The Colourfield

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The Colourfield

Country	Manchester, England, UK
Years active	1984–1987
Genres	Alternative, New Wave, Rock
Labels	Chrysalis
Members	Terry Hall Toby Lyons Karl Shale

1 History
2 Discography
3 References and external links

[edit] History

[edit] 1984 - The Beginning

The Colourfield is a British band that was formed in 1984 in Manchester (see 1984 in music) when Fun Boy Three front man Terry Hall joined up with ex-Swinging Cats members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale. With all three of them originating from Coventry, they all now made their home in the music rich area of Manchester. In January 1984 released their first single “The Colourfield” which just missed making the top 40. In the summer they released “Take” as their second single, which did not come close to their debut six months earlier. The next single would be the one that would land them on the charts, “Thinking of You” released in January of 1985, and would make it all the way to number 12 and featured Katrina Phillips on vocals. This would be their only charting single. The final single released days before their debut album came out was “Castles in the Air” which did nothing.

[edit] 1985 - Virgins & Philistines

When “Virgins & Philistines” was initially released in April 1985 it contained 12 tracks in the US and 10 in the UK, but can now be found with 20 tracks as a Japanese re-release containing many B-sides and live tracks. It failed to gain a large audience maybe due to it was not easy to pin down where this album actually would fit in when it was released due to it mixes the sounds of the 60’s and early 70’s adopting more acoustic based melodies and string arrangements. By not being able to place “Virgins & Philistines” into a specific era makes sure it will always sound fresh, never dated, and will always be around.

The “Virgins & Philistines” album contained all original material except “Can’t Get Enough of You Baby” written by Linder/Randell, which was the only track that received much airplay. The album was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport (near Manchester) and was produced by Hugh Jones and Jeremy Green, and engineered by Chris Jones.

Additional personnel featured: the late Pete de Freitas (Echo and the Bunnymen) on drums, Paul Burgess (drums), Preston Heyman (percussion), Ian Nelson (clarinet), Katrina Phillips (background vocals).

[edit] 1986 - The Colour Field (EP)

January 1986 saw The Colourfield become a four-man group, adding Gary Dwyer on drums. They released a 6 track EP entitled “The Colour Field” (yes, there is a space between Colour and Field) containing the single and B-side “Things Could Be Beautiful/Frosty Mornings” produced by Ian Brodie (The Lightning Seeds), two live cuts recorded at the Hammersmith Palais “Pushing Up The Daises”&” Yours Sincerely”, and two older tunes produced by Hugh Jones, “Armchair Theatre” & “Faint Hearts”. “Things Could Be Beautiful” did not make the charts and it was another year before the public would see anything new.

[edit] 1987 - Deception

The Colourfield returned in the spring of 1987. They were now just a duo augmented by Raquel Welch's band and session players. Hall had to hire Welch's band after Toby Lyons left during the sessions. The content of “Deception” is very different from “Virgins & Philistines”. It is almost as if Terry formed a new band but kept the same name. Since then Terry has voiced his displeasure with the recording of the album because he did not feel he had control of the session musicians and producers the way he needed to preserve The Colourfield’s sound. “Deception” was produced by Richard Gottehrer (Blondie) and Jeffrey Lesser at Wool Hall Studio, New York City.

The first two singles released from “Deception” were both covers. The first “Running Away” by Sly & The Family Stone and the second of the Monkees “She”. “She” was released as a 12” and contained the additional track “Monkey In Water” with lead vocals by Sinéad O'Connor. The track “Miss Texas 1967” is considered Terry’s best vocal performance on the album. Unsurprisingly this would be the end of The Colourfield.

Additional personnel featured: Gregg Mangiafico (keyboards), Sammy Merendino (drum programming), Roland Orzabal (Tears For Fears) (guitar on Running Away and Confession), Dollette McDonald, Deborah Malone and Janice Pendarvis (background vocals on Digging It Deep).

[edit] After The Colourfield

Terry Hall has gone on to do many other projects since The Colourfield. In 1990, with a few ladies under the name of Terry, Blair and Anouchka, he released the album “Ultra Modern Nursery Rhymes” which contained a cover of the Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together". In 1992 he collaborated with Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) under the name Vegas. In 1995 he released his first solo album, Home. He has worked with The Lightning Seeds, Stephen Duffy, Gorillaz, and Tricky. He has also appeared live with The Ordinary Boys.

Most recently, on the 21st of July 2003, Terry released his latest album “The Hour Of Two Lights” which is a collaboration with Mushtaq (Fun-Da-Mental), a 12-year-old Lebanese girl singer, a blind Algerian rapper, a Syrian flautist, Hebrew vocalists, a group of Polish Gypsies and Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz).