Cy Curnin - vocals; Jaime West-Oram - guitars, vocals; Charles Barret - bass; Rupert Greenhall - keyboards, vocals; Adam Woods - drums
This King Biscuit Flower Hour radio concert, recorded at Rainbow Music Hall in Denver, was performed around the time of the Fixx's second U.S. release, Reach the Beach. The group (originally recording and performing under the name the Portraits), had the good luck to emerge at the beginning of the Golden Age of MTV. Like the Eurythmics and the Human League, the Fixx were trendy Brits whose music videos were just cool enough to dominate the new medium. Their initial album, Shuttered Rooms, contained the hits "Red Skies at Night" and "Stand Or Fall," both featured here. But it was Reach the Beach, with its single "One Thing Leads To Another" (which hit the #4 spot on the Billboard charts), that gave the band their big commercial breakthrough. When they made this recording, the group was introducing material for its still unreleased second album.
This recording captures the band in its prime, with Curnin proving he could really sing, unlike so many of the pretty boy pop bands that skyrocketed to fame in the early 1980s. Credit must also be given to West-Oram, who illustrates what an exceptional guitarist he really is. Like his contemporary the Edge (from U2), West-Oram was instrumental in developing the band's ethereal audioscapes that many of their songs were built around. Aside from those aforementioned hits, other highlights from this show include show closers "Lost Planes" and "Sinking Island."
Ironically, after Reach the Beach, the Fixx failed to achieve the same commercial or radio success. They continued through the early 1990s, but eventually disbanded. In 1998 they regrouped, largely due to the interest created when this King Biscuit show was released on CD. The group has remained together since then and continues to record and tour regularly to a devoted fan base.