Graduate - Mad One (1979)

b/w - Somebody Put Out The Fire

1st 45 from these "Bath" Boys whose biggest hit was Elvis Should Play Ska. Yet they are probably best known for their later incarnation; Tears For Fears

The Band were
Roland Orzabal (voc guitar)
Curt Smith (voc bass)
John Baker (guitar voc keyboards)
Andy Marsden (drums voc)
Steve Buck (keyboards voc)

There are some excellent photos of the band from this period (including the engineer Glen Tommey) Here

The Story goes In July 1979, Graduate spent three days in Bath's Crescent Studios.
From this session, Mad One / Somebody Put Out The Fire was picked for release as a 45 on the small indie label Blue Hat.
They wrote 'Mad One' after being commissioned to do so by Tony Hill, an eccentric man with a successful car number plate business. Mr. Hill offered to pay for the studio time if the band would agree to write and record a song about him. He owned a car with the license plate "MAD 1", hence the title of the song.
Only a few dozen copies of the single were pressed, and those were most likely used to promote Mr. Hill's business.
According to Andy Marsden, the b-side is the only known Graduate recording to feature John Baker on lead vocals & was a track that they started doing back in 1977 (as the Baker Boys).
BTW I'm warning you now this is not their best recorded output (I'm posting it because I've had a request)

other vinyl to lookout for

Elvis Should Play Ska/Julie Julie - Precision PAR 100 (1980)
Elvis Should Play Ska/Sick & Tired - Zafiro (Spain) diff b-side (also French/Aussie/German/Dutch & probably more pressings)
Ever Met A day/Shut Up - Precision PAR 104 (1980)
Ambition/Bad Dreams - Precision PAR 111 (1980)
Shut Up/Ever Met A Day - Precision PAR 117 (1980)
Acting My age/Julie Julie - Zafiro/PRT (Spain) (1981)
Acting My Age - Precision LP (12" & 10")

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?92zw1zcr221539e