But while the title track got to #6 in the UK (and was also a hit in several other countries, though not the US), in other ways, the record sounds horribly dated at a few decades' remove. In a limited sense, The Crunch and Beyond was ahead of its time, presenting instrumentals with dance rhythms centered around synthesizers. "Though he had the help of a few musicians, the Rah Band's first album was pretty much the project of multi-instrumentalist Richard Hewson, most famous as an arranger of noted recordings on the Apple label by the Beatles, James Taylor, and Mary Hopkin. Hewson wearing a bin liner with accessorised PVC balaclava prodded out his primitive analogue synth sounds, his finger protruding from Steptoe fingerless gloves, whilst his band wearing thigh length boots and Kimonos lurched behind him. Asa bonus we present the non LP single Jiggery Pokery / Porridge.Richard and his motley crew of synth glam space cadets beamed down to Top Of The Pops in the summer of 1977 with an unforgettable jaw dropping rendition of The Crunch, that was as shocking as the Sex Pistols first appearance on Granada TV's So It Goes. The album features such other retro futurist instrumentals as Concrete /Electric Flag /Turkey Roll and Is Anybody There ?. Close your eyes and you could be back in.er. The Crunch + Beyond features the influential analogue synth classic track The Crunch, a top 10 UK hit in 1977, which has heavily influenced such contemporary artists as Goldfrapp (check out recent hit single Strict Machine/We are Glitter) and producer Richard X (Girls Aloud, Rachel Stevens). His career dates back to arranging the Long and Winding Road for the Beatles, followed by arrangements for almost every top UK artist of the early 1970's. "The Crunch + Beyond by the RAH Band who were the brainchild of arranger Richard Hewson. America is way behind when it comes to dance music." Hewson's last charting hit was in 1994, called "Looks Like I'm In Love Again," another dance track by another of his "bedroom bands," Key West." Dance music is very big over here, Techno by now. "It's basically a very simple dance record. " The RAH Band (RAH for Richard Anthony Hewson), which would by 1977, spawn a big hit in Britain with "The Crunch". In a stroke of sonic self-flagellation it says, "I'm sorry for what I did." The Rah Band went on to produce a few more dance hits in the decade to follow, but none with such brilliant timbral wrongness as The Crunch. Phil Specter tapped him for those legendary Long and Winding Road overdub sessions and one can imagine him motioning towards the strings with an expensive handgun held to his head. Hewson had made his first big musical mark in an ignominious fashion: he arranged the strings that broke up The Beatles. Just one very talented veteran session composer who knew his way around a stack of vintage synths well enough to pull off a album's worth of material by himself. Perhaps the masks were employed because "Rah" simply stands for Richard Anthony Hewsen and there was no band at all.
When the single's success propelled the "band" into the pop TV circuit, they were forced to improvise their appearance. In 1977, the UK charts welcomed a really weird dance cut into their top 10: The Crunch, by the Rah Band. Producer, Composed By, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Guitar, Bass - Richard Hewsonĭrums, percussion and brass recorded and the whole thing mixed at R.G. 2009, ) Percussion - Tony Carr, Harold McNair Quartet )Įngineer - John Madden ( ) ""I like RAH Band because the music is unique, it's sounds like aerospace, everything regarding future sophisticated technology."Īrtwork By - Gregory Lynn/ Artwork By - John Holmes ( )Īrtwork By - Splash Design For Andrew Archer Assoc.ĭrums - Barry de Souza (died in sept.
"There’s an ear to detail, melody and arrangement which you often don’t find in these new “disco"releases."
"The Rah band were fantastic, and still are to this day" "Totally underrated, the Rah Band should be put next to artists as Human League, Simple Minds, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet."