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Thursday 18 June 2020

Vinyl #47 - Boomtown Rats

"Like Clockwork" (7" single)


I always think of the Boomtown Rats in two ways - the pre-fame band and the post-fame version. 

It's hard to remember them pre-fame but I used to love the Boomtown Rats at that time - when they first came over from Ireland right in the middle of the punk explosion. Geldof was another snotty-nosed lead singer with attitude not the Saint Bob he became.

Their first album was released in 1977 contained the brilliant single 'Lookin' After No.1', and they followed it with a new single 'She's So Modern', released in March 1978 and taken from their next album (bands recorded albums so quickly in those days). I loved this single too so me and Duffer, my mate from school, went to see them play at Portsmouth Locarno on a school night - Tuesday 28th March 1978 (I was 15 years old). I still remember the gig, totally dominated by Geldof's presence, always saying something controversial, particularly about the press/media. They were a great live band, very accomplished musicians whilst also radiating raw energy; they played lots of tracks from the forthcoming album 'A Tonic For The Troops' including 'Like Clockwork' released as a second single from the album in the June.

This single shows the Rats moving on from punk, it's feels a bit Talking Heads-esque and definitely marks the point where they left punk behind. I've listened to the whole album recently and it still holds up with great songs and performances but it definitely ain't punk. The B-side 'How Do You Do?' is a little cracker that shows the old Rats in full glory, it has a wonderful change of gear coda about 45 seconds from the end.

I've subsequently read that Geldof always wanted to be a famous rock star and with the third single from the album 'Rat Trap' released in November 1978 he achieved his aim - it went to number 1, repeat appearances on 'Top of the Pops' and then more success ('I Don't Like Mondays' etc ) including the Cult of Bob...

I lost interest after they became successful and part of the mainstream, purely because the music didn't work for me anymore. But pre-fame I loved them. Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/BtDhMScCkcQ
https://youtu.be/1APjN_73JS0

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