Tell me about the Tom Robinson Band

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I had never heard of this band until Dickey started playing "2-4-6-8 Motorway" on Indie 103. What a great song! What albums are good? Were they popular in Europe? I had never heard them on U.S. radio until now. Thanks.

― Mace, Saturday, 4 June 2005 23:52 (twenty years ago)

Sort of like Bachman-Turner Overdrive, except, um....more gay. And probably less fed by buffalo burgers. The first album *Power in the Darkness" (with "2-4-6-8" {a hit in the UK, I believe; not sure about the rest of Europe} and "Glad to Be Gay" and "Winter of '79" and "Long Hot Summer" -- I hope I'm getting the names right) is the one to get. Sort of a mix of music hall and pub-rock. I remember liking *TRB II*OK the one time I heard it to. And Robinson's later stuff (with Sector 27 or whatever they were called) has its supporters (it was supposedly funkier or something, though I'm not sure how much I buy that).

― xhuxk, Sunday, 5 June 2005 00:00 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah, "Grey Cortina" off the debut is good, too. (Actually, I don''t know that I'd actually say "Glad to Be Gay" is "good"; it's pretty sappy, when you get down to it. A pub singalong for people who don't drink nearly enough. But it was maybe*important*, um, historically or something. It definitely meant well.)

― xhuxk, Sunday, 5 June 2005 00:04 (twenty years ago)

They were glad to be gay.

"Power in the Darkness" (the song) is fucking AWESOME.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 June 2005 00:08 (twenty years ago)

Just about everything I've heard is good, but yeah, those first two records are the most rockin'. He does a BBC radio show, these days:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/tom_robinson/

― Sang Freud (jeff_s), Sunday, 5 June 2005 00:09 (twenty years ago)

Their first album came with a stencil inside so The Kidz could spray the TRB fist on the wall and sock it to The Man (paint not included by their label EMI). I never heard any BTO in TRB but in an age when RAR and SWP opposed the NF and BNP on The Streets, TRB stood up to be counted, even playing benefits for the GLF, (although TR was BS rather than HS and later decided he was STR8 anyway.)
The music hall/pub rock description is correct though, as you might expect from an act that started out signed to the Kinks label and calling themselves Cafe Society. 'My Brother Martin' was their other great singalong, adored by NUS members. TR was last heard sounding confused as a DJ on BBC 6.

― snotty moore, Sunday, 5 June 2005 00:15 (twenty years ago)

more acronyms please

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 5 June 2005 00:29 (twenty years ago)

It should never be forgotten that TRB, along with Eddie and the Hot Rods, were the bands the wretched Burchill and Parsons REALLY rated.

― Soukesian, Sunday, 5 June 2005 08:37 (twenty years ago)

TR's solo cover of "Rikki Don't Lose Than Number" (w/ interpolated bridge from "Any Major Dude Will Tell You") is worth hearing.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 5 June 2005 11:51 (twenty years ago)

"Cabin Boy"
I wanna go to 'Frisco bay
Drink my liquor and spend my pay
Sling my hammock and hoist the boat
Knuckle under and learn the ropes
Action stations, all correct
Trim the rigging and swab the deck
Hard to starboard - man ahoy
I wanna be your cabin boy
All night... all night

Cabin boy work night and day
Cabin boy goes all the way
Man the capstan, work the pump
Cook and carry and fetch and hump
Set the sextant, strip the guns
Bite the biscuit, beat the drums
Do the hornpipe - jump for joy
I wanna be your cabin boy
All night... all night

I wanna be your cabin boy all night
I wanna be your cabin boy all night...

Set the sextant, strip the guns
Bite the biscuit, beat the drums

Do the duties I enjoy
I wanna be your cabin boy
All night... all night

I wanna be your cabin boy all night
I wanna be your cabin boy all night
All night

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Sunday, 5 June 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

I've lost my mind over "War Baby". I must have played it 40 times in the last two days. Now I've got the 12" version too so nothing can stop me!

― Bassment Jacks (Bimble...), Monday, 9 October 2006 01:38 (nineteen years ago)

"I don't think I could stand another ten years of this fighting/always stabbing and wounding/getting my own back..."

WAR BABY
YOU WERE A WAR BABY!
THIS MEANS WAR BABY!

― Bassment Jacks (Bimble...), Monday, 9 October 2006 01:45 (nineteen years ago)

twelve years pass...

RIP TRB guitarist Danny Kustow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kZMfLULwHA

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 15 March 2019 14:55 (seven years ago)

Don't take no for an answer!!

This is my go to TRB comp, pretty much everything you need - and "TRB 2" isn't the huge drop-off in quality it's reputation says it is:
https://www.discogs.com/Tom-Robinson-Band-The-Anthology-1977-1979/release/5313542

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 15 March 2019 15:27 (seven years ago)

RIP. Against the Wall is such a great song.

― kornrulez6969, Friday, 15 March 2019 15:56 (seven years ago)

On a school trip, we all sang Martin on the back of the coach. I was surprised that so many of us knew all the words.

― Dr X O'Skeleton, Friday, 15 March 2019 22:13 (seven years ago)

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