Kate Bush (interview on Gaffaweb)

What was your favourite record of 1983?

“101 Damnations, by Scarlet Party.”

Colin Larkin (in All-Time Top 1000 Albums)

[101 Dam-Nations is] one of the greatest power pop singles, it should have been an anthemic monster number one. It sounds like The Beatles, it was on their label. Any chance of Parlophone reissuing this on CD please?

Review of Sterotomy by the Alan Parsons Project

Stereotomy still delivers what you’d expect from a good Alan Parsons project: immaculate engineering, mildly hypnotic instrumentals, a lush ballad or two and a couple of catchy pop songs. Some (wink, wink) Pink Floyd references remain, from brief bursts of Gilmourian guitar to spoken voices in the segues between songs, as does an invitation to dance again with Lucy in the Sky on “Light of the World” (vocalist Graham Dye initially sounds like a ringer for John Lennon).

Scarlet Skies reviewed by Eric Van Genderen on Mojo4Music

With many prog rock and concept albums consigned to the sale bins, Scarlet Skies is indeed a brave debut. In an era of anti-war sentiment - then as now - the call for us to join hands across all nations is a constant thread throughout, interspersed with some engaging moments of commercial pop/rock.

The album commences with a four song medley to set the table, with 101 Dam-Nations leading the way. As the debut single, it is probably the track most people will recognise and sets the anti-war theme, with lead vocalist Graham Dye asking “What happened to race relations?” and yearning for a world where there’s “nothing to kill or die for”. It also showcases the tightness of the band, with bass player Steven Dye and drummer Sean Heaphy forming an imposing rhythm section, together with tight vocal harmonies from both Graham and Steven.

This segues into (War) Stop Your Game and onto Aftermath which, while being decent enough tunes, maybe suffer in the shadow of the opening track. Lyrically both songs advance the theme, but it is left to the final part of this operetta, Now’s Good Times, to showcase the band’s potential. Here we can hear some of their Beatles influences emerging, through some Ringo-esque rolls in Sean’s drumming, the “Getting Better” rhythm guitar in the middle section, and of course those harmonies.

We then have a short interlude with Judy, Judy, Judy - strongly reminiscent of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Was this lined up as the third single? Commercially, I don’t think there’s another track to rival it, while lyrically (”Without Punch where would you be”) it is an insightful aria of unreciprocated love. Genius! The second single, Eyes of Ice then expands the love them, as Graham continues the seduction of an old flame (Judy, presumably). One can only hope that the pleas to “See in me the love of old” and “Hold me please and never leave me” finally won her back!

Interlude over, and the title track is a mighty wake-up call for us all to wipe the sleep from our eyes (”Am I the only one/Not blinded by the sun”) and “See the way” we can control our own destiny. Powerful from the off, it then goes supernova with an incredible drum and percussion assault (also a highlight of the band’s live shows), fading out with the children’s choir (borrowed from Another Brick in the Wall?) reprising their appearance in Now’s Good Times.

The promising beginning of In A World borrows from Queen’s Keep Yourself Alive, but, while there are many excellent component parts, the sum of the whole doesn’t quite achieve its goal. Bizarrely, however, A Deadly Silence seems to work in exactly the opposite way. Set only to a piano accompanied by a clock’s chilling tick-tock, this introduces us to another string in the Scarlet Party song-writing bow, much as Yesterday did for the Beatles.

Another World, once touted as a possible single, surfaces next, to refocus us on the overall message that we aspire for a world where “madness never goes”, and the album closes with The Smell Of Summer and the happy ending (”Love is in the air/It is everywhere”) we all want.

Other than the running order – keeping the concept stuff on one side as on Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love – and the inexcusable omission of Shining, this is an excellent album with enough to keep this listener coming back again and again.

RATING 8.5/10