Although these days I rarely listen to the charts and pop music, nor have any idea who a great deal of popular musicians even are, back in the day I used to listen to the radio as well as playing records, as there were sometimes gems to be heard. There is no doubt that one of these was Go West, a duo formed by Peter Cox (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Richard Drummie (vocals, keyboards, bass). Their first hits, “We Close Our Eyes” and “Call Me” are certified classics, while “King of Wishful Thinking” was massive, but I haven’t thought of them in years, right up until I started listening to this. Right from the beginning I was racking my brain to think who Radar reminded me of, and eventually it came to me, Go West! That’s strange I thought, as this even has a very 80’s sound to it, so what is going on?
When I got to the press release all became clear. Radar was formed in 1981 when David West, Rod Jordan and Gary Stevenson met at the ABC Music Store in Surrey England, where David & Gary were working as guitar and keyboard demonstrators. They set up a studio, signed to Warner Music, and things were happening. At the same time Gary was producing some other bands at the studio, including an unknown duo called Go West. He used David West on the recordings, and everything went so well that he was asked to then re-record “We Close Our Eyes” and “Call Me” at Chipping Norton Studios in Oxfordshire, and the rest is history. Even though Radar started recording their own album in 1985, they decided not to release it as so much else was going on and while they waited for the right moment, it passed them by until now.
The line-up of Radar is/was Rod Jordan (vocals, bass), David West (keyboards, drum programming, Go West, Robert Hart, Wild Blue, Tony Hadley, ABC), Gary Stevenson (guitars, Go West, Robert Hart, Wild Blue, Tony Hadley, Rick Astley, Bros, ABC), Mel Collins (saxophone, King Crimson, Camel, Alan Parsons Project), Joy Martin (backing vocals, A La Carte), Peter Cox (backing vocals on “Olympic Runner”, (Go West) and drummer Mark Brzezicki on “My Radio Won’t Tune To You” (Big Country). David, Gary, and Mel all played on Go West’s debut album, while Gary also produced and engineered it, so have Radar been heavily influenced by Go West or is it actually the other way around?
Certainly, musically this is very close indeed, and apart from having a different lead singer this really could be a Go West album from their peak. The songs are catchy, the melodies intense with the bass leading the arrangement with little input from guitar. It really is a blast and I smiled from the first note to the very last. Sometimes all we want from our music is fun, and that is exactly what we have here. Nothing over the top or too dramatic, just music which makes you feel good and sometimes that is all we need. Simply put, if you have fond memories of Go West then this is a “lost” album which has finally been discovered and put out there for us all to enjoy. Congratulations on Escape Music on unearthing a real gem.
Rating: 9/10
Track list:
1. A Trick of the Light
2. Goodbye Mr. President
3. Laena
4. Going Overboard
5. Love Wars
6. The Calling Time
7. Lost in the City
8. Someone’s Crying
9. Look But Don’t Touch
10. Olympic Runner
11 My Radio Won’t Tune to You
12 I Contact You
13 Nightmare Casualty
14 I Walk the Wire
