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Yachts were a British power pop/new wave band, best remembered for their 1977 single "Suffice to Say", and minor new wave classic, "Love You, Love You".[3]

Yachts
Yachts in 1978
Background information
OriginLiverpool, England
GenresPower pop,[1] new wave,[1] rock[2]
Years active1977–1981
LabelsStiff Records
Radar
Polydor
Demon
Past membersBob Bellis
J.J. Campbell
Martin Dempsey
Henry Priestman
Martin J. Watson
Mick Shiner
Glyn Havard
Ray 'Chopper' Cooper

Career


The Yachts was formed by art students in Liverpool in April 1977, evolving out of an earlier R&B band, known variously as 'Albert Dock' or 'Albert and the Cod Warriors', who had developed a reputation locally for their energetic sets.[4] Albert Dock had supported the Sex Pistols on one of their infamous early gigs in 1976.[5]

The band originally consisted of Bob Bellis (drums, vocals); John (J.J.) Campbell (vocals); Martin Dempsey (bass guitar, vocals) (later replaced by first Ray "Chopper" Cooper, then Mick Shiner and finally Glyn Havard); Henry Priestman (born Henry Christian Priestman, 21 June 1955, Hull, and brought up in Liverpool) (vocals, keyboards); and Martin Watson (guitar, vocals).

They played their first show as the Yachts at Eric's nightclub in Liverpool, supporting Elvis Costello. This led to a recording contract with Stiff Records, where they released one single, the witty and self-referential "Suffice To Say", written by Priestman and Campbell and produced by Will Birch.[6] In a 1977 Trouser Press review, Jim Green described the single as "more spunk than punk, a simple little organ-based pop tune parodying the "I love you so much I wrote you this song" school of mystical bull*$%-."[7] They also released a novelty single, "Do The Chud", as the Chuddy Nuddies. Soon after the release of the two singles, in 1978, Campbell left the band. The Yachts also parted company with Stiff Records.[4]

With label mates Costello and Nick Lowe, they signed with the newly formed Radar Records label on the strength of demos produced by Clive Langer.[4] On 9 October 1978, a few weeks after releasing their first single on Radar, "Look Back in Love (Not Anger)", a cover of a Teddy and the Pandas song from the 1960's, the band recorded the first of two sessions at Maida Vale 4 studio, for John Peel at BBC Radio 1. The track listing was "Hits", "Yachting Type", "Look Back in Love", and "Then And Now".[8] (The band's second session was recorded in June 1979).

After releasing two singles on Radar Records , the band recorded their debut LP in New York City with producer Richard Gottehrer.[4] However, there was a delay in releasing the album as the tapes had been confiscated by customs and a remix was also needed for "technical reasons".[4] During this delay, the Love You, Love You single was released.

Regarding the first album, one reviewer raved that "[the Yachts have] got this cool cheesy (sic) keyboard sound with a nice chunky guitar underneath and in addition to being catchy tunes, their songs have hysterically funny lyrics, like "Yachting Type", where the guy's girl runs off with a yachtsman, or "Mantovani's Hits", which hypothesizes a rock and roll world where Elvis records had not been hits but Mantovani's had, or "Box 202", where the guy's girl is killed in an aircraft crash so he puts out a classified ad to look for a replacement. The others deal with romance in equally oddball ways, but always rocking and always catchy as hell".[9] Reviewing the LP in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "You have to hand it to a group that can give itself such a ridiculous name and then come up with credible songs called 'Yachting Type' and 'Semaphore Love.' Actually, most of these songs are pretty credible, even (or especially) the one structured around the word 'tantamount.' Funny boys, no doubt about it. But their biggest joke is a mock-snooty, mock-operatic rock crooning style that I'm not eager to hear again."[2]

They toured in the US and Europe with Joe Jackson and The Who, and released a second album, Yachts Without Radar, which was recorded with producer Martin Rushent. In a 1980 Trouser Press review of the album, Tim Sommer said that Yachts have "[f]loating and complex keyboard parts, rich three- and five-part harmonies, pointedly clever lyrics and allusions,...intricate song structures [that] all blend wonderfully."[10] Both Yacht albums were released by Polydor in the U.S.; however, in the U.S., the first album had a modified track listing and was titled S.O.S.

Dempsey left the group in 1980. Dempsey became a member of Pink Military; and Campbell helped to found It's Immaterial. Yachts finally split up in 1981. Priestman, who for a time was a member of both Yachts and Bette Bright & the Illuminations, then went on to join It's Immaterial, Wah! and, most notably, The Christians, more recently working as a producer with Mark Owen and Melanie C.

Retrospective appraisals of the band's output vary. M.C. Strong dismisses Yachts as "one of the many outfits jostling for recognition in the overcrowded pop / rock marketplace".[11] Colin Larkin is more generous, writing that "Yachts' popularity was fleeting but they left behind several great three-minute slices of pop, including a cover of R. Dean Taylor's "There's a Ghost in My House".[3] Vernon Joynson summed up Yacht's approach. "Lyrically, much of their material was in the usual boy / girl realm but with humour. Musically, they ranged from sixties influenced rock with [farfisa] organ to fast-paced punk-cum-[new wave]".[12] Steve Gardner loved this approach. "They hammered out these rocking pop songs surrounded by swirling washes of cheap keyboards. Lots of their songs strung together common threads of boating and strange tales of love, and they had some hysterically funny lyrics, like "I wouldn't climb any mountain for you/Ford any stream that's a daft thing to do/'Cos I'm cynical cynical cynical through and through" from 'Love You, Love You'".[13]


Legacy


Film critic Mark Kermode, who plays the double bass for the skiffle band The Dodge Brothers, names Yachts as one of his favourite bands.[14]


Discography



Albums



Singles



Compilations



Appearances on various artists compilations



See also



References


  1. Woodstra, Chris. "The Yachts – Artist Biography". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: Y". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 23 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Larkin, Colin (1992) "Indie & New Wave Music", Guinness Publishing, Enfield, p. 317, ISBN 9780851125794
  4. Green, Jim (November 1979). "The Yachts Set Sail Into the Spotlight". Trouser Press. Vol. 6, no. 10. New York. p. 10. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  5. "Our story so far". 26 February 2007. Archived from the original on 26 February 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  6. "Will Birch Record Production". Willbirch.com. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  7. Green, Jim (December 1977). "Green Circles". Trouser Press. Vol. 4, no. 6. New York. p. 3. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  8. "Radio 1 – Keeping It Peel – Sessions". BBC. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  9. "Hiljaiset Levyt: PUNKNET 77 - 100 Best Punk LP's". 22 November 2007. Archived from the original on 22 November 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  10. Sommer, Tim (August 1980). "The Yachts--Yachts Without Radar". Trouser Press. Vol. 7, no. 7. New York. p. 34. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  11. Strong, M.C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, Edinburgh, p. 187, ISBN 978-1841953359
  12. Joynson, Vernon (2001) Up Yours! A Guide to UK Punk, New Wave & Early Post Punk, Borderline Productions, Wolverhampton, p. 455, ISBN 3-931624-85-4
  13. "Hiljaiset Levyt: PUNKNET 77 - 100 Best Punk singles / EP's". 24 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  14. Kermode, Mark (2019). How does it feel?.




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