Tasty Tourists

Rip It Up, Issue 26, 1 September 1979, Page 14

Tasty Tourists

Duncan Campbell

The Tourists Logo If Punk failed to live up to its revolutionary promise in the long run, then it must be at least credited with giving the British music scene a much-needed enema. Out of its ashes has risen a second wave of bands, much stronger on melody, but retaining the economical approach, and contempt of self-indulgence. If something can’t be said in three minutes or less, then it’s not worth saying.

In the forefront of this second wave are The Tourists. They formed in December 1977, but a variety of legal hassles prevented them from getting this, their debut album, onto vinyl for some 18 months.

A shame, but they used the time well, polishing their sound and constructing some wonderful melodies. All good things are worth waiting for, and The Tourists is a gem. The nucleus of the band is from London, leading lady Ann Lennox is from Aberdeen, and bassist Eddie Chin is a British-naturalised Malaysian. Their sound is difficult to pigeonhole, though its influences are unashamedly rooted in the 60’s. Lennox and Peet Coombes sometimes harmonise like Balin and Slick, other times like Sandy Denny and lan Matthews in the early Fairport days. On her own, Lennox varies from the passion of early Grace Slick to the wistfulness of Christine McVie. Photogenic she ain’t, but the lady has one hell of a voice. Those of you who’ve heard the single, “Blind Among The Flowers”, will need no further inducement to buy. Coombes writes all the songs and his consistency is never in doubt. Ann is heartbreaking on “Fools Paradise”, and rivetting on "Deadly Kiss".

Ain’t No Room” handies reggae with respect and features some very spacey dub effects. "The Loneliest Man In The World” is my pick for the next 'single, being as close to perfection as any track I’ve heard all year.

And there’s more, much more. The Tourists are a sinfully powerful band, no better demonstrated than on the closing “Just Like You”, where Coombes and Dave Stewart trade some immaculate licks over Chin’s earthquake bass and Jim "Do It" Toomey’s no-mess drumming.

This is a very important new band, make no mistake about that.