Description
Laser Love is the sophomore album by the British new wave band After The Fire, released on CBS Records in September 1979. The album was recorded during July and August 1978 at The Record Plant in New York, USA. The band produced one track by themselves, “Life In The City”, but for the rest of the tracks four different producers were involved: Muff Winwood, head of CBS A&R and former bassist in the Spencer Davis Group (tracks A1, A3, A5, B1, B3, B4), Rhett Davies (co-producer on tracks A1 and B3), Rupert Hine (tracks A2 and B2), and John Leckie (track B5). The single “One Rule For You“, produced by Rupert Hine, went UK Top 40, while “Laser Love”, another single from the album, peaked at No. 62. “Life In The City”, yet another single, failed to make the Top 40, though did reach the listener’s top spot on London’s Capital Radio Hitline. As well, Tony Blackburn, then a daytime DJ on BBC Radio 1, made Laser Love his Record of the Week.
After The Fire’s single “One Rule For You” scraped into the Top 40 and may have gone higher if the band’s pre-recorded slot on BBC’s Top Of The Pops had been broadcast. But a young upstart called Gary Numan charted higher with “Are Friends Electric?” and the producers of the program decided that the two songs were too similar in style to appear on the same night on Top of the Pops. (“Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” was released as a single by Gary Numan’s band Tubeway Army in May 1979 and peaked at No. 1 on the UK singles chart, staying there for four weeks.)
Drummer Ivor “Iva” Twydell left the band in October 1979 just after the release of Laser Love to pursue a solo career. Nick Brotherwood (formerly of the Mighty Flyers and the Alwyn Wall Band) took over briefly, though soon to be replaced by Pete King (formerly of the Flys) who remained with the band until it folded.
ATF gets the coveted mainstream deal, does a stylistic about face, and proceeds to record one of the best hi-energy techno-pop LPs ever. This is the first of three such UK releases and the only two of the ten tracks here ended up on the group’s 1982 US self-titled compilation. Peter ”Memory” Banks leads the way with bristling synthesizer creativity extraordinaire, which combined with the lead vocals of Andy Piercy, John Russell on guitar, and drummer I A J Twidell (aka Iva Twydell) translates into pure techno magic. The title track, «Like The Power Of A Jet» and the instrumental «Joy» are fast energetic songs that sizzle with excitement while «Take Me Higher», «Life In The City» and «One Rule For You» achieve pop-rock perfection with their bright catchy melodies. All in fun refreshing style that’s all their own, with crisp professional production to match. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]
The pioneering UK rockers were signed to CBS in 1978 and immediately began work on this, their label debut. With three different producers, it’s amazing that the sound of this record was so consistent. The majority of the album was produced by Muff Winwood and the majority of the album consisted of songs that had become live favourites. The band had worked hard to create a live following and in the summer of 1979, shortly before the album’s release, they had played a triumphant headline gig at Greenbelt. To coincide with ‘Laser Love”s appearance in record shops, the band played an extensive UK universities tour. At the time they were touted as a band with a new sound since Peter Banks’ synth was the driving ingredient of this album. «One Rule For You» had been a top 30 hit and the title track had hovered around the outside of the charts. Neither effort won them a place on TOTP which might have done them some good. A single version of «Life In The City» included John Russell’s crunchy guitar riff and a little remixing but again didn’t make a chart showing. Upbeat live favourites like «Power Of A Jet» and «Check It Out» got their definitive versions here. The album also highlighted the band’s knack for creating catchy instrumental with two included here with «Joy» a firm favourite and often used as a concert opener. This was a good opening gambit for launching the band but the band’s momentum was subsequently stalled when drummer Iva Twydell left and the challenge of finding a suitable replacement meant their next album was delayed. [Mike Rimmer, Cross Rhythms, October 2016]
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Laser Love” – 3:28
A2. “Joy” (instrumental) – 3:17
A3. “Take Me Higher” – 4:31
A4. “Life In The City” – 4:13
A5. “Suspended Animation” – 4:52
Side Two
B1. “Like The Power Of A Jet” – 3:07
B2. “One Rule For You” – 3:24
B3. “Time To Think” – 3:28
B4. “Timestar” – 4:36
B5. “Check It Out” – 3:21
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.
An advertisement for After The Fire’s Laser Love LP was featured in the September 17, 1979 issue of Record Business magazine (Volume Two, Number 27).
“One Rule For You”
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