Outskirts - Heaven's on the Move ep (1985, Glass)

The Outskirts were a Thatcher-era UK quartet who had moderate success with a 1981 single called "Blue Line," which was later faithfully adapted by Let's Active for their rather seminal Cypress album.  At the time of that single (which you can have for the taking over at Consolation Prizes blog) the Outskirts consisted of one guy and three of the fairer sex, including frontwoman Maggie Beck.  Fast forward four years to this ep and the gender quotient of the lineup was even.  The opening "Standing Together" is pristine guitar pop of the highest order, and few songs by artists past or present can exceed it.  Heaven's on the Move coasts downhill from that bristling high water mark, but it isn't so much a matter of inferior material as the Outskirts insistence of employing an often piercing brass and saxophone section, which does little to embellish an otherwise satisfactory template of guitars and drums.  I believe the Outskirts parting shot was yet another ep called Down, which featured a cover of the Standells classic "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White."

01. Standing Together
02. No Hiding Place
03. Burning
04. Remember Me
05. What Went Wrong
06. Too Bad

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