Medium Medium -

Medium Medium was an English art-funk band from Nottingham that released three shortplayers and the 1981 Cherry Red album The Glitterhouse. They scored a Billboard dance hit with “Hungry, So Angry.” Singer–saxophonist John Rees Lewis and drummer Nigel Kingston Stone later formed C Cat Trance.

Members: John Rees Lewis (vocals, saxophone), Andy Ryder (guitar, vocals), Alan Turton (bass, backing vocals), Nigel Stone (drums, percussion), Graham Spink (special sounds), Steve Harvey (drums, percussion), Neil Campsie (guitar), Leslie Joachim Barrett (keyboards, guitar), Julie Wood (keyboards, backing vocals)

Background

Medium Medium formed in Nottingham at the end of 1978 from The Press, a two-year-old punk and R&B group. In January 1979, singer–saxophonist John Lewis, bassist Alan Turton, drummer Nigel Stone, and guitarist Neil Campsie formed the first lineup.

Guitarist–singer Andy Ryder joined the following month. Graham Spink handled tapes and keyboards and supervised front-of-house sound. Campsie left in March, which established the five-member configuration of Lewis, Ryder, Turton, Stone, and Spink.

The group played Nottingham venues including the Sandpiper and Hearty Goodfellow, then secured London appearances at the Nashville Rooms, Hope and Anchor, and Rock Garden. Early support dates paired Medium Medium with Aswad and Creation Rebel. Further bills included Prince Far I and A Certain Ratio. Basement 5 also shared a bill with the group.

Late in 1979, Apt Music selected Medium Medium for the Nottingham label’s first release.

“Them or Me”

Medium Medium released their debut single, “Them or Me,” in late 1979 on Apt Music (b/w “Freeze”). Terse phrases cut across each repeated figure as “Them or Me” struts through taut syncopation. For this released, their name is stylized as mēdium mēdium.

George Side
A. “Them or Me” (3:50) – Campsie, Lewis

Crow Side
B. “Freeze” (3:15) – Lewis

Keyboardist Robin Langridge produced the single with Wally Brill, who engineered the 1979 Alternative TV album Vibing Up the Senile Man and co-produced the group’s contemporary single “The Force Is Blind.” Brill co-engineered the disc with Graham Spink. “Them or Me” appeared in a sleeve photographed by one Andy Long.

Rockburgh included “Them or Me” on the 1980 regional compilation Hicks From the Sticks, which also contains cuts by Airkraft, Clock DVA, I’m So Hollow, Music for Pleasure, Nightmares in Wax, Section 25, They Must Be Russians, and Wah! Heat. “Them or Me” reached No. 42 on the UK Independent Singles Chart.

Band manager Chris Garland arranged further London dates and three appearances with U2. Those bookings ran from December 1979 through the close of the following year. Medium Medium also shared a late-1980 American tour with Pylon and the Method Actors, followed by the group’s first dates in the Netherlands.

An early-1981 agreement brought Medium Medium to Cherry Red.

“Hungry, So Angry”

Medium Medium released their second single, “Hungry, So Angry,” in February 1981 on Cherry Red (b/w “Nadsat Dream”).

A. “Hungry, So Angry” (3:59) – Medium Medium
B. “Nadsat Dream” (3:31) – Ryder, Spink, Stone, Turton

Medium Medium recorded the single at Berry Street Studio in London with producers Adrian Sherwood and Graham Spink. Sherwood established On-U Sound in 1980 and produced the first releases by New Age Steppers.

Cherry Red shipped imports to the United States. In June 1981, “Hungry, So Angry” reached No. 48 on the Billboard Disco Top 100 chart. Cachalot subsequently packaged four Medium Medium tracks on a US 12-inch EP.

Stone left in June 1981, and drummer Steve Harvey joined in August. Harvey appeared in the promotional film for “Hungry, So Angry” before the group toured Europe and North America.

The Glitterhouse

Medium Medium released their singular album, The Glitterhouse, in October 1981 on Cherry Red.

Five members comprise the recording lineup: Lewis, Ryder, Turton, Stone, and Spink. All five members composed the seven tracks, while Lewis and Ryder divided the lyric credits. Spink contributes tapes and keyboard treatments alongside his engineering role.

“Hungry, So Angry” erupts with a trumpet bray before blunt declarations settle over a popping bass figure. “The Glitterhouse” recedes through minor-note clusters, tambourine taps, and apathetic lament. “Guru Maharaj Ji” drifts across a loose beat as cutting lyrics and erratic section turns break the languid flow.

“Further Than Funk Dream” grinds through a taut, bubbling figure while strained complaint turns to a militant chant amid atonal guitar scratches and braying outbursts. “That Haiku” coils through implied polyrhythms and oblique cross-cultural accents under a spectral, wordless cast.

A1. “Hungry So Angry” (3:54)
A2. “Serbian Village” (4:47)
A3. “The Glitterhouse” (2:11)
A4. “Guru Maharaj Ji” (8:48)

B1. “Further Than Funk Dream” (5:56)
B2. “Mice or Monsters” (5:40)
B3. “That Haiku” (5:44)

Medium Medium recorded most of The Glitterhouse in 1981 at Foel Studio near Welshpool with producer–engineer Dave Anderson and engineer Graham Spink. Anderson, a former bassist with Amon Düül II and Hawkwind, operated Foel and co-produced the 1980 Young Marble Giants album Colossal Youth. The group cut “That Haiku” at Rema Bearcat Studio in Rotterdam.

British photographer and former art director Roger Phillips prepared the pink sleeve around a monochrome image of two dancers in an intertwined pose. In 1969, Phillips photographed the covers of albums by Cream (Goodbye) and Jack Bruce (Songs for a Tailor).

In 1988, Trance and Line Records expanded the album as The Glitterhouse & Plus. Optic Nerve issued a three-LP gatefold edition in 2017 with the Adrian Sherwood single production, archival recordings, an unreleased EP demo, and four reunion-session tracks.

1981–82 Lineup Change

Lewis left Medium Medium in December 1981 and formed C Cat Trance with Stone. Ryder, Turton, Spink, and Harvey continued under the Medium Medium name.

In February 1982, the quartet introduced a revised lineup at the Lyceum in London. Keyboardist–guitarist Leslie Joachim Barrett joined in April and completed the five-member group that recorded the next release.

Splendid Isolation

Medium Medium released the Splendid Isolation EP in August 1982 on Sound Products in the Netherlands; Intercord handled the German edition. Ryder, Turton, Spink, Harvey, and Barrett shared the composition credits.

“Splendid Isolation” barrels through percussion strikes and narrow guitar strokes, each part locked to a compact repeated figure. “7th Floor” stutters through neurotic electronics as a dark bass figure knots around exotic turns.

A. “Splendid Isolation” (6:10)
B1. “If You Touched Her She’d Smear” (4:17)
B2. “7th Floor” (4:09)

Medium Medium recorded the three tracks in mid-May 1982 at Arnold Mühren Studio in Volendam with co-producer and engineer John Kriek, a concurrent Golden Earring soundman.

Barrett designed the blue sleeve around a blurred white figure viewed through vertical bars. Sound Products also paired “If You Touched Her She’d Smear” with “7th Floor” on a Dutch seven-inch single, while the German Intercord 12-inch added “Hungry, So Angry.”

Later Activity

In October 1982, Julie Wood replaced Barrett on keyboards. Medium Medium toured North America late that year. In February 1983, the group returned to continental Europe.

The group spent three months in the United States in 1983 and recorded material for a proposed second album. Management difficulties and the absence of a new label agreement ended the group late that summer.

U-Bahn X later employed Turton and Harvey. Spink also joined the project, while Ryder entered session and engineering work.

In 1988, Trance Records released Live in Holland. The album combines a May 1981 performance at the Vera Club in Groningen with the final Lewis-era concert, a 1982 VARA broadcast from Bergen-op-Zoom.

In 2001, Cherry Red assembled the 15-track retrospective Hungry, So Angry. Lewis, Ryder, Turton, and Harvey reunited Medium Medium in 2004 and played the CMJ Music Marathon in New York.

Discography: