Project 1001: Pelican West by Haircut 100
When today’s selection was revealed, I remembered the band name but could not place a single song. Pelican West spent nine months on the Billboard 200 chart but peaked at 37. They scored one top 40 hit with “Love Plus One”, which spent a few months bouncing around the middle of the Hot 100 getting no higher than #37. I’m guessing I probably caught that video on MTV a couple of times and that’s why the name is familiar. So today was an interesting listen because it was a fresh album to me. And it’s pretty good. I can’t say I’ll rush out to add it to my collection, but I enjoyed all of the songs. It has a clean sound with pleasant melodies and some fine new wave singing. You could do worse than to pull this record off a shelf and give it a spin. My rating:
Pelican West made Rolling Stones list of best 100 songs of 1982:
““A pop band at the moment is about really small things, like socks and vests and nice hair and the way the singer’s eyebrows are shaped,” Nick Heyward said. Haircut One Hundred definitely nailed that aspect of stardom—cheeky English lads barely out of their teens, with preppie ties and sweaters. They also had one of history’s most brilliantly confrontational band names. But thanks to Heyward, they had the most surefire gimmick of all: songs. “Love Plus One” is over-the-top romance, all boyish yearning over the splashiest bongos, marimbas, jazzy horns, cha-cha guitar. Their debut Pelican West has bangers like “Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)” and “Fantastic Day”—though “Lemon Firebrigade” is admittedly pushing the concept a bit far.”1
AllMusic said “Love Plus One” deserved to be a timeless hit and concluded their review thusly:
“From their corny outfits to their lighter-than-air sound, Haircut One Hundred were never going to be dangerous or sexy. The best they could hope for was escapist, but never mindless fun, and on Pelican West they bury their arrows dead center in the middle of that target.”2
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, David Nichols wrote:
“Get past (the dated elements like the album cover) and it is a hilarious, clever, intricate, enthusiastic record that retains tons of appeal.”3
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 216. Pelican West by Haircut 100
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #374
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Love Plus One”, #375
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on February 1, 1982. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” by Darryl Hall & John Oates6
• Number one album: 4 by Foreigner7
• Number one movie: On Golden Pond by Mark Rydell8
• Most watched TV programs: 60 Minutes, "Superman" Pt. 1, Dallas, Trapper John, M.D., Too Close for Comfort, Three's Company, "World War III" Pt. II, Hart to Hart, Dukes of Hazzard, Magnum, P.I., M*A*S*H, The Jeffersons, Falcon Crest, Fall Guy, Archie Bunker's Place.9
• NYT bestseller, fiction: An Indecent Obsession by Colleen McCullough10
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: A Light in the Attic by by Shel Silverstein11
Some other albums released that month
• Bobbie Sue by The Oak Ridge Boys
• Beautiful Vision by Van Morrison
• The Concert in Central Park by Simon & Garfunkel
• The Blue Mask by Lou Reed
• Mountain Music by Alabama
• Set by Thompson Twins
• Baal by David Bowie
• Black on Black by Waylon Jennings
• Green Light by Bonnie Raitt
• Seasons of the Heart by John Denver12
Sport
• Jan 24 Super Bowl XVI, Pontiac Silverdome, Detroit, MI: San Francisco 49ers beat Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21; MVP: Joe Montana, SF, QB.
• Jan 30 WBC super welterweight champion Wilfred Benitez of Puerto Rico defeats boxing legend Roberto Durán of Panama in a 15-round unanimous decision at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
• Feb 12 Wayne Gretzky scores 153rd point of season, breaking NHL record.13
Notable Births
• Jan 29 Adam Lambert, American singer-songwriter (For Your Entertainment, Trespassing), born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• Feb 4 Kimberly Wyatt, American singer and dancer (Pussycat Dolls), born in Warrensburg, Missouri.
• Feb 6 Alice Eve, English actress (She's Out of My League; Star Trek Into Darkness), born in London.14
Historical Events
• Jan 20 Heavy metal musician Ozzy Osbourne allegedly bites the head off a bat on stage in Des Moines, Iowa.
• Jan 28 Italian police rescue US Brigadier General James Dozier, held hostage for six weeks by the Red Brigade of Padua, Italy. Read more about this incident here.
• Feb 1 "Late Night With David Letterman" debuts on NBC-TV; Bill Murray is his first guest.
Notable Deaths
• Jan 15 Red Smith, American sportscaster and columnist (Pulitzer 1976, Fight Talk), dies at 76.
• Jan 30 Lightnin’ Hopkins, American blues musician (Ball of Twine), dies of esophageal cancer at 69.
• Feb 17 Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist and composer ("Straight, No Chaser"; "'Round Midnight"; "Brilliant Corners"), dies of a stroke at 64.15
Nichols, David, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 494.
Ibid.
Ibid.