Artist:Pseudo Echo
Song:Funky Town
Album:Best Adventures
This 1986 cover of the 1980 Lipps Inc. hit Funky Town was a top ten hit. It was the only big hit by the Australian band Pseudo Echo. They have been very successful at home and they are still around. Pseudo Echo was formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1982 by Brian Canham on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards and Pierre Gigliotti on bass and keyboards. Keyboardist Tony Lugton joined. They were friends in high school. The band name is a keyboard sound. They were influenced by bands like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. At first they used a drum machine but drummer Anthony Argiro joined in 1983. TV host Molly Meldrum saw them live and played a demo on his show Countdown. The demo got them a record deal with EMI and the song Lightning was released as a single and was a hit in Australia. The 1984 album Autumnal Park was released. Lugton was replaced by James Leigh and his brother Vince Leigh replaced drummer Argiro. Canham and James Leigh wrote all the songs for the 1986 album Love an Adventure and Canham produced with sax player James Valentine. He used the name Mark Berry. The album did OK but Canham wanted to record Funky Town. He was a big fan of the song as a teen. When Pseudo Echo performed Funky Town live, they got a great reaction. So Canham wanted to release it as a single and see how it does. EON FM Radio head Lee Simon got a bootleg of Funky Town and told Canham that he couldn't wait for the release of the single. So finally EMI agreed to release it. After Funky Town topped the Australian chart, EMI re-released Love an Adventure worldwide with Funky Town added as a bonus track. It was a big worldwide success including reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. This was Pseudo Echo's only US chart appearance. But they continued to have success at home. This comp is available on CD. They split up after the 1988 album Race. Canham got into production and produced the band Chocolate Starfish. Canham reformed Psuedo Echo in 1998. He's the only original member and he has released three albums on his own label, most recently in 2025. I guess they would be a nostalgia act in Australia at this point. Here's the video for Funky Town by Pseudo Echo.
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