Hey, Come On, Babe, Come Off It

A friend tells me that the former frontman of Blue Peter (presumably Paul Humphrey) works at his neighbourhood bar, which is pretty cool. For those who don’t know them, Blue Peter made catchy Roxyish new wave pop in the late 1970s & early 1980s. I never delved too deeply into their stuff – I was pretty young at the time, and immersed in my classic rock studies – but I always really liked the singles I heard, like “Don’t Walk Past” and “Radio Silence.” None more so than “Chinese Graffiti,” with that twitchy guitar & the decorative keyboard bit (hey, sounds kinda Asian or something!) that’s eventually overwhelmed by the song’s rising urgency.

“Chinese Graffiti” was also greatly helped out by backing vocals from Sherry Kean, who was in a band called the Sharks and who had a big solo pop hit in 1984 with “I Want You Back.” I always really liked that song & still do – I’m always beguiled by the way, in the opening minute or so, it takes a second for the keyboard line and the rhythm to sync. As if they were each doing their own thing on the dancefloor, and then happened to notice each other and decide to team up.

• Blue Peter, “Chinese Graffiti”
• Sherry Kean, “I Want You Back”

You can learn more about Blue Peter here and Sherry Kean (not sure whatever became of her) here, and you can buy a Blue Peter comp here. And I’ll stress again that if any of the parties involved happen to come across this and don’t appreciate these songs being posted, say the word & down they come.