A Lot Of Things – Peach
A Lot Of Things – Peach
Peach were punks, kick-ass punks. And for many their first introduction to the band was the single ‘A Lot Of Things’ which, from the first second, was rough and raw and in your face. In 1981, South Africa was not really ready for punk even though the movement had started a few years earlier in the UK, but Peach were one of the standouts of the many excellent local punk bands from the time, and they were the ones who made a break through and saw some commercial success.
‘A Lot Of Things’ took Angie Peach and her band to number 7 on the Springbok charts as well as making 6 on the Radio 5 charts and 14 on the Capital 604 ones. It was at odds with most of the other tracks in the charts at the time, sharing top 20 space with songs like LaStique’s ‘Hold On’, Kenny Rogers’ ‘Lady’ and Barbra Streisand’s ‘Woman In Love’. Probably the closest other thing to punk in the charts at the same time was The Police’s ‘De Do Do Do De Da Da Da’, but that was some distance from the latter’s earlier work.
‘A Lot Of Things’ rocks back and forth on it’s own beat with an angry guitar doing cartwheels around Angie’s sneering vocals. The song is a bit like a Suzi Quatro hit that has not been sanded down and made smooth. And that is the joy of the track. It is raw energy etched into the grooves of a 7 inch disc of vinyl which would have left many a stylus on record players around the country feeling like it had just done a major workout.
The follow up hit ‘Nightmare’ went 1 place higher on the Springbok charts and is the more melodic of the 2 hits, but is less frenetic. ‘A Lot Of Things’ ends as abruptly as it started, catching one a bit by surprise, but that was what it was all about. It was not meant to make you relax, it was a song designed to make you sit up and notice. The saddess thing about Peach was that they only ever made the 1 album, ‘On Loan For Evolution’, but what an album and what a track to kick off a career as short and as dynamic as ‘A Lot OF Things’.
Where to find it:
On Loan For Evolution – Peach (2002), RetroFresh, freshcd 123
Video:
1001 South African Songs You Must Hear Before You Go Deaf 