Great bands don't die, they only fade away. But that's not what happened to British New Wave outfit the Only Ones. The group officially split up in 1982, having made an impression on a handful of fans and rock critics. But during the mid-1980s their stature rose and they became England's favourite underground band.

For a group that dwelled on the downbeat side of existence, there was indeed life after death.

The Only Ones were always an anomaly. Formed in South London in 1976 during the punk explosion, their melodic, anguished songs seemed at odds with the zeitgeist.

What's more, they were neither fresh nor young. Singer-songwriter Peter Perrett had fronted a glam band called England's Glory, while drummer Mike Kellie and bassist Alan Mair both had long musical careers. Guitarist John Perry was an accomplished musician who shied away from the bar-chord battery of typical punk.

It didn't matter. Perrett's drawling vocals reminded listeners of punk godfather Lou Reed, while his dissolute glam rock image looked cool, even if it wasn't trendy. The band's songs of innocence and experience were sensitive poems of pain and abandonment swaddled in a melodious musical wrapping.

Their first single Lovers of Today - which they released themselves - caught the ear of the music press, and the band were quickly signed to CBS Records. Their eponymous debut album was released in 1978 to critical acclaim and public disinterest. The standout track is Another Girl, Another Planet, a song which finally became well-known when Vodafone used it in a British advertisement.

This piece of pure pop-rock is the ultimate hit that never was. Perrett (above far right) sings of love and space travel - and makes some veiled allusions to heroin use - over some stunning guitar work by Perry. Perrett was obsessively introspective, and his songs probed incessantly inwards. Breaking Down is a pain-ridden lament about the end of an affair, while No Peace for the Wicked includes the despairing lines: 'Why must I go through these deep emotional traumas ... there's no peace for the wicked ... so the angels tell me.'

It was a song that summed up his general state of mind. The Beast told of his increasing reliance on heroin. But the sheer beauty of the music makes all the pain palatable in a Keatsian kind of way.

The Only Ones released two more studio albums: Even Serpents Shine (1979) is equally excellent, but the final Baby's Got a Gun (1980) suffers from an attempt to sound clean and commercial.

By then, Perrett's addiction to heroin had become full-blown. The band had to flee an American tour after a bizarre incident in which Perrett accidentally ran over a parking attendant's foot and was accused of attempted murder. They split up soon after.

Perrett became something of a Syd Barrett-like enigma. He made occasional attempts at a comeback during the following 21/2 decades.

An Only Ones reunion finally crystallised last year with some successful gigs in Britain, and a new album is reportedly under way. The Only Ones was reissued in a remastered form this month, although it's never actually been off the shelves.