The Records formed out of the ashes of the Kursaal Flyers, a pub rock group featuring drummer Will Birch. In 1977, John Wicks joined the band as a rhythm guitarist, and he and Birch quickly started writing songs together, Wicks as composer, Birch as lyricist. The Kursaal Flyers dissolved three months after Wicks joined, but he and Birch continued to write songs together with the hopes of starting a new four-piece group with Birch on drums and Wicks on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Birch soon came up with a name for the formative band: The Records. The group's line-up initially included bassist Phil Brown and lead guitarist Brian Alterman, whose guitar riffs have been compared to that of the Byrds. Alterman played on two early demos that were later included on the album Paying for the Summer of Love, before joining another band. Alterman was replaced by Huw Gower in 1978. Like Birch and Wicks, Gower and Brown were music veterans: Gower had played with a band called the Ratbites from Hell and Brown had been the bass player for the Janets.
The new group was heavily influenced both by British Invasion bands like The Beatles and The Kinks and early power pop groups such as Badfinger, Big Star, and Raspberries. Power pop was experiencing a renaissance on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks in large part to the burgeoning punk/new wave movement.
They were hired to back Stiff Records singer Rachel Sweet on the "Be Stiff Tour '78". The Records opened the shows with a set of their own. Birch and Wicks also wrote a song for Sweet's debut album entitled "Pin a Medal on Mary". The songwriting duo also penned "Hearts in Her Eyes" for the Searchers, who made an unexpected comeback with their power pop oriented album The Searchers in 1979.
Based on their demos (later released as Paying for the Summer of Love), the band was signed to Virgin Records in 1978. Their debut single, "Starry Eyes", was released in the UK that December and has since become their best-known song and an oft-covered power pop standard. Allmusic called it "a near-perfect song that defined British power pop in the '70s". Due in part to its clear influence by American power pop, the song was a bigger hit in the US than in the UK; it peaked at No. 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1979.
The group prepared their debut album with producers Robert John "Mutt" Lange and Tim Friese-Greene. Huw Gower produced "The Phone", which was added to the album in preference to one of Lange's efforts, a cover of Tim Moore's "Rock 'n' Roll Love Letter". The debut LP Shades in Bed yielded another single, "Teenarama", their second-best known song. The album was released in the US in July 1979 as The Records with different song sequencing and with the original single version of "Starry Eyes" replacing Lange's re-recording that appeared on the UK edition. The album was sufficiently well received to peak on the Billboard chart at No. 41. Gower also produced the bonus four track disc of cover tunes included in the album release, which also received FM airplay, notably the version of Spirit's "1984", which was strong enough to become short-listed by Virgin as the second single off the album.
That was the pinnacle of their success. Returning to the UK, Will Birch engaged the services of producer Craig Leon to record two new songs and to remix two tracks from Shades in Bed for a possible single release. Huw Gower acted as co-producer. After an aborted German tour with Robert Palmer, Gower left the band and relocated to New York, where he joined forces with New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen. Their collaboration led to the successful album Live It Up.
Jude Cole, a 19-year-old American, who had been in Moon Martin's backing group The Ravens, joined for the album Crashes (1980). The album was not a hit, and did not yield any successful singles, and record company support for the band dried up during the Crashes tour. Cole stayed in the US, while the core of Birch, Wicks and Brown returned home to England.
The trio expanded into a quintet with guitarist Dave Whelan and lead singer Chris Gent. Previously, most of the songs had been sung by Wicks, but with other members frequently taking lead vocals for individual songs. Birch has since declared that the decision to recruit a lead singer was made "perhaps unwisely". This line-up recorded a third album for Virgin, 1982's Music on Both Sides. Like its predecessor, the album was not a hit.
After this, the band effectively broke up. Birch turned to tour managing, running 'Rock Tours', a sightseeing London Bus venture, producing and writing. In 1990 the original band briefly reformed to contribute a track for the 1991 Brian Wilson tribute album, Smiles, Vibes & Harmony. Birch, Brown and Wicks cut the basic track for "Darlin'" in London; Gower added his parts and mixed it in New York. The same year also saw the US release of Paying for the Summer of Love. Both recordings received great press, but were not enough to outweigh unresolved past issues within the core membership, which effectively killed any possibility of restarting the group. Wicks relocated to the US in 1994 and was writing, recording and performing both solo and with a new incarnation of the band up until 2018.
John Wicks died on October 7, 2018 in Burbank, California.
UP ALL NIGHT
The Records Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Spent another night
Sitting here waiting
For the morning light
I feel the sun
Rush through the haze
And all my nights
Turned to days
Six o'clock and the town
Is waking now
(Ah) How bizarre
On my way, don't ask me how
They have to take their daily ride
I meet the paperboy outside
I'm
Up all night
I'm
Up all night
I'm
Up all night
Feel so right
To be up all night
Eight o'clock and it's
Time to go to bed
Sleep all day
Dream about the things we say
We'll make the first
Of all the moves
Don't call me
Til the afternoon
Repeat Chorus
Repeat Chorus
Tonight's the night
Feels so right
I've been up all night
The Records' "Up All Night" is a song that talks about staying up all night and watching the world go by. The song's protagonist has been sitting up all night and waiting for the morning light, and they observe as the town begins to come alive at 6 o'clock. They see people taking their daily rides and even meet the paperboy outside. The singer feels alive and empowered by the experience of staying up all night and observing the world, and they encourage others to do the same.
The song speaks to the youthful spirit of rebellion and staying out all night, as well as the sense of freedom that comes with it. It also touches on the idea of dreaming about the things that were said while up all night and planning the next move. The chorus is a repetition of the phrase "up all night," which represents the feeling of staying up all night and enjoying every moment of it.
Overall, The Records' "Up All Night" is a song that celebrates the feeling of staying up all night and experiencing life to its fullest. It encourages listeners to embrace their youth and live in the moment.
Line by Line Meaning
Five o'clock and I've
It's already 5 am and I am still up
Spent another night
Another night has passed by without me sleeping
Sitting here waiting
I am waiting for something to happen
For the morning light
I am waiting for the sunrise
I feel the sun
I can feel the warmth of the sun
Rush through the haze
The sun is breaking through the fog
And all my nights
All the nights that I have spent up till now
Turned to days
Feel like days because I haven't slept
Six o'clock and the town
It's 6 am and the town is starting to wake up
Is waking now
People are starting to get out of their beds
(Ah) How bizarre
It's strange, almost surreal
On my way, don't ask me how
I am on my way somewhere, I don't even know how I got there
They have to take their daily ride
People are getting into their cars and starting their day
I meet the paperboy outside
I see the paperboy delivering newspapers
I'm
I am
Up all night
I am awake throughout the night
Feel so right
It feels great to stay up all night
To be up all night
It's a wonderful feeling to be up all night
Eight o'clock and it's
It's 8 am and it's time
Time to go to bed
It's time for me to go to sleep
Sleep all day
I will sleep throughout the day
Dream about the things we say
I will dream about the conversations we had
We'll make the first
We will take the first step
Of all the moves
The first move towards our goal
Don't call me
Please don't call me
Til the afternoon
Until the afternoon, because I will be sleeping
Tonight's the night
The night is here, and it's our night
Feels so right
Everything feels perfect
I've been up all night
I have been awake all night
Contributed by Natalie E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Bikewithlove
The Records are different from anything out there. I hear a lot of Robyn Hitchcock, Donnie Iris, The Romantics, The Cars, and Matthew Sweet in their songs. They seem to be one of those bands everyone was inspired by but never made it into the mainstream consciousness of pop culture. The Records’s music doesn’t jump out at you and grab you, and it doesn’t have a clear-as-glass direction, but it’s got a lot of exciting and enjoyable ideas in it.
Ronnie Waters
I only love them more over the years. Classy and pure pop bliss!
Manuel Vega Alvarez
Grandes guitarras, grandes voces, grandes canciones.
wajobu
I saw this band live at an outdoor concert in 1979. They were excellent!
triarii11
It's odd. Of everything I've ever heard, I always come back to The Records, and am always massively entertained. It seems when I'm in the mood for "this kinda music," then this band fulfills the desire in a most excellent way. It's a nice pop that can be sugary, but even better, there is a greater number of more detailed rock-pop songs mixed in. The band "sound" they crafted for themselves is something you like or do not, but that could be said of Warrant or Josh godhelpme Grobin. Look for the Records playlist from triarii11. Righteous jams. Anyone who likes The Records should investigate the four albums by The Raspberries, granddaddies of definitive power-pop.
3 Chord Philosophy
One of the most dependable albums of the era.
Hmbldzy99
Rest in peace John. GREAT SONG!
Ron Roe
Wished I could have seen this group live.
jml2621
Tim Friese-Greene (Talk Talk) with a piece of brilliant production. RIP John Wicks.