Alright, I might as well fulfill my "new romantic" quota for 2008 and get it out of the way. Seriously, this one really is an obscurity. My information on this assumedly Canadian band is merely limited to the LP jacket. No insert with any pertinent band info provided, and not a speck of cereal to be excavated online. Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Bupkis. What I can tell you is that Tictoc's album, Where the Picnic Was, saw the light of day in 1983 on the Canadian indie label Dallcorte Records. You should also be informed that the quartet appears in a very distant shot on the back of the sleeve, and furthermore appear to be of Hispanic descent, but that's purely a guess on my part. Heck, I can't even give you the proper names of this quartet. Since this was purchased secondhand, something tells me there was a long misplaced lyric/stat sheet that went with this record.
Signposts lean heavily to Duran Duran here, sans the arena-rock appeal and ego. Where the Picnic Was is actually a quality synth-pop record, that for better or worse, is highly derivative of it's era. There's really nothing here that echos as timeless as say, "Love Plus One," or "Space Age Love Song," (by Haircut 100 and A Flock of Seagulls respectively, for all you youngsters), but nevertheless, Tictoc's familiar strain of new wave was fun, Anglo, and otherwise totally in vogue despite the fact that they ostensibly failed to make any inroads in Canada, or anywhere for that matter. Extra crackly vinyl this time around. Sorry folks.
01. Twenty Questions
02. Cry on Cue
03. Critical Path
04. Anything Everything
05. Open for Suggestions
06. In My Room
07. Halo
08. Crown of Snakes
09. V.F.W.
20 comments:
Tictoc was a Toronto band, I can tell you that much. But not much more.
I've got this on vinyl, but I've no way to rip it, so thank you!
In Indonesia I bought an illegal cassette copy of Talk Talk's first album. The tape contained something extra: some songs from Tictoc - where the picnic was. I liked it very much. Unfortunately the tape was broken, and sincethen I have been looking for it through internet, but without success. If someone has it digitally? I'm very curious about the songs that I missed, those that were not on the tape!
I am in the midst of ripping all my old albums and came across your blog while searching for the album cover art. There is indeed a record sleeve with this information on it.
Band was:
Ray Borg - vocals, synth, percussion
John DeFino - guitar
Tevan Kaplan - vocals, drums, percussion
Serge Porretta - bass guitar, keyboards
Produced and engineered by Terry Brown
The band was not hispanic . As the previous post states , those names were indeed all the band members . I am John Defino's brother-in-law and in a day or two you will be able to watch videos from Tictoc on a page created and dedicated to TICTOC !
TICTOC TWENTY QUESTIONS
was a super dance hit in italy for the winter 1983-84
the clubs and the radios were playing it all the time and yes, it has that "british invasion" flavour , as we used to call it in Italy.
we knew nothing more of them, they just dissapear like many others, it's funny it was a super hit and after a long time in the net, you find anything, you name it, but you hardly find some infos of this band that for a winter was played a lot here.
I did buy the 12" version recently online, but i no longer have a record player, so i had no chance to listen to it anymore, so thanks for this file!
ciao from italy
Simone
Ciao Simone ,
if you go on Facebook , you will see that I created a page dedicated to TICTOC and you can join the group , post comments , view TICTOC's videos etc .
Frank
Yes they are a Toronto band. I actually attended a few concets. If you would like to here some music go to http://www.flashbackalternatives.com/tune-in and request it. They will play it...
"Twenty Questions" what a gem! A perfect 80's pop song. Thanks for posting...
I loved this album and have been looking for Cry on Cue for ages!
When this album first came out, "Critical Path" got some air play on a now defunct FM station out of Pittsburgh called WYDD. Every night at midnight they ran a one hour program called "The 12/60 Club," and this song was played considerably, it made me buy the album! It was issued in the U.S. on RCA.
I had one complaint about this album though, and it had nothing to do with the music contained within, but rather RCA's pressing of the album. The opening track "Twenty Questions" skipped like crazy fresh out of the jacket, as did "In My Room." So, when I go to put this album to CD I'll have to do a lot of editing.
But I always really liked this album (still do). "Open for Suggestions" is downright pretty! "Cry on Cue" is great as is "V.F.W.," and in my opinion "Anything Everything" should have been a hit! Great Album!
20 Questions is a great song and was played heavily on WLIR in their heyday. I found the 12" on RCA in New Jersey back in 1983 and the song always makes my comps of unjustly overlooked New Wave songs. Thanks for uploading!
hey interesting back story to this record. im with Used Grooves and i saw this record and didnt recognize it . so thanks for posting the info im checking it out now...
I can't even remember how the heck I came to possess this record, but here I am spinning it right now, and looking up all the info I can on the album and the band. Only thing new that I've come across is a lip-sync appearance on a Toronto TV show, "Street Set". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET68tvKOkuU
Was so happy to find this post! I had a mixtape from 1985 and was recreating the track list the other day on Spotify, but 20 Questions was the only song I couldn't find. Glad to see that it and TicToc's album still have a placeholder in the world on your blog!
Yes. They were a Toronto band. The guitarist, John Defino, and I were neighbours and jamming buddies. Still keep in touch today. Very good synth-pop band typical of the new wave genre in the early to mid 80's.
I listened to some of their stuff on YouTube and loved it. Any chance you still have this kicking around for a reup? Thanks so much for having the continuously best blog around.
The link has been updated...and thanks. I really appreciate it.
I got this cassette in 1986 in Canada, great band, too bad there is nothing else on them , or anything about them, short of what I am reading here, sounds like the singer, went on to something bigger, but I can't place his voice
Have recently got my record player up and running again. Came across this in my collection and wondered what happened to these guys. Admittedly I was the only person I know who owned this album. Twenty Questions, Halo and In My Room are good tracks.
Played this back to back with the Spoons “Arias and Symphonies”
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