I Have Never Heard These Bands That Start With The Letter F

Fischer Z I believe you'll find I've talked about here before.

Someone described these threads as being a great bargain-bin primer - well if so then anything by The Flys is definitely a great bargain bin find!

Thank you google. the farmer's boys website is very good!!

"Love and a molotov cocktail" by the Flys RULES.

Floy Joy - Sheffield types peddling a fairly sterile brand of pop-funk. Two brothers and a black girl singer IIRC. Album 'Into The Hot' isn't bad. About as good as Hothouse, but miles behind 52nd Street in the Northern funk ranking.

The Flys - absolutely fantastic!!

F-Word - I think Rik L Rik was their singer and they a couple of singles on Posh Boy records. Can't remember if they were any good!

Floy Joy were much hyped, might have eeven made a few year end polls, but the records weren't anywhere as good as claimed.

Funkaploitan were as bad as their name, piss poor funklite which sounded very white, suburban and stiff even then.

Patrik Fitzgerald: Not to be confused with thingy out of Kitchens Of Distinction. I'd add the ultra-catchy "Improve Myself" to Stewart's recommendations; unheard in decades, but I could sing it to you now.

Floy Joy: One of their songs got covered by Alison Moyet: "Weak In The Presence Of Beauty". Agree that the substance didn't match the hype. Vocalist was Carroll Thompson, who later sang with Paul Oakenfold's Movement 98.

Funkapolitan: Debut single "As The Time Goes By" was limp Brit-funk done badly by a bunch of wildly over-hyped London in-crowd posers. Second single showed some promise, but it was a bit too late by then.

Did your sister know Dr. C and Mark Sinker?

Who's yr sister Mike? I might know her. I certainly remember the Farmers Boys playing my hall of residence. I think supporting The Higsons.

Fools Face -- From Missouri (Springfield? Jeff City? somehwere -- wait, no, Columbia, I think!). They used to play the Bluenote in Columbia MO all the time when I was there. Power poppers; I remember nothing about their music. Not as good as Shooting Star. Or Head East.

Funkapolitan -- Tenth-rate Kid Creole & Coconuts mimics maybe? I dunno

Wow, I hardly knew any F's at all. I was hoping for Fabulous Poodles!!

4 Out of 5 Doctors -- file as more successful than Fool's Face. New Wave-y, supposed to be funny but isn't, good boy hard rock.
Should be shred in a landfill.

Similar to the much less successful and even much-less appealing Quincy (former hard rockers convinced by label or management to reinvent themselves as New Wave, phenom which Zappa had much to say about on "Tinseltown Rebellion") whose fame probably did not spread much beyond eastern Pennsylvania.

Terrible name for internet searching though.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0205,rutigliano,31874,22.html

Other bands included are...
Athletico Spizz 80
Belfegore
Blanket of Secrecy
Colour Radio
Comateens
Cowboy Mouth
The Cretones
Dial M
A Drop in the Gray
Espionage
The Expression
Fay Ray
The Hawaiian Pups
Hilary
Iam Siam
Industry
Invisible Zoo
Minor Detail
The Mood
Gary Myrick
Novo Combo
Polyrock
The Sights
Smash Palace
Space Monkey
The Tenants
The Thought
Trees
Vega, Alan
Vincent, Holly Beth
What Is This

I've never even heard of any of those before today, apart from 4 of 'em (Spizz, Belfegore, Smash Palace, Alan Vega).

Holly Vincent is one of the great "shoulda been a contender" singers of that whole era, from her days with Holly and the Italians (the poppier first album 'The Right To Be Italian' and the moodier, gorgeous, self-titled follow-up) to her completely unheard band The Oblivious. A phenomenal voice.

I have never heard these "F" bands from Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums 1955-1996 book:

(At least I don't think I have. At least not much):

Bent Fabric and his Piano
Facts Of Life
Fairground Attraction
Fantastic Four
Fantasy
Farquahr
Farrenheit
Faze-O
FCC (Funky Communication Committee)
Felony
Femme Fatale
Festival
Fetchin Bones
Fever Tree
Fifth Angel
5th Ward Boyz
5th Ward Juvenilez
Fireballet
Five Special
Five Star
Fannie Flagg
Flash
Flesh For Lulu
The Flying Machine
The Folkswingers
Fools Gold
The Forester Sisters
Forever More
For Squirrels
4 By Four
4 Him
Four Jacks And A Jill
Fourplay
4 P.M. (For Positive Music)
4 Runner
The Freddy Jones Band
The Free Movement
The Front
Frozen Ghost
Fuse One
The Fuzz

Fairground Attraction

uk no. one hit single:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OWzDP5cnE0

Felony had a song "The Fanatic" in the Valley Girl movie, a stalker song with appropriately jumpy synths and nervous vocals.

Fetchin Bones were my least favourite DB Recs band, Athens based twang rock that seemed to desperately chase the trends which resulted in a few terrible major label records.

Flesh For Lulu - Their engaging early 80's goth rock period ("Subterraneans" is an ace song of the genre) unfortunately gave way to a few desperate makeup-caked swings at late 80's stardom with sub Love & Rockets quality. A career path that seemed to echo OMD's similar drop in quality.

Four Jacks and a Jill - enthusiastic but squeaky clean late 60's pop band with a touch of orch and mod. Let's just say their "La La Song" is not a candidate for false advertising. Could've been more but ...

Five Star - Romford's attempt to build a Jacksons style musical empire. Briefly massively popular in UK and Europe 86/88, tried to crack US and failed, losing their UK fanbase in the process and ultimately splitting up in some acrinomy (and bankruptcy?).

Now most famous for this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgH048XJRUM

Fourplay - smooth jazz used cd bin kings, feat. bob james & harvey mason.

Flash: The homeless man's Yes

The Front -- shitty Cult-like hard rock band from late Eighties.early Nineties.

Four Jacks & a Jill: One hit wonders with "Master Jack" from 1968. I had this single.

Fool's Gold: panned by Robert Christgau for being nondescript 70's hard rock pop rock.

An excerpt from my Flash bio, above:

"Dreams of Heaven," the other signature Flash tune, is Yes tanked-up on cheap beer and brawling in a pub, crunching bass morphing into delicate acoustic guitar, senseless interludes of twee singing stitching together the rest of the number between furious passages of guitar careening between jazz fusion and fuzzy early metal. It's thirteen minutes long.

Am I too late to mention that the best Patrick Fitzgerald single was 'All Sewn Up' ?

The Front had a video on MTV - they got a little push in 89.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A61gP1pLaNs

I'm sad to say I bought this when it came out.

freddie jones band were big in chicago in the mid-'90s. popular wxrt playlist rock band (along with the likes of poi dog pondering and whatever other local MOR bullshit was being repped on that station). i was maybe 19 when they were "big" but listening to them made me feel vv old.

Fever Tree - late 60's psych, I think collectors like 'em.

Fireballet - 70's American prog, here's my brothers review of their "Night On Bald Mountain" LP on his mellotron site : http://www.planetmellotron.com/revf2.htm#fireballet

Four Jacks And A Jill - namechecked by Lieutenant Hoogstraten in This Is Spinal Tap?

Frozen Ghost - Canadian pop-rock I think, didn't they have a hit?

Ha, I tried to drum up some Fireballet interest on a thread once; no dice. American prog rock ala Starcastle or the poppier side of Gentle Giant. As Scott said, they had their moments.

Frozen Ghost - Canadian pop-rock I think, didn't they have a hit?

Not quite, though apparently some song called "Should I See" went to #69 on the pop chart in 1987.

What, you've never heard of Falco??

All I know of Faze-O is their Chill & B "Riding High" which is on tons of comps, e.g. Rhino's Phat Jams.

Five Special's best known for "Why Leave Us Alone" - proto-disco that's a bit too "organic" for my tastes. Can hear it on Rhino's (again!) overrated Give Your Body Up.

4 P.M. (For Positive Music) - R&B harmony boys who hit with (yet another) cover of "Sukiyaki."

Festival did the disco Evita!!

Andrew Lloyd Webber lead the Funky Communication Committee for four stormy months. He was mercifully deposed admitting that he's not, you know, funky.

Andrew Lloyd Webber lead the Funky Communication Committee

Actually, they were a "country-pop quintet," believe it or not, who scored (#192) on the album chart in 1979. I'm as suprised by that fact as you are.

That's hilarious!

I love the Faze-O records I have. They were connected to, um, somebody. Ohio Players? I know they were proteges of sorts.

I play Fables by Four Jacks & A Jill ALL THE TIME! Love that record.

Sadly, I still own, like, three Fetchin' Bones records when all i need is the song "stray" and one other song from that album.

Farquahr were no damn good.

i have three fever tree albums and they are okay. kinda lightweight, but i dig some of their songs.

the Flying Machine was James Taylor's old band.

The Free Movement

OHWs who did "I've Found Someone of My Own," a 1971 (?) only-of-its-time oversung celebration of mutual infidelity.

She said, "I've found somebody new
To take your place."
I said, "Don't feel so all alone,
I've found someone of my own."

Fantasy - this is that prog band with the incredibly rare+expensive album that a friend of mine found in cupboard in a flat he was staying in and said to me, "Look at this terrible dorky album I found in a cupboard" and I said, "That terrible dorky album is worth about a £1000"?

I only remember Fetchin' Bones as an old CMJ Certain Damage band.

I wonder if that The Fuzz is the Lansing band from the late '90s/early 2000s. I doubt it, but their Noise Destroyer was a fantastic album that was everything Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots should have been.

I wonder if that The Fuzz is the Lansing band from the late '90s/early 2000s

Nope; this book only goes through 1996. This Fuzz is a "black female trio from Washington D.C." who put out their charting (#196!) album in 1971 on Calla Records.

FCC (Funky Communication Committee)

no idea, but they shall become my new favorite band once i find out.

Finn & The Sharks

Upstate New York rockabilly band, still around; not as rambunctious as they used to be. But a reissue CD that came out late last year suggests that they're early '80s stuff was often hard pub rock, somewhere between the Blasters and Count Bishops, with a Brownsville Station riff or two in there. I wrote about them quite a bit on the rolling country thread.

Femme Fatale -- New Mexico hair metal band, relocated to LA in the late Eighties. Fronted by Lorraine Lewis who had a nice pair of gams and a great voice. Still have the album and saw 'em live. They had one good song, "Waiting for the Big One" which I remember them playing first, after which their set became deadly. Might have had a little mileage on MTV.

weren't Four Jacks and a Jill name checked by Fred Willard in This Is Spinal Tap?

5th Ward Boyz were Rap-A-Lot's attempt to launch another Geto Boys in the early '90s. They released two strong albums, both of which have aged well.

One of the main members went to prison about ten years ago for bank robbery, but he is out now. I saw him in the crowd at the Rap-A-Lot vs. Swishahouse charity b-ball game a couple of years ago, right after he got out.

This Fuzz is a "black female trio from Washington D.C." who put out their charting (#196!) album in 1971 on Calla Records.

Oh yeah. Their hit was "I Love You for All Seasons," a prettily sung ballad (1970?) similar to Three Degrees, or maybe Brenda and the Tabulations (my knowledge of this scene is limited to "Didn't It Blow Your Mind" comps). Love the spoken (and grammatically appropriate!) "Which means"!

Er, scratch that about the year, of course.