Wednesday 13th March saw Secret Affair launch the album Soho Dreams
to a specially invited crowd at Madame Jojos in Brewer Street in the
traditional mod playground of Soho. Ian Page and Dave Cairns’ current line up
played a selection of tracks from the new album plus a few classics from back
in the day thrown in at the end. Among the crowd of assembled music press and fans were Purple Heart Simon
Stebbing, Long Tall Shortys Tony Perfect and Acid Jazzs’ Eddie Piller. There was
also news of a new single taken from the album, All The Rage which sees Secret
Affairs sound brought bang up to date with a pumped Motown beat, lashings of
brass and plenty of keyboards. Add to that a great instrumental take on Brian Augers
Black Cat with Andy Fairclough letting loose on the Hammond, it’s a fine
addition to the bands previous recordings. Click here for a clip of Secret Affair performing Dance Master on the night.
Ian Page and Dave Cairns release the first new Secret Affair album since 1982. .
10 years on from their reformation and 30 years from their last album, it really is business as usual for Secret Affair as they return with a long awaited new album. The album kicks off with the title track Soho Dreams, a slow burner that builds and pulls you in, paving the way nicely for Walk Away, all punchy brass, smoldering Hammond and that signature Premier drum sound over a great hook.
Turn Me On is the real surprise here, it kicks off like a garage rocker with Dave Cairns’ crunching guitar and Ian Page laying down a great vocal on a clever lyric. Back in the day this would have been a surefire single and still could be.
Love’s Unkind harks back to Behind Closed Doors with a slower pace and Ian going for the heartfelt soulful vocal before the start of the Get Carter theme leads into a powerhouse version of Ashford & Simpsons' I Don’t Need No Doctor that’s been a mainstay of the live set in recent years.
Lotus Dreams is probably the most un-Secret Affair track on the album, built around an acoustic guitar, a dreamy keyboard sound and Ians’ soaring vocal.
Dave Cairns handles most of the vocals on In Our Time, a seven minute cracker sounding a lot like The Who ala Quadrophenia before a re-worked take on the superb Land Of Hope. It reminds me of My World in it’s structure and is another potential single in my humble!
All The Rage is another spikey little number driven along by swirling Hammond and short, sharp brass before another soulful opus in the shape of Soul Of The City. The album ends in great style with Ride, another powerful song that’s been getting an airing in the live set and leaves you wanting more.
Don’t expect Glory Boys, Behind Closed Doors or Business As Usual, there’s touches of each throughout but this is a strong album on it’s own. Secret Affair have managed to bring their sound bang up to date and may even surprise some of you. Days of change indeed.
Glory Boys re-live glory days in Garry Bushells' new book about the Mod revival.
With the author Garry Bushell. Photo by Dave Edwards.
It’s a Wednesday night near Old Street station and the in-crowd have stepped out of the shadows and met in the plush surroundings of the Golden Bee for the launch of Garry Bushells’ musings on the mod revival scene. Garry was of course in the front line, reporting from the heart of the battle, stood alone among other music journalists who saw no value in new Mod. He also predicted the backlash from others but continued to wave a flag for new mods relevance and merits, often defending them with a well aimed broadside at his contemporaries on other less informed music weeklies. This book gathers together Bushells’ live reviews, notes and interviews from August 1978 until 1981 during his stint at Sounds, starting with Scottish band The Jolt, the meteoric rise of The Jam and catching The Chords, The Purple Hearts and Secret Affair in their infancy. At the launch, many of the players in this story were there to celebrate what has become a period of music that is conveniently swept under the carpet by the mainstream media. From band members to fans and contributors, the attendance proving that we knew we were right all along. Early faces from Tom McCourt, Grant Flemming and Terry Rawlings through to Chris & Buddy from The Chords, Simon, Jeff and Gary from the Purple Hearts, Secret Affairs Dave Cairns, Tony Perfect from Long Tall Shorty, Steve and Martin from The Directions and DJ Tony Class were treated to a reading from Garry and then had to put up with my djing! As for the book itself, it’s a well put together tome which captures the excitement of an embryonic movement, witnessed at close quarters as the scene grew and grew before it became swamped by the masses upon the release of Quadrophenia and eventually went back underground. As a snapshot of an exciting time in British music, hopefully it may make some people re-evaluate those bands and give them some long overdue credit. With plenty of rare photos included as well, I’d say this is the best tenner you're going to spend for a while.
Secret Affairs Dave Cairns.Photo by Dave Edwards.
Time For Action is published by Countdown Books and is priced at £9.99.
