Hands Up If You Remember City Boy

[Iris]

I once owned an an album by this outfit called Young Men Gone West and I loved it ...... Dear Jean, Bordello Night, She's Got Style and the rest of them, an energetic prog-pop concoction drawing together a bit of 10cc, a bit of Sparks and a bit of Supertramp.

Unlike Sad Cafe whose most successful song is arguably their best song, this lot found chart success with one of their lesser compositions, 75705. They put out a few other albums, but these didn't make the impression on me that Young Men did. Surely time to re-invest in some of their output, though?

[moecurlythanu]

Start with Dinner At The Ritz, which imo is their best album, and the one which got the most FM airplay back in the day. However, they don't have a bad album, and I've got them all.

[miamiscot]

I like all their records but the first three are the best!!! And Mutt Lange too?

[Progtastic]

Saw them supporting Caravan at The Roundhouse in 1976 or so. Enjoyed their albums.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Saw them supporting Nektar at the Berkeley Community Theater ca. 1979. I enjoyed them but wasn't inspired to run out and buy their albums...

[progeezer]

Big fan! Runaround, on the "Gone West" album is imo one of the best songs that Steely Dan never recorded, and "The Man Who Ate His Car" has some great rhyming.

[yodathedog]

I thought for a long time I was the only one who was a fan. I still play their albums to this day, including the first, which is my favorite.

[UnderAGlassMoon]

I don't think I have ever heard these guys, going to have to check 'em out. After doing some research, I realized that their guitarist, Mike Slamer was Steve Walsh's guitarist in his band Streets and his solo album Glossolalia. He is also given writing credits for the song Refugee on Kansas' Prelude Implicit.

[spellbound]

The 2017 movie My Friend Dahmer features a City Boy song ("5.7.0.5," from Book Early) in the soundtrack. Great band.

[TheH]

I don't think I have ever heard these guys, going to have to check 'em out. After doing some research, I realized that their guitarist, Mike Slamer was Steve Walsh's guitarist in his band Streets and his solo album Glossolalia. He is also given writing credits for the song Refugee on Kansas' Prelude Implicit.

He is also in Billy Greer's "Seventh Key" with David Manion (both from Kansas)

[Steve983]

5-7-0-5 !

[timmy]

I got turned onto them years ago on this forum. As I normally do, I purchased their entire catalog, created a playlist of all of the albums, and listened while I worked (programmer). Great band. Great albums. There sure were a lot of great bands that came out of the 60s and 70s!

[jlneudorf]

Um, yep. Been on a huge kick lately:

Day the Earth Caught Fire
Young Men Gone West
Dinner at the Ritz
Self titled

You really can't go wrong with their first 5 or so. Even 'Heads are Rolling' is excellent.

Jon

[everyday]

One of my favourite bands of all time. Steve Broughton went on to write for Cyndi Lauper whilst Lol Mason had chart success with the Maisonettes and Heartache Avenue. Roy Ward was the vocalist on The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Tight Fit rather than the model who mimed to it on TOTP.

Day The Earth Caught Fire is probably my fav but they are all great.

[everyday]

I once owned an an album by this outfit called Young Men Gone West and I loved it ...... Dear Jean, Bordello Night, She's Got Style and the rest of them, an energetic prog-pop concoction drawing together a bit of 10cc, a bit of Sparks and a bit of Supertramp.

Unlike Sad Cafe whose most successful song is arguably their best song, this lot found chart success with one of their lesser compositions, 75705. They put out a few other albums, but these didn't make the impression on me that Young Men did. Surely time to re-invest in some of their output, though?

I would argue with that! Everyday Hurts is great, but Black Rose is better!

[Progbear]

Funny, I thought that YMGW was one of their weaker offerings, a sort of a transitional period from their early 10cc clone-ism to the Roy Ward version of the band. It did have “Dear Jean,” though, which is one of their classic songs.

I love their first two, even if they aren’t especially original. The Day the Earth Caught Fire is close on their heels, rather bleak in lyrical outlook but SO fantastically energetic! I like Book Early a lot as well, one of their most “commercial” offerings, but the songs are so great it doesn’t matter. They definitely lost something when Steve Broughton left, Heads Are Rolling is noticeably weaker than what came before. Even here they offer two stellar songs in the opening and closing tracks (“Mr. Shoes” and “Love on the Balcony,” can’t get enough of those two!).

[jlneudorf]

Forgot to mention Book Early. Another fantastic album.

Jon

[Gravedigger]

I always loved the gorgeous vocals on "Haymaking Time" from the debut.

[Progbear]

I always loved the gorgeous vocals on "Haymaking Time" from the debut.

That’s a lovely one. I really like the acoustic guitars on that one. Probably the only song that offers a hint of what they sounded like as a folk group.

[timmy]

They say your belt gets blacker by the hour
I know you like your victims sweet and sour
Watch out...

[Iris]

I would argue with that! Everyday Hurts is great, but Black Rose is better!

Listened to Black Rose again just to make sure ....... good as it is, I still think Everyday Hurts is better!


Such are my fond memories of City Boy and such is the huge enthusiasm for them on here, that I had little choice but to re-acquaint myself with their albums! Four of them are on their way!

[Teddy Vengeance]

That’s a lovely one. I really like the acoustic guitars on that one. Probably the only song that offers a hint of what they sounded like as a folk group.

Third on this. Stunningly pretty tune, beautiful harmonies.

[the ferret]

Brilliant band, City Boy. Should have been huge.

For me, while I very much like the early albums, they really hit their stride on Book Early and kept up an incredible run of form right through to It's Personal. So many great songs!

Disagree that 5705 is a lesser track. It's one of my favourite singles from the Seventies.

[everyday]

Not to distract from City Boy, but does anyone else remember Drag Race Queen by Sunfighter from 1976? Produced by Roy Thomas Baker. and similar in style to Queen / City Boy. Should have been a monster hit and was on TOTP. I have two other singles by them which were much more disco-flavoured but it looks like they never released an album.

[Stevie B]

5-7-0-5 on Top of the Pops was one of those events that had everyone talking the following day at school...at least among my friends. A great single, but for some reason I never really followed them up. I suppose I had them down as a "singles band"...except they never really had another hit single, so off the radar they went...