The Passage's Xoyo and Mifune, together at last

[stellaviolens]

What raining again ?

[bromodomain]

Typical Dick Witts - a quote from Shakespeare to start with and a song about sex, all set to a thumping Dr Who-like tune. My very favourite band of the early 80s. I hear they didnt like the finished mix of Pindrop, but I for one loved the lo-fi murky sound. The NME dubbed them the ELP of punk - a little unfair, but a good approximation of what they were like live.

[falconneil]

Dick Witts was a flipping genius. Classically trained and full of unusual ideas that didn't mesh with much else going on back then. Their albums encompass all kinds of sounds and feelings, from classic Manchester introspection in Pindrop to their later more dance based tracks, but all had that sordid and dangerous underbelly.

[swanstep]

@falconneil . Good comment. I agree completely.

[Zelda36J]

X o Y o triple X sexpose - fabby track - shame he's a dwarf !! :)

[djbethell]

The best Passage song ever. I had in on 7" with the brilliant b-side Animal In Me. Lovely!

[swanstep]

@djbethell . Thanks for dropping by/your comment. The Passage were pretty fascinating alright, and that (quite clockwork orange-ish I think) B-side is up on youtube now too.

[LENTICULARPLASTIC]

An unusual band, I thought they deserved more celebrity than what came to them, and more resonance than they were able to generate.

[denpunk666mitsos]

Thanks for posting. This and others on "Pillows and Prayers" defines cool from a certain time and place. If you never had it for "99p or less" you were a dick.

[sastal]

Just heard this for the very first time this evening via the four-CD box set of Cherry Red Records. Besides the Ben and Tracey stuff, this and Thomas Leer clearly stood out. I am going to venture out here and take some major insults, but I kept thinking of Soft Cell and Jarre. Beautiful song.

[swanstep]

Thanks for your comment. The Ben and Tracy incarnations are the best Cherry Red stuff for me too, with Passage a close second. Still CR's US punk stuff - The Dead Ks, The Runaways - is pretty epochal. And there are CR gems from people like Medium Medium, and Fantastic Something. These bands weren't world-beaters but they had the odd (since widely strip-mined) great song or sound. And pre- The The Matt Johnson... the list goes on. An amazing pool of talent for such a small label really.

[captainkundalini1]

Amazing. What happened to them?

[patrickpatterson]

Beautiful video - perfect track.....had this on 12" way back when!

[swanstep]

Thanks! I continue to be hopeful that my vid. will lead some fans of the film to check out the band and v.v..

[boxerinj]

@swanstep My late friend, Deirdre O'Donoghue, played this song gleefully on her SNAP show, on KCRW, back in the 80s.....It is a gem.....thanks.

[DimAnt4]

you're right..DIAMOND****

[geoff405]

if the degenerates was released today, it would be hailed a classic !

[swanstep]

I agree GingerTig. - the Passage were super-creative and would sometimes pack a whole album's worth of ideas into a single song. Listening to their records could be exhausting, but it was also never less than terrifically interesting.

[brucewayne909]

OMG...whenever I see the actress Iben Hjejle I get this urge to pack up & move to Denmark ...LOL

[Mojosbigstick]

OMG, I hadn't heard that for 27 years! I never ever forgot the chorus. Thank you for posting!

I don't suppoe anyone else here was on that PGL holiday? ;-)

[swanstep]

@mojo: You're welcome. What does 'PGL' stand for? (Just curious!)

[Mojosbigstick]

PGL run adventure holiday camps for kids. The week I was there the guys in the computer lab played nothing but this song. Which is probably why it stuck in my head.

Great holiday! I learnt archery, BASIC, and how to pull off a t-shirt dress!

[punkpanther42]

This is different to the version I used to have - both are great...

[milkcult]

I got all their cds on LTM reprint... great weird wave.

[WhatTheCurtains]

Class song, sounds great on the headphones, some interesting synth sounds in there.

[swanstep]

The song really 'popped' in 1982 that's for sure. It never charted, but then New Order's block-busting 'Temptation' from around the same time only got to #29 or something pitiful. Temptation has had a long tail, however, and in a perfect world, Xoyo would have too. My vid. contributes to that. In general, a a lot of stuff on Passage's label, Cherry Red, hasn't got quite quite the exposure it deserves. The label's sampler _Ambition_ is full of gems.

[WhatTheCurtains]

A friend posted me a mixed tape in 1987 and it was on there, I've like it ever since, found it on last FM a while back but it was woefully missing here. There's no logic to great songs not getting where they deserve, The Human League's Being Boiled initially failed to chart for example.

[bookcarbook]

I only discovered this song a few days ago. Great write up, cheers!

[swanstep]

Thanks. Glad to spread the word about the song...and the film.

[popoprdepetl]

interesting band. one of the best movies ever. good job :)

[swanstep]

Thanks!

[wutpa]

Thanks so much for posting this. Top song, I still play it quite a bit. And a damned fine video pairing if I might say so. Haven't seen Mifune yet, but it's on the list. Bravo squire!

[swanstep]

Thanks wutpa. My not-so-secret hope is that some Mifune/Iben Hjejle fans will discover the Passage and vice versa.

[80schick67]

"If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it"

"Enough, no more, 'tis not so sweet as it was before"

From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in case anyone was wondering

[swanstep]

Thanks for the note.... I mentioned the Twelfth Night source in the 'more info' section. The Passage were real clever clogs alright.

[swanstep]

You're welcome Jenna. I was amazed about the absence of Passage stuff too. There are these surprising gaps on youtube, e.g., where's The Raincoats's 'No one's little girl'? (My next vid. proj. if I can find time and inspiration.)