Act
Abba from hell? Kylie and Jason through the looking glass???
It’s all too easy to pigeonhole and damn with faint comparisons so let’s just say that Act were a brave attempt to throw off the shackles of pop’s hypocrisy, and celebrate their own glamour in a sexy, stylish and short career.
It was a beautiful vision – keyboardist and long term dweller in indie hip-dom Thomas Leer and ex-Propaganda chanteuse Claudia Brücken would co-write and perform the material; ZTT head honcho Trevor Horn and his trusty lieutenant Steve Lipson would be the sonic sculptors, and Paul Morley, (Mr. Claudia Brücken, no less) would dress it all up for public consumption.
But... this was art and the commercial world spurned it. Maybe the public were not ready to swallow this time around, after all it was not so long ago that the country had fallen for another ZTT ‘product’: the fact that Frankie Goes To Hollywood, aided and abetted by the ZTT hype machine, had seduced the nation with great records was now being overlooked as the pop press and media in general decided that there would now be a backlash against commercial aplomb, and the label and Act were punished.
Despite having to swim against the tide of negativity in a sea of music's mediocrity, Act’s brief career yielded three brilliant singles, (Snobbery And Decay, Absolutely Immune and I Can't Escape From You) which all stalled just outside the UK top fifty. Additionally, a plethora of stunning remixes were created, (yes, CREATED) as during this period remixing was an adventure, with leading lights Horn and Lipson gleefully exploring all avenues. Their quest was not to get high on art fashion, but to fashion high art. These were exciting times in the studio, as Act cut some eyebrow raising cover versions – The Smiths’ heretofore sacrosanct ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’, which in this form sounded like an unearthly lounge tune; the Lloyd-Webber / Rice staple ‘I’d Be Surprisingly Good For You’, which was exactly that, despite sounding like it was thrown from the west end stage and into a Berlin cabaret club; and Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’, now sounding not so much like a counter culture fable as an invitation to take up a permanent residence in the twilight zone.
Sadly, Act were out of step with their time, or rather the times could not keep pace with them. They seemed destined to be forever cherished by a handful of acolytes, scouring dingy basements for that elusive 12” mix, or maybe that 7” sleeve which had been eluding them and praying on their minds. Until, some clever sod compiled the completists dream – the three disc Anthology set that now enables us all to marvel at one of the ‘80s most overlooked treasures.
To find out more about Claudia Brücken's new exciting partnership with Paul Humphreys (O.M.D.) in the group OneTwo, please go to www.theremusic.com. Here you will find out all the details of the group and be able to hear snippets of music and buy the album.
