Jon Marsh first met Steve Waddington when he joined the band Twelfth Of August as an additional guitarist, and within a few months Marsh had suggested they leave and start their own band, to be called The Journey. They recruited bass player Timothy Havard and began writing and rehearsing, and occasionally playing live, with the help of keyboard player Bill Anderson. In early 1984 they changed their name to The Beloved, with Havard and Marsh taking over most of the songwriting, and later that year Marsh waited outside the BBC in Portland Place one night and gave a demo tape to John Peel. Within a fortnight they had been booked for a session, and Marsh's school friend Guy Gausden joined on drums as a permanent member, just in time to play on the four songs that were broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on 8 January 1985. A second Peel session followed in October 1985, and their first single, 'A Hundred Words', appeared in April 1986. Furhter singles were issued in 1986 and 1987, with 'This Means War', the double A-side 'Surprise Me'/'Forever Dancing' and the 'Happy Now' EP all making the top 30 in the UK Indie Chart, but failing to dent the UK Singles Chart. Havard left the band in July 1987, and the remaining three members began work on their debut album, but due to a lack of money it was shelved and Gausden departed in late 1987. After slimming down to just Marsh and Waddington, The Beloved began to embrace a dance sound more wholeheartedly, and in October 1988 they released their 'Loving Feeling' single, and although it didn't fare that well in the charts, its b-side 'Acid Love' garnered moderate success in the clubs. January 1989 saw the release of 'Your Love Takes Me Higher', although it was only slightly more successful than 'Loving Feeling', but the October release of 'The Sun Rising' became a club favourite, and crossed over to the UK top 40, peaking at number 26 in November 1989. Their official debut album finally arrived in February 1990, with 'Happiness' consisting wholly of previously unreleased new songs, from which the hit single 'Hello' was taken, becoming their first international hit, and reaching number 19 in the UK. Marsh and Waddington split up the band in 1991, but they re-emerged in 1993 with Marsh's wife Helena involved as co-writer and co-producer for a second studio album 'Conscience'. The band received airplay with the video of the first single, 'Sweet Harmony', with it going on to become their biggest hit in the UK, reaching number 8 in 1993, and a third studio album entitled 'X' followed in 1996, although to date that is the last original album from the band. Jon and Helena Marsh released several underground 12" singles in the following years under different names, including Adam & Eve, Lucky Hole, The London Authority, and Deepo King, and Marsh later became a respected club DJ, holding monthly residencies at Ministry of Sound and Fabric. The abandoned debut album, which was to be called 'Flim Flam', belated made an appearance on the band's website in 2005, where it could be downloaded with no artwork, but that's now long gone, so for anyone fans of the band who missed their chance to grab it, here it is with new artwork, and some subtle editing to the tracks to improve the flow.
Track listing
01 Loving Feeling
02 Franny
03 The Only Girl
04 Yeah Yeah Yeah
05 On The Fence
06 Please Understand
07 Steamboat Whistle Blues
08 A Happy Man
09 Good For You
10 Just One Thing
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