Tours - "Language School" / "Foreign Girls" - 7" Vinyl Reissue of Classic Power Pop / New Wave Single

Bachelor Records have just re-issued one of the greatest Power Pop singles of all time "Language School" backed with "Foreign Girls" by the sadly short-lived Tours which is available as a limited edition of 500 copies and comes with a four page booklet with liner notes and rare photos. It's a classic pairing that sums up all the very best of 1979, that golden year for melodic guitar Pop. It was a huge favourite of John Peel who played "Language School" on his BBC Radio 1 show for 50 consecutive nights, claiming it was runner up only to his beloved "Teenage Kicks" by The Undertones as one of his all time favourite single. Joint singer-songwriters Ronnie Mayor and Richard Mazda were dubbed the 'Lennon & McCartney' of Punk and Richard Branson signed them up to Virgin Records. Unfortunately, the band only managed to release one more single, the equally excellent "Tourist Information" before they split up. As regular listeners to our Retrosonic Podcast will know, my co-host and colleague, the Rock Photographer Paul Slattery, has banged on about how great Tours were for ages and we've played many songs by the band in various episodes. Paul took some great photos of Tours back in their early years and was chuffed to bits when they decided to re-form in 2018 for a gig in their native Poole, so he hot-footed it down to the south coast with camera in hand to capture rehearsals and the gig itself.

Tours "Language School" heard live again for the first time in almost 40 years! I went down to Poole with writer Dave McCullough back in 1979 to photograph the band Tours for a feature in Sounds magazine. They were unusual because there were two songwriters and two lead singers, Richard Mazda singing his own songs and Ronnie Mayor singing his. However unusual, they were a really excellent band with great tunes and a fantastic sound. - Paul Slattery

You can order the new "Language School" vinyl single and download from the Bachelor Records Bandcamp site here or from 14th Floor Music Distribution here.

 

You can read all about Paul's visit to Tours reunion rehearsals here and the gig at the King Charles in Poole here, both features include excellent photos by Paul, old and new. Don't forget Retrosonic Podcast Episode 47 where Paul Slattery discussed "Retrospectively Yours", the excellent compilation from Ronnie Mayor of Tours, the criminally underrated, short-lived Power Pop/New Wave band who Paul first photographed and championed way back in 1979. There's a special feature on the album which highlights Ronnie's songwriting skills with The Tours and Da Biz and we pick a selection of songs from both bands.

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 47 "This Is No Audition" with Rock Photographer Paul Slattery

 

Tours at The King Charles in Poole, 9th March 2018. Paul Slattery Photos and Report on the Power Pop Legends Reunion

Tours Photographed by Paul Slattery March 2018

Back in 1979 John Peel played Tours "Language School" on his show for 50 consecutive nights declaring it his second favourite 45 of all time behind the Undertones "Teenage Kicks". 39 years years later, The King Charles pub in Poole was the venue for Tours' first gig in all that time where a packed upstairs medieval room saw Dorset’s favourite sons shake off the intervening years with a blistering set featuring all their favourite tunes from their "Album Of The Year That Never Was". The Band rehearsals, which I had previously reported on for Retro Man Blog (see here for details) had obviously paid off as the band blasted through their three minute power-pop classics.

Tours Photographed by Paul Slattery March 2018

I’d never been to a gig in a medieval room before replete with all the details, hammer beams, inglenook chimney and lancet windows - what an amazing venue for a reunion gig. Although most of the songs are nearly forty years old, the late seventies was a golden age of great Power Pop and the songs sound as good today as they did back then.

Tours Photographed by Paul Slattery March 2018

Tours Photographed by Paul Slattery March 2018

Basher on drums and Steve on bass are excellent throughout and keep the whole gig moving right along, and this is the first time the band has appeared as a five piece with original member John Hole back in the band. When Ronnie, Richard and John are on-song the guitars really are a "wall of sound" and what they lack in perfection they make up in passion. They complete their rousing set in just about 55 minutes to a huge ovation and I can’t tell you how good it is to listen to these great songs played live once again.

Tours Photographed by Paul Slattery March 2018

Tours Photographed by Paul Slattery March 2018

Ronnie tells me that the band should be doing another gig at The King Charles later in the summer, although Basher has commitments with his band "The Electric Shakes" and Richard has to fly in from New York. But hopefully things will come together next year for a 40th anniversary tour, I really hope they can pull it off. If tonight’s performance was anything to go by then I hope by next year it’s full steam ahead. (Paul Slattery, March 2018).

Tours Photographed by Paul Slattery March 2018

Tours Photographed by Paul Slattery in 1979

You can hear Paul talking about his trip to see the gig and listen to the band's classic "Language School" single in our latest episode of Retrosonic Podcast (episode number 30). 

Thanks to Paul for the feature and great photos. We'll keep you updated on future Tours news.

Tours: Paul Slattery reports on the long-awaited reunion of the New Wave/Power Pop legends

Tours, photographed Summer of 1979 by Paul Slattery (L to R: Richard, Ronnie, Mark & Steve)

Tours "Language School" heard live again for the first time in almost 40 years! I went down to Poole with writer Dave McCullough back in 1979 to photograph the band Tours for a feature in Sounds magazine. They were unusual because there were two songwriters and two lead singers, Richard Mazda singing his own songs and Ronnie Mayor singing his. However unusual, they were a really excellent band with great tunes and a fantastic sound. The following is from journalist Derek Hammond’s sleeve notes for Tours "Album of The Year That Never Was": "In 1979, there was a buzz about Tours that made them one of the hottest properties in the music industry. John Peel played the self-released "Language School" single for 50 consecutive nights on Radio 1, declaring it at the time his second favourite 45 of all time behind the Undertones "Teenage Kicks". The band were tracked down to Poole, Dorset by labels including Virgin, Polydor/Fiction, EMI, Sire and others – and a feeding frenzy ensued. "The songs are the best you’ll see this side of the Undertones for sweet melodic genius…reincarnating the spirit that the Beatles early singles" (-Sounds 1979). Signed personally to Virgin by Richard Branson on a £225,000 six-album deal, the dual singer-songwriter attack of Ronnie Mayor (rhythm gtr/vocals) and Richard Mazda (lead gtr/vocals) led Virgin CEO Simon Draper to describe the pair as "the Punk Lennon-McCartney".

Tours, Autumn 2017 (L/R Mark, Richard, Ronnie, Steve & John) - Photographed by Paul Slattery

Tours, Summer 1979 (L/R Mark, Richard, Ronnie & Steve) - Photographed by Paul Slattery

1980 should have been Tours’ year. Boasting a killer live show and incredible strength in depth, they had a seemingly endless collection of two-minute pop classics. Yet the band were doomed never to make it to 1980, torn apart by a conflict of egos and by a deep mistrust of industry dabbling with the band’s line-up and sound. Only one single on Virgin was ever released – the mighty "Tourist Information". Having sold 13,000 copies of "Language School" under their own steam, it seemed obvious that a company like Virgin would do better. In the event, their efforts to promote "Tourist Information" were pathetic. The unreleased songs were lost – the band mythologised on countless compilations and, more recently, the internet Power Pop scene – until 2009. Derek Hammond spent 18 months sourcing the the long-lost Tours tapes and getting the album into production. Derek tells me that right from the start the project was a labour of love, Ronnie was somewhere in Australia, Richard didn’t want to talk about the band, Virgin wanted cash up front for the tapes before even searching the vaults and Iain at Cherry Red turned the idea down flat. Until Derek got a no-fi CD of some of the songs and played them to him – then he couldn’t resist. "The Album of The Year That Never Was" was finally released at the end of 2009 – this is the review from Record Collector August 2009. "For anyone into gutsier, hook-heavy, modpunkpowerpop, get ready for the unleashing of Peel faves’ the Tours’ (remember "Language School"?) long-lost holy grail of an album. Talk about '30 years of hurt'. Ker-pow! This definitive collection of singles and previously unreleased demos recreates the album that Tours might have produced, had the band survived the pressure and the fall-outs, and come out fighting fresh for a brand new decade".

Tours, Rehearsals Autumn 2017 - Photographed by Paul Slattery

Steve and I have played many of the tracks from this album on our Retrosonic podcasts over the last few years, the album is one of the the most played on my iPod and I continue to tell friends what a really great band Tours were and what a superb album they produced. Each song is a two minute Post-Punk Powerpop gem. I was always gutted that Tours life was so short – these songs were great and this band really could have been contenders for greatness so it was with great excitement I heard from Ronnie Mayor that the whole band would be getting back together to do some rehearsals so at the end of October in preparation for maybe some 40th anniversary gigs I headed down to Absolute Music in Bournemouth to see them. Richard lives in New York now so it’s quite a commute for him! They may have changed a bit in the ensuing time but I was left in no doubt about their ability to play or their enthusiasm, after only a day of rehearsal some of the songs sounded excellent. It’s the first time that the band have ever played as a five piece as John Hole the original member of the band who quit and was replaced by Richard, is back. There’s no Tours song that goes past three minutes, they’re short and sweet. You would not have known that Ronnie had not played an electric guitar in some years and the three guitarists created a jangling wall of sound. Basher (Mark Spiers) and  Steve Jeff on bass creating an excellent rhythm section. I was in my element as the band went through eight songs TWICE. It was like being back at The Hope and Anchor in 1979!

Richard Mazda, Tours - Photographed by Paul Slattery

Mark Spiers, Tours - Photographed by Paul Slattery

Dave McCullough said in the Sounds Magazine review of that gig: "...the songs themselves are the best you’ll see this side of the Undertones for sweet, melodic genius. Tours songs concern themselves with slightly more intricate human problems, though examining them with a directness and profitable naivete that has until now been the sole property of our heroes from Derry. The songs are unashamedly directed at the feet, care of Mazda and Mayor’s melodic flair and gilt-edged musicianship that has range and scope above the remarkable rhythm foundation of young Mark and Steve, a precocious drum and bass pairing. I can’t see anything thwarting this potent rural uprising".

Steve Jeff, Tours - Photographed by Paul Slattery

Ronnie Mayor, Tours - Photographed by Paul Slattery

There are more rehearsals planned for the new year and the band will see how it goes from there, the hopes are to do some gigs. There are things to overcome - the album is now out of production and the usual difficulties of re-licensing tracks will have to be sorted out before any re-release. There is already interest though and I’m sure that if there was an album worthy of re-release it’s "The Album of The Year That Never Was". These superb Powerpop gems need to be heard again live, and maybe it’s going to happen. Watch this space for more developments. - Paul Slattery 2017

You can hear "Tourist Information" and also listen to Paul talking about Tours before the reunion was announced in Episode 26 of Retrosonic Podcast here.