Formed in 1980 from the ashes of 2 Tone’s The Bodysnatchers, seven-piece, all singing, all playing, all female combo The Belle Stars signed to the legendary Stiff Records label in 1981. Between 1982 and 1984 they enjoyed seven UK singles chart entries with the label, while this, their sole studio album reached the Top 20.
Off to a roaring start with the monster hit ‘Sign Of The Times’ – a UK No. 3 smash in early 1983 – ‘Belle Stars’ is a heady mix of percussive, post-punk shiny new pop. The album brings together radically updated covers of classic R&B standards – ‘Iko Iko’, (a huge US hit after it was included in the film ‘Rain Main’) ‘The Snake’, ‘Harlem Shuffle’, ‘Mockingbird’, ‘Needle In A Haystack’ – with strong self-penned material, including the aforementioned ‘Sign Of The Times’ and breezy later single ‘Indian Summer’.
This new limited edition picture disc – art-directed by the band’s original graphics man Simon Ryan – features the album in full plus the addition of two non-album singles, ‘Sweet Memory’ and ‘The Entertainer’.
