Pop On The Tyne

 

Sophie And Peter Johnston - Sophie And Peter Johnston [WX 127 UK 1987 24-Bit FLAC]

A new rip of an old favourite..... 

Whilst I admit their lush style of eighties pop will not be to everybody's taste, older readers will remember the sheer love poured upon them by the late John Peel. Sophie and Peter Johnston are a brother and sister synth-pop duo from Newcastle upon Tyne. They formed in 1982 from the remnants of their own new wave band that comprised Sophie on vocals, Peter on guitar & vocals, their brother Tim on drums and an old school friend of Peter's on Bass. Borrowing a couple of synthesizers from a keyboard player acquaintance, they recorded some demos and soon afterwards came to the attention of DJ John Peel for whom they recorded two radio sessions in 1983. He enthused of their music.. "I'm sorry you've just got to like this.. wonderful ... Hearing something like this means as much to me as the first time I heard Little Richard, and it means even more to me to be able to play it to you on the radio."

His wife, 'the pig', phoned in several times to the show that featured their first session to express her delight with the music and later that year they became the only band to have a commercially unreleased track voted into Peel's festive 50 in its' history (Television Satellite reached no. 37). Bill Nelson of Be bop Deluxe (and synth-pop pioneer) who was in the studio with Peel when he first aired their music hailed them as excellent, extremely good and Dale Grifffin, who produced their two sessions, said they were easily the best thing I've come across in a long long time.

There followed a frenzy of interest from a number of record labels. In one instance Dave Robinson of Stiff Records impulsively jumped on a train to Newcastle in a bid to track down and sign the pair on the spot, but unbelievably the duo had ill-advisedly already signed away all the rights to their music to a small time, London-based record industry hustler a few weeks before their first Peel session and the resultant clamour of interest. It was almost a year before the duo were able to extricate themselves from the exploitative deal and then, manager less, they signed to Chrysalis Records who failed, for no apparent reason, to release any music by the pair and then dropped them after a year. In 1985 they recorded, released and promoted their own single, Losing You, which they sold by mail order & whose run of a thousand copies sold out within a couple of months. It became single of the week in Smash Hits magazine and was played on Radio 1 by John Peel and also Simon Bates who interviewed Peter on his show & said... You will remember me when you're famous and stop to give me a lift in your Limo won't you? Later that year a fellow Geordie and ex-Newcastle studio assistant approached them with the offer of a recording contract from a friend of his who was leaving his job at Mercury Records & was about to set up his own label. A deal was thrashed out in which Peter & Sophie retained complete artistic control over their music and acquired the right to produce and record their work themselves.

Between 1986 & 87 three singles and an album were released on I-Major/WEA Records with their debut single Happy Together making the Radio 1 playlist but falling just short of a top 40 chart placing. Their album was critically acclaimed. Q magazine: Their songs are buoyant aural fizz bombs which radiate a zestful, uplifting exuberance. If there were any justice in this flighty, ephemeral world of pop these songs would be perched imperiously atop Hitsville's loftiest spires. 4/5 stars.

The album was only pressed once and never released on CD in the UK or Europe. Until a few years back, Peter was selling copies on CDR compiled with the Peel sessions and a few demos on their own website, but these seem to have dried up as the website is no longer active.

A1 Television Satellite

A2 Open Up

A3 A Bigger Temptation

A4 Take That Jerkin Off!

A5 Some Sunny Day

A6 Happy Together

B1 Torn Open

B2 Run Away

B3 I Want You To Know

B4 No Time

B5 Sold On You

B6 Brain Def