This is another one of those cases where I heard a song on the radio one day that I really liked. It was fairly obvious that this was from the 80s, and I needed to find out who it was by. The Cool Notes are a British group who formed in the late-70s. The first singles that they released were in a reggae style (or lover’s rock style to be more accurate). Their first album “Down To Earth” was released in 1981, but by the mid-80s they had developed more of a soul sound.
Now you might know that I have always really liked mid-80s soul music, particularly because most of the songs have a rather similar sound. Now I don’t know much about how they were all put together, but most of them featured that “tink-tink-tink” noise that were produced on those synthesizer things that were called 505s or 606s or whatever it was. I can only imagine that these were rather big and expensive equipment at the time, and they probably had to be passed around the various recording studios.
Well it turned out that this song was “You’re Never Too Young” by The Cool Notes, which was released in August 1984 on the Ambient Dance label, and reached no. 42, to become their first hit single in the UK. I would definitely say that this was up there with “(I’ll Be A) Freak For You” by Royalle Delite as one of my favourites from this era, and that really is a compliment. Being pleased to have discovered the answer to this, I then wanted to know more about them.
Their next single in November 1984 was “I Forgot”, which reached no. 63. But 1985 would turn out to be their most successful year. In March “Spend The Night” was released, and reached no. 11 to become their biggest hit single in the UK. This also got them on to Top Of The Pops, and the first volume of “Now Dance”, at a time when “dance” music was still being defined, although there was little doubt that this one would keep you moving all night long.
Next in July was “In Your Car”, which reached no. 13, although they wouldn’t make the Top 40 again after this. In October was “Have A Good Forever”, which reached no. 73, and in November, their second album, also called “Have A Good Forever…” made the lower end of the chart for a couple of weeks. They continued on into 1986, when in May “Into The Motion” reached no. 66, but in September, “Momentary Vision”, which was another good one, could only reach no. 94.
They kept on with the singles though. The final time that The Cool Notes appeared on the chart was in September 1990 when a remix of “Spend The Night” reached no. 84 (a best-of album was released around this time too). Their final single after about 15 years together in 1991 was “Make This A Special Night”. They had joined Stock Aitken Waterman’s “Hit Factory” by this point, but unfortunately their days when they were guaranteed star makers where now behind them, and this collaboration wasn’t a success.
ADAM'S NOSTALGIC MEMORIES 