Now this is where I first encounter Amsterdam and Ian Prowse. They had been booked as the opening band on The Wonder Stuff’s tour in March of 2005. We were quite excited about this gig as our friend Luke Johnson was in town and we hadn’t seen him in a while. Turns out there was a problem for Amsterdam as their drummer likely wasn’t going to make the start of the show. Their Roadie was going to sit in on a few songs but couldn’t do everything. Luke, who BTW is a phenomenal drummer, agreed to sit in with them. So my first sighting of this band my brother had been raving about was them walking out at Wolverhampton Civic Hall with a drummer they’d never played with. The first song they launched into was the title track from this album, “The Journey”, and they fair blew the roof off the place. I remember thinking it was the “Mod-est” thing I’d heard in ages.

“Attitunes” had been released via a very small independent (privately ?) but with “The Journey” they had the backing of a label. As we mentioned earlier we’d meet some “Attitunes” songs again and “Taking On The World”, “Nostalgia”, “Love Phenomenon” and You’re A Phoney” all make their 2nd appearance here. We must also make special mention of “The Glorious Day”, as great a song as it is, it owes a huge debt to Billy Bragg, recycling indeed.

“The Journey” is packed full of winners. WE already encountered the title track, then there is “Joe’s Kiss”, a beautiful tribute to Joe Strummer. But what cannot be ignored is that there is one song here that towers over everything else, towers over Ian Prowse’ whole output, it will likely be the song that defines Ian Prowse full stop and I’m sure he has absolutely no problem with that. 

“Does This Train Stop On Merseyside ?” is, at its heart, a hymn to the city of Liverpool, it’s an incredible song, one for the ages. It could reportedly bring a tear to the eye of the great John Peel whenever he heard it. It doesn’t pull any punches, it covers the good (the poets and the music along Mathew Street and the quirks of the city) and the dark side (the slave ships, Hillsborough, James Bulger) of Liverpool but there is a love and a pride in his city that shines through it all. No Prowsey gig is complete until we’ve all communed along to “…Merseyside…”.

Does This Train Stop On Merseyside ? - https://youtu.be/z6GK4vUtqCQ

The debut album by the new band formed by the former singer with Liverpool legends Pele…ladies and gentlemen here is your first encounter with someone you’ll meet again and again throughout this collection, Mr Ian Prowse.

“The Scouse Springsteen”, the writer of John Peel’s 2nd favourite song, call him what you will but Prowsey is one of the UK’s very best, yet very under-appreciated songwriters and one of the most exciting live performers we’ve had the pleasure of seeing across the 17 years (!!!) since we first encountered him opening for The Wonder Stuff in Wolverhampton.

Prowsey’s previous band Pele (we’ll get to them later) had split after releasing 2 studio and 1 live album between 1992-94. After 7 years he re-apppeared with a new band Amsterdam and an album “Attitunes” initially released on CD only through a small independent. The reason I have it in here is because Prowsey’s star rose enough in the ensuing 20 years that in 2021 we were treated to a beautiful Red vinyl re-issue to celebrate its anniversary.

This album houses songs that are still mainstays of any Prowse/Amsterdam gig you will attend this year, the strident “Taking On The World”, Tony Blair’s favourite “You’re a Phoney” and the devastatingly beautiful “Feels Like Growing Up” co-written with his guitar-hero wingman Johnny “B” Barlow.

In economical Prowsey style things start off with “And It Hurts”, a song much of which he recycled into “Somethings Changed” on his 2019 solo album “Here I Lie”, a good tune shouldn’t be wasted. The next 3 songs we’ll meet again soon. "Lifestyle" is sung by band member Genevieve Mort and finally “Nostalgia” will be around again soon. 

Side 2 rattles along happily starting out with “We Don’t Like You” (a distant cousin of The Stranglers “Nice And Sleazy”) including a guest appearance by Arthur Scargill; Genevieve returns on vocals for the short interlude of “Helsby Hill”; “Diablo And The Dame” would be interesting to hear live again and everything winds up with the previously mentioned “Feels Like Growing Up” and “Raver”, a rambunctious celebration of the Ibizan lifestyle !

After a few years away “Attitunes” was a great return, it pointed to brighter days ahead.

Feels Like Growing Up - https://youtu.be/12do1-TPrQ4

As a kid first getting into music that I liked, rather than stuff I heard from my folks, Glam Rock was the first thing that caught my ear. Slade, T.Rex, Sweet…they were the bands that this 10/11 year old latched on to. Glam was simply the pop music of the time, hairy blokes with guitars and a knack with a chorus who’d all been paying their dues on the club circuit since the mid 60’s in most cases.

And slightly off to one side, not quite Glam, but definitely hairy blokes with guitars, and a snake, was Alice Cooper. We just thought it was the singers name, not quite realising at that time Alice Cooper was a band. The song that stuck out to all us schoolkids was, of course, “School’s Out” but there were others that hit the charts, “Hello Hooray” and “Elected” which some years later I discovered were from an album called “Billion Dollar Babies”.

It would have been the early 80’s when I heard the entire album and it’s been a favourite ever since. The aforementioned singles are both on side 1 with the title track and the closing, unsettling “Unfinished Sweet” wherein at a dental visit our hero is told “your teeth are OK but your gums gotta go” ! Side 2 opens with AC’s great anthem “Mo More Mr Nice Guy” and some more of the schlock-horror on which their stage show was based, the eerie “Sick Things” and the jaunty sing-a-long “I Love The Dead”.

It was Glam but not as we knew it. It has proved influential, we’d argue that without the huge “influence” of Alice Cooper and Slade then Kiss would never have had a career. And we didn’t even get to the sleeve, in the days when artwork mattered…

No More Mr Nice Guy - https://youtu.be/_yo1S50Aqoo