Sadly, they were a very short lived band, never recording an album, but many of them went onto form the Belle Stars, who did have some success.
Rhoda Dakar, their lead singer, though, sang with the Specials and then had a solo career.
A few years ago, I'd seen her do an appearance at Banquet Records and liked her manner, so decided to see her live with a band if the chance arose.
It finally did, as a practical proposition, this year and so I went along to the Boileroom to see her and her band perform tracks from The Bodysnatchers and her more recent 'Version Girl' album.
There were two support acts, the first, Skye, was a young woman who sang R&B over backing tracks. Not really my thing, but she wasn't awful.
The second act, a 4 piece led by a woman called Cora, were definitely not my usual style, but I really enjoyed them.
Performing jazz, the singer had an excellent voice and the 3 musicians with her seemed pretty good as well - I thought their set was worth going to hear alone.
They, though, had come on around 8:30, so I knew I'd be waiting a while for Rhoda.
As expected, she didn't come on until around 9:40, which, if I'm honest, felt a bit late.
The venue was pretty full by then, though as I was at the front, I couldn't see just how full it was.
The band consisted of a guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboard player and a saxophonist.
Rhoda appeared, looking trim, in a black and white dress (very Two-Tone) which she commented she hadn't worn in 12 years and so was a little tight (it looked fine to me)and also apologised if she didn't hit all the high notes as she had a cold.
The setlist was a mix of old and newer tracks, from the Bodysnatchers era (The tour accompanied a new release of her 'sings the Bodysnatchers' album, which is as close to a Bodysnatchers' album as exists, unless you count the Peel Session recordings) and her more recent 'Version Girl' album which features covers of non-Ska records in a ska style (a very good album it is too).
The setlist began with a track called Mule Jerk, which I didn't recognise, and then 'Walking After Midnight', 'Easy Life' and 'Ghost of the Vox Continental' (the latter a particular favourite of mine) from the Bodysnatchers era.
As the set progressed, she chatted easily (as she had at Banquet Records) and the songs progressed into some from the Version Girl album, notably 'Every Day is Like Sunday', 'Peace, Love and Understanding' and 'Man Who Sold the World', while Bodysnatchers songs 'Private Eye', 'Ruder Than You' and the encore finale, 'Rocksteady' also featured (full setlist at the end).
Rhoda sounded good to me and the band were both energetic and skillfull and the set buzzed along well, with the audience joining in as things went.
The saxophonist, especially, was very good, although the band all played well and definitely captured the Two-Tone sound well.
For a moment, I was (almost) back at a Bournemouth nightclub in 1980!
I left happily humming the songs in my head, which is what you want from a nostalgic gig - I'd enjoyed myself.
Setlist:
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