ΠΑΡΟΥΣΙΑΣΗ

IT'S IMMATERIAL: DRIVING AWAY FROM...FAME
by George Georgiou (song292@yahoo.gr)



When you name your first album "Life's hard and then you die" you should be prepared for the worst...Three former members of "Yachts" formed "It's Immaterial" in 1980: John Campbell vocals, Martin Dempsey guitar and Henry Priestman keyboards. After surviving in waves of changes they ended to a duo by 1984: John Campbell and Jarvis Whitehead guitar and keyboards who joined in 1982. But, before the moto-title of their first album becomes cynically true ,life tried to seduce them waving gently a flag of fame, as "Driving away from home" was a hit single been featured widely on television advertisements and 1980s based compilation albums. This glorious opener, a careless proposal to a brief road movie vacation was an optimistic ,fresh introduction to the rich world of their first album, back in 1986. Musically there is a vivid parade all over the sounds of the era, new wave,country,folk,synth pop,even blues and ethnic. The skill of the band's orchestration and the production of it lead to a definite,intelligent,concrete and well-realised album:it was a daring bet, but the untied borders of it could at the same time ensure a homogenius result. The cinematic "The better idea" probably hides the perfect symmetry of the spirit that Liverpool duo was hiding: their intelligent nostalgia drives perfectly this dreamy anthem to a fogy end. It's Immaterial enjoyed a second successful single with "Ed's funky dinner" and life was no bad at all... Even if "Driving..." went Top 20 almost all over continental Europe with minimal promotion, the duo decided to listen to the voice of their hearts.Heading on to their next album,"Song", they drove to quiet isolated, polite and sensitive clearings of soulsearching music, ending to ten stories that simply happen in the north of England. Campbell and Whitehead didn't aim for a single moment to find the followers of their first album's singles. From the promenade of memories in "New Brighton" to the childhood visions of "Your voice" their music is driven by a bare human need to let an inner personal world come out gently.If there was a suspicion for a probable single ,it would be "Heaven knows", but finally this delicate masterpiece of intelligent storytelling pop music behind a brilliant cover ("Mount St.Hilarion And The Castle Ruins" by David Bomberg,1948) remained in the shadows ,selling less than 7000 copies in the UK ,back in difficult 1990... Virgin Records dropped many artists and between them "It's Immaterial". Rumors said that at that time (1993) they had just completed another album...Campbell and Whitehead left without a trace ,diving back to anonymity like they had never existed in the music business.Finally, life's hard even after a "Song"...