Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.rock
Titolo: The Passions - 30,000 Feet Over China

Summer 1989. Seven years after its release. For reasons unknown I played 
this album to death. Innocent, in sort of a wistful, resigned kind of way. 
End of college. "I'm in love with a German Film Star", "Something Special" 
and "Alice's Song" still sound impossibly sad. Haven't played it in years. 
In fact, this is one of the great "undiscovered" albums of all time. The 
Sundays in particular owe it a great debt. when is it going to be 
re-released on CD?
*****
An Indie band of note,with an Irish girl Barbara Gogan who later joined 
forces with Hector Zazou.
Their biggest Indie hit was "I'm In Love With A German Film Star" in 1981 
and there are many standouts here,such as "Alice's Song"
******
The Passions
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The Passions were a British pop band which formed in 1978 and disbanded in 
1983. They were archetypal one-hit wonders with their misty, trance-like pop 
song, "I'm in Love with a German Film Star".
      Contents
      [hide]
        a.. 1 Career
        b.. 2 Post passion
        c.. 3 Band members
        d.. 4 Discography
          a.. 4.1 Singles
          b.. 4.2 Albums
        e.. 5 References
        f.. 6 Audio sample
        g.. 7 External links
        h.. 8 See also
[edit] Career
Based in Shepherds Bush, West London, The Passions' music was grounded 
mainly in Barbara Gogan's voice, and Clive Timperley's delicate echoplex 
guitar work. Before forming in 1978, most of the members had spent time in 
other groups. Timperley was an ex-101ers, whilst drummer Richard Williams 
and singer/guitarist Barbara Gogan were in the punk rock outfit, The 
Derelicts. The Passions' first single, issued in March 1979, was "Needles 
and Pills", which helped them gain a recording contract with Fiction 
Records, home of The Cure. The Passions were predominantly a guitar band but 
they fitted in with the spirit of the times, being part New Romantics, and 
part "European grey".
A year passed between the release of the "Needles and Pills" single, and 
Michael and Miranda, the band's first album. Singles "Hunted", and "Swimmer" 
followed, and then their major charting song, "I'm in Love with a German 
Film Star". Before "The Swimmer" Bidwell and Barker left the band, the 
former to join The Wall. David Agar took over on bass guitar. The band's 
second album, 30,000 Feet Over China, was released in August 1981. It 
included previously released A-sides and several brand new recordings.
Clive Timperley left the band in Verona in December 1981, during the Italian 
leg of their prophetically named "Tour Till We Crack" tour, as a result of 
"serious political differences". The follow-up single release "Africa Mine" 
was recorded with a new line-up. Barbara Gogan explained the situation thus: 
"It's the same old story. Some bands play together for ten years and it's 
all very wonderful and imaginative. More often, though, you reach a point 
where you've done all you can do and you want to change. Whenever we've 
reached that point someone has always left and brought us a step further on. 
Any band playing their own songs to the public has a duty to change and keep 
being imaginative all the time." [1]
Kevin Armstrong (a contributor to a Thomas Dolby album), who had previously 
been with Local Heroes joined, and the group added a keyboard player, Jeff 
Smith, perhaps best known for his past work with Lene Lovich. Armstrong and 
Smith took part in the recording of the band's third album, Sanctuary.
Sanctuary appeared in the autumn of 1982. Stephen Wright, previously in the 
band Bim, joined in 1982, replacing Armstrong. The band toured Europe and 
the U.S., appeared on the Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC 2, and Whatever You 
Want on Channel 4, but dissolved for good in the summer of 1983, after 
playing their last ever live show at London's Marquee club on 12 August that 
year.
[edit] Post passion
  1.. Gogan resurfaced in 1998, when she released Made on Earth, an album 
recorded with the experimentalist, Hector Zazou.
  2.. There have been eleven known cover versions of "I'm in Love with a 
German Film Star" to date, including one by Foo Fighters in 2005.
  3.. "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" was re-released as a download, 
in December 2006.
[edit] Band members
  a.. Barbara Gogan - guitar, vocals
  b.. Clive Timperley - guitar (up to 1981)
  c.. Kevin Armstrong - guitar (from 1981 to 1982)
  d.. Claire Bidwell - bass guitar (up to 1980)
  e.. David Agar - bass guitar (from 1980)
  f.. Richard Williams - drums
  g.. Mitch Barker - vocals (up to 1980)
  h.. Jeff Smith - keyboards (from 1981)
  i.. Stephen Wright - guitar (from 1982)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles
  a.. 1979: "Needles and Pills" (Soho Records)
  b.. 1979: "Hunted" (Fiction)
  c.. 1980: "Swimmer" (Polydor) - reissued 1982
  d.. 1981: "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" (Polydor) - number 25 UK 
Singles Chart
  e.. 1981: "Skin Deep" (Polydor)
  f.. 1982: "Africa Mine" (Polydor)
  g.. 1982: "Jump for Joy" (Polydor)
  h.. 1982: "Sanctuary" (Polydor)
  i.. 2006: "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" (Polydor) (download only)
[edit] Albums
  a.. 1980: Michael and Miranda (Fiction)
  b.. 1981: 30,000 Feet over China (Polydor) - number 92 UK Albums Chart
  c.. 1982: Sanctuary (Polydor)
  d.. 1985: Passion Plays (Polydor) - compilation album

 The Passions
validi, validi.
mik