Cherry Red Records has set sail with a three-CD retrospective dedicated to Yachts, the British power pop/new wave band that left behind two LPs on Radar Records in 1979 and 1980.  Suffice to Say: The Complete Yachts Collection features both of those albums as well as a disc of 19 singles and rarities originally released on the Radar, Stiff, Demon, and Eric's Records labels.  It's due tomorrow, March 23!

Liverpool Art College students J.J. Campbell (lead vocals), Martin Watson (guitar/vocals), Henry Priestman (keyboards/vocals), Martin Dempsey (bass/vocals), and Bob Bellis (drums/vocals) came together as Albert Dock and the Cod Warriors before changing their name to the equally nautical but much more streamlined Yachts.  The band combined the energy of punk and new wave with the spirit of the 1960s - pop hooks and four-part harmonies.

Their early days were marked by rough water; Campbell left the group after the recording of an initial single for Stiff Records.  Yachts became a four-piece, with Watson and Priestman sharing lead vocal duties from that point.  The slimmed-down band followed Elvis Costello, whom they had supported onstage, to the newly-formed Radar Records in 1978.  At Radar, they released their second single, a cover of Boston band Teddy and the Pandas' garage nugget "Look Back in Love (Not in Anger)" - which marked the production debut of future superstar producer Clive Langer.  After another single, the band finally was given the chance to record a full-length platter.

The self-titled Yachts, primarily written by Priestman, was recorded in New York with producer Richard Gottehrer.  His sixties bona fides were impressive - "My Boyfriend's Back," "Hang on, Sloopy," "I Want Candy," and he was also on top of the world as producer of Blondie.  Their sensibilities meshed, and the album (retitled S.O.S. for American release) announced the band's individuality via such songs as "Mantovani's Hits" (with its mock-classical opening) and a melodramatic "death disc" about computer dating (!), "Box 202."  Released in June 1979, the LP charted in the lower reaches of the Billboard 200.

Yachts began recording its sophomore LP in fall 1979 with producer Martin Rushent (The Human League, The Stranglers, Buzzcocks).  A personnel shift befell the band when Martin Dempsey departed.  His bass duties were assumed by Ray "Chopper" Cooper before Glyn Havard joined up.  (Havard's tenure was short-lived, too, and he dropped out before a tour was about to begin.)  Despite the chaos, Yachts delivered a second LP with their clever, hook-filled brand of new wave.   The double-meaning title Without Radar - a reaction to the label's winding down - was again self-written, with Henry Priestman contributing six solo songs, and collaborating with Watson on a seventh.  Watson also co-wrote four songs.  The album was rounded out by an unexpected cover of R. Dean Taylor's Motown favorite, "There's a Ghost in My House."  (It was backed on 45 by another stripped-down revival, this time of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "24 Hours from Tulsa."  The Gene Pitney classic was a staple of Yachts' live set.)

A brief move to Demon Records, founded by Radar's Andrew Lauder, yielded one more 45 in early 1981 before Yachts came into dock.  (All of the singles referred to above are included on the third CD of this set.)  The liner notes to this package tantalizingly offer that the band recorded a full album's worth of demos after this, but no new music was released.  Cherry Red's celebration of the band's brief but blazing career is housed in a compact clamshell case, and includes a color 24-page booklet with new liner notes by Les Glover and Mark Kermode.  Each album is packaged in a mini-LP sleeve, and James Bragg has remastered all tracks.

Suffice to Say, this release gives "Yacht Rock" a new meaning.  Look for it from Cherry Red tomorrow, March 23, at the links below!

Yachts, Suffice to Say: The Complete Yachts Collection (Cherry Red WCRCDBOX50, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Yachts (Radar RAD 19, 1979)

1. Box 202
2. In a Second
3. Love You Love Me
4. Tantamount to Bribery
5. Easy to Please
6. Mantovani's Hits
7. Then and Now
8. Semaphore Love
9. I Can't Stay Long
10. Heads Will Turn
11. I'll Be Leaving You
12. Yachting Type

CD 2: Without Radar (Radar RAD 27, 1980)

1. Consequences
2. On the Bridge
3. Trust You
4. Out of Luck
5. This Thing, That Thing
6. March of the Moderates
7. There's a Ghost in My House
8. Life Saving's Easy
9. Now I'm Spoken For
10. The Lush
11. Don't Call Us
12. Spimosa

CD 3: Singles and Rarities

1. Suffice to Say
2. Freedom (Is Heady Wine)
3. Look Back in Love (Not Anger)
4. I Can't Stay Long (Single Version)
5. Yachting Types (Single Version)
6. Hypnotising Lies
7. Lazy People (Live)
8. Box 202 (Single Version)
9. Permanent Damage (Live)
10. On and On (Live)
11. Suffice to Say (Live)
12. Secret Agents
13. Revelry
14. I.O.U. (In the Oddments Drawer)
15. 24 Hours from Tulsa
16. I Couldn't Get Along Without You
17. Fool Like You
18. Dubmarine
19. Do the Chud

Tracks 1-2 from Stiff single BUY 19, 1977
Tracks 3-4 from Radar single ADA 23, 1978
Tracks 5-6 from Radar single ADA 25, 1978
Track 7 from Radar single ADA 36, 1979
Tracks 8-9 from Radar single ADA 42, 1979
Tracks 10-11 included in original pressing of Yachts LP, Radar SAM 98, 1979
Track 12 from Radar single ADA 49, 1979
Track 13 from Radar ADA single 52, 1980
Tracks 14-15 from Radar ADA single 57, 1980
Track 16 from Without Radar (U.S. version), Polydor PD1-6270, 1980
Tracks 17-18 from Demon single D 1005, 1981
Track 19 from Eric's Records single ERICS 0001, 1977