It was less than two months ago when I blundered by accident into the tale of the band Neeva, while lost in the Discogs infinite rabbit hole. Albums like this one are the reason why spelunking in Discogs is its own reward. You can’t know everything, and knowledge is power. I took one look at the band, clad in sci-fi tunics rocking the bold Spencer Drate designed album cover and found a previously buried seam of Technopop that needed investigation. At the time, I wrote that I would like to follow up on that album sooner than later and seven weeks later… here we are.

Neeva: Neeva – CAN – LP [1983]

1. Starshine
2. Love [Gotta Hold On Me]
3. Blue Star
4. In Tune
5. Seventeen
6. Walking On Air
7. Let Your Body Go
8. Will You Be Mine [Part I and II]
9. Tomorrow’s On Its Way
10. Countdown
11. Save A Little Love
12. Video Kideo

The first thing I noticed when listening to the album and hearing “Starshine,” was the undeniable perkiness of the music. This was not music that cared a whit about being cool and sitting in the corner of the club, sucking their cheeks in. Nope. This was music made for Andy McCluskey to dance to! With that synth pulse and the mighty backbeat of the great Andy Newmark on very real drums, the invitation to dance was strong here. James Nevius’ lead vocals were polished and his choirboy-pure tone was a perfect fit for the bright, shiny music. The synth glissandos mixed into the music were like the beating of doves hearts. It spoke of excitement and wonder at the scope of the world.

The tempo slowed a bit for “Love [Gotta Hold On Me],” which with its great, loping guitar riffs, courtesy of producer T.J. Tindall, managed to come off like a lost track from the first album by The Cars. The staccato enunciation of the lyric by Mr. Nevius certainly had a whiff of the Ric Ocasek playbook behind it. The rhythmic panting on the lyric “and love, when you’re close to me, it’s like ecstasy, getting hard to breathe” was a great hook that anyone would have paid top dollar for.

The “hit single” on the album came next. “Blue Star” was something that, once I heard it, had the eerie whiff of familiarity. Could it be that I had once seen the video [or even pert of it] the one time MTV deigned to play it? This official MTV playlist for the week of May 4th, 1983, shows it was in light rotation – that week. But even if I came in late, I would have seen the credit in the outro and made a note of it. If I could remember. There was a lot happening in 1983 and sometimes it was hard to keep up. And who knows, maybe I did note the band Neeva and tried to find a copy, but I’m here to say that I have never seen this album until I bought my copy mail order. That initial search would have been utterly fruitless.

I’m just glad that 42 years later I can have the winsome “Blue Star” gliding out of my speakers. The perky melody was abetted by pneumatic synth swoops across the stereo image as Nevius crooned the ebullient little ditty with his [strong] voice doubled leading into the great chorus on another synth glissando. And can you have too many of those? I say thee, nay! The keys here were very capably played by Vanessa Wilkinson and C.P. Roth who co-wrote this track and “Will You Be Mine [Part I + II]” with Nevius.

Vanessa Wilkinson also performed backing vocals here as well as playing synths and co-writing some songs. She had her biggest presence yet on the cheerful “In Tune.” Offering her call and response backing vocal to Nevius’ leads in the chorus. Did I call this cheerful? How many other technopop songs with buckets of synths featured whistling in the middle eight?!

Then she took lead on the next song, one of her co-writes. On “Seventeen” we really get to hear her and betchabygollywow… Ms. Wilkinson has pretty much exactly the same [unique] singing voice as…Clare Grogan. So if you ever wondered what Altered Images would have sounded like as a Buggles-adjacent Technopop band, then you need to get this album immediately. The retro late 50s bobby-sox vibe of “Seventeen” fit the nostalgia of the lyric and the organ patches on the synth almost gave up a Roxy Music feel at their kitschiest. Think of “Trash” but utterly scrubbed of its cynicism. It’s somewhat amusing to hear what must have been a 22 year old woman looking back to her callow youth of five years earlier.

“Walking On Air”‘ began side two with a deceptively dinky intro. Monophonic synth plonks repeated on delay across the stereo image with the rhythm box chugging away frantically before the entire song erupted in an almost prog-like flourish of high impact with juddering synths and very real drumming courtesy of Andy Newmark. The song was fascinating cocktail of the reserved poise inherent in James’ vocal and the full-on euphoria of the track. Which was down to the young and in love slant of the lyrics.

At the time of recording the two members of Neeva were a couple so there was nothing but honest transparency on the track. The drum fills Newmark added to the arpeggios and glissandos in the rush of the song’s climax simply pushes the listener headfirst into the exhilaration of young love. The phased fadeout was all that could have happened by that point. How did this miss being a single somewhere?

The next song was something very different. The jaunty “Let Your Body Go” almost seems like a deliriously happy precursor to Nitzer Ebb’s “Let Your Body Learn.” Before you laugh, both songs feature girls and boys being addressed in the lyrics! But the vibes couldn’t be more different, of course! The synth solo in the middle eight was also possibly influenced by the early atonal Eno solos on “Roxy Music!”

The one 12″ A-side from the album was the impressive “”Will You Be Mine” Parts I + II.” The mid-tempo song chugged along with aplomb; its synth bass pulse beckoning to the dance floor. The first half of the song was a perfect piece of Technopop with hints of psychedelia, and the song’s second movement veered off course impressively. C.P. Roth was credited with the track’s instrumental coda which took the song into nearly Jazz territory as the furthest vistas of the music themes inherent in the song were duly mapped out. And Newmark matched Roth’s solo with inventive drumming that knew when to shake up the song’s rhythmic impetus.

Then the album concluded with the upbeat slice of optimism that was “Tomorrow’s On Its Way” as Nevius examined his relationship to this business called show. A relic from the era where optimism seemed like our birthright.

The CD I made goes a few steps beyond the album by including demos that the album’s engineer had recorded with the band for a hoped-for follow up that didn’t happen. He has posted them on his website for any to hear so I grabbed them for the all important bonus tracks. You might too. Their character is different as the album was actually recorded in 1981. So these demos probably post-date the 1983 release of “Neeva.” Obviously, Andy Newmark is elsewhere, so the drum machine drives these songs. The difference between 1981 and 1983 for my ears is the point where Technopop becomes Synthpop. A different beast entirely.

“Countdown” Had a very different Nevius singing the lead, with a a world of difference in his vocal delivery. He’s really learned how to project emotion in his voice and deliver nuance beyond being a technically tight singer. He’s actually swinging here! And the perky Pop affords him plenty of space to move.

The band were without a label at the point where these songs were recorded. They were the fourth and final album on a very small indie label, so these tracks were written and the demos recorded with the intention get another label deal. At the time they felt that “Save A Little Love” would be the one that did the trick. It’s a very commercial piece of Synthpop that comes close to the sound of The Korgis to my ears, but alas it never happened. I can actually hear this song in the 1984 top 40 without too much strain. In a world where Howard Jones was crushing the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, it feels a little unfair that this music couldn’t join him where it belonged.

I especially like the final song, “Video Kideo,” which opened with delicate sprays of synths sustained and delayed before the drum machine discipline kicked in and picked up the tempo. The winsome synth hook and the sophistication of the production belied the demo status of the track. This sounds almost like a lost Trevor Horn Dollar single. Only with much better singing! I like the way the vocals were slightly filtered for a slightly dated, megaphone effect. With the Synthpop exploding onto the 1983 scene, that these rather sterling examples failed to gel and get the band another contract seems kind of tragic.

I’m an old school type, so I paid for a used vinyl copy [nice and clean, complete with the promo letter that it was sent to a program director to tucked inside!] but at the very least, anyone who has an interest in hearing this can buy a DL from iTunes. It’s possibly on other platforms as well. And maybe even streaming as well, though Homey Don’t Play Dat®.

The team assembled to play with the core duo were no slouches. The producer came from the Gamble + Huff MFSB family and adapted fantastically to a very different New Wave idiom. The engineer Eddie Ciletti had just started out with Human Sexual Response the year prior and would go on to engineer albums by Miles Davis, Joe Jackson, The Plasmatics, and even Krisma!

I really enjoyed this album, just as I suspected I would. It captured Technopop at a critical juncture just before it transmuted into Synthpop. The band’s songs were charming and adorable; some might call them twee and I would understand that. There’s no doubt that this album was Kryptonite for cynics. The record captured the sound of young love and boundless optimism captured on recording tape with plenty of strong chops to add seasoning.

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