''Metro Music'' is the debut album by Canadian new wave band

Martha and the Muffins Martha and the Muffins are a Canadian rock band, active from 1977 to the present. Although they only had one major international hit single "Echo Beach" under their original band name, they had a number of hits in their native Canada, and the ...

. It was released in 1980 on

Dindisc Dindisc (often rendered DinDisc) was a UK record label, an imprint of Virgin Records but operating semi-independently, which issued new releases from mid-1979 through early 1982. It is no longer active, but CD reissues on Virgin still mention th ...

, the first album release for the label, and contains the international hit single "

Echo Beach "Echo Beach" is a song by Canadian musical group Martha and the Muffins. Written by band member Mark Gane, it was released as a single from their album '' Metro Music'' in 1980 and went on to reach number five in Canada, number six in Australia ...

". The cover image design by Peter Saville is a map of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, the band's hometown, and is based on a map from the

National Topographic System The National Topographic System or NTS is the system used by Natural Resources Canada for providing general purpose topographic maps of the country. NTS maps are available in a variety of scales, the standard being 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 scales. ...

of Canada. The entire ''Metro Music'' album also formed the first part of Martha and the Muffins' 1987 compilation '' Far Away in Time''.

Release

The album's first single, "

", became a hit in several countries, reaching number three in Canada, number one in Portugal, number five in Australia and number 10 in the United Kingdom in March 1980. It also reached number 37 in the United States on the

Club Play Singles The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart. A slightly different recording of "Saigon" was released as a follow-up single in the UK a few months later, but failed to chart. In Canada, the follow-up single was "Paint by Number Heart" — it climbed to number 69. The album itself was certified gold in Canada (50,000 units) on September 1, 1980; "Echo Beach" was certified gold there (5,000 units) on the following October 1.

Track listing

Personnel

* Martha Johnson – keyboards, vocals *

Martha Ladly Martha Jane Ladly is a Canadian academic, designer and musician. She is a professor of design at OCAD University. Ladly also has had a long career as a musician and became famous internationally as part of rock band Martha and the Muffins. She ha ...

– keyboards, trombone, vocals *Mark Gane – synthesizer, guitar *Carl Finkle – bass *Tim Gane – drums *Andy Haas – saxophone

Chart performance

Album Singles

References

{{Authority control 1979 debut albums Martha and the Muffins albums Albums produced by Mike Howlett