The Tapes – On A Clear Day [LP] (1981, Disc'Az)

The Tapes were a band from Amsterdam, Netherlands, active between 1977 and 1982. Singer / guitarist Rolf Hermsen and guitarist Michiel Brandes met at the Rietveld Academy, and the group started in late 1977 with bassist Igor Roovers and drummer Dick van der Vaart. The influences came from emerging new wave bands like Talking Heads, XTC, Wire and Scritti Politti -especially with Talking Heads, with which the band was often compared. With its short and quirky songs, the debut album 'You Just Can't Sleep' (1978) was well received, and the band attracted interest from record labels, and abroad. The LP 'Party' was recorded on a larger budget, and distributed by Passport / WEA. There was a new drummer (Peter Meuris), and they work at Music Farm Studio in Baambrugge, under the direction of producer Don Willard (Beach Boys, Ron Wood, Steve Marriott). The album received good reviews in the country and abroad in 1980.

 
For this album -and the last one- producer John Leckie (XTC, Magazine, Simple Minds) was cast. The group gained identity, ceasing to be "the Dutch Talking Heads". On this record they received participations from Henk Hofstede and Michiel Peters (Nits), Dennis Duchhart (Minny Pops -who would continue to perform with the band, replacing keyboardist Huba de Graaff), and from the pop and jazz singer Mathilde Santing (all artists who achieved recognition abroad). But The Tapes did not receive financial support to pursue an international career (although the record was released in the USA), and decided to stop.

 

 

Label: Disc'Az – AZ/2 406 

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album 

Country: France, Benelux, US 

Released: 1981 

Style: New Wave, Post-Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Night After Night 3:45 

A2 Hot Line 2:50 

A3 Concern 2:40 

A4 Next In Line 3:50 

A5 March 2:55 

A6 Mouth Of The World 4:37 

B1 Bits And Pieces 4:08 

B2 Stella 2:26 

B3 Good Riddance 3:10 

B4 Swell 2:30 

B5 Salt Desert 3:18 

B6 Strategy 3:57 

 

Other Versions: 

'On A Clear Day' (LP, Album) WEA [WEAN 58.321] (Benelux, 1981) 

'On A Clear Day' (LP, Album) PVC Records [PVC 8907] (US, 1981) 

'On A Clear Day' (Cassette, Album, DOLBY) PVC Records [PVCC-8907] (US, 1981) 

 

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