Haircut One Hundred - Pelican West

 

Haircut 100's "Pelican West" was a bit of a guilty pleasure, and like my Dollar album, was kept at the back of the record collection for fear of being discovered. Haircut 100 were certainly not considered to be cool amongst my friends in college and were generally seen as being a bit naff. Owning this album wasn't good for anyone's lingering street credibility !

Although referred to in some quarters as being new-wave, in reality they were more like teenage heart-throbs. With Nick Heywood's cheeky grin, the chunky white sweater uniforms, cartoon song titles, meaningless lyrics, snappy melodies, huge choruses, plenty of yah, yah, yah, yah vocals, Latin infused light jazz and the occasional rap, they were far from edgy and were hardly going to change the world. Although mostly musical candy-floss it was enjoyable nevertheless.

In some ways this was two albums in one. On the one hand there were the Summer Pop Songs that wouldn't have been out of place performed by Aztec Camera, and on the other, the light jazz-funk, Latin rhythms in the territory of Orange Juice, early Wham, Spandau Ballet's "Diamond" and even later Duran Duran . 

I much preferred the pop songs ( Love Plus One, Fantastic Day, Surprise Me Again, Snow Girl & Milk Film ), and looking at the track-list, these were the ones I could remember, in addition of course, to Favourite Shirts.

The album opens with the fast and furious jazz funk groove of "Favourite Shirts ( Boy Meets Girl )", the first single. Fun, spirited and upbeat, with blasts of sax and brass, congas, a little bit of rap, nonsense lyrics verging on onomatopoeia, for me it is by some distance the best of the jazz-funk numbers, and reminds me of one of the early Wham singles.

The light pop "Love Plus One" follows, with its glockenspiel intro and cheesy saxophone solo, it remains a classic.

"Lemon Firebrigade" is next. The guitar intro is similar "Kiss Me" by Never The Sixpence and there is a great liquid bass line and an overall chilled, smooth sound. It is virtually an instrumental apart from the refrain where the title is sung.

"Marine Boy" features Brazilian style percussion, and some piano suitable for a silent movie. It's another dose of Latin infused light jazz.

"Milk Film" begins with the sound of a speeding car and I love the guitar intro. It's a happy song with a great vocal and gorgeous sax solo. "Calling once and call again at film milk".

Side one closes with "Kingsize ( You're My Little Steam Whistle )" which has a beat similar to "Favourite Shirts", "Bring on the Trumpet brigade" is the best line.

Side two alternates between the pop songs and the Jazz funk. "Fantastic Day", another happy song, opens side two and is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. It's still a great song but the lyrics include "There's a great amount of strain about getting on a train" and something about Green escalators !

The inconsequential jazz funk "Baked Bean" has more congas and yah yah yah yah vocals but the dreamy "Snow Girl", another happy song, changes the mood.

"Love's Got Me In Triangles" and "Calling Captain Autumn" conclude the jazz-funk contributions but in-between is the superb "Surprise Me Again". It has a jangly guitar intro, a great hook and the guitar in the outro hints at The Cure's "Just Like Heaven".

Overall, Pelican West is a much under rated album and the five pop songs are still great. The jazz-funk numbers are not really my thing, but they are all listenable. I have to say the saxophone and brass on the album is outstanding.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Favourite Shirts ( Boy Meets Girl )
2. Love Plus One
3. Lemon Firebrigade
4. Marine Boy
5. Milk Film
6. Kingsize ( You're My Little Steam Whistle )

Side Two :

1. Fantastic Day
2. Baked Bean
3. Snow Girl
4. Love's Got Me In Triangles
5. Surprise Me Again
6. Calling Captain Autumn

Released 1982
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

Favourite Shirts ( Boy Meets Girl  ) ( No 4 - 1981 )
Love Plus One ( No 3 - 1982 )
Fantastic Day ( No 9 - 1982 )