Melodic and pleasant, their clever nuances may have escaped power poppers. Too light to make it onto FM rock radio, plus the promo clout of CBS had its hands full making their stars even bigger.
Interesting. I'd never heard of this band--and I listen to A LOT of 70s and 80s music.
For some reason (possibly because of the similarity in names) this reminded me of Richard Strange, who also had quite an obscure career, though in a very different musical genre ;)
Thanks for chiming in, Alex! I think it depends on where you heard the '70s and '80s music you listened to a lot! If you listened to radio of the day and/or your collection, then there's no way you'd stumble across a Zuider Zee. My point for all my "Audio Autopsy"s is that radio never played them and/or the label dropped the ball, and failed to promote, or both.
Having gotten promo albums throughout the decade of the '70s and into the '80s, I was actually living these sales/airplay failures in real time. As I'd sit at home listening to Zuider Zee, I was realizing "well, no radio station is playing them, and sales figures are dim."
Another more than adequate artist bites the dust, while we're subjected to the 800th spin of Fleetwood Eagles, Jon Bon Journey, ad infinitum, every day of every week for a millennium. *sigh*
So, while you might have had to endure "Don't Stop Believin'" on the radio til your ears bled, bands like Zuider Zee, Starjets, Prefab Sprout, and The Producers (ALL on CBS Records, by the way!) never had a chance of getting airplay! Thanks again for reading and commenting, Alex! Hope to see you again!
I think part of the problem is that I live in France. So if a band didn't make it in the States, there was little chance you'd hear them in other countries--although there have been exceptions to this, with some artists making it in Europe while remaining virtual unknowns in their home country.
One exception, by the way, was Prefab Sprout, which you mentioned! I absolutely love that band. I was lucky to listen to a radio station in the 80's that played a lot of non-mainstream stuff. Some examples of this were Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti, Martin Stephenson & the Daintees or Deacon Blue (*before* they became popular).
That station still exists, but has sadly fallen into the trap of commercial music.
FRANCE?!?! Well, "foreign" radio renders my previous meanderings moot, if not completely irrelevant! I can only rail effectively, with fist thrust high in the air, against the failings of US radio and record companies!
Your mentioning Prefab, and my other massive mid-'80s fave, Scritti Politti, makes me certain that you were not a slave to Johnny DJ!! So, good on ya! My intro to Scritti was from one word in an LA Times review of "Cupid and Psyche 85." Noted critic, Robert Hilburn called SP's music, "precious." With nothing else to go on, I just had to hear a band Hilburn called "precious"! He wasn't wrong, and I was hooked on Green!
Precious, yep, that's a good way to describe it ;) That's funny though cause it reminds me of Marc Almond. More specifically his solo albums "The stars we are" and "Enchanted". I've always thought of his music as "precious" :D
Oh, THAT Marc Almond! My first thought was The Mark-Almond Band, but that's only 'cause I'm old! TMAB I used to play on the radio in the mid-'70s, long before Marc was a gleam in his daddy's pants (in fact, he's two years younger than I)!
Never spent much time with Soft Cell, but if you're bold enough to use the word "precious" for Marc's solo work, Imma gotta check it out! Thanks!
Richard is certainly a card........he should be dealt with! But, as I've been discovering digging deeper into Richard and his Zee, he's quite an enjoyable tunesmith!😁🎶👍
Interesting. I'd never heard of this band--and I listen to A LOT of 70s and 80s music.
For some reason (possibly because of the similarity in names) this reminded me of Richard Strange, who also had quite an obscure career, though in a very different musical genre ;)
Thanks for chiming in, Alex! I think it depends on where you heard the '70s and '80s music you listened to a lot! If you listened to radio of the day and/or your collection, then there's no way you'd stumble across a Zuider Zee. My point for all my "Audio Autopsy"s is that radio never played them and/or the label dropped the ball, and failed to promote, or both.
Having gotten promo albums throughout the decade of the '70s and into the '80s, I was actually living these sales/airplay failures in real time. As I'd sit at home listening to Zuider Zee, I was realizing "well, no radio station is playing them, and sales figures are dim."
Another more than adequate artist bites the dust, while we're subjected to the 800th spin of Fleetwood Eagles, Jon Bon Journey, ad infinitum, every day of every week for a millennium. *sigh*
So, while you might have had to endure "Don't Stop Believin'" on the radio til your ears bled, bands like Zuider Zee, Starjets, Prefab Sprout, and The Producers (ALL on CBS Records, by the way!) never had a chance of getting airplay! Thanks again for reading and commenting, Alex! Hope to see you again!
I think part of the problem is that I live in France. So if a band didn't make it in the States, there was little chance you'd hear them in other countries--although there have been exceptions to this, with some artists making it in Europe while remaining virtual unknowns in their home country.
One exception, by the way, was Prefab Sprout, which you mentioned! I absolutely love that band. I was lucky to listen to a radio station in the 80's that played a lot of non-mainstream stuff. Some examples of this were Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti, Martin Stephenson & the Daintees or Deacon Blue (*before* they became popular).
That station still exists, but has sadly fallen into the trap of commercial music.
The times are a-changin' indeed!
FRANCE?!?! Well, "foreign" radio renders my previous meanderings moot, if not completely irrelevant! I can only rail effectively, with fist thrust high in the air, against the failings of US radio and record companies!
Your mentioning Prefab, and my other massive mid-'80s fave, Scritti Politti, makes me certain that you were not a slave to Johnny DJ!! So, good on ya! My intro to Scritti was from one word in an LA Times review of "Cupid and Psyche 85." Noted critic, Robert Hilburn called SP's music, "precious." With nothing else to go on, I just had to hear a band Hilburn called "precious"! He wasn't wrong, and I was hooked on Green!
Precious, yep, that's a good way to describe it ;) That's funny though cause it reminds me of Marc Almond. More specifically his solo albums "The stars we are" and "Enchanted". I've always thought of his music as "precious" :D
Oh, THAT Marc Almond! My first thought was The Mark-Almond Band, but that's only 'cause I'm old! TMAB I used to play on the radio in the mid-'70s, long before Marc was a gleam in his daddy's pants (in fact, he's two years younger than I)!
Never spent much time with Soft Cell, but if you're bold enough to use the word "precious" for Marc's solo work, Imma gotta check it out! Thanks!
LOL @ Thomas Edisun! Great read as per usual.
Richard is certainly a card........he should be dealt with! But, as I've been discovering digging deeper into Richard and his Zee, he's quite an enjoyable tunesmith!😁🎶👍