Easy Pieces

Polydor took a more active role this time, dropping Paul Hardiman after early sessions and hiring Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. Langer asked Cole to rein in his vibrato, which made him self-conscious. Cole remembered the sessions as frenetic and mostly fun, and said the band trusted the producers, but felt the rush for a Christmas release was the biggest error. Backing singers, Gary Barnacle's brass and Anne Dudley's strings filled out the sound.

It reached 5 in the UK, their highest placing, and went gold, with three UK singles: Brand New Friend, Lost Weekend and Cut Me Down. Melody Maker found the songs second-hand and Trouser Press was unimpressed, and Donegan later called most of it mortifyingly bad, but Mojo in 2023 thought it better than the band believed. The original master tapes did not survive, and the 2015 remaster was made from back-up quarter-inch tapes.