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Echo Beach

It's doubtless no accident that the majority of my 7" singles date back to the few years either side of 1980. Had I been a better-adjusted youngster, the period ca. '79-'82 might well have have been when I'd have bought singles with my pocket-money, instead of obsessing over aeroplanes, imaginary spaceships and, later, computers.

For example: acquired three or four years ago, this 1980 copy of Martha and the Muffins' big hit single 'Echo Beach' in a picture sleeve. I'm a little surprised to learn it only reached No. 10 in the UK - it seems like it ought to have been more successful than that. Had the likes of eleven-year-old me actually bought it back then, who knows, that might have made a difference.

The faintly sci-fi undertones of the phrase "far away in time" were likely a part of what attracted me to the song in the first place. I still love the images it conjures up, and, of course, it's a very catchy tune. The B-side, 'Teddy the Dink', is pretty good, if not in the same league as 'Echo Beach'. I particularly like the keyboard part on it. It's a slightly sneering portrait of a man failing to live up to life's expectations.

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