CHARLIE (late 70s-early 80s UK band)

I'm shocked to discover this band a couple of days ago. I'm yet to hear any record completely but it looks like they played great mix of purely american smooth yacht-rock and later AOR. How come they are so unknown and how do they sound on CD?

 

Assuming you mean the group with Terry Thomas? A friend of mone in college turned me on to them with the No Second Chance album. I thought they were ready to break through with Fight Dirty but they were not able to sustain the momentum. Their albums did begin to decline after that save their last hit "It's Inevitable". Terry Thomas went on to produce Bad Co. among others.

There is (was?) a German website on the band. You might find these links interesting ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_(band)

http://www.charlie-music.com/

http://classicrockmusicblog.com/interviews/charlie-terry-thomas-interview/

I find the Renaissance reissue of their albums to be quite disappointing.

 

She Loves to be in Love. Great song. Never had any CDs or vinyl. If you like Charlie check out Breathless, Lake, and New England. Great bands.

 

Terry Thomas clearly was honing his craft with Charlie, because he went on to produce some fine 80's arena rock, particularly Bad Co Mk 2's HOLY WATER and DANGEROUS AGE.

 

Got quite a bit of airplay in the late Seventies.....No Second Chance is a very good album.

 

Great band. I heard them on an FM station in St. Louis (KSHE-95) many, many years ago and got hooked. I have all of their albums on vinyl and a compilation / best of on CD. Too bad they never got the recognition they deserved.

 

Well, for awhile they had a great theme going for the albums covers....







Seriously though, they did put out some good, late 70's rock and roll. Nice, clean guitar work and tight song structures. I've got a couple other albums from the early 80's, but they didn't really hold up to these 3 for me and I lost track of them after that although I do know there are other Charlie releases out there from later on.

 

No Second Chance is a great disc that is in need of a worthy cd release. The discs out there now sound like they came from a prerecorded cassette tapes! Good luck in seeing these reissued!

 

The first four albums were just reissued in Japan as cardboard sleeve mini LPs. That was the good luck. Bad luck is, they do not sound good. I'm just referring to No Second Chance. The high end is boosted like hell. The 1996 release is no sonic masterpiece but at least it is listenable. The waveform reveals the new release is not brickwalled. It looks like a nice oldschool remastering but that doesn't matter much when the EQ is so weird.

The artwork is great, though.

 

Good stuff on the first four albums, they dropped off my radar after that. No Second Chance being the best of the bunch.

 

Thanks for the news on the reissues! Shame they still sound like sh**! No Second Chance is a fabulous disc. Someday maybe this will get the audiophile treatment it truly deserves. May I ask where you purchased it and is it an improvement over the Renaissance version?

 

Here's a souce: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/list_from_code_banner.html?key=104172

...just regarding the artwork. I strongly prefer the Renaissance editions, soundwise.

 

And keyboardist Julian Colbeck was on the Andersaon Wakeman Bruford & Howe album and tour.

"Turning To You" from Nio Second Chance is the best thing America never did.

 

Just noticed the JGW quote and have been looking for the song. Maybe you could lead me to where it's located. Is it called Looking Back? Sorry for getting off topic BTW.

 

Killer Cut is one killer cut. Too bad that one killer cut wasn't all it took to make it.

 

Yes, the song is Looking Back.

 

Good band have their early stuff on vinyl. Sounds good.

 

Not sure if they are the same but a band by that name opened the show headlined by Billion Dollar Babies and UFO. The crowd was merciless.

 

Good band on the first few albums. Unfortunately for them, they were on Janus in the US, and when that label went out of business, their albums all went into the cutout bins in massive quantities. And before Janus went out of business, they were never really able to properly promote them anyway.

(Other Janus casualties include Camel and Kayak, who also didn't get the proper promotion for the most part).

Charlie got a one album second shot when Arista bought out the Janus roster and issued albums by Charlie, Kayak, Camel and (the reason they bought out Janus) Al Stewart. But it was too late...

 

Can't believe I missed this thread last summer. CHARLIE is one of my favorites from the genre.

I've listened to LINES hundreds of times, and althought I have all of the other LP's from their catalog as well, I kinda ignored them until recently.

Ironically, right now I am on side one of FIGHT DIRTY, and it is absolutely sensational. Can't get enough of these guys!

Renaissance CD reissues are not so good. Stick with the vinyl as they all sound great! I have the Japanese mini-LP reissue of LINES, but haven't opened it to check sound quality. Not cheap, either.

 

This thread is bringing back some memories! A NYC station WPLJ (when they were a rock station) used to play this one back in the day...wow, I thought I was the only person that recalled this song...gotta love the internet!

 

Good band with Steve Gadd on drums. That's the same Steve Gadd that does the drumming on Steely Dan's 'Aja'.

 

According to Wikipedia it's another Steve Gadd.

 

Yes, I know I'm reviving an old thread, but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE... if you are not familiar with Charlie, but are a fan of mid to late 70's AOR type stuff, do yourself a favor and check these guys out. Hell, you can purchase their entire vinyl catalog in the used bins for less than $20.00 and it will provide you unlimited listening enjoyment.

It's quite possible I've listened to LINES more than any other person else in the entire world the past 10 years. I play it at least 4 or 5 times per week (at least). That album is a mainstay in my primary system downstairs... I mean I NEVER put the jacket away; I simply keep it near-by regardless of whatever else I may wish to listen to at the time.

REALLY good stuff.

 

Got the first 4 albums on vinyl. Absolutely loved them, especially Fantasy Girls, at time . Even played football with them once before they played a gig at our college - sound guys.