IT HAPPENED WHEN?
Peter Baker, of cult synth project Electronic Ensemble, tells Ian Shirley about the track that became an airplay hit in Europe
Ihave a single by a band called the Electronic Ensemble – It Happened Then – with the flip being Theme From The Babylon Run. It’s on the Superstition label, on blue vinyl. It’s an amazing synth record and I note that there is a truly bonkers video for it on Youtube. Was this a hit single when it was released back in 1980? Robert Styles via email
Sadly, the Electronic Ensemble single It Happened Then/theme From The Babylon Run (Superstition Records SR 002, £40) was not a hit. It was released in the UK in 1980 and was the second, and last, single issued by the Superstition label. The first was Routine/power Supply by the Screen Idols (SR 001, £5). The man behind Electronic Ensemble was Piccadilly Radio DJ and broadcaster Peter Baker with sterling assistance from his good friend Dave Eager, who was also a DJ. It
Happened Then later picked up considerable airplay on Radio Luxembourg, which resulted in it being licensed and released in France, Belgium, Germany and Italy.
The video you refer to was not shown at the time, but has had a new lease of life on Youtube after It Happened Then appeared on the 4CD Electrical Language compilation issued by Cherry Red in 2019. It Happened Then was actually re-released in 1983 under the name Russant – with another unreleased video mimed by two singers discovered by Dave Eager – with the track Synthamation on the flip (MACH 1 MAGIC 003, 1982, £20). There was also a second single by Russant, called Carry The Can/carry The Can (MACH 1 MAGIC 005, 1983, £40), which did not sell well but is now sought by electronic collectors.
I was able to speak to Peter Baker to get the full story behind the single and that video where he, Eager and a friend look like lost relations of the character Fantasy Man from Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy series on Channel 4.
How did the Electronic Ensemble single come to be made?
Back in the 70s, I worked at a radio station called Piccadilly in Manchester – it was the first commercial station outside London. As well as being a radio presenter, playing music and interviewing pop stars, I also worked in the commercial production. I worked with a guy called
Steve England who had worked on the old pirate ships in the 60s and was really into production and jingles. We had a jingle that went “Stereo ninety seven!” that sounded like an electronic voice. I asked him how he did it and Steve got out these two little loudspeaker things that were like tweeters from [stereo shop] Tandy. Basically, you played a note on the synthesiser that made the noise on these speaker things and you put them on your throat and then mouthed the word. So, instead of you creating the voice box these things made electronic notes of your voice; Sonovox. So basically the record came from there.
Where did you record the single?
Smile studios in Chorlton, Manchester, which burned down shortly after. I did everything, although there was a session guy at the studio whose name I can’t recall who did some of the bass parts. We did not even have a sequencer; it was just layer upon layer on the tape machine. The Electronic Ensemble track It Happened Then was just Dave Eager and I having some fun at Smile studio and it got released.
What was it about?
The song is about a computer saying, “I’m doing all this work for you, man, why can’t I have the same fun as humans?” That is what it is all about. “It Happened Then, why did it not happen then to me?” I am just proud that I got to put it out.
What about the B-side, Theme From The Babylon Run?
I had to work out what to put on the B-side, which is how Theme From The Babylon Run came about. There were some radio plays that I produced – I basically put all of the sound effects in and mixed it all together – written by Stephen Gallagher who went on to write Doctor Who. So I wrote the theme for that and it became the B-side for Electronic Ensemble’s It Happened Then.
“JEFF WAYNE SAID, ‘THAT IS A GOOD SONG, THAT’”
Where was that B-side recorded?
At Piccadilly radio! At the time even though we were a professional radio station and making radio commercials we did not have multitrack. Everything was 2-track so the B-side was just me playing the synthesiser and then rewinding the 2-track tape, playing and then recording again. Then you play over that. It was The Generation Game and Hiss City, Arizona! Also, you could not boost the sound of anything that had been recorded three layers ago because it had already been recorded!
How did you get a record deal?
Dave Eager, who worked on Radio 1 as a DJ, he basically got the deal with Superstition Records. So the record first came out on Superstition. I’m not sure what happened to Superstition but I do remember going down to see the record being pressed in London. Jeff Wayne Music was the original publisher. I was proud to talk to Jeff who said, “That is a good song, that.”
How did the record get picked and re-released in the UK and Europe?
Radio Luxembourg picked up on it and they made it a “Power Play“and then it was released across Europe. In Germany it came in a picture sleeve taken at Piccadilly radio, with Dave Eager in the middle, me on one side and one of Dave’s friends on the other. It was also released in France, not that I ever made any money from it. It was just a laugh. I wish I'd recorded it better. But the people who liked the Giorgio Moroder stuff liked the Electronic Ensemble song.
Where did you film the video?
We did that video in London at [director and film producer] Mike Mansfield’s studio. It was filmed around these two-inch video machines. It was all done in one take as we only had the studio for 10 minutes and then we had to leave. I remember driving back up to Manchester on the motorway in these silly space outfits and having people cast funny looks at us in the service station area. We drove down in costume to save money. “Quick, park here! Get in the studio! Right, off we go!” That was Dave Eager’s idea to dress up, as we had to make it look like we were from a different planet or something. But it worked well. That silver makeup took ages to get off, it really did.
Why did you film the video?
Video was just starting and we had lots of friends at ITV. They did children’s programmes on a Saturday morning and there was one called The Mersey Pirate, which had Phil Wood presenting it and Dave Eager knew the producer. We had our video promised a slot on Saturday morning. However, on Friday afternoon we had a call saying, “Sorry, we have had to pull it as the musicians’ union say that the synthesiser is not a musical instrument.” I could not believe it, but they pulled it and the impetus was lost. If we had had that video on that show on Saturday morning I am sure it would have been a much bigger hit in the UK. It sold quite well in Europe apparently.
Did you release anything else?
We did have a follow up in 1983 called Carry The Can – “Carry the can/carry the can” – that was a minor thing under the name of Russant. The Russant single was originally planned to have human voices on, with a pair of singers discovered by Dave Eager. The A-side had the Russant boys singing the main line and the Sonovox electronic voice doing the replies. The B-side has the same song with all the vocals done by the Sonovox. It got released in the UK but not in Europe.
Are you proud of It Happened Then?
Yes, but if I had money and time I wish I could go back and re-record it. To make the Sonovox clearer, to make that bass cleaner – we put too much reverb on it – just to do a cleaner version.
How do you feel about the Russant singles being sought-after by collectors?
Collectable? [laughs]. Well, as a DJ with Piccadilly radio where you got unlimited free records from a stream of visiting reps, you unfortunately lose the feeling of value. I gave away so many rare white labels. I’m sure they have found good homes! Anyway, I was proud of the opportunity to record my music and find some fans!
So, there is no lost Electronic Ensemble LP? No, but I have written many songs over the years including a musical, a rock musical, about Galileo. I have always been into astronomy since I was a kid. I have had a good shot at songwriting in my life and can’t complain.
You are a very successful voiceover artist these days, I believe?
If people are interested in voiceover I do quite a few courses on that – I teach people how to expand their voice, improve their voice, how to read scripts and how to record them and set up their own voiceover business. They can look at voiceovermasterclass.com where there are free courses and resources.
Find out more: www.peterbaker.tv
It Happened Then appears on Electrical Language (Independent British Synth Pop 78-84) (Cherry Red, 4CD, 2019, £28).