Tours
Language School/foreign Girls
The Tours were an English new wave/power pop band from Poole, Dorset, founded in the late '70s during the punk era. The band consisted of Richard Mazda, Ronnie Mayor, Steve Jeff and Mark Spiers. They were unusual because there were two songwriters and two lead singers, Richard Mazda singing his own songs and Ronnie Mayor singing his. Virgin, Polydor/Fiction, EMI, Sire and other record labels were interested in signing them and the band ultimately signed to Virgin, but in 1980, there was a dispute between the group, the record label and the band themselves, before the ensemble split and members went their own way. According to various sources, John Peel played the band's self-released 'Language School' single for 50 consecutive nights (!!!) on Radio 1 in 1979, declaring it at the time his second favourite single of all time behind the Undertones 'Teenage Kicks.' Although 'Language School' was predominantly played by Peel, he also played their only other single, 'Tourist Information.' Despite the band being short lived, Peel did revisit them after the '70s, especially in the early '00s, when he played their 'Language School' song on his shows. 1980 should have been Tours' year. Boasting a killer live show and incredible strength in depth, they had a seemingly endless collection of two-minute pop classics. Yet the band were doomed never to make it to 1980, torn apart by a conflict of egos and by a deep mistrust of industry dabbling with the band's line-up and sound. Only one single on Virgin was ever released - the mighty 'Tourist Information.' Having sold 13,000 copies of 'Language School' under their own steam, it seemed obvious that a company like Virgin would do better. In the event, their efforts to promote 'Tourist Information" were pathetic. (Excerpt taken from Retroman65.blogspot.com). After a very long time of preparation it is finally here, the reissue of the classic and now very expensive single, as close as possible to the original, but with extensive liner notes and never before published photos in an four page booklet. Limited to 500 copies.