City Boy - It's Personal

Birmingham's City Boy were one of those bands who were almost too clever for their own good. With two frontmen, intelligent writing, sardonic lyrics and mind boggling musicianship, it would seem they were tailored for major success. However, the band were almost too pop to be considered "progressive" and too complex to be considered "mainstream". Taking cues from fellow brits, 10cc, they wrote strange little pop songs about unusual topics and I guess people just didn't get them.

Mercury Records signed the band and released a string of wonderful albums between 1975-1978. By 1979, they had moved to the states and signed with Atlantic Records. Their first effort, "The Day the Earth Caught Fire", with the new label flopped and this eventually precipitated the departure of vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Steve Broughton, and bassist Chris Dunn. This was the beginning of the end for City Boy. Atlantic soon became apathetic and did little to promote their next effort, "Heads Are Rolling". City Boy, now a quartet, took one last gasp for air and recorded "It's Personal". The label didn't even bother releasing the album in the states or Europe. By 1982, it was all over. Members would later go on to marginal success with acts like The Maisonettes and Streets.

In actuality, "It's Personal" is a fantastic recording. Though the band had clearly abandoned the complexities of their earlier material, the new more compact pop hooks shone through clearly on this album. In retrospect, Atlantic's apathy was misplaced. With proper promotion, the album stood a great chance of mainstream success. To my knowledge, this album was only released in the Scandinavian region and has become extremely difficult to locate. Though Renaissance Records & Bear Tracks Music have both released most of the City Boy catalog, this missing link has never seen CD release. Instead, download this HQ rip direct from clean vinyl and see what Europe and America missed out on the first time in 1981. You'll be amazed.

320kbps @ http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PJC60NI0