Synth Pop By Numbers 🔢
Such A Digital Lifetime Ago.
For this this post, not so much a physical journey, but more a mental one in remembering old sounds and school memories. This record reaching the heady heights of #13 in the UK charts in January 1980. Living By Numbers at youtube by the band New Musik with it's wonderfully diverse cross section of southern accents ranging from South and East London and some slightly more 'clipped British accents'. The track was pretty ahead of it's time in the fact that it used synths and technology of the day that would probably have been beyond our comprehension at the time in what was the new 'computer age' in those days. I have had this post in my 'queue' to punt out for quite a while, I found the video online and I remembered hearing it played loads as a kid, but couldn't necessarily think of any kind of reference or memories that sparked the idea of posting it (other than I just like the sound and it reminded me of way back when), after a little more thought and another glass of red those memories of music lessons at school all came flooding back...
You Bet That Someone's Counting You
Bearing in mind our classroom at school only had one computer! My best introduction to something like the synth was by our music teacher who was a wizard on the keyboards and used to open music lessons playing us in to the classroom with some well known sounds, he also liked to show videos and documentaries (accompanied by the music) of the many and varied music styles that were part of our youth and also music from the past probably most of us had never heard of before (blues and jazz), an interesting guy and you didn't seem to get too many teachers who went that extra mile to bring a lesson to life (at least not when I was at school).
For one particular lesson he even incorporated Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (with cannon sounds), which you can catch more of the history of the cannon fire at the youtube link here, as we entered the darkened classroom he also used flashlights and by a smoke machine some dry ice plus the video playing a history lesson about Napoleon, talk about killing two birds with one stone...a music and history lesson all in one! If only I'd had a history teacher that was as innovative I might have carried on studying it longer. Hat's off to a legendary and inspirational music teacher, it's what the job should be about, making learning a fun and a memorable experience! He was a cool guy and did the stage production for all the school plays as well as working tirelessly for charities, offering consultancy as well as the years he put in as a teacher our local comprehensive school, he sadly passed away in 2016, but the memory of his great keyboard skills and lessons that were theatrical production masterpieces have lasted for me and I am sure others he taught.
And Numbers We Answer To
Evidently the track Living By Numbers was used by Casio to advertise calculators (kind of vaguely remember, maybe I have imagined it!, but can't find any old videos of it sadly). Anyway, the song although quite 'pop' contained quite dark, bleak and Orwellian lyrics which are pretty much true today, I mean most things seem to rely on pin codes, reference numbers etc, even trying to phone to get a doctors appointment or contact a bank usually leaves you stuck waiting as a number in a queue along with the equally irritating 'muzak' on a loop played at you whilst you hold the line.
But Does It All Add Up To You
Living By Numbers was a track I remember vividly listening to on Radio 1 whilst getting ready to go to school and being an 'earworm' of a song, I seem to also remember at the time Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall', possibly because it reached #1 in the UK Charts and was pretty much a 'playground type chant' across most schools of the day. I guess whatever was most played at the time on commercial radio I listened to.
"You can count all the numbers,You bet that someone's counting you."
New Musik's first track was released on GTO Records in 1979 and the debut album 'A To B' followed in the early half of 1980, here they are below with that first single and also first appearance on Top Of The Pops back in the day.
I love the way most of the kids in the audience appear to be quite 'un-interested' except for the fact they might appear on camera, always makes me grin! And finally the bands other well known synth pop track 'World Of Water' which you can catch at the youtube link, perhaps lyrically a nod towards global warming, who knows?
They Don't Want Your Name, Just Your Number
The band were formed in South London in 1977 by a bunch of school mates originally calling themselves 'End Of The World'. The original line up was:
- Tony Mansfield - Vocals/Song Writing
- Tony Hibbert- Bass
- Phil Towner - Drums
- Nick Straker - Guitar
- Clive Gates - Keyboards
Pretty much all of them had 'rubbed shoulders' in the Nick Straker Band, I guess best known for the track 'A Walk In The Park' which hit #20 in the UK Charts in 1980.
New Musik released several albums during their short run:
- From A To B - 1980
- Anywhere - 1981
- Warp - 1982
Their last album was pretty much entirely electronic and was one of the first to be recorded using digital samplers, after it's release the band decided to call it quits.
New Musik as a band only lasted until 1982, but Tony Mansfield went on to work with some great names such as Captain Sensible, a-Ha, Aztec Camera, The B-52's and also this Leeds based pop duo called Vicious Pink Phenomena, you can catch their track 'Fetish' at the youtube link. Probably a track I would have heard at the Alt Night Club I used to go to in the 80's, their sound rubbing shoulders with synth stuff by Soft Cell with tracks like Sex Dwarf.
Just posting some more memories from what feels like a lifetime ago😉. Posting again soon...
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