The Lambrettas (made up of Jez Bird on the mic and a guitar, Doug Saunders on guitar, Mark Ellis as the basser, and Paul Wincer sitting on the drum throne), a Brighton, England based group, didn’t jump on a revival bandwagon, but they did unquestionably cop a sound familiar to the Jam as well as that group’s well dressed forbearers. But regardless of who borrowed what from who, the group, in 1979, was signed to Elton John's imprint, Rocket Records. Despite that proper sort of backing, the band’s first single, "Go Steady" was pretty much a flop. That fact, though, didn’t serve to dissuade the Lambrettas from reworking the melody for inclusion elsewhere in its catalog.
Even with that initial failure, the band soon returned with a ska styled version of “Poison Ivy,” which sounded like a crappy Bad Manners’ track, but somehow made the Lambrettas a few bucks. That one stab at JA sounds would just be a stray shot. Instead, the band worked in a revved up pop vein not too detached from some of the more aggressive, earlier works from Elvis Costello. Of course, there was more pop than punk as evidenced by pretty much the entirety of the band’s catalog, but specifically “Leap Before You Look.” That track and Bird’s more than ample crooning served the band well as it moved towards recording its first full length entitled Beat Boys in the Jet Age.
Perhaps because of that verbose title, the Lambrettas didn’t really make it out of the gates even as a few of the group’s other singles got a few spins in and around England. The moribund state of power pop and the mod revival coupled with the fact that some late comers to the genre/style watered it down was basically sounded the death knell for the group. Of course, the title track of the album being a throw away song about dancing probably didn’t help too much either.
The new mods, though, weren’t about anything too serious other than pills and partying as opposed to their antecedents who unwittingly or not worked to break down racial barriers by being bound to soul music streaming in from the States. That’s not mean to fault the Lambrettas. In fact, they’re probably just a by product of the time that they performed. Ample chops and average song writing, though, just won’t get you over, regardless of whose record label you’re signed too. So unfortunately, the band hashed out on more disc before calling it quits and having its anthology re-worked a few times during the late ‘90s.