“Pauline Murray And The Invisible Girls” by Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1980Album Chart of the Decade: 1980s

TJR says

Following the break-up of Penetration due to group tensions in late '79, their small army of fans were consoled with the news that lead singer Pauline would press on with a new solo project, news of which was first delivered via a session for John Peel (who else?) in March, 1980. Sticking with her from Penetration was boyfriend and co-writer Robert Blamire on bass. With an album in mind they teamed up with producer Martin Hannett, underlining the pulling power of their reputation. Martin offered the services of his studio group, The Invisible Girls, that he had assembled to back John Cooper Clarke. The first fruit from the partnership was tasted in July, 1980, with the very fine single, “Dream Sequence (One)” (b/w “Dream Sequence (Two)”), promising a bright new brand of British pop, bordering on the orchestral, and certainly uplifting. The single broke new territory for them, nuzzling in the proper pop charts at #67. Should have been a Top 10 smash of course, but that's a familiar old complaint against the tastes of the record buying public. The full-length album from the 22-year-old singer and her new group was delivered in October, together with a second single, “Mr X”. They lined-up: Pauline Murray (vocals), Robert Blamire (bass), Martin Hannett (bass), Steve Hopkins (keyboards) and Paul Burgess (drums). Lending a hand were The Durutti Column's Vini Reilly and Dave Rowbotham on guitar, John Maher from Buzzcocks on drums and Dave Hassell on percussion. Despite being such a star-studded affair, I'm not as highly smitten with it as most of the critics were. Not bad though, the most acceptable face of new pop.

The Jukebox Rebel
05–Oct–2010

Tracklist
A1 [03:36] 6.0.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - Screaming In The Darkness (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) New Wave
A2 [03:19] 7.4.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - Dream Sequence 1 (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) New Wave
A3 [03:20] 5.3.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - European Eyes (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) New Wave
A4 [02:07] 6.3.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - Shoot You Down (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) New Wave
A5 [02:47] 4.9.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - Sympathy (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) New Wave
A6 [04:04] 5.1.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - Time Slipping (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) Cerebral Pop
B1 [03:03] 6.2.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - Drummer Boy (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) Songwriter
B2 [03:23] 5.4.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - Thundertunes (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) New Wave
B3 [03:35] 6.4.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - When Will We Learn (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) Cerebral Pop
B4 [04:27] 6.8.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - Mr X (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) New Wave
B5 [04:25] 5.0.png Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls - Judgement Day (Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Paul Burgess) Cerebral Pop

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