Posting The Rubettes the other day reminded me that for no discernible reason a number of UK bands in the mid 70s to early 80s seemed to be living about 20 years earlier and 4000 miles due west. However, I'm rather fond of these for nostalgic reasons as i) they mostly gave good show and ii) my dad absolutely love them and would sing along enthusiastically whenever they were on the telly. So, let's take a look at a few of them:
Showaddywaddy are probably the most widely known example. Originally from Leicester, they appeared to base themselves on Sha-Na-Na and had a penchant for wearing colour co-ordinated Teddy Boy jackets. They were extremely popular having 23 chart hits (most of them cover versions) and a No. 1 with 'Under The Moon Of Love'. Here's their version of Dion & The Belmonts' 'I Wonder Why'.
Darts were another revival band, this time from London and had great pseudonyms such as Griff Fender, Horatio Hornblower, Thump Thompson and Hammy Howell. I had all their albums at one point or another, even if Den Hegarty (the bass vocalist with the mad googly eyes) did scare the bejezus out of me as a kid - he went on the work on the great UK kids show Tiswas.
Darts had split from a previous band called Rocky Sharpe & The Razors - in fact you can see their version of 'Come Back My Love' here. The remaining members regrouped as Rocky Sharpe & The Replays and had their biggest hit with 'Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out!)'. However, here's their debut 'Rama Lama Ding Dong'.
Finally, here is Coast To Coast and their version of '(Do) The Hucklebuck'. I recall almost nothing about this lot except that their follow-up was 'Jump The Broomstick' and it looks like their lead singer has come straight from the set of Eraserhead!
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