Songoftheday 6/23/15 - Gotta make a move to a town that's right for me, town to keep me movin' keep me groovin' with some energy...

"Funky Town" - Pseudo Echo
from the album Love An Adventure (US) (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10

Today's SOTD comes from the Australian new wave band Pseudo Echo, who started out in Melbourne under lead singer Brian Canham, and released their first single, "Listening" in 1983. That record got a lot of buzz in their homeland and coasted to #4 on Australia's singles chart and would be the first single from their debut album Autumnal Park. They equaled that rank with their second album's "Don't Go" in 1985. Four hits singles were released from that album over the next year, and then the band put out a cover of a post-disco classic "Funky Town" that was a one-hit-wonder for Minneapolis-based act Lipps Inc. The original went to #1 in the U.S. and Australia in 1980, and the remake sent Pseudo Echo to the top of their country's list for seven weeks...

While Lipps Inc's own already sounded progressive for the time, it didn't take much to change about the song for the new wave era, though they did speed up the tempo and amp the guitars (well, probably keytars). They released this after their first American single, "Living In A Dream", stalled out at #57, and of course this had better results...

Pseudo Echo's version of "Funky Town" reached the American top ten in July of 1987, while climbing to #4 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, besides Australia the record topped the chart in Canada and New Zealand, made the top-ten in the UK (#8), and #16 in Germany.

The single would be the band's only appearance in the American Top-40, and last on the whole pop chart. Their next album Race managed to place one single in the Aussie top-40 with "Fooled Again" (#32), and broke up after a tour. They reunited in the new millenium and released a couple of albums since.

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Here's the band performing the song live, proving they were well above a good chunk of the one-off new wavers out there...

and from a show at the Ritz in New York in 1987...

...and the 12" version that made the top-5 on the American dance chart...

Up tomorrow: Continental metal band are shaking the evening.