Chapter 64: Love Will Tear Us Apart (May - November 1980)

23 May 1980

The Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue

Released: 23 May 1980

Recorded: 22 January - 19 October 1979

Producer: The Glimmer Twins

Track listing[1]

Side A

Dance (Part 1)

Summer Romance

Send It to Me

Little T&A

Indian Girl

Side B

Where the Boys Go

F.U.C. Her

Emotional Rescue

No Use in Crying

All About You

Keith Richards had been exonerated from a drug charge in Toronto, Canada that could have landed him in prison for years. In between, the Rolling Stones had been able to complete Give Us Some Neck for a 1979 release, and they had just put out their first album for the 1980s. Reportedly, about twenty songs had been recorded for Emotional Rescue, but only ten were chosen for release, with the rest being left aside for next year. The album reached #1 in both the United Kingdom and the United States, with the title track being released with "F.U.C. Her" on the same day as a single (#9 UK, #3 US). "All About You" / "Send It to Me" (#33 UK, #26 US) would later be released on 25 August that same year.

Later that September, former Rolling Stones member David Bowie would put out his second post-Stones album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), which also hit #1 in the United Kingdom and topped out at #5 in the United States. It would be three years before he would put out his next album.

July 11, 1980

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Thoroughfare Gap

Released: July 11, 1980

Recorded: June 1978 - February 1980

Producer: Crosby, Stills & Nash

Track listing[2]

Side A

Drive My Car (Needed to Ride)

Tomorrow is Another Day

Barrel of Pain (Half-Life)

Thoroughfare Gap

Out on the Island

Side B

Feel Your Love (Tears in the Light)

Love Has Come

Distances

Helicopter Song

Dear Mr. Fantasy

GRAHAM NASH: "We were all feeling like hell by the time we'd finally put out Thoroughfare Gap. Neil had left to pursue a full-time solo career, David was on the coke, and Stephen and I tried finishing up solo albums, but they went nowhere. The few songs that we did end up salvaging for CSN ended up on the album." (2016)

The title track to Crosby, Stills & Nash's first album without Neil Young since 1969 had originally been written back in 1972 for the first Manassas album, but after several attempts at recording it, the effort was abandoned as they couldn't get the right take. Six years later, it had been brought back and re-recorded for the first CSN album of the 1980s. Originally intended for a Christmas 1978 release, Thoroughfare Gap was consistently delayed until July 1980, having been recorded sporadically between June 1978 and February 1980.

A big factor in the album's delay was David Crosby himself, who was constantly under the influence of cocaine and barely contributing any songwriting material himself. This would result in a near-death experience before he ended up in prison and rehab years later. By the time Thoroughfare Gap was released, the music scene had changed a lot, especially in the UK, where the album and its three singles got lost in the shuffle in the midst of new wave and punk groups. The 80s were going to be a long decade for Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Summary of Crosby, Stills & Nash releases, 1980

• "Thoroughfare Gap" / "Distances" - May 22, 1980 (#15 US, #57 UK)
• Thoroughfare Gap - July 11, 1980 (#10 US, #44 UK)
• "Out of the Island" / "Feel Your Love (Tears in the Light)" - July 14, 1980 (#22 US, #89 UK)
• "Drive My Car (Needed to Ride)" / "Helicopter Song" - October 20, 1980 (#47 US)

18 August 1980

Yes - Song of Seven

Released: 18 August 1980

Recorded: November 1979, April - June 1980

Producer: Yes and Trevor Horn

Track listing[3]

Side A

Everybody's Song

Some Are Born

I Hear You Now

Countryside

Machine Messiah

Side B

Days

Into the Lens

High

White Car

Song of Seven

In 1977, Yes had put out Going for the One which had received a mostly positive reception from critics, citing it as a return to more accessible music, even reaching #1 in the United Kingdom for two weeks. However, the follow-up album from 1978, Tormato, was not as well-received despite hitting the Top 10 in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Despite intending to put out the album in two parts, it was released as a single album instead. Yes would go on tour lasting all the way up to June 1979, and afterward, the band would take a short hiatus.

JON ANDERSON: "In between the last show of the tour and reconvening that November to start work on the follow-up in Paris, I recorded a few improvised songs with Vangelis. It was all very spontaneous and we had a lot of fun with them, and I thought about asking him to be part of Yes. We didn't release them due to being on different labels at the time, but I kept them on the back of my mind when we reconvened in November." (2004)

Despite bringing in Roy Thomas Baker as their producer, conflict among the members of Yes were taking place; Chris Squire, Alan White and Steve Howe all wanted a heavier sound, while Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman wanted a lighter, folk-oriented sound. Enough songs for an album were recorded, but nobody could agree on what to do with them, and the sessions came to an abrupt halt after White broke his foot while roller-skating. Tensions were so great that Wakeman ended up leaving the group altogether, and he almost took Anderson with him. What was Yes going to do?

STEVE HOWE: "Rick just went said to me, Chris and Alan that he wasn't taking our crap anymore, and he just up and left us. Jon almost wanted to leave as well, but he was conflicted. He went to live with Vangelis for a few days, told him about what was going on, and even invited him to a session. We regrouped without Rick but with Vangelis, and we came up with an agreement to make an album of contrasts. But we needed a producer after Roy left the project." (1997)

Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn, the Buggles, 1979.

CHRIS SQUIRE: "At the time, we were being managed by Brian Lane, who was also manager for the Buggles, who were signed onto Swan Song Records. He presented to us with their new hit single, 'Video Killed the Radio Star', and we were pretty blown away by it. Trevor Horn's voice almost reminded us of Jon in a way. We invited Trevor to the sessions, and presented some ideas we add for the follow-up to Tormato." (2000)

The Buggles were a new wave consisting of Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn, formed in 1977 and joined Swan Song Records in 1978. They were enjoying commercial success from their debut album The Age of Plastic, backed with its lead single "Video Killed the Radio Star". After several meetings with Brian Lane, manager for both the Buggles and Yes, the latter band was able to transfer from Atlantic Records and onto Swan Song Records. It was the beginning of a new era for Yes, now with Vangelis on keyboards and Trevor Horn as co-vocalist.

ALAN WHITE: "It really felt like we had been through a rebirth after those Paris sessions; having Trevor and Vangelis on board certainly kept conflict to a minimum. At first, we didn't know what to call the album, but then Jon came up with a track that served not only as the title for the album, but also the finale for the album." (2005)

Song of Seven marked the first album by Yes released under Swan Song Records, comprised of the best tracks not only from the initial Paris sessions, but also new tracks with Trevor Horn as co-producer, as well as a reworking of one of the tracks Jon Anderson and Vangelis recorded together, "I Hear You Now" (#5 UK, #43 US), which was a Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom. The album briefly hit #1 for a week in the United Kingdom, and topped out at #14 in the United States to generally positive reception.

7 November 1980

The Clash - Something About England

Released: 7 November 1980

Recorded: February - August 1980

Producer: Mikey Dread and The Clash

Track listing[4]

Side A

Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice)

Version City

Look Here

The Crooked Beat

Ivan Meets G.I. Joe

One More Time

Something About England

Side B

Corner Soul

Junco Partner

If Music Could Talk

The Sound of Sinners

Midnight Log

The Equalizer

The Street Parade

By the end of the 1970s, The Clash were one of Apple's biggest punk rock acts, having achieved success with their eponymous debut album from 1977, followed by Give 'Em Enough Rope and London Calling, the latter of which was regarded as their greatest album, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. So where were they going to go from there? After all, London Calling was a double album, so surely they would try and top that with a triple album, right?

JOE STRUMMER: "We decided upon a triple album at first, having recorded a shit-ton of music. But going through the material with Mikey [Dread, co-producer], we realized that we might have gone overboard with it." (1995)

MICK JONES: "I dunno whose idea it was, but we ended up deciding to spread the material we'd recorded over two albums to make it more digestible to the public. That meant some tracks ended up on the cutting room floor, probably rusting away in some tin in the vaults at Apple, but hey - somehow, it worked out for us and the public." (2007)

Something About England (#8 UK, #13 US), the Clash's fourth album, covered a wide variety of musical styles such reggae, rockabilly, jazz, R&B, and what would later be called hip-hop. The album was initially met with some confusion among critics and fans, but it did go on to win some polls in 1981. It was backed with the non-album single "Hitsville UK"/"Kingston Advice" (#22 UK, #19 US) on 12 December, the A-side featuring Ellen Foley on co-lead vocals. But what about the material that had been left to the side? It would be six months before it was released as Sandinista!, featuring the less experimental music from the sessions, though it would still be regarded as the sister album to Something About England.

Footnotes

1. All tracks are sourced from OTL's Emotional Rescue, excluding "Little T&A" and "No Use in Crying" from Tattoo You and "F.U.C. Her" from Ronnie Wood's Gimme Some Neck.
2. Tracks are sourced from disc four of the CSN box set, Daylight Again, Stephen Stills' Thoroughfare Gap, Graham Nash's Earth & Sky and David Crosby's Oh Yes I Can.
3. Tracks are sourced from Jon Anderson's Song of Seven, Jon and Vangelis' Short Stories, Drama and bonus tracks from Tormato. "Everybody's Song" was later reworked into "Does It Really Happen?" for Drama, "Countryside" into "Corkscrew" for Steve Howe's 1991 solo album Turbulence, and "High" to become "Sketches in the Sun" for GTR's debut album, featuring Steve Hackett (Genesis) and Howe (Yes, Asia). "Some Are Born" and "Days" were auditioned by Yes, but later re-worked by Anderson for Song of Seven.
4. All tracks are sourced from Sandinista!. The tracks included feature various members that the Clash worked with on the OTL album such as Mikey Dread, Gary Barnacle and his father Bill (real name Arthur), Tymon Dogg, Davey Payne, Rick Gascoigne, Bill Barnacle and Lew Lewis.

Author's Comments

Not much to say about the Rolling Stones or Crosby, Stills & Nash; we're not going to be seeing much of them for the remainder of Phase Three, though I will say that the Stones could either have an improved 80s for them, or they take a hiatus during that decade. Yes, on the other hand, was more difficult to figure out, especially with keeping Jon Anderson from leaving to pursue a solo career. What I've came up with was probably not my best work, but hopefully it came out okay.

I wasn't originally going to make Something About England, but after reading a bit about Sandinista!, I thought, what if the Clash had put out two single albums instead of a triple album? How I arranged the two albums (the other will come out next year) was by focusing on those that featured the likes of Mikey Dread and Tymon Dogg, some of which overlap on some songs, and then go from there. Here's a list as to who appeared on which tracks:

1. Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice) - Tymon Dogg
2. Version City - Lew Lewis
3. Look Here - Lewis, Mikey Dread
4. The Crooked Beat - Davey Payne, Gary Barnacle, Dread
5. Ivan Meets G.I. Joe - Payne, Rick Gascoigne, G. Barnacle, Bill Barnacle
6. One More Time - Dread
7. Something About England - Dogg, Payne, Gascoigne, G. Barnacle, B. Barnacle
8. Corner Soul - Lewis
9. Junco Partner - Dogg, Lewis
10. If Music Could Talk - Payne
11. The Sound of Sinners - Dogg
12. Midnight Log - Lewis
13. The Equalizer - Dogg, Lewis
14. The Street Parade - Gascoigne, G. Barnacle, B. Barnacle

There was also "Lose This Skin" that featured Dogg, Payne, Gascoigne and the Barnacles, but I left it off because it featured Tymon Dogg on lead vocals, which automatically disqualified it in my books. I also excluded any dub versions of songs ("One More Dub", all of side six barring "Version City") to avoid repetition, as well as "Mensforth Hill" ("Something About England" but backwards and with overdubs), which narrowed the song list down to just twenty-eight. Fourteen ended up on Something About England, along with "Hitsville UK" and "Kingston Advice" being released as a non-album single. That means the remaining twelve songs will end up on the revised Sandinista!, so nothing ends up being lost. (Except maybe "Lose This Skin", but that could probably work better as a Tymon Dogg single featuring the Clash.) This overall little experiment was partially inspired from Uncle Dan's attempt at splitting up Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion albums into three single albums. How would you have handled Sandinista! if you were to cut it down into a single album or two? Your results may vary, I imagine!