Bureau, The

Schism and sackings in the Dexys Midnight Runners camp in 1980 led to the formation of The Bureau and their brilliant debut single, Only For Sheep.

Keyboard player Mick Talbot, drummer Andy Growcott, bassist Pete Williams and the two saxophonists Steve Spooner and Jeff Blythe from Dexys formed the new band with The Upset’s singer Archie Brown.

The Bureau managed just one album, 1981’s eponymous outing, and it drew on the same things that made Dexys so great: mixing up tough R&B, punchy Stax-styled horns and jerky post-punk rhythms. But the hits never came.

Mick Talbot founded The Style Council with Paul Weller while the rest of the band mainly kept their hands in as session players.

Twenty-odd years later The Bureau reunited for two storming live shows in 2005 and a belated second album, …And Another Thing (2008).

Archie Brown 
Vocals
Rob Jones 
Guitar, trumpet, vocals
Pete Williams 
Bass, vocals
Mick Talbot 
Keyboards, vocals
Steve Spooner 
Alto Sax
Geoff ‘J.B.’ Blythe 
Tenor Sax
Paul Taylor 
Trombone
Andy ‘Stoker’ Growcott
Drums

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