Hello Sailor
One of the best things about the Glam Rock era is that bands didn’t just go on Top of The Pops in tatty old jeans and t-shirts, they had to dress up and have a distinct image of some kind, especially the ones further down the talent food chain from the big guns of Bowie, Roxy, Bolan and Slade. Mud and Showaddywaddy wore rainbow-coloured Teddy Boy outfits, The Bay City Rollers got decked out in tartan, The Rubettes had their white suits and floppy hats, Leo Sayer dressed like a clown, Alvin Stardust squeezed into a leather jumpsuit, and Sailor… well, have a guess what they dressed as.
Another gimmick they had was a bizarre musical contraption called the Nickleodeon they built themselves which was several musical intruments banged together into what looked like a synthesizer designed by Heath Robinson. But all the gimmicks in the world couldn’t help them have more than two hits (though apparently they were very big in Germany) of which “A Glass of Champagne” was the biggest in 1975. This sounds an awful lot like a bubblegummy Roxy Music, I’m surprised Bryan Ferry didn’t sue the lead singer for infringement of vocal style copyright. Still a top tune though.
Download: A Glass of Champagne – Sailor (mp3)
Good friends of mine these, all of them would be candidates to be Doctor Who! The band came out of the idea of a musical about Sailors down by the waterfront by Georg Kajanus, which never came to fruition but formed the basis of their first album, I think. If Georg is guilty for channelling Mr Ferry, can we also arrest David Sylvain and that guy from Icehouse? Their first European hit was Traffic Jam which predates the other two, and when they reformed in the 80’s a another couple of hits came their way including The Secretary. As you say, still enjoying success in Germany and other parts of Europe.