Swans Way were a three-piece English pop

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

. In addition to the future Scarlet Fantastic

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of Maggie De Monde (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

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) and Rick P. Jones (

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), Swans Way featured the

of Robert Shaw. Formed in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in 1982, Swans Way presented a mixture of musical influences, from jazz to classical and pop to disco. Their first single, "Theme from the Balcony" issued in 1982, was not a chart hit, but their second, "Soul Train", reached number 20 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in February 1984. They also released further singles, with varying success. "The Anchor", in March 1984, did not chart, whilst "Illuminations" made number 57 in May 1984, and their third and final hit, "When The Wild Calls", peaked outside the Top 75 (the officially-published chart listing) at number 80. The group recorded an album, ''The Fugitive Kind'', which made number 88 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

in November 1984. The album was issued on CD, but only about 100 copies were pressed. It was re-released on CD in 1997 with extra tracks as ''The Best of Swans Way'' and again in 2012 with a different set of bonus tracks under the title of ''The Fugitive Kind - Expanded Edition''. The band split up in 1985 due to musical differences. De Monde is one half of the recording duo Maggie & Martin, while Shaw has released albums with his band Mighty Math.

Discography

Albums

* ''The Fugitive Kind'' (Balgier Records) (1984) - UK No. 88 * ''The Best Of'' (

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

) (1998) * ''The Fugitive Kind'' - Expanded Edition (Cherry Pop) (2012)

Singles

* "Theme from the Balcony" (1982) * "Soul Train" (Exit Records) (1984) - UK No. 20 * "The Anchor" (Exit Records) (1984) * "Illuminations" (Balgier Records) (1984) - UK No. 57 * "When the Wild Calls" (Balgier Records) (1984) - UK No. 80

Videos

* ''Swans Way History and Image'' (VHS, 50 mins)

References

External links

Mini biography of Swans Way at Scarlet-fantastic.co.uk
British pop music groups English new wave musical groups Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 1982 establishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-pop-band-stub