The Tourists

The Tourists were a typical British post-punk power-pop group by the evidence of their U.K.-only debut album, The Tourists. Chiming guitars, quickstep martial beats (sometimes borrowing from Bo Diddley or the Ronettes), and the odd rude or belligerent remark ("Nothing means nothing to me," snarled in the first single, "Blind Among the Flowers") placed them in the era of punk hangover when suddenly everybody wanted to sound like the Who, circa 1965. Songwriter and co-lead singer Peet Coombes had a pinched nasal tenor that fit the slightly sour sentiments of songs like "Another English Day" and "Don't Get Left Behind," but, already, the Tourists' secret weapon was Ann Lennox, who tended to overpower Coombes on their duets and helped make the overtly pop "The Loneliest Man in the World" the group's first Top 40 hit.