Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg - (venue not known)

Rats Played here

Live At Hammersmith Odeon

A Bank holiday Monday treat! This was a 30 minute broadcast on BBC RADIO 6 on 3rd May 2004 on the Dream Ticket, hosted by Janice Long. Obviously, not the whole gig, but a nice slice of the Boomtown Rats touring with V Deep. Available on mp3, if you know who to ask!

1. Wind Chill Factor
2. Up All Night
3. House On Fire
4. I Don't Like Mondays
5. Like Clockwork
6. Having My Picture Taken
7. Nothing Happened Today

Newcastle - City Hall

Rats played here on V Deep tour

V Deep

And Then There Was Five.....

UK Highest Chart Position: 63
US Highest Chart Position: n/a
Total number of weeks on chart : 5
Entry: 3rd April 1982
Run: 65-66-70-*63*-95 (5 wks)

1. He Watches It All
2. Never In A Million Years
3. Talking In Code
4. The Bitter End
5. The Little Death
6. A Storm Breaks
7. Up All Night
8. House On Fire
9. Charmed Lives
10. Skin On Skin
11. Say Hi To Mick
12. No Hiding Place (B-Side)
13. House On Fire (12" Dub Version)
14. Up All Night (Long Version)

The musical landscape has moved on by the time of the release of V Deep. V Deep refers to a Japanese style of love making, "four shallow, five deep", but with it being the fifth album and the Rats only having five members it can be interpreted in many ways. It was an era of Bananarama, The Fun Boy Three, Haircut 100, Duran Duran and ABC dominating the singles charts. Peers like The Jam and The Stranglers were around but sounding very different. The album pretty much takes up where Mondo Bongo left off, continuing the experiments in sound. Gerry Cott had left the Rats by the time they came to record this album. This was not a great surprise given that he had been under utilised on Mondo Bongo. Godley & Creme were initially down to produce the album, but in the end Tony Visconti once more took the helm.

Based on an obsession with celebrity and the tabloids, He Watches It All is an outstanding track. The keyboards are alive and there is a sense of foreboding as we are drawn into the lonely viewer’s world. And then we get the sense of loss as it is all taken away. Then we get the "Did you read it in the Sunday papers?" break bursting the song into life with its vocal harmonies from A Day In The Life. As this dies down we get the pay off of having bought and sold the video and somehow made a fortune in between. Without saying a lot, the song conveys many moods and colours, without being too radical a departure. If only the Boomtown Rats had made more tracks like this. Outstanding.

The first single off the album, Never in a Million Years, failed to make the top 30 (in fact, it only reached 62!). One of Bob Geldof's weaknesses in his lyrics has been their mawkishness, and this song was one of the worst offenders (Another Piece of Red was far worse though). The lyrics included a lot of lazy clichés (including the title) and said nothing of any worth. Sonically it was fine, a re-creation of Spector's wall of sound, it sounded great on the stereo, but lacked real presence on the radio.

The only hit single from the album was House on Fire. This was a return to the reggae tinged sound that made Banana Republic a massive hit. Far lighter and daffier than Banana Republic, the feel and vibe of this track worked really well with Geldof's voice. There is some great lyrical dexterity shown. It sounds loose and free-form, but most crucially it sounds great! The album version is extended and all the better for it. ...House Burned Down is essentially just an instrumental reprise.

Musically outstanding, A Storm Breaks is another good track. It starts of with a beat not unlike Blind Date, and then kicks it with a guitar riff before some ghostly vocals over a funky guitar. Then brash horns come throughout sounding as if they came from Haircut 100. The percussion is African/Latin in the style of much of Mondo Bongo. Towards the ends, it’s as if the Rats have transplanted themselves into the midst of the Rio carnival with whistles blowing, bongos and a driving bass from Pete Briquette. An instrumental version appeared on the B-side of Charmed Lives and was even better!

Starting off almost like Antmusic with clicking drumsticks, The Bitter End then layers sound with guitars and organs and sounds Asian, almost like a Bollywood track. Only the sitars are missing. One of those tracks where the full gamut of the Rats’ arsenal is used, including some great guitar work from Garry Robberts.

Up All Night is decent, though repetitive, incredible how many times "Up All Night, ooh za za" is repeated. A rip of Drive my Car from The Beatles in its adaptation of the "beep beep yeah" refrain, and the break reminds you of Bowie. Very sparse as far as the music is concerned, with a dominating drum beat, and lots of hand claps, as well as some overdone backing vocals.

The Little Death is a brave departure into jazz. Making heroin analogous with the female orgasm is a strange idea. Jazz-by-numbers, at times coming across as Stray Cat Strut, it is a sinister sounding track. Would have worked well in the quieter moments of a musical like Chicago!

Epitomising the very worst of the Boomtown Rats, Charmed Lives is not only lyrically poor, it sounds out of tune! Horns blast in all over the place, keyboards waft around, drum beats are randomly inserted and harmonies interject when least expected. When Geldof goes on about doing his hair tonight, you know it’s all wrong. The infernal "we’re OK, they’re OK", get progressively annoying as does the na-na-nas. It was even released as a single. Mercifully, it did not appear on the recent Best Of.

Geldof talks dirty in Skin on Skin but who cares? In the midst of the song, Geldof returns to the free form lyrical indulgences of Mood Mambo, but a quiet night time London is dull, and it ambles along. Overall the track is shrill, and for a track about sex, is very sterile and lacking in any passion. More like a visit to a sperm bank than a night of hot passion between velvet sheets.

Talking in Code starts with the sounds of tuning in the radio, and turns into a science lecture on body language! The high-pitched vocals in the chorus have to be heard to be believed. It’s as if someone grabbed Simon Crowe in the nuts! Had the Buggles or Thomas Dolby made it, it would have been crass; but this is the Boomtown Rats, who once looked to get their kicks from smokes and drinks and you!

When V Deep is good it is very good, but some of the efforts to find something new flounder on the rocks. Horns, keyboards, drum and bass are to the fore, the previously guitar led new wave sound long gone. Had the best parts of V Deep been combined with the best parts of Mondo Bongo, the combined effort would have been the Rats finest hour. As it stands, it is a brave album which sounds great, but three or four bad tracks let the album down badly.

CD Review

...House Burned Down has disappeared! OK, it was little more than a reprise of House on Fire, but with Mondo Bongo retaining Cheerio, and Surfacing listing Episode #3 as a track, it's amazing it doesn't appear.

The running order has changed but to the overall benefit! He Watches It All is a great start, and although it descends from there, it is far less jarring than the original release.

One of the really worthwhile extras on all the CDs is House On Fire (12" Dub Version). Essentially, it is the original 7" single until it suddenly breaks into an extended dub mix which enhances the vibe of the song. It would have been good to have had the original 7" version as well. Can never get enough of a good song!

Say Hi To Mick is a semi-acoustic song about dreaming about retiring to New York City from some cold outpost and listening to channel KGB on the Radio. Hard to describe, but if anything it sounds like Geldof’s bash at Simon and Garfunkel!

The b-side of Charmed Lives, No Hiding Place was a far superior track. Sounds like a theme from a Gerry Anderson puppet series with its Hank Marvin guitar and driving bass line.

Up All Night (Long Version) is just an extended version of the album track, as the mumbled introduction tells you "extremely long"! The sound isn’t quite as full as the LP version, as if some keyboards and guitars were removed. Unlike House on Fire, the extended version doesn’t add a great deal to the song.

Incredibly, V Deep was (and still is) the only UK album to have been released on CD with its original track listing. The latest release is mainly worthwhile in providing the extras on CD for the first time and the fact it sounds a lot better thanks to the re-mastering. However none of these tracks are new as they have all been available on vinyl.

Personally, I find that I rarely listen to V Deep as an album which is a shame as there are some very good tracks on it, but tracks like Skin on Skin, Charmed Lives and Talking in Code really turn me off it.

But there you go, you can’t be all things to all men, and any band worth its salt will always disappoint now and again. As ever with the Boomtown Rats, there is always plenty of good, and there are some gems on V Deep that are well worth sticking on your iPod!

Gerry Cott walks out on The Boomtown Rats

Gerry Cott walks out on The Boomtown Rats

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

Toronto - Maple Leaf Gardens

Rats Played here

Mondo Bongo

Bongo Crazy.....

UK Highest Chart Position: 6
Total number of weeks on UK chart : 7
UK Entry: 24th January 1981
UK Run: 9-11- *6*-11-31-58-74 (7/2-1c wks)

US Highest Chart Position: 116
Total number of weeks on US chart : 8
US Entry: 21st February 1981
US Run: 168-152-137-126-*116*-116-141-181 (8 wks) UK:#6/7/2#116/8

1. Straight Up
2. The Elephants Graveyard
3. This Is My Room
4. Another Piece Of Red
5. Hurts Hurts
6. Please Don't Go
7. Fall Down
8. Go Man Go!
9. Under Their Thumb Is Under My Thumb
10. Banana Republic
11. Whitehall 1212
12. Mood Mambo
13. Cheerio
14. Don't Talk To Me
15. Arnold Layne
16. Another Piece Of Red (Live In Portsmouth)

Mondo Bongo was highly anticipated. The early signs were very encouraging. Banana Republic was a smash hit single usurping the heavily hyped Spandau Ballet. The reggae sound seemed to suit the Rats, and the album promised a very new sound. Mondo Bongo was a very strange brew in contrast to the three previous albums. It turned out to be a more experimental album than expected. Having lined up Tony Visconti as a new producer, The Rats were breaking away from the sound of Tonic for the Troops and Fine Art of Surfacing that had been so successful.

With a sassy burst Mood Mambo kicks off the LP. Geldof raps about a black snake with slicked back hair looking for someone else, and being in the mood to mambo! The raised expectations are then dashed by the repetitive crazy bongo chant, every time we're in the mood to mambo. The song is very camp with it's yoo-hoos and references to ballroom dancing. Very Latin influenced driven by the rhythm section rather than the guitars of previous albums. It is a dark hint of things to come.

It is a great relief to hear the guitars that kick off Straight Up. Less of a departure from the traditional Rats sound, but a departure in song writing. Less story, more ideas. The guitar exaggerates the Breaking Glass riff to good effect. A departure from the norm, but a good one.

Then we have the sleigh bells! This is My Room starts off as if written to corner the Christmas market, but slowly develops into a great track. There is no urgency to get to the lyrics, and there is time to appreciate the music, before Geldof booms "This is my Room' to a peak. The songs fades out far too soon, but always better to go too early than overstay your welcome!

The mawkish, Another Piece of Red is a lament on the demise of the British Empire. It seemed particularly hollow being sung by an Irishman. Toe curlingly embarrassing at points with its tinkling piano refrain of Rule Britannia throughout and some of the crassest lyrics you would hear anywhere ("hungry for India" , yuck!, "vive le Canada", come on!)

After that comes Go Man Go which is one of the highlights on the album. There is a sense of drama from the drums and keyboards in the intro. The first verse describes a day at the seaside, and the second relates to Japanese culture, even down to some cod-Japanese. The sax solo breaks up the song and fades it out.

Under Their Thumb showcases various instruments in the break. The sort of device used live to thank the various members of the band. Otherwise the song is a re-imagined version of the Stones hit referring to us all being under the thumb of government rather than a girl under Jagger’s thumb! Pete Briquette’s bass drives the song along really well.

Following the same groove as Mood Mambo, Please Don't Go, also has a marked Latino influence. Inane lyrics, and the dreary Please Don't Go refrain. Geldof's scat is mercifully drowned out by the horns.

Elephant's Graveyard was released as a single, and only reached the lower reaches of the top thirty. It's not a bad track, though maybe not ideal single material. The song is a traditional Geldof tale, this time of riots in Miami, of what it must be like to be a pensioner when all hell breaks loose. The wordplay reminds you of Elvis Costello, and the ‘Guilty til proven Guilty’ is a great line and pervades the song. The ‘shame shame shimmy shame’ fade out is a bit crass! Lots of really good keyboards throughout, but like office boys, pensioners ain’t rock ‘n’ roll!

Banana Republic was written in the aftermath of the Rats being banned from playing in Dublin. Police and priests rule ( a take on Police and Thieves from Junior Murvin & Lee Perry), and hypocrisy abounds. There are even references to the IRA, "Price. a bullet in the head". The final line of "it’s a pity nothing’s changed’ sums up the continued intolerance of a notion dominated by the Church. The most venomous lyrics and the great vibe of the song make you wonder how the Rats were dismissed as lightweights. It is to Ireland what God Save the Queen was to Britain.

The jewel in the crown of the album is Fall Down, to be appreciated in all it's glory. It is probably the most stunning Rats song ever. Sung by Simon Crowe, it is a beautiful song expressing how hurtful love can be. Maybe it was too personal for Geldof to sing but it really suits the choir boy vocals of Simon Crowe. Criminally, the clarinet solo was not on the recent best of, and even worse the song was omitted from the US version of the album.

Starting off like That’s Entertainment, Hurt Hurts recalls Can't Stop from Tonic from the Troops. No story, just the expression of agony, and some catchy lines, "Hard side, Tough inside, She cut you with stiletto style", not unlike Straight Up. The instrumental break has echoed drums and church organ keyboards before it breaks into one of the few lyrical guitar solos on the album. Use of acoustic and electic guitars like Someone’s Looking. Another nice track that would have been right at home in Kill Bill.

The Shadows-esque instrumental Whitehall 1212 pretty much wraps things up. Starts with a phone call to Blake of the yard, recalls Apache, and winds up like Night Boat to Cairo from Madness. And then leads into a hidden track (titled Cheerio on the CD release). Quite amusing little Dylan-style ditty of no substance.

Mondo Bongo is a roller coaster of an album with some good highs, and some pitiful lows. Sonically it is an improvement, but the calibre of some of the songs leaves a lot to be desired.

The rhythm section dominates the album throughout and there are precious few guitar led tracks. Banana Republic aside, there were no other great singles on the album. Whereas Tonic for the Troops could probably have had another couple, and even Fine Art of Surfacing may have yielded another, it was hard to see a sure fire follow up single, though Go Man Go may have troubled the top twenty. Fall Down, great as it is, would have been a big risk as a single, but it could have been a number one (or number 100!).

There are at least half-a-dozen very good tracks on this album, and had the Rats come in with more material like that (probably some of the stuff used on V Deep) it could have been their finest hour (well, forty minutes!). There is enough to make this worthwhile, but new listeners will require patience.

CD Review

It is important to note Fall Down is free of the echo you get on the groove crammed LPs. At last, I can hear it properly! And it is the full version, not the edited version on the Best of.

Whitehall 1212 is also on CD for the first time, but that's not so essential.

The gaps in Cheerio are also shortened. ("...or else, I'm Gonna Go" is too hastily followed by "OK, That's fine by me...)

As far as the extras are concerned if one version of Another Piece of Red isn't enough there is also a live version provided as an extra. When the piano starts the song, the crowd cheer, no doubt anticipating I Don't Like Mondays! Needless to say the live version is no better, a bad song is a bad song.

There is also the Buddy Holly tribute Don't Talk To Me, uh-oh-ho! It was included on the US version of Mondo Bongo. It’s OK, fairly inoffensive, and my dad would love it being a big Buddy Holly fan!

There is also a cover of Arnold Layne. It's fair to say that the Rats don't do this song justice. They murdered it! It sounds out of tune with lots of synths crashing it. You’ve got to hear it though!

Up All Night did appear on the US version, but as far as the UK is concerned was on V Deep. Man at the Top, the b-side of Banana Republic, would have been a good extra.

The fade out of Banana Republic is extended from the single and in all honesty doesn't enhance the song.

With a jumbling of the track sequence, and some less than inspiring extras the CD re-release of this album is mainly worthwhile in obtaining the UK track listing, and especially the unabridged Fall Down, on CD for the first time.

Personally, though not my favourite Rats album (not the worst either!), it has some inspired tracks and is well worth a listen.

Newcastle - City Hall

Rats played here in Bongos over Britain tour

De Montfort Hall Leicester

King Biscuit Flower Hour

The King Biscuit Flower Hour
THE BOOMTOWN RATS & THE SPECIALS
3-sided LP, USA 1980

• I Don´t Like Mondays
• Like Clockwork
• Nothing Happened Today
• Keep It Up
• Nice And Neat
• Having My Picture Taken
• Rat Trap
• Kicks
• Someone Looking At You

Anyone out there got this gem?

Toronto - Seneca College Gymnasium

Rats Played here

Leixlip Castle, Dublin, Ireland

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/the-boomtown-rats-play-the-racecourse-at-long-last-1.2751655


The Boomtown Rats play the racecourse – at long last

They were the shows that never happened. Now, nearly 40 years after Bob Geldof’s band were meant to play at Leopardstown, the group are finally taking to its stage
When Bob Geldof flies into Dublin for the Boomtown Rats’ show at Leopardstown today he will have strong memories of the last time he arrived in the city for a Boomtown Rats concert at the racecourse.
It was February 20th, 1980, when, as RTÉ reported, “hundreds of fans mobbed the band” as they walked from the tarmac to the airport terminal. Such was the clamour around “King Rat” that Geldof became “isolated for a while from his chauffeur- driven Mercedes”.
At the time the Rats were a very big deal indeed. They had become the first Irish band to have a UK No 1. Rat Trap was also the first UK “new wave music” No 1. The subsequent single I Don’t Like Mondays had become a global hit, and for their glorious homecoming the Rats had sold all 7,500 tickets for two shows at Leopardstown, to take place on February 22nd and 23rd.
Whereas these days Geldof happily describes himself as a “private-equity whore”, back in 1980 – when he was 29 and could still fit into his snakeskin stage suits – he was the gobby punk rocker who had disgraced himself and his family in front of the nation when he appeared on The Late Late Show denouncing Ireland as clergy-ridden and politically corrupt.
And he announced that he had helped form The Boomtown Rats only in order to get rich, get famous and get laid.
As he had done more than his share of annoying, criticising and provoking the great and good of the land, it perhaps came as no surprise that the District Court refused to grant a licence for the Rats’ homecoming shows. There were loudly voiced concerns that bishops and Fianna Fáil ministers were behind it all.
Geldof readily accepted his martyrdom, later writing that official Ireland was punishing the Rats for his scabrous pronouncements from the Late Late pulpit. As he faced the press at Dublin Airport two days before the now-cancelled gigs, an unlikely ally leaped to his defence: the RUC.

The Rats had just played two sold-out shows at the Ulster Hall, and so impeccably behaved were band and audience that the RUC, according to Geldof, “rang up Dublin . . . and said the two Rats shows were the best ever conducted in Belfast”.
At the same airport press conference he added that, because of Leopardstown being cancelled, “It’s now quite clear that we are not welcome in Dublin. We are not welcome in the city where we were born, where we lived and where we started as a band. We have been rejected on a grand scale. We will now sadly have to regard our gigs in Belfast as our true homecoming. We don’t need to prove ourselves to anybody; we have proved ourselves to the world. We can play in Bangkok, we can play in London, play in Paris, but we can’t play in Dublin.”
The band retired to Blooms Hotel, in Temple Bar, to try to figure out an alternative venue for a big homecoming show. This was the country’s rehearsal for Saipan. While the “young people” just wanted to enjoy themselves at a music concert, others regarded the filth and fury of these self-styled new-wave musicians as inappropriate in a country still coming down from the religious high of Pope John Paul II’s visit, five tremulous months earlier.
But far from being degenerate punks, the six-piece Rats were all nice middle-class boys from Glenageary, in south Co Dublin, and it was at Blackrock College, not CBGB, that some of them were educated.
But when news emerged, to consternation, that the marquee in which the Rats had planned to perform at Leopardstown was the same tent that the pope had used as his disrobing marquee in the Phoenix Park, the will-they-won’t-they saga took a twist. People wondered whether the pope’s tent had been deconsecrated.
While Geldof held court in Blooms Hotel, telling journalists that he had been “vilified” and “banned” from playing in his own “shoddy” and “second-rate” country, it became clear that the siege of Anglesea Street wouldn’t be lifted until the Rats were allowed to play.
If the RUC were an unlikely ally, the man who stepped in to keep Ireland safe for rock’n’roll was an equally strange bedfellow. Desmond Guinness, owner of Leixlip Castle, would allow his substantial back garden to be overrun by punk ruffians – for a fee. Guinness said that although this wasn’t quite his type of music, he wanted to see people enjoying themselves.
On March 2nd, 1980, Geldof strode on to a hastily erected stage at the castle and waited for the screams of 10,000 fans to abate. He grabbed the mic and said just two words: “Who won?”
That morning at Blooms Geldof had been woken by the sound of traffic on the Liffey quays. He went to the window and looked down approvingly as throngs of people clambered aboard a fleet of buses that CIÉ had laid on to transport the thousands to Leixlip.
An up-and-coming local music journalist called Niall Stokes reviewed the Leixlip show for New Musical Express. “After weeks of legal wrangling and public confusion, the Boomtown Rats finally found a home for their return . . . The band had taken on the combined forces of ignorance and prejudice, finally coming out on top . . . Throughout the sorry mess the band had been cast in the role of flag-bearers for a culture so obviously seen as a threat by the local establishment . . . The Boomtown Rats are a potentially powerful vehicle for influencing teenage sons and daughters.”
Johnnie Fingers – aka John Moylett – the band’s keyboardist, remembers the media outcry the most. “We were holed up in Blooms Hotel, waiting for the gig to be rearranged, and because we were very much in the public eye at the time, a big thing was made of the Dublin heroes coming home. The headlines had it that the Rats were banned from playing in their own hometown – and I remember Reuters picked up on the story and it became big international news . . . The story really got out of control, and we were front-page news every day.”

Contrary to what is still believed, Moylett says the band were extraordinarily relieved when the Leopardstown show was cancelled. “The ticket sales weren’t doing great at all; it would have been a complete disaster. I distinctly recall us feeling very lucky that the council did refuse us a licence. By the time Leixlip happened we had been front-page news for 10 days, so we had a 10,000-strong sell-out.”
The Boomtown Rats’ then manager, Fachtna O’Ceallaigh, remembers the “cabin fever” of 10 days in Blooms Hotel with the international press waiting outside. “I went out with Geldof, and the media posse, to Leopardstown racecourse, and I remember him standing on a wall and stating that The Boomtown Rats would not leave Dublin until they had played their homecoming show.”
O’Ceallaigh recalls the suggestion at the time that “people would go crazy and lose their heads” if the Rats were allowed to play. As for the eventual Leixlip show, he found Guinness “to be very accommodating”, but the performance itself was marred by poor security arrangements and an audience being pumped up by “bad cider and cheap speed”.
“It was the only show we ever did where it was a case of the band leaving the stage and getting straight into a waiting van and going direct to the airport,” O’Ceallaigh says. “There was no sense of triumph at all, just a sense of relief. The expression I heard most in the van out of Leixlip was, ‘Jesus Christ. Thank God it’s over.’ ”
Moylett, who now lives in Tokyo, where he runs the Fuji Rock Festival – Asia’s Glastonbury – agrees.
“It was a mad show: the crowd was completely wild and out of control. During our first song I jumped up, in wild pogo style, and when I came down I went halfway through the stage. I had to get pulled back up by the road crew. The hole got covered up with a sheet of chipboard, and we continued.”

Book : Having Their Picture Taken

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Star (Oct 1980)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0352307684
• ISBN-13: 978-0352307682

Basically it's a collection of black & white photgraphs covering 1979. Nothing too interesting and certainly nothing insightful!

Songbook : The Boomtown Rats

The way I learnt to play guitar! Pretty much the whole of Tonic for the Troops is here along with Looking After Number One, Mary of the 4th Form and even Do The Rat are all here for Guitar Tab/Piano/Vocals.

Colston Hall, Bristol

The Fine Art of Surfacing

This art of Surfacing is all but dead….

UK Highest Chart Position: 7
Total number of weeks on chart : 26
Entry (ENVY3/ENCAS3): 3rd November 1979
Run: 7-9-14-22-28-27-28-32-32-35-30-28-35-34-28-22-26-24-30-38-50-70-62-66-68-66 (26 weeks)

US Highest Chart Position: 103
Total number of weeks on US chart : 16
Entry : 1st December 1979
Run: 132-124-113-113-113-108-130-126-124-130-110-103-103-104-162-177 (16 wks)

1. Someone's Looking At You
2. Diamond Smiles
3. Wind Chill Factor (Minus Zero)
4. Having My Picture
5. Sleep (Fingers Lullaby)
6. I Don't Like Mondays
7. Nothing Happened Today
8. Keep It Up
9. Nice 'n' Neat
10. When The Night Comes
11. Episode #3
12. Real Different
13. How Do You Do?
14. Late Last Night
15. Nothing Happened Today (Live In Cardiff)

Prior to the release of the Fine Art of Surfacing, The Boomtown Rats were arguably the biggest band in Britain. In the wake of the chart-topping Rat Trap and I Don't Like Mondays, only The Police and Blondie were close in terms of stature, but The Rats were seemingly on top. The Fine Art of Surfacing was very eagerly awaited.

I Don't Like Mondays is the best known Boomtown Rats song. With Fingers' piano taking centre stage, it sounded nothing like the Rats had ever done before. This was produced by Phil Wainman of Sweet fame unlike all the other tracks produced by Mutt Lange. A heightened sense of drama pervades the song, rising to the "Tell me why?" chorus and the come down when the playing stops in the playground as the lesson today is how to die. No other band of the punk/new wave era could have made a song like this. Brilliant.

The second single off the album was Diamond Smiles. The song is about a débutante killing herself and only being remembered for her smile. Like I Don't Like Mondays another story about death (suicide this time), it’s more repetitive, and takes a while to get to its short chorus. Lots of quirky keyboards and the never ending la la las evoke memories of Hot Love and Hey Jude. It wasn’t the song to consolidate the Rats domination of the singles chart, but a good track nonetheless.

In contrast, Someone's Looking at You was a great single, and a pretty personal statement for Geldof on fame. The song starts with a gentle rhythmic acoustic guitar, built on by organ keyboard sounds, then breaking into a crash of electric guitars. The keyboard and guitar solos rock, and there is a great climatic build to the last uh-oh-oh-ohs. The song fades to a chorus of someone’s looking with Geldof ad-libbing before the final pay off of Geldof deserving to get kissed once or twice!

A train whistle and a crash of drums introduce Nothing Happened Today. For the Rats, this is familiar territory, with its singing and sing backs throughout. Keyboards and guitars duel with each other vying to set the tone. Watching TV news and looking out the windows in the wake of a hangover there is a urgency to discover what is happening on March 28th , not that there is any significance in the date at all. In the midst of this, there’s the greatly inventive and seamless vaudeville-style break where Harry Hooper’s toupee is discussed at length. The break could be said to be akin to Mr. Kite, of Sgt. Pepper fame.

How about a song on impotency? Keep it Up! Geldof looks to Elvis Costello for lyrical influence, with some nice couplets. The joint song writing effort with Gerry Cott showcases another great guitar solo, The song resurrects the ghost of Howard Hughes in many ways, with the repetition of the ‘Does it Feel Right?..." throughout. Just as the song ends, with an exhausted organ, it burst back into life with some blistering drums, and again Geldof ad-libs all over the Rats chorus of Keep It Up!

Geldof gets personal in Wind Chill Factor, returning to the paranoia hinted at in Can't Stop & So Strange. With a shrill of keyboards, Simon Crowe’s drums break it up and create a stark atmosphere. Then some oh-ho-hos before the now familiar reggae drum break has Geldof coming in after a night of coping. The chorus is almost sinister, and with its whoops and hollers, a disturbing mood prevails. The song revs up into its question and answer session, before Geldof crawls into a corner looking for relief. At the end, the song gives the impression of wind howling beneath high-rise blocks before the drums bring it to an abrupt finish.

After that the mood lightens, with Having My Picture Taken. Essentially the song is a trivial look at the world of celebrity and stardom. Reggae drum breaks punctuate the song and it all jaunts along to the "so fantastic!" middle eight. This song was always marked in its live performance by a thousand instamatics clicking as the band posed for pictures. The song echoes Don’t Believe What You Read from Tonic, this time focusing on the photographers rather than the journalists.

Written by Johnnie Fingers, Sleep (Finger's Lullaby) explores insomnia, and replicates the confused state of mind that ensues. The song is almost epic, with Supertramp pianos in the middle eight, and lots of differing vocal effects. However nothing works, not only wired and tired, and with lights and noise all around. no amount of pills or sheep counting seems to work, but finally the songs drifts off. ....but then comes the nightmarish reprise, with ghostly voices chanting ‘that’s not funny, I’m not laughing, that’s not funny…’. Considering the quality for song writing either via partial or full credits, it is a shame that the other Rats did not contribute more.

In Nice 'n' Neat, it’s Geldof vs. God, and Geldof wins! A really great track inspired by a clerical friend. From the moment the guitar bursts in through to the "final truth is there is no truth", it is a blistering attack on belief. It also hosts one of the greatest guitar solos heard on a Rats song, almost as if Gerry Cott was signing off. However, the unnecessary bop-shoo-wop fade out detracts from such a cutting song. Strange that a song that finishes with "that's all" should be followed by another!

When The Night Comes is another mini-Dublin epic. Frankie instead of Joey or Billy time, but office boys ain’t rock ‘n’ roll and the lyrics lack the flow of Joey or Rat Trap. The flamenco guitar throughout is absolutely wonderful and makes this track well worth listening to.
The un-credited Episode #3 is tacked onto the track after it fades out, to sum it up voice says “That concludes Episode 3, we will return shortly", door slams and washer woman sings. That’s all. (well, it used to be).

The Fine Art of Surfacing though a great album does not quite have the magic of the first two albums. It was another well-produced album; there are no bad tracks, but possibly not enough great tracks. I Don’t like Mondays did overpower the rest of the album being revolutionary as far as the Boomtown Rats were concerned, whilst the rest of the album much more of an evolution of what had take place on Tonic for the Troops.

The Fine Art of Surfacing did not top the charts (unlike its rivals Eat To The Beat or Regatta de Blanc), and was, as far as the UK was concerned, done with in a matter of weeks, whereas Tonic for the Troops spent a year in the charts. At the time there was also a backlash to Geldof in the music press and, to an lesser extent, the popular press. No doubt this affected the album's popularity. Nevertheless The Fine Art of Surfacing is an album that more than matched much of what was happening back in 1979.

In retrospect, this album completed a trilogy of albums all marked by predominately guitar led story telling songs. With later albums bringing the rhythm section to the fore, the Boomtown Rats would never sound the same again or, in my opinion, as consistently good.

CD Review

The CD re-release contains three B-sides and a live track. It is arguable that the b-sides truly relate to the same period. One is from Clockwork, whilst the other is from Elephant’s Graveyard. And It’s All The Rage which was the b-side from Mondays is omitted entirely.
Late Last Night which is the only track from the era and would have easily fitted onto Surfacing, and enhanced the album. It's a shame LPs only lasted for 40 minutes! The B-side of Diamond Smiles, it starts off with a clockwork introduction, and sounds like a troubled night for Geldof, possibly caused by something he ate. The song is very typical of the Rats of that era with the lyrical guitar solo.

Real Different appears to draw inspiration from Elvis Costello, even down to the Oliver’s Army style piano. It may have been a Surfacing leftover, appearing of the B-side of Elephant’s graveyard. It does sound as if it pre-dates Mondo Bongo and belongs more with this disc. It’s interesting that of all his peers, Geldof seemed to look to Costello more than most, obviously recognising his cleverness, but never quite satisfactorily matching it with the Rats.

From the flip side of Like Clockwork, How Do You Do? appears to have started as a tirade on the record industry, but ultimately descends into Bon Jovi territory saying as long as the band play well on a Saturday night it'll all be OK! Musically the song is good with a great guitar solo, and a crescendo of an ending. Maybe with better developed lyrics this would have been a great song, instead of been merely good to listen to.

The live version of Nothing Happened Today gives a good insight on why the Boomtown Rats were a great live band. Geldof milks the pauses, and the drums are more manic than the recording. The vaudeville break doesn’t sound as good, but remember this is live, and that sort of thing is always easier to mix in the studio.

Beware Episode #3 isn’t what you expect! Now I expected "That conclude Episode #3, we will return shortly", door slams and washer woman sings. END.But no! That's not the end suddenly there is some cackling, and some voices saying "that's not funny, I'm not laughing, that's not funny".... For some unknown reason, the spooky reprise on Sleep has transferred itself to the end of episode #3!!!! This means that despite the running order being as the original album you are required to splice episode #3 and burn it to get the album back as it should be. Grrrrr!!!!

This CD is less essential than either of the first two albums as a re-release as a CD version did previously exist with the correct running order. The album finds the Boomtown Rats at their commercial-peak, with an album that sold right across the world and put itself into more homes than any of its predecessors or successors. To many people, this album epitomises the Boomtown Rats.

Personally, I prefer the first two albums, but I would wholeheartedly recommend this as essential listening as far as the Boomtown Rats are concerned.

The Brighton Centre

Rats played here on Surfacing tour

Carlisle - Market Hall

Rats played here on Surfacing tour.

Roxy Theater, Los Angeles, Hollywood, CA

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/boomtown-rats/concerts/roxy-may-25-1980.html

Austin, Texas

California World Music Festival, L.A. Memorial Coliseum

Japan Center Theatre, San Fancisco

Fox Theatre (San Diego, CA)

The second night of a two-night stand for the Boomtown Rats in San Diego, California.

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/boomtown-rats/concerts/fox-theatre-february-28-1979.html

Fox Theatre (San Diego, CA) - The first time Mondays was played

This is a really good stream with a sound deck recording , a top quality concert recording. Most notably, this was the debut performance of I Don't Like Mondays, so a more basic version of the song without some of the phrasing you may be familiar with. Also a rare rendition of Never Bite The Hand That Feeds. Not too dissimilar from the 1978 Hammersmith Odeon set, but certainly a bit different in terms of sound and atmosphere, given this was the Rats trying to break America. Geldof makes a few comments on the state of US radio. More to follow when I have a good listen. Enjoy!

http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/Concerts.aspx?stype=artist&id=896

• Blind Date
• (I Never Loved) Eva Brown (sic)
• Neon Heart
• Me And Howard Hughes
• Like Clockwork
• Medley: Rat Trap / Kicks / Joey
• Living On An Island
• (She's Gonna) Do You In
• She's So Modern
• Lookin' After No. 1
• Mary Of The 4th Form
• Do The Rat
• I Don't Like Mondays
• Never Bite The Hand That Feeds

Bob Geldof - lead vocals
Pete Briquette - bass, vocals
Gerry Cott - guitar
Simon Crowe - drums, vocals
Johnnie fingers - keyboards
Garry Roberts - guitar, vocals
“Space” Jenner - sax

from the Wolfgang's Vaults

Despite hitting the top of the charts several times in their native UK, the Boomtown Rats never really caught on in America. Their label, Columbia Records, had hyped them as the next big punk band saying they would be in the same league as the Clash and the Pretenders. It didn’t happen. This was mostly because they never had the material to win over radio programmers, despite having a hit with “I Don’t Like Mondays.” Also an early promotion by the label involved sending actual dead rats in plastic bags (purchased from the New York City Sewer Department) to DJs across the country. The publicity stunt backfired and caused the media to react with such disgust that many of these radio personalities, programmers and journalists wrote off the band forever.Led by the charismatic lead vocalist, Bob Geldof, the group certainly had a great showman as their front man on stage. The band, assisted by former Graham Parker reed man, Space Jenner, was certainly comprised of strong musicians. Their two studio albums produced by the future Mr. Shaina Twain, Robert John Mutt Lange (who also produced some of the best records ever made by Foreigner, Huey Lewis, and AC/DC) should have propelled them into stardom, but didn’t.So, why didn’t they take off? Who knows, but some rock historians feel the material simply wasn’t strong enough to cross over from the UK to American play lists.

Some comments from the Wolfgang's Vaults forum

There is a real gem in the Boomtown Rats San Diego concert that was just added: Their piano-and- vocal-only rendition of "I Don't Like Mondays," which was inspired by the tragic school shooting that occurred in San Diego just a month before the show. Here's hoping you can find a Boomtown Rats concert from their subsequent U.S. tour (there was a great one at Santa Monica Civic in 1981 or 82) that includes the finished version of that song along with other songs from their "Fine Art of Surfacing" album. The Rats may not have made it big in the U.S., but those few of us who saw their shows and bought their records knew we were onto something that a lot of other people would regret missing if only they had discovered it.

I was reading the information regarding the Rats on the Concerts page and was surprised at the poor quality of the information. 1. The Boomtown Rats are not a UK band, They come from Ireland, Yes it is a small place, however as most peple know it is not the UK. 2. The problems with the US DJ's did not really have anything to do with their marketing plan or their lack of quality songs, but had more to do with the US DJ's not wanting to play anything that was vaguely controversial.(for more evidence I dont believe that the Pistols were a huge hit either). 3. Rat trap and I dont like mondays are 2 songs that will be around long after many of the US hits from the same era(Air Supply etc)are well and truly consigned to who cares basket?

The Eamonn Andrews Show

This entry is pieced together from the available information from a few sources, page 183/184 of the first edition of Is That It? (which wrongly places it four years after his Late Late Show appearance, and is just another glaring inconsistency in the autobiography) and my memory of watching the show broadcast on Thames Televison in the UK. This article in the Daily Express, Sat 24 Feb 1979 Page 22 gives the date By JUDITH SIMONS Last Monday Bob was airing his views on the Eamonn Andrews television show

Anyway that night the Rats performed Me and Howard Hughes, well they at least mimed to it, before Geldof joined Eamonn Andrews along with Vidal Sassoon and his then wife Beverly. Geldof sat down to set Eamonn Andrews straight about Dublin, much to the host's discomfort. Geldof then proceeded to engage Sassoon on their exercise regimes (Geldof not doing any) and their sleeping habits (Geldof waking up in the late afternoon). There were two other guests, namely Jilly Cooper and Patrick Campbell. Geldof alleges that Campbell, who had a stammer, asked him is Sassoon was a p-p-poofter. Geldof told Campbell he thought he was.

I remember watching with my father who thought Geldof was great for speaking his mind. Maybe not quite as controversial as his Late Late Show appearance, but nonetheless great entertainment from the gob!

Rock Goes To College/Don't Believe What You Hear

BBC TV - Live Concert - September 1978 - Middlesex Polytechnic Hendon

1. Mary Of The 4th Form
2. Introduction - Peter Drummond*
3. Me & Howard Hughes
4. I Never Loved Eva Braun
5. Don't Believe What You Read
6. Rat Trap
7. Kicks
8. Joey's On The Street Again
9. Living On A Island
10. She's Gonna Do You In
11. Like Clockwork
12. She's So Modern**
13. Looking After No. 1**

Quite possibly, it was the original broacast of this back in 1978 that turned me into a devotee rather than as casual listener of the Boomtown Rats.

The set list is not dissimilar to the Hammersmith Odeon set, but is a little less polished, and all the better for it. Also visually it was a lot better devoid of any special effects, though you have to remember I have not seen this for almost thirty years now!

It is also the best known Boomtown Rats bootleg. There are other tapes/MP3s out there, of course, but none have really gone beyond the ubiquitous TDK C90 bar this one.

There are two known formats. There is the Vinyl LP....

BOOMTOWN RATS In Concert (Rare 1978 original UK BBC Transcription Service radio library LP, recorded live in concert at the Middlesex Polytechnic, North London; with original cue sheet CN3189/S).

....and the CD (with especially dodgy artwork!)

label STREAMWAY INC. (unofficial)
cat. no. KISS NO. 1

This was last broadcast on the defunct UK Arena back in 1999. Let's hope it will be broadcast again.

Stevenage, Knebworth Park, Music Festival

9th September 1978 – Stevenage, Knebworth Park, Music Festival
Bands: Frank Zappa, Peter Gabriel, Wilko Johnson, The Tubes, Boomtown Rats

A Tonic for the Troops

...a Tonic for the Troops!

• UK Highest Chart Position: 8
• Total number of weeks on chart : 44 (Top 10: 5, Top 20: 18 Top 40: 30)
• Entry (ENVY3/ENCAS3): 8th July 1978
• Run: 21-8-10-8-12-16-17-24-24-30-34-38-42-0-40-43-24-16-13-14-12-9-10-12-13-13-11-17-13-22-21-33-44-37-41-59-68-0-71 (37 weeks)
• Re-entry (ENVY3/ENCAS3): 18th August 1979
• Run: 70-57-47-54-56-70-0-70 (7 weeks)

Side 1
Like Clockwork
Blind Date
(I Never Loved) Eva Braun
Living In An Island
Don't Believe What You Read

Side 2

She's So Modern
Me And Howard Hughes
Can't Stop
(Watch Out For) The Normal People
Rat Trap

Bonus Tracks (2005 Re-master)

Neon Heart (John Peel Radio Session)
Do The Rat (B-Side)
D.U.N. L.O.A.G.H.A.I.R.E (B-Side In Ireland)
Rat Trap (Live In Stoke)

Recorded at Relight Studios, Holland and Dieter Dierks Studios, Stommeln, Köln, Germany.


Other Releases


Audio CD (1 July 1993)
Label: Mercury
ASIN: B000006THC

1. Like Clockwork 3:46
2. Blind Date 3:21
3. (I Never Loved) Eva Braun 4:33
4. She's So Modern 2:59
5. Don't Believe What You Read 3:07
6. Living In An Island 4:07
7. Me And Howard Hughes 3:11
8. Can't Stop 2:19
9. (Watch Out For) The Normal People 2:52
10. Rat Trap 4:57
11. Lying Again 3:08
12. How Do You Do ? 2:40
13. So Strange 3:03

Columbia PC 35750(LP)/CK 35750 (CD)

Side 1

A1 Rat Trap 5:12 (Geldof)
A2 Me And Howard Hughes 3:12 (Geldof)
A3 (I Never Loved) Eva Braun 4:39 (Geldof)
A4 Living In An Island 4:11 (Geldof)
A5 Like Clockwork 3:44 (Geldof/Briquette/Crowe)

Side 2

B1 Blind Date 3:22 (Geldof)
B2 Mary Of The 4th Form 3:34 (Geldof)
B3 Don't Believe What You Read 3:08 (Geldof)
B4 She's So Modern 3:00 (Geldof/Fingers)
B5 Joey's On The Street Again 5:53 (Geldof)

On the evening of Friday 22nd September 1978, I watched Rock Goes To College on BBC2. The basic format of the show was that a band played a live 40 minute set at a UK college. Among the bands that featured were an embryonic AC/DC. But the first broadcast was of an up and coming Irish new wave band called The Boomtown Rats. I had heard them on the radio thanks to a couple of singles they had released prior to the album, and seen them on Revolver on ITV a couple of months previous, but this was different. This was a band playing a live set where every song was fucking brilliant!

I had made a very dodgy recording on tape and listened to it again and again in the following week. And on Monday, everyone at school was talking about Geldof saying "shitty" on the TV.  Over the next couple of weeks, I duly saved up my pocket money and bought A Tonic for the Troops on the way home from school at the HMV on the Holloway Road.

I had not watched Top of the Pops from the mid-seventies, not because I felt I had to boycott it in the manner of The Clash, but simply because I was never at home on a Thursday evening when it was broadcast.  My awareness of the burgeoning punk/new wave scene was down to a couple of well informed friends who had Never Mind the Bollocks on tape and a few bits of coloured vinyl which was popular at the time. 

The first single from A Tonic for the Troops was She's So Modern. I was familiar with the song, it was a minor hit, and they had played it on Revolver.  Punk by numbers, it could almost have been lifted from Never Mind the Bollocks; Geldof sneering "the right clothes to wear" before the end climax is a straight lift from Johnny Rotten. She's So Modern was a far more radio friendly proposition than Pretty Vacant or Holidays in the Sun, with its trademark Rats chorus in full swing. The verses echo Walk on the Wild Side, naming each girl, with quick snippets on how "modern" they are, but with far more urgency. Magenta de Vine perhaps the most infamous modern girl.

The follow up single was Like Clockwork. This was the real breakthrough single for the Rats. A top ten hit, it even brought along a robotic dance from punk followers. Well it did on Revolver! It is one of the few songs that featured writers other than Geldof, with Pete Briquette and Simon Crowe making a contribution. The song starts with a tick-tock refrain, wailing guitar and almost primal drums. When Geldof comes in with the vocal, you half expect Siouxsie Sioux! A staccato disjointed rhythm pervades throughout. This song was a real leap forward in sound with Finger's piano coming to the fore in the instrumental break. The climax of the song is far better experienced live, when Geldof's ape like limbs act as clock hands as he booms tick-tock. The alarm clock is the only way to end it all.

There was another single, but I'll leave that to the end, as the alarm clock's final ring is superseded by the sharp drum beat that opens Blind Date. A couple of well placed guitar chords join the introduction before a mix of drums and bass lead into the song. Geldof jumps in with the vocal, this time evoking Mick Jagger. Running through the dating game with no particular focus, this is a great sounding song, a wonderful guitar solo, and a Rotten-like so long at the end.

Many people familiar with the big hit singles from the Rats would have missed the gems that reside on this album like (I Never Loved) Eva Braun. It starts with a Shirelle-like female vocal, and Geldof takes on the guise of Adolf Hitler as the Leader of the Pack. The ooh-yeahs are from Bowie's Young American period. The military drumming takes the song down in the middle so it can rise to a crescendo and returns at the end for the final pay off with "Gee". Live this song was a real highlight, and showed how musically accomplished the Rats were.

Me and Howard Hughes encapsulates everything that was great about the Boomtown Rats in a single song. Simon Crowe shares vocals with Geldof and the contrast between the two voices gives the song another dimension. The guitar playing by Gerry Cott is superlative. The handclaps over the penultimate chorus refrain, and harmonies make this one of the best songs the Rats ever made.

Don't Believe What You Read is another great track which keeps things simple and has a general attack on the press in the lyrics. Considering this was a pre-tabloid Geldof, it’s certain that if the lyrics were written a year or so later they would be far more biting. The track opens fairly sedately before exploding into a crash of guitar and drums followed by a mini guitar solo prior to Geldof spitting out the song.

Living In An Island starts off with a nice bright and breezy reggae drum and turn into fifty ways to leave your planet! You half expect to hear hop under a bus Gus in the middle. The chorus contains the familiar sing back harmonies, and the end fades out to a calypso rhythm showing the Rats fondness for Caribbean music which had only previously been hinted at on the frivolous DUN LAOGHAIRE.

Can't Stop is one of the more distinctive tracks on the album. There is a sense of paranoia that is more marked in later albums and lyrically the song hints that all was not well in the mind of Bob Geldof with regards to impending fame.

Echoing Never Bite the Hand that Feeds from their debut album, (Watch Out for) the Normal People dissects suburban life. The song burst quickly into life and is a comment on the darker side of respectability. The guitar solo is a real highlight with the vocal who-hoos. Lucky buggers indeed!

And finally Rat Trap! Though I Don't Like Mondays is probably a more well known song, Rat Trap was their first number one. Very similar to Joey from the debut album, Rat Trap is a well crafted mini-epic taking Billy through a drunken night in Dublin to his meeting with Judy in the Italian Cafe. Springsteen-esque, with a wonderful sax solo in the middle of the song and in the fade-out. The first punk/new wave number one (well, the first official one), the song was gratefully received by a nation suffering from Grease overload. Not only did it supplant the infernal Summer Nights at number one, it also held off the individual efforts by Travolta and Newton-John. Well at least until Rod Stewart told us how sexy he was!

A Tonic for the Troops was a marked development from the first album with highly original songs and a departure from their Dublin roots, except Normal People and Rat Trap. It had a very definite sound which is a criticism that could be levelled at the albums that followed. The backing vocals were harmonious, Gerry Cott's guitar solos to the forefront, and Geldof's lyrics had not started veer into the mawkish sentimentality that he could be guilty of. The singer/backing singer call/call-back was well used throughout the album, and the variety of rhythms and changes of pace made it feel like there were far more than ten songs. Johnnie Fingers piano were possibly under utilised, but the sound did not suffer for it.

The album showed The Boomtown Rats to be a more accomplished band than almost all of their peers in terms of song writing and musicianship. A Tonic for the Troops stands as The Boomtown Rats finest moment for the inventiveness and excitement in the songs. Most importantly this album captured the zeitgeist, being around at the right time and effectively defining the sound of 1978 as much as Parallel Lines, Give ‘em Enough Rope and Never Mind the Bollocks all of which it shared the record racks for the whole year.

There are very few albums where every track can be considered excellent, but this is one. The Boomtown Rats went on to make many good songs but arguably never made another great album which not only fitted the times but was timeless.

Personally, I think it is certainly the greatest album of the 1970s and possibly the greatest album of all time!

CD Review

A Tonic for the Troops has had three major re-releases/revisions.

In January 1979, the album was re-released in the US replacing Can't Stop and (Watch Out for) the Normal People with Joey's on the Street Again and Mary of the Fourth Form. The running order of the album was also changed. Rat Trap became the opening track. The album inset also differs, with a black and white photo similar to the picture on the reverse of the Rat Trap single used rather than the collage used on the UK version. This version was subsequently released on CD in 1989. I eagerly snapped it up at the Virgin Megastore on the Champs Eyleese and was glad to hear it again, especially as my turntable was gathering dust back in London.  However. there are better versions.

The two UK re-releases in July 1993 and February 2005 are both superior and each has its merits.  In the main, they have gathered together all the UK and Irish B-sides from Mary of the Fourth Form through to Rat Trap along with a couple of curiosities.

The 1993 re-release simply has the b-sides of the singles from the album.

Lying Again is a good song, almost descending into old time rock 'n' roll. It is fair to say it isn't a glaring omission from Tonic for the Troops itself, as it meanders on with little to say.

How Do You Do? appears to have started as a tirade on the record industry, but ultimately descends into Bon Jovi territory saying as long as the band play well on a Saturday night it'll all be OK! Musically the song is good with a great guitar solo, and a crescendo of an ending. Maybe with better developed lyrics this would have been a great song, instead of been merely good to listen to.

So Strange suggests a darker side to the Rats like Can't Stop. Geldof's vocals and lyrics are biting ("I was bleeding, before I saw the blood") evoking Neon Heart and I Can Make It If You Can from the debut album. Strange that this song was only a B-side as it would have graced any of the first three albums. It also hinted at things to come (Like Wind Chill Factor).

The 2005 re-masters took a slightly differnt tack, with more obscure material.

D.U.N. L.O.A.G.H.A.I.R.E. and Do The Rat are B-side masterpieces. Genius. The Boomtown Rats were a very humorous bunch and in letting their hair down on these B-sides came up with two exceptionally tounge-in-cheek tracks. D.U.N. L.O.A.G.H.A.I.R.E was based on a song called Cocaine In My Brain Geldof took the "A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork. That's the way we spell New York" refrain and applied it to his home town to hillarious effect. Garry Robberts attempts at spelling Dun Loaghaire are dismissed, and corrects him with "Drab and dreary, Tired and Weary, That's the way you spell Dun Loaghaire". Reminiscent of Derek & Clive, (or possibly Zig & Zag at points, eventually the world gets to spell and sing Dun Loaghaire. All done to a wonderful calypso beat. It was released as a cover flexi in the UK, but also as a b-side to Clockwork on Mulligan records (The Rats Irish label).

Aping The Twist, and other dance craze songs, the Rats create their own, The Rat! With yellowed teeth and greyer hair, I'm less up for doing the Rat to the break of day these days, and it's pretty fair to say The Rat didn't really supplant seventies disco! The song itself is a very basic three chord (if that!) romp, but the lyrics are very sassy and the R’n’B guitar break sounds like it comes from Tiger Feet by Mud! On the CD it ends with a Beatlesque cheer a la All You Need is Love.

Ultimately, two of the greatest flip sides ever, though check out Sham 69's Sunday Morning Nightmare and The Divine Comedy's Lovely Horse as other great examples of the genre!

Neon Heart (John Peel Radio Session) is a stripped down less polished version that the one on the debut album.  However it does complete the session that was previously released on the Geldof Crazy single, so from a completist viewpoint is absolutely indispensible.

Rat Trap (Live In Stoke) has a higher pitched intro than usual and sounds like Into The Valley by the Skids at the start.   There are no dates associated with this was recording but it sounds like it came from the Rats post-Bongos over Britain as the horns are more complete than I have heard elsewhere and the guitars a little less to the fore.

This album stands as the Boomtown Rats finest hour, and with the B-sides and the track from the Peel Session, the CD editions improves on the original vinyl edition.

CD WARNING: Don’t ditch that vinyl yet!
The versions of Like Clockwork and Rat Trap on the albums aren't the same as the single versions. With Like Clockwork a couple of lines are removed from the bridge on the single (the album version is better, so don’t worry), and with Rat Trap, "Pus and Grime ooze through the scab crusted sores" is replaced "Death and tears pass down the drains and the sewers". Only a Dubliner could have the vocal dexterity to achieve that, and is well worth a listen.

The biggest omission on the CD is Do The Rat’s original introduction. On vinyl, the track opens with the chimes of Big Ben, and varied stereotypes double entendre their way through the introduction, including Pinky's pal! Possibly a victim of the politically correct days, it is not offensive and should have remained. Also the final pay-off is lost.

What's all that got to do with Punk Rock, eh? Mmm, nothing! Oh!

Glasgow - The Apollo

Rats Played here

Lyceum Ballroom, The Strand

Glasgow - The Apollo

Rats played here

Cambridge Corn Exchange

Friday 2nd December 1977: Cambridge Corn Exchange.
Support act: The Yachts
Admission Fee: £2.00

The Boomtown Rats played for an hour, doing Joey, Do the rat, Mary of the fourth form, and encore of Looking after no. 1.

http://johnnydee.net/ColonelGomez.htm

Mary of the Fourth Form

• ENY9 Mary of the 4th Form/Do The Rat (NL Mercury 6008 513)
• 19-Nov-1977
• 15
• 44-23-20-{15}-15-16-16-21-36
• 9 weeks

The second single from the Boomtown Rats was all about Mary Preece the object of Geldof's teenage affections....

"Her name was actually Mary Preece. We used to hang out in a coffee bar and record shop in Dun Laoghaire called Murray's. After school, she'd come down and she'd have rolled up her skirt and she had legs for days. She was drop dead beautiful and I just wanted her so much and knew that I'd never be able to get her. Actually, I did "get off with her" - to use the parlance of the day - at the Killiney Tennis Club Dance. It was deeply passionate in a grabby, feely way. Anyway, Mary subsequently became the personal assistant to the Irish Prime Minister and lives beside my father, bizarrely enough. She's got two or three kids. But God, she was a major babe." - Geldof

Did he get off with her? Methinks not!

"Yeah, she became the PR to the Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern. Us Dun Laoghaire kids go far! We played in Vicar Street in Dublin a couple of years ago, and there she was: still gorgeous and still wouldn't shag me. She's married, but I didn't feel that should be an impediment. I mean, I'm an international rock star, for fuck's sake!" - Geldof

Poor Mary, no matter what she does she'll always be known as a teenage temptress...

And yet another Mary was living it up last week, namely Mary Preece, a senior civil servant in the Department of the Taoiseach.
Magnificent Mary did the opening honours at the special retirement bash in Dublin Castle last Friday for Walter Kirwan - deputy secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach for the last 30 years.
Six hundred people turned up to wish Walter well, among them Bertie, Garret, John Hume and the aforementioned sex-bomb Mary.
For those of you too old to remember, Mary was, of course, the inspiration behind Bob Geldof's famous Mary of the Fourth Form hit for the Boomtown Rats in 1977 - Irish Independent - Sunday July 18th 2004

Sittin' in the front row
Mary of the fourth form
Turnin' all the boys down
She's turnin' all their heads around
Hitchin' up her short skirt
Stretchin' out her long legs
Pullin' up her stockings
She's combing out her black hair
Starin' at the teacher
Openin' her lips wide
Shiftin' in her seat. Yeah,
She slowly moves her hips aside

But in the middle of the night
She wakes her Mom to turn out the light
Her make-up's on and her jeans are skin tight
And she's heading to the Pillar Bar

Johnnie looks alright tonight she thinks
He gives her a smoke and he buys her a drink
He shoots a frame and they head off into the night.

Teacher's losing control
Thankfully the bell rings
Mary's left all alone
With no one but the teacher
She quickly drops her pencil
And slowly bends to get it
Teacher is a natural man
His hand moves out to touch her
She straightens and looks around, yeah
She laughs and leaves the room, yeah
Heartbreak for the teacher
Sweet dreams for young Mary

But in the middle of the night
She wakes her Dad to turn out the light
Her make-up's on and her jeans are skin tight
And she's headed to the Pillar Bar

Johnnie looks great tonight, she thinks
He gives her a smoke and he buys her a drink
Shoots a frame and they head off into the night.

Leeds Polytechnic Student Union

Roundhouse, London

THE ‘LEW LEWIS BAND’ AND ‘YACHTS’ WERE THE SUPPORT ACTS.

The Boomtown Rats - The Debut Album

Do you remember the first time?

• UK Highest Chart Position: 18
• Total number of weeks on UK chart : 11
• Entry (ENVY1/ENCAS1) : 17th September 1977
• UK Run: 53-31-18-23-23-19-27-41-46-49-58

ENSIGN ENVY1/ENCAS1

Side A

1. Lookin after No. 1
2. Neon Heart
3. Joey's on the street again
4. Never bite the hand that feeds
5. Mary of the 4th form

Side B

1. (She's Gonna) Do You In
2. Close as You'll Ever Be
3. I can make it if you can
4. Kicks

MERCURY / UNIVERSAL CD: 982 677-3

1. Looking After No. 1
2. Mary Of The 4th Form
3. Close As You'll Ever Be
4. Neon Heart
5. Joey's On The Streets Again
6. I Can Make It If You Can
7. Never Bite The Hand That Feeds
8. (She's Gonna) Do You In
9. Kicks
10. Oh Yeah a.k.a. Doin' It Right
11. My Blues Away
12. Sad Boys a.k.a. A Second Time
13. Fanzine Hero
14. Bare Footin'
15. Mary Of The 4th Form (Single Version)

Back in 1977, a group I’d never heard of released an album that I was to hear a lot of. It wasn’t until late 1978 that I bought and heard The Boomtown Rats first LP. Maybe it was just as well, as it was the sort of album that would appeal to a fourteen year old schoolboy aspiring to a life of driving a second-hand Capri, and spending his nights on the tiles! I knew some of the songs from seeing the Rats live and hearing the first couple of singles, so it wasn’t entirely virgin territory.

Looking After No. 1 was the Boomtown Rats debut single, and ultimately proved to be the antithesis of its writer. A manifesto of selfish youth, claiming the dole and grabbing all you can. Still perhaps the most urgent song the Rats ever made from the opening drum roll to the "I’m gonna be like ME! " sign off, there is precious little time to catch breath, and the only respite from the selfishness is to put down the listener with a sneering "I don’t wanna be like YOU, at all!!" . There’s also a fabulous seamless guitar solo in the midst of a four chord romp. So now, who was it that said "Don’t give me charity!"?

Mary of the Fourth Form was the second single but differs on the album. This bluesier track centres on the teenage temptress Mary, pre-empting Don't Stand So Close to Me’s pupil-teacher affair. She also toys with the boys in the pool hall, picking her flame to keep her burning through the night. Given my experience of fourth form, this was predominately wild fantasy on the part of Geldof! A track that sleazes along like early Feelgood, it still stands out as one of the best singles of the seventies.

Joey's on the Street Again is Rat Trap mark one, a big ballad like epic, tracing Joey's life from a lad around town, through marriage, his tragic death and aftermath, whose rising crescendo leads into one of the greatest sax solos/fade outs ever captured on record. There are obvious Springsteen comparisons, but this is probably the number one record that the Rats didn't have, preferring to not follow up Rat Trap with it.

Death, or more precisely attempted suicide, rears its ugly head again in Neon Heart. Lyrically, it's all over the place, like a drunken night on the town, but has a great riff throughout and some typically Rattish answering of the verses. There was also some great guitar work by Gerry Cott, a sign of things to come.

Heavily influenced by Dr. Feelgood, (She's Gonna) Do You In is a great track which was a live favourite, when the Rats were touring with Tonic For The Troops. The comedown to near silence followed by the eruption of noise, loses a lot on record and does not have the same impact as hearing it live. Nevertheless, the sneering disrespectful attitude and Geldof's harmonica skills really make this work and its many changes of pace make it a stand out.

Close As You'll Ever Be also follows the suicidal theme, but is lightened by the thought of a perving Geldof being chased by a jealous boyfriend. Similar to (She's Gonna) Do You In, with its changes in pace and loud rocking guitars, this is another track that sounded far better live, especially when Pete Briquette's driving bass kicks in That is not to detract from the fact that this is still a great track on vinyl. A live version was captured on the B-side of Dave many years later.

Never Bite the Hand That Feeds goes off to the Dublin suburbs, not unlike (Watch Out For) The Normal People. A father's lament on his daughter growing up, but who turns out just like anyone one else. The song features another great guitar break from Cott. A more up and at them song, than many of the others on the album.

Unusually personal for Geldof, I Can Make It If You Can, is something very heartfelt. Shades of Angie by the Stones, this is one of the Rats greatest moments where you can really feel the emotion coming through. Fingers' tinkling piano comes to the fore, as does the lingering guitar solo. Only Fall Down of their later work would compare in terms of emotional exposure.

From a personal point of view, Kicks was probably the stand out track when I got the album, expressing the frustrations of a sixteen year old, finding it hard to score, wanting to be a movie, rock or soccer star, and not being able to buy smokes or drinks. Not entirely unlike my own life then! Crashing chords and a real wig-out at the end make this a fine conclusion to a great album.

There are many dark themes in this album, and although you can hear the influences such as the Stones and Dr. Feelgood, it is unmistakably the Boomtown Rats. Lacking some of the lightness of touch of Tonic for the Troops, the general rawness lends itself to a more night time and urban feel. Rat Trap and possibly (Watch Out For) The Normal People would be the only later songs that would have worked with this collection, even Living on an Island would be considered too lightweight to be on here!

This album has stood the test of time better than practically everything from the Boomtown Rats post-I Don't Like Mondays, due to it having a more classic garage rock, R'n'B feel. It certainly stands side-by-side with Tonic for the Troops as essential listening, and as far as debut albums are concerned, very few compare to this in terms of quality.

Personally, I think it’s a close second to Tonic for the Troops as greatest album of the 1970s. So much for objectivity!

CD Review

Unquestionably of all the re-releases this is the most essential. The album was never released on CD until now. Though some tracks have appeared elsewhere, it is the first time stand outs like Kicks and (She's Gonna) Do You In have made it to the silver disc. There are also previously unreleased demo tracks from 1975, and two tracks from single releases. The only notable omission from the era is Born To Burn which was the second b-side on both Lookin' After No. 1 and the 1994 re-release of Mondays.

The extras from the demos unashamedly show some key influences.

Oh Yeah starts with a guitar from Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell, and then turns into something the early Stones would have been proud of. That very distinct lyrical guitar solo from Gerry Cott is there as well.

Kicking in with a Wilco Johnson-like guitar riff and harmonica, My Blues Away echoes early Dr. Feelgood. Ultimately it comes out as a fast paced (She’s Gonna) Do You In even down to the Harmonica break in the middle of the song and the obligatory R’n’B guitar solo.

Another prototype here in the shape of Sad Boys which sounds like I Can Make it if you Can, more influence from the Stones this time from the Exile on Main Street/Goats Head Soup era in the early seventies. Piano and Hammond to the fore, and a great guitar solo. Plenty of nice harmonies off the lead vocal.

As urgent as Lookin’ After No. 1, Fanzine Hero launches off immediately at a breakneck speed. And then suddenly, the song comes down a honky tonk piano solo, straight out of the Jools Holland repertoire before it starts off again with an almost country-like guitar solo and then back to the relentless drive of the song.

It is extraordinary that such good tracks never saw the light of day back in 1977, though the material on the debut album is so strong, that is understandable, especially as there was no more than about 40 minutes to play with on a conventional vinyl LP.

The single version of Mary of the Fourth Form is longer than the LP version. The most notable difference is the drum roll intro, and the shortened guitar solo. There are some other subtle production differences, and if push comes to shove, it does sound better than the LP version.

Finally, there’s Bare Footin’ which was one of the B-sides of Lookin’ After No. 1. It takes the Robert Parker track and pushes it as fast as it can go. The break implores everyone to get on their feet, and it’s a great cover.

The extras combine make this an indispensable CD. Five tracks showcase the origins of the Rats sounds and the other completes the story of the Rats prior to Tonic for the Troops. Well, except for Born To Burn that is! Given that it is about twenty years since CDs became freely available, it has been a long wait. This release does justify the wait.

Marc

The First TV Appearance from the Boomtown Rats, though sadly one of the last from the late great Marc Bolan, who died as a passenger in a Mini driven by his wife Gloria. The car struck a tree after spinning out of control near Gypsy Lane on Queens Ride, Barnes, London. Ironically, Bolan never drove a car nor learned to drive, as he feared he would die driving, though he owned a number of cars.

Marc essentially created Glam Rock, and his hit singles included masterpieces such as Ride A White Swan, Hot Love and Get It On.

The Rats performed Looking After No. 1 Live, complete with dancing girls. The performance was catured on the Someone's Looking At You DVD.

Marquee, Wardour Street, London

support Bernie Torme

Looking After No. 1

ENY4 Looking After No.1/Born To Burn/Barefootin' (live) (NL Mercury 6008 507)

27-Aug-1977

11

47-28-17-13-{11}-14-15-34-25

9 weeks

The first single release from the Boomtown Rats back in 1977, was a misleading statement of intent. Though it sounds personal, it truly isn't.

"'Number One' was more general. It was a quintessential seventies song - for the 'me' decade... It was not a personal song..... It was a manifesto in one sense and it was about the pervasive selfishness of the time which was beginning to tire me." - Geldof

Fuelled by Geldof's experiences of growing up in a pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland, there is an anger and kicking back against the situation Geldof found himself in back in 1976. Geldof rarely expressed his inner feelings (except possibly on later recordings such as Sex Age & Death) and in this song he takes on an opinionated guise. Some of the sentiments are Geldof's, some ain't. You just need to read between the lines. Geldof writes this song as the anti-Lennon, no peace, no love, no brotherhood of man. He sticks two fingers to the world, and claims he's gonna take it all. Especially the cash. So obviously some elements of truth in there!

The world owes me a living
I've waited on this dole queue too long
I've been standin' in the rain for fifteen minutes
That's a quarter of an hour too long.

"Twelve months after picking up my dole, going home and writing that song, it was in the Top 20.Weird life. The boy behind me in the queue was called Johnny Fingers. I started talking to him cos he was wearing pyjamas in the rain. He became the piano player." - Geldof

A romantic notion, yet untrue. If the song had been written 12 months earlier, then he would not have been talking to Fingers (who would have been Johnny Moylett at the time) just because he was wearing pyjamas, he'd have been talking to him because they were in the same band and they named him Fingers!

"Soon after I got back from Canada I went down to Fitzgeradld's bar and met Gary Roberts... He was drinking with Johnnie Moylett." - Geldof

Don't believe what you read ? Geldof may well have been in a dole queue at some point, but his life pre-Rats suggest he was well travelled and quite active, working on the roads in London, teaching in Spain, moving to Canada to be a journalist, setting up a free-ad news sheet and working in an abattoir in Dublin. Some lovely word play in the verse condensing the phrase"An Hour Is Sixty Minutes Too Long" into a mere fifteen minutes to highlight the urgency and impatience.

I'll take all they can give me
And then I'm gonna ask for more
Cos the money's buried deep in the bank of England
And I want the key to the vault
I'm gonna take your money
Count your loss when I'm gone.
I'm alright, Jack,
I'm lookin' after number one.
If I want something I get it
Don't matter what I have to do
I'll step on your face, on your mother's grave
Never underestimate me I'm nobody's fool

"Most people get into bands for three very simple rock and roll reasons: to get laid, to get fame, and to get rich." - Geldof

Here Geldof does state his intent. He is on the make and on the take. He's had enough, and he wants your fucking money!

Don't wanna be like you.
Don't wanna live like you.
Don't wanna talk like you, at all.

"It was all punk bravado, but it was a statement of intent. It was my way of saying, I'm going to be me. I'm not a wanker, you cunts." - Geldof

Geldof shows he despises the common herd and wants no part of it. Rather than while away hours in the Dublin bars discussing the problems of the world but not actually doing anything about it, Geldof wants to get going and do something. Time to not be like anyone else. At all.

Don't give me love thy neighbour
Don't give me charity
Don't give me peace and love or the good lord above
You only get in my way with your stupid ideas

"Intellectually I resisted, but though logic stripped away the cant and ceremony I still could not rid myself of the voodoo." - Geldof

Geldof here bashes Catholicism. Seeing the church as the oppressor, he dismisses its stupid ideas. Yet still they get in the way, Catholic guilt no doubt.

I am an island
Entire of myself
And when I get old, older than today
I'll never need anybody's help in any way.
I'm gonna be like
I'm gonna be like
I'm gonna be like ME!

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind..." - John Donne

Geldof cleverly inverts the John Donne poem to cast himself adrift of the masses for the final pay off that he's going to help himself and no one else.....


...and famously ends up totally contradicting this whole song within ten years.

Geldof normally casts himself as an observer and critic in his songwriting, yet here he adopts another persona fearful of revealing his true self. Kicks sees Geldof revisit teenage frustrations, so he was to do this again.

Still the last word from Geldof on the inspiration behind one of the Rats' finest moments....

"Dr Feelgood were absolutely central to the Rats. When I heard "Down By The Jetty", it just fucking Blew. Me. Away. I still have it in the car. The Feelgoods and R&B were it for me. Our early live set used to be their entire first album and that was pretty well it. So "Looking After No 1" was my attempt to write a Feelgood's song at about 90 miles an hour." - Geldof

Dalymount Park, Dublin.

To celebrate Phil Lynott's birthday, Ireland's first ever major outdoor rock event featuring Thin Lizzy, Graham Parker and The Rumour, The Boomtown Rats, Fairport Convention, Stepaside, The Radiators and Stagalee.

Marquee, Wardour Street, London

support Bernie Torme

Lodestar Hotel, Ribchester

Support from Demolition, and Disco Punk Chris Graham (surely not the boomtownrats.co.uk webmeister!)

Marquee, Wardour Street, London

support The Darts

Marquee, Wardour Street, London

support Tools

Boomtown Rats vs Skrewdriver

http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/boomtown_rats_vs_skrewdriver.htm

Cardiff University

Support for Tom Petty

Tom Petty

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers toured the UK in 1977, with a little known Irish band in tow, who blew them off the stage!

Terminal Romance UK Tour

June 16, 1977 Birmingham Town Hall
June 17, 1977 Cardiff University
June 18, 1977 Aylesbury Friars Club
June 19, 1977 Rainbow Theatre, London
June 20, 1977 Club Lafayette, Wolverhampton

The Boomtown Rats arrived in punk-drunk Britain in early 1977, self-aggrandizing Dubliners with a serious taste for classic rock, but dripping such vehemently snot-nosed arrogance that it was hard to hold that against them. Certainly their first major London show, opening for the newly ascendant Tom Petty, gave the passive onlooker plenty to think about -- graffiti that insisted "Rats Eat Heartbreakers" appeared all across town and, on-stage, they did. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,3161715,00.html