Sneak of the Week: Airwaves, “Nobody Is”

This ‘70s British pop banger was buried by fate and forgotten by history.

In 1978, the outrageously catchy “Nobody Is” should have given Airwaves the keys to the UK pop kingdom. But in retrospect, they were doomed from the start on several superficial counts.

First, there’s the tragically misleading album cover, which immediately makes you think you’re in for The Lamb Lies Down in the Court of the Crimson Topographic Ocean. In other words, any even moderately music-savvy soul at the time, be they reviewers, radio programmers, or record buyers, would have taken one glance at the future-shock sci-fi scenario adorning the front of the album and instantly taken it for prog rock.

And in ‘78, with New Wave fully on the rise in England and just about to explode in the US, prog was pretty much the kiss of death. The fact that Airwaves was nowhere within shouting distance of progressive rock is what makes that inevitable misconception such a shame.

But wait, there’s less. One of the futuristic edifices in the foreground of that cover has a vaguely crucifix-like shape to it, which, combined with the album title New Day, could have easily convinced a smaller subset of onlookers that this was some sort of Christian rock record, which wasn’t exactly the kind of thing setting the charts afire in the ‘70s either. Again, a woefully erroneous interpretation.

Now, let’s say you were a music critic or radio DJ who was undeterred by either of those potential distractions, and you ventured so far as to pull the record out of its sleeve and sample its opening track, “Love Stop.” What you would have encountered is a drum-machine-driven attempt at a disco crossover that was probably intended to capitalize on the Bee Gees fever that still had the world in its grip in ‘78. This ill-fated stab at commerciality not only failed on its own merits, it utterly misrepresented the rest of the record. But it might easily have discouraged listeners from going any further, unless sub-Bee Gees dance pop was what they were after.

So, what the hell did Airwaves actually sound like? A fair question, and one that was apparently not asked by nearly enough people back then, because nothing on New Day—released on A&M in North America and Mercury Records elsewhere—got even a glimmer of the Top 40 on either side of the Atlantic.

In fact, the album was loaded with classy, hook-heavy pop/rock right in line with what the likes of ELO and Wings had been doing. And fans of those bands might have taken this trio to heart given half a chance. But perhaps the ultimate injustice is that the most explosively infectious tune on the entire record was hidden away on the eighth track and was somehow never released as a single.

There are so many sonic lures stuffed into “Nobody Is” that it’s a wonder anybody can exit the song without immediately starting it over again. The dirty, churning guitar riffs; the full-speed-ahead party-starter beat; the deliciously harmony-slathered chorus; the wordless backing vocal chants amping up the good-time factor; and the indelible melody all add up to a timeless tune that could stand right up alongside the contemporaneous best of, say, Nick Lowe or Squeeze.

Sadly, neither New Day nor its 1979 follow-up, Next Stop, are much remembered or have ever been reissued. But don’t feel too bad for the men of Airwaves; they did just fine for themselves. Drummer Dave Charles went on to a long, busy career playing with everybody from Hawkwind to Dion. Co-frontman and multi-instrumentalist Ray Martinez wrote Cliff Richard’s Top 10 UK hit “The Only Way Out” and contributed to records by The Damned, Teardrop Explodes, and more. And the band’s other singer, writer, and multi-instrumentalist, John David—who wrote “Nobody Is”—did tons of work with Dave Edmunds, as well as writing hits for Status Quo, Samantha Fox, Alvin Stardust, and others.

-Jim Allen

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