1979 was Roger Chapman's launch year as a solo artist. With the Jan Olofsson-produced Chappo LP released on 16 February 1979 on Acrobat Records — recorded loosely over pub-and-studio sessions with a rotating cast of mates — Chapman decided for the first time in his career to assemble a band deliberately pitched under his own name. He called it The Shortlist, taking the name from the Mickey Jupp live favourite, and staffed it by working the phones: guitarist Clem Clempson (ex-Humble Pie), bassist Jerome Rimson (ex-The Detroit Emeralds, Detroit-based and then loitering around London), drummer Stretch, saxophonist Raf (on recommendation — didn't stay long), and backing vocalists Helen (Hardy) and Cathy . The originally-planned bassist was Rick Wills, but Wills got a call from Foreigner mid-planning and vanished into stadium rock; Rimson was drafted in. "It was my first proper band — the first time I'd set out to create a band," Chapman told Pete Feenstra years later .
The early-March 1979 UK tour — opening at The Venue in London and working up through Keele, Bristol, Manchester and the Strand Lyceum — was Chapman's biggest UK outing in years. The set list was anchored in Chappo material ('Moth To A Flame' as the standard opener; 'Keep Forgettin'', 'Who Pulled The Night Down On Me', 'The Shape Of Things', 'Midnight Child', 'Always Got To Pay In The End') with nods to both Family ('Burlesque') and Streetwalkers ('Pills', 'You Can't Get In/Keep A Knocking') and a closing Tim Hardin cover, 'Hang On To A Dream' . The tour predominantly routed through universities and a few choice clubs, and Chapman — in his red Otis boiler suit — revived on-stage pranks ranging from stray tambourines sailing into the audience to soaking the front row with water, none of it pre-planned . Reviews were strong and UK crowds were enthusiastic; it proved to be the final pre-punk-backlash window of British mainstream acceptance for Chapman. Within twelve months his career had shifted decisively to West Germany, where it would predominantly stay for the next two decades .
The March '79 line-up, road-tested over the UK tour, became the prototype for the Live In Hamburg album — recorded on the band's autumn-1979 German leg and released on Acrobat by the start of November. Chapman then spent November and early December trailing the live LP on a 15-date UK university/polytechnic tour, opening once again at London's Venue and closing at Leicester University on 4 December — a farewell nod to Chapman's hometown turf .
U.K. released Danger Money, now a trio of John Wetton, Eddie Jobson and Terry Bozzio. Wetton and Jobson produced the album, which moved the group toward a more concise but still progressive sound.
U.K. released the live album Night After Night, recorded in Japan with John Wetton, Eddie Jobson and Terry Bozzio. It became the final album issued during the group’s original lifetime.
— Paris Theatre
Lower Regent Street, London SW1, England
Chapman & The Shortlist recorded for the Radio 1 In Concert strand at the Paris Cinema/Theatre (BBC's key 70s in-concert venue).
