[Shuttered Decades] -- There was a time, in the early 1980s (of course), when I thought Reach the Beach was The Fixx's debut album. This is probably because "One Thing Leads to Another" penetrated my small town's radio before either "Red Skies" or "Stand or Fall." Yes, my introduction to The Fixx came with their sophomore record, Reach the Beach, which helped the band break into the international scene in 1983. I discovered their debut album, Shuttered Room, shortly thereafter. Regardless of when I learned of it, Shuttered Room was released 40 years ago this week, on May 13, 1982. Well, the UK version came out in May 1982. The US release had to wait until October of that same year.
But I digress.
The Fixx formed in 1979, coming together in London, England, and initially taking the name, Portraits. After a few singles and a lineup change, they became The Fix. Their very first single, "Lost Planes," along with a few live tracks, garnered them enough attention to warrant a contract offer. But that offer was contingent on a name change -- MCA was apparently worried about connotations of drug use. And, thus, The Fixx was born and they set about recording their debut album, Shuttered Room. In the US, this record peaked at #133 on the Billboard 200. The aforementioned singles -- "Stand or Fall" and "Red Skies" -- peaked at #76 and #101 on the Billboard Hot 100. They fared better on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, where "Stand or Fall" peaked at #7 while "Red Skies" hit #13. Both songs featured in MTV rotations and were top 100 hits on the UK Singles chart as well.
Some tracks on this record have a frenetic energy and urgency, but not the sound, associated with the band's later, and bigger, hits. But I kind of feel like they could have been recorded by any other run-of-the-mill new wave band of time. In particular, "Some People," "Cameras in Paris," and "Sinking Island" evoke this feeling for me. A few other non-single tracks, however, show the band's promise. I place "The Fool," "Lost Planes," and "I Live" in this latter category. Even with those assessments of a split quality, I find the entire record to be entertaining. I'm not saying Shuttered Room is a complete album, like most of the band's later releases, but I would call it a complete experience. As usual, your mileage may vary.
In revisiting the songs on Shuttered Room, I found that the track lists for the UK and US releases differed in song order and content (the US release replaced two tracks on side 2). For this Flashback, I compiled a playlist based on the original 10-track UK listing, but I added "I Found You" and "The Strain" -- the US replacements -- as the 11th and 12th tracks in the playlist. There were also two different videos for "Red Skies." I think this video is perhaps the more familiar version for the US record buying, and MTV-watching, audience. But as far as I can tell, the version of "Red Skies" in my embedded YouTube playlist is truly the original video for that song. Enjoy!
Flashback: Shuttered Room (May 13, 1982)
That's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
I'll see you in seven!
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