They'll always be remembered for just that one brilliant song but The Passions were a great band that deserved a bigger break. Apart from the ubiquitous hit, my entry point was the third and final album Sanctuary (1982), but I was later able to track down the first two albums Michael & Miranda (1980) and Thirty Thousand Feet Over China (1981) and, later still, various other rarities thanks to the power of t'internet.
Therefore, plenty of material for a future Dubhed selection but in the meantime, here's a pick of YouTube clips, starting off with a TV performance of Africa Mine and Sanctuary. There's a charming introduction by Barbara Gogan in her flat, feeding the cat and talking about "the next onslaught" that, in commercial terms, sadly never came for The Passions. Roughly six months after this was broadcast in December 1982, the band had gone their separate ways.
My other choices today are Needles And Pills, from the 1979 double A side debut single and sung by original lead vocalist Mitch Barker. Barker left the same year, Gogan stepped up to the front and history should have been made.
After a one-off
single on Fiction Records, follow-up The Swimmer was The Passions' first
on Polydor and is (for me, at least) a New Wave classic. However, it
was fourth single I'm In Love With A German Film Star that captured the
world's imagination and unwittingly landed them with one-hit wonder
status.
Both songs featured on second album Thirty Thousand Feet Over China, as did Bachelor Girls, which The Passions recorded for a John Peel session on 5th November 1980. I really love this version.
By the time of The Passions' third and final album Sanctuary, the band had been through further line-up changes, including the loss of Clive Timperley and his delicate Echoplex guitar playing. Settled on a trio of founder members Barbara Gogan and drummer Richard Williams, plus David Agar on bass, the album was recorded with guitar from Kevin Armstrong and keyboards Jeff Smith.
It's brimming with great songs, my favourite being The Letter, which popped up on several of my mixtapes in the late 1980s.
Further recommended reading is a short but fascinating interview with Barbara in 2020 at Perfect Sound Forever.
