's busiest intersections, the Radio Stars undoubtedly caused more consternation amongst tourists than they did among native Londoners. The session produced the cover shot for the "Radio Stars Holiday Album", their second for Chiswick Records and another milestone in the long career of the Radio Stars' acrobatic vocalist Andy Ellison. To recap the group's already well-documented history - Andy initially entered the public eye with proto-type glitterboys John's Children, a band that contained the late Marc Bolan for a time. Ellison rapidly established a reputation for a gymnastic stage act, which was just a part of the group's outrageous performances (they incited several riots at Continental gigs). But it was for naught, as John's Children eventually sank without a trace. Bolan of course subsequently achieved massive solo success, while Andy's own three singles followed the five John's Children releases into obscurity. Ellison later resurfaced with John's Children drummer Chris Townson and former Nice guitarist Davey O'List in the ill-starred Jet, a further exploration of the 'glam' mode which culminated in one good album, for CBS. But more importantly Jet united Andy with Martin Gordon, ex-Sparks bassist. Gordon, who had been instrumental in Sparks' success, but was later then expelled by the ego-centric Mael Brothers, composed most of the songs on "Jet". When the chunky guitar chordings of Ian McLeod were added, the seeds of the Radio Stars were sown, ready to blossom in early 1977 on the then young Chiswick label.

On the crest of a massive British and Irish tour, the Radio Stars are finding their "Holiday Album" receiving mixed reviews, unlike its predecessor "Songs For Swinging Lovers" (which was universally acclaimed). Andy described the new album and compared it to their debut platter "It's heavier in places, and a lot slower in places. I think that's got a lot to do with our getting out and gigging." Therein lies the lifeline of the Radio Stars; their pulse beats more quickly onstage than off. Andy's own 'love of live' is inherited from John's Children, via Jet; it's in the spotlight he nourishes. It's a point over which there has been much printed controversey in the past year, ranging from plaudits for his stage antics to complaints that a man of his advanced age should've retired long since to a holiday camp for geriatric rockers. But that fate is a long way off yet. Instead he's embarking on the two month Holiday Tour, which is to be followed by a further thirteen dates in the U.S. Ellison has sustained myriad injuries to various parts of his body while performing, which is why he's pictured on the first Radio Stars album in protective knee pads. Andy: "I like gigging. I like recording when it's in the final mixing stages, but gigging is it."

Andy is seconded in that emotion by guitarist McLeod, who also excels himself (although without the acrobatics) onstage. Andy continues. "Gigging is definitely Ian's thing too - he comes into the studio to put his guitar bits on tape, stays only to check that they're o.k., and splits immediately." The nuances of the studio are left to bassist/songwriter/producer Martin Gordon, who has recently increased his knob-turning activities to include various Chiswick stable-mates, and bands further afield, like the New Hearts. Gordon provides the Radio Stars with songs that are ideally irreverent blueprints for the group to expand upon in concert. By usurping familiar musical formulas and employing them to create often exciting new songs, he is, if you like, to the delightful hybrid of Pop and Heavy Metal what Nick Lowe is to Pure Pop. Andy cites the opening track of their new album as an example 'Radio Stars is from Donna Summer, and the middle bit is from 'Baba O'Riley'.

[Here Herr Elephant describes how he composes the songs for Radio Stars. Next week he tells us how he invented penicillin, discovered the Niagara Falls and eradicated comunicable diseases from the civilised world].

Ellison describes the general manner in which a Radio Stars song springs to life. "We usually come up with the titles in the first place; a line that you see somewhere, like in a newspaper - I mean, newspapers are great sources of lines - and it comes from there. Then the lyrics are next, and the band will take it from there, playing around.' That description of the means certainly fits the ends, as a definite sense of spontaneity and witty insight pervades all of the Radio Stars' recordings. Andy continues: "Nothing of this album was preconceived. In fact, we didn't have an album together right up until the time the studio was booked. The "Beast of Barnsley" was done in one night and recorded the next day. Most of this album was done in the same way." That fact stems from the Radio Stars' love of gigging, something they've been doing almost constantly since the completion of their first album, although Andy adds, "Martin loves working in the studio, messing about with tapes and things."

In fact, the Radio Stars left themselves no time to debate possible future directions prior to the recording of "The Holiday Album". Andy "Once you get back into the studio, that's when you change things. This album will change our direction a bit". After one listen to the near-final remixes of the tapes, I offered that the album seemed more lushly arranged and more heavily keyboard-based than their first, but Andy found that surprising "I thought it was much more of a guitar album. And I think we used far fewer instruments than the first - it's just Martin's production has improved so much."

One thing which worries partisan observers of today's music scene is the thus-far seeming inability of the Radio Stars, along with fellow Chiswickians the Radiators and The (Count) Bishops, to crash the top ten - which is, on the other hand, being milked with such regularity by their contemporaries on the Stiff label. Chiswick haven't been accorded the support of the trend conscious media like Stiff have, nor has Chiswick tried to foster a cult around their artists by instantly deleting releases. The Radio Stars almost cracked the charts with "Nervous Wreck", but the delightful follow-up "From A Rabbit" fell on deaf ears. Small comfort might be gleaned from the knowledge that in a decade's time it'll likely be the Chiswick platters that are coveted by the collector, but for the short term a new distribution deal with EMI should finally ensure the deserved success (at least in Britain) of (some of) Chiswick's Records.
And at the fore - barring accidents - will be those ace singles spinners the Radio Stars. Having been signed, sealed and delivered into CBS with Jet, Andy finds the small company set up congenial "Working for Chiswick is fantastic! I mean, CBS just sent us off to the country to rehearse in some old church when they wanted to get rid of us.' They could still be in that deserted church in an obscure part of Somerset for all CBS knows or cares, an incident Andy laughingly recalls today as he chortles: 'They may do that to the New Hearts (CBS recording artists) too, so we warned 'em. If they try to send you off to the country, don't go! No old churches!"
If there's any justice success will soon reward that happy marriage of the Radio Stars and Chiswick Records with hit records. The band are on the road now, touring for love and in support of their new 'Holiday Album", with Trevor White (another Sparks refugee, later of look and a minute solo career) added on second guitar - so the shows should be especially volatile. They arrive in Ireland at the end of October for their "Holiday". Catch the Ratio Stars in motion. You'll be glad you did!

Karl Tsigdinos

'RADIO STARS'N'STRIPS' SOUNDS SEPTEMBER 1977 'Radio Stars / Marquee'

Radio Stars are a pop group, which is not a bad thing, especially when you're beginning to get bored with all those bands who are diluting and distorting the original flash and excitement that was 'punk' by slavishly adopting the stance/attitudes of the Pistols and Clash. Andy Ellison knows better than to try any of that stuff, especially since he was one of the true British protopop punks of the Sixties, lead singer of the legendary John's Children. What you get are memorable songs with quirky lyrics ('there are no Russians in Russia / there are no Yanks in LA'), solid bass lines overlaid with Seventies heavy metal trash guitar (like Starz meets Lita Ford), and Andy's Iggy Pop-style exuberant stage presence, which led him to strip to the waist, do backflips, leap onto the amps, jump in the audience, attempt to kick a bouncer on the ass, incite the audience to invade the stage, swing from the rafters (causing sparks to shower the audience from a faulty light cable), crawl on his belly, tear off the left leg of his trousers and generally act like the newfound wild man of rock'n'roll.

The audience loved it, of course, they'll always respond to a crazy onstage performer, someone to act out their fantasies for them; but the band have more than that 'cause they can play pretty well, as they proved by thrashing their way through an energy-packed set that included the excellent 'Dirty Pictures' single and stuff from their EP like 'Johnny Mekon', plus a Flamin' Grooviesque 'Shaking All Over'. The crowd seemed to be taken a little by surprise when the set ended and just stood as though they were in a bus queue. The encore got demanded eventually, though. I confess my ignorance, but I think the last song was John's Children's renowned 'Desdemona', And does lyric really say, 'Desdemona, lift up your dress and speak!', or sumthin' like that? Like I said, Radio Stars are a pop group, although I think your mother might not like 'em. I bet you would, though.'

Sandy B Robertson

LIVE REVIEW SOUNDS AUGUST 17, 1977 THE NASHVILLE, LONDON

Some came to catch the Boomtown Rats (who had cancelled at the last moment) but, despite the substitutlon of Chiswick's Radio Stars, there were still many waiting impatiently to get in long after the fire limits were satisfied and the doors shut. Those out on the street missed a bunch of sharp, hard-hittlng New Wavers wIth a bright Pop Image not so far removed from Slik or Kenny. Fronted by Andy Ellison (who was in there last time with Marc Bolan in John's Children) and former Sparks bassist Martin Gordon, Radio Stars came on with the same sort of heart-flutterlng good looks that slipped down Tom Petty's nose. Sexual arrogance in short hair and a clean white t-shlrt. They looked like the sort of boys mothers always warn their daughters about. Horny and wild. And, naturally enough, with a single to their credit entitled 'Dirty Pictures', Radio Stars confirmed all such suspicion.

Live they were just the same. Slamming straight into 'Don't Waste My Time', the four piece began like they meant to continue. Fast and flashy, very loud, almost heavy, but above all clear and uncomplIcated wIth a street-corner sneer. And by the time they'd been through the catchy 'No Russians In Russia' (from their new EP 'Stop It') and marked the halfway point wIth the highly impressive 'Dirty Pictures' itself, the band's individual experience and expertise was obvious to all.

With former Houdini drummer Steve Parry playing only his second gig wIth the hand, Radio Stars naturally lost their footing from time to time. That's fair enough; they need time to break it all in. But when Andy Ellison chooses to sing a song rather than shout it, then Radio Stars know themselves as masters of pop/rock melody and head up an alley no one else has bothered to check out yet . . . not on this side of the Atlantic any way. And who knows how they'll end up... as Radio Stars, perhaps?

Chas De Whalley

LIVE REVIEW NME AUGUST 13, 1977 THE MARQUEE, LONDON

"Not that many will remember, but Andy Ellison once sang lead on a record called "Not The Sort Of Girl You'd Like To Take To Bed". That was in the late '60s with a group called John's Children - you would think he's learned his lesson by now, but he hasn't. Radio Stars have in their opening song a natty chorus: "Need your Iovin 'like a hole in the head". As a stab at romantic pop ephemera, it's misguided, to say the least. Radio Stars are Martin Gordon (bass), Ian Macleod (guitar) and Andy Ellison (vocals), plus whatever friend or lackey they can find to play drums for them. They were together in '75 in a band called Jet (who recorded an album for CBS before quietly disbanding) and eventully had their privately recorded single "Dirty Pictures" released by Chiswick Records. So far their only live gigs have been as support band on the recent Rods tour, and the Marquee gig was the first on the strength of their own name. Surprisingly the place was almost packed. After an absurd pre-recorded tape to introduce the band (and I won't spoil the surprise) they bounded onto the stage.

They looked clean-cut, cute but tough, and after a few spreads in Pink or Supersonic (or whatever sets the pace these days) they should be set to plunder adolescent hearts. Andy Ellison has the archetypal goodboy goodlooks, and a good-natured delinquent demeanour nf the sort that saw Noddy Holder alright until Slade's audience outgrew Ihem, his voice, though it lacks a certain amount of distinction, is practised and competent enough, and his character thoroughly makes up for any shortcomings. So far so good, but what will the teenies make of "need your Iovin' like a hole in the head"? Or "No Russians In Russia", a very catchy three minutes-worth expounding the notion that there aren't any indigenous people anywhere [is it? I wish someone had told me. The author].
Their future would probably be assured were it not for the offbeat nature of their songs. Live - without the studio tinkering and polish evident on "Dirty Pictures', their music is yobbish, simple (but not brainless) HM rock, complicated by a strange Iyrical content and twisted pop sensibilities. The only precursors would be Sparks (Martin Gordon played bass on Sparks' first album and he also writes most of Radio Stars' songs, which leads to certain conclusions) and maybe The Move. One song especially ("Box 29") sounded a lot like the Brum Bovver boys. Add to that elements of the Heavy Metal Kids and Mott that crept in at various points and it becomes obvious that Radio Stars are part of a neglected British tradition but with some not-so-obvious twists. They encored with the admirably frank "We Love Noise", which led into a version of ]ohn's Children's psychedelic nugget "Desdemona" and Andy and the crowd had a great time showering each other with beer".

Paul Ramballi

CULT HERO MAKES POP COMEBACK SOUNDS APRIL 1977

'Those bemoaning the absence of quality pop in the current charts could do worse than take a listen to the debut single by new band Radio Stars, on Ted Carroll's Chiswick label and featuring living legend Andy Ellison. Ellison is a genuine cult hero, having been the singer and chief punk in Marc Bolan's first stab at the big time, the almost mythical John's Children. Ellison dropped out of music in the time-honoured Sky Saxon/Syd Barrett tradition, spending a few years bumming around in Europe. Then a couple of years back he formed the ill-starred Jet with Dave O'List (ex-Nice, ex-nervous breakdown, ex-Roxy Music guitar strangler), and they made one album. Jet also featured (as does Radio Stars) songwriter/bassist Martin Gordon from Sparks.

What does Dave O'List do now, I wonder? "I heard that he's a supermarket manager", says Martin. He also tells me of O'List's curiously bent digit which prevented him holding down an F chord, and of his marathon bouts of tuning up. Such is the stuff of which legends are made, Sparks also get the kiss-off. Martin dismisses all those stories of the British Sparks band being found playing old Mael brothers songs in a pub as "absolute crap". The truth is more mundane - the lad was a technical author, writing manuals for oil tankers before Sparks and simply auditioned like all the other members. Nevertheless. the group's single, 'Dirty Pictures/Sail Away' has a definite affinity both lyrically and aurally with the Mael's hit quality pop songs. Unfortunately. in this country. there has been some resistance from radio stations due to the quite inocuous and harmless lyrics of 'Dirty Pictures. I wondered if this hadn't been a hoped-for publicity gimmick, another 'band banned' routine, but I'm assured this is not so. At any rate the group now intend to push 'Sail Away' as the A-side.

It seemed to me that these two guys (along with young guitarist Ian Macleod, they are the nucleus of the group; no permanent drummer as yet) might find it a bit of a comedown from being on labels like Island to the small scale operation of Chiswick, but they say they prefer the professional attention and support which was missing when they were in Jet. Apart from some solo singles and Jet, this is Andy Ellison's first real try at the big-time since John's Children. If they can avoid the Marquee group graveyard syndrome and get out and do 'quality support' like they want, then Radio Stars stand a good chance of being in the vanguard of the return of quality pop to the charts. Kim Fowley should produce 'em, y'know. Doggedly inconsequential, good fun, thoroughly enjoyable. Pop Music Lives'.

Sandy B Robertson

STRIKE A LIGHT...NME OCTOBER 1977

"THE GRATEFUL DEAD have done it many times, Hawkwind used to do it, the Stones did it in New York some two years ago and The Jam did it last year. Do what? Simply get together with a generator and a truckload of equipment to play music in the street for the people - and, of course, the publicity. Radio Stars were the ones doing it this time, to notify the world at large of the release of their first album. The itinerary listed about seven stops around London but, due to a late start and a general lack of organisation, only four were covered - Portobello Road, Kensington High Street, Leicester Square and Carnaby Street. The first three performances went off without incident. The generator ran out of petrol once, a perturbed old lady tore the posters off the lorry, and surprised spectators were treated to a fistful of punchy songs at each stop. The crowds took it in the intended spirit, obviously pleased to find such diversion on a cold, cheerless day.

The police, however, were not amused. They pulled the plugs on the first three stops and turned out in force for the fourth, using three vans and four cars. Radio Stars were into their fourth song, the "Nervous Wreck" single and perhaps in too much of a jubilant mood for their own good. While the rozzers searched for the power source, Andy Ellison jumped on top of the nearest police van and finished the song from there. This astonishing sight brought howls of laughter from the crowd and a reaction akin to panic from the surprised, affronted constabulary. They seized Ellison as soon as they could, and carted him off to be charged with criminal damage (though how a van could be damaged by dancing on it in sneakers is not clear). He was later given a conditional discharge and fined £65.
As Radio Stars' bassist and songwriter Martin Gordon later remarked about the over-zealous police, 'they couldn't have done it better if we'd paid them...'. Earlier on, I talked to Ellison and Gordon about Radio Stars' position in the scheme of things, about how, despite three sturdy releases, their existence has to be brought to public attention through such stunts, albeit such entertaining ones; 'It's funny," says Ellison, 'I got talking to a guy who saw us live recently. He was totally surprised, because he thought we were going to be middle-of-the-road. From the pictures he had seen of us, he thought we would be a straight pop band trying to be new wave "He said, 'Why don't you do pictures like the way you sound?'. ' Ellison looks bemused at the thought; "He said he thought we were like the Rick Derringer of this country". A fair comparison point: Radio Stars operate roughly the same furrow as the Winter brothers' old cohort. Both play raucous rock instilled with popular melody, a kind of brash heavy metal that you can sing along to.

Ellison is no youngster. He sang on John's Children's 1967 hit Desdemona, the best remembered legacy from that bunch of psychedelic miscreants, and released three solo singles in the following years. He has also studied mime and has fallen in front of cars as a stunt man for The Avengers. Then in I975 he and Martin Gordon formed Jet, a Iittle sparkle at the tail end of the glam-rock comet which was steered rather erratically by its management, Mike Leander's glitter organisation. Nevertheless, it was in Jet that the foundations were laid for Radio Stars, as the band also featured future Radio Stars guitarist Ian McLeod.
'Leander figured Jet could be a commercial Glitter Band', Martin Gordon recalls. 'What the Glitter Band could have been if they were credible... We really got pushed - we had to wear the most stupid clothes - just look at the back of the Jet album. It's too embarrassing to even talk about'. Jet lasted long enough to record one album and complete a tour with the Hunter-Ronson band but died quietly soon after. About nine months later, however, Andy Ellison, Martin Gordon and lan Mcleod got back together and recorded 'Dirty Pictures' which, after being refused by no less than thirteen record companies, became Radio Stars' debut single on the fearless Chiswick label. Finally they recently found themselves a drummer, a Canadian called Steve Parry; since then the band has been toning-up it's live proficiency in readiness for their current tour and the release of their first album 'Songs For Swinging Lovers'. Sinatra is not expected to sue - though he might baulk at the cover concept.

If you've heard Radio Stars' new single "Nervous Wreck", you'll know that the recording technique used by Gordon would be even less to Sinatra's liking than the use of his album title. 'It's a method of recording where you do everything as much and as loud as possible', Martin Gordon explains. 'Quite a lot of people use it - what we call the Eric Blatant principle, but it's generally used subconsciously. Status Quo are an example'. This element of humour extends further in Radio Stars' work. They are a quirky outfit and a lot of it stems from Gordon's off-beat preoccupations. For example collecting idiotic cuttings from the sensation-mongering tabloids features in his list of activities, and many of of the songs he writes are, well, not strictly serious. 'I don't think I could sit down and write a song about a subject that didn't have any kind of humour in it because I don't work like that. My songs are about trivial situations and things of no consequence because that's what interests me. Sometimes the themes in my songs are the usual themes people write about, which in themselves aren't particularly funny, but generally l find other people's approach to it - the humourless approach - rather boring. Ours is the opposite of that'. Radio Stars are touring everywhere until Christmas, still wondering how to be photographed the way they sound.

Paul Ramballi

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