The Flowerpot Men (Part 2 of 2)

For their third release, 1986's Alligator Bait EP, The Flowerpot Men expanded to a four-piece.... maybe. Drummer Mark Irving is undoubtedly a real person, but the "Mr. Delmardes" credited with keyboards and programming has never shown up anywhere else. The "foursome" are joined by singers Sam Brown and Margo Buchanan on backing vocals. The two songs on side one, "Alligator Bait" and "Django", fall into the Flowerpots' established formula, but they widen their horizons on the B-side. "Watching the Pharoahs" (sic) has light, boppy verses divided by a rocking chorus, and "Sharpen My Heart" is a slow, creepy ballad. Also recorded in 1986 was The Janice Long Session, a four-song live performance for Radio One. On this record (recorded March 9, 1986, broadcast April 24, 1986, and produced by Barry Andrews) the band consists of the core duo of Ben Watkins and Adam Peters plus the two backup singers from Alligator Bait. What's notable is how close the performances sound to the studio recordings (most of it is programmed), but also how distinctive Peters' electric cello sounds. So that's what those deep whooshing sounds are. The session also introduced a new Flowerpot Men song, the bouncy "Beat City." That song would appear on the Ferris Bueller's Day Off soundtrack, but no soundtrack album was ever released. Does anyone know if that was a studio version, or this live-in-the-studio session? The Janice Long Session was their last record before they signed to Polydor and became Sunsonic, so this concludes my Flowerpot Men posts. Get both 4-song EPs here or here.

The Flowerpot Men (Part 1 of 2)

Ben Watkins and Adam Peters first recorded together on the sessions for Watkins' first album with Martin "Youth" Glover, The Empty Quarter, in 1983. Thereafter they began recording together as The Flowerpot Men, releasing their first single (on 12" only), "Jo's So Mean (to Josephine)", in 1984 on their own Compost Records label. It's an odd song, carrying over the sequencer from The Empty Quarter, adding lyrics and a drum machine with an undanceable beat and a general goth feel. The B-side contains two songs, "Rapids," which mostly duplicates the A-side's formula but with a slightly more conventional beat, and the odd atmospheric instrumental "UG", which is built around a repeating guttural growl. For their follow-up single in 1985 they recorded an epic cover of Dr. John's "Walk On Gilded Splinters," with a guest vocal from Dr. John himself! The Flowerpot Men's high-octane synth-based version is a far cry from Dr. John's spooky original (check it out here), but its energy is irresistible and there are some striking beat changes sprinkled throughout. The B-side, "Melting Down On Motor Angel" (later to be the title of their Polydor album as Sunsonic, although not actually on the album) returns to the style of their first record, which now that I think about it is pretty close to early Nitzer Ebb, but more arty than aggressive. Get both records here or here.

The Hitmen - Torn Together

The Hitmen's second album, Torn Together (1981), is a big step forward from the first. The songwriting is more distinctive, the arrangements are more imaginative, and the production is a lot punchier (courtesy of Rhett Davies this time). The album's best song, the opener "Bates Motel," was actually written by the drummer, Mike Gaffey, one of three songs that he wrote or co-wrote. There's an excellent fan review of Torn Together here. This would be the last release from The Hitmen; get it here or here. Ben Watkins would appear as a guest vocalist on guitarist Pete Glenister's next project, Gates by the studio concoction "New Asia" (1982). That postpunk masterpiece is available on Mutant Sounds.

The Hitmen - Aim for the Feet

From way back in 1980, here are the first released recordings of Ben Watkins, as far as I know, as the lead singer and secondary guitarist of The Hitmen (not the Australian band). This first album, Aim for the Feet, was released on Urgent Records, a division of Columbia (in the U.S., at least, where my copy of the album comes from). Let's first take a look at the promo sheet for the album (click image for full size and readable text):

Sounds great, doesn't it? Who wouldn't want to listen to an album produced by Rocky Burnett's producer? They needn't have worried about being buried in platinum: unfortunately it's rather generic-sounding New Wave, and barely New Wave at that. There are a few hummable tunes, but overall it's pretty ho-hum. Still, it's essential listening for the Ben Watkins completist. Get it here or here. The second Hitmen album, coming soon, is a great improvement.

Youth & Ben Watkins - The Empty Quarter

As referenced in my previous post, here is the first collaborative album by Martin "Youth" Glover and Ben "Juno Reactor" Watkins, The Empty Quarter. Released in 1983, it is an all-instrumental affair, and a more abstract album than their next one, Delirium, as befits its status as a soundtrack (for the play Street Captives by Jonathan Moore). It does have some of the more "foreground" musical elements that would play a greater part on Delirium, though. "Incompressible Megalasaurians" highlight's Youth's funk bass playing (which was also a staple of Brilliant's sound at the time), and "Repulsion" sounds more than a little like a Goblin soundtrack piece. Playing cello on the album is Adam Peters, who would subsequently team up with Watkins as The Flowerpot Men (later Sunsonic); "Three Go Down To Brighton" sounds like an early draft of the Flowerpots' B-side track "UG". Full performance credits are:

Youth: bass, percussion, keyboard
Ben Watkins: keyboards, drums, guitars
Adam Peters: cello
Kate St. John: oboe
Steve Irwin: percussion

Get it here or here.

The Empty Quarter - Delirium

This was almost a "someone beat me to it" post; Rho-Xs did indeed post it last June, but his download link has expired, so I can offer up my own rip, inferior though it probably is. Youth (ex-Killing Joke, represented on this blog so far by his recordings with Brilliant) and Ben Watkins (Juno Reactor) first teamed up to record an album called The Empty Quarter (soon here) in 1983 as the official soundtrack from the play Street Captives by Jonathan Moore. For their second collaboration, 1986's Delirium, they adopted The Empty Quarter as their band name. Like their first album it's all instrumental, but with a greater focus on rhythms. The beats run from tribal to industrial to gothic funk a la Brilliant (unsurprisingly) with several guest musicians filling out the sound. The full performing credits are:

Ben Watkins: keyboards, guitars, programming
Youth: keyboards, bass programming
Dave Heath: flute
Kate St. John: oboe, sax
Jake Le Mesurier: percussion, drums
Chris Bell: drums
'Mainframe'-John and Murray: Greengate programming
'Ranking Seymour': voice
Guy 'Thumb' Pratt: bass

This is one of several "techno-worldbeat" albums that came out in the late 80s/early 90s that in my opinion are classics. More albums in that category that other bloggers have posted are:

Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman: Songs from the Victorious City
Eric Random and the Bedlamites: Ishmael
Saqqara Dogs: Thirst and World Crunch

But the point of this post is The Empty Quarter's Delirium: get it here or here.

Sunsonic - Melting Down On Motor Angel

As The Flowerpot Men, Ben Watkins and Adam Peters brought a dark edge to 80s synthpop. Upon signing to Polydor they changed their name to Sunsonic (presumably because there had already been a band called the Flowerpot Men in the 60s) and released a single album, Melting Down On Motor Angel (a Flowerpot Men track that did not appear on the album, oddly enough) in 1990, before they split up and Ben Watkins went on to become Juno Reactor. Melting Down marks the middle ground between the rock-influenced synthpop of the 80s and the full-fledged techno of the 90s. Here is that album, the first of several projected Ben Watkins Before Juno Reactor posts. (Or here.)