The Motels - "Only the Lonely" - 1982

Martha Davis had been in the music business since 1971 when she joined her first band in Berkeley California. That band eventually moved to LA in search of exposure but didn't have much luck at first. They were persistent though and over the next few years the band went through several name changes and began to attract a local following and the record company attention that comes with it. In 1977 the band, now known as The Motels, received a contract offer from Capital Records but instead of signing on the bottom line they turned it down and wound up disbanding.

The next year Davis decided to reform The Motels with different players and the band started playing clubs again. Once again Capital Records came knocking with a recording contract and this time the band signed. Their first couple of albums didn't attract much attention but their third album, "All Four One", released in 1982, did. The album had essentially been recorded twice. The first go around produced a record called "Apocalypso" that Capital rejected out of hand. The band then went back into the studio with a new producer who was given greater leeway to explore the commercial elements of the band's sound and basically redid the songs from "Apocalypso" with "All Four One" being the result.

"Only the Lonely" was the second single released from the album. It reached #9 on the charts and was accompanied by a hit video on the new MTV. It's a dreamy, melancholy ode to wandering spirits and lonely hearts with the title very consciously paying tribute to the great Roy Orbison single of the same name. A beautiful song that sounds as good today as it did nearly 30 years ago.