Bronski Beat -

Bronski Beat was a Scottish–English synthpop band that released two albums and a remix compilation between 1984 and 1986 on Forbidden Fruit. The first album features singer Jimmy Somerville, who released two subsequent albums as one-half of The Communards.

Members: Steve Bronski (keyboards, percussion, acoustic guitar, programming), Larry Steinbachek (keyboards, percussion), Jimmy Somerville (vocals, 1983-85, 1987), John Foster (vocals, 1985-87, 1994-95), Jonathan Hellyer (vocals, 1989-94)

Formation

Bronski Beat formed in 1983 when Glaswegian multi-instrumentalist Steve Bronski teamed with fellow Scotsman Jimmy Somerville and English keyboardist Larry Steinbachek.

Bronski (b. Steven William Forrest; February 7, 1960) came from Castlemilk and first worked as a laborer. Steinbachek (b. May 6, 1960) was a native Londoner who studied music and worked as an electrician. He first heard Jimmy (b. James William Somerville; June 22, 1961, Ruchill) sing for the production of the 1983 docu-film Framed Youth: The Revenge of the Teenage Perverts.

At the time of formation, the trio shared a three-bedroom flat at the Lancaster House in Brixton. They first performed on a double-bill with Abandon Your Tutu at the Heaven club as part of a 9/12/83 event dubbed September In the Pink. After nine shows, Bronski Beat signed in early 1984 with London Records.

“Smalltown Boy”

In June 1984, Bronski Beat debuted with “Smalltown Boy,” a poignant dance number backed with “Memories,” both group-written tracks. The 12″ contains an almost triple-length “Smalltown Boy” and append the b-side with “Infatuation.”

A. “Smalltown Boy” (3:58 / 9:00)
B. “Memories” (3:00 / 7:38)

Bronski Beat recorded the single at The Garden, a Holywell Lane facility owned by onetime Ultravox frontman John Foxx. Garden staffer Pete Griffiths engineered the session amid bookings by Depeche Mode, Modern English, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

In the UK, “Smalltown Boy” was Bronski’s first of seven singles on their own Forbidden Fruit imprint, which also issued a shaped picture disc version.

“Smalltown Boy” charted high across Continental Europe, reaching No. 1 in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and No. 2 in Austria and Switzerland. It peaked at No. 3 West Germany and No. 8 in France. In the Commonwealth, the song reached No, 5 in New Zealand, No, 8 in Australia, and No. 9 in Canada.

Bronski Beat mimed “Smalltown Boy” for the June 7 broadcast of the BBC music program Top of the Pops, which twice aired the song amid in-studio numbers by The Associates (“Those First Impressions”), Bananarama (“Rough Justice”), Elvis Costello & The Attractions (“I Wanna Be Loved”), Frankie Goes to Hollywood (“Two Tribes”), Howard Jones (“Pearl In the Shell”), Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (“Perfect Skin”), Spandau Ballet (“Only When You Leave”), and Wham! (“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”).

“Smalltown Boy” reached No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 4 in Ireland. The video recieved high MTV rotation in the US, where “Smalltown Boy” topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and reached No. 32 on the Cashbox Top 100.

Bronski Beat released their debut album, The Age of Consent, in October 1984 on London Records. It contains eight group-credited originals, including their summer it “Smalltown Boy,” its just-released followup “Why?”

The Age of Consent includes two covers: the Gershwin showtune “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and a medley of the disco classic “I Feel Love” with the pre-Beat UK rock curio “Johnny Remember Me.”

Jimmy Somerville sings multi-tracked self-harmonies on The Age of Consent, which features Steve Bronski on the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer, Larry Steinbachek on the Pro-One sequential monophonic synth, and both on the polyphonic Memorymoog synth, the Roland MC-202 (Microcomposer) sequencer, and the LinnDrum rhythm machine.

The Bronski Beat used choral backing by the Pink Singers and brass by the Uptown Horns: trumpeter Paul Litteral, trombonist Bob Funk, and saxophonists Crispin Cioe (alto) and Arno Hect (tenor), all credited on recent titles by Blancmange and Swans Way. Somerville’s future Communards partner, Richard Coles, plays the clarinet solo on “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”

Added guests include Carmel conga player John Folarin and three classical cellists: Beverly Lauridsen, Mark Shuman, and veteran Jesse Levy, a prolific Seventies sessionist (Average White Band, Jan Akkerman, Rupert Holmes, Zulema) with recent credits behind Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, Spyro Gyra, and Stevie Nicks.

A1. “Why?” (4:04)
A2. “It Ain’t Necessarily So” (4:40) is a Tin Pan Alley standard by composer George Gershwin and his lyricist brother Ira Gershwin for their 1935 Broadway musical Porgy and Bess.
A3. “Screaming” (4:13)
A4. “No More War” (3:52)
A5. “Love and Money” (5:08)

B1. “Smalltown Boy” (5:00)
B2. “Heatwave” (2:41) features tap dancing by song-and-dance woman Caroline Ann O’Connor (A Chorus Line, Cabaret, Chicago).
B3. “Junk” (4:17)
B4. “Need-a-Man Blues” (4:19)
B5. “I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me” (5:59) combines Donna Summer‘s pioneering 1977 electro-disco hit (written by Giorgio Moroder) with the 1961 UK No. 1 by actor/singer John Leyton. Eccentric early UK pop producer Joe Meek oversaw the original “Johnny Remember Me,” written by associate Geoff Goddard and performed with instrumental rockers The Outlaws.

Bronski Beat recorded the album with producer Mike Thorne, a decorated Seventies soundman (Gryphon, The Shirts, Soft Machine, Wire) who also worked on 1984 albums by Roger Daltery, Sherry Kean, and the interlinked Carmel and Swans Way projects.

Apart from “Smalltown Boy,” sessions occurred in New York City at Skyline Recording (W 37th St) and RPM Sound (E 12th St) with engineers Carl Beatty (Gene Dunlap, Lonnie Liston Smith, Luther Vandross, Melba Moore) and Dominick Maita (Herbie Hancock, Material, Nona Hendryx, Polyrock).

On September 14, 1984, Bronski Beat released “Why?” as the album’s second advance single, backed with “Cadillac Car,” an outtake from their sessions with Thorne. The 12″ contains an extended “Why?” (7:45) and b-side.

B. “Cadillac Car” (3:54 / 7:35)

“Why?” nearly matched its predecessor’s Continental popularity with Top 5 placements in the Netherlands (No. 2), Belgium (No. 3), Italy (No. 4), and West Germany (No. 5). The song also went Top 10 in Ireland (No. 6), Switzerland (No. 7), France (No. 8), Spain and Australia (both No. 10).

Bronski Beat mimed “Why?” for the September 20 and October 4 TotP broadcasts, which also featured in-studios by Adam Ant (“Apollo 9”), Culture Club (“The War Song”), Level 42 (“Hot Water”), Nik Kershaw (“Human Racing”), Sister Sledge (“Lost In Music”), and The Stranglers (“Skin Deep”). “Why?” reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 20 on the US Hot Dance Music chart. In Italy, PolyGram issued “Why?” on a split single with an extended ten-minute version of “Hot Water.”

In December 1984, Bronski Beat lifted “It Ain’t Necessarily So” as the third single, backed with “Close to the Edge,” a group-written exclusive from their sessions with Peter Griffiths. The 12″ contains a third track, “Red Dance,” another Thorne sessions outtake.

B1. “Close to the Edge” (4:45)
B2. “Red Dance (6:53)

The Age of Consent reached No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart. Abroad, the album reached No. 4 in the Netherlands, No. 5 in New Zealand, and No. 7 in Canada and Switzerland. The album peaked at No. 10 in Germany and also peaked within the Top 15 in France, Italy, and Australia. In the US, The Age of Consent reached No. 20 on the Billboard Dance chart.

Bronski Beat and Marc Almond

Bronski Beat teamed with former Soft Cell singer Marc Almond for the April 1985 redo of the “I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me” medley, this time affixed with Donna Summer’s earlier disco hit, “Love To Love You Baby.”

The 7″ b-side is the Bronski miniature “Puit D’Amour,” a Somerville solo number. The 12″ contains a third track, Steinbachek’s “Signs (and Wonders).”

A. “Love to Love You Baby / I Feel Love / Johnnie Remember Me” (5:48 / 9:43) “Love to Love You Baby” originated as a side-long disco opus from Summer’s namesake 1975 second album; written by Moroder and co-producer Pete Bellotte.
B1. “Puit D’Amour” (1:45)
B2. “Signs (and Wonders)” (5:01)

Bronski and Almond thrice mimed “I Feel Love” for TotP amid spring ’85 hits by Bryan Ferry (“Slave to Love”), Chaka Khan (“Eye to Eye”), China Crisis (“Black Man Ray”), Chris Rea (“Stainsby Girls”), Debarge (“Rhythm of the Night”), Dire Straits (“So Far Away”), Eurythmics (“Would I Lie to You?”), Kim Wilde (“Rage to Love”), New Model Army (“No Rest”), and Rah Band (“Clouds Across the Moon”).

For the April 25 broadcast, the Bronskis performed on a sunken color-lit stage backed with neon wall discs. DJ John Peel introduced their May 9 appearance, where Somerville mimed under white lights next to Almond, who wore the same ensemble seen on the cover of his upcoming second solo album, Stories of Johnny.

The medley reached No. 3 in Ireland and the UK and No. 11 in Germany. Meanwhile, Bronski Beat reteamed with Thorne for a new single, “Run From Love” / “Hard Rain,” and intended summer Forbidden Fruit release that Bronski and Steinbachek cancelled after the sudden departure of Jimmy Somerville, who teamed with Age of Consent clarinetist Richard Coles in the Communards, who released two albums on London Records.

Hundreds & Thousands

In September 1985, Bronski Beat released the remix EP Hundreds & Thousands on London Records. It features both sides of the cancelled “Run From Love” / “Hard Rain” single and four extended dance mixes of Age of Consent tracks.

A1. “Heat Wave” (5:44)
A2. “Why” (6:17)
A3. “Run from Love” (8:14)

B1. “Hard Rain” (7:52)
B2. “Smalltown Boy” (5:54)
B3. “Junk” (6:14)

Hundreds & Thousands reached No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 18 on Billboard Dance Chart.

Bronski Beat continued with singer John Jøn Foster (born February 26, 1961 in Basildon, Essex) and recorded their second studio album. Its lead single, “Hit That Perfect Beat,” dropped in time for the 1985 Christmas season.

Truthdare Doubledare

Bronski Beat released their second album, Truthdare Doubledare, on April 28, 1986, on London Records. It contains the pre-released “Hit That Perfect Beat” and the followup single “C’mon! C’mon!”

Truthdare Doubledare tackles heated topics, including the AIDS crisis (“Dr. John”), ostracism (“We Know How It Feels”), and parental sexual disapproval (“Punishment for Love”).

Musically, Truthdare injects rock in the group’s dance-based signature. Steve Bronski plays accordion, synthesizers, multiple guitars (6- and 12-string, double-sped). He splits keyboard and programming roles with Larry Steinbachek, who plays marimba, standard and electronic drums. This is their only album with John Foster.

In Europe, Truthdare Doubledare appeared simultaneously as a thirteen-track CD with the LP sequence followed by a bonus track (“What Are You Going to Do About It”) and 12″ mixes of the two singles, plus the “Perfect Beat” b-side “I Gave You Everything.”

A1. “Hit That Perfect Beat” (3:38)
A2. “Truthdare Doubledare” (4:43)
A3. “C’mon! C’mon!” (3:50)
A4. “Punishment for Love” (4:14)
A5. “We Know How It Feels” (4:13)

B1. “This Heart” (4:19)
B2. “Do It” (3:50)
B3. “Dr. John” (4:41)
B4. “In My Dreams” (4:17)

10. “What Are You Going to Do About It” (6:15)
11. “C’mon C’mon” (12″ version, 6:15)
12. “Hit That Perfect Beat” (12″ version, 6:21)
13. “I Gave You Everything” (4:00)

Sessions took place in London at Studio Music Works, the Scout Hut, and Berry Street Studios with producer Adam Williams, a onetime Selecter bassist and ongoing Eurythmics associate. UK-based American soundman Tom Frederikse engineered Truthdare Doubledare in sequence with Kicking Against the Pricks, Nick Cave’s third Bad Seeds album.

“Hit That Perfect Beat” preceded the album by five months (b/w “I Gave You Everything”) and reached No. 3 in the UK, Australia, and Switzerland and No. 5 in Ireland and Italy. In the US, the single reached No. 5 on the Billboard Dance chart.

“C’mon! C’mon!” became the second single in March 1986, backed with the non-album “Something Special.” Forbidden Fruit issued a limited-edition shaped picture disc.