"The Direct Hits appeared in the first half of the 80s as part of the next generation of mod related bands after the ’79 revival. Whether they were a “mod band” or not is a moot point but as this latest compilation, gathering 23 tracks from their five years attests, they had far more about them, and little in common with, the macho, sloganeering, Rickenbacker-bothering, punks-in-parkas often associated with the original revival period.

What makes the Direct Hits almost unique now is, when compared against their mid-80s peers, how good they still sound. I recently attempted to listen to bands from that period, including a few I liked at the time, and recoiled in horror at most of them. What separates the Direct Hits, and at their very heart, is the special song writing partnership of Colin Swan and Geno Buckmaster; above all else they lovingly crafted quality pop songs. It didn’t seem to be about being in a band or joining a scene, it was about writing and producing timeless songs. Comparisons were frequently and obviously drawn with Lennon and McCartney – think Rubber Soul and Revolver era – but in their story-telling South London compatriots Difford and Tilbrook also spring to mind. Swan and Buckmaster were fantastic at characterisation. Their songs unfolded like mini-dramas populated with people factual and fictional: Aleister Crowley, Marc Deans, Miranda Berkley, Henry The Unhappy Inventor, Christina, Modesty Blaise, Christopher Cooper.

My introduction to them came via the music paper Sounds during July ’84. A two-page spread entitled Mod ’84, gave the lowdown on this underground world of groups and fanzines loosely gathered under the mod umbrella. It had a profound effect on a fourteen year me, who’d already tied his flag to the mod mast but felt no association with any bands from ’79 (bar The Jam, if they count, and that’s a whole other conversation). To my young mind that era was ancient history (although I thought nothing of adopting the Small Faces and the Kinks). These two inky pages were filled with possibilities; they were for now, this was a new thing, this was ours. We had The Style Council and The Truth but everyone knew them, these were under the radar and therefore more exciting. I can’t recall what the article said about the Direct Hits but I soon splashed my pocket money going to see them, only the second band I’d ever seen live, at the Hammersmith Clarendon third on a bill behind Long Tall Shorty (who made no lasting impression) and Geno Washington (some bald old geezer in cowboy boots doing "In The Midnight Hour"). When next hanging out in Carnaby Street, I bought the recently-released album Blow Up from The Merc.

The Direct Hits were soon emblazoned in silver ink on my school pencil case next to The Scene, The Jetset, The Rage and others, but my enthusiasm for this new found universe was treated with suspicion by more cynical classmates who accused me of making up these bands to appear cool to the girls. Nonsense, I protested, I’ll bring in proof. Exhibit A was my I’m A Direct Hits Fan badge, which only attracted widespread ridicule due to the amateurish nature of said item. “You’ve made that yourself, you moron”. I’d done nothing of the sort but the Direct Hits did inhabit a homespun semi-fantasy world where they created their own cottage industry with a tape label to record their overflow of songs on other artists, and thanks to the incredible efforts of superfan Diane Kenwill appeared in their very own Direct Hits Monthly (modelled on the Beatles and Monkees magazines but with a budget that only stretched to a few felt-tips and the use of a photocopier) which ran for a miraculous 30 months straight.

Geno Buckmaster (I still don’t know if that’s his real name, it’s a cool one either way) may have owned the largest collection of Mellandi button-down shirts since Paul Weller, and the band may’ve forced drummer Brian Glover to invest in a boating blazer, but musically the Direct Hits were more 60s revivalists than mod ones, and had one foot gently placed in the neighbouring paisley park, allowing them access to both audiences, although it did mean they could be either too mod or not mod enough for some. Dan Treacy signed them to his Whaam! Records and they occupied a similar space to the Television Personalties and the Times - somewhere to the left of where the main action was.

Their recordings were cheap and cheerful, something that now adds to their charm. Little touches of backward guitar and fairground sounds cropped up here and there (“She’s Not Herself Today”, “I’ve Got Eyes”) ; occasional forays into Motown territory (“Miles Away”, “Just Like An Abacus”); tracks with a darker edge (“What Killed Aleister Crowley?”, “This Was Marc Deans”); the smattering of feedback on “Girl In The Picture” would’ve been as much as lesser bands could’ve managed in channelling The Who but not so the Direct Hits who audaciously – and successfully – created their own seven and a half minute A Quick One style mini-opera, “Henry The Unhappy Inventor”. This isn’t to say there aren’t any mod revivalist elements at work but think more of The Jam in their experimental and sensitive modes on All Mod Cons.

A previous Direct Hits compilation, The Magic Attic, was issued by Tangerine Records in 1994, so for a band that only made released two albums and a couple of singles (“Modesty Blaise” and “She Really Didn’t Care”) there is naturally a lot of overlap on this new CD. But Here, There Or Anywhere is an overdue reminder of the band and although it unfathomably omits “Ever Ready Plaything” long-time fans are rewarded a smattering of unreleased demos and live tracks (the knockabout “Theme From The Munsters” is at odds with much of the rest).  

The band’s second album, House Of Secrets, was released in 1986 by which time the mod scene, in such rude health two years earlier, was disintegrating and the band, now without much of an audience, folded shortly afterwards. Much is made of the band’s mod connections in the CD packaging and I’m sure Cherry Red knows how to market their product far better than I but if, like me, you usually cringe and steer well clear of such things then be careful not to miss out due to tight pigeonholing. I was sniffy about the mod revival as a teenager and now I’m positively allergic to it; it brings me out in a nasty rash, but Here, There Or Anywhere is an engaging and enduring collection of charming 60s style pop, gentle psychedelia and quaint independent English pop music with modish leanings, and that's something always worth reviving."

MONKEY PICKS THE DIRECT HITS!!

An extensive review for 'Here, There or Anywhere' from a great blog by Monkey Picks!

To say that I am excited about the revamping of the wonderful Blaamm Records and the release of the Direct Hits – Blow Up Revisted CD, would be a huge understatement. The Direct Hits were one of the most essential bands to come out of the mod revival period in the early 1980’s and has been called “One of the 1980’s great cult pop secrets”. They were mainly comprised of Colin Swan and Geno Buckmaster along with Brian Grover on drums, although they had various other drummers pass through their ranks. The Direct Hits were formed following the demise of The Exits, a new wave pop band who released only one single “Fashion Plague” back then but had a full album retrospective release on Rev Ola through Cherry Red Records a few years back. The Direct Hits released several excellent 7” singles, which are now quite rare and two full length albums “Blow Up!” and “House of Secrets” along with several essential 12” Ep’s. Colin Swan was and still is an amazing songwriter and pop tunesmith and went on to release many fine gems either as a solo artist or with his band This Happy Breed (which is another story for another day as is Colin’s reappearance in The Cult 45’s for a Television Personalities cover on volume 2 of the tribute series) after The Direct Hits disbanded. He was even offered a spot on Creation Records in their early days, which for various reasons didn’t materialize.

Blaamm Records was set up by Colin Swan back in 2003 as a way of re-issuing the long out of print Direct Hits album “Blow Up!” (And was followed up by several other rare Direct Hits releases and a very limited edition label sampler, that was absolutely fabulous), an album which was originally released on Dan Treacy’s Whaam! Records back in June 1984 (Cat No. BIG 7). This album quickly became and has remained a defining moment for the 80’s Mod Revival and is an album which is full of aural treasures and delights despite its meager recording budget. (for Television Personalities fan’s it also featured Dan Treacy on several songs). The vinyl version of this album as well as the single below are now highly sought after collectibles.

The Direct Hits had so many top tunes and knew how to borrow from the 60’s original Mod sound but actually improve on it to create a sound totally their own. Songs like the snappy ”Ever Ready Plaything”, the spy homage of “Modesty Blaise” (which strangely was not on the first album but released as Whaam 007)), “Miranda Berkley” and it’s spot on period portrayal (which was incidentally covered by The Void on “Into The Jet Stream Of Pop” compilation and soon to be included on “The Great British Beat – Volume 1”), “A Place In The Eighties”, “She Really Didn’t Care”, “Christopher Cooper” and laid back groove of “The Ordinary Girl” were a few of the timeless gems that were scattered through the album and early 7” releases. Then there was the second album which I will not even get into right now.

The Direct Hits created a world of their own, one that was fun to be part of, even if you lived thousands of miles away as my brother and I were when we joined the Direct Hits fanclub. We loved The Jam and The Cortinas and Mertan Parkas and The Purple Hearts, but The Direct Hits were different, they were special, because we were part of their world – a whole world of newsletters, buttons and most importantly, scores of rare cassette releases through their very own Direct Tapes label which featured numerous bands that were completely unheard of, but somehow always sounding pretty amazing.

There were bands like The Activation (which I spent many hours searching for their records, much to my disappointment – try to find info on them now in the modern age of technology and you still can’t), Jenny Brett, The Northwoods, The Open Door, Sheila Lewis and others that I can’t recall at the moment. Some of these bands would at times sound strangely similar to the Direct Hits (maybe there was a conspiracy in there somewhere or they had many talented musical friends). A very comprehensive discography of the Direct Tape label can be found here – http://www.discogs.com/label/Direct+Tapes .

They would also include on their tape label a whole series of great releases like the Direct Diamonds series (3 volumes) or The Great British Beat series (I think there was 4 volumes, and later revived for two 7” single releases on Germany’s Little Teddy Records – pictured above) which at times included bands like The Page Boys, The Mixers, The Activation and The Catalysts (most likely Ulric and Dannie from The Mixers) and more. The Direct Tape label also featured solo releases by Colin Swan, Geno Buckmaster and Phil Ward (another favourite of mine from The Mood Six, another great overlooked band of that era), along with the wonderful cassette “The Special Magic Of Dan Treacy” by The Open Door (which was later redone as “Portrait of Dan Treacy” on 7” single by Little Teddy Records), where Colin Swan and Geno Buckmaster cover four Television Personalities songsAs I usually do talking about bands and music I love, I have easily been distracted, so I’ll get back on topic. The Direct Hits were one of my favourite bands in the 80’s and they were very influential in warping my musical tastes and they often sent me in many directions forwards and backwards, searching for a host of amazing bands that were cloaked in secrecy, or searching for the original of a song that was covered by bands on the various cassettes, which in turn gave me a great historical education of the music from an earlier era.

So to say I’m excited to see the Blow Up album redone, well that’s a no brainer. This release is not intended to replace the original album, (which is something that is very hard if not impossible to do), but to be a companion piece to the original album to take things in other directions and show you what the album might have been in an alternate universe. It’s labeled a “New Version of Classic Eighties Mod Album” and “Features Previously Unreleased Material”. Almost all, if not all the songs are reworked and remixed, with extra embellishment and instruments thrown in. In some cases, a completely different alternate recording is used as in the case of “Miranda Berkley”, where a previously unheard version of this song is included, which is much faster than the original and is a real treasure. Several songs which were never included on the original album are now added along with conclusion to “Henry The Unhappy Inventor”. Welcome to the wonderful world of “Blow Up! – Revisited” – the Mod revival has never sounded so good!

According to the accompanying liners, provided by their soulmate Paul Bevoir, if his own band The Jetset, were The Monkees of the mid’80s swinging(again) London scene, and if The Times were The Kinks, then The Direct Hits were The Beatles.

Not far from the truth, though I’d say that the ‘Hits were capable of being all of the above at the same time, and even adding a thing or two to make the audio kaleidoscope even more colourful.

I’m not really sure who’s behind the appropriately named Blaamm! label, but it’s kinda shameful to see an album of such a cult status being re-released on a kind of a private level, though whoever’s done it, did a wonderful job, complete with lots of bonuses and even collectable band member cards.

The mentioned audio kaleidoscope, starts off with the power-popin’ Diddley stomp of Ever Ready Playing, followed by the jazzy pop sophistication A Place In The Eighties, which, as Bevoir says, could’ve been God Only Knows in case that Blow up! was Pet Sounds.

Naughty Little Boy is a quirky little piece of Who ‘66/’67 popsike, and by the end of the album they also delve into their own “quick one”, which isn’t that quick of course and is called Henry, The Unhappy Inventor.

There’s also an additional demo version among the bonuses, and after summarizing both of them, you get an incredible omnibus of technicolour sounds, gathering some more of the obvious Who-mor, traces of Syd’s melodic lunacy, some Hollies-inspired background vocals, a guitar Move-ment or two, and even an opening which sounds kinda like a folkier take on The Litter/Electras’ Action Woman.

Miranda Berkley is a genuinely British-sounding, plain jangly pop perfection, sounding not unlike some of Martin Newell’s works, and while we’re at it, Too Shy and What Killed Aleister Crowley? are a pair of late’60s Britsike-lings, with the latter being a kind of a Kinks-through-Jam work-out, while My Back Pages might’ve been an imaginary early-Lennon/Paul Simon collaboration.

Among the rest of the bonuses, worthy of special mention is the beautiful b-side to the Ever Ready Playing single The Ordinary Girl (about a girl that I think must’ve been “curly”), as well as the freakbeat-ish “creation” of Ride My Bicycle and yet another pair of Who-ish-through-Weller tracks, The Time It Takes and an alternative version of Girl In A Picture.

Two years after their debut album, the direction that The Direct Hits were hitting, sounded just a bit less adventurous, and therefore kinda more consistent, as heard on the comic book-inspired sophomore LP, The House Of Secrets. Basically, it tends to leave a kind of a Rubber Soul-ish impression, with an occasional American-influence creeping in, resulting in a more paisley popsike sounding numbers such as the opening My Car, or I’ve Got Eyes with it’s moody Thoughts & Words feel, and Heat And Sun, which is a perfect Beatles/Byrds combination, sounding as if If I Needed Someone was recorded during the Revolver sessions.

I’ve Got Eyes is pure ’67 Lennon, Christina might’ve been John’s Eleanor Rigby, She’s Not Here, There Or Anywhere finds The Beatles’65 “thinking for themselves”, and the folky She’s Not Herself Today finds it’s place somewhere between You’ve Got To Hide … and Norwegian Wood, while Is There Anyone There might be this album’s Got To Get You Into My Life, preceded with yet another piece of blue-eyed soul called (Just Like An) Abacus.

Before we see some (more) official re-releases than this, however they come, The Direct Hits hit right in the middle of the target!