One Hit Wonders: Cock Robin – The Promise You Made

There’s something endearingly sedate and conformist about Cock Robin’s only UK hit, which made the Top 30 in 1986.

The vocals from Peter Kingsbery and Anna LaCazio are very precise and unemotive, giving no clue as to their roots in California’s new wave scene, but it’s never been anything but avery listenable record.

A quartet at the time of issue, The Promise You Made came from their eponymous debut album and its distinctive hummed intro leads into an earnest vocal from Kingsbery, before LaCazio harmonises on an impassioned chorus, made easier by genuine vocal clarity which was eschewed by many a production technique at the time.

The two then swap duties for the second verse and chorus, with both efforts illustrated by a classy guitar break that, finally, eventually, allows the gloomvoiced Kingsbery to seethe a bit in the crescendo of the last 20 seconds.

Beloved of compilation albums “not available in the shops”, the song peaked at No.28 after taking six weeks to reach the Top 40. Cock Robin had no other UK chart entries, but went Top 10 in France. Kingsbery recorded a solo album in French after the band split in 1990.