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Billy Mackenzie – Satellite Life: Recordings (1995-1996) review

21 02 2022

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Satellite Life: Recordings (1995-1996) is a 3 CD set from Billy Mackenzie, released by Cherry Red on 22 April 2022, re-assembling past recordings with plenty of previously unreleased songs.

Hailing from Dundee, Scotland, Billy Mackenzie formed The Associates with Alan Rankine and the band enjoyed huge critical acclaim, chart success and cult status but the pair parted company in 1983 and Billy continued to record, for a while as The Associates and also in collaboration with other musicians, as well as releasing music as a solo artist.

Around 1994, Billy met Steve Aungle. The pair sparked off each other, prompting a purple patch for making new music. Some recordings appeared on two posthumous albums, Beyond The Sun (1997) and Eurocentric (2001). A couple more surfaced on Auchtermatic (2004).

However, Steve had long felt that the recordings hadn’t been presented or sequenced appropriately and in conjunction with Cherry Red, he has curated this new triple-CD collection, which re-assembles past recordings with previously unreleased songs, including collaborations with Dennis Wheatley and Laurence Jay Cedar, who also contribute to the CD booklet notes.

Disc one in the three CD set is titled Winter Academy, and mainly features songs from Beyond The Sun and Eurocentric. This first disc is Billy at his most melancholic, with mainly down-tempo songs. It’s perfectly sequenced, with stripped back arrangements for the early songs such as the majestic Sing That Song Again, highlighting the pure magic of Billy’s vocals. Winter Academy is the Beyond The Sun mix, not the Transmission Impossible version. An ice-cold arrangement chills, with a diamond sharp vocal performance that sits so well with the strings.

Billy’s version of Wild Is The Wind is a great companion piece to David Bowie’s take on the song. They are both classic recordings, and although I’ve lived with Bowie’s version for much longer, the held note towards the end blows my mind every single time I hear Billy perform this standard.

“Like a leaf clings
To the tree
Oh my darling,
Cling to me”

Another cover is Sparks Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth, with just piano, violin and vocals. When The World Was Young features Steve Aungle on piano, and Billy on vocals. The sixties influenced layered backing vocals make the track sound so much richer, and it’s a highlight of this first disc.

Two previously unreleased songs sit in the middle of disc one. Tallahatchie Pass is a Mackenzie/Aungle composition, and is a 70s sounding arrangement. I wonder if this song is a reference to Billie Joe McAllister and the Tallahatchie Bridge referenced in Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billie Joe? Tallahatchie Pass is a fine song, and offers us a style not really heard from Billy before, as a tantalising hint of what might have been.

Also previously unreleased is the dark cover of Randy Newman’s Baltimore, recorded with Dennis Wheatley. This is my favourite of the “new” tracks on this disc. The beatless, discordant and reverb drenched strings and vocals deliver an absolute classic, that could have easily been included on one of Billy’s studio albums. The arrangement reminds me of the mood of Bomb The Bass’s Winter In July (minus the beats, of course). Heavenly!

“Oh, Baltimore
Ain’t it hard just to live, just to live”

I was not surprised to see Nocturne VII and Beyond The Sun appear on this compilation, and Return To Love dials in the electronica of the second disc, Consenting Holograms.

The tempo increases for disc two. Opening with Beyond The Sun‘s manic, Middle Eastern flavoured 3 Gypsies In A Restaurant and Eurocentric‘s Falling Out With The Future, the synths are bubbling and the beats are pumping. No torch songs here.

Put This Right was recorded and written with Laurence Jay Cedar, and features a Giorgio Moroder inspired synth-fest backing, and a fine vocal from Mr MacKenzie. The unreleased tracks are a revelation! A second Laurence Jay Cedar track follows, with Diamanda. A more experimental dance track than Put This Right, with acid synths and cold soundscapes providing the perfect backing to an insistently catchy song that burrows into your brain. Disc two is made to play loud!

Hornophobic always reminds me of the Rankine / Associates Sulk era, and has aged particularly well, remaining one of Billy’s best later period pieces.

“Just walk, walk through your TVs
No room for deep thought, or heat-seeking missiles”

Fear Is My Bride features a touching vocal and an addictive chorus. Sadly, I wonder about the source material for this song (and to some extent, the vocal on Eurocentric), as the audio quality falls a little below the standard of the other tracks, but for the chorus alone, Fear Is My Bride deserves its inclusion.

14th Century Nightlife works well with another of the unreleased tracks, another lyric-less piece, the jittery Consenting Holograms Have More Fun.

Following on from the cover of Eurythmics Here Comes The Rain Again comes Eurocentric, propelled by a four to the floor kick-drum and an interesting vocal arrangement. We can only wonder how all of these previously unreleased songs would have developed over time, had Billy still been with us.

Mysterious Lover is sadly very much of its time, so not one of my favourites from the Consenting Holograms disc. Return To Love 2 is a previously unheard version of the Eurocentric track, and is a much brighter, and at times, lighter take on the song.

Give Me Time (remix) is a 9 minute exploration of the Beyond The Sun track, that also appears in it’s original form on disc 3 of this collection. The arrangement stretches and is almost a dub mix at times, with echoed percussion and deep-cut basslines. The last three minutes of this remix are a dream, with the music built around a Mackenzie harmony. Drop those depth charges baby! The original is still the definitive take, but this remix is worth returning to, and sounds so beautiful in the magical early hours.

Disc Three: Liberty Lounge includes six previously unreleased recordings, and rounds the collection off with some of Mackenzie’s more pop orientated material. Tomorrow People is a timeless piece of twisted pop-music. Possibly inspired by the early 70s UK television show, this would have made a great single, and would still sound good on the radio today. Release it to the airwaves, Cherry Red!

The Mountains That You Climb, with its whistle intro and deep strings, has a nostalgic 1960s feel. Hearing Billy’s vocals accompanied by Rhodes piano sends shivers. This song would have been the centrepiece of any future Billy Mackenzie album, in an alternative reality. The way he hold’s the vocal line before the chorus, is a Mackenzie trademark, built to tug on the heart-strings. I love the production (by White Label), and it soon became one of my favourites on the collection.

The quality does not drop with the next unreleased song, McArthur’s Son, another White Label production, benefiting from a fuller band line-up. Sounding like an out-take from a classic mid 70s album, I would have loved to have heard further recordings with this more organic style, so unlike any other songs we have heard graced with those angelic pipes. A genuine lost Mackenzie classic.

Reminding me of Bowie’s Lodger, Eurocentric‘s Liberty Lounge did not initially connect with me until I heard it on this compilation, which shows how this reimagining / sympathetic sequencing has done wonders for the material. There are no major audio improvements that I am aware of with the previously released tracks, but so many of the songs work so much better in this new environment.

We go back to Beyond The Sun for the next four tracks, and they are all killer, no filler, especially the Roxy Music art-rock of Sour Jewel and the aching Theme From Shaft meets Massive Attack influenced At The Edge Of The World. This song really highlights the raw emotion of Billy’s vocals. The album’s title track is from the Transmission Impossible album, and is another one that only really hit hard on this compilation.

A new version of a Beyond The Sun track is the next previously unheard songs. 14 Mirrors 2 strips back the instrumentation, with Billy accompanied by Steve Aungle on piano, giving this take a new, timeless appeal. Auchtermatic‘s Velvet whet’s your palette for the final two previously unreleased tracks.

Your Own Fire is a collaboration with Stiv Lestar, and sadly suffers compared to the other songs, sounding like it might have been sourced from a cassette master. Nonetheless Your Own Fire has an interesting arrangement, almost sounding like Billy backed by a rough and ready garage band.

The album ends with Von Hamburg, a haunting Mackenzie/Aungle composed piano and strings finale that is a fitting conclusion to a collection put together with so much love and respect.

I must admit to feeling a little worried about this compilation prior to hearing it, and whilst the audio quality dips on three of the songs, I agree with the inclusion of all of the unreleased material, which offers hints of what was possibly still to come from Billy, and definitely enhances his reputation as one of our most gifted singer / songwriters. Everyone marvels at his voice but don’t always give credit for his writing. Also bear in mind the timescale of these recordings – with so much quality to be heard, and such a wide musical vocabulary, all in the space of just two years, making this collection all the more remarkable, and a pure joy to listen to.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases via this website.

Pre-order Billy MacKenzie – Satellite Life: Recordings (1995-1996) at Amazon

Pre-order Billy MacKenzie – Satellite Life: Recordings (1995-1996) at Burning Shed

Disc One: Winter Academy

Sing That Song Again
Winter Academy
Wild Is The Wind
Blue It Is
The Soul That Sighs
Mother Earth
And This She Knows
When The World Was Young
Tallahatchie Pass *
Baltimore *
Nocturne VII
Beyond The Sun
Return To Love

Disc Two: Consenting Holograms

3 Gypsies In A Restaurant
Falling Out With The Future
Put This Right *
Diamanda *
Hornophobic
14th Century Nightlife
Consenting Holograms Have More Fun *
Fear Is My Bride *
Here Comes The Rain Again
Eurocentric *
Mysterious Lover *
Return To Love 2 *
Give Me Time (remix) *

Disc Three: Liberty Lounge

Tomorrow People *
The Mountains That You Climb *
McArthur’s Son *
Liberty Lounge
Sour Jewel
14 Mirrors
Give Me Time
At The Edge Of The World
Satellite Life
14 Mirrors 2 *
Velvet
Your Own Fire *
Von Hamburg *

* previously unissued

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Tags: 90s, Associates, Compilation, re-issue
Categories : Music Review

1979: Revolt Into Style: 76 Year Defining Tracks – 3 CD set review

30 12 2021

Cherry Red are continuing their review of the late 70s music scene, with the latest 3 CD set Revolt Into Style released on 21 January 2022 and concentrating on 1979, which just happens to be my favourite year in music.

The four hours of music contained in the 3 CD’s includes more obscure offerings sitting alongside some of the major new wave artists who were spewing out three minute classic singles that are on offer here, along with choice album cuts from The Stranglers, Madness, Tubeway Army, Ian Dury, Squeeze, XTC and more.

Disc One opens with the track that gives it’s name to the compilation. Former Be-Bop Deluxe front-man Bill Nelson, with the second single from his band Red Noise’s only studio album Sound-on-Sound. The single version of Magazine’s Rhythm Of Cruelty is included and is a perfect example of how there was a real pop sensibility seeping into the new wave and alternative music of 1979.

The Dr. Feelgood R&B / new wave of The Cannibals You Can’t is one of the less well-known songs on this compilation. The Only Ones are represented by the fine 7″ version of You Got To Pay, and another highlight on the first disc is a rarely heard gem by Scotland’s Fingerprintz, with the unbelievably catchy Night Nurse.

The Staircase (Mystery) is one of the finest early Siouxsie And The Banshees singles, and as a non-album track, is a welcome addition here. Replicas Me, I Disconnect From You by Tubeway Army signals the beginning of Gary Numan’s firm hold on the UK charts that would last for several years into the mid-80s, with Numan continuing to delight his audience right up to the present day.

The final X-Ray Spex single Highly Inflammable is a more synth infused pop song than their earlier four iconic single releases, and the first incarnation of the band split soon after this release in mid 1979. Victims Of The Riddle (Part 1) was the first single from Toyah and features on the wonderful Sheep Farming In Barnet deluxe edition that was released by Cherry Red in 2000.

Despite the mighty Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3 being released in 1979, Cherry Red have included an album track for this compilation, choosing Sink My Boats from Do It Yourself. The inclusion of this fine track will hopefully turn more people on to this excellent album.

Disc Two opens with Up The Junction, one of Squeeze’s finest singles (and one of the bands greatest lyrics). The quality continues with one of The Clash’s lesser known tracks, Groovy Times from The Cost Of Living EP.

The Skids Masquerade was produced by Bill Nelson, and remains one of the band’s strongest singles, of which there were many!

Former Deaf School guitarist and 80s production heavyweight Clive Langer with his band The Boxes contribute The Whole World, that also features future Siouxsie And The Banshees / The Creatures drummer Budgie on bass (and of course, drums). An early Zoo Records recording of Read It In Books from Echo And The Bunnymen is another highlight of the second disc, as is the Gang Of Four’s At Home He’s A Tourist.

The Jags Back Of My Hand was a top 20 hit and was all over the airwaves in 1979. Bouncing Babies (Zoo version) from The Teardrop Explodes still sounds great (as does the whole of the band’s catalogue). Adam and the Ants Whip In My Valise was the b side to the Zerox single, and was recorded by the pre-Kings of the Wild Frontier line-up of the band. The next version of Adam and the Ants from 1980 onwards were one of the 80s biggest and most influential bands.

Birmingham band Fashion offer a John Foxx / Ultravox sounding single Citinite. A later line-up of the band released one of my favourite 80s albums in 1982, with Fabrique. The Undertones were another great late 70s singles band and Here Comes The Summer was one of their most memorable early hits.

The Pretenders second single Kid is a piece of pure-pop perfection from the original, classic line-up of the band led by one of the best new wave vocalists and songwriters, Chrissie Hynde. When You’re Young by The Jam was a non-album single, but was included on a later re-issue of Setting Sons and on compilations such as About The Young Idea: The Very Best Of The Jam.

The Ruts Something That I Said was a top 20 hit for the band, and was re-recorded for their album The Crack. A rare mis-step on the compilation is the inclusion of The Stranglers Don’t Bring Harry, not one of the bands finest moments, and the fact that any track on their 1979 album The Raven (Duchess, the title track or Baroque Bordello) would have represented the bands output from this year so much better.

The final disc in the compilation opens with one of XTC’s greatest singles, and their first big hit, Making Plans For Nigel, with a drum sound that would be so prevalent over the early years of the next decade.

Manchester band Passage contribute the wonderful stop / start Taking My Time single and one of Kirk Brandon’s early bands The Pack are represented with the Rough Trade single Number 12.

The Human League’s Empire State Human has always been one of my favourite tracks from the band, along with their near perfect take on You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ from the same album as Empire State Human, Reproduction.

Work All Week by The Mekons has an intro similar to The Vapors Turning Japanese, whilst Public Image Ltd offer the single version of Memories, which, of course, is followed by punk pastiche band The Monks (featuring former Strawbs members Richard Hudson and John Ford) with Johnny B Rotten.

Chris Sievey (later known for the comic persona Frank Sidebottom) and his band The Freshies are represented by Children Of The World from the EP The Men from Banana Island Whos Stupid Ideas Never Caught On in the Western World as We Know It. Prisoners is the debut single from The Vapors and starts the journey for a band that are still releasing quality music today – check out their 2020 album Together that features a career highlight with Girl From The Factory.

Another rarely heard track is 7 Teen by The Regents, a top 20 hit late in 1979. The Boys (who also released Christmas songs as The Yobs!) supply the Chris Spedding (Motor Bikin’) meets Roxy Music influenced Kamikaze.

The Carpettes Easy Way Out was a Beggars Banquet single from late 1979, and still sounds powerful today. A raw, early Scritti Politti track Messthetics from the Work In Progress EP is rhythmically and musically challenging but does hint at the wonderful music that was to come in the next few years from Green Gartside’s band.

Spizzenergi’s classic Where’s Captain Kirk? is another highlights from this year. I’ve still got the 7″ single somewhere.

1979: Revolt Into Style is a great collection, and also does a good job of highlighting some of the less well-known alternative / new wave songs from 1979, whilst documenting the rapid move into the post-punk and electronic era of UK music.

Buy 1979: Revolt Into Style

Disc One

Bill Nelson’s Red Noise – Revolt Into Style
Eddie And The Hot Rods – Media Messiahs
Andy Arthurs – I Feel Flat
Magazine – Rhythm Of Cruelty (single version)
The Cannibals – You Can’t
John Cooper Clarke – ¡Gimmix! Play Loud
Dead Fingers Talk – The Boyfriend
The Only Ones – You Got To Pay
Glaxo Babies – Who Killed Bruce Lee?
Sham 69 – Questions And Answers (single version)
Fingerprintz – Night Nurse
Siouxsie And The Banshees – The Staircase (Mystery)
The Squares – Stop Being A Boy
The Fall – Rebellious Jukebox
Alternative TV – Graves Of Deluxe Green
Patrik Fitzgerald – All Sewn Up
Tubeway Army – Me, I Disconnect From You
The Outsiders – White Debt
The Members – Soho-A-Go-Go
Three Party Split – Dubious Parentage
X-Ray Spex – Highly Inflammable
Jonnie And The Lubes – I Got Rabies
Toyah – Victims Of The Riddle (Part 1)
Ian Dury And The Blockheads – Sink My Boats

Disc Two

Squeeze – Up The Junction
The Clash – Groovy Times
The Records – Girls That Don’t Exist
The Skids – Masquerade
Clive Langer And The Boxes – The Whole World
Echo And The Bunnymen – Read It In Books
The Faders – Library Book
Gang Of Four – At Home He’s A Tourist
Joy Division – Disorder
The Numbers – Alternative Suicide 11 The
The Jags – Back Of My Hand
The Teardrop Explodes – Bouncing Babies (Zoo version)
The Cravats – Burning Bridges
Adam And The Ants – Whip In My Valise
Fashion – Citinite
The Undertones – Here Comes The Summer
Cult Figures – Zip Nolan (extended mix)
Pretenders – Kid
The Quads – There Must Be Thousands
The Jam – When You’re Young
The Cheetahs – Radio-Active
The Ruts – Something That I Said
The Teenbeats – I Can’t Control Myself
The Stranglers – Don’t Bring Harry
The Barracudas – I Want My Woody Back

Disc Three

XTC – Making Plans For Nigel
The Revillos – Where’s The Boy For Me?
The Monochrome Set – The Monochrome Set (single version)
Passage – Taking My Time
Swell Maps – Real Shocks
The Zipps – Friends
Disco Zombies – Disco Zombies
The Pack – Number 12
The Human League – Empire State Human
The Wall – Kiss The Mirror
The Mekons – Work All Week
999 – Found Out Too Late
The Outcasts – Self Conscious Over You
Public Image Ltd – Memories (single version)
The Monks – Johnny B Rotten
The Freshies – Children Of The World
The Vapors – Prisoners
Madness – Bed And Breakfast Man
Secret Affair – Glory Boys
Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Dance Stance (demo)
The Regents – 7 Teen
The Lurkers – New Guitar In Town
The Boys – Kamikaze
The Carpettes – Easy Way Out
Scritti Politti – Messthetics
Spizzenergi – Where’s Captain Kirk?
Notsensibles – I’m In Love With Margaret Thatcher

Buy 1979: Revolt Into Style

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Tags: 1979, Compilation, New Wave
Categories : Music Review

News: NOW That’s What I Call Punk & New Wave CD & Vinyl Collection

3 12 2021

NOW That’s What I Call Punk & New Wave is a new compilation that features 89 tracks across 4 CDs, and also collects 34 tracks across 2 punk-tastic neon pink vinyl LP’s.

The CD offers a mouth-watering 88 tracks (plus the Toy Dolls!) and includes most of the eras heavy-hitters (The Stranglers, The Jam, Skids, The Police, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, The Cure, Siouxsie And The Banshees and Ramones) but delves deeper with slightly less well-known but equally as important songs from this golden era for singles.

I was impressed to see my favourite Generation X single King Rocker, plus a song I never tire of hearing in Milk And Alcohol from Dr. Feelgood. I was also pleased to see many songs from my favourite year for music, 1979.

Ultravox! feature with Rockwrok whilst Magazine’s Shot By Both Sides hints at the greatness to come from this seminal Manchester band. Mink DeVille deliver the Latin flavoured rock ‘n’ roll of Spanish Stroll, whilst New Zealand’s Split Enz serve up a fine slice of new wave pop with I Got You.

Midge Ure’s Rich Kids are a welcome addition along with one of my all-time favourite new wave singles in The Knack’s My Sharona.

Honourable mentions also go to Eddie & The Hot Rods with Do Anything You Wanna Do (featuring the best use of handclaps in a pop single), The Motors Airport (what, no Dancing The Night Away I hear you say?), the pop infused psychedelia of Reward from Liverpool’s The Teardrop Explodes and Blondie’s 60s beat influenced Denis. Has there ever been a more perfect pop single?

The vinyl version weighs in with a leaner 34 tracks, and for the most part sticks to the more well-known artists, but this just means you need to buy the vinyl for that authentic 70s listening experience and the CD version to wallow in this energetic late 70s time-capsule.

Buy NOW That’s What I Call Punk & New Wave CD from Burning Shed or Amazon

Buy NOW That’s What I Call Punk & New Wave neon-pink vinyl from Burning Shed or Amazon

TRACKLISTING

NOW That’s What I Call Punk & New Wave CD

CD 1

The Clash – London Calling
The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)
The Stranglers – No More Heroes
Siouxsie And The Banshees – Hong Kong Garden
The Rezillos – Top Of The Pops
Ramones – Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
Iggy Pop – Lust For Life
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Roadrunner
X-Ray Spex – Germ Free Adolescents
The Damned – Love Song
Skids – Into The Valley
XTC – Making Plans For Nigel
Squeeze – Cool For Cats
Tom Robinson Band – 2-4-6-8 Motorway
Elvis Costello – Watching The Detectives
Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Jags – Back Of My Hand
Secret Affair – Time For Action
The Motors – Airport
The Cars – My Best Friend’s Girl
Patti Smith – Because The Night

CD 2

The Jam – Going Underground
The Police – Can’t Stand Losing You
The Boomtown Rats – Rat Trap
Blondie – Hanging On The Telephone
Pretenders – Brass In Pocket
Dexys Midnight Runners – Geno
Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
Lene Lovich – Lucky Number
Toyah – Ieya
Adam & The Ants – Dog Eat Dog
Bow Wow Wow – Go Wild In The Country
Hazel O’Connor – Eighth Day
Tenpole Tudor – Swords Of A Thousand Men
Generation X – King Rocker
Dr. Feelgood – Milk And Alcohol
The Barracudas – Summer Fun
The Piranhas – Tom Hark
Sham 69 – If The Kids Are United
The Vibrators – Automatic Lover
Department S – Is Vic There?
The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet
Mink DeVille – Spanish Stroll
Yellow Dog – Just One More Night

CD 3

The B-52’s – Rock Lobster
Devo – Whip It
The Flying Lizards – Money
Martha And The Muffins – Echo Beach
The Cure – A Forest
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
Joe Jackson – It’s Different For Girls
The Regents – 7 Teen
Squeeze – Up The Junction
The Tourists – I Only Want To Be With You
Split Enz – I Got You
The Psychedelic Furs – Pretty In Pink
Simple Minds – Love Song
Ultravox! – Rockwrok
Marianne Faithfull – Broken English
Grace Jones – Private Life
The Slits – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Ian Dury & The Blockheads – What A Waste
Rich Kids – Rich Kids
Sham 69 – Angels With Dirty Faces
The Dickies – Banana Splits
Jilted John – Jilted John

CD 4

U2 – I Will Follow
The Members – Sound Of The Suburbs
The Ruts – Babylon’s Burning
The Boomtown Rats – She’s So Modern
X-Ray Spex – Identity
Siouxsie And The Banshees – Christine
The Jam – Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Ramones – Baby, I Love You
Blondie – Denis
Pretenders – Kid
The Stranglers – Duchess
The Teardrop Explodes – Reward
Adam & The Ants – Kings Of The Wild Frontier
Bow Wow Wow – C30 C60 C90 Go
Public Image Limited – Public Image
Magazine – Shot By Both Sides
The Runaways – Cherry Bomb
The Knack – My Sharona
Eddie & The Hot Rods – Do Anything You Wanna Do
Skids – Working For The Yankee Dollar
The Vapors – Turning Japanese
Toy Dolls – Nellie The Elephant

NOW That’s What I Call Punk & New Wave Vinyl

Disc A
The Clash – London Calling
The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
The Stranglers – No More Heroes
Siouxsie And The Banshees – Hong Kong Garden
The Rezillos – Top Of The Pops
Ramones – Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
The Members – Sound Of The Suburbs
The Ruts – Babylon’s Burning
Iggy Pop – Lust For Life

Disc B
The Jam – Going Underground
The Police – Can’t Stand Losing You
The Boomtown Rats – Rat Trap
Blondie – Hanging On The Telephone
Pretenders – Brass In Pocket
X-Ray Spex – Germ Free Adolescents
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Roadrunner
The Runaways – Cherry Bomb
Jilted John – Jilted John

Disc C
The B-52’s – Rock Lobster
Devo – Whip It
The Flying Lizards – Money
Squeeze – Cool For Cats
XTC – Making Plans For Nigel
Tom Robinson Band – 2-4-6-8 Motorway
Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Patti Smith – Because The Night

Disc D
U2 – I Will Follow
Skids – Into The Valley
Adam & The Ants – Dog Eat Dog
Dexys Midnight Runners – Geno
Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
Martha And The Muffins – Echo Beach
The Cure – A Forest
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: 70s, Compilation, New Wave, The Stranglers, Vinyl
Categories : News

Level 42 – The Complete Polydor Years: Volume 2 (1985-1989) boxset review

1 07 2021

Level 42 are releasing a 10 CD set titled The Complete Polydor Years: Volume 2 (1985-1989), that contains all the Level 42 albums from that era plus further discs containing B-Sides, 7” mixes, remixes and rare tracks.

Regarded as the bands most commercial period, this collection features all the hits from the era including Running in the Family, Lessons in Love and Leaving Me Now.

Discs 6 -10 contain all the B-Sides, 7” mixes, remixes and rare versions from 1985-1989. Level 42 – The Complete Polydor Years: Volume 2 was compiled in conjunction with Level 42 and band experts Paul Wallace, Paul Waller and Simon Carson.

The comprehensive sleeve notes were written by Record Collectors Daryl Easlea who has spoken to band members current and past.

The collection kicks off with the 1985 live album A Physical Presence on the first two discs. I spent my teenage years in Woolwich, but had moved away and so missed this tour, that included a show at The Coronet in Woolwich, one of the gigs featured on this album, along with tracks recorded at The Hexagon (Reading) and Goldiggers in Chippenham.

A Physical Presence captures the band at their jazz-funk peak, before the more mainstream success that followed with the next few albums. Highlights include a crowd-participating Turn It On and the flawless second disc, with six killer tracks in a row, including a powerful version of Hot Water.

World Machine saw the band start to move away from their signature style, towards a more electronic pop sound. Known for the massive hit singles – Something About You (a truly great pop song) and Leaving Me Now, other highlights include the sublime arrangement of the title track, the percussive Coup D’etat and the Rhodes driven Lying Still, with some wonderful Steely Dan sounding harmonies.

Disc four contains the Running In The Family album from 1987. The album opens with a staple of 80s nostalgia radio stations, Lessons In Love, which is simply one of the band’s finest singles. There is a real consistency in the song-writing and performances on this album, resulting in 5 of the 8 album tracks being released as singles.

“All the dreams that we were building
We never fulfilled them”

Children Say has a lovely refrain and other highlights include It’s Over, the band’s final UK Top 10 hit and album closer Freedom Someday. Brothers Phil and Boon Gould left the band after the release of Running In The Family.

Guitarist Alan Murphy (Kate Bush / Go West) and drummer Gary Husband joined for Staring at the Sun, the last studio album in this collection, which appears on disc five.

Heaven in My Hands was the biggest hit from the album, peaking at No12 in the UK single charts. I love Alan Murphy’s guitar style, particularly from his work with Kate Bush as well as his strong contributions to this album, sadly his only appearance with the band, as he died in 1989. Sting guitarist Dominic Miller also features on the album.

Staring at the Sun feels very different from earlier Level 42 albums, with a shift towards a more pop/rock sound. Key tracks include the top 30 single Take A Look (what a chorus, by the way), the addictive Silence and the rare later period instrumental Gresham Blues.

The final five discs round up b sides, 7″ and 12″ mixes plus live tracks from the period. My personal highlights from these tracks include one of my favourite 80s 12″ mixes, Something About You (Sisa Mix), World Machine (Shep Pettibone Remix), the very much of it’s time, drum-less Heaven In My Hands (Guitarpella Mix), the surprisingly effective “funky drummer” take of Take A Look (Remix) and the 2nd version of Starchild (Remix) on disc 9, that clocks in at nearly 8 minutes.

The Complete Polydor Years: Volume 2 (1985-1989) is a great way to collect the Level 42 albums from the most commercially successful period of the bands career, and is an 80s music fans dream.

Buy Level 42 – The Complete Polydor Years Volume Two on Amazon

Disc One: A Physical Presence (Part 1)

Almost There
Turn It On
Mr. Pink
Eyes Waterfalling
Kansas City Milkman
Follow Me
Foundation And Empire

Disc Two: A Physical Presence (Part 2)

The Chant Has Begun
The Chinese Way
The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)
Hot Water
Love Games
88

Disc Three: World Machine

World Machine
Physical Presence
Something About You
Leaving Me Now
I Sleep On My Heart
It’s Not The Same For Us
Dream Crazy
Good Man In A Storm
Coup D’etat
Lying Still

Disc Four: Running In The Family

Lessons In Love
Children Say
Running In The Family
It’s Over
To Be With You Again
Two Solitudes (Everyone’s Love In The Air)
Fashion Fever
The Sleepwalkers
Freedom Someday

Disc Five: Staring At The Sun

Heaven In My Hands
I Don’t Know Why
Take A Look
Over There
Silence
Tracie
Staring At The Sun
Two Hearts Collide
Man
Gresham Blues

Disc Six: 7” Singles

Follow Me – Live – 7ʺ Remix
Something About You – 7ʺ Version
Leaving Me Now – 7ʺ Remix
Running In The Family – 7ʺ Version
To Be With You Again -7ʺ Version
It’s Over – 7ʺ Remix
Children Say – 7ʺ Remix
Heaven In My Hands – 7ʺ Version
Tracie – 7ʺ Version
Take Care Of Yourself – 7ʺ Version

Disc Seven: B Sides

Coup D’état – Version
Something About You – U.S. Remix – Edit
Micro Kid – Live – Full Length Version
It’s Over – Instrumental
Physical Presence – Live
Starchild – Remix
Three Words
Silence – Live At The NEC Birmingham
Man – Live At The NEC Birmingham

Disc Eight: 12” Singles & Remixes

Something About You – Sisa Mix
I Sleep On My Heart – Remix
Lessons In Love – Extended Version
Something About You – Shep Pettibone Remix
Something About You – Instrumental
World Machine – Shep Pettibone Remix
World Machine – Dub
Lessons In Love – Shep Pettibone Remix
Lessons In Love – Dub Mix
To Be With You Again – A.D.S.C. Mix
To Be With You Again – Dub

Disc Nine: 12” Singles & Remixes

It’s Over – Extended Remix
Running In The Family – Dave ‘O’ Remix
Children Say – Extended Remix
Starchild – Remix
Heaven In My Hands – Extended Version
Heaven In My Hands – US Remix
Take A Look – Extended Mix
Tracie – Extended Mix
Tracie – US Remix
Take Care Of Yourself – Extended Version
Take Care Of Yourself – Remix
Starchild – Remix

Disc Ten: Bonus Tracks

World Machine – Live Hammersmith Odeon 1985
Leaving Me Now – Live Hammersmith Odeon 1985
Something About You – Live Hammersmith Odeon 1985
The Platinum Edition Megamix
Lessons In Love – Shep’s Final Mix
Running In The Family – HTL Dub
Children Say – Slap Bass Mix
Heaven In My Hands – Guitarpella Mix
Take A Look – Remix
Two Hearts Collide – 7ʺ Remix
Two Hearts Collide – Extended Remix
Take Care Of Yourself – Radio Edit
Heaven In My Hands – Original Album Mix

Buy Level 42 – The Complete Polydor Years Volume Two on Amazon

Buy the previous box-set – Level 42 – The Complete Polydor Years: Volume 1 (1980-1984) from Amazon

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Tags: 80s, Compilation, pop, re-issue
Categories : Music Review

News: Long Hot Summers: The Story Of The Style Council

10 09 2020

UMC / Polydor have released a new Style Council collection: Long Hot Summers: The Story Of The Style Council.

The collection is available on CD and vinyl, and contains key single and album tracks from the band formed by Paul Weller & Mick Talbot after The Jam split.

This impressive collection features many of the great singles / EP and album tracks such as My Ever-Changing Moods, The Paris Match, Speak Like a Child, Have You Ever Had It Blue as well as less celebrated songs such as the stark Ghosts Of Dachau and the breezy How She Threw It All Away.

The collection includes tracks featuring drummer Steve White and vocalist Dee C. Lee, and was endorsed and co-compiled by Paul Weller.

Long Hot Summers: The Story Of The Style Council contains two previously unreleased recordings – a demo of the top 5 single My Ever Changing Moods (with strings), and an extended version of Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (the original version featured on the band’s first album, Café Bleu).

The release ties in with a Sky Arts documentary about the band, featuring interviews with all key members, fans and collaborators.

Buy the double CD from Amazon

Buy the triple Vinyl from Amazon

CD tracklisting:

Disc One

Headstart for Happiness
Long Hot Summer
My Ever-Changing Moods
Walls Come Tumbling Down!
Party Chambers
Wanted (or Waiter, There’s…)
Shout to the Top!
It Just Came to Pieces in My Hands
Come to Milton Keynes
Why I Went Missing
Waiting
Ghosts Of Dachau
Down in the Seine
The Paris Match
Boy Who Cried Wolf
Life at a Top People’s Health Farm
Homebreakers
Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (Extended version)

Disc two

Speak Like a Child
The Lodgers (Or She Was Only…)
Money Go Round
You’re the Best Thing
How She Threw It All Away
A Man of Great Promise
The Piccadilly Trail
A Solid Bond in Your Heart
All Gone Away
Sweet Loving Ways
Promised Land
Have You Ever Had It Blue
It Didn’t Matter
Spin’ Drifting
Here’s One That Got Away
A Woman’s Song
Changing of the Guard
My Ever-Changing Moods (Demo)
Shout To The Top (Instrumental)

Vinyl Tracklisting:

Side A
Headstart for Happiness
Long Hot Summer
My Ever-Changing Moods
Walls Come Tumbling Down!
Party Chambers

Side B
Wanted (or Waiter, There’s…)
Shout to the Top!
It Just Came to Pieces in My Hands
Come to Milton Keynes
Why I Went Missing
Waiting

Side C
Ghosts Of Dachau
Down in the Seine
The Paris Match
Life at a Top People’s Health Farm
Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse (Extended version)

Side D
Speak Like a Child
The Lodgers (Or She Was Only…)
Money Go Round
You’re the Best Thing
How She Threw It All Away

Side E
A Man of Great Promise
The Piccadilly Trail
A Solid Bond in Your Heart
Sweet Loving Ways
Promised Land
It Didn’t Matter

Side F
Have You Ever Had It Blue
Spin’ Drifting
Here’s One That Got Away
Changing of the Guard
My Ever-Changing Moods (Demo)

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Tags: 80s, Compilation, re-issue, Vinyl
Categories : News

1978 – The Year The UK Turned Day-Glo compilation review

24 08 2020

1978 – The Year The UK Turned Day-Glo is a new 3 CD set from Cherry Red, released on 28 August 2020.

The 79 tracks (from a marketing view-point, maybe there should have been 78 tracks!) cover the well-known punk and new wave hits from the year, along with lesser-known regional acts from Manchester, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The collection also includes an entertaining 48-page booklet that includes details on every track included in the compilation.

The first CD features some of the era’s big-hitters. Opening with Sham 69’s Borstal Breakout from January 1978, followed by one of the hardest-hitting singles by The Stranglers, 5 Minutes. The percussive Emergency by 999 is another highlight, as is the early Gary Numan release – Oh! Didn’t I Say by Tubeway Army.

Automatic Lover by The Vibrators fits in with the short-lived power pop movement of bands such as Tonight (Drummer Man) from the Spring of 1978. She’s So Modern by The Boomtown Rats reminds you what a powerful force the band were from 1978 to around 1981, with an amazing run of pop / new wave hit singles.

A pre-fame Japan offer Don’t Rain On My Parade and are a world away from the sound they settled on from Quiet Life in late 1979, that showcased their move from new wave guitars to something more sophisticated on the cusp of the 80s synth-pop explosion.

Concrete Jungle by The Coventry Automatics is an early track from the band that would soon become The Specials, with their mix of new wave and ska already starting to develop into the style they would use so successfully from 1979 onwards. The Only Ones Another Girl, Another Planet was unbelievably never a hit but is a classic single from this year, and sits well in this collection.

Magazine contribute the early single Touch And Go. Irish band Pretty Boy Floyd And The Gems Spread The Word Around is a song I missed at the time, but is worthy of inclusion here. The Steve Lillywhite produced When The Tanks Roll Over Poland Again by The Automatics has a great guitar sound and Jilted John’s only hit single (produced by Martin Hannett!) is one of the biggest selling tracks on this album.

The second CD opens with the track that gave the compilation it’s name, X-Ray Spex with The Day The World Turned Day-Glo, a song that has aged well. What a guitar sound! Up Against The Wall by the Tom Robinson Band is driven by a powerful guitar riff from the late, great Danny Kustow.

Tyne and Wear band The Carpettes (who I saw at least once in my local venue, Woolwich Tramshed) supply 2ne1, whilst the Midge Ure fronted Rich Kids offer the title track from their only studio album, Ghosts Of Princes In Towers, an album I still love.

Another couple of favourites sit on CD 2 – the John Foxx fronted Ultravox with Slow Motion and the Status Quo pastiche / Mike Oldfield mentioning Heads Down No Nonsense Mindless Boogie by Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias. I’ve still got a double 7″ vinyl of this single somewhere. I must dig it out.

The third and final disc opens with my favourite Public Image Ltd song, their debut single Public Image. Stiff Little Fingers 2nd single Alternative Ulster and Life’s A Gamble by Penetration are also highlights. Penetration’s Pauline Murray releases a new solo album in the Autumn.

Johnny Thunders full-length album version of You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory is included here, although I prefer the short, stripped back Pete Wylie (Wah!) version, as part of the Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me) single in 1983. The Saints Are Coming by the Skids features some of Stuart Adamson’s earliest incendiary guitar lines. Again, the compilers choose a deeper cut from one of the era’s biggest bands with In The Crowd from The Jam’s All Mod Cons album.

The punk-pop of Destination Venus by The Rezillos is a forgotten tune from this era. Flashing In The Subway by pub-rockers Tyla Gang comes from the more blues / Dr Feelgood side of new wave rock. RIP Sean Tyla. 10:15 Saturday Night by The Cure is a less obvious choice for this compilation, and so stands out amongst some of the more standard new wave blueprint tracks.

If you are a fan of punk and new wave and want to delve deeper than the hit singles, this Cherry Red compilation offers good value for money and is an entertaining collection from a vintage year for music.

Buy 1978 – The Year The UK Turned Day-Glo on Amazon

Disc One

Borstal Breakout – Sham 69
5 Minutes – The Stranglers
Emergency – 999
Don’t Tango On My Heart – The Doll
Oh! Didn’t I Say – Tubeway Army
Automatic Lover – The Vibrators
I’m A Boy – Cyanide
Bad In Bed – The Electric Chairs
Lost Lenore – Attrix
Stuck With You – Zones
Party Clothes – Subs
You’re A Disease – The Outcasts
She’s So Modern – The Boomtown Rats
I’m Civilised – Menace
Moonmidsummer – The Freshies
The Kids Are Alright – The Pleasers
Don’t Rain On My Parade – Japan
Concrete Jungle – The Coventry Automatics
Another Girl, Another Planet – The Only Ones
Touch And Go – Magazine
Spread The Word Around – Pretty Boy Floyd And The Gems
When The Tanks Roll Over Poland Again – The Automatics
Stella’s Got A Fella – Social Security
Chloroform – The Bleach Boys
Jilted John – Jilted John
Rat Up A Drainpipe – The Members
Glandular Angela – The Exits
Why Don’t You Do Me Right? – Alternative Tv

Disc Two

The Day The World Turned Day-Glo – X-Ray Spex
Up Against The Wall – Tom Robinson Band
Central Detention Centre – Gyro
Ain’t Got A Clue – The Lurkers
The Backstreet Boys – Patrik Fitzgerald
Nobody Loves You When You’re Old And Gay – Dead Fingers Talk
I Can’t Resist – The Reaction
I Can’t Wait – The Jolt
Kinnel Tommy – Ed Banger
Loving A Killer – The Stoat
A.C.A.B. – The Rowdies
Start All Over Again – No Sweat
I Believe – The V.I.P.S
2ne1 – The Carpettes
Ghosts Of Princes In Towers – Rich Kids
Kung Fu International – John Cooper Clarke
Ringing In The Streets – The Ripchords
Slow Motion – Ultravox
Love Is Blind – Nightshift
Rock’n’roll Ain’t Dead – The Questions
Cortina Cowboys – Blue Steam
Birmingham Reggie – The Others
Live In A Car – UK Subs
It’s Alright – The Turn
Teenage Vice – The Teardrops
Heads Down No Nonsense Mindless Boogie – Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias

Disc Three

Public Image – Public Image Ltd
Alternative Ulster – Stiff Little Fingers
Light At Your Window – The Detonators
Fibre – Spizzoil
Life’s A Gamble – Penetration
28/8/78 – Scritti Politti
Europeans – Europeans
Take The Cash (K.A.S.H.) – Wreckless Eric
You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory – Johnny Thunders
The Saints Are Coming – Skids
It’s The New Thing – The Fall
Alphaville – The Monochrome Set
In The Crowd – The Jam
Starry Eyes – The Records
Weekend Girl – The Bozos
Destination Venus – The Rezillos
Flashing In The Subway – Tyla Gang
10:15 Saturday Night – The Cure
Larger Than Life – The Parrots
Wrong Street – Nicky & The Dots
New Town – The Vitamins
Love Song – Passage
What She Wants, She Needs – Eater
Never Met Suzi – Time Machine
White Christmas – Slush

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Tags: 1978, 70s, Compilation, New Wave, The Stranglers
Categories : Music Review

Musik Music Musique 1980 – The Dawn Of Synth Pop album review

22 06 2020

Musik Music Musique is a 3 CD compilation from Cherry Red, chronicling the beginnings of the synth-pop music revolution that was to dominate the charts for years to come. Whilst containing well-known names from the era (Buggles, The Human League, Ultravox and Spandau Ballet) the tracks chosen from these artists are not the obvious big-hits.

The real discoveries and delights in this compendium are the more obscure tracks, from the likes of XYNN, Nick Nicely and other acts who often released just a handful of songs before disappearing forever.

The first of the 3 CDs contains one of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s finest earlier songs, the naggingly addictive Messages. The Human League are represented by their cover of Mick Ronson’s Only After Dark, taken from the final album produced by the line-up that featured Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who left the League to form Heaven 17 with Glenn Gregory later in 1980.

Victims of the Riddle was the debut single from Toyah (it was actually released in 1979, but we will let that slip!). A keyboard driven song, with minimal guitar, it sits well on this compilation. Waiting by Ultravox is a good choice, as is Hazel O’Connor’s Sons And Lovers, with tribal drums offsetting the sax and synth squelches.

My favourite track on Disc One is from one of the most under-rated albums of the 80s, Sympathy from the debut (and only) album from Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls. Pauline was the vocalist in new wave band Penetration, and this Martin Hannett produced album saw Murray move in a more electronic direction. If you haven’t heard this album, its definitely worth investigating.

The compilation’s title track is from Zeus aka producer Zeus B. Held (Fashion’s Fabrique, John Foxx’s The Golden Section, Pete Wylie Sinful) and is a charming vocoder delivered pop song. XYNN (German multimedia artist Michael Winter) delivers the sparse and haunting Computed Man.

Gina X Performance (another Zeus B. Held collaboration) is represented by Vendor’s Box, a fuller arrangement than a lot of the purely electronic tracks on this compilation.

Lawnchairs by US band Our Daughter’s Wedding uses a similar synth sequence to the OMD track that kicks off the first CD, and is a regular on alternative 80s compilations / 80s themed radio.

Two of my favourites (from the songs I was unaware of previously) sit on the first CD. Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne by Suicide was produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars, and DCT Dreams by Nick Nicely is a lo-fi masterpiece, overflowing with more than it’s fair share of pop hooks.

The second disc opens with a key early Spandau Ballet track Glow, and a hidden gem from Robin Scott’s M in Official Secrets (avoiding the obvious Pop Muzik, great song as it is).

Galactica from French space-rock band Rockets is well sequenced next to Kim Wilde’s album track Tuning In Tuning On and Landscape’s European Man, which pre-dated their most well-known song from 1981, Einstein a Go-Go. Admit it,that song is stuck in your head now, isn’t it?

Melbourne band The Metronomes provide a “Ray Bradbury inspired tale of star-crossed love between two computing devices” with their contribution A Circuit Like Me, that cosies up to one of John Foxx’s early, icy slice of the future singles No One Driving.

The most well-known track on this compilation is the Midge Ure assisted Philip Lynott (Thin Lizzy) single Yellow Pearl, a song that was used as the theme for Top Of The Pops during the first half of the decade.

Dalek I Love You (Destiny) by Liverpool’s Dalek I is a premium slice of electronic new wave influenced pop. French band Taxi Girl contribute an early single in Mannequin. Fans of The Stranglers will remember Taxi Girl from the 1981 La Folie tour and the JJ Burnel produced / Jet Black featuring Seppuku album in 1982.

This World Of Water, a no 31 with a bullet UK singles hit by New Musik, a band formed by producer Tony Mansfield, sits in the track list just before one of my favourite Japan songs, the Roxy Music Manifesto influenced Quiet Life.

The third and final disc opens with one of Buggles finest songs, Astroboy (And The Proles On Parade). Last year there were rumours of a new, third Buggles album. Here’s hoping….

The second song titled Mannequin is from Glasgow’s Berlin Blondes, with a great mixture of new wave basslines and electronic synth lead lines. Yello supply a scratchy, discordant Bimbo and the pure-pop quota is increased by The Lonely Spy from David Balfe and Bill Drummond’s Lori And The Chameleons project.

Blood Donor serve up a quirky Doctor Who homage and The Korgis Drawn And Quartered highlights a different side to the band who had a huge hit with the dreamy Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime.

The debut album from Visage was so influential, and single Mind Of A Toy features here. The handclaps and slap-bass mutant funk of Mataya Clifford and the track Living Wild adds a wild sense of fun to the final disc.

Karel Fialka’s The Eyes Have It was a near-hit in 1980, and received lots of radio play at the time. The Russians Are Coming by The Red Squares is a short track driven by cold war paranoia.

The compilation ends with La Düsseldorf and their boozy sounding Dampfriemen, drawing on early Kraftwerk and what sounds like too many visits to Bavarian Bierkeller’s. Dampfriemen is the only song on the album featuring a kazoo solo along side the electronic instruments, so a fitting end to this entertaining glimpse into the birth of 80s synthpop.

Disc one

Messages – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Musik, Music, Musique – Zeus
Coitus Interruptus – Fad Gadget
Computed Man – XYNN
Metal Love – Rod Vey
Vendor’s Box – Gina X Performance
Lawnchairs – Our Daughter’s Wedding
Tokyo – Science
Only After Dark – The Human League
Victims Of The Riddle – Toyah
DCT Dreams – Nick Nicely
Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne – Suicide
Waiting – Ultravox
Money – Moebius
Falling Years – The Fallout Club
Da Vorne Steht Ne Ampel – Der Plan
No, Nothing, Never – Dark Day
Sons And Lovers – Hazel O’Connor
Sympathy – Pauline Murray And The Invisible Girls

Disc two

Glow – Spandau Ballet
Official Secrets – M
Chip n Roll – Silicon Teens
Galactica – Rockets
Tuning In Tuning On – Kim Wilde
European Man – Landscape
Can’t You Take A Joke? Ha Ha Hi Hi! – Henriette Coulouvrat
A Circuit Like Me – The Metronomes
No One Driving – John Foxx
Kebabträume – D.A.F.
Harmonitalk – Gary Sloan And Clone
Yellow Pearl – Philip Lynott
Dalek I Love You (Destiny) – dalek I
Mannequin – Taxi Girl
This World Of Water – New Musik
Quiet Life – Japan
Chase The Dragon – Kevin Harrison
Diskomo – The Residents

Disc three

Astroboy (And The Proles On Parade) – Buggles
Mannequin – Berlin Blondes
A Certain Way To Go – The Passage
Between – Sic
Bimbo – Yello
Images Of Delusion – Genocide
The Lonely Spy – Lori And The Chameleons
Lucy – Craze
I’m A Computer – The Goo-Q
Doctor …? – Blood Donor
Brushing Your Hair – Alex Fergusson
Drawn And Quartered – The Korgis
Mind Of A Toy – Visage
D’ya Think I’m Sexy – British Standard Unit
Living Wild – Mataya Clifford
Private Lives – Systems
The Eyes Have It – Karel Fialka
Suis-je Normale – Nini Raviolette
China Blue Vision – Eyeless In Gaza
The Russians Are Coming – The Red Squares
Dampfriemen – La Dusseldorf

Released on 31 July 2020.

Buy Musik Music Musique 1980 – The Dawn Of Synth Pop

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Tags: 1980, 80s, Compilation, Synth-pop
Categories : Music Review

News: Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival CD (The Stranglers / XTC / Dire Straits)

9 11 2019

The live Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival album from 1978 is getting it’s first release on CD in December 2019.

Recorded in the winter of 1977, but released a year later – the album is a double disc featuring live tracks recorded at the festival from The Stranglers, The Wilko Johnson Band, XTC, Dire Straits, X-ray Spex, The Only Ones, Steel Pulse and more.

Picture https://www.punk77.co.uk/punkhistory/hope_and_anchor_live.htm

The album is a time-capsule capturing some of the punk, new wave and pub-rock acts of this era, in their prime.

Previously only available on vinyl and cassette, this a first CD release for the Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival album.

Buy the CD at Amazon

Disc: 1

Dr. Feelgood – The Wilko Johnson Band
Straighten Out – The Stranglers
Styrofoam – Tyla Gang
Don’t Munchen It – The Pirates
Speed Kills – The Steve Gibbons Band
I’m Bugged – XTC
I Hate School – Suburban Studs
Billy – The Pleasers
Science Friction – XTC
Eastbound Train – Dire Straits
Bizz Fizz – Burlesque
Let’s Submerge – X-ray Spex
Crazy – 999

Disc: 2

Demolition Girl – The Saints
Quite Disappointing – 999
Creatures Of Doom – The Only Ones
Gibson Martin Fender – The Pirates
Sound Check – Steel Pulse
Zero Hero – Roogalator
Underground Romance – Philip Rambow
Rock & Roll Radio – The Pleasers
On The Street – Tyla Gang
Johnny Cool – The Steve Gibbons Band
Twenty Yards Behind – The Wilko Johnson Band
Hanging Around – The Stranglers

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Tags: 1978, 70s, Compilation, Live, New Wave, News, The Stranglers
Categories : News

News: The Jam – Snap! 2019 heavyweight vinyl reissue

1 08 2019

The Jam are re-issuing their long out-of-print vinyl compilation Snap! in October, for the first time on heavyweight vinyl.

Snap! is my favourite compilation from The Jam, and is made up of a mix of singles, b sides and album tracks. Released by UMC / Polydor on 25 October 2019, the double vinyl also includes a 7″ single containing live tracks.

The 2019 re-issue of Snap! is housed in a gatefold sleeve, with original artwork, printed inner sleeves and the original ‘free’ live 7” EP.

This 2019 version has been remastered at Abbey Road, and for the first time is available on heavyweight vinyl, with a download card (well-done record label – this always helps sway me towards a vinyl release).

Buy the vinyl album on Amazon

7″ – Side A
Move On Up (Live)
Get Yourself Together (Live)

7″ – Side B
The Great Depression (Live)
But I’m Different Now (Live)

LP1 – Side A
In The City
Away From The Numbers
All Around The World
The Modern World
News Of The World
Billy Hunt
English Rose
Mr. Clean

LP1 – Side B
David Watts
A’ Bomb In Wardour St
Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Strange Town
The Butterfly Collector
When You’re Young
Smithers-Jones
Thick As Thieves

LP2 – Side A
The Eton Rifles
Going Underground
Dreams Of Children
That’s Entertainment
Start!
Man In The Corner Shop
Funeral Pyre

LP2 – Side B
Absolute Beginners
Tales From The Riverbank
Town Called Malice
Precious
The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)
Beat Surrender

Buy the vinyl album on Amazon

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Tags: 70s, 80s, Compilation, New Wave, News, re-issue, Vinyl
Categories : News

Hugh Cornwell – The Fall and Rise Of Hugh Cornwell

11 10 2015

The Fall and Rise Of Hugh Cornwell is a compilation of material from Hugh’s first six solo albums. If all you know of Hugh’s work is from his time as a member of The Stranglers, The Fall and Rise… will serve as a great introduction.

The Fall and Rise of Hugh Cornwell

Opening with Hi Fi‘s powerful Leave Me Alone, it’s clear that the re-mastering by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios has really added something to the audio quality. This is more noticeable on the older material, such as Hot Cat on A Tin Roof from 1993’s Wired, where the track sounds brighter, with better separation.

Break of Dawn from Wolf is one of the albums highlights, a forgotten gem from the late 80s.

Under Her Spell has always been one of my favourite songs from the Tony Visconti produced Beyond Elysian Fields from 2004. The Who like final section on this song gets me everytime. You could say I’m under the songs spell!

First Bus To Babylon, with its mix of layered percussion and wonderful slide guitar, is a classic Hugh solo track.

“When we’ve sung the final song, get the first bus to Babylon”

Two of the more recent tracks, Hooverdam‘s Please Dont Put Me On A Slow Boat To Trowbridge and Beat Of My Heart have been cranked up a little in this remaster. Lay Back On Me Pal sounds wonderful just past the half way point on this compilation. The lovely psychedelic layers, strings and warm Laurie Latham production make this almost Beatles-like piece a definite highlight of the album.

One Burning Desire (originally from Guilty) is one of Hugh’s finest pop songs (and one of his great vocal performances). Another Laurie Latham production, One Burning Desire is almost a homage to the 60s with Hugh’s Byrds like guitar walls of sound.

From one of Hugh’s most “produced” songs to one of his most stripped back in his paean to his beloved Cadiz in Spain. The Abbey Road remaster brings out the layers in the chorus and the verse backing vocals and there is a noticeable brightness to the version on this compilation.

Long Dead Train was a favourite of a lot of fans when Guilty was released back in 1997, and it was always a great live track. I hope it’s inclusion on this compilation leads to it finding its way back into Hugh’s next full-band shows. I’ve always loved the Elvis “uh-huhs” in the chorus.

I wasn’t sure what Wolf‘s Getting Involved would sound like on this compilation, as its one of the most 80s sounding tracks in Hugh’s back catalogue but the remaster has beefed the track up a little. Yes it still sounds like the 80s – but it was from the 80s, theres no getting away with it!

The final track is a 2015 recording of the live favourite Live It And Breathe It. Guitars and drums to the fore, we are treated to a great guitar solo and more Elvisism’s thrown in from Mr C, so what’s not to like?

So if you are not familiar with Hugh’s work, The Fall and Rise Of Hugh Cornwell should be the perfect introduction. And if you like what you hear, maybe buy his most recent studio album, Totem and Taboo. You can listen to a couple of the tracks on Hugh’s website.

Buy The Fall and Rise of Hugh Cornwell on Amazon