Sailor

The Albums 1974 – 1978 Cherry red/7Ts

Five-album glam-pop box set reaches shore.

Sailor are generally remembered in the glittery annals of pop history for three things: the twinkly, effervescent hit singles A Glass Of Champagne and Girls Girls Girls, the fact that keyboardist Henry Marsh married Dee Dee out of Pan’s People, and, possibly, their patented ‘nickelodeon’, which was a piano‑synth‑ glockenspiel contraption.

At first it seemed they might match the louche alt‑cabaret stylings of Roxy Music or Sparks, but all‑round jollity, bell‑bottoms and music hall tendencies soon decelerated their cool. UK hits dried up, though Germany and Holland stayed on board.

This set sees them rise (second album Trouble is the hit‑fest), fall (The Third Step aptly includes Out Of Money), then get produced by Beach

Boy Bruce Johnston on the well‑meaning Checkpoint.

They were capable of songs like People In Love, which rivalled 10cc, but also of dire cod reggae like Coconut. Still, there’s a breezy, buoyant charm to hearing them again.