I thought I'd put together a little SINCEROS page, since I haven't found one on the web. So here it is. Guitarist Mark Kjeldsen wrote most of the Sinceros' songs, and took most of the lead vocals. I was very saddened to read that Mark died of Aids some years ago. Really, that's what inspired me to revisit the band and put up this page. Bassist Ron Francois sang most of his own compositions. Ron takes quite a few lead vocal spots on many of the band's unreleased demos. Keyboardist Don Snow took lead on a few tracks, including my two favorite Sinceros songs, "Break Her Heart" and "Disappearing". As you may know, Don went on to work with Squeeze. He's since taken the name Jonn Savannah. Drummer Bobby Irwin didn't sing lead, as far as I know. Bobby previously worked in Danny Adler's Roogalator. Here're the graphics from their first album, THE SOUND OF SUNBATHING. The album was filled with winning lightweight pop that was only minimally marred by a few goofy "new wave" elements on some of the arrangements. Note that the back cover is modified; it includes all the non-lp material that I added on to my cd-r:
Here's the UK version of the jacket front:
Columbia/Epic released a number of singles in several territories. I've copped some pictures from Don Snow's webpage (see my music links). Good Luck To You / Take Me To Your Leader Worlds Apart / Walls, Floors, and Ceilings
Take Me To Your Leader / Quick Quick Slow
Worlds Apart / Girl I Realise
Quick Quick Slow / Girl I Realise I first heard the band on Mark Simone's Sunday morning show, "The Simone Phone," on the late, great WPIX in New York, circa 1979. Simone played "Take Me To Your Leader" quite a few times. (I also first heard Gruppo Sportivo ("Beep Beep Love"), Wazmo Nariz ("Checking Out The Checkout Girl") and Lene Lovich ("Lucky Number") on Simone's show, among many other new wave staples. By the way, The Sinceros--sans Mark, but plus Nick Plytas (also late of Roogalator)--backed Lene and Les Chappell on Lene's debut Stateless LP. In fact, I bought The Sound of Sunbathing kind of by mistake. I went downtown to Korvettes in Nanuet intent on buying Gruppo Sportivo, but I got confused, and bought the similarly-Italian-tinged Sinceros instead--a fortuitous mistake as it turned out. Well, I was only 16 (I was to enjoy Gruppo Sportivo's music quite a bit over the years, nonetheless!). I also remember an interview with the band on the old Sunday night "Radio Radio" show on PIX. They seemed like really nice guys. Mark said he gave the tough lead vocals to Don. He also apologized for the "birdsongy" guitar lines on so many of the tracks. I can't believe I remember that--it was over 25 years ago! An inter-lp single was released which was a re-recording of the A-side of Mark Kjeldsen's 1978 solo single (Are You Ready / Something's Happening--re-released in 1980). Nick Plytas played on this single. Here's the re-issue of Mark's single:
Are You Ready / Something's Happening The re-recording was coupled with a live track. Here's the back of the pic sleeve. It's the same as the front, except for the mention of the forthcoming 2nd DEBUT album (clever title!). This album was never released, but was reworked into the band's actual follow-up lp (sans "Are You Ready?"!).
Are You Ready? / Up There
Proposed cover for the unreleased "2nd Debut " (this always looked to me as the excellent work of Janet Perr, but she tells me she has no recollection of having worked on this project, though her associate Andrea Klein did indeed design the American version of the first Sinceros LP)
The quirky new wave elements were gone, and in their place was a very straight-ahead pop-rock sound, overseen by Gus Dudgeon. Indeed, 2nd DEBUT sounds rather unpolished to those fortunate enough to have heard it, and so here's a rare instance in which label intervention actually served the interests of the band; Gus Dudgeon, not surprisingly, delivered a fine bit of work. This time the band received the deluxe treatment--a nice inner sleeve with lyrics and pictures. It was released in CX, a failed audio-enhancement technology that Columbia played with for a while.
The overseas version even had a color cover photo of the band.
Here are most of the singles that accompanied this release: : Disappearing/Torture Myself
Desparaciendo Disappearing / I Can't Stop Disappearing // Memory Lane / Barcelona (12") Memory Lane / Beady Eyes Socially / Television Vision
The great Huw Gower plays a typically magnificent guitar solo on Ron's "As the World Turns". Huw writes to me: "Bobby sang back-up with me on a couple of Nick Lowe productions. I'm sure he did more w/NL. 'Socially' is about Mark and Ron!" If you'd like to share your memories, please email me. |
