Pool Of Sound - River City People

River City People

'River City People' was a folk/rock quartet formed in Liverpool in 1986 and were originally known as 'Peep Show'. They consisted of  Siobhan Maher on vocals, brothers Tim and Paul Speed on guitar and drums respectively and Dave Snell on bass. In 1987 the lads were all studying at Liverpool Polytechnic and Siobhan Maher had previously worked with Snell, whom she married briefly, in 'Peep Show', had joined forces with the brothers. Siobhan had also been vocalist with 'The Persuaders' with future RCP drummer and co-founder Paul Speed. At one point in 1987 both bands co-existed with Siobhan, daughter of Radio Merseyside's Billy Maher, also achieving some fame as a TV presenter in the mid-eighties.
The band's break came in 1989 when they received funding to make a video from the pop programme 'The Chart Show' and were subsequently signed to EMI with whom they released their debut single, '(What's Wrong With) Dreaming? ' in mid 1989.

The band's debut album 'Say Something Good', recorded in LA and produced by Don Gehman, who had worked with REM, followed a few months later. It was, perhaps, out of its time as had it been released ten years earlier on the heels of 'Fleetwood Mac's' album, 'Rumours', it may have fared better.
Although the band's melodic style owed something to other great stylists e.g. 'U2', 'Simple Minds' and 'Fleetwood Mac', they were in the grand tradition of pop-rock mainstream with some killer hooks, riffs and melodies. Their cover of  'The Mamas & Papas', 'California Dreamin'' only served to further their pop credibility and actually achieved a UK Top 20 slot when released as a single, a double A-side with 'Carry The Blame'.

Sadly, after releasing their 'difficult' second album, 'This Is The World' in October 1991, internal bitching about the direction of the band led to an impasse and they were dropped the following year by EMI and disbanded in 1991. Maher found short-lived work with ex-'Bangles' drummer Debbi Peterson under the name of 'Kindred Spirit' whilst the Speed brothers returned to the 'Pool'. They later surfaced in a band appropriately named 'Speed' who released one dreadfully marketed album in 1998. Dave Snell then went into band management. 

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2019/11/pool-of-sound-shack.html