City Boy -

City Boy was an English art-rock sextet from Birmingham that released seven albums on Vertigo between 1976 and 1981. The band was noted for its theatrical stage shows and harmonized, multisectional material. Their first five albums were produced by Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who developed his later-famous surround-sound techniques while working with the band.

Members: Lol Mason (vocals), Mike Slamer (guitar, bass), Max Thomas (keyboards), Roy Ward (drums, vocals), Steve Broughton (vocals, acoustic guitar), Chris Dunn (bass), Roger Kent (drums)

Background

City Boy evolved from a boyhood friendship between singer Lol Mason and singer/acoustic guitarist Steve Broughton. They met as children and became songwriting partners while attending separate boarding schools in 1960s Birmingham. In the early 1970s, the pair formed the folk four-piece Back In the Band with local ragtime guitarist Chris Dunn and Mason’s old school friend Max Thomas, who initially played 12-string and bongos.

After some time on the Midlands pub circuit, they added guitarist Mike Slamer and drummer Roger Kent. Dunn and Thomas switched to bass and keyboards, respectively. The now six-piece band renamed itself City Boy and developed a theatrical stage act with a musical mix of folk, funk, and hard-rock.

In 1975, City Boy signed to Phonogram’s Vertigo subsidiary and linked with Rhodesian producer Robert John Lange, a recent London arrival with an ear for big sounds. The first fruits of this union was the single “Shake My Head and Leave” (b/w “Teleulah”), released in several territories late that year.

City Boy

City Boy released their self-titled debut album in February 1976 on Vertigo.

The album contains nine songs with lyrics by Lol Mason, who shares lead vocals with rhythm guitarist and mandolin player Steve Broughton, the principal composer of six tracks. The pair wrote all of Side B apart from the lead single, “The Hap-Ki-Do Kid,” delivered by keyboardist Max Thomas.

Max collaborated with the two singers on “(Moonlight) Shake My Head and Leave” and co-wrote “Oddball Dance” with bassist Chris Dunn and lead guitarist (and “Deadly Delicious” composer) Mike Slamer, who co-wrote “Surgery Hours” and “Sunset Boulevard.”

Musically, City Boy furrows hard rock with forays in funk (“Surgery Hours,” “The Hap-Ki-Do Kid”), folk (“Haymaking Time”), theatrical art-rock (“Sunset Boulevard” “5000 Years”), and sui generis novelty (“Oddball Dance”). Hallmarks of their sound include full five-way harmonies and multi-layered electric/acoustic guitars (6- and 12-string) played by all four composers.

A1. “(Moonlight) Shake My Head and Leave” (4:25)
A2. “Deadly Delicious” (4:37)
A3. “Surgery Hours (Doctor Doctor)” (3:01)
A4. “Sunset Boulevard” (6:14)
A5. “Oddball Dance” (5:01)

B1. “5000 Years/Don’t Know Can’t Tell” (8:38)
B2. “The Hap-Ki-Do Kid” (3:10)
B3. “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (4:46)
B4. “Haymaking Time” (5:30)

Sessions occurred in late 1975 at the Manor, a converted Shipton-on-Cherwell mansion studio owned by Virgin Records co-founder Richard Branson. Robert John Lange produced the album ahead of titles by Mallard, Supercharge, Kevin Coyne, and Graham Parker & The Rumour. Prior Renaissance soundman Mick Glossop engineered eight City Boy tracks in sequence with 1975/76 titles by Clearlight, Jade Warrior, Offenbach, and Tangerine Dream.

City Boy appeared in a sleeve designed by Clare Osborn, a veteran cover illustrator for the Music for Pleasure label. The back cover depicts Birmingham tenement graffiti with liner notes by Chris Peers, a former Island Records insider and early champion of the band.

“Surgery Hours (Doctor, Doctor)” preceded the album as a January single (b/w “Deadly Delicious”). On May 21, Vertigo lifted “The Hap-ki-do Kid” as the third City Boy single, backed with “B.I.T.S,” a mash-up of different songs from the album. They prepared the single with engineer Steve Brown, who recently earned his first credits with Nucleus, Roy Wood, and Thin Lizzy.

City Boy mimed “Hap-ki-do Kid” on Top of the Pops for the BBC music program’s May 13, 1976, broadcast, which also featured in-studio numbers by Lee Garrett (“You’re My Everything”), Gladys Knight & The Pips (“Midnight Train to Georgia”), Slik (“Requiem”), and The Wurzels (“Combine Harvester”). Mason wears a red handkerchief and white leisure suit in City Boy’s segment, positioned side-to-side with Steve Broughton (gray leather vest, top hat, sunburst Fender), Mike Slamer (striped shirt), and Chris Dunn (leather suit).

Dinner at the Ritz

City Boy released their second album, Dinner at the Ritz, in March 1977 on Vertigo.

Lol Mason wrote the lyrics to all seven songs; including two — “Momma’s Boy” (a straight rocker) and “The Violin” (a lengthy baroque ballad) — composed by co-lead vocalist Steve Broughton.

Keyboardist Max Thomas composed the album’s balance, which favors grandeur on the sinister, swelling “Narcissus” and the multi-movement “Dinner at the Ritz,” the latter with “extra vocal revelry” by Mercury labelmates Van der Graaf, whose saxist, David Jackson, plays on the track.

Guitarist Mike Slamer co-wrote three of Max’s numbers: the swamp-funk “Walk on the Water” and the through-composed epics “Goodbye Blue Monday” and “State Secrets – A Thriller,” a three-part suite.

A1. “Momma’s Boy” (3:43)
A2. “Walk on the Water” (3:42)
A3. “Narcissus” (5:26)
A4. “Dinner at the Ritz” (6:41)
B1. “Goodbye Blue Monday” (5:01)
B2. “The Violin” (7:20)
B3. “State Secrets – A Thriller” (7:33)

Sessions occurred in late 1976 at Rockfield Studios, a countryside facility in Monmouth, Wales. Van der Graaf Generator booked Rockfield just beforehand for their World Record sessions, hence the team-up. VdGG frontman Peter Hammill appropriated the “State Secrets” riff for “The Sphinx in the Face,” a track on their subsequent album, The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome.

Robert John Lange produced Dinner at the Ritz ahead of titles by Clover, The Motors, and the debut album by Irish new wavers The Boomtown Rats. He co-engineered Dinner with one dB Charles, an auxiliary percussionist on the title track. Lange himself plays bass on “The Violin,” which features onetime Cochise pedal-steel guitarist BJ Cole and late-period If keyboardist Fiachra Trench.

Dinner at the Ritz shows an unattended dinner table beside a mirror, which swallows the tablecloth as dishes, utensils, wine bottles and a candelabra fall by the wayside. The back cover shows a framed photo of the tuxedo-clad band flanked with falling knives and wine glasses. The cover features design details by Bloomsbury Group’s Geoff Halpin (Colosseum II, Horslips, Nutz, Barclay James Harvest) and photography by Paul Wakefield, whose images grace the 1974/75 Supertramp albums Crime of the Century and Crisis? What Crisis?

Roger Kent’s subsequent departure cut City Boy to five as they prepared their next album.

Young Men Gone West

City Boy released their third album, Young Men Gone West, in September 1977 on Vertigo.

Lol Mason wrote lyrics for two compositions by Mike Slamer (“Dear Jean (I’m Nervous),” “Honeymooners”) and three each by Steve Broughton (“Bad for Business,” “The Runaround,” “Millionaire”) and Max Thomas (“She’s Got Style,” “One After Two,” the title track).

Broughton lone-wrote “Bordello Night” and “I’ve Been Spun.” Thomas co-wrote “The Man Who Ate His Car” with outsider Derek Bishton.

Musically, Young Men Gone West focuses on shorter songs with examples of hard rock (“Dear Jean (I’m Nervous)”), funk rock (“I’ve Been Spun”), and symphonic pop (“Millionaire”). Select tracks conjure saloon vibes (“Bordello Night”) and B movie vignettes (“The Man Who Ate His Car”).

Crawler drummer Tony Braunagel fills Kent’s vacated seat. Supercharge tenor saxophonist Albie Donnelly guests on “Honeymooners.” Jazz percussionist Frank Ricotti plays marimba on “She’s Got Style,” a buoyant harmonized number.

A1. “Bordello Night” (3:04)
A2. “Dear Jean (I’m Nervous)” (5:33)
A3. “Honeymooners” (3:55)
A4. “She’s Got Style” (3:23)
A5. “Bad for Business” (3:33)

B1. “Young Men Gone West” (4:05)
B2. “I’ve Been Spun” (3:19)
B3. “One After Two” (3:27)
B4. “The Runaround” (3:16)
B5. “The Man Who Ate His Car” (3:00)
B6. “Millionaire” (4:28)

“She’s Got Style”

“I’ve Been Spun”

Book Early

City Boy released their fourth album, Book Early, in September 1978 on Vertigo.

The album refines their theatrical art-pop sound with a heightened sense of structure and radio appeal, balancing brisk guitar-driven numbers and ornate ballads. It marks the debut of drummer and vocalist Roy Ward, whose presence completed the band’s three-way vocal front with Lol Mason and Steve Broughton.

Primary songwriter Lol Mason wrote or co-wrote most tracks with guitarist Broughton, keyboardist Max Thomas, and guitarist Mike Slamer. Ward co-wrote one track and sings lead on several numbers.

“Cigarettes” unfolds as an epic rocker with electric velocity in its verses and angular chorus turns, followed by a charged instrumental passage and flowing, modulated outro. “The World Loves a Dancer” features spiky, piano-centered verses and a swelling chorus with cabaret flair. “Moving in Circles” carries an orchestral sweep, while closing track “Dangerous Ground” stands as a poignant piano-led ballad with wrenching verses and a soaring chorus.

A1. “5.7.0.5.” (3:10)
A2. “Summer in the School Yard” (3:52)
A3. “Goodbye Laurelie” (3:10)
A4. “Raise Your Glass (To Foolish Me)” (2:57)
A5. “Cigarettes” (5:30) — epic rocker with electrified verses, angular chorus and instrumental midsection with tight rhythm/lead counterpoint and modulated outro
A6. “What a Night” (2:57)

B1. “Do What You Do, Do Well” (3:29)
B2. “The World Loves a Dancer” (3:24) — cabaret-tinged rocker with spiky piano verses and a swelling chorus
B3. “Beth” (2:45)
B4. “Moving in Circles” (4:05) — orchestral number with sweeping chorus
B5. “Dangerous Ground” (4:53) — piano-led ballad with melancholic verses, push-pull cadences, and soaring refrain (a lament counterpart to “We Are the Champions”).

Sessions took place at Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, Trident and Wessex Sound in London, with Robert John “Mutt” Lange producing, engineering, and arranging. Mixing occurred at the Record Plant in Los Angeles with engineer Gary Ladinsky, and mastering followed at A&M Studios by Bernie Grundman. Lou Clark arranged and conducted the orchestral parts.

Vertigo promoted Book Early with “5.7.0.5.” (b/w “Bad for Business”), which reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 27 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and placed Top 10 in Ireland and Norway. A follow-up single, “What a Night” (b/w “Medicine”), appeared later in 1978.

“5.7.0.5.” originated from an earlier withdrawn version titled “Turn On to Jesus.” Rewritten and retitled with a phone-number hook, it became City Boy’s signature hit and led to their subsequent U.S. signing with Atlantic Records.

The Day the Earth Caught Fire

City Boy released their fifth album, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, in August 1979 on Vertigo, marking their most ambitious and conceptually unified work. Recorded amid the late-1970s sci-fi zeitgeist, the album presents a dystopian vision of modernity, alternating between theatrical rock and intricate, orchestrated pop.

Lol Mason wrote or co-wrote every song with principal collaborators Mike Slamer, Steve Broughton, Max Thomas, and drummer Roy Ward. Lange co-wrote two tracks (“It’s Only the End of the World,” “Rev-On (The Crunch)”) and contributed bass on one number. Huey Lewis guests on blues harp, and Tim Friese-Greene plays synthesizer on the “Ambition” suite.

The material divides between high-concept anthems and futuristic mini-dramas. The title track, a bombastic opener with apocalyptic urgency, sets the tone with choral vocal layers and surging instrumental passages. “It’s Only the End of the World” follows with heavier rhythm accents and call-and-response harmonies. “Interrupted Melody” mixes piano drive with sharp guitar interplay, while “Modern Love Affair” lightens the tone with brisk pub-rock energy. “New York Times” expands from orchestral prelude to balladic grandeur, and “Up in the Eighties” captures a cynical glance at the coming decade. “Machines” employs synthesizer effects to evoke technological alienation. The four-part closing suite, “Ambition,” cycles through cinematic contrasts of tension, introspection, and resignation before a climactic choral finale.

A1. “The Day the Earth Caught Fire” (5:20)
A2. “It’s Only the End of the World” (4:04)
A3. “Interrupted Melody” (5:27)
A4. “Modern Love Affair” (3:33)
A5. “New York Times” (5:09)

B1. “Up in the Eighties” (4:14)
B2. “Machines” (5:02)
B3. “Ambition” (12:38)
— a. Ambition
— b. Me and My Tarot
— c. Rev-on (The Crunch)
— d. The End (Came Easy)

Sessions occurred at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, with Lange producing and Tim Friese-Greene engineering. The “Speaking Clock” voice heard at the start was recorded at Zella Studios.

The album features cover art by Don Brautigam, depicting a city in mid-cataclysm, echoing the record’s apocalyptic title.

Vertigo issued “The Day the Earth Caught Fire” (b/w “Ambition”) as the sole single. The album’s hi-definition sheen and spatial sonic detail presaged Lange’s subsequent work with Def Leppard on their multi-Platinum 1983 release Pyromania.

Heads Are Rolling

City Boy released their sixth album, Heads Are Rolling, in November 1980 on Vertigo.

The album combines their theatrical art-pop instincts with a sharper hard-rock edge and contemporary studio sheen. It marks the group’s final recording with founding frontman Lol Mason and keyboardist Max Thomas before guitarist Mike Slamer relocated to the U.S. to form Streets.

Mason wrote most of the material with Thomas, Slamer, and drummer–vocalist Roy Ward. Tim Friese-Greene, who co-produced The Day the Earth Caught Fire, produced six tracks and wrote one (“The Sound of the Bell”). City Boy self-produced the remainder.

Songs alternate between dense, riff-heavy rockers and more layered, atmospheric pieces. “Mr. Shoes” opens with abrupt guitar blasts and stacked harmonies. The title track propels forward with syncopated rhythm and flashing guitar lines. “Domino” and “Bloody Sunday” balance angular riffs with cinematic tension, while “Heaven for the Holidays” and “Life on the Balcony” close the album with smoother keyboard textures and lyrical resignation.

A1. “Mr. Shoes” (3:22)
A2. “Heads Are Rolling” (3:56)
A3. “Need a Little Loving” (3:38)
A4. “Change in the Weather” (3:42)
A5. “Domino” (3:43)
A6. “Speechless” (3:39)

B1. “Bloody Sunday” (3:22)
B2. “The Sound of the Bell” (3:41) — written by Tim Friese-Greene
B3. “You’re Leaving Me” (3:55)
B4. “Heaven for the Holidays” (3:31)
B5. “Life on the Balcony” (4:54)

Sessions occurred at Super Bear Studios in France and Tocano Studio in Hørve, Denmark, with Friese-Greene producing six tracks and City Boy handling the rest. Mike Shipley engineered, and Roy Ward sang lead on select numbers.

Vertigo promoted Heads Are Rolling with the single “Heads Are Rolling” (b/w “Bloody Sunday”).

It’s Personal

City Boy released their seventh album, It’s Personal, in 1981 on Vertigo.

The album closes the band’s run with a turn toward leaner, rhythm-forward art-pop influenced by early-1980s new wave and reggae-tinged rock. It retains the group’s sharp vocal arrangements and theatrical tension while employing more angular pacing and stripped rhythmic interplay.

Lol Mason wrote all lyrics and co-wrote the music with guitarist Mike Slamer, keyboardist Max Thomas, and drummer Roy Ward. Slamer co-produced the album with the band, handled guitar, and co-mixed the sessions. Saxophonist Davey Payne appears on two tracks, and keyboardist Dave Stewart guests on synthesizer for “No Ordinary Life” and “Lovers.”

Songs divide between Police-style syncopated rockers and atmospheric keyboard numbers. “No Ordinary Life” opens with pulsing synth patterns and rapid guitar fills. “The Blind Leading the Blind” pivots on reggae-inflected rhythm and sharp vocal phrasing. “La Guerra de Mondo” offers a sardonic spin on global unrest. “Who Killed Dolores” tightens into taut funk, while “Exit the Heavyweight” closes the album with piano cascades, clenched bridge cadences, and a final accelerating chorus that mirrors the band’s theatrical scope.

A1. “No Ordinary Life” (4:13) — features Dave Stewart on synthesizer
A2. “Rat Race” (3:16)
A3. “The Blind Leading the Blind” (4:10) — features Davey Payne on saxophone
A4. “La Guerra de Mondo” (3:55)
A5. “Lovers” (4:23) — features Dave Stewart on synthesizer and Davey Payne on saxophone

B1. “It’s Personal” (4:29)
B2. “Who Killed Dolores” (3:40)
B3. “Names and Addresses” (4:18)
B4. “Exit the Heavyweight” (4:36) — sporting-themed closer with piano-cascading verses, clenched/aggressive bridge, and rousing final chorus

Sessions occurred at Battery Studios in London, the Farmyard in Little Chalfont, and Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, with Mike Slamer and City Boy producing and Pat Moran and Mike Shipley engineering. Mixing took place at Rockfield.

It’s Personal features cover design by Brian Homer with photography by John Reardon.

Vertigo promoted the album with “Heads Are Rolling” (b/w “Bloody Sunday”), which preceded It’s Personal as the group’s final single release under the label.

Discography: