Alongside the Teardrop Explodes and Echo And The Bunnymen, Wah!, led by the freewheeling Pete Wylie (b. 22 March 1958, Liverpool, England; guitar, vocals) through its various incarnations (Wah! Heat, Wah!, Shambeko! Say Wah!, Mighty Wah!), prompted a second beat boom in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, during the early 80s. Indeed, Wylie had originally been part of the historically brief but important Crucial 3 with Julian Cope and Ian McCulloch. Whereas those bands opted for a pristine guitar pop aesthetic, Wylie and Wah! were all pop melodrama and bluster. Occasionally they lacked the technical abilities to pull off some of their grand arrangements, especially when tackling the big soul ballads, but Wylie was always a supremely entertaining frontman and amusing performer. His various collaborators included Pete Younger (bass), Rob Jones (drums), Carl "Oddball" Washington (bass), Joe Musker (drums), Paul Barlow (drums), Henry Priestman (keyboards), Charlie Griffiths (keyboards), Jay Naughton (piano), Chris Joyce (drums), Colin Redmond (guitar), Steven Johnson (guitar), John Maher (drums), and many others, plus a brass section. Of these, Washington enjoyed the longest tenure. The albums Wah! left behind are remarkably inconsistent, and a more informed purchase would be WEA Records' 1984 compilation of the band's singles, The Way We Wah!. This included "Come Back" and "Hope (I Wish You'd Believe Me)', plus the band's only major UK chart success, 1982"s Top 3 single "The Story Of The Blues".

Listen to The Mighty Wah! at Finetune.

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