Paul Haig - Island Records

Island Records

The media hype around Haig paved the way for a licensing deal with Island Records, and a substantial injection of cash. The deal saw Haig record his first album in New York at the end of 1982, with the late Alex Sadkin producing. Featuring a host of crack sessioneers (including Bernie Worrell, Anton Fier, and Jack Waldman), his new direction - a brand of polished dance/electro - seemed a million miles away from the abrasive edge of Josef K. Indeed Haig was already disowning his past with a vengeance, informing the NME that Josef K was a 'cockroach' he wanted squashed, although two songs - "Adoration" and "Heaven Sent" - had begun life with that band. Yet fine though songs such as "Justice", "Adoration" and "Stolen Love" were, Haig's solo debut played very much as a producer's record, and in surrendering a measure of artistic control Haig lost something of his identity. And it hardly helped that Sadkin was then heavily involved with the Thompson Twins, whose Tom Bailey also guested on the album.

The first Island single, "Heaven Sent", was a drastic club refit of the earlier Josef K number. Despite their best marketing efforts, however, it stalled at number 74 in the UK, and failed to provide Haig with the hit many had confidently predicted. The Rhythm Of Life album appeared in October 1983 and was accompanied by a short seven date UK tour. Haig's touring group included Malcolm Ross on guitar, together with bassist David McClymont (also fresh from Orange Juice), drummer James Locke and former Associate Alan Rankine. Yet although the album sold respectably, Haig found himself caught between two commercial stools. Plainly some way ahead of his time, Haig had perhaps moved too far too fast, his polished dance pop alienating many Josef K fans not yet ready to trade their raincoats for a sharp Italian two-piece and a place in line outside Studio 54. Reviewing the album in the NME, Chris Bohn lamented the fate of an artist:

...dropped somewhere mid-Atlantic and left to drown in liquid demi-disco. Though four percussionists are credited the record has no forward momentum. It sort of slithers across the dancefloor. Worse, Haig has tailored his songwriting to serve a form he only imagines is there. Cutesy couplets are left in mid air, grappling after non-existent rhythm hooks... More than a name producer and an NY studio he needs sympathetic musicians to bring out the character of his songs.

Simple bad luck seems to have prevented all three singles providing solid hits which might have allowed Haig to cross over to a new, wider audience. Inexplicably Island failed even to release the album - or the singles - in the US, the very market to which they had been tailored. Although the slick New York Remix mini album was belatedly issued in America in 1984, it provided a textbook example of too little too late. In 1990 Haig recalled of this difficult period:

The main thing was that I didn't want to be the centre of it all. The initial idea was just to keep working with different people under the name Rhythm of Life. It was more of a big joke. It all went a bit funny when I signed to Island, but before there were quite a few things in the pipeline. But Island wanted a pop image to sell... and they didn't get one.

True, one music paper awarded Haig the accolade of 'Rock Haircut of the Year', but relations with Island were fast becoming strained. Incoming MD Dave Robinson showed little enthusiasm for Haig's music, while an overly candid Sounds interview and an abortive appearance on a children's television show (Hold Tight) to promote "Never Give Up (Party Party)" soured relations further. When Haig recorded a new single, "Big Blue World", in December, Island pulled it just a fortnight before its scheduled release. Fortunately, Crépuscule continued to release Haig product in Europe, so that the delayed record - with a cover of Suicide's "Ghost Rider" on the flipside - arrived in the UK on import.

In 1984 Haig joined forces with several celebrated peers, recording the seminal electro cut "The Only Truth" with Bernard Sumner and Donald Johnson (of New Order and A Certain Ratio respectively), and "The Executioner" with Cabaret Voltaire. November saw the completion of a new album, this time recorded in London with Alan Rankine co-producing. Unfortunately the failure of "The Only Truth" as a single led to Island severing the Crépuscule connection, and so the untitled second album was shelved.