Tarney-Spencer Band

Tarney-Spencer Band was an Australian rock band composed of Trevor Spencer and Alan Tarney in the late 1970s. The band recorded three albums, and is notable for the song "No Time to Lose" which received substantial air-play in the USA on Album-oriented rock radio stations, and charted twice on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart .

Early years

Alan Tarney met Trever Spencer while playing in an Australian group called Johnny Broome and The Handels. In 1969 Alan and Trevor moved to the UK. They formed a band called Quartet, releasing 2 singles on Decca and recording an unreleased album. The two also occasionally played on on numerous sessions for artists including Olivia Newton-John, Chris Squire, Bonnie Tyler, Charlie Dore, New Seekers, The Real Thing and many others.

Cliff Richard and The Shadows

About the same time as Tarney and Spencer were working under the name Quartet, they were also sitting in on sessions for Cliff Richard. Alan Tarney eventually joined The Shadows on bass in 1973, staying until 1977. Alan appears on the following releases by Cliff and The Shadows:

*"About That Man" Cliff Richard 1970
*"Cliff Live in Japan 1972" Cliff Richard 1972
*"Marvin and Farrar" Hank Marvin and John Farrar 1973
*"Rockin with Curly Leads" The Shadows 1974
*"Help It Along" Cliff Richard 1974
*"Specs Appeal" The Shadows 1975
*"Live at Paris Olympia" The Shadows 1975
*"Tasty" The Shadows 1977
*"Every Face Tells a Story" Cliff Richard 1977
*"Rock'n'Roll Juvenile" Cliff Richard 1979NB all of the above available on CD format in the UK/Europe.

Tarney-Spencer

Alan and Trevor began working as a duo in 1975. Their first, self titled album was released in 1976 in the UK only, on the Bradley's label.

Shortly after, the Tarney-Spencer Band signed a deal with A&M Records for 10 albums. The band's second album (1st for A&M), was titled "Three's a Crowd" and featured cover art with rounded corners, shaped like an American style cafe menu card. The album received modest airplay on AOR radio station in the US and reached #174 on Billboard Magazine's album chart. A single from the album, "It's Really You" hit #86 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Run For Your Life" appeared in 1979. Again, with airplay at AOR radio, the album charted in the US reaching #181. One of the album's tracks, "No Time To Lose" was released as a single and rose to number #84 on the singles chart.

After the release of a non-LP single, "Cathy's Clown" in 1979, the band was released from their contract with A&M and discontinued their work together as Tarney-Spencer Band.

Two years after the band broke up, the track "No Time To Lose" got the attention of MTV. In 1981, when MTV launched, the channel occasionally aired a video clip for "No Time To Lose". A&M reissued the track as a single. The song charted a second time on Billboard's Hot 100, fairing slightly better that the first time around, reaching #74. Their biggest achievement, "No Time To Lose" has never officially seen mainstream release on CD, either as part of the Run For Your Life album or on a various artist compilation (though a very limited import edition of Run For Your Life with questionable legitimacy was issued in the early 90s - see below)).

Later Work

Trevor Spencer left the UK and returned to Perth to help start Sh-Boom studios. Recent work with Hank Marvin's 1990's solo albums.

Alan Tarney began working as a producer and was largely responsible for masterminding Cliff Richard's chart career in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s - most notably the "I'm No Hero", "Wired for Sound" and "Always Guaranteed" albums. However, Tarney's most notable success was with a-ha. Alan produced their first three albums, including their hit single "Take On Me". Additional production work included sides for Squeeze, Bow Wow Wow, Leo Sayer, Pulp, Thomas Anders, The Hollies, Voice of the Beehive, The Bluebells, Dream Academy and others.

Discography

LPs
*Tarney and Spencer "Bradleys" (1976)
*Three's a Crowd "A&M 4692" (1978) #174 US
*Run for Your Life "A&M 4757"(1979) #184 US

Singles
*I'm your Man Rock n roll/Gunslinger "Private stock PS??? - USA"
*I'm Your Man Rock N Roll/Gunslinger "Bradleys BRAD7603-UK" (1976)
*If You Knew/It's Really You "Bradleys BRAD7621-UK" (1976)
*I Can Hear Love (edit version) /The Real Thing "Bradleys BRAD7615-UK" (1976)
*Takin Me Back/Set The Minstrel Free "A&M AMS7339" (1978)
*Easier For You/Magic Still Runs... "A&M AMS7358" (1978)
*It's Really You/Bye Bye My Sweet Love "A&M AMS7386" (1978)
*No Time To Lose/Live Again "A&M AMS7456" (1979)
*Cathys Clown/Anthing I Can Do "A&M AMS7485" (1979) (pic sleeve)

*Three's a crowd flexi disc 33.3 rpm 4 tracks.

Reissue CDs
*Tarney and Spencer "UK.Castle Communications" 2003
*Run for Your Life "Germany Polydor" 1993 (Limited edition 1,500CD pressing).

External links

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:5r66mpe39fco~T2 Tarney-Spencer Band at AllMusic]