Sad news came out from 808 State's social media sites at the weekend with the announcement of the death of Andy Barker. 808 State were a key group in the late 80s/ early 90s for lots of people including those who were coming at dance music from the indie/ guitar direction. They were a way in to a purer, 'proper' form of dance music. Their single Pacific opened doors and minds. Their 1989 album 90 and the follow up Ex: El were both essential records, proof that dance music could work at album length. Their Spinmasters radio show was an on- air riot. At Factory Records mini- festival/ memorial to Martin Hannett at Heaton Park in summer 1991 they were third on the bill, appearing as the afternoon turned into evening and lit the place up and filling the park with ecstatic noise. In 2019 they showed they were still cutting it three decades on with their Transmission Suite album.
Pacific appeared in multiple versions ('about 42' according to Graham Massey) and pre- dated Andy's arrival in the group. Co- written by Massey, Martin Price (owner of Eastern Bloc records) and Gerald Simpson and not released after Gerald left 808 State- subsequently the cause of some rancour and dispute- Pacific has as much claim to be the sound of Manchester as anything by any of the guitar bands, the floaty intro complete with bird song, crunchy techno drums, Detroit synths, wobbly bassline and that sax, was everywhere in '89/ 90- clubs, bedrooms, car stereos- and tribe uniting record. Interesting fact I learnt from Twitter; Hawaii's dialing code is 808. Hawaii is 'the Pacific State'.
RIP Andy Barker
No comments:
Post a Comment