BOXSET REVIEW: The Vapors – Waiting For The Weekend:
The United Artists & Liberty Records Recordings (Cherry Red Records)
The Vapors’ Turning Japanese is one of those songs which most people of a certain age know.
They are also bound to find themselves singing along, whether they intend to or not.
An earworm before the term was invented, it was the biggest hit by far for the four-piece, formed in 1978 in Guildford, Surrey.
Rumoured to be about wanking (though frontman David Fenton denies this), it was a No 3 hit. It was also destined to be their finest hour by far.
The Vapors are a case study in how quickly a band’s fortunes can change, going from household names to splitting in just two years.
Spotted by Bruce Foxton, the band (note American spelling, to appeal to a US audience) enjoyed the patronage of The Jam.
That proved a curse as well as a blessing, initially earning them a high-profile support slot on 1979’s Setting Sons tour.
All looked rosy when they signed to United Artists, home to Buzzcocks, The Stranglers, Dr Feelgood and 999.
Their debut album New Clear Days, released at the peak of the new wave explosion, reached No. 44 in the UK charts.
(Curiously, their only other hits, the singles News At Ten and Jimmie Jones, both peaked at No. 44 too.)
NME called The Vapors “the sellable face of new wave; Britpop, brittle and fast, all hooks and catches bristling with nervous ambition”.
But with The Jam becoming Britain’s most popular band, and manager Foxton otherwise engaged, they took a back seat.
Fates conspired against them in other ways too. Denied a Top of the Pops appearance when the show was forced off air, their label then went bust.
UA was sold to EMI, but unfortunately for The Vapors, their A&R team were made redundant.
They found themselves sidelined on a subsidiary label, Liberty, their new bosses pre-occupied with a young band called Duran Duran. Wonder whatever happened to them…?
When their second album, Magnets, released in March 1981, failed to reach the heights of the first, The Vapors soon called it a day.
This carefully-curated 4CD boxset brings together pretty much everything they recorded in their original incarnation.
Disc one is New Clear Days, a jaunty slice of new wave, its 11 tracks bulked out by single versions and B-sides.
The hits are the obvious standouts, but tracks like Cold War, America and non-charting single Waiting For The Weekend more than hold their own.
Magnets, which is disc two, shows a shift towards a more power-pop sound, with highlights including Jimmie Jones, Live At the Marquee and Civic Hall.
Cherry Red have unearthed two whole discs of previously unreleased material, comprising demos, rough mixes and alternative versions.
Three songs – Move, Secret Noise and Caroline – have never been officially released. But the icing on the cake is an 11-track live set.
Recorded at The Rainbow Theatre in December 1979, it shows The Vapors at the peak of their powers. Their slick performance shows why The Jam were fans.
Reforming in recent years for occasional gigs, they supported Foxton’s band From The Jam on the Setting Sons 40th anniversary tour.
They also released a well-received new album, Together, in May 2020 – a mere 39 years after their previous one!
The Vapors didn’t fit into the definition of punk, new wave or Mod. But this set proves there was more to them than Turning Japanese (featured here six times!). 7/10.
- The Vapors embark on a belated 40th anniversary tour for New Clear Days this October. Dates below:
