- This is about the band. For the mathematical
concept see unit (ring theory).
For the Canadian television
series, see The Associates (TV
series).
| Associates |
| Background information |
| Origin |
Scotland |
| Genre(s) |
New
Wave, Post-Punk |
| Years active |
1980–1990 |
| Label(s) |
Fiction
(1980-1981), WEA
(1982-1988), Circa Records (1989-present) |
| Members |
Billy
Mackenzie (vocals)
Alan Rankine (guitars & keyboards)
Michael Dempsey (Bass
guitar)
John Murphy (1981, drums)
Steve Goulding
(1982, drums)
Howard Hughes (1984-1989, keyboards) |
The Associates were a Scottish new
wave band of the early 1980s. They were well known for the operatic and
extraordinary voice of singer Billy Mackenzie who died tragically
in 1997.
|
Contents
- 1 History
- 1.1 1979
- 1982 - Associates Mk 1
- 1.2 1983
- 1990 - Associates Mk 2 and Commercial Decline
- 1.3 Dissolution,
Reunion and Split
- 2 Billy
Mackenzie and his Legacy
- 3 Reissue
Program
- 4 Band
members
- 5 Discography
- 6 Worked
with
- 7 Trivia
- 8 External
links
- 9 References
|
History
1979 - 1982 - Associates
Mk 1
MacKenzie and Rankine met in Dundee in 1976 and formed the cabaret duo The
Ascorbic Ones, in 1979 they recorded songs under the name of Mental
Toture before finally changing their name to The
Associates. They then recorded their debut single, a cover of
David
Bowie's Boys Keep Swinging.
Their version attracted a good deal of attention, not least from David
Bowie, as it was released before Bowie's version. A string of highly
regarded singles were released and two albums The
Affectionate Punch (which inspired bands such
as U2) and Fourth Drawer Down.
The band's breakthrough came in 1982 with the release of the
single Party Fears Two, buoyed along by the
popularity of synthpop
at the time, the song made #9 on the UK singles chart. Two other hits
soon followed, 18 Carat Love Affair, and Club
Country. That year the band released what is widely regarded
as their masterpiece Sulk, an album which
exacted comparisons with Brian Wilson's production style. To
this day Sulk is impossible to describe genre wise. It's watery and
dense production style is held to be remarkably different to almost any
other record from the era.
1983 - 1990 - Associates
Mk 2 and Commercial Decline
Alan Rankine left the band in
1982 just before the Sulk Tour. This proved disastrous in terms of the
bands career, in particular as the band were being actively courted by Seymour
Stein who thought they could become massive stars in the USA. Mackenzie
recorded some material under the name 39 Lyon Street with friends and then
continued to write and record music under the Associates name until
1990. The albums Perhaps, The Glamour Chase (Which was never released
by his record company due to it being, in their opinion, commercially
unviable. It was finally released in 2002) and Wild and Lonely were
made in this timescale. However without the guiding hand of Rankine,
recordings were sporadic and arguably failed to reach the majesty or
inventiveness of his earlier work. Associates records failed to reach
the charts in the UK and sold far fewer then their early albums. Many
fans also reckon that the Associates record company were pushing Billy
into homogenising The Associates' sound to fit in with what was popular
at the time which is especially evident on the album Wild and Lonely.
True to the original band's name, he never stopped working and writing
music with other "associates", either for himself or guest-starring in
other artists' albums with always stunning lead or backing vocals.
Dissolution, Reunion and Split
The Associates name was put to rest by Mackenzie when he
became enamoured with dance and elctronica and released a solo album Outernational
in 1992 with limited success. In 1993 he got back together with Alan
Rankine to do some music together. The original Associates reforming
generated hype and speculation of a tour and the demos recorded by the
two were promising. However Mackenzie was not fully committed to the
reunion and especially touring with it so the Associates split for a
final time. Billy then went back to his solo work up until 1997 and his
tragic suicide, signing a deal with Nude Records and finding a new
collabrative partner in Steve Aungle.
Billy Mackenzie and his Legacy
Lead singer Billy MacKenzie, became renowned for
his dramatic vocal style, and he achieved a cult following, eventually
becoming involved with Swiss avant garde outfit Yello. During his
tenure with Yello he wrote the lyrics of the song "The Rhythm Divine"
performed by Shirley Bassey on the album
One
Second, with MacKenzie also doing backing vocals.
MacKenzie was also a close friend of Morrissey
for several years, and is reported to be the subject of The
Smiths' song "William, It Was
Really Nothing". (Furthering the rumours, the Associates subsequently
recorded a song entitled "Stephen, You Were Really Something".)
Billy MacKenzie committed suicide in 1997 aged 39, after suffering
from clinical depression. He was
contemplating a comeback at the time with material co-written mostly
with Scottish musician Steve Aungle. The albums Beyond
the Sun (1997) and Eurocentric (2000)
were released posthumously and re-constructed (and expanded with new
unreleased songs) in 2004 into two albums: Auchtermatic
and Transmission Impossible.
Reissue Program
Before Mackenzie's death almost all Associates records had
been deleted. Former band member Michael
Dempsey and the Mackenzie estate began a reissue program to
make sure The Associates legacy continues. Almost every Associates
album has been re-issued so far, including a 25-Anniversary edition of The
Affectionate Punch in 2005.
In addition to the original albums, two compilations have been
released: Double Hipness (2000), a collection of
early tracks with the 1993' reunion demos and Singles
(2004), an extended version of Popera - The singles collection
which catches up with post-1990 material and includes the cover of
Bowie's Boys Keep Swinging. In 2002, The
Glamour Chase recorded in the years 1985-87 was eventually
released. Finally, the 90s album Wild & Lonely
and Mackenzie solo album Outernational have been
released in 2006, repackaged with bonus tracks.
Alan Rankine is now a lecturer in music at Stow
College in Glasgow,
and worked with Belle & Sebastian
on their debut album, Tigermilk in 1996.
A book "The Glamour Chase" by Tom Doyle, documents the band's career
and MacKenzie's subsequent life.
Band members
- Billy Mackenzie - Vocals
- Alan Rankine - Guitars
& Keyboards
- Michael Dempsey - Bass
guitar, formerly of The Cure
- John Murphy, later of SPK and Death
In June, was the Associates' drummer in 1981.
- Steve Goulding, formerly of Graham
Parker & the Rumour and later of the Mekons, was the
Associates' drummer in 1982.
- Howard Hughes was a longtime friend of Billy Mackenzie and
played keyboards on his later albums Perhaps, The Glamour Chase and
Wild And Lonely.
- Martha Ladly - Backup vocals on Sulk,
previously a vocalist with Martha and the Muffins.
- Robert Smith - Backing vocals on 'The Affectionate Punch',
the lead singer of The Cure who were also signed to Fiction at the time.
Discography
Albums and Compilations
- The Affectionate Punch (Fiction,
1980)
- Fourth Drawer Down (Situation Two, 1981)
- Sulk
(WEA, 1982)
- The Affectionate Punch (Remixed)
(Fiction, 1982)
- Perhaps (WEA, 1985)
- The Glamour Chase (WEA, 1988) - but
unreleased until 2003
- Wild And Lonely (circa 1990)
- Popera (WEA East West, 1990)
- The Radio 1 Sessions (Nighttracks, 1994)
- Double Hipness (V2, 2000)
- Radio 1 Sessions Volume 1;1981-83 (Strange
Fruit, 2003)
- Radio 1 Sessions Volume 2;1984-85
(Strange Fruit, 2003)
- Singles (Warners,
2004)
Singles
- Boys Keep Swinging (Double Hip, 1979)
- A (1981)
- Would I...Bounce Back? (1981)
- Q Quarters (Situation Two, 1981)
- Tell Me Easter's on Friday (Situation
Two, 1981)
- Kites [as 39 Lyon Street] (1981)
- Kitchen Person (Situation Two, 1981)
- Message Oblique Speech (Situation Two,
1981)
- White Car in Germany (Situation Two,
1981)
- Party Fears Two (WEA, 1982) UK #9
- Club Country (WEA, 1982) UK #13
- 18 Carat Love Affair/Love
Hangover (WEA, 1982) UK #21
- Those First Impressions (1984) UK #43
- Waiting For the Love Boat (1984) UK #53
- Breakfast (1984) UK #49
- Take Me To the Girl (1985) UK #95
- Heart of Glass (1988) UK #56
- Fever (1990) UK #81
- Fire to Ice (1990) UK #92
- Just Can't Say Goodbye (1990) UK #79
Worked with
- Apollo Four Forty
- Barry Adamson
- B.E.F.
- Boris Grebenshchikov
- Holger Hiller
- Yello
- Steve Aungle
- Paul
Haig
- Peach
- Blair Booth
Trivia
- A couple of songs were subsequently recorded
by friends of Billy Mackenzie that reflected the
sadness and the feeling of missed opportunities caused by his death: The
Cure's 2001 single, "Cut Here" and The
Creatures' "Say" (1999).
- An instrumental section of "Party Fears Two"
was used as the theme music for the long-running BBC
Radio 4 satirical current affairs series Week
Ending.
- The Smiths song "William It Was
Really Nothing' is said to be a skewed tribute from lead-singer Stephen
Patrick Morrissey
to Billy Mackenzie. In 1993 he recorded his own response "Stephen,
You're Really Something" (later released on the complilation "Double
Hipness" in 2000).
- Bands who have covered "Party Fears Two"
include The Divine Comedy.
External links
References
-
Discography compiled by Craig Burton and Mark Adams in Tom Doyle's
biography of Billy MacKenzie: The Glamour Chase (ISBN
0747536155)
