THE NUMBERS

The Numbers were a power pop band formed by siblings Annalisse (bass guitar, lead vocals) and Chris Morrow (lead guitar, lead vocals) in early 1978 and they were joined by Marty Newcomb on drums. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, observed that they "emerged from the post-punk Sydney scene with a clean sound and a strong sense of direction. In spite of a regular touring schedule and a brace of accessible pop releases, the band never made the commercial breakthrough for which they so vigorously strived.". Newcomb was replaced by Simon Vidale before the group’s first release a three-track EP, 'Govt Boy', in 1979, which took a louder, faster and overall, more punk approach than what was to come. At this point, Chris was the focal point of the band, singing lead on two of the three tracks on the EP. In the same year they supported Uk band XTC on their tour of Australia. By the time the band signed to the Deluxe label that same year, they had begun moving in a more accessible power pop direction, a shift evident on their first single for the label, 1980’s ''The Modern Song''.

Along with the cleaner sound came a decision to put Annalisse at the forefront. In a 2008 Mess+Noise interview, Annalisse explained of the decision, “You’re young and you’re taking advice from other people. And by that stage we were with a major label, and we had a manager and we were with an agency and those people have a very large influence on how you think, because you’re taking advice from people you believe have the experience. And also, personally I always thought I was a much better singer than I was a bass player.” This change in direction proved successful for the band, with the single cracking the Australian Top 50 and the band scoring an appearance on the TV show Countdown. Their next single, ''Five Letter Word'', was another national radio hit and brought them further into the spotlight.

Once the band released their debut, self-titled LP in late 1980 (which charted at #29), they seemed poise to break out internationally. “The feeling I got then was the record company’s expectation was we were going to go absolutely ballistic,” explained Chris in the same Mess+Noise interview. “We were going to go from suburban Thornleigh to Madison Square Garden, we were going to be amazingly huge.” While the debut record included highlights in the form of the previous singles and select album tracks such as the melodic ''I Don’t Know'' (which found Chris back on lead vocals) and the punky ''Hello,'' third single ''Mr. President'' failed to chart and the album - while regionally successful - didn’t break the band as expected.

In 1981 Vidale was replaced by former member Marty Newcomb and Gary Roberts came in on bass with Annalise focusing on vocals. The band issued a new single, ''Jericho'' and returned to the studio to record their sophomore release, 1982’s '39-51'. Armed with more memorable songs and more confident vocals from Annalisse, things looked promising for The Numbers. The album's singles ''Big Beat'' and ''Dreams From Yesterday'' as well as standout album tracks such as ''Day to Day'', ''Blacktown'' and ''Dancer'' sounded a bit like a rougher-around-the edges version of The Go-Go’s and deserved widespread chart success. Unfortunately, by this point interest in the band had waned and the record went largely unnoticed.

After two albums and years of hard work on the road and in the studio with little commercial success to show for it, The Numbers soon called it quits. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that Chris and Annalisse released more music together, this time as Maybe Dolls. While this incarnation of the band gave the duo their biggest success to date in the form of the catchy pop singles ''Nervous Kid'' and ''Cool Jesus'', the band once again faced record label difficulties, grew disillusioned, and a recorded second album was never released.

The Numbers and the Maybe Dolls never achieved international commercial success, but they created a canon of strong power pop songs worth discovering. In 2007, Australian label Aztec Music brought the band to attention once again by releasing a compilation of Numbers material, including highlights from both EPs, rare B-sides and the complete 'Govt Boy' EP. The disc was titled 'Numerology 1979-1982' and is available via the label’s site.

Members

Chris Morrow (guitar, vocals), Annalisse Morrow (vocals, bass), Marty Newcomb (drums),
Simon Vidale (drums), Gary Roberts (bass)

SINGLES

The Modern Song

7 APR '80

#47

Five Letter Word

18 AUG '80

#40

References

http://vinylgoldmine.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/numbers.html

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/