The Touch – Lost And Found – Touching Flames Records – CD album

Rewind 40 years, The Touch were very much a part of the mod revival of that time. Their rising star shone brightly, albeit briefly, from the summer of 79 until very early 81. Their legacy was their collectable and rare album, (The Mods) Lost Touch, which, largely down to the detective work of Dizzy at Detour Records, was finally reissued last year. First release of their debut album inexplicably had ‘The Mods’ prefixed by their record company at the time. Detour with the reissue put the title as it should’ve been. The Touch original line up reformed for a reunion show in Brixton in August 2018, to coincide with Detour reissuing their original album. The band members discovered they still had a spark between them, and after a few messages were exchanged they were back in the studio cutting 14 tracks, nine of which were from their glory years, plus five ‘new’ tracks, the result being the Lost and Found CD album, which is out mid July via Touching Flames Records. Given The Touch were a 79 revival band, and the majority of the songs hark back to that era, the feel of the album is very much of that time. Stand-out tracks from an impressive collection of original songs are And I Fell, unmistakably influenced, if not inspired by early material of both The Jam and The Who, with a hint of The Chords too; Twilight Golden draws from storming 60s soul, with a nod in the direction of The Action in there for good measure; Grey Day comes with more reference points towards The Chords, as well as a touch of The Buzzcocks. It not all crashing power chords and buzz-saw riffs, albeit many of the tracks are, as Walk in the Park, with a psychedelia-flavoured leaning. Also, the emotive Melanie demonstrates The Touch had more than one string to their bow. Well crafted and equally well delivered songs, in the main, but not exclusively, power pop 79 style. Its 40 years since the mod revival. The Touch couldn’t have picked a better time to unleash their second album.

Sarge