Photo by Peter Ashworth
“It’s nice to hear B-MOVIE are finally getting a chance to release their forgotten gems”: Matt Johnson
Comprising of Steve Hovington (vocals + bass), Paul Statham (guitar), Rick Holliday (keyboards), and Graham Boffey (drums), while B-MOVIE had already released 2 EPs on Lincolnshire independent label Dead Good in 1980, it was their inclusion on 1981’s ‘Some Bizzare Album’ compiled by Futurist DJ Stevo Pearce which put them on the wider map.
Their song ‘Moles’, alongside contributions from then-unknown bands such as DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, BLANCMANGE and THE THE was one of the album’s highlights. Having previously included them in his ‘Futurist’ chart for music paper Sounds, Stevo continued his support and subsequently became manager of B-MOVIE while SOFT CELL and THE THE were also added to the expanding Some Bizzare roster.
B-MOVIE’s synth-laden new wave brought them to the attention of Phonogram Records who saw the band as their answer to DURAN DURAN and SPANDAU BALLET. While B-MOVIE could do pop as proven by their best known song ‘Nowhere Girl’, their pessimistic post-punk demeanour meant the quartet had more in common with JOY DIVISION, THE CURE and TALK TALK rather than the New Romantics. If they have a 21st Century equivalent, then the nearest comparison would probably be WHITE LIES.
Ever the shrewd operator, Stevo insisted on a 2-for-1 deal which included SOFT CELL for Phonogram to sign B-MOVIE. Marc Almond and Dave Ball got to No1 with their cover of ‘Tainted Love’ in 1981 to begin an outstanding run of a five Top3 singles into 1982, but B-MOVIE were unable to breakthrough into the UK Top40 despite releasing a trio of excellent singles in ‘Remembrance Day’, ‘Marilyn Dreams’ and ‘Nowhere Girl’.
Photo by Peter Ashworth
Stevo Pearce loved chaos but chaos ultimately destroys and the struggle for success, coupled with internal tensions led to Boffey and Holliday departing the band. Severing ties with Stevo, the album they had demoed lay dormant for over 40 years and legend had it that the tapes were under his bed. But the recordings made during this period had actually been stored in Universal Music’s huge vault. After years of enquiries and negotiations, B-MOVIE have acquired the rights back to these tapes and with their restoration, the 1982 debut LP that “never was” is now available under the fitting title of ‘Hidden Treasures’.
The fact that these recordings were shelved back in the day by record label and management politics is nothing short of criminal, but “better late than never” goes the saying and anyone who has ever been entranced by ‘Remembrance Day’, ‘Marilyn Dreams’ and ‘Nowhere Girl’ will LOVE this collection. And for those long standing fans who actually bought their records, the CD has the bonus of addition of B-sides, 12” versions and ‘Moles’ which featured some magnificent synth playing from Rick Holliday.
Those three Some Bizzare era singles need no introduction from the anti-war anthem ‘Remembrance Day’ to the anti-fame art rock of ‘Marilyn Dreams’ but one that should have been a single was ‘Polar Opposites’; although there is what is now widely accepted as the perfect take in the 1981 John Peel session version, this version on ‘Hidden Treasures’ is shorter, grittier and slightly faster in the vein of Leeds’ GANG OF FOUR. Meanwhile the jagged album opener ‘Citizen Kane’ captures that psychedelic Liverpool flavour of the times, coming over like a cross between THE TEARDROP EXPLODES and ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN.
Very different to the arrangement of the 1981 John Peel version, the intense Cold War angst of ‘All Fall Down’ with references to Ronald Reagan may capture another time, but its words are chillingly relevant again and an indicator as to why this compendium of recordings from 1981-1982 sound so on point in 2025.
‘Ice’ is feisty gem of song with a hand played synth bass battling with frantic rhythm guitars and a speedy drumming run from Graham Boffey that would have made Stephen Morris proud, while the bright synth melodies on ‘La Lune Lunatique’ mask the shadier lyrical overtones. Less post-punk and much more of a melodic electronically styled pop song, ‘Crowds’ is not that dissimilar from say OMD or A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS and points towards the more commercial sound that Phonogram had signed B-MOVIE for. But as a complete flip to that mood, the gloomy progressive drama of ‘Beginning To Fade’ makes an ominous ‘Hidden Treasures’ closer.
The CD bonus tracks include longer takes of ‘Remembrance Day’ and ‘Marilyn Dreams’ but it’s the mighty ‘Nowhere Girl’ with the extended Rick Holliday’s concert piano and synthbass intro breakdown that excels as a classic 12” version. Of the B-sides, the remix of ‘Institution Walls’ from the second of the Dead Good EPs and ‘Scare Some Life Into Me’ both capture the raw vocal anxiety in Steve Hovington’s paranoia. Meanwhile the icy drum machine laden ‘Film Music’ was Holliday’s instrumental excursion into the monochromatic Mittel Europa atmospheres of ‘The Third Man’ and ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’.
While the fragmented B-MOVIE led by Hovington and Statham did release a debut album in the disappointing ‘Forever Running’ in 1985, it is the three singles from this ‘Hidden Treasures’ period that are held in the highest esteem, so much so that the American electro-rock band THE FAINT used ‘Remembrance Day’ as the basis for their own ‘Southern Belles in London Sing’ in 2004. At around the same time, B-MOVIE reformed with their original line-up and despite the departure of Holliday again in 2022, continue today.
‘Hidden Treasures’ provides the missing links to ‘Remembrance Day’, ‘Marilyn Dreams’ and ‘Nowhere Girl’, along with the context as to why for a period, B-MOVIE were judged to become the next big thing. It didn’t happen for them, but this lost album superbly restored by Roger Lyons puts them on an equal footing with many of the best post-punk synth-laden bands of the era.
Absence can make the heart grow fonder and this case highlights how despite the passing of 43 years, B-MOVIE’s music from this period really has stood the test of time.
‘Hidden Treasures’ is released as a blue vinyl LP, black vinyl LP, CD and download by Wanderlust Records on 30th May 2025, available from https://www.roughtrade.com/product/bmovie/hidden-treasures
B-MOVIE 2025 UK live dates:
Manchester Rebellion (30th May), London Dome (31st May) Brighton Prince Albert (1st June)
https://www.facebook.com/B.MovieMusic/
https://www.instagram.com/b_movieband/
Text by Chi Ming Lai
24th May 2025
Follow Us!