The Gone Too Soon Top Ten #2: Broken English

As has previously been documented here, I didn't start buying my own records until I was 15. That was 1987, so one of the first 7 inch singles to be added to my collection must have been the one above, a Stonesy guitar track packed with attitude, a great hook and a belting intro, made popular by a video depicting the band dressed as Ghostbusters.



Comin' On Strong by Broken English made #17 in the charts and it was one of my favourite songs of the year. I rushed out to buy their follow-up track, Love On The Side, which also benefitted from a great hook, fun lyrics and a top Magnificent 7-themed video. But I may have been the only one, because sadly, it didn't follow Comin' On Strong into the charts...



A cool third single (the poppier Do You Really Want Me Back?) followed, which I remember hearing a couple of times on the radio though I never managed to track a copy down. Still, I thought, no worries... I'll get the album.

Except no album came... and Broken English disappeared into the ether. 

The two singles I owned though have stuck with me over the past 30 years, cropping up on a variety of mixes and compilations tapes I've put together. But not until I sat down to write this feature did I discover (just as I had with Speedy) that the album Broken English's record company refused to release back in 1987 (The Rough With The Smooth) after their second two singles bombed... was finally released 20 years later in 2007.

And now I own it.

Sunday morning, while putting together a particularly vexing shelving unit from Ikea, I played the album on repeat: and it's pretty, pretttty good! The Stones comparisons are obvious (apparently lead singer Steve Elson was originally in a Stones tribute band) but this is lighter, catchier and more fun than anything Mick 'n' Keef in the late 80s, when they might as well have changed their name to The Coasters, had another band not beaten them to it years earlier. I can't believe I finally own this record. If you remember the band at all... and even if you don't... I'd recommend giving a few of these tracks a spin.

Broken English - Show A Little Mercy

Broken English - Ball & Chain

Saturday Snapshots #10 - The Answers

Almost a complete sweep this week, guys... just one title you couldn't figure. (We obviously missed Martin!)



10. Dancing with a young Tom Hanks; goes well with French cream... and arsenic!

Dancing is bopping.

A young Tom Hanks appeared in the film Big.

French cream might be Chantilly.

Arsenic & Old Lace.

Like Alyson, who guessed this one from the clues, I had no idea The Big Bopper looked like this until quite recently.

Helllloo baby!

The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace

9. Pidgin Creole, getting better with Barrett.

Pidgin & creole are types of "Broken English".

If you're getting better, you might be Coming On.

Barrett Strong wrote some of the greatest Motown songs ever.

Broken English - Coming On Strong

Well done to Alyson again, even though she didn't know the song at all. More on these guys shortly in the second edition of Gone Too Soon.

8. Pygmalion on acid, queen of the exploding stars.

Pygmalion = My Fair Lady

Acid is measured by pH.

The queen is Elizabeth.

Exploding stars go supernova.

Liz Phair - Supernova

Chris & The Swede pieced this one together.

(That was the most tasteful picture of Liz Phair I couldn't find on the internet. She's not exactly shy.)

7. Paradise gets down: it'll all be over soon.

Paradise island is just off Nassau in the Bahamas.

Get down and get funky!

It'll all be over soon...

The Beginning of the End - Funky Nassau

Top work from a tipsy C & late Lynchie.

6. The Great Bear Detective & The Case of the Finnish Goth Pronoun.

Rupert Bear + Sherlock Holmes...

HIM is a goth rock band from Helsinki. (They do a pretty cool version of Neil Diamond's Solitary Man.)

Alyson had a good week this week, but I knew this pic would pose her no problems.

Rupert Holmes - Him

5. Put the needle on the record, Mary!

The Virgin Mary is the Madonna.

(Was she ever so young and innocent?)

Well done, Chris.

Madonna - Get Into The Groove

4. Unicycle thieves get stck.

Unicycle thieves would steal just one wheel.

stck needs a U in the middle to become stuck.

Stealer's Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You

More points for Alyson! She's got to be this week's winner.

3.  Generic pressure.

Shortest clue ever, snapped up by Charity Chic.

A generic band would be called The Band.

Pressure is weight.

The Band - The Weight

Take a load off, Annie.

2. Baby goats wear a short-sleeved shirt while visiting the studio of the lion.

Baby goats are kids.

MGM + a T-shirt

MGMT - Kids

Top work, Chris.

1. Freddie and a short vicar watch a film without Batman.

Freddie Mercury + a short Reverend = Mercury Rev

Well done, Swede.

Perhaps the title clue was a bit too tricky though.

There's a Batman film called The Dark Knight Rises. If Batman is the knight and we lose him...




Apologies for not visiting all your blogs this week. Hope to catch up soon!