Deaf School - 2nd Honeymoon

Fondly-remembered Scouse art-rockers

Between 60s Merseybeat and the late 70s post-punk wave that washed up Echo & The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes, there was Liverpool’s local heroes Deaf School, a head-spinning cocktail of glam, art school attitude and pub rock. This 1976 release, the first of their three albums, made them many friends in the music press but failed to woo the recordbuying public.

The tongue-in-cheek faux fatalism of What A Way To End It All flirted with vaudevillian pop and came closest to giving them a hit single. Knock Knock Knocking mixed rockabilly and bubblegum, while Nearly Moonlit Night Motel could easily have been Steve Harley scoring a Whitehall farce. Arguably, the band’s refusal to stick with one style for too long was their undoing, but the various players went on to perhaps more notable glories.

Lead vocalist Steve Allen formed The Original Mirrors with Ian Broudie, singer Bette Bright had a modicum of solo success, while guitarist Clive Langer became one of the most successful producers of the 80s and also co-wrote Elvis Costello’s Shipbuilding. The band’s subsequent albums, Don’t Stop The World and English Boys/ English Girls, are also reissued this month.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Lemon | CDLEM 123

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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