by If New Wave was a holiday camp, The Headboys would be the redcoats. Slightly annoying, a bit cheesy, far too overtly in your face and trying to please a little too much, but ultimately, after a few drinks, you’re glad they are there and even, towards the end of the evening, start to find them fun.
Originally formed under the name Badger, The Headboys’ only real hit of note was the 1979 Shape Of Things To Come, which is included on and kicks off the first side of this eponymous debut LP.
Shape Of Things To Come starts with what you could be forgiven for thinking is a prog-rock intro with an almost Yes-esque vocal quality, or maybe Rush, but that is quickly edged out by the power pop chords and the ‘oh oh oh ohhhh oh’ chorus. It’s a good track and easy to see why it was their hit. The thrumming bass prevails throughout, and is joined by some crunchy lead guitar and organ/piano. A classic middle eight, and its a decent start to the album.
Stepping Stones was the next single, and the next track on the album. It didn’t chart, and honestly I’m at a loss as to why. Maybe it’s a little too bland and has no real depth, but it’s definitely an ok song. It had a great future sounding guitar solo to fade it out, but for whatever reason it didn’t do well.
So, two decent tracks, and you may be wondering why my tongue in cheek intro? Well, My Favoutie D.J. starts the slide into slightly silly and confusing songs. Incidentally on this track you will get Boomtown Rats vibes. Whether or not that’s a good thing is up to the listener. Kickin The Kans changes musical styles and slows things down a little, and makes full use of the odd effects used on the lead vocals throughout. It’s fairly insipid, and the lyrics This Is The Time To Step Out Of Line belie the easy listening melody. Kans is one of those tracks that gets better over time, and is actually my goto if I want to play some typical Headboys to somebody.
Changing With The Times feels very late 1970s and starts well, but the chorus accompanied with the strange keyboard kind of ruins it. Maybe that’s too harsh, but it certainly changes the feel of the song. Silver Lining, for whatever reason, is a ballad. We’ll skip over the ballad.
A confused first side then. Starts well enough but I think you’re left not really knowing the identity of this band. And Experiments on side two does nothing to allay this feeling. I actually like Experiments, its a well written track, and the guitar here is possibly the best on the album, but where does it belong??
Then we come to Schoolgirls.
A problematic song, the clue is in the name, and I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t be written today. There is nothing overtly wrong, but there is a lot of suggestion here, and it even includes somebody asking a girl to ‘bend over’ as they whack what I assume to be their backside complete with cheeky giggle. Maybe that’s a bit more than suggestive. Anyway, its just not very pleasant actually and the album could well do without it.
The musical muddlement continues with Gonna Do It Like This which is an odd, almost reggae style lead vocal, crowd chorus and it ends with a true power pop guitar frenzy. The Breakout, has an intro which would be right at home on a Supertramp album, and the verses sound like a Quads track (There Must Be Thousands if you’re familiar with that). So there is even confusion here in one track, let alone an entire album.
The Ripper (yep, a song about Jack The Ripper) is the penultimate track and if you included this on the Rocky Horror sound track nobody would blink an eyelid. Side two actually ends well with Take It All Down and includes some Mod Revival elements with sax solos, organ and recognisable song structure. Not unsurprising for a band in 1979.
So what we are left with then is not so much an album, but a collection of tracks in a collection of styles. And I really want to stick to my initial analogy. If you want to have your spirits lifted of an evening with music that doesn’t require much thinking, is pure (at times) power pop new wave 70s fun, and (and this is crucial) maybe have had one or two drinks, then you could do a lot worse than The Headboys.
Just maybe skip Schoolgirls.