colourbox // breakdown // 4ad // 1982

This is perhaps one of the best synth pop singles of the of the early 80s that I had never heard, up until last year. Colourbox, as a band, were very underrated during their existence and are still consistently ignored in most circles. Formed by two brothers in London, Steven and Martyn Young later recruited female singer Debian Curry before recording this debut single. The original release of Breakdown, beginning to end, is a perfect slice of pop, synthetic or otherwise. The production is perfect and dubby in spots. The programming and the guitar parts are beautiful and, best of all, the vocal melodies are both gorgeous and haunting. The b-side, Tarantula, continues in a similar vein as Breakdown, although far more upbeat. Unfortunately, within a year of this first release, Colourbox released rerecorded versions of this single in both 7" and 12" form that are vastly inferior to the original. 

While Colourbox would ultimately only survive until 1987, they left a solid and sonically diverse discography covering dub, reggea, electro and cut and paste sample pop. The band found its biggest success as part of a collaboration with A.R. Kane under the name M|A|R|R|S with the lone single Pump Up The Volume which reached the top 5 in the UK. But I suppose I will talk about that at a later date...