It's Immaterial

It's Immaterial were a Liverpool band active between 1980 and 1990, centred around permanent band members John Campbell and Jarvis Whitehead - along with, at differing times, various local musicians including Henry Priestman, later of The Christians.

The band recorded several sessions for John Peel, although this wasn't how I first discovered them: no, had it not been for their one pop 40 hit, the bewitchingly curious Driving Away From Home (a #18 smash in 1986, and officially unlike anything else in the charts at the time - or since!), the chances are the teenage, chart-obsessed me would never even have stumbled across this great combo.

Here's the band performing the song on what I assume must've been their one and only appearance on Top of the Pops.



Even better than the above, for me, was the follow-up single, Ed's Funky Diner (which inexplicably fizzled out at a disappointing #65 in the same year. Swizz!). A much more straightforward, conventional pop song than Driving Away..., Ed's was an upbeat number that had hit (I said hit) written all over it; or should've had, at any rate. But, in a UK singles landscape at the time dominated by such, umm, timeless classics as Chris De Bleurgh's The Lady In Red and Boris Gardiner's I Want To Wake Up With You (ironically one of the most snooze-inducing songs ever), what sort of chance did our brave boys have of competing for the nation's musical affections? None!

It's Immaterial - Ed's Funky Diner mp3 (up for seven days; left click to download)

It's Immaterial - Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune) mp3 (up for seven days; left click to download)

Not merely satisfied with recording two of the greatest singles of the year, It's Immaterial also came up with one of the best album titles ever - Life's Hard and Then You Die. It contains both the aforementioned tracks - plus eleven others - and is still available to buy on CD (very reasonably priced too) from here