OUR DAUGHTERS WEDDING : Lawnchairs 7" (1980)

Simply one of my favourite 7"s ever, purchased with 50p of own, hard won pocket money from Woolworth's' ex-chart bargain bin. Chances are you may already be familiar with it, though perhaps you've not heard it in a quarter of a century? If not, chances are you'll love it... Better late than never, eh?

Originally from San Francisco, Our Daughters Wedding (no apostrophe) began making headway as a prototypical synth trio in New York in 1979, playing the legendary Hurrahs club with James Chance, Mi-Sex & anybody else they could scrounge a support to. "Lawnchairs" was their second single &, like the earlier "Nightlife" 7", was initially released on their own Design label in 1980. An instant U.S. college radio hit, & championed in the U.K. by both Smash Hits & Melody Maker, it was quickly picked up by EMI who commissioned a complete overhaul & re-released it themselves the following Summer. Though it only made #49 on the British charts, it became a massive dancefloor hit both here & in the States, eventually breaking into the Billboard run down & racking up a million+ sales along the way. It's not difficult to see why - riddled with hooks while retaining it's experimental edge, "Lawnchairs" confidently straddles both commercial & alternate music domains. Crucially, the b-side ("Airline") is just as good, & both songs remain high water marks in synthpop's convoluted lineage. By virtue of EMI's optimistic pressing run - their label was evidently anticipating a far higher chart placing - affordable, original copies are still relatively easy to track down. ODW were also early advocates of Casio's groundbreaking VL-1 keyboard, which endeared them to many enthusiastic amateur synth boffins (me included) at the time.

Sadly, due either to pressure from their label or a paucity of fresh ideas, ODW ran out of steam pretty quickly. The subsequent Digital Cowboy EP contained 4 decent enough synth-centric rock songs (5 overseas), but 1982's Moving Windows album was a patchy affair & EMI dropped them shortly afterwards. Their final release, the U.S.-only "Take Me"/"Machines" 12", didn't appear for another 2 years, by which time they'd come full circle & were back on Design.

The only ODW retrospective to date, 2006's exhaustive Nightlife CD, is already highly sought after, with a price tag to match. Early copies were accompanied by an original Design pressing of the "Lawnchairs" 45, "given to you from the band as a way to say thanks for the continued interest in the band" & returned them by EMI when their 1981 reissue was released. It's the original version I'm posting here incidentally.

Design 1980