One thing led to another and the Fixx washed up on the American charts with the new wave atmospherics of this edgy synthpop surge. The band had seen some minor success in their native England and on the US modern rock tracks chart with their first album 'Shuttered Room'. The group stuck with producer Rupert Hine for the recording of 'Reach the Beach'; but their new bass player Alfie Agius left the group halfway through the sessions at Farmyard Studios. He was replaced by Dan K. Brown to augment the remaining foursome of Cy Curnin on vocals; Rupert Greenall on keyboard; Jamie West-Oram on guitar; and Adam Woods on percussion and drums.
'Reach the Beach' made it to number ninety-one in the UK, and number eight in Canada and the US and remains the band's high water mark. The videos became major staples on MTV. Curnin considers the impact of the band: "I imagine the real crossroads songs for us were 'Stand or Fall'' and 'Red Skies', which echo back to that sense of impotence that I felt after 9/11. I was feeling that sense of impotence back then in the early '80s or late '70s when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were getting in bed together, metaphorically speaking, and designing a whole defense system that involved Europeans' lives without asking us - it was never on any electorate ballot that I can remember. That struck a chord. And then immediately after that despair was a song of hope called "Saved By Zero." Action and reaction again. That struck a chord with a lot of people and it still does today...Our sound just evolved through the natural characters of the musicians in the band, Jamie West-Oram and Rupert melding together to create a huge night sky in which I could hang my little twinkly star lyrics. That's how we survived. We never thought we were too in. If you've never been too in, you can never be too out. [Laughs] We were aware of other stuff that was around, but it wasn't a question of copying. Inspired, yes. Drawn to, associated with, occasionally. But not copying or trying to keep up the veneer. "
http://www.thefixx.com/
"One Thing Leads to Another" made its was to number eighty-six in the UK, thirty-eight in Australia, fourteen on the US dance chart, four on the US hot 100, two on the US modern rock tracks chart, and number one in Canada. Curnin: "'One Thing Leads to Another' says: if you're going to be a liar, you'd better be a damn good liar and remember what you said, or the whole thing's going to get pear shaped. That was 30 years ago, and look where the system is now. A lot of people stand on ballot boxes and say a lot of things and lie in order to get elected and do nothing. So those songs I'm pretty proud of."
You've got a blank face, which irritates
Communicate, pull out your party piece
You see dimensions in two
State your case with black or white
But when one little cross
Leads to shots, grit your teeth
You run for cover so discreet
Why don't they
Do what they say, say what you mean
Oh well, one thing leads to another
You told me something wrong
I know I listen too long
But then one thing leads to another
The impression that you sell
Passes in and out like a scent
But the long face that you see
Comes from living close to your fears
If this is up, then I'm up
But you're running out of sight
You've seen your name on the walls
And when one little bump
Leads to shock miss a beat
You run for cover and there's heat
Why don't they
Do what they say, say what they mean
One thing leads to another
You told me something wrong
I know I listen too long
But then one thing leads to another
Yeah, yeah, yeah
One thing leads to another
Then it's easy to believe
Somebody's been lying to me
But when the wrong word goes in the right ear
I know you've been lying to me
It's getting rough, off the cuff
I've got to say enough's enough
Bigger the harder he falls
But when the wrong antidote
Is like a bulge on the throat
You run for cover in the heat
Why don't they
Do what they say, say what they mean
One thing leads to another
You told me something wrong
I know I listen too long
But then one thing leads to another
Yeah, yeah
"Saved by Zero" went to number ninety-eight in Australia, forty-five in Canada, twenty on the US hot 100, and number nine on the US modern rock tracks chart. Curnin reflects: "Well, to me, 'Saved By Zero' at the time meant I couldn't fall. When you're on the floor, you can't fall further, you can only go up. Life was starting to get more full with distractions, and I'm a sort of minimalist at heart. I always fight for that space. So it was a sort of a mantra that came from some of the teachings that I was learning back then with my earliest dipping into Buddhism. It was East meeting West for me. It was Eastern ancient philosophies that people live as a daily code over there to necessity. And we in the West absorbing this Buddhism, at the time it wasn't a necessity for functioning life, but it was a necessity for calming the mind and getting to a place of no mind and losing frustration and ego. So that's where it was for then...But since then I've learned that a lot of other people's interpretations of the song have been equally as important. There has been the invention zero as a number by the ancient Indian mathematicians. Without that, calculations would have been completely wrong. Because we were following the Roman rhythmic calendar which believed that one was the first number. In fact, zero is the first number. Because what stops one being minus one is zero. It's nothing. That's a number. That's a plus unit. It's not negative one. There's no such thing as a negative zero, there's just zero, which is this side of the line. Which is lying in the decimal point. You have 0.1 and in the binary code and in all the other codes. Not that I was thinking that when I wrote 'Saved By Zero'. But, you know what, I'm taking it anyway. [Laughing]"
Maybe someday
Saved by zero
I'll be more together
Stretched by fewer
Thoughts that leave me
Chasing after
My dreams disown me
Loaded with danger
So maybe I'll win
Saved by zero
Maybe I'll win
Saved by zero
Holding onto
Words that teach me
I will conquer
Space around me
So maybe I'll win
Saved by zero
Maybe I'll win
Saved by zero
Maybe I'll win
Saved by zero
Maybe I'll win
Saved by zero
Saved by zero
Saved by zero
So maybe I'll win
Saved by zero
Maybe I'll win
Saved by zero
Maybe I'll win
Saved by zero
Who needs to win
Saved by zero
Saved by zero
Saved by zero
Saved by zero
"The Sign of Fire" went to thirty-two on the US hot 100 and twenty on the US modern rock tracks chart. It is the only song that credits Brown on bass.
"Running"
'Deeper and Deeper' was released on the soundtrack to 'Streets of Fire' and was later added to the CD reissue of 'Reach the Beach'.
'Reach the Beach'
full album:
All songs written by Alfie Agius, Cy Curnin, Rupert Greenall, Jamie West-Oram, and Adam Woods, except where noted.
"One Thing Leads to Another" – 3:19
"The Sign of Fire" – 3:52
"Running" – 4:26
"Saved by Zero" – 3:40
"Opinions" – 4:50
"Reach the Beach" – 4:27
"Changing" – 3:24
"Liner" – 3:39
"Privilege" – 4:16
"Outside" – 5:25
bonus tracks
"Saved by Zero" (Extended Version) – 4:24
"One Thing Leads to Another" (Extended Version) – 8:00
"Deeper and Deeper" (Long Version) (Curnin, West-Oram) – 6:31
"Going Overboard" (Curnin, Greenall, West-Oram, Woods) – 3:18*
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