Henry Badowski

Henry Badowski playlist

Contributor: Alan Haines

The name Henry Badowksi, if it ever crops up in conversation (which is almost never), usually elicits a comment like “who’s that then” or “never heard of him”. Which isn’t surprising, his only album, Life Is A Grand…, was released on A&M records in 1981. He had no chart success in his short career and since then … nothing. So why the interest in this ‘less than one hit wonder’?

Well, for starters, Henry was at the core of the developing punk scene in London in 1976 and was a member of the band Chelsea with Gene October. Billy Idol, John Towe and Tony James had also been in the band, but good old ‘musical differences’ meant they all left to form Generation X. So, Gene October recruited Henry Badowski (or Henry Daze as he was known then) as a replacement on bass guitar, and he played on what was probably their best-known song, Right To Work, in June 1977. Soon after, Henry left to play keyboards with Wreckless Eric, who had just had a hit with Whole Wide World on Stiff Records.

Henry then had spells working with Captain Sensible in two bands, a reformed version of the Damned called the Doomed, and one just called King (nothing to do with the 1980s band) where he played keyboards and added some vocals. They did a John Peel session on 20th July 1978 and this included a song called Baby Sign Here With Me, more of which in a moment.

King split up because the Damned got back together, but Captain Sensible later lamented its demise and called Henry a ‘pop genius’.

Henry released his first single on Deptford Fun City Records in February 1979. This was Baby Sign Here With Me coupled with Making Love With My Wife and presented in a gold sleeve with just the name ‘Henry’ on the front.

He is credited with playing all the instruments on Making Love With My Wife. James Stevenson, from his Chelsea days, helped out on guitar. Mark Perry, from Alternative TV, produced the single.

Henry Badowski’s music is described variously as electronic, pop, new wave and synth pop, which is probably about right. I’d add that he has a thoroughly English quality and style that made him stand out from a lot of similar musical artists at the time. Henry didn’t go for any transatlantic gimmicks and his songwriting is rooted in a quirky home grown take on relationships and the world around him.

Both of the songs on the single gave a gentle poke at the perceived banalities of married life, with Henry saying lovingly to his bride to be, Baby sign here with me, Imagine all those nights, just you and me in front of the TV, And in the morning we can talk about it sipping cups of tea. He doesn’t get much chirpier or optimistic on Making Love With My Wife, as he says, Waking up, next to you, Is something I’ve resigned myself to do. It’s all good fun though, and this brace of songs gathered some radio airplay in 1979 and came recommended by the musical guru behind the counter in Nottingham’s Selectadisc. Which was good enough for me as I bought it.

Later that year, in June 1979 he was playing drums in Mark Perry’s band the Good Missionaries. They had an album out called Fire From Heaven, also released on Deptford Fun City.

No doubt encouraged by the favourable reception he received from his first solo single, he set about recording an album, Life Is A Grand… on A&M Records. The record contains 10 tracks, including Baby Sign Here With Me, so my Henry Badowski ‘Top 10’ does almost select itself.

The album, released in 1981, kicks off with a song called My Face that had been a single the previous year. It has an irresistibly catchy tune, with echoes of David Bowie in it. It’s a tongue-in-cheek piece of personal vanity and the cover of the single shows Henry pensively contemplating his reflection via the record sleeve. Incidentally, the B-side, Four More Seasons, sounds like it was recorded by a Spike Milligan inspired Oompah Band. Moving on, as they say.

The second track on the album, an autobiographical song called Henry’s In Love was also a single, with a rather ordinary composition called Lamb To The Slaughter on the B-side. The A-side is another one of his autobiographical slices of his love life as he describes how Henry’s in love, Henry’s in love and all the stars are spinning, they’re spinning round in heaven above, it’s so exciting, it flows like wine, he knows that when that something’s missing it will always reappear at some remote and unpredictable time. Obviously, things were working out much better for him then. Here’s the video with Henry looking very much like a 1950s crooner! He’s in a small understated studio sitting in front of an audience, with three large distorted mirrors alongside him. I’d love to know the story behind this appearance.

The third album track and my fifth choice is Swimming With The Fish In The Sea, an eerie, hypnotic sound created with a sparing use of keyboards that remains a most haunting song. I really couldn’t care less what it’s about, just listen to it, preferably with your eyes closed. The fourth track, The Inside Out, is an invitation from Henry for us all to think and act in a different way, as typified by what he calls ‘The inside out’ – Don’t have to dance or shout about, just do the inside out … When there is nothing else to do, the inside out is something new, when your best friend becomes a bore, stay in your room and lock the door … the inside out expands the mind, its recreation of a different kind. It’s Henry’s manual for a better life, and is so esoteric only he understands it fully. Maybe after all this time he could share the secret?

The album’s title track is an upbeat sax-dominated instrumental, an unusual offering from Henry whose deep Kevin Ayers-like voice is such a trademark of his material. A second instrumental, Rampant, closes the second side and for sheer novelty value in Henry’s short musical catalogue, these make seven and eight in my list.

On the second side of the album the opening track is Silver Trees, a song that the just mentioned Kevin Ayers could have written himself. Silver trees is a place that Henry aspires to live in, as he says, There have been many times I thought of moving, Down to silver trees, Where the hummingbirds sit, Humming to a choir of honeybees. But is not well in this Garden of Eden as the next couple of verses show: Whatever happened to the Sun, I knew it wasn’t right, Because the rain was hot and yet the snow, Lay white in the moonlight, Now listen, Just before we found ourselves beneath the silver trees, A buzzing swarm of blind mosquitoes bought us to our knees, We crawled as fast as one can crawl, In fifty hot degrees, And after many hours and lots of pounds, The air began to freeze. All of which just goes to show you didn’t have be a drug taking Pot Head Pixie to write weird stuff.

Another single pulled from the album was This Was Meant To Be, a song very much of its time with jaunty keyboards that could’ve, should’ve been a hit, but inexplicably never made it. Maybe the failure of this run of singles to chart persuaded Henry to retire from the music business. Whatever it was, it’s been a very long time since we heard from him. Henry’s 66 years old now, a mere youth compared to some, so maybe there’s hope yet.

Making Love With My Wife b/w Baby Sign Here With Me is a 1979 single on Deptford Fun City Records (DFC 11); My Face was also released as a single in 1980 on A&M Records (AMS 7503); Henry’s In Love and This Was Meant To Be were also released as singles on A&M Records both in 1981 (AMS 8135) and (AMS 9182) respectively.

HENRY BADOWSKI: My Face (A&M). “Cuddly paranoiac Henry assembles an assured sub-psychedelic story of self-analysis, successfully.” (Record Mirror review, 2 February 1980)

“My fanboy-ism for Henry is well documented in these parts. I suspect I’m one of two people on Earth (the other possibly, but not necessarily, being Badowski himself) to consider his sole album Life Is A Grand to be the best album of 1981.” (Gem of the Day – Trouser Press)

“Life Is A Grand is mostly played by Badowski, with the addition of James Stevenson on guitar, Aleks Kolkowski on violin, and drums by Dave Berk (of Johnny Moped). It’s a wonderful collection of early eighties indie pop, with overtones of psychedelia. The album received some good reviews, but it pretty much died a death, and these days, it’s a fond memory to all but a lucky few – like me. Time someone reissued it, and added the various non-album B-sides as a bonus. I have loved this record for the best part of forty years!” (Og Oggilby, Amazon Reviews)

“Ten simple minimalist pop tunes, moving from the twee to the amusing, won Henry a contract with A&M. These evil capitalists made sure that this album was well buried. Envious of the units the independents were shifting, they tried to sign anything they saw as having sales potential with the aim of starving the alternative charts of bulging sales figures. It worked of course, Henry, for example, never worked again. This LP however is a fine example of Alternative Pop, with a hint of tongue in cheek … Now we have the internet to bring down the record companies, and reintroduce lost albums like this.” (Jonny Zchivago, DIE or DIY)

“Owing little to anybody (except perhaps the great pre-pop songwriters), Henry Badowski finally delivers his album nearly two years behind schedule, possibly due to his playing nearly every instrument himself. It’s been well worth waiting for though – a wonderfully, unhurried collection of simple shuffles and summery sounds, smoothly flowing pop melodies and lyrics of love and mildly cynical humour delivered in gently cultured tones. A surprise and a delight – I think the man’s a star. (Ian Cranna, Smash Hits, 9 July 1981)

“This is what I was up to during the Damned’s 1978 break-up – a band called ‘King’ … with pop genius Henry Badowski on sax & vox, Kim Bradshaw on bass, stick twiddler Dave Berk and lil ol’ me on guitar & vox – and also piano and celeste on this recording for Top Gear. Peel remarked, after playing the song “the mans turning into a multi-instrumentalist … a dangerous trend”. Unfortunately King only got round to doing a weeks gigs at Paris’s Top Hat / Bataclan club – and the aforementioned John Peel session. Nobody will ever know how far the band could’ve gone as it imploded pretty quickly, partly due to the D***ed getting back together without former leader BJ – but with the full on catchiness of the songs me and Henry were writing, and the wackiness of King’s band members I suspect we could’ve had a fair few hit records in our time.” Captain Sensible’s Facebook Page September 2014

Chelsea in Session – 1977 – Past Daily Soundbooth

The Good Missionaries page at Punk 77 – with band photo of Mark Perry, Dave George, Dennis Burns, Henry Badowski, Gillian Hanna

The Great Lost Album of the Post Punk Era

Henry Badowski biography (Wikipedia)

Alan Haines is now retired and enjoying not going to work but doing things he wants instead, such as reading, listening to music, researching family history and walking the dog.

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