[Pecker]

Okay, so most of you have never heard of Faith Brothers. They were an '80's band who supported a few big names, and whose singles clipped the outer reaches of the charts before disappearing into obscurity.

Lead singer-songwriter is still active, and still very good, but for many people they're a band they never heard (or even heard of) then, let alone since.

And yet pretty much their entire back catalogue has been re-released on i-tunes and at Amazon downloads, including both albums, and all 6 singles, including all the b-sides from the 7", 12" and 10" versions, apart (it would appear) from the cover versions of Biko and Doctor My Eyes. See the first 8 items here:

Amazon.co.uk: MP3 Albums - faith brothers: MP3 Downloads

Now I'm not a big fan of downloads, but this is exciting in its own way. Logically, there's no reason to ever delete these items. They sit on relatively inexpensive servers, and if no one buys them they're not costing anyone anything to speak of. The record companies don't have to risk pressing up hundreds of copies of a CD which might end up selling only a dozen units.

Potentially, it means all the music ever recorded, available forever. I'd never thought of that particular advantage of downloads before.

Steve W

I went to see them at the (old, original) Marquee back in the 80s at some point as a teen. TBH I don't actually remember the music - that's my poor recollection and not as a result of any over indulgence...

[Pecker]

Originally Posted by Peter Galbavy

I went to see them at the (old, original) Marquee back in the 80s at some point as a teen. TBH I don't actually remember the music - that's my poor recollection and not as a result of any over indulgence...

I saw them supporting The Alarm back in Spring '85, then U2 at Milton Keynes Bowl later that year. They certainly held their own against 2 of the best live acts on the circuit at the time.

Billy is still doing great stuff - easy to look up on the internet.

Until these downloads arrived the only way to get the old Faith Brothers stuff on CD was sourced from some fan or other who'd transfered everthing to CD from vinyl.

Now who was that fan again...

Steve W

[Earl Purple]

I saw this band live in March 1985! Supporting the Boomtown Rats, who were touring just after Band Aid (and before Live Aid).

As a support band I did like the Faith Brothers, and was a bit disappointed they didn't quite make it as a chart act.