..and the band begins to play.

throw your arms around the world

..never ceases to delight..

snow on snow...

I wish I was at home...

the end is nigh

I wouldn't normally post this kind of thing (ie. U2 songs), but in the face of the impending Mayan apocalypse, it seems sort of appropriate, and I quite like this U2 tune anyway. Farewell friends!

Christmas cheer

need some...

Top Ten Albums That Start With An Instrumental*

* (but aren't completely instrumental albums)

Putting an instrumental at the very beginning of your album must always be a fairly bold move to make, a) because most groups/artists are characterised by the sound of their lead vocal as well as the music and b) there's a risk that your listener might get bored while still waiting for someone to open their mouth 2 minutes in. Hence album instrumentals, if any, are usually tucked away usually towards the end of an album or just not included as considered too 'risky'.
Not so in the case of these little gems, where the instrumental-as-openers are so strong they don't need a voice to make them interesting and in most cases they even enhance the listening pleasure, acting as a kind of overture to the album proper.
Listen on then punters to this set of gems... individual tracks have a play button thing to link to youtube sound and vision, or you should even see a little player at the bottom of the page which will include the whole lot.
So microphones to one side, air guitars/synths/drum-kits at the ready and off we go....

1. Ultravox - Vienna  (Astradyne)

2. Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake (Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake)

3. Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle (Airlane)

4. St. Etienne - Tiger Bay (Urban Clearway)

5. OMD - Junk Culture (Junk Culture)

6. David Bowie - Low (Speed of Life)

7. Air - Moon Safari (La Femme d'Argent)

8. Japan - Oil On Canvas (Oil On Canvas)

9. John Foxx And The Maths - The Shape Of Things (Spirus)

10. Kraftwerk - Radio Activity (Geiger Counter)

'ELP!

Emerson, Lake and Palmer doing the wondrous Fanfare for the Common Man on German telly back in 1977. Used to love this, mostly because of the lead keyboard and the fact that it's classical music turned into something more rock/pop.
They do two more numbers on this clip too, the second which features a rather frightened looking real tiger.

I started visiting Germany in 1979 and the 'kidz' were still dressing like those in the audience. No kidding.

"Are you all sitty comftybold two-square on your botty?"

The Small Faces perform Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake on Colour Me Pop, BBC2, 1968. The only performance of the full album (albeit a little bit reduced) although thankfully features the legendary Stanley Unwin as narrator.
Deep joy!

C4 @ 30

30 years ago, the advent of Channel 4 was something which really did get us excited back then. After nigh on twenty years of only two or three TV cahannels (seems very strange now) there was something new and which made all sorts of promises about exciting new programmes and stuff. I was in university college hall of residence at the time and as I remember our communal telly couldn't pick it up at first.
But some months later a regular Friday tea-time fixture was flagship music show The Tube, which had so many special moments..including this one:

I've no idea if it's still cutting-edge TV now or not, but it certainly set a trend back then as an alternative channel for the shiny new 80s. Happy Birthday Channel 4.

July - My Clown (1968)

a nice bit of 1968 Brit psychedelia to get the week started. July's eponymous debut was the band's one and only album release, although the singer/leader David Bedford went on to do greater things with Mike Oldfield and those Tubby Bells. A kind of poor-man's Pink-Psychedlelic-Floyd, if you will, yet not without its moments.

July on wiki
July on discogs

Note to self : look out for The British Psychedelic Trip series

click click drone, click click ...

Exciting new John Foxx live DVD coming out next week. It's the 'Analogue Circuit' gig from back in June 2010 with some early Ultravox stuff, tracks from Metamatic and then new tracks from the nascent 'Maths' project with Benge. The whole package is a DVD plus audio tracks split into 2 CDs.
Video looks really good from this bit of clippage..roll on Christmas!

info: http://johnfoxx.tmstor.es/

The (first) Album

Interesting thing in The Gruniad about The First Album You Owned... After thinking long and hard about it (about 15 secs.) I decided that mine was probably Abba : The Album, the Swedes' late-1977 opus which accompanied their Hard Day's Night-esque film, appropriately entitled Abba : The Movie. I'm thinking I must have bought this incredible artefact a couple of months later with my birthday money. I had also previously and religiously purchased the singles The Name of the Game and Take a Chance On Me, both of whose A and B sides I played to death. (This was all before Gary Numan arrived on the scene of course..)

By way of a coincidence said album is also the subject of an excellent, detailed review by Marcello Calin in his Then Play Long series. Check it out it's a good read, although I would contest its no. 196 placing).

Although my music tastes, and purchases, have taken many turns since then ( I never bought another Abba album after this one) I often come back to this album to appreciate its many textures and moods, and indeed sheer the strength of the songwriting. The one that usually gets me going is One Man One Woman, an everyday tale of a wife who is ignored and perhaps even maltreated by her belovèd husband, only to have a seemingly failing relationship redeemed once more just by a single smile when he comes home at the end of the day, and they both realise that all is not lost and can never be.
Now I have a friend who is often in a similar situation....

like an engine in the sky..

Love this forgotten gem by ex 10CC-ers Godley & Creme .. dramatic vocal performance, minimal studio set-up, subdued electronics and a couple of CRs! Creme looks as if he's playing piano to a silent film or something....brilliant!

Tubular Belles

I shall never grow tired of this tune; or indeed of this video...

Discovery of the week

David Bedford - The Odyssey (1976)

I got to this via Bedford's connection and work with Mike Oldfield in the 70s. They were bandmates in Kevin Ayer's The Whole World , and Bedford went on to orchestrate both Tubular Bells and Hergest Ridge, Oldfield's first two studio albums.

Oldfield also plays guitar on this amazing opus by Bedford, originally released in 1976 (one track The Phaeacian Games also appeared on MO's Boxed box-set). What's amazing about it though are the keyboards and how they are used - Bedford proudly boasts playing an ARP 2600 synthesiser, Stringman string sythesiser, Hammond organ, as well as clavinet, vibraphone, cymbal, gong and, er, wine-glasses.

Bedford denied being a proficient keyboard player although this work is a masterpiece of OTT mid-70's keyboard music, complimented (but not smothered) by nifty guitar work by Oldfield and Andy Summers (months away from joining The Police).

Bedford's Odyssey was also performed live in 1977 at the RAH with no less than ten keyboard players .. surely that would've been a sight to see.

Apparently a recording exists. The hunt continues...

Sadly, Bedford died last year.

the leaves fall down..

September's here again....

Would you like to marry me?

The Smiths are one of those bands I shouldn't really like very much, since they brought an effective end to early-eighties synth-pop and with their proto-Britpop guitars and attitude made electronic-based bands seem a tad sillly.
That said, there's no doubting that they churned out some fine music in their prime and Morrisey and his mate were an excellent songwriting couple, who hit the right nail on the right head at the right time. Here's a TOTP performance from exactly 28 years ago with one of their better, and shorter, pop tunes which was storming up the charts back then. Love the TOTP graphics in the chart rundown too...soooo 1984. Oh and Richard Skinner's shirt...well....

Credit to Simon at On This TOTP Day.

  

Cover job

how many of your favourite record covers can you spot, readers?

Summer Hits

Not much exciting news in the heady world of Smash Hits*-pop in the summer of 82, although this John Taylor cover , full colour Nick-pic and an interview with Duran Duran breaking the U.S. will have pleased many.
But fear not. Apparently in September there will be bringing exciting new albums from the likes of Simple Minds, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and many many more!

.. for the record the number one single was Dexy Midnight Runners' Come On Eileen, which has proved to be a 'classic' of the 80s, with their Too-Rye-Aye album also doing well at no. 2. Sadly, Fun Boy Three's attempt at the summer market fared less well peaking at number 18.

* thanks, as ever, to Brian's tireless Smash Hits archive published fortnightly on flickr.

Oldfield-fest 2 / Mike Oldfield & John Peel perform Tubular Bells

Suberb bit of clangage just discovered on soundcloud (via a random "Mike Oldfield" Google search). I'd love to know when this was done.

Mike Oldfield & John Peel perform Tubular Bells

Oldfield-fest 1 / Platinum & QE2 (2012 deluxe editions)

There seems to have been another Mike Oldfield renaissance of late, mostly due to his starring role in the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony at the end of last month, in which our Michael churned out a new Olympics-opening-ceremony version of Tubular Bells, even making the thing 'swing' ...

Aside from that however Oldfield continues the remaster-masterplan, begun with the TB remaster/re-issue in 2009, continuing with Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn (2010) and Incantations (2011), with deluxe editions of Platinum, originally released in 1979, and QE2 from 1980. Both releases see a shift forward in Oldfield's work, moving away from the folk/prog musical style of yore over to more lightweight, and dare we say it, 'radio-friendly' shorter pieces which would also also put the artist in good stead with Virgin Records in the lucrative singles market.

Platinum is a breath of fresh air and a joy to listen to even today. Side one, divided into four parts, will never leave the listener bored and was obviously intended to appeal to a wider audience. You can even dance to it. For the first time, Oldfield abandons the "album name part one, part two, etc". formula, giving each of the four tracks a name and a life of its own, culminating in a re-working of Philip Glass' North Star. Side two is split into four separate "songs" (a breakthrough for Oldfield) including (shock!) properly sung lyrics on the dreamy 'Into Wonderland' and a splendid cover version of Gershwins' 'I Got Rhythm' both gorgeously sung by Wendy Roberts. (The original track 'Sally' was swiftly removed from the album after initail copies were released apparently at the behest of Richard Branson's who thought it was rubbish). The raucous track 'Punkadiddle' can only be described as punk-meets-folk dancing with a restrained "Oi!" occasionally punctuating the jolly tune,which recalls Oldfield's roots. The remaster also offers up a live studio version of Platinum (the track), a new mix of North Star and Blue Peter, which Oldfield recorded for the kids show of the same name around the same time as the Platinum album. A second disc on the deluxe version features nine tracks recorded live in Wembley Arena in 1980, which make for an interesting documentation of Oldfield's new found live prowess, his shy Tubular Bells live debut now very much behind him.
But speaking of 'live' one wonders why Oldfield has 'skipped' re-issuing 1979's live album Exposed, (originally issued before Platinum). No re-master for that one, more's the pity.

QE2 takes the 'easy-listening' and indeed radio-friendly Oldfield a few steps further with a series of shorter stand-alone tracks, although without any 'proper' singing this time. The album even featured two cover versions: Abba's Arrival and The Shadows' Wonderful Land, both issued as singles with modest chart results. There's a lighter, more sparse production even compared to Platinum, which however is not always so well suited to Oldfield's ply-instrumental style, although an extensive use of electronics (synths, drum machines, vocoders etc.) is very much starte-of-the-art and is usually put to good effect. OK, Gary Numan it ain't but it's clear that Oldfield wasn't just investing his money in guitar strings at this point.
The deluxe re-issue is again complemented with a couple of rare tracks, available in digital formats for the first time, as well as a new version of Sheba called Shiva. Again, a live bonus disc is included in the deluxe, this one recorded in Essen, April 1981.

Both lbums available from Universal Music or usual outlets.

Oldfield-fest to be continued....

..going where the sea is blue..

Clangage!

One for the Dads

Can't believe there is actually a blog specialising in cheesy 70s/80s dance routines off TOTP and such, bu here's the very wonderful One for the Dads .

You can also download the videos, presumably so you can store them and get 'em out when you're by yourself at home, with nobody around to interrupt your, er, pleasure.

Enjoy!

New Order / Turn The Heater On

summer 1982.

Top Pops

Interesting chart over on Yes It's Number One, the top blog for all things Top of the Pops. It's a Top 30 based on artists' TOTP appearances over the years.
Unsurprisingingly UK charts/TOTP stalwarts such as Cliff Richard, Slade and Robbie Williams are high in the top 5 although I was surprised to see The Hollies as high up as no. 3.  Pretty amazed to see chaps like David Essex and Gary Glitter fairly low down - they always seemed to be on.
On the 80s front, Erasure ironically come slightly higher than Depeche Mode thanks to just one more appearance although 80s kings seem, quite rightly, to be Pet Shop Boys with 35 showings.
It all struck me as being very male-artist orientated although then again such is the nature of pop music I suppose. Lulu and Sandie Shaw hold a joint no. 9 position (with Mudd), followed by Kylie Minogue at 18 and Cilla at 21.
I'd be interested to know how YINO went about doing this chart although they are all pretty much experts over there so jolly well done.
There have been many memorable TOTP moments for me over the years although here's one of my faves. They didn't chart - anywhere.

Heavens above!

Phew..well, it's June already and it's certainly warming up a fair bit .. as I think it must have been 30 years ago too, as most of the songs that were in the charts this week in 1982, I seem to associate with warmer weather.

Among them all though, I was probably also rooting for ABC's classic The Look of Love which was making it's way up to the top, aided no doubt by this excellent performance / routine done for TOTP, and which was much better than the video. God, I sooo wanted to look and dance like they did.. that's the look, that's the look...

edit: The Look of Love reached no. 4 in the UK charts in mid-June held off the top spot by Adam Ant, Soft Cell and, er, Charlene. It remains one of the 80s' most memorable and classic tracks.

Gow-Day-Tay

God knows why but I woke up with this song in my head this morning..and it seems to be sticking all day. Must have come up in a now-forgotten dream or summat.
Naturally I looked it up on the interwebby and as I learned of the correct spelling Gaudete (should've known that) I also remember it was made famous by Steeleye Span in the 70s, who sang it on TOTP once. Wikipedia also further informs that it's a Latin Christmas carol, from the 16th Century.
Maybe I was a monk back then and I was taken back to a previous life in my dream. or maybe it was my current fixation with 70s music which brought out the "Span" version from 1973.

Fact: the Steeleye Span single is one of only three top 50 British hits to be sung in Latin - can you name the other two?

Anyway, fingers on ears chaps and let's have a sing-along....we'll be perfect by Christmas.

Euro-Neuro

Mesdames et messieurs...bonsoir! Things are heating up in Azerbaijan as the first semi-final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest reached it's heady conclusion in Baku last night.
The qualifiers were:
Romania - Moldova - Iceland - Hungary - Denmark - Albania - Cyprus - Greece - Russia - Ireland.
Sadly, Montenegro didn't make it through with the fabulously titled Euro Neuro.

Other surprise non-runners were Switzerland, Belgium, and San Marino with The Social Network Song (Oh Oh - Uh - Oh Oh)
Austria also nul-points, or thereabouts, with eloquently titled Woki Mit Deim Popo, approx. translation 'Shake Your Arse' ..performed appropriately by Trackshittaz (I kid you not)

Euro-fun continues with second semi-final on Thursday, with the grand finale on Saturday. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile here's some fab nul-points nostalgia. It's Belgium's Telex from 1980, who so marvellosuly mixed stae of the art instruments with a touch of Belgian surrealism and a catchy tune.  Nul points, naturellement..

I Feel Donna Summer Love

Was pretty gutted to hear last night that singer Donna Summer had passed away aged just 63. She died of lung cancer which she blamed on toxic dust inhaled after 9/11 in New York. A tragedy within a tragedy.
Although still very active as a recording artist Donna was best known for her work in the 70s, practically inventing disco music as a genre and certainly breaking new ground with her more electronic based work with Giorgio Moroder. The epic Moog-fuelled I Feel Love is probably one of her best known songs, but let's not forget other gems such as Love To Love You Baby, I Remember Yesterday, the somewhat bizarre McArthur Park ("someone left the cake out in the rain..") and the classic disco-stomper Hot Stuff

Her raunchy, sexy style in the 70s disco phase under the Casablanca label, was somewhat offset with her becoming a 'born-again Christian' in the 80s. Although Summer spent much of the decade in musical obscurity, save for her collaboration with Anderson/Vangelis on State of Independence, she returned to the charts in 1989 under the Stock, Aitkin & Waterman umbrella with This Time I Know It's For Real and an album Another Place and Tim.

1991's Mistaken Identity album saw Donna try out a more urban style but with little success. The single Work That Magic failed to do just that. The rest of the nineties saw just greatest hits compilations and a live album, with Donna living on her legacy.

Crayons, an album of original material, was released in May 2008 with modest succes in the US although shifting very few digital units in Europe. An undeserving demise to one of our best female vocal artists and songwriters.

Ironic then that it was 30 years ago almost to the week that New Order issued their first electronic-dance orientated single Temptation which borrows heavily from the Summer / Moroder song Our Love from the ground-breaking Bad Girls album, as does their subsequent Blue Monday released in 1983 which started the electronic Hi-NRG dance and house music trends.

full playlist below

I love 1982 ..... sort of

Regular readers will have noticed, perhaps with some disappointment, that LiM hasn't bothered to continue the tradtional 30th anniversary "I Love.." series as we did with 1980 and 1981. Possibly because as a matter of fact we don't love it much, or at least not as much as the previous 2 or 3 years, musically speaking.
That said, there was still some great new pop music being made and sold albeit a kind of 'second'wave' of new music with a bit more shine to it, thus lacking the gritty appeal of earlier post-punk/new wave tunes.

Duran Duran were a typical example - the short-lived "new romantic" (sic.) trend with the band and its music, influenced by both Bowie and Oxfam alike, developed into the smoother, smarter version of the Birmingham band, which would in fact bring them out of the clubs and into the big wide world. Their second album Rio was released thirty tears ago this month.
The transient single My Own Way at the turn of the year was a logical progression from their 1981 debut although Girls On Film from that album had already shown the way ahead. The 80s were going to be sexy. The first new single from '82, Hungry Like the Wolf, mixed pop-friendly guitar riffs, soft electronics and of course the catchy vocal lines making it a worthy figurehead for the album. The seminal Save a Prayer released some weeks later would take us nicely through the warmer months, thank you, while the album's title track would serve both as summer holiday soundtrack and memory-jerker for the chillier months ahead.
Whatever you think of Duran Duran there's no doubting the fact that they were very much an emblem of their time - the "who gives a damn" attitude of pop against a backdrop of rampant Thatcherism, the Falklands War and a brand new Princess for the People, perhaps unsurprisingly a "Durannie" herself.

Barbara Buchholz dies

Very sad to read that Theremin virtuoso and teacher Barbara Buchholz passed away yesterday, at the age of just 52. I found out about her recently when researching for my lecture on electronic music and mentioned her as perhaps the most important contemporary Theremin musician. She regularly gave performances and workshops for the instrument, including one in Sardinia during the summer.
Born in Duisburg in 1958, Barbara studied music and palyed various instruments, including bass before becoming a master student of  Lydia Kavina, a descendent of the Theremin inventor Lev Thermen. Together with Kavina, in 2005 Barbara founded the platform Touch! Don't Touch! for theremin. Apprently she even partecipated in a German talent show in order to bring the Theremin to a wider audience.
As stated in her official biography.

  In the age of digital media, Barbara Buchholz’
work explores the options of making electronics
a dimension of human communication.
The combination of Thereminvox and
Midi Theremin is a bridge from the oldest to the
very latest technology.

Lieben Dank, Barbara!

links:
http://www.barbarabuchholz.com/
http://www.myspace.com/barbarabuchholz

She's Madonna

There's a certian obnoxiousness about Ms. Madonna which often makes her and unlikeable and, well, obnoxious. But you've got to hand it to her - she's the kind of Female David Bowie of Pop (c) taking trends old and current and turning them into something new.

I was listening to her GHV2 album today and it's amazing how much electronica is on it, even though you would hardly classify her as an electronic artist. To top it all I believe her latest single is done in collaboration with electronica-princess M.I.A., who I instantly recognised.

Here's one of my Mad (sic.) faves anyway, the William Orbit produced Ray of Light from the 1998 album of the same name.

If it's Sunday, it must be Techno Pop

Kraftwerk: checkin' out MoMA beforehand.

New York's Museum of Modern Art (that's MoMA to the locals) have announced a special Kraftwerk performance/installation over eight days in April. The group will be giving a special live 3-D performance of their eight albums from Autobahn to Tour de France Soundtracks, with a different album being featured every night (starting Tuesday 9th). Tickets are $25 per night, plus the trip to NY, eight days stay etc.. Not cheap at the end of the day but may well be worth it to witness this unique show.
Dates as follows:
Tuesday, April 10, 8:30 p.m.
1 – Autobahn (1974)
Wednesday, April 11, 8:30 p.m.
2 – Radio-Activity (1975)
Thursday, April 12, 8:30 p.m.
3 – Trans Europe Express (1977)
Friday, April 13, 10:00 p.m.
4 – The Man-Machine (1978)
Saturday April 14, 8:30 p.m.
5 – Computer World (1981)
Sunday, April 15, 8:30 p.m.
6 – Techno Pop (1986)
Monday, April 16, 8:30 p.m.
7 – The Mix (1991)
Tuesday, April 17, 10:00 p.m.
8 – Tour de France (2003)

Even more tantalisingly the 'Werk will also perform "..additional compositions from their catalog, all adapted specifically for this exhibition...". Does this mean we will get to hear some of the fab early stuff like Tanzmusik in a new upgraded format, I wonder?

Colourbox Box

Colourbox: under the box

Colourbox are perhaps one of the most underrated groups of the eighties, reamaining as they did for most of the decade on the fringes, too late for synth-pop and a little too early for the new electronica dance movement towards the end of the decade, which ironically they also championed.
Although they produced some good quality music influenced by electro, reggae, indie and all sorts of other stuff, they never really got the big hit, at least not until they somehow morphed into MARRS in 1987 and produced one of the biggest and most-influential 'one off' singles of all time Pump Up The Volume.

But now their label 4AD is set to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary (if somewhat prematurely) with a brand new 4 CD box set of all their released studio recordings and mixes put together by founder member Martyn Young. CD1 is the 1985 album, Colourbox, and includes all the tracks from the free album that was included with the original 10,000 LPs. The second disc is the 7" singles and the third is the 12" mixes. The final disc includes the 4 track mini-album, Colourbox (yes, same name as album) and loads of other previously unreleased stuff. Spiffing.

Order here if you will.

Back in 1986, Colourbox wrote a theme for the World Cup, aptly calling it The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme which, sadly, it wasn't. Here's the 12" version.

 

Art on your sleeve

Now here's a thing: a recording artist's biography/discography shown on video through their music and respective record sleeves. This is one for John Foxx done by Ratatouille TV, a non profit Dutch tv programme in Amsterdam with music, art and culture.
A good selection here (although it only covers Foxx's work up to mid-80s before his electro-Renaissance) and I like the way they show front and back of the sleeves at the same time, although I think they aren't using two copies but the same one super-imposed somehow. Clever that.
The commentary's in Dutch so I'm not sure exactly what is being said, but a good idea. Enjoy.

David Sylvian's back

And by that, we don't mean 'he has returned', quite the opposite in fact as Sylvian has had to postpone the upcoming tour due to problems with "..a lower back injury that is causing him significant pain and affecting his mobility", ie. he's done his back in.
The official statement published last week was quite clear about the reason for postponing the much anticipated Implausible Beauty tour, and was followed up with a personal message from Dave expressing  ".. sincere apologies (and gratitude) to all who purchased tickets for the shows" and ominously promising that the delay would make the tour "..all the stronger for it.". Mmm.

Not all is lost however as EMI's new best of compilation is still due for release on 27th February. A Victim Of Stars 1982-2012 is a celebration of Sylvian's 30 year solo, or rather post-Japan career,  including tracks done alone and with Sakamoto, Rain Tree Crow and Robert Fripp. And just to make sure the fans buy it there's also the token previously unreleased track Where's Your Gravity?
Speaking of 30 years of history, Sylvian was featured as star interviewee in Smash Hits, February 1982, discussing Japan's surprise 'break' announcement of the time. Click on pic below to see full issue and interview on pages 4 & 5. (Our gratidude - to use a Sylvian-esque term - as ever to Brian at Like Punk Never Happened for the scans)

Dare to feel

According to the The Human League forum and this CD-merchant, a double-CD 30th Anniversary edition of The League's seminal synth-pop album Dare is due out on March 26th 2012.

While the main album seems to be as per 2002 21st anniversary issue, there are also some new masterings including the whole US issue mini-album Fascination!, originally issued in 1982.

Full tracklisting as follows:

 
CD 1

1.The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (2002 - Remaster)
2.Open Your Heart (2002 - Remaster)
3.The Sound of the Crowd (2002 - Remaster)
4.Darkness (2002 - Remaster)
5.Do or Die (2002 - Remaster)
6.Get Carter (2002 - Remaster)
7.I Am the Law (2002 - Remaster)
8.Seconds (2002 - Remaster)
9.Love Action (I Believe in Love) (2002 - Remaster)
10.Don't You Want Me (2002 - Remaster)
Bonus tracks;
11.The Sound of the Crowd (Complete) (2012 - Remaster)
12.Don't You Want Me (Extended Dance Mix) (2012 - Remaster)
13.The Sound of the Crowd (Instrumental) (2012 - Remaster)
14.Hard Times/Love Action (I Believe in Love) (Instrumental) (2001 - Remaster)
15.Open Your Heart/Non-Stop (Instrumental) (2012 - Remaster)
16.Don't You Want Me (Alternative Version) (2012 - Remaster)

CD 2

Fascination! (USA mini album);

1.Mirror Man (2003 - Remaster)
2.You Remind Me of Gold (2012 - Remaster)
3.(Keep Feeling) Fascination (Extended Version) (2012 - Remaster)
4.I Love You Too Much (2012 - Remaster)
5.Mirror Man (Extended Version) (2012 - Remaster)
6.You Remind Me of Gold (Instrumental) (2012 - Remaster)
7.(Keep Feeling) Fascination (Improvisation) (2012 - Remaster)*
8.I Love You Too Much (Dub Version) (2012 - Remaster)
9.Total Panic (2012 - Remaster)

*one hopes that the full-length version of this track is included. this time.

 

Underworld Games

Most folks in the UK - and possibly elsewhere - are probably sick of hearing about the London 2012 Olympic Games already, but here's a bit of interesting news at last. Electro-daddys Underworld have been appointed as official Musical Directors for the opening ceremony of said games, which will take place on 27th July. Hoorah!
Rick Smith and Karl Hyde of Underworld will be working on the event with old mucker Danny Boyle, who by chance is also the Artistic Director of the ceremony.
The trio go way back of course, starting from the soundtrack of Boyle's Trainspotting flick which gave Underworld their big break with Born Slippy. Since then they've also contributed tunes to Boyle films The Beach, A Life Less Ordinary and Sunshine. More recently Underworld's music was also used for Boyle's theatrical production Frankenstein.
Underworld are determined to leave their mark on the Olympic Ceremony this summer with their particular style of electronic music "It's not something we'll get to do again" says Karl Hyde. Go for gold guys!

The band have a new 20-year retrospective out soon, Anthology 1992-2012 - get your preview here. And here's my fave Underworld track of the moment:

Underworld official 
Underworld on twitter

Just how I should feel today

Well as most will have heard, today is moreorless officially classified as 'Blue Monday', ie. the most depressing day of the year when all the holiday festivities are over, the weather's crap and you've got not a lot to look forward to. All a load of rubbish of course, mostly as it takes the mickey out of people who suffer from real depression, plus Monday's are always a downner anyway.

But to many of us 'Blue Monday' only really means one thing and that's the seminal New Order track which effectively made it cool to get up and do your thang on the dancefloor from 1983 onwards. And just to take the depressive edge of those who are feeling it on this particular Monday, here's a somewhat ramshackle performance of said song from New Order themselves, which I remember watching on the telly one warm summer Saturday afternoon in 1984.
The whole day's programmes were broadcast live on BBC2 and Radio One on a special music-themed day, although apart from this New Order bit I can't remember much about it. Much like Barney I was probably off my head on one too many cans of lager.

we are the goon squad..

Everyone seems to be celebrating David Bowie's 65th birthday with fitting tributes, so here's something quite un-fitting complete with decidely un-fashionable presenter, and godawful chart rundown saved only by Bowie's Fashion crashing in at no. 20, duly celebrated by a fine bit of dancing and jigging about by TOTP resident dance-troupe Legs & Co.
I've a feeling Bowie may have found this mildly amusing at the time. Happy Birthday Mr Jones. Beep beep!

out with the old...

..and in with the old, but newer, New Order. Mojo magazine dedicate their most recent edition (that's February 2012 to them) to the band and a CD of cover versions of their classic 1983 album Power, Corruption & Lies.
As usual with these things there are some hits and misses, although here at LiM we're enjoying in particular S.C.U.M.'s version of 586 and Walls' rendition of Ecstasy.

The CD contains covers of other NO PCL-era classics such as Blue Monday and Cries and Whispers, the latter being done rather well by Manchester's very own Lonelady,


MOJO preview all tracks here on Soundcloud:
Power, Corruption & Lies Covered + Blue Monday 12" Revisited - MOJO CD Preview (January 2012)

Full tracklist:

01 The Golden Filter – “Age of Consent”

02 Tarwater – “We All Stand”

03 Errors – “The Village”

04 S.C.U.M. – “586″

05 Fujiya & Miyagi – “Your Silent Face”

06 Seekae – “Ultraviolence”

07 Walls – “Ecstasy”

08 Destroyer – “Leave Me Alone”

09 Biosphere – “Blue Monday”

10 Zombie Zombie – “The Beach”

11 Lonelady – “Cries & Whispers”

12 Anothers Blood – “Lonesome Tonight”

13 K-X-P – “Murder”

 - a big thanks to gaztronix for his cooperation in making this blog post possible. Happy new (order) year guv! Here's one I just came across..

David Bowie - The Jean Genie (TOTP)

the David Bowie Story pt...

Morning viewers. Sort of forgot I was doing a 'David Bowie Story' feature here, but I seemed to have abandoned it at the end of the 70s, partly because most already know about what happened Bowie-wise in the 80s, and that famously, not all of it was particulary good.
So anyway back tothe 70s then with this recently recovered rare TOTP pièce, the discovery of which got plenty of news coverage just before Chrissmus. Enjoy, and party like it's 1973..

(note: band performance aside, check out white kid trying to dance like much funkier 'coloured' counterpart at approx. 1:51 in .. hilarious)

Countdown To Christmas (2012) : Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

When I was a kid the saddest day for me was probably 'Boxing Day' ie. the day after Christmas Day, when it was all over, all the excitement had died down, no more pressies etc. So that's why I've always loved this song since it first came out (1973 - I was still in single figures), preferring it to Slade's equally famous Christmas number.
Now the saddest day is probably 2nd/3rd January when you have to go back to work (thankfully I've never had to work during the week between Christmas and New Year, that would kill me), so here's to the New Year and looking forward to when the kids start singing and the bells begin to plaa-ay....ohhh-oooh-ooooh..