The Records were a British power-pop band of the late ’70s-early ’80s, one of the post-punk, skinny-tie, jangly-guitar outfits that carried the torch for rock ‘n’ roll against its deformed bastard child, disco.
They never broke through as a band except for “Starry Eyes,” released in 1978, and even that stalled out in the bottom reaches of the Billboard Hot 100. But that one song — the tale of how they fired their first manager — has become a power pop standard, included on virtually every power pop compilation ever sold.
Oddly enough, after the single was released the band started working on its first album with Mutt Lange, who had them re-record the song — and managed to lose all its energy, showing that it’s possible to kill a good song with over-production.
