THE
TOURISTS ("Aargh! Sixties pop
trash!" scream Sounds writers as
they leap from high windows) were perhaps
the most misunderstood, misinterpreted
group in living memory. The attraction of
their jangly guitar tones, Annie Lennox's
cool voice soaring through the
intelligent pop songs of Pete Coombes'
was critically disregarded when the
covering of 'I Only Want To Be With You'
became a monster hit. For this shocking,
unforgivable indulgence they were to pay
a severe penalty. The inevitable split
finally occurred last November in the
steamy city of Bangkok.
Guitarist
Dave Stewart and Annie had already been
hatching plans for a project of their own
to run concurrently with the Tourists.
Old chum Conny Planck graciously offered
the pair free studio time to "try
out" some demos.
Dave:
"With the Tourists we were slogging
along on our way to Australia and were
getting pissed off with being labelled as
the world's worst offenders for dragging
up Sixties pop. Bangkok was the first
time we'd been in an entirely different
culture and as soon as we decided to
split Annie and I started making loads of
recordings on a tiny Sony recorder,
things like Bangkok street noises and
things off the TV. By the time we got to
Conny's we had racks and racks of
cassettes. This experiment eventually
turned into the album."
To continue reading
this article and to discover many more (over 140,000 words-worth!),
purchase Mick
Sinclair’s Adjusting
the Stars: Music journalism from post-punk London.
|