From Nottingham, the Favourites recorded their debut single at Spaceward Studios in Cambridge on the night that Margaret Thatcher was elected. Yes, it is a cover of Abba’s ‘SOS’, but it features some amazing textural guitar flushes, convincing you it’s a lo-fi gem and then mixing in all the barre chord bluster that you’d associate with a band like the Boys, including a fabulous little Morse Code guitar run. The second single, a cover of the Wasps’ ‘Angelica’, arrived in a cover that was a delightful pastiche of Blondie’s Eat To The Beat album.

 Hunt, Kerr and Gotheridge formed the Favourites after leaving Plummet Airlines at the start of 1978. “The Plummets folded,” Gotheridge told me, “which left Darryl, Duncan and myself band-less. Kevin and Tony were in a local band, called the GT’s. They had also folded, so the two bands joined. That’s the line-up that recorded ‘S.O.S.’ and other stuff. However, Kevin and Tony wanted their old mate from the GT’s in on drums [Paul Betts], so I was ousted.”

 They played regularly at the Imperial on St James’ Street in Nottingham and other venues. Both singles were well-liked, but it didn’t happen, despite the band adding former Zoot Alors guitarist Alan Fearn, who helped them play a series of showcase gigs including the Marquee. Ironically, Paul Betts would eventually join Fearn in his band Blue Train, while Kevin Green played in a series of blues bands, notably Out Of The Blue. Hunt moved down to London and became domiciled in the King’s Cross squat scene. He was a member of the ‘doo wop punk band’ the Lemons before hooking up once again with his art school pal Dave Scott (ex-Bank Of Dresden, Spizz Energi etc) to put together Baby Lotion. He and Scott then worked with Cait O’Riordan in Pride Of The Cross before eventually gravitating to the Pogues.

 Discography:

 SOS/Favourite Shoes 7-inch (4 Play FOUR-002 1979)

 Angelica/Cold 7-inch (4 Play FOUR-003 1979)

Thanks to Alex Ogg for the above info

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