Brilliant were a British pop/rock group active in the 1980s. Although not commercially successful and mauled by the critics, they remain notable because of the personnel involved -
Martin GloverMartin Glover, also known as Youth, is a record producer and a founding member and bassist of the UK band Killing Joke. He is a member of The Fireman along with Paul McCartney. Glover was born in Africa.-Early career:...
aka Youth, formerly of
Killing JokeKilling Joke are an English post-punk rock band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England. Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock, their early music was described by critics...
and subsequently a top producer/remixer;
Jimmy CautyJames Francis Cauty is a British artist and musician born in Liverpool, England in 1956...
, later to find fame and fortune as one half of
The KLFThe KLF were a band from the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Beginning in 1987, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty released hip hop-inspired and sample-heavy records as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, and on one occasion as The Timelords...
; and (prior to the band signing with
WEAWarner Music Group is the third-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the "big four" record companies. The current incarnation of the company was formed in 2004 when it was spun off by Time Warner, and as a result, Time Warner no longer...
)
Ben WatkinsBen Watkins is a British electronic music artist and producer, best known as being the principal member of the band Juno Reactor.-External links:* - latest news from Juno Reactor*...
aka Juno Reactor. Equally notable was their management (
David BalfeDavid Balfe is most notable for playing keyboards with The Teardrop Explodes, founding the Zoo and Food record labels, signing Blur and for being the subject of their number one hit - "Country House".-Biography:...
), their record company
A&RArtists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
manager (
Bill DrummondWilliam Ernest Drummond also known as King Boy D is a Scottish musician, media personality, record producer, writer and artist. He is best known as co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde "pop group" The KLF and its 1990s "avant-art" media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he...
, the other member of The KLF), and songwriting and production team (
Mike StockMike Stock is a English songwriter and record producer best known for being a member of the songwriting and record production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. He has co-written and/or co-produced numerous worldwide hits including 16 No...
,
Matt AitkenMatt Aitken , is a British songwriter and record producer, brought up in Astley, Greater Manchester, best known as the creative force behind the 1980s songwriting/production trio Stock Aitken Waterman....
and
Pete WatermanPeter Alan Waterman OBE is an English record producer, occasional songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast...
known as
Stock Aitken WatermanStock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...
).
Brilliant first came to life in 1982, as post-punk band
Killing JokeKilling Joke are an English post-punk rock band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England. Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock, their early music was described by critics...
was crumbling under internal conflicts.
Brilliant were a British pop/rock group active in the 1980s. Although not commercially successful and mauled by the critics, they remain notable because of the personnel involved -
Martin GloverMartin Glover, also known as Youth, is a record producer and a founding member and bassist of the UK band Killing Joke. He is a member of The Fireman along with Paul McCartney. Glover was born in Africa.-Early career:...
aka Youth, formerly of
Killing JokeKilling Joke are an English post-punk rock band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England. Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock, their early music was described by critics...
and subsequently a top producer/remixer;
Jimmy CautyJames Francis Cauty is a British artist and musician born in Liverpool, England in 1956...
, later to find fame and fortune as one half of
The KLFThe KLF were a band from the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Beginning in 1987, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty released hip hop-inspired and sample-heavy records as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, and on one occasion as The Timelords...
; and (prior to the band signing with
WEAWarner Music Group is the third-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the "big four" record companies. The current incarnation of the company was formed in 2004 when it was spun off by Time Warner, and as a result, Time Warner no longer...
)
Ben WatkinsBen Watkins is a British electronic music artist and producer, best known as being the principal member of the band Juno Reactor.-External links:* - latest news from Juno Reactor*...
aka Juno Reactor. Equally notable was their management (
David BalfeDavid Balfe is most notable for playing keyboards with The Teardrop Explodes, founding the Zoo and Food record labels, signing Blur and for being the subject of their number one hit - "Country House".-Biography:...
), their record company
A&RArtists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
manager (
Bill DrummondWilliam Ernest Drummond also known as King Boy D is a Scottish musician, media personality, record producer, writer and artist. He is best known as co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde "pop group" The KLF and its 1990s "avant-art" media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he...
, the other member of The KLF), and songwriting and production team (
Mike StockMike Stock is a English songwriter and record producer best known for being a member of the songwriting and record production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. He has co-written and/or co-produced numerous worldwide hits including 16 No...
,
Matt AitkenMatt Aitken , is a British songwriter and record producer, brought up in Astley, Greater Manchester, best known as the creative force behind the 1980s songwriting/production trio Stock Aitken Waterman....
and
Pete WatermanPeter Alan Waterman OBE is an English record producer, occasional songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast...
known as
Stock Aitken WatermanStock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...
).
Biography
Brilliant first came to life in 1982, as post-punk band
Killing JokeKilling Joke are an English post-punk rock band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England. Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock, their early music was described by critics...
was crumbling under internal conflicts. Unsatisfied with his bandmates' following of the
occultThe word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
lifestyle, Killing Joke's bass player
YouthMartin Glover, also known as Youth, is a record producer and a founding member and bassist of the UK band Killing Joke. He is a member of The Fireman along with Paul McCartney. Glover was born in Africa.-Early career:...
decided to call it quits and recorded an angry slandering song against his former bandmates. The song,
That's What Good Friends Are For..., an obvious mock of Killing Joke's second album
What's THIS for...!What's THIS For...! is the second studio album by Killing Joke. It was released in June 1981 on EG Music. A remastered version with three bonus tracks was released in 2005....
, was credited to "Brilliant", which was a name of a Killing Joke b-side and a general 1980s
buzzwordA buzzword is a idiom, usually a neologism, that is common to managerial, technical, administrative, and political work environments...
.
For the first incarnation of Brilliant as a full band, Youth recruited Marcus Myers on vocals and guitar, a second bass player
Guy PrattGuy Pratt is a well-known session bassist and also a songwriter, actor and comedian. He is the son of actor Mike Pratt. In Kensington and Chelsea, London, in 1996, Pratt married Gala Wright, the daughter of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright...
(who left for the Australian band
IcehouseAn Icehouse is a building where ice is stored, such as:* An icehouse, now known as Vivekanandar Illam, at Chennai, India*Ice House, a Grade II listed building in Swansea DocksThe name has subsequently been used in a variety of other uses:...
and was replaced by frenchman Stephane "Tin Tin" Holweck), and the two drummers Andy Anderson (The Cure) and Peter Ogi. They released one single,
Colours, through
Rough Trade RecordsRough Trade Records is an independent record label, based in London, England. It was started in 1978 by Geoff Travis.-History:Geoff Travis was traveling in North America and amassed a huge record collection as he moved from coast to coast. He then shipped these records back to the UK which became...
(with a sleeve by Mark Manning) and recorded a BBC session for
John PeelJohn Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004. He was known for his eclectic taste in music and...
. Overall through its four years of existence the band hosted a roster of roughly 30 players until reducing to the trio of Youth, Cauty and female vocalist June Montana.
The band released several singles and one album -
Kiss the Lips of Life - before splitting up.
Reviews
Trouser PressTrouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...
reviewer Ira Robbins called
Kiss the Lips of Life "dismal" and the band "cynical" and "wretched", adding that "[their] lasting cultural significance amounts to its inclusion of ex-
Zodiac MindwarpZodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction are a British hard rock group.-Overview:The band is the brainchild of Mark Manning, a graphic artist and editor of London's Flexipop magazine...
keyboardist/guitarist Jimmy Cauty, with whom [Bill] Drummond concocted the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (JAMs)".
Allmusic were a little more generous, calling Brilliant an initially "promising act: a more soulful take on the aggressive funk-rock of Killing Joke" but added that, after being teamed up with Stock, Aitken and Waterman, they "came up with a generic pop-dance album that fell well short of the original concept". Awarding
Kiss the Lips of Life two stars out of five, they added that "What aggression there is comes courtesy of Jimmy Cauty's metallic guitar solos; the sterile synth whitewash of SAW dominates the rest of the mix, and vocalist June Montana isn't strong or distinctive enough to fight through it".
However, even Bill Drummond - the A&R man who had signed them - had harsh words to say about the project: "I signed a band called Brilliant, who I worked with, we worked together, and it was complete failure. Artistically bankrupt project. And financially deaf. We spent £300,000 on making an album that was useless. Useless artistically, useless... commercially."
"We did a record with this band called Brilliant, the reviews were phenomenal and it got to 58 in the charts. I remember saying to the guys, fuck that for critically-acclaimed music, you can't pay the fucking rent with that." - Pete Waterman
Kiss The Lips Of Life will be released in
CDA Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store sound recordings exclusively, but later it also allowed the preservation of other types of data. Audio CDs have been commercially available since October 1982...
format on the independent U.S.
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Wounded Bird, on 11 August 2009.
Singles
- "That's What Good Friends Are For..." (Brilliant) / "Push" (Brilliant), 1982 UK (Limelight Music Lime-7-001) (UK Indie
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.-History:In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
#22)
- "Colours" (A.Anderson/M.Glover/M.Myer/S.Holweck) / "Colours Monster Mix" - 1983 UK (Risk Records/Rough Trade, RTT105) (UK Indie #11)
- "Soul Murder", 1984 UK (Food Records) (UK Indie #14)
- "Wait For It", 1984 UK (WEA/Food Records)
- "It's A Man's Man's Man's World", 1985 UK (WEA/Food Records) (#58 UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
)
- "Love Is War" (Youth/Montana/Cauty/Stock/Aitken/Waterman) / "The Red Red Groovy" (Youth/Montana/Cauty) / "Ruby Fruit Jungle" (Youth/Montana/Cauty/Holwick/Le Mesurier), 1986 UK (WEA/Food Records, FOOD 6) (#64 UK Singles Chart)
- "Somebody", 1986 UK (WEA/Food Records) U.S. (Atlantic) (#67 UK Singles Chart)
- "The End Of The World", 1986 UK (WEA/Food Records)
Albums
- Kiss The Lips Of Life, 1986 UK (WEA/Food Records) U.S. (Atlantic) (#83 UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website ; the full Top 200 is published exclusively in ChartsPlus.To qualify for the UK albums...
)
- Kiss The Lips Of Life, 2009 U.S. CD
A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store sound recordings exclusively, but later it also allowed the preservation of other types of data. Audio CDs have been commercially available since October 1982...
(Wounded Bird) Released 11 August 2009
External links