Enteraiment scene Lord have Mersey

Press, 23 February 1978, Page 15

Enteraiment scene Lord have Mersey

By

>, of

JEROME BURNS,

the "Observer.” London

Punk is no longer the outrageous “avant garde” of the British rock music scene. It has committed the ultimate sin and become old-fashioned.

The latest vistor in the music business’s unending scramble for novelty is a movement so new that its devotees haven’t even agreed on the name yet. Some call it Seventies Beat, others Power Pop or Thames Beat. Whatever the eventual label there is no disagreement about what it is.

It wears suits, it plavs short catchy melodies, it’s clean, it’s well-mannered, and its female fans wear mini-shirts. In fact it’s remarkably like the Beatles and the rest of those loveable young mop-heads who set the pop scene aiight 15 years ago. The sixties are back in fashion.

At the forefront of the newest New Wave are the Pleasers. In Leighton Buzzard, Bedforshire, their home base, a sight can be seen to gladden the heart of any 30-year-old nostalgic for his teens.

On the stage of a large

dance hall are four shorthaired youngsters wearing dark blue suits. They sing about girlfriends, ” about telling lies, and about being untrue.

Many of the songs are their own; others come from the Beatle and Buddy Holly.

The dance floor is packed with boys in dark suits with harrow lapels matched by thin ties. They are dancing with girls in white shirts and black mini-shirts. Schoolgirl ties and black stockings complete their looks. But Thames Beat is not confined to Leighton Buzzard.

Similarly fresh-faced groups with names like the Stukas, The Boyfriend and The Radio Stars are playing to packed venues all over London.

Some of they lyrics would have been unthinkable six months ago. “Sport, sport, I like sport/Running, jumping, I’m the physical sort,” runs part of a song by The Boyfriend. Ted Carol, who runs several shops specialising in sixties records, has become something of a guru to the new groups. “Although they’re the

opposite of the punks,” he said, “it’s the punks who cleared the way for them.

“The Sex Pistols and the rest got rid of all the pride and pomp that the music business had gotten into and brought things back to basics.

“Of course these kids are into sixties music now. It’s part of their roots.

“The punks spawned a whole generation who were not afraid to pick up a guitar and knock out a few’ songs in a simple three and four-chord format.

“But not all of them wanted to play raw crude punk,” he said. One of those who became tired of the crudity of punk was Glen Matlock, a pioneer member of The Sex Pistols who broke away to form his own group, The Rich Kids. Another is a member of the clean-look Boyfriend, who sing songs with titles like “Ponytail Romance” and “I’m in Love Today,” who used to be with another early punk group, The Vibrators.

But, it is not just the youngsters who are climbing back into the sixties. The end of January saw

1960 s star Adam Faith, who decided that he did not want money some years ago, announce that he was preparing to come out of the producer’s office and go back on stage.

This month saw the panda-eyed Dusty Springfield, looking fashionably tousled and devoid of make up, emerge from long retreat in the hope that a few would say they loved her again. As in any nostalgia boom the time scales are becoming very curious. Already Flower Power, which the Beatles took at least five years to reach, is in sight. A group called Johnny Moped has brought a record entitled “Cycledelic,” and a Cambridge group called The Soft Boys are playing music heavily reminiscent of the Pink Floyd — the most potent of the original psychedelic musicians. Punk, with its pogo, spittle, and safety pins, provided excitement but found itself impaled on the dilemma of being anticommercial and successful at the same time. No such conflicts confuse Power Pop. — O.F.N.S. Copyright.