Desire: Broken Heart (1985)

 |   |  1 min read

Desire: Broken Heart (1985)

You probably didn't need me to add the date for this one pulled From the Vaults. The hair says it all. Hers too.

Desire were singer/keyboard player Suzie Divine and guitarist/keyboard player Gary Havoc, the latter being somewhat of a fixture on the New Zealand music scene at the time.

He'd been in a few bands if I recall, certainly Gary Havoc and the Hurricanes during the late Seventies who were more rhythm and blues, and played places like Mainstreet and Island of Real. They had an EP out on the RTC label also.

By the mid Eighties though he was firmly entrenched in the big hair/New Wave/hard rock thing.

Of Suzie I know nothing, except she seems to have gone to the same hairdresser as Kim Willoughby at the time.

This song -- lifted from vinyl -- comes from their EP (which included a song called So Divine which was smart self-referencing) and also playing on the four songs are bassists Mark Huckstep and Robbie Robertson, and drummers Simon Hannah and Mark Hansen, a variable line-up which suggest Desire were a studio confection rather than a touring band.

I could be wrong.

Of interest too is the name Gary Harvey as one of the backing singers (billed as The Yobs).

Recorded at Mandrill and released on WEA -- which was a Big Deal -- it is also identified as Havoc 1.

I wonder of there was a Havoc 2 release?

Anyone enlighten us on Desire?

For more one-off or unusual songs with an interesting backstory see From the Vaults.

Share It

Your Comments

Peggy in America - Jan 18, 2022

Like, totally teen-movie soundtrack, dude!!!

post a comment

More from this section   From the Vaults articles index

Hambone Willie Newbern: Roll and Tumble Blues (1929)

Hambone Willie Newbern: Roll and Tumble Blues (1929)

The provenance of some blues songs is so obscure as to be impenetrable. Many would know Rollin' and Tumblin' from the rock version by Cream in the late Sixties where the credits simply had it as... > Read more

Professor Longhair: Her Mind is Gone (1980)

Professor Longhair: Her Mind is Gone (1980)

There are dozens of places you can start on a discovery of the genius of New Orleans' legendary pianist/arranger and songwriter Professor Longhair, the man Allen Toussaint called "the Bach of... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters: Spread the Love (Stony Plain)

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters: Spread the Love (Stony Plain)

Blues guitarist Earl opens this typically free-wheeling, jazz-inflected instrumental album with a swinging treatment of Albert Collins' burning Backstroke -- then gets into a low mood on Blues For... > Read more

Alan Brown: Silent Observer (alanbrown.co.nz)

Alan Brown: Silent Observer (alanbrown.co.nz)

Despite what many amateurs in the New Age world may think -- and Brian Eno's Bloom app allows you to pretend you can do it -- creating respectable ambient music isn't quite as easy as it sounds.... > Read more