wild west show

On 22nd Augst they released a new version of Love Will Always Make You Cry, this time with King on drums, and which for most fans was thier first taste of the new album.

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On the August Bank Holiday weekend, ATF did not play the Greenbelt Festival again, but Nick Battle made a solo appearance, and Twidell, now spelling his name Iva Twydell. He had gone back to his day job after leaving the band, but re-emerged with his own band the Part Time Heroes, a name that summarised their modus operandi. The show gave him an opportunity to display his versatility, and as well as playing drums and providing vocals, and sporting his famous Union Jack waistcoat, he was down stage with an acoustic guitar in hand as a front man.

After so many setbacks, the momentum for ATF was picking up again. Already this year they had had to cancel three UK tours, two European tours, and a US visit, as well as re-recording an album, and replacing their drummer. They had had a difficult time, suffering more than most from the 'difficult second album' syndrome. But now the album 80-f was finished and was announced in the press in September, due for release on 10th October. In addition major tour to promote the album was planned for October and November. Things were moving again.

The release of the new album is pushed back to 24th October, and coincides with the release of the single Wild West Show. The tour dates were announced in the music press, beginning with Sheffield Polytechnic on 17th October, and ending at Birmingham University, with a special show the Rainbow on 14th November.

They set out on the long awaited Autumn Tour with a crew of seven, two lorries with six tons of equipment, and a minibus for the band. The tour was a sell out, despite a couple of venue problems. The set included a giant backdrop featuring the red triangle logo from the new album, confetti bombs, Russell in a leopard-skin jacket, and Piercy donning a cowboy hat for Wild West Show.

Piercy's wife Judy gave birth to a girl, which they named Ellen Louise.

Adverts are placed in the music press the weekend before the release of the new album, using the triangle graphic.

To accompany the new new single, the band spend a day in October at a wild west theme park shooting a video. The four of them dressed up as cowboys and were seen wandering around the muddy streets of 'Frontier City' (it had rained heavily the morning of the shoot). Shooting had begun in the 'saloon' where the four were filmed engaged in a game of poker. The story line that emerged involved the four heroes defending themselves against four desperados that were riding into town, culminating in a show-down in the street and four bodies lying in the mud, and the four heroes leaving the scene. Basically, lots of moody posing, and lots of gun-slinging. Unfortunately, the amount of killing a carnage in the video ensured that it was virtually unusable by most TV channels.

The new album is finally released on 24th October on the Epic label.

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The album gets mixed reviews. Paul Du Noyer in the NME was unimpressed. In a combined review of ATF and The Planets, he said:

"Both After The Fire and The Planets make tidy, neat and well behaved music that's superficially faultless, but in the end just one colossal drag."

"It was - to be boringly fair - about the whole thing - most unfair of me dismiss these albums as rubbish (much as I've hated listening to them) because of course they represent a lot of hard work and care and professional competence and all the rest of it. But it's so depressing that such unimaginative mediocrity still makes up a vast proportion of the industry's output."

"But audiences at the more mature sort of venues will probably sit around, and nod, and agree: this is 'nice' music, isn't it? And rock goes on dying."

A late review from Paul Strange writing for Melody Maker said:

"The ideas continue on this outing driven by new man Pete King's tough drumming."

"One of the band's trademarks is the use of stuttered verse lines, a driving beat and catchy hooks."

"And finally to anyone who dismisses ATF as just a Christian rock band - forget the religious tag; these guys are good musicians and have turned out a fine zappy pop album. Buy it."

The album is accompanied by the release of what would be the only single that year, Wild West Show. It gets reviewed by Melody Maker with a curt "Tasteful, bland, boring."

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The Sounds reviewer was similarly dismissive:

"I can bear the clichés, but the whole thing's so intensely irratating, all jagged music and sub-Costello rantings, and the very disc is in danger of falling from a great height. Buck off."

On 5th November, they received some welcome radio coverage when they appeared on Radio One's Peter Powell Show in a live broadcast from Lordswood Boys School in Birmingham. In front of a hyped up crowd of pupils Piercy was interviwed by Powell, and they performed five songs: Laser Love, and four to promote the new album.

Two days later, recording of BBC TV's Rock Goes To College took place at London's City University on 7th November. The night before they had played Manchester, and after the show, they had to get to Birmingham for another show there. The only new material aired was an instrumental version of Sailing Ship, though it was not identified as such. Extended versions of Can You Face It? and Wild West Show were performed, and during the latter, Banks left his keyboard with just a drum machine playing, and came down-stage to 'joust' with King on a pair of little snare drums.

berkley club, bristol

As in the previous year ATF played the Rainbow Theatre on 14th November celebratory style in front of nearly 3000 punters. The show was recorded, and some live tracks appeared on future single releases. A live EP was announced in Friends magazine and was scheduled for release in mid January. And a longer tour for January and February was planned, including dates in Scotland and Ireland.

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