The 1981 Listening Post - The Photos - Crystal Tips and Mighty Mice

 Reviewed by Paul J Zickler

Released: March 1981 The Photos Crystal Tips And Mighty Mice Genre: New Wave / Post Punk Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Highlights: Life In A Day Let’s Pack Our Bags For Beauty’s Sake I enjoy researching the background info on these bands and albums, which I usually try to summarize, but the mystery of The Photos’ second album compels me to quote the actual sources themselves. “Formed in Evesham from the ashes of cult punk act Satan’s Rats, the Photos were often touted as the UK’s answer to Blondie. But there was much more to the Photos than that, with fiery, Buzzcocks–like guitars coiling round Wendy Wu’s distinctive vocals.” (Cherry Red Records website) “The band's debut album [was released] in June of 1980 and stormed to number four, which should have established the Photos among the era's most popular bands. Instead, they lurched into almost instant obscurity.” (AllMusic) “Their second album was produced in late 1980 by Tony ‘Bowie’ Visconti himself. Not surprisingly, their sound grew by leaps and bounds.” (Post Punk Monk blog) “‘Crystal Tips and Mighty Mice’ was released in promotional form in 1981, but withdrawn before it reached the shops, and reissued by Cherry Red Records in 2008. Wu left the band in 1981.” (Wikipedia) I have questions. How does a band release a debut album that goes to number 4 in the UK, only to have their second album go unreleased for 27 years? How does an album produced by Tony Visconti just disappear? And most importantly, is “this almost mythical record” (Themes From Great Cities blog) any good? It’s all right. It’s easy to see where the comparisons come in, but there is indeed more here than just “UK Blondie,” especially in more ambitious tracks like Time Of My Life, which reaches for a broad, almost majestic sound, and For Beauty’s Sake, reminiscent of a Pretenders ballad, only with more sweep and less grit. Let’s Pack Our Bags has the punky twitch of early Blondie, but adds eerie vocal effects and heavily echoed drums to the equation, taking things to a very different place. Tony Visconti’s production crackles and thwacks, not unlike where he was going with Scary Monsters and, later, Let’s Dance. Alas, there’s no Robert Fripp on hand to provide guitar histrionics, but the playing isn’t bad at all. Life In A Day was apparently slated to be the single. It’s a decent enough song, but the busy sophistication of the production is what held my interest. Similarly, Luke Come Back features an almost memorable hook, which is layered with studio tricks on each succeeding repetition before dropping out quickly to isolate the background vocals. A very similar process works a bit better on Wish You Well, another near earworm with a tight arrangement and some nifty guitar effects, which ends with several repeats of the title sung by two male voices, this time punctuated by a Wendy Wu giggle. I have a hard time imagining any of these songs breaking through in the US, but it does seem like they would’ve been possible Top Of The Pops candidates had the album been released. Why it all fell apart remains a mystery, but as usual, it was fun to dig up something completely new to me and give it a listen. I should also mention the cover, a primo example of New Wave Design with its parallel lines, fake sky through fake windows, and black clad, serious band members. Had it made it to the dollar-ninety-nine cutout bin at Sam Goody’s, I would’ve seriously considered buying a copy. (I added .25 to the score based on the cover alone)