Latin Quarter | The Latin Quarter Story

By Peter Seeger

In 1985 a young British group with the name of Latin Quarter managed the breakthrough that – at least musically – swam against the stream (which was also the title of a later ALBUM). A mixture of latin, reggae and rock, performed by undeniably first class musicians, gave a sound that was unique and fascinating at the same time, while never giving the impression that they were randomly throwing everything into the pot.

It was also unusual that the band had three equally talented solo singers in Carol Douet, Yona Dunsford and Steve Skaith. The first line up of the band also included Greg Harewood (bass), Steve Jeffries (keyboards), Richard Stevens (drums) and Richard Wright (guitar). All the lyrics were written by Mike Jones, whom the band described as a band member, even though he stayed in the background. Steve Skaith was responsible for composing nearly all of the songs.

Steve Skaith, over thirty at the time, was the one who pulled the strings. He and Mike Jones were the creators and offered a quality that was ordinarily only found in the pop music of the sixties. Therefore one can honestly describe them as “children of the sixties”. The group swam against the current because Jones dared to write about serious, even rather depressing, themes. Apartheid, war, exploitation of animals, misuse of power and loneliness were covered in the songs. Mandela, the Sandinistas and the discriminating treatment of the black blues singer Billie Holiday (‘Fright Elevator’), were repeatedly and realistically covered.

They started in 1984 with the single ‘Radio Africa’/’Eddie’, released by the small “Ignition” label. With the first single, Mike Jones made it clear what his message was. But his lyrics were complicated, so their next record company, “Rockin’ Horse”, decided to include German text commentaries with the albums. A very good idea. The first single, “Radio Africa”, at once pointed to the troubles in South Africa: “There’s only bad news from Radio Africa. In 1985 South Africa was still governed by the monster apartheid. The West complains about the foreign aid, but in the trade with the industrial nations, it’s the African countries who are at a disadvantage: They exchange cheap raw materials for expensive finished products. With the war in the Ogaden 1977/78 Moscow first supported the socialist government of Somalia, but then supplied weapons to the Ethiopian dictatorship.” (Extract from the text commentary for ‘Radio Africa’.)

With the B-side ‘Eddie’, Jones described the perversions and after-effects of war. “Looking at the water, through the spaces of an iron-ore train. The water eddies round the rushes, and Eddie’s round at my house insane.” “Rejoice!” Margaret Thatcher said, when the message of victory came from the Falklands. When the soldiers returned the port was swarming with reporters. Small boats go bobbing, like a 1940 repeat of Dunkirk, when the stranded British army was picked up and saved by an enormous quantity of civilian ships. After a train ride home to a heroes reception, a banner proclaims “Well done, Eddie”. We could ride the big wheel on the fairground by the sea forever, but we still wouldn’t know how Eddie feels.” (Text commentary for ‘Eddie’.) With lyrics like that, one would think that it’s impossible to have success in the pop sector. But no! Latin Quarter proved that demanding, topical themes, tied to imaginative, engaging, sometimes tender melodies can win over the public.

The British record company Rockin’ Horse records recognised this and in 1985 gave the band the chance to bring their message to a broad audience. The first album “Modern Times”, to this day stands as an example of an album without a single weak moment. Alongside the slightly changed versions of ‘Radio Africa’ and ‘Eddie’ stood nine other excellent songs, of which the best known are ‘Modern Times’, ‘No Rope As Long As Time’, ‘Truth About John’ and ‘America For Beginners’.

Live and further recording projects

The success of the ‘Modern Times’ singles soon gained the band a dedicated following in Britain and Germany. Their field of action were small to medium sized venues with a capacity of around 1000 people. The audience was made up of young people from their teens into their twenties, who could translate the band’s songs, sit in utter silence while songs like ‘Cora’ and ‘Eddie’ were performed quietly, but also respond enthusiastically when songs like ‘Modern Times’ or ‘Truth About John’ provided the right atmosphere.

Latin Quarter on stage was an incomparable live experience. Steve Skaith, a seasoned, confident and sympathetic performer, carried the programme. The vocalists took turns with the solo performances. The dark skinned singer and percussionist Carol Douet, in a pleasantly soft voice, presented songs which Mike Jones seemed to have written especially for her: ‘No Rope As Long As Time’, ‘Freight Elevator’ and ‘The Men Below’ were her province. The young Yona Dunsford played keyboards and was responsible for (singing) songs like ‘The Night’, ‘The New Millionaires’, ‘Burn Again’ and ‘I, Together’. When Steve Skaith sang, they became his choir. All this generated a strength, an engagement and a credibility that moved the audience to storms of applause. Often the band received ovations that brought proceedings to a halt for minutes at a time. Only after the audience had finished showing their appreciation could the band move on to the next song.

The other musicians didn’t add any vocals, but their sensitive and mature playing was a big part of the band’s live success. Unfortunately Steve Skaith all to often gave the impression that he was identifying with the depression of the lyrics rather too much. With his tearful singing he did rather overdo it a bit at times.

Latin Quarter always endeavoured to give their audience value for money. Nearly every single and Maxi-Single had bonus tracks that were not on the album. After the second album they’d already released enough bonus tracks to have easily made up a third album.

The band waited two years after the success of their first album to release the follow up. That album was ‘Mick And Caroline’, with ten more irresistibly good songs. ‘Nomzamo’ is the second name of Winnie Mandela, to whom Jones dedicated this song. In ‘The Men Below’, Carol Douet told the story of the British miners, who struggled desperately but in vain to keep their jobs. ‘Burn Again’ is a brilliant song about Nicaragua’s problems: ‘Must Nicaragua burn again because the USA is in the mood today to be born again? The USA plays Central America, like it was a line of fruit machines’. A depressing lyric, undoubtedly one of Mike Jones’ best. The song was sung by Yona Dunsford. With ‘Mick And Caroline’ the band once again served up outstandingly good music and lyrics.

Their 1987 German tour, coupled with many TV appearances, was a further highlight. Their third album ‘Swimming Against The Stream’, was released in 1989 and marked a decided change of direction for Latin Quarter. Keyboard player Martin Lascelles and singer Carol Douet left the band. The departure of the singer was difficult for the band to cope with. They were wise enough not to try and replace her, but Steve Skaith and Yona Dunsford couldn’t manage to convincingly interpret the songs which had been tailored for her. Important songs like ‘No Rope As Long As Time’ were entirely left out of the live set – and rightly so. But the concept was shaky.

‘Swimming Against The Stream’ once again contained Mike Jones’ reliable lyrics, who now turned to other themes, even though Apartheid still remained in the foreground. The outstanding track here was ‘Slow Waltz For Chile’: “A song about the work of the solidarity campaigns for Chile, first for the Socialist Government of Allende, and then, from 1973, against the dictatorship of Pinochet.”. (From the text commentary for ‘Swimming Against The Stream’)

On ‘Dominion’, Jones mercilessly documented the exploitation of animals by mankind. The song was used as the signature tune of the documentary ‘Animal Traffic’. But the German-sung single version was an awkward affair, hardly comprehensible. Not to blame Steve Skaith for not mastering the German language, but he should have thought better of recording a production like that.

‘Swimming Against The Stream’ showed, despite good new songs, that the band wouldn’t have a much longer life. Steve Skaith pushed his vocals too much into the foreground, while remaining singer Yona Dunsford hardly got a word in. Skaith became more and more depressing in his interpretations and thought that in this manner he was offering up high art. Once so successful, the Latin Quarter concept had met its end.

At the end of 1989 the band performed a few remaining contractual obligations, especially for TV and to promote the singles ‘Dominion’ and ‘I, Together’. After that, the break up of the band was announced. Steve Skaith and Yona Dunsford wanted to form two separate new bands, while Mike Jones wanted to continue to write lyrics for both of them.

In October 1990, however, another album, entitled ‘Nothing Like Velvet’ was released, which was made up of unreleased demos and live tracks. Next to very lovely songs like ‘The Colour Scheme’ and ‘The Big Pool’, there were also incomprehensibly weak live versions of ‘Snow Blind’ and ‘See Him!’, as well as unpolished demos like ‘Nothing Like Velvet’ and ‘February 1990’ on the CD, which, with twenty songs, had a playing time of 68 minutes, which somewhat made up for the weak moments. Judging by the sleeve notes , the band agreed to the release of these songs. As much as one should be glad of the offer of alternative versions and unreleased songs, it shouldn’t be forgotten that after three brilliant albums, the creative history of Latin Quarter was unblemished. The fourth album, perhaps released for contractual reasons, somewhat detracted from the overall impression.

In the autumn of 1991, BCM Records suddenly released a CD with four different versions of ‘Radio Africa’. At the same time, RCA also released a 4-track CD, with three further versions of ‘Radio Africa’ and the till then unreleased title ‘Older’. A sign of a new Latin Quarter era or only a rummage through the vaults? Who knew!?!

1991: Mandela is free, his wife somewhat discredited – have Mike Jones and Latin Quarter therefore done their duty and justified their retirement from the stage? Just the opposite is the case!

With Latin Quarter, the otherwise musically uninspired 80’s were so impressively enriched, that it’s hard to do without them. Mike Jones should still find enough themes to wake up the public. Apartheid and inequality. Corruption and greed for power continue to cause much suffering. Jones and the singers and musicians who interpreted his lyrics, played an important part in at least getting people to think.

The third and last part of the Latin Quarter story follows in the next issue of GOOD TIMES. Although the band only released four albums, they released many singles, Maxi singles and CD singles, which contained so much good material, that the third part is entirely made up of the Latin Quarter discography.

The Discography

During their five years of existence, Latin Quarter have created an impressive back catalogue. All the albums are available on vinyl and CD. The singles and Maxi singles are especially interesting for their partly alternative versions and songs that didn’t fit on the albums.

Along with this, the records were released with tasteful covers and the albums included German text commentaries. The vinyl should still be easy, but CDs are harder to find. Apart from ‘Modern Times’ none of the singles enjoyed much chart success. But it should still be possible to find the singles and Maxis cheaply at record fairs. It is too early to say if they will later become collectors items, even expensive rarities. But one thing is certain: there wont be too many of them around! At any rate, today a Latin Quarter collection is already an important part of the history of eighties rock!

In the following discography only the British singles and the German albums are shown, as the British albums are identical.