The Fixx stands near the top of
my list of the greatest 80’s bands,
in part because their music doesn’t
sound dated–there are no dumb
drum machines, no easily identifiable
synthesizer cliches or sequencers.
Their timelessness comes from
the key instrumental fact that they
were a rock band. They stand out
because each player, not just one
or two, had a distinct thing going on.
I love this rhythm section of Adam
Woods and Dan K. Brown, for example.
These guys knew exactly what to do,
and particularly, what NOT to do.
Both of them utilized space brilliantly.
Check out that drum pattern in
“One Thing Leads to Another,” or
the bass line in “Less Cities, More
Moving People.” And pick any song
and notice how these two are
locked in together, playing with
and away from each other in super
cool ways. Neither of them were
show offs, just perfectly suited for
each other and for the band.
Jamie West-Oram is one
of the most distinctive guitar players
of his era, right up there with Andy
Summers in pure inventiveness and
sonic recognizability. This keyboard
guy, Robert Greenall, is always up to
something textural and rhythmically
interesting. And Cy Curnin has a
terrific voice, rarely, if ever, wrote
a stupid lyric, and he had a great,
spooky stage presence. Together,
these five English musicians crafted
smart, rhythmically unusual,
infectiously memorable pop tunes.
They ushered me into my young adulthood
and my early development as a musician,
as they were the first new music discovery
of my first days of college and my first
years playing the drums in my first
quasi professional level band. That’s
a lot of FIRSTS with The Fixx.
Notes on the vinyl editions: Having lost all of my Fixx albums in the great vinyl purge of 1989, both of these gems are albums I recovered in a used bin somewhere for $2 and $5 respectively. The best $7 I ever spent. Reach the Beach, MCA Records, 1983, black vinyl, used in great shape. Phantoms, MCA Records, 1984, black vinyl, used in great shape.
Biographical Note: The Fixx is the only group of musical heroes with whom I had the honor of sharing the stage. My band, Here Comes Everybody, had the good fortune to open for them on two separate occasions here in Portland, Oregon. I want to say these shows were in 1998 or 99 and 2000 or 01, both at the Aladdin Theater. Both of these were peak experiences for me as a musician, and the Fixx guys were both kind and welcoming to us, perfect English gentlemen.
In case you don’t already know: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing at least one, sometimes two or three long skinny poem-like-things in response for each artist, and on a few occasions, writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response to more than one artist. As a poet and a student of poetry, I understand that these things look like poems, but they don’t really sound much like poetry, hence, I call them “poem-like-things.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays that veer every now and then into the poetic or lyric.
michael jarmer 