Karel Fialka - Still Life (1980)

Born in Bengal of Scottish and Czechoslovakian parentage, Fialka was launched in 1980 as the street poet of the 80s. A poet, traveller, musician and actor, his music turned out to be a combination, of acute observations on life, a keen sense of melodic phrases helped by the production touches of Wally Brill and Robin Langridge. Fialka’s debut Still Life was well received and ‘The Eyes Have It’ became an airplay favourite and gained a low but respectable UK chart position. However, after a promising start Fialka only released a couple of singles for the next seven years on a few minor labels. In 1987 he reappeared on Miles Copeland’s IRS label, and scored a UK and European Top 10 hit with a simple protest song ‘Hey Matthew’. An album containing new and old songs was released but failed to make any ripples.