Holmes moved into the group the following year when, kid you not, Kidd decided he was already ready for a solo career. Lou Howard was another of the new members in the version of the band that Holmes was involved in, represented discographically by the album Tales of the Expected in 1986. In 1987, Red Guitars unstrung itself, Howard and Lewis voyaged to the new combo Planet Wilson. The Holmes solo opus appeared in 1989. It apparently signified a change in musical direction, although not the switch to jazz that the album title, Age of Swing, suggests. There is jazz by a Robert Holmes, though -- that would be the '20s and '30s reed player usually credited as Bobby Holmes.
For the Virgin album, Holmes left the '80s indie folk-rock profile behind and constructed a supposedly more sophisticated image as a complex pop songman along the lines of Neil Diamond. Subsequently a massive silence has ensued from Holmes. While song titles such as Bomb Shop and Nowhere Town could be used to poke fun at what seems like a piddling reception for the effort, the album has actually managed not to sink without a trace, retaining special interest for collectors interested in the '80s music scene. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi