TITLE: Baby’s Got a Gun

ARTIST: The Only Ones

RELEASE DATE: May 1980

TRACKS TO DOWNLOAD: Oh Lucinda (Love Becomes a Habit), Deadly Nightshade, Re-Union

THE Only Ones were the brainchild of guitarist and singer/songwriter Peter Perrett, who had been hawking his Dylan inspired compositions around south east London throughout the early-to-mid 70s. He released an album under the band name, England’s Glory, which showed early signs of his songwriting potential.

His ideas really began to crystallise when the pub rock movement gave way to the punk rock and new wave bands in 1976/77. Recruiting former Spooky Tooth drummer Mike Kellie, bass player Alan Mair and lead guitarist John Perry, The Only Ones were born, releasing their eponymous debut LP in 1978.

It contained what has since become their anthem, Another Girl, Another Planet, which has assured the band a place in the punk and new wave history books. Strangely, although the song is really well known, it failed to chart at the time, only achieving moderate success upon its re-release in 1992 after it featured in a television commercial.

Their album releases fared marginally better, with second LP Even Serpents Shine just bubbling under the top 40 album charts. Their last album, Baby’s Got a Gun peaked at no.37, but by then it was too late for the band, who were falling apart at a rate of knots.

Perrett’s songs had always dealt with the dark worlds of drug addiction, and he was soon mired by his own substance abuse issues. Despite the chaos that surrounded it’s recording, Baby’s Got a Gun is a surprisingly bright sounding record, with Colin Thurston’s sparkling production bringing out new elements in the band.

Perrett’s gallows humour was still much in evidence though, with songs such as Why Don’t You Kill Yourself? and The Big Sleep both highlighting his obsession with doomed love and dysfunctional relationships. Strangely, although the lyrics are reproduced on the inner sleeve, the only song not included on the album, is the title track itself.

Bassist Alan Mair contributes a great song in My Way Out of Here, and Penetration and Invisible Girls singer Pauline Murray duets with Perrett on Fools (a country style cover version) and provides backing vocals for me and My Shadow. An expanded CD remaster was released in 2009, adding the errant Baby’s Got a Gun track plus a different version of The Big Sleep and Your Chosen Life.

* First published in the Evening Mail (Thu.14.June.’12)