the FixX: Unjustly Maligned or Reasonably Dismissed? Are We Ourselves?

stand or FAAA-LLLLLL

I saw The Fixx live in Lexington at an Octoberfest about 10 years ago. It was the classic lineup and they sounded good, in that it captured what made those records work. Don’t think they were using any tapes or fill in stuff either.

they are looked on as 80's also rans somewhere below the Thompson Twins maybe equal to Flock of Seagulls.

Jamie West-Oram has a bunch of guitar player fanboys that I didn't expect to encounter when I was looking up how he got those super crystalline tones (rack fx obvs). The Rupert Hine connection mentioned above makes total sense, because Lifeson really started to sound that way too.

random anecdote —and my reason for opening this revive——

i was shopping at this one sam ash for a while and there was a well known guy that sold guitars there. typical longterm guitar store salesman: very amiable, very knowledgeable, very good guitarist. i bought some stuff from him a few times and was in that store a lot. he recommended the fixx to me, i heard him flawlessly play "saved by zero" once while noodling, and i overheard him talking about seeing them live numerous times.

i've always just known "red skies", "one thing leads to another", and "saved by zero" and they're really great songs. especially "saved by zero." one of those definitive 80s classics that i surely hope will never go away. there's not much on the internet jukebox right now unfortunately, but there is a king biscuit flower hour from 1982???

(hell yeah i'm gonna check it out!)

Phantoms is fantastic. I Will is a big favorite of that.

Subjective, but I really enjoy their last few albums, too. It’s nice that some 80s bands still produce quality records, and don’t just mine the nostalgia tours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHAvQH57RiY

Their songs lack force or personality; it makes sense that they backed up Tina Turner on a couple of Private Dancer tunes. But their lack of force didn't hurt'em -- for about four years their bright hooks translated to radio too. "Secret Separation" is my jam, though it's fucking meaningless.q

I was thinking The Fixx might have toured with Rush in the 80s, as the first time I saw Rush live (being driven by a friends mom to the show), we were mildly disappointed as Marillion was opening act on our leg of the tour. This tour was for Grace Under Pressure.

In looking for that info, I did find the Fixx was the Police’s opening act on the Syncronicity tour. I bet there was a bunch of painters hats and parachute pants in those crowds.

“one thing leads to another” lacks force or personality?? alfred my guy are you sure you cribbed the right blog draft for that post??

Yeah, it's a catchy nothing -- it made sense it came out the same year as "Owner of a Lonely Heart."

ahhh go soak your head

Just did!

I could have/should have seen the Police/Fixx tour, since it came to my hometown, but my parents had booked us a week at the Delaware shore THAT WEEK. Lots of my friends went, I was so mad. (the big draw for me was the Police, but I would have been happy to see the Fixx too.)

The Fixx occupied kind of an odd place — when I first started listening to college radio in the early 80s, they were one of the few bands that were present both there and on mainstream rock radio.

xpost Tracer this morning:

"But when the wrong word
Goes in the right ear
I know that Alfred's been lying to me!"

I dig the “reach the beach” instrumental… awesome drums and chorusey guitar. Mostly this music makes me want to roll up the sleeves of my sportscoat

They aren't already?

I dig the “reach the beach” instrumental… awesome drums and chorusey guitar

yes, that one's a bit of a balearic classic iirc, and i'm guessing it's the reason why 'one thing leads to another' goes for a little bit more than a lot of their other records (it's on the b-side of that)? really like the vocal version too though

wait…. they released an album last year! And it’s…. pretty good??!

I mean maybe not a GREAT album but far far better than it has any right to be.. “Neverending” and “Cold” and the uh fairly on-the-nose “A Life Survived” particularly good imo

So you guys got me to listen to the first two records today, which I'm gonna do right now…

1. Are the obvious antecedents Bowie and Roxy? Is there anything else evident? I'm interested to see if I notice anyone else… Cy Curnin for sure thought he was the kinda person who wasn't about to talk about how much he likes gals in song, which distinguishes him from Ferry and in fact Jran Jran, who I suddenly remember that he so strongly disliked that in RS in '84, he sneered that the wave that engulfs the audience in the 3rd minute of the "reflex" video represents the amount of cum those guys spurted in a year…

2. They do seem to be the kind of act that were more than eager and very much equipped to transition from the new wave English marketplace to an AOR circuit working the heartland that in 1983 anyone could anticipate but that barring U2 never did…like, they could open for Rush and Rupert Hine could produce them alongside Rush and Saga… Flock of Seagulls maybe could want that also, but not Depeche Mode or the Cure…

3. Watch him bound out onto the stage in Denver, jerking around in the manner one does when one has just ingested several snoutfuls of Showbiz sherbert…the song they start with here, "the Sign of Fire" is I believe the fifth best known Fixx tune… anyone else remember it as such?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLXm44Frsuk