Batteries Not Included

Description

Batteries Not Included is the fourth and final studio album by the British new wave band After The Fire, released on CBS Records in March 1982, a year after it was recorded. Whilst playing live to promote their latest release, 80-f, ATF began to write songs for a new album and rehearsed the new material a lot. All prepared the actual recording of the Batteries Not Included album only took five weeks at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany; at the beginning of 1981. The album was once again produced by Mack (a.k.a. Reinhold Mack) in his own studio where ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) and Queen had both recently recorded. (Although the 80-f album sank without trace in Britain this wasn’t true elsewhere. The band had enjoyed a number of club hits in Germany so going there to record was an enjoyable experience for the band.) The first single of the new album, “Rich Boys”, was record of the week on Mike Read’s BBC Radio 1 show, but failed to make the charts. The other singles, “Dancing In The Shadows” and “Frozen Rivers”, did well in London, kept high again in the Capital Radio Hitline telephone chart, but unfortunately national sales did not reflect this interest.

During 1982 the band did also appear on BBC TV’s Swap Shop and toured Europe with both ELO and Queen (drummer Pete King even filled in for ELO’s Bev Bevan when he was taken ill). In between touring, After The Fire recorded “Der Kommissar” and an updated version of “Starflight” with new producer, John Eden. For years the German music scene had been dominated by bands singing in English and trying to sound American or British. Suddenly German bands were singing in German and creating their own style of music – the German New Wave was born. Before it charted, keyboard player Peter Banks had heard Falco’s “Der Kommissar” in a German club. Banks thought it would be an interesting song to cover. He bought the record at a record shop signing session and played it to lead vocalist Andy Piercy who thought it was interesting as well. The band got the lyrics translated and Piercy jigged them around a bit. The band’s take on “Der Kommissar” was destined to be the band’s swansong and most successful single. Christmas 1982 saw ATF’s final gig at London’s Dominion Theatre where their Christmas party marked the end of an era when the band announced to fans it was splitting up.

When the “Der Kommissar” single hit the US charts (Billboard Hot 100) on February 1983, and the accompanying music video became a MTV hit, the band already had folded. Though the single barely nicked the home country’s Top 50, in 1983 the song ultimately peaked at No. 5 in the US, and remained in the Top 40 for a total of 14 weeks. When “Der Kommissar” unexpectedly broke into the American charts and a follow up was required, CBS Records tried to get the band back together but without success. (Actually the band attempted to negotiate a new deal with Atlantic Records and were on the verge of signing when the success of the “Der Kommissar” single meant that CBS wouldn’t release them from their contract.)

Unfortunately, After The Fire turned out to be one of a number of early synth-pop acts whose heyday fell in the musical gap between late 70s punk-derived new wave and the New Romantic movement’s emergence in early 1980. All band members continued with music after the split. Andy Piercy, the lead singer of After The Fire, tried to follow up the success of “Der Kommissar” with some re-recordings of ATF songs before signing with CBS for a solo album, tentatively entitled Free Heat. His first solo single 8-Ball in the Top Pocket was unsuccessful and CBS never did release his solo album. In 1987 John Russell, the guitar player of After The Fire, released an album entitled Whisper On The Wind with his new band Press Any Key. Keyboard player Pete Banks and drummer Pete King formed Zip Codes and was promptly signed to Rondor Music for a lucrative publishing deal. They began building their own studios. While that was progressing, they recorded some material at another studio which was eventually released on Plankton in 1988 as the cassette-only album Sold-Sight Unseen, a selection of demos they had worked on put together by Banks as a tribute to Pete King who passed away from cancer in 1987.

After The Fire’s third CBS album was released in the spring of 1982 as the band continued its search for a hit single. Produced by Mack who had recently produced stuff for Queen and recorded in Germany, the album demonstrates a more sophisticated sound. With punchy drums from Pete King driving the album and the interplay of guitar and keys more developed, all topped by some great songwriting, this is classic ATF. Highlights include the atmospheric «Sailing Ship» which was originally presented as an instrumental, the superb driving «Sometimes» and the catchy powerpop of «I Don’t Understand Your Love». Three singles were released from the set – «Dancing In The Shadows», «Rich Boys» and «Frozen Rivers» but sadly none of them made an impact. The band’s experiments don’t always work so «The Stranger» sounds more like Andy Piercy mumbling over Pete Banks’ synthscapes. «Carry Me Home» and «Gina» both have a romantic bittersweet feel to them and again stretch out the ATF sound. «Bright Lights» with its U2 guitar riff and «Stuck In Paris» which chugs along nicely both fail to really connect with their tales of isolation. [Mike Rimmer, Cross Rhythms, November 2007]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Short Change” – 3:19
A2. “Frozen Rivers” – 3:36
A3. “Sometimes” – 3:08
A4. “Sailing Ship” – 3:57
A5. “I Don’t Understand Your Love” – 2:53
A6. “The Stranger” – 2:50

Side Two
B1. “Rich Boys” – 3:02
B2. “Carry Me Home” – 4:14
B3. “Dancing In The Shadows” – 3:02
B4. “Space Walking” – 3:17
B5. “Gina” – 1:39
B6. “Stuck In Paris (Nowhere To Go)” – 2:45
B7. “Bright Lights” – 3:36

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by CBS Records. Re-issued on CD in 2005 as a part of the double disc compilation, Der Kommissar: The CBS Recordings.