The Colourfield

The Colourfield were a British band formed in 1984 in Manchester when former Specials and Fun Boy Three frontman Terry Hall joined up with ex-Swinging Cats members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale. Despite the fact that all three members were from Coventry, the band was based in Manchester.

History

1984 - The Beginning

In January 1984 The Colourfield released their first single, "The Colour Field", which just missed making the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] In the summer of the same year, they released "Take" as their second single, which commercially performed less well. Their third single was "Thinking of You", released in January 1985, which reached number 12 in the UK chart,^[1] and featured Katrina Phillips accompanying Hall on vocals. Their fourth single, released days before their debut album came out, was "Castles in the Air" which reached the lower reaches of the UK chart.^[1]

1985 - Virgins & Philistines

When Virgins & Philistines was initially released in April 1985 it contained twelve tracks in the U.S. release and ten in the UK version - but can now be found with twenty tracks as a Japanese re-release, containing many B-sides and live tracks. It failed to gain a large audience due to difficulty in marketing an album with such a diverse sound—it mixes 1960s and early 1970s pop music with more acoustic based melodies and string arrangements. Virgins & Philistines is often regarded as the direct musical predecessor to the later work of other northern bands The Beautiful South and The Lightning Seeds in the 1990s; Hall later collaborated with the latter in a songwriting role and also provided occasional vocals. Virgins & Philistines reached #12 in the UK album charts.

Virgins & Philistines contained all original material except "The Hammond Song" (a cover of The Roches song), and—in the US—"Can't Get Enough of You Baby" (written by Linzer/Randell), which was the only track that received much airplay. The album was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport and was produced by Hugh Jones and Jeremy Green, and engineered by Chris Jones.

Additional personnel featured on the album included Pete de Freitas (Echo & the Bunnymen) on drums, Paul Burgess (ex-Camel, also drums), Preston Heyman (percussion), Ian Nelson (clarinet), Katrina Phillips (background vocals).

1986 - The Colour Field (EP)

In January 1986 The Colourfield became a four-man group, adding Gary Dwyer (ex-The Teardrop Explodes) on drums. Around the same time, the band's U.S. label compiled a six track EP entitled The Colour Field (sic) containing the new UK single and B-side "Things Could Be Beautiful" / "Frosty Morning" produced by Ian Broudie; two live tracks recorded at the Hammersmith Palais, "Pushing Up The Daisies" and "Yours Sincerely"; and two older tunes produced by Hugh Jones, "Armchair Theatre" and "Faint Hearts". "Things Could Be Beautiful" did not make the UK or U.S. charts and it was another year before the public would hear anything new.

1987 - Deception

The Colourfield returned in the spring of 1987. They were now just a duo (Hall & Lyons) augmented by Raquel Welch's band and session musicians. Hall had to hire Welch's band after Lyons departed midway through the recording sessions. Hall has voiced his displeasure with the recording of Deception, because he did not feel he had sufficient control of the session musicians and producers in order to be able to preserve The Colourfield’s sound. Deception was produced by Richard Gottehrer and Jeffrey Lesser at Wool Hall Studio, Beckington, Somerset.

The first two singles released from Deception were both covers: "Running Away," originally by Sly & the Family Stone, and "She," a song composed by the songwriting duo of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. "She" was released as a 12” and contained the additional track "Monkey in Winter" with lead vocals by a pre-fame Sinéad O'Connor. The track "Miss Texas 1967" is considered Hall’s best vocal performance on the album. The track "From Dawn to Distraction" is a big hit in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines.

Additional personnel featured included 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"). Both Hall and Lyons appear on the interior cover of the album's CD re-release by Cherry Red Records in 2010, though Hall and his sessioners recorded significant sections of the finished album.

After The Colourfield

Hall has undertaken many other projects since The Colourfield. In 1990, with a few women under the name of Terry, Blair & 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.

On 21 July 2003, Hall released his album The Hour of Two Lights which is a collaboration with Mushtaq (Fun-Da-Mental), a twelve-year-old Lebanese girl singer, a blind Algerian rapper, a Syrian flautist, Hebrew vocalists, a group of Polish Gypsies and Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz). In 2009 he embarked on a well-received reunion tour with the original line-up of The Specials (who originally split in 1981), though without Jerry Dammers, and continued touring with the band throughout 2010 and 2011.

Lyons is now a university lecturer/tutor of graphic design at Sheffield Hallam University in South Yorkshire. Karl Shale went on to join The Candyskins. After they broke up he started working in a record shop.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

• The Singles (Chrysalis, 1995) (Compilation of Fun Boy Three and The Colourfield singles)

Extended plays

• The Colour Field (Chrysalis, January 1986)

Singles

References

External links

• All Music
• Review by Levon Kazarian on Amazon.com
• The Laughing Devil