FLAMING HANDS - Wake Up Screaming (7" Single)

A while back I posted two 7" singles, It's Just That I Miss You and The Edge, from obscure Australian new wave pop band Flaming Hands. Here's another of their singles, Wake Up Screaming, from 1980.

Wake Up Screaming was produced by seminal Australian rock musician Lobby Loyde, and like the band's debut single, a cover of I Belong to Nobody by Soul Inc., it features an organic, 60s-inspired rock sound. It also boasts a memorable melody by guitarist and songwriter Jeff Sullivan, a very cool sax break and the pure-yet-powerful vocals of singer Julie Mostyn.

The B side, Sweet Revenge, finds Mostyn musing about taking emotional revenge on a lover who has betrayed her. Musically, the song has a similar vibe to the A side and is just as strong. It begins with a simple, sing-songy vocal intro with a girl-group melody and crescendos into a true pop confection highlighted by a sparkling piano solo and a more aggressive guitar sound as the song reaches its end.

Wake Up Screaming is one of my favorite singles, has never been reissued in any format and like everything else by the Flaming Hands, deserves to be discovered my more people.

Flaming Hands - Wake Up Screaming (7" single, 1980)

Track listing:
1 - Wake Up Screaming
2 - Sweet Revenge

FOR FANS OF:
The Dugites, The Tribe, Blondie, INXS, The Pretenders, The Sinceros, The Motels, Martha and the Muffins, The Tourists