I couldn’t eat a whole one

Occasional Albums Thing 075 - The Keys “The Keys Album”

I first encountered The Keys in the early 2000’s when I found a series of Spanish (I’m pretty sure they were Spanish) compilation CD’S called “Shake Some Action” (those in the know will be nodding sagely and humming the Flamin’ Groovies song of that name) which were subtitled “Songs You Wish They Played On The Radio". They were a series of 8 CD’s (maybe 9) made up of Power Pop and Mod Revival tunes from around the world from the period 1975 to 1986-ish, if you like Power Pop from the late 70’s and early 80’s (The Vapours, The Tours, The Quads, The Look, stuff like that) you could do worse than track them down, they’re packed with lesser known gems. Volume 1 featured The Keys fantastic 1981 single “I Don’t Wanna Cry”.

The Keys were a UK Power Pop outfit from London. But these were no fresh faced, teen Pop kids, some of The Keys had been around the block a few times. Singer/guitarist Ben Grove had done his time in the Punk Wars with The Banned back in ‘77. Most notably drummer Geoff Britton had been a member of Bristol Prog Rockers East Of Eden at the tail end of the 60’s, during 1974 and 75 he was invited into Wings and in 1978 and 79 he joined up with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, he’d paid his dues.

In the summer of 2025 I bought a huge record collection and it contained not one but three copies of this album plus a couple of singles. I kept a 7” copy of “I Don’t Wanna Cry” and a copy of the album for me and thus, here we are. “I Don’t Wanna Cry” is a great lost classic, very Beatle-esque, The Keys are wearing their influences very, very obviously. There are 2 more singles on the album, “One Good Reason” and “Greasy Money” so A&M we’re expecting great things and getting behind them. But the former is instantly forgettable and the latter is a nice ballad (if a little bit too much like Joe Jackson’s “It’s Different For Girls”) and neither reach the heights of “I Don’t Wanna Cry”.

Opening song “Hello Hello” is a sprightly way to start things, very much in the style of a certain Mr. Jackson’s debut album (and I ain’t talking Michael). I’ve now mentioned Joe Jackson twice because “The Keys Album” was produced by him (Keys bassist Drew Barfield went on to play with Joe) so the sound is overall very reminiscent of Mr Jackson's first two albums, but sadly overall the production is a bit weak and thin, it never really punches like “Look Sharp” and “I’m The Man” very much did but at certain points sounds scarily like both, it’s almost a surprise that Joe’s name doesn’t appear in the writing credits somewhere. The songs are very 60’s influenced, very sweet with lots of vocal harmonies and the requisite jingly-jangly guitars (I wanted to say Rickenbacker to give it that 60’s authenticity but the more I listen the more I hear Fender’s).

If you like British Power Pop of this era you may very well enjoy “The Keys Album” but as much as I like “I Don’t Wanna Cry” I found listening to a whole album like that a bit like trying to eat an entire Cadbury’s selection box on Xmas Day...I like chocolate but I couldn’t eat a whole one, it's a bit too much.

I Don’t Wanna Cry - https://youtu.be/GmXcwDIk1So?si=JwJHu_HgKuMSA8s3