Is Vic There?

IS VIC THERE?
 
 
“Is Vic There?”  is the debut single by post-punk band Department S, released by Demon Records on 29 December 1980.  It was produced by former Mott the Hoople members Buffin and Overend Watts.  The title is a quotation from a Monty Python sketch titled “Phone-In”, which closed the comedy troupe’s 1973 Matching Tie and Handkerchief album.  “Is Vic There?” charted at No. 22 on the UK Singles Chart and, when re-released on RCA Records in March 1981, it made No. 67 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

Of the songs that I have heard, the deceptively languid Johnny No is my favorite Primitives song and is included on the English Freakbeat, Volume 4 CD.  The mix of foreign-language lyrics and an English tag line reminds me of the delightful 1980 song “Is Vic There?” by the British band Department S; I once had the “French version” of the song on a small punk rock CD that I stumbled on in a bargain bin.  Evidently there was the regular English version and also an Italian version.  

 

(May 2015)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021