Jo Broadbery & The Standouts - The House of Love (1982)

First off, let me start off explaining that there is virtually no information regarding Jo Broadbery anywhere online. Despite garnering a short-lived stint with Virgin Records via his previous project, Local Operator, in the late '70s, the man seemingly dropped off the face of the map - either that or "Jo Broadbery" was simply a vanity moniker. If anyone knows anything regrading this chap's whereabouts, or if the man himself is perusing these pages, don't be a stranger.

The innovatively titled, House of Love is the second and final album credited to Jo Broadbery and the Standouts. A self-titled debut album was issued two years prior, but the circumstances surrounding that release are confusing. In the late '70s, Broadbery was the frontman of an equally obscure outfit dubbed Local Operator. Arguably, you could refer to Operator's shtick as power-pop, but they bore a considerable mod/ska-inflection that was hard to go unnoticed.

Two relatively easy to find singles were released on Virgin (potentially a subject for a future post) under the Local Operator name. Following up those 45s was an extremely rare and unspeakably scarce album, Pushing Out the Poets. We're talking serious Ebay potential folks, but I digress. Issued only in Europe, my guess is that the project stiffed. Unbeknownst to even a lot of Broadbery fans, that Local Operator album was reissued song-for-song with entirely different art under the name of Jo Broadbery & the Standouts, in 1980. In fact, PVAc to 44.1 kHz blog has posted that fine album right here if you want to investigate for yourself. The recordings and mixes between the Local Operator and Jo Broadbery versions of the record were to my knowledge identical, but I cannot confirm that. There has been no explanation for the album's re-release under Broadbery's name, but marketability might be a safe estimate. At any rate, Broadbery and/or Local Operator were virtual unknowns in either incarnation, and the album was never issued on CD.

That brings us to the second Jo Broadbery & the Standouts full-length, The House of Love. It was released on the German Blow Up Records label in 1982, presumably sold exclusively in Europe, and even more obscure than the debut. While the first album flirted with the last vestiges of the waning British punk movement, Broadbery and Co. were by and large aiming for the pop charts with this follow-up, but without pandering wholesale to the new-wave trend-du jour. Admittedly, I am partial to the second side over the first, but as a whole it's not as strong as the debut. Nevertheless, even though it takes some getting used to, I thought I would post The House of Love, for the few established Jo Broadbery fans out there. Lord knows there's ain't many of us! 
 

01. The House of Love

02. Back in Anger

03. Heaven's Boys

04. Snakebite

05. Sharon Was

06. What Kind of Joke is That?

07. One Heart

08. The Cage 
 

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