Makin time

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makin time live at the 100 club lp(vinyl) on flac and mp3

Makin' Time - Rhythm!: The Complete Countdown Recordings (Big Beat UK) CD
Our Man in New Jersey, Bill Luther, flexes his memories of bygone days and gives us a "Smashed Blocked" style review of a new collection of songs from Makin' Time. We suspect you'll read on....
Makin' Time - Rhythm!: The Complete Countdown Recordings (Big Beat UK) CDMakin' Time, a band stored in the back of my mind with The Untouchables (the band not the organization), the In The Crowd fanzine, owning a Vespa that rarely ran and wearing clothes that very often put me in harm's way of subhuman white thugs. Ahh - the 80s. Sadly for me, most things associated with that period don't age well. I steered clear of Makin' Time in their 1985 heyday because most of the mod intelligentsia were wetting themselves about them and I couldn't see what all the fuss was. This was reinforced by my then Plain Jane idiot girlfriend, who upon hearing a cassette a friend made of their debut Lp "Rhythm N' Soul", quipped (in all seriousness) "Is this Katrina and The Waves?". By their second and final LP ("No Lumps, Fat or Gristle Guaranteed") a year later I was all about them. Too late, they were gone right after it. Having been dropped by the Stiff Records backed Countdown who imploded with Stiff's demise they put the second long player out from their own purse and fell apart.
Well Big Beat has seen fit to resurrect the band's entire output for Countdown Records and the results are pleasant. I equate it to pouring over old photos albums in a fit of nostalgia: it's good in small doses but taken full on it's a bit much. The key to Makin' Time's sound is all of their songs are poppy love odes, unlike many of the '85 U.K. mod scene who were spouting Jam-ish little anthems, Makin' Time captured the key to youthful listeners: L-O-V-E. It's ideal summer day, tranny (the radio kind) music that sounds sweet and chirpy. Ditties like "Feels Like It's Love", "Here Is My Number", "Only Time Will Tell" et. al. succeed thanks to Fay Hallam's sweet voice and distinct Vox keyboard tinkling. The production was/is amazingly clean (thanks to power pop veterans Will Birch and Pat Collier). Fay Hallam's vocal foil (who was also the guitarist) Mark "Sid" McGounden's pipes aren't bad either. Indeed he's at his best on the wailing "Take What You Can Get" or "Every Single Day", but it's Fay who carries the band. Sure there are weak moments, pointless/soul-less covers of "Boom Boom Boom", "I Take What I Want" and "I Gotta Move" included, but the band were tight and no slouches in the energy department with a stout rhythm section in the form of future Charlatan Martin Blunt on bass and Neil Clitheroe on drums. Sadly their impending demise was no doubt hastened by their cover of Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up" (which according to the liners by my 80s ‘zine peer Chris Hunt of Shadows & Reflections/The Catch fame was forced on the band).
I recall it being savaged by the music press whilst kind mod ‘zine's did their best not to slag it. But ignore it and concentrate on the other humble offerings (like my fave "Eating Up the Cold" from a 12" E.P., remember them?). Hopefully Big Beat will see fit to release their second lp on CD which follows the same formula but sees the band sounding more like The Prisoners (while the latter's final lp sounded more like Makin' Time!!).