| Classix Nouveaux | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | New Wave, Post-punk, New Romantic |
| Years active | 1979–1985 |
| Labels | EMI Cherry Red Records ESP Records |
| Associated acts | Sal Solo The News X-Ray Spex Neo |
| Past members | |
| Sal Solo Mik Sweeney Jak Airport B. P. Hurding Gary Steadman Jimi Sumen Rick Driscoll Paul Turley Pandit Dinesh S Paul Wilson |
|
Classix Nouveaux were an English 1980s new wave band. They had number one hits in Poland, Portugal, the former Yugoslavia, Israel, Iceland, and other countries. In the UK they had various Top 50 successes, but only one Top 20 hit with "Is It A Dream", which peaked at #11 on the UK Singles Chart in April 1982.[1]
Contents |
The breakup of X-Ray Spex triggered an advertisement placed in Melody Maker, searching for a new lead singer.[2] Sal Solo (formerly with The News) answered the advertisement. Jak Airport and B.P. Hurding left X-Ray Spex to form Classix Nouveaux with Mik Sweeney and Sal Solo. Their first gig was on 25 August 1979 at Camden Palace. With publicity growing for the band, their dramatic and heavily made-up image quickly helped associate them with the New Romantic movement, alongside bands such as Japan and Ultravox.[3] In 1980, the band recorded a four track session for Capital Radio and one track, "Robots Dance", was played regularly by DJ Nicky Horne. This got the interest of A&R at United Artists, but as negotiations dragged on Classix decided to release the track as their debut single on their own ESP label. "Robot's Dance" was released on 29 August and, when negotiations with UA were finalised, by EMI.[4] They also performed for the first time on television on Thames TV in London. "Robot's Dance" spent eleven weeks on the UK Indie Chart, reaching #22, and became a popular alternative dance floor track. The group's second single, "Nasty Little Green Men", followed on 10 November 1980.
In 1981, the band released their debut album, Night People, featuring the single "Guilty".
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | ""Foreward"" | Sal Solo, Mik Sweeney | 3:25 |
| 2. | ""Guilty"" | Solo | 4:42 |
| 3. | ""Run Away"" | Solo | 2:42 |
| 4. | ""No Sympathy No Violins"" | Solo, Sweeney | 4:07 |
| 5. | ""Inside Outside"" | Solo, Sweeney | 4:21 |
| 6. | ""623 Degrees"" | Classix Nouveaux | 2:30 |
| 7. | ""Every Home Should Have One"" | Solo, Sweeney | 3:55 |
| 8. | ""Tokyo"" | Solo, Sweeney | 2:39 |
| 9. | ""Or a Movie"" | Solo | 4:32 |
| 10. | ""Soldier"" | Solo, Sweeney | 3:46 |
| 11. | ""The Protector of Night"" | Solo | 5:23 |
| Bonus tracks on 2003 CD release | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 12. | ""Robot's Dance"" | Solo | 3:56 | ||||||
| 13. | ""Nasty Little Green Men"" | Solo | 3:16 | ||||||
| 14. | ""Test Tube Babies"" | Solo | 2:47 | ||||||
| 15. | ""Night People"" | Solo | 3:54 | ||||||
| 16. | ""Old World For Sale"" | Solo | 2:37 | ||||||
| 17. | ""627"" | Solo | 2:31 | ||||||
| 18. | ""We Don't Bite"" | Solo | 3:24 | ||||||
Releasing their next album, La Verité, in 1982, led to the release of their highest UK chart single, "Is It A Dream". The band toured worldwide.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | ""Foreward"" | Sal Solo | 1:08 |
| 2. | ""Is It a Dream"" | Sal Solo | 4:16 |
| 3. | ""To Believe"" | Solo, Mik Sweeney | 3:46 |
| 4. | ""Because You're Young"" | Solo | 3:47 |
| 5. | ""Six To Eight"" | Solo | 1:58 |
| 6. | ""La Verité"" | Solo | 5:12 |
| 7. | ""Never Again"" | Solo, Sweeney | 4:06 |
| 8. | ""It's All Over"" | Solo | 3:55 |
| 9. | ""1999"" | Solo, Sweeney | 3:45 |
| 10. | ""I Will Return"" | Solo, Sweeney | 5:43 |
| 11. | ""Finale"" | Solo | 2:34 |
| Bonus tracks on 2002 CD release | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 12. | ""It's Not Too Late"" | Solo, Sweeney | 3:23 | ||||||
| 13. | ""Where To Go"" | Solo, Sweeney | 3:14 | ||||||
In 1983 the album Secret was released, produced by Alex Sadkin, featuring tracks such as "Never Never Comes" and "Heart From The Start". They become one of the first modern bands to perform in communist Poland.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | ""All Around The World"" | Classix Nouveaux | 4:21 |
| 2. | ""Manitou"" | Classix Nouveaux | 3:51 |
| 3. | ""Heart From the Start"" | Classix Nouveaux | 3:31 |
| 4. | ""The Fire Inside"" | Classix Nouveaux | 3:50 |
| 5. | ""Forever and a Day"" | Solo, Sweeney | 3:39 |
| 6. | ""Never Never Comes"" | Classix Nouveaux | 2:58 |
| 7. | ""The Unloved"" | Classix Nouveaux | 5:19 |
| 8. | ""When They All Have Gone"" | Classix Nouveaux | 6:00 |
| 9. | ""No Other Way"" | Classix Nouveaux | 4:48 |
Band members continued to come and go, and by the end of the band's existence Sal Solo was the only original member remaining.
After Classix Nouveaux's break up Solo went on to record and perform with French/Italian space-rock and electronic band Rockets during 1983-84, before becoming heavily involved in Catholicism, and releasing several Christian-oriented albums.
Mik Sweeney moved to Los Angeles, California where he built fretless basses and did studio session work; he currently lives in Ireland. Gary Steadman went on to join A Flock of Seagulls. Jimi Sumen became a record producer in Finland and released a number of solo works there.
The first Classix Nouveaux compilation album was released in 1997 via EMI Records and was reissued with a slightly different track listing in 2003. Beginning that same year, the band's original albums saw reissue on CD by Cherry Red Records. In 2005 River Records released The River Sessions, a live album recorded at Strathclyde University in 1982 and, in January 2010, all the band's singles and associated B-sides saw release as The Liberty Singles Collection, again via Cherry Red Records.
| UK Release | Album | UK[5] |
|---|---|---|
| May 1981 | Night People | 66 |
| April 1982 | La Verité | 44 |
| November 1983 | Secret | - |
| 1997 | The Very Best of Classix Nouveaux | - |
| 2003 | The Very Best of Classix Nouveaux (reissue) | - |
| 2006 | The River Sessions | - |
| January 2010 | The Liberty Singles Collection | - |
| UK Release | Song | UK[5] |
|---|---|---|
| August 1980 | "The Robots Dance" | - |
| November 1980 | "Nasty Little Green Men" | - |
| February 1981 | "Guilty" | 43 |
| April 1981 | "Tokyo" | 67 |
| July 1981 | "Inside Outside" | 45 |
| October 1981 | "Never Again (The Days Time Erased)" | 44 |
| March 1982 | "Is It A Dream" | 11 |
| May 1982 | "Because You're Young" | 43 |
| October 1982 | "The End...Or The Beginning" | 60 |
| 1983 | "Forever And A Day" | - |
| 1983 | "Never Never Comes" | - |