Your Move, Bob:
Sounds June '78

YOUR MOVE, BOB: When The Bishops aren't moaning to us about our getting their name wrong on the cover the other week and claiming their singer is a stupid American when everybody who knows their R&B knows he's really a foul-mouthed frostie-swilling Australian, they're now putting in a strong move to beat those well-known Gaelic Bog Trotters, the Boomtown Rats, at their best known artistic achievement - ligging. Now the Bog Trotters are on tour, the Bishops and their good friend Jess Yates are open to offers for gigs. All you idiots with more money than sense should contact them through Rick Rodgers at Chiswick records. Don't all phone at once though or you'll give Ted Carroll a heart attack.

New Wave Chart
Sounds 3/6/78

Albums
1 Tracks On Wax 4, Dave Edmunds, Swansong
2 Count Bishops Live, Chiswick
3 Parkerilla, Graham Parker, Vertigo
4 Live Stiffs, Stiff
5 Funhouse, Iggy and the Stooges, Elektra
6 Jesus of Cool, Nick Lowe, Radar
7 King of Louisiana Rockabilly, Johnny Jano, Flyright
8 Prime Cuts, Louis Jordan, Swinghouse
9 12 Country and Western Classics, Bill Haley, Rollercoaster
10 Chess Rockabilly, Chess

A Blitz From the Bishops
Sounds, August 26 1978

The Bishops - Nashville People balanced precariously on tables and chairs, girls straddled across their boyfriends' shoulders, others not so cleverly situated (or so tall) craning their necks, tippy-toe, pushing and shoving just to catch a good look at the action going down on stage; yep, that's the kind of audience you'll find at any of the Bishops' current spate of gigs. Hey white boy, you want a shot of rivvum an' blooze? If so, you can hardly find a more industrious, more entertaining or more genuinely rivetting band than the Bishops playing the club circuit these days, as their recent solid gold, four encore proof gig at Londons Nashville Rooms proved to me. Looking like something right out of the Stones' Eel Pie Island Club days (circa 1964), The Bishops onstage were a sight to behold. Unexpectedly opening the set with a spoof of 'You're the One That I Want' they charged headlong into 'Taking It Easy' with Johnny Guitar ripping it up in his inimitable style with some red hot licks. Dressed in black leathers, shades, and coming on like your older brother's meanest pal, were it not for the hilarious onstage antics of Dave Tice (vocals), Johnny would easily be the most visually impressive figure in the band. It's unusual in my experience to watch a band start a set and play as excitingly as though they were coming out for the encores, and then somehow sustain the action for the duration, flying higher and higher, but that's just what the Bishops did. And then some. Their current set contains a whole cluster of numbers guaranteed to set your pulse racing, all of them superbly executed by the band. They do 'Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight', 'Teenage Letter', 'Train Train' and a new one, 'Susie Sue'. To mention so few though is almost an injustice to the rest of their material. Ther aint' one not worth a mention, and not one that wasn't a sure fire killer. Pat McMullen (bass), Paul Balbi (drums), and Zenon De Fleur (rhythm guitar) punch out the rhythm; fast and furious, like their lives depended on it and the night could last forever. Midway through the set the band were augmented by a guest harp player whose name, shamefully, escapes me at this moment. But boy, could he blow that mutha! With De Fleur pounding out the chords and Johnny guitar steadily unleashing a flurry of electric blue notes, our anonymous harp hero was free to wind his way in and around the big bad sound, bringing the number (I think it was 'Confessin' De Blooze') to a crescendo of orgasmic Blue Wave Delight. Too Much, My Son The Bishops have got to be easily one of a handful of truly great live bands still strutting their stuff in and amongst the armpits of English clubland. It's where they came from and, ultimately, it's in their environment that their music works to greatest effect. The gig was a complete success, without a doubt the best I've seen all summer, maybe even all year. If there's any foundation in the popular belief at the moment that, indeed, we're in for a Blue Wave, then I for one welcome it with open arms. Support your local R&B heroes and watch them give you all they've got to give.
Mick Wall.

The Bishops: "I Want Candy" (Chiswick)
Melody Maker 9/9/78

Through sheer sweat and relentless dedication the Bishops are finally getting some national recognition. They certainly deserve it after all this time. It's a solid,no-frills tungsten update of that early Sixties classic by the strangeloves in which (if you didn't know) Richard Gottehrer played.

The Bishops: "I Want Candy" (Chiswick NS376)
Record Mirror 9/9/78

One of the very few quality new (or at least recent) R&B bands in existance. The Bishops provide an energy packed, simple number, repetetive enough to stick in the memory without being annoying. Commercial treatment makes it suitable for radio and thus mass acceptance. A hopeful hit.

The Bishops: "I Want Candy" (Chiswick)
Sounds

Available - so far as I can judge by what I was sent - in both ten inch and six inch format, this cover of the Strangeloves is contemporary R&B at it's best. Totally unassuming, it's enjoyable first and foremost for its very simplicity - power driven guitars, steam-drill bass and drums and more guitars. Remarkable only in the fact that the Bishops have never before achieved a sound as good as this.

The Bishops: "I Want Candy" (Chiswick)
N.M.E. 9/9/78

At one time, the Bishops looked like no more than just musical curates. Just another clerical error. But this single may well pull the big congregation these saintly fellows deserve. Essentially it's no more than a Bo Didley testament given the New English treatment, but done with the verve of hell-fire preachers. Should get them dancing in the aisles, fainting in the fonts, and nipping through nimble knees-ups in the knaves. If this doesn't get into the charts, then there's definately no justice. Rich men mounted on camels will be passing through the eyes of needles into the Kingdom of Heaven.