|
|
 |
|
|
THE BUREAU SCRAP-BOOK
| The Bureau, January 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Melody Maker, January 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Record Mirror, 21st February 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Smash Hits, March 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Smash Hits, March 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Record Mirror, 14th March 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Record Mirror, 14th March 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Record Mirror, March 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Record Mirror, 11th April 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Press Advert, circa March/April 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Press Article, circa March/April 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Record Mirror, 25th April 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
RECORD MIRROR "DANIELA SOAVE draws plans from the new Soul rebels"
18th April 1981
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Record Mirror, 23rd May 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Record Mirror [Single of the Week] 23rd May 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Record Mirror, June 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Smash Hits, 10th June 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Smash Hits, 10th June 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Tour Programme, 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Tour Programme, 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Tour Programme, 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Tour Programme, 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
| Promo Postcard (Queens University Belfast), 1981 |
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
|
THE GLEE CLUB, BIRMINGHAM, 2005
|
The band took to the stage Archie-less and that was
the signal for 'The Horse'. My eyes welled-up as Spooner and Blythe blew their saxes into the mics. Together again
after all those years. I grabbed my brother and we danced in our seats, playing our air-brass. I love the sound of a good
brass section. 'The Horse' kicked as much butt as it ever did. Geoff Blythe has lost nothing. He is still a fabulous
musician. His playing was stunning, expressive and soulful. They all had soul. Archie Brown breezed casually onto stage for
'The First One'. A massive welcoming cheer went up in the audience and Archie breathed fire once more. Then one of
those special and amazing things happened. The reason why we all go to see live shows. The gig never let up till the end.
It was as good as it could possibly have been. It wasn't perfect. There were a few false starts to 'Helpless'
for example but who wants perfection? Perfection doesn't have soul. It was powerful, soulful, joyful... better than perfect.
The Bureau played the whole album plus 'The Noose' 'Sorry I Spoke' and 'Hitman'.
'Got To Be Now' 'Only For Sheep' 'Carpetbaggers' 'Find A Way' 'Sentimental Attachment'
were all fabulously energetic and musical. I was reminded tonight how musical The Bureau were. Geoff Blythe played an elongated
sax solo as an intro to 'Got To Be Now' similar in shape and structure to the one on that album. You know the one
I mean, sure you do. It was jaw-droppingly good. Talbot and Taylor also had their solos during the set and space was made
for Rob Jones to let rip on a couple of occasions. It was only fitting. Jones' playing was one of The Bureau's trademarks.
His contribution may have been undervalued in the past but not tonight. Archie gave credit to all of the players around him.
The Bureau were righting wrongs last night and it is right that Rob Jones is there.
I save the best for last.
The main set finished with 'Let Him Have It'. Archie introduced the song with some of the details of its writing.
He reminded us that Derek Bentley's sister had fought all her life to have her brother's name cleared. She died a
few months before the pardon eventually came through. And with that reminder of how shitty our justice system can be, The
Bureau played 'Let Him Have It'. Why this song wasn't a hit I will never know. It simply beggars belief but when
we have those CDs in our mits some justice will have been done.
They encored with 'The Noose' and 'Only
For Sheep'. They apologised for the repeats. They are a young band of only one album and don't have many songs. It's
probably unlikely but wouldn't it be realy cool if The Bureau started working again on those songs they began to write
for the second album? In 1981, Pete Williams told me that the second Bureau album would be a classic. You still up for it,
Pete? Review written by Eddie Metal (originally published on "The Dexys
Midnight Runners Group" in 2005 - shortly before the reissue of The Bureau's debut album and three years before they
released their second album "...And Another Thing".)
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
| Click image to enlarge |
|
|
|
SEARCHING FOR A BIGGER PRIZE...
It's funny how accurate vague memories can prove to be sometimes. I remember
that I had been trying to get hold of a copy of The Bureau album for a few years. I already had the two singles but was
still 'searching for a bigger prize'. I had scoured the record shops in London (they really were 'record
shops' in those days - not 'entertainment retailers'... or supermarkets with a range of CDs and DVDs to
throw into the trolley along with your frozen peas!) but the closest I'd ever got was some Megastore (Virgin or Tower
maybe) which had an empty divider card for "The Bureau", but no album to place in front of it. Then one evening
in early March 1985 both of my brothers came round to visit the house I lived in at the time in North Watford in order
to help celebrate my birthday. My brother Dave had an exciting-shaped present to give me. Some might argue that its
shape was quite boring - it was a flat sqaure, about 12 inches in size - but I knew from experience that this shape could
contain more excitement than any other.
I opened it up with a sense of great anticipation.
"Oh my God!" He'd found it. Apparently he'd manged to track it down at a Record Fair. I'd
tried the same myself many times without success (... in many ways I miss those pre-internet days when looking for some
potentially prized possession was a real challenge rather than a thirty-second Google search!) He was pretty pleased
with himself for having found it. And rightly so!
I stuck it on the turntable in my living room at once.
My brothers left me to it from what I remember. I think they sensed this was one of those moments when somebody wants
to be left alone in their own little world, even if it IS their birthday the following day! Either that or perhaps they
decided it was a good opportunity to catch up with our mum who would have been finalising the food for my little birthday
gathering through in the dining room. I can't remember exactly what we had to eat, but I feel sure it would have featured
some Marks & Spencers dips somewhere along the line.
Anyway, I remember Dave coming back into the
living room just as the brassy intro to "Bigger Prize" kicked in, and commenting that this sounded like my
kind of thing. Which it DID. All this time, the TV had been on in the background. The sound was muted (no, in those
days we didn't mute the TV, we just turned the sound off) but the pictures were dominated by the breaking news that
the miners' strike was over. Those two events - my first playing of the Bureau album and the end of the miners'
strike - have always been linked in my mind. Tonight (following a thirty-second Google search) I discovered that the
miners' strike ended on 3rd March 1985 - which would have been... let's see... the day before my birthday!
Ironically, my other brother, Pete, was with me almost exactly twenty years later (just five days short,
to be precise!) when I finally saw The Bureau performing those songs live. I had given him a tape of the album shortly
after that birthday and over the years he grew to love it as much as I did. Strange things, memories. John, 2005
|
|
Most of the above content was originally
posted on "The Dexys Midnight Runners Group" by Eddie Metal
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, 1981)
