It’s easy to forget that, though they started out as Gary’s backing group, The Glitter Band were a considerable success in their own right. Indeed, they scored seven hit singles from 1974 to ’76 – all but one hitting the Top 10 – while their first two LPs hit the Top 20.
As well as being cracking musicians, the band also boasted five talented songwriters (trombonist and sixth member John Rossall left late in 1974). If their early material understandably owed a lot to the unique sound created by Gary and producer Mike Leander, by the time they released this third studio album in 1975, the band had started diversifying.
The Tears I Cried comes closest to their earlier work, with its thumping bass drum and heavy handclaps. On the whole, however, the trademark stomping boots and thudding choruses are conspicuous by their absence. Where Have You Been is a sprawling epic, starting all brooding and wispy before shifting into smouldering pop-rock, with just a thumping bass drum hinting at their roots. Elsewhere, People Like You And People Like Me verges on gospel, Painted Lady is old fashioned doo-wop and Let Me Love You is cod reggae. Sadly, Listen To The Band failed to chart at all, but still reveals a band bursting with ideas and ambition.
