Hue and Cry

Hue and Cry is a pop group formed in 1983 in Coatbridge, Scotland by brothers Pat Kane (vocals) and Greg Kane (keyboards). They had three UK chart hits in the late 1980's and released nine original albums between 1987 and 1999.

Their first single "Here Comes Everybody" was released on a small Glasgow-based independent label, Stampede. While not a chart hit, it attracted the interest of Virgin Records' subsidiary Circa who signed the duo in 1986.

Their debut and, to date, biggest hit was "Labour of Love" (1987, UK No.6), from the debut album Seduced and Abandoned (1987, UK No.22).

Other UK Top 40 hits included "Looking for Linda" and "Violently (Your Words Hit Me)" - both from their second album Remote (1988, UK No.10).

In the 1990's the brothers embarked upon a period of musical experimentation. The 1991 album Stars Crash Down pushed the boundaries of the pop genre, embracing folk, country, Latin and quartet jazz. It was a step too far for their record company Circa who dropped them. Truth & Love (1992) was released on the brothers' own short-lived label, Fidelity.

Hue and Cry had a brief chart revival in 1993 with the release of the Circa compilation album Labours of Love - The Best of Hue and Cry (UK No.27), which included a Joey Negro remix of "Labour of Love" (UK No.25).

1994 saw a successful collaboration with master jazz arranger and composer Richard Niles. This produced the album Showtime! and the popular single "Just Say You Love Me". Pat Kane continued to work with Niles sporadically on many live concerts for BBC Radio 2 with Niles' own band Bandzilla and the BBC Big Band.

In 1996 Hue & Cry signed to Scottish jazz and classical label Linn Records for an intended trilogy of albums. First came JazzNotJazz, an album that mixed jazz with non-jazz sounds (hence the title!) The album was recorded in a week during the Glasgow Jazz Festival, enlisting the services of some of the jazz giants visiting the city. They included Michael Brecker (tenor sax) and Randy Brecker (trumpet) - who'd played on the Remote album - as well as guitarist Mike Stern (sidesman with Miles Davis), drummer Danny Gottlieb (Pat Metheny) and saxophinist Tommy Smith.

Next Move (1999) was even more radical, embracing drum 'n' bass, r 'n' b and Nuyorican latin-funk. The album contained a controversial cover of Prince's "Sign o' the Times", which they completely blow apart, strip bear and build back up again as an aggressive bebop number.

Financial problems meant the brothers' intended third album on Linn Records would never see the light of day and Pat and Greg concentrated on their solo projects - Pat with his writing and solo performing, and Greg with his music production and DJing.

In April 2005 Hue & Cry made a brief comeback when they won the fourth-week heat of the ITV1 pop-competition show Hit Me Baby One More Time with renditions of "Labour of Love" and a cover of Beyonce's "Crazy In Love".

The band have to date released ten LPs (selling 2 million copies worldwide)

Contents

1 Discography 1.1 Albums 1.2 Singles 2 Pat Kane 3 External links

Discography

Albums

• 1987 Seduced and Abandoned #22 UK
• 1988 Remote #10 UK
• 1989 Remote/The Bitter Suite #10 UK
• 1991 Stars Crash Down #10 UK
• 1992 Truth & Love #33 UK
• 1993 Labours of Love - The Best of Hue and Cry #27 UK
• 1994 Showtime!
• 1995 The Best of Hue and Cry
• 1995 Piano & Voice!
• 1996 JazzNotJazz
• 1999 Next Move
• 2005 The River Sessions: Volume 1

Singles

• 1986 "Here Comes Everybody"
• 1987 "I Refuse"
• 1987 "Labour of Love" #6 UK
• 1987 "Strength To Strength" #46 UK
• 1988 "I Refuse (Route 88)" #47 UK
• 1988 "Ordinary Angel" #42 UK
• 1988 "Looking For Linda" #15 UK
• 1989 "Violently (Your Words Hit Me)" #21 UK
• 1989 "Sweet Invisibility" #55 UK
• 1989 "Peaceful Face"
• 1991 "My Salt Heart" #47 UK
• 1991 "Long Term Lovers of Pain" #48 UK
• 1991 "She Makes A Sound"
• 1992 "Profoundly Yours"
• 1993 "Labour of Love (Urban Edit)" #25 UK
• 1994 "Just Say You Love Me"
• 1994 "Cynical"

Pat Kane

Independently of Hue & Cry, lead singer Pat Kane has established a career as a political and cultural commentator. He was an outspoken activist for Scottish self-government in the late 1980's and 1990's. In 1990 he was elected Lord Rector of Glasgow University (defeating veteran radical MP Tony Benn) for three years.

Also during the 1990's he established a reputation as an arts journalist in a range of media - presenting several live discussion shows for Channel 4 and BBC2, and winning a Sony Award for his BBC Radio Scotland series, "Kane Over America". In 1999, Pat was one of the founding editors of the "Sunday Herald" newspaper.

As co-director (with Indra Adnan) of the human potential consultancy New Integrity, Pat is developing a comprehensive "play audit" for organisations, institutions and enterprises, based on his cutting-edge research into the past, present and future of ludic culture. Related to this is his 2004 book "The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living," published by Macmillan Publishers.

External links

• Official site for Hue and Cry - No Half Measures Management (http://www.hueandcry.co.uk)
• The Hue and Cry fan site (http://www.hueandcry.info)
• allmusic: Hue and Cry (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDSUB020407011244331416&sql=B63rx284c051a)
• Pat Kane's The Play Ethic (http://www.theplayethic.com/pages/796770/index.htm)
• Greg Kane site (http://www.skyscraperusa.com/greg_kane_biography.htm)sv:Joe och gänget