Tracie – Far From The Hurting Kind, originally uploaded by unpop.

I will admit now that I had never heard this 1984 album by Tracie until these past few weeks. I am not sure why (though the quite horrible cover might well have put me off!), for I did love the 1983 singles and am certain that I had them high in my weekly charts. There are some terrific songs on here, including the Costello penned opener ‘(I Love You’ When You Sleep’ and Weller’s rousing title track (is it just me or does it appear to lean on Culture Club’s ‘Church Of The Poison Mind’?) and lovely piano driven ‘Spring, Summer, Autumn’. Its Tracie’s presence that drives the record though, which is as it should be of course. She sounds terrific, and you know my mind can’t help but skip forward several decades to the likes of Lucky Soul, whose saucy songs like ‘One Kiss Don’t Make A Summer’ and ‘Lips Are Unhappy Without You’ would surely have sounded even more marvellous with the likes of Tracie giving it some emotion.

One does wonder now if the Weller connection was more of a hindrance than a help for Tracie. For were not some people unfairly dismissive of his Respond label efforts at the time? Well whatever, listening to Far From The Hurting Kind I can see how it might have fitted perfectly into my own soundtrack of 1984, inhabited as it was largely by a growing fascination with the likes of Weekend, Working Week, Everything But The Girl and of course Weller’s own Style Council and hanging out at the Cafe Bleu.

Tracie’s MySpace page (go find it, for I refuse to link to those things here) suggests that there may be some reissue action in the pipeline, and I certainly hope so, for this record deserves to be heard. Until then though, here is a scratchy vinyl rip. As the sleevenotes proclaim: “This is a pop record. O my brothers and sisters, play it as you will. Keep on…” Amen to that.