The World Of Twist Story : p2

World Of Twist finally settled for Circa Records, believing they would meet the bands creative needs better than anyone else. Within a the year, they had released the critically well received singles The Storm / She's a Rainbow (one of Martin Hannet's final productions) and Sons Of The Stage. Both only just failed to make the top 40.

The band toured the UK and Europe gaining a cult following along the way with their extravagant and eccentric stage shows. The music press all the time showering them with excellent reviews. It seemed nothing could go wrong.

This and excellent Radio 1 sessions for John Peel & Mark Goodyear hinted at what the debut album might sound like, but when Quality Street finally did appear it failed to live up to the expectations for many - including most reviewers. The fault lay mostly with the lacklustre production (by The Grid) which failed to capture the colour and energy of either the band live or the earlier singles. That said, the charm of the songs underneath is still there, and if you can turn a blind eye to some occasionaly un-inspired production there's a great collection of songs lurking within.

Quality Street was a modest success and Circa continued to have faith in the band. Work soon began on a follow up album and there were plans for further touring. However, problems emerged when Tony Ogden decided that he no longer wanted to sing and this reached the point where auditions were held to find a new singer. Additionally, creative difference's within the band and also pressure from Circa to have a hit all started to contribute to a breakdown.

However, work on the album did reach a stage where there were a dozen demo versions of new songs by Tony and Gordon. Some had vocals by Tony and some by Viv Dixon (who sang on Sons Of The Stage and the seminal Voodoo Ray), others remained only instrumentals. All these tracks have a fragile and pretty quality about them that suggests a second WOT album would have been an impressive collection. The final track on this album is an epic cover version of McArthur Park sung by Tony Ogden, which coincidentally, was the song that the first single, The Storm, made references to with the line "I've left the cake out in the storm". Things had neatly come full circle, and as soon as Circa caught wind of Tony's decision not to sing they were reluctant to re-new the bands contract. World Of Twist offically ceased to be in June 1992. Read Part 1 >



Left to Right : Tony, Adge, Julia, Andy, Gordon & Nick.

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