Canadian band Martha & The Muffins came over to the UK to make an album for a Virgin off shoot label called Din Disc. This label seemed to deal with the more experimental side of pop music, but also OMD were signed to the label which gave it credibility. The album Metro Music was recorded in late 1979 with producer Mike Howlett and it spawned the single Echo Beach.
The song was written by Mark Gane and is in fact a song of distraction, daydreaming from the mundane work day, somewhere far away in time to escape a boring job and just wanting to be somewhere else instead. The single was released early 1980 and after the radio stations played it heavily it charted and eventually reached number 10 on the charts. The picture cover featured a map which many people believed was Echo Beach but was in fact a map of Chesil Beach in Dorset.
The album was a minor hit but the singles that followed this classic single didn't chart, so the band became a one hit wonder, but what a way to earn it!
My memories of the single actually are not that good, I hated it! It took me a long time to like it, maybe it got over played I don't really know why I didn't like it. I think it was a couple of years after the single had been and gone, when suddenly I thought it wasn't that bad and over the years I grew to love the track and often play it when I'm in an 80's mood. It is still a classic single and takes me back to 1980 when there was an optimistic feel to the year!
