Blanket Of Secrecy

Not much is known about this mysterious trio, who released the synth-pop masterpiece Walls Have Ears album in 1982. Who were these guys? The songs were all credited to 'Tinker','Tailor' and 'Soldier' (in different variations) so that certainly hasn't helped matters much. There was a rumor floating around at the time that they were the Attractions (Elvis the C's backing band) but that's highly unlikely. What we do know is that it was released on F-Beat Records in the UK (as Ears Have Walls) and on Warner Brothers in the U.S (as Walls Have Ears). Reviews at the time mentioned the name Pete Marsh as the main-man of the band. Marsh was originally a member of Easy Street, a mellow acoustic act of the '70 whose ranks also included Richard James Burgess, who went on to produce plenty of synth pop in the '80s. (Marsh later appeared on Nick Lowe's The Abominable Showman album.) One of the tracks on Walls Have Ears, "Lovers", was written arranged by Jack Hues (then of Huang Chung, soon to be Wang Chung). From there, it's anybody's guess. ~ Steve "Spaz" Schnee, Rovi