TOM DICKIE & THE DESIRES - THE ELEVENTH HOUR (1982)
Tom Dickie & The Desires existed from 1979 to 1983. Jon Macey and Tom
Dickie had become friends during the peak of the
Fox Pass at The Rat
days. Tom Dickie was in a band called ‘
Susan’ who had performed on the "
Live at The Rat" album and were one of the top bands in Boston
in those days.
In 1979, after the demise of both of their bands,
Macey moved to NYC to form a songwriting partnership with Dickie.
Michael Roy from Fox Pass followed a few months later, and they
auditioned a series of drummers, settling on Ronnie Ball. They recorded
their first album, "
Competition,"
at Electric Lady studios in December 1980. Released in March of 1981,
the LP yielded two radio hits across various US regions:'
Downtown Talk'
and '
Competition'.
By the summer of 1981, it was time to plan another
album and Martin Rushent was called in again, but he declined to
proceed. Ed Sprigg, who had worked with John Lennon, became producer.
The aptly titled album, '
The Eleventh Hour,'
was released in the summer of 1982, just as Macey abruptly quit the
band. Tom Dickie and the Desires played more gigs and did some touring,
but the label and management abandoned them quickly. The promise of the
band at the beginning, to merge sharply crafted lyrics to the elusive
power pop sound, lay in the dust of misfortune as the band dissolved.
Their legacy is on the 2 released Mercury albums. There is enough
material for a third Tom Dickie and the Desires album recorded and
stored in boxes. Fox Pass reunited in 2005 and released two albums.
