lost in music

Underworld Games

2012-01-24T09:34:00.001+01:00

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:

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Underworld official
Underworld on twitter

Just how I should feel today

2012-01-16T11:34:00.000+01:00

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..

2012-01-09T14:52:00.000+01:00

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...

2012-01-07T18:28:00.000+01:00

..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)

2012-01-04T11:22:00.000+01:00

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)

not

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

2012-01-02T15:43:00.000+01:00

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..

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Architecture & Morality

2011-12-28T16:26:00.000+01:00

I Love 1981 pt. 24

Ok, I give up. I can't do it. I just can't write find the words for any kind of comment or review of this album, other than: It's perfect. It's faultless. It changed my life. It changed a lot of people's lives. It has saved lives. It changed how I listened to music. It's got two songs about Joan of Arc. They're both perfect. It's got an instrumental title track, halfway through side two. This album moves me. There's nothing better than this album. Not by OMD and not by anyone.
If you've never listened to this album you should. Now. Buy it, borrow it, steal it. Just get it. Just sit and listen to it. Listen to it good and listen well.

Surrender yourself to Architecture & Morality.

SIDE ONE
01 The New Stone Age 3:22
02 She’s Leaving 3:28
03 Souvenir 3:39
04 Sealand 7:47
SIDE TWO
05 Joan Of Arc 3:48
06 Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans) 4:12
07 Architecture And Morality 3:43
08 Georgia 3:24
09 The Beginning And The End 3:48

(these videos are for sampling only. You MUST listen to the whole album in its entirety.)

The New Stone Age

Joan of Arc

Architecture & Morality

Countdown to Christmas: Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas

2011-12-26T00:11:00.000+01:00

Best Christmas pop song ever.

Countdown to Christmas : Sinead O'Connor - Silent Night

2011-12-24T18:24:00.000+01:00

Countdown To Christmas : Mike Oldfield - In Dulci Jubilo

2011-12-23T09:03:00.000+01:00

Always thought this was more of a Pagan type song but turns out it is a bona fide traditional Christian tune, dating back to the Middle Ages, no less with 'Ii dulci jubilo' and the rest of the original words being a maceronic (good word) mix of Latin and German.
In 1975 ye good olde 'trad Dad' Mike Oldfield brought the tune into ye moderne age - forgetting all about the words - with this jolly interpretation of In Dulci Jubilo which gets duly pulled out at folkie Christmas gatherings, and quite rightly too. Our Mike does so like to do things all on his own, and here's a classic video performance using 'modern' film techniques to show him playing all the instruments at the same time. Must have been hell to synch back in the 70s.
So, good Christian men (and women).. Rejoice! .. and jig around a bit too to the multi-instrumental talents of Sir Mike of Oldfield....take it away Mike:

Countdown To Christmas : The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping

2011-12-22T09:08:00.000+01:00

Back to the eighties, and here's a jolly festive 'rap' (get it?) about single Yank chick who isn't too keen on Christmas, gets "world's smallest turkey", forgets cranberries then meets man of dreams in store whilst purchasing said berries. End of.

The song was only a minor hit in 1982 although seems to have become a kind of 'noo-wave' cult track in the meantime, covered by the Spice Girls among others. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be any official video or performance so here's one someone's very kindly done with all the lyrics: very handy for your Christmas karaoke party.

Countdown to Christmas: Saint Etienne - I Was Born On Christmas Day

2011-12-21T10:58:00.000+01:00

Top Christmas tune from almost the only "nineties" band worthy of my aural attenton, albeit somewhat inconsistently. Not sure what I dig most about this song: the duet-vocals, the lyrics ("..getting moody after Halloween.."), the beat, the two-note guitar solo, or that lovely melancholic keyboard line which was probably played on one of those melodica things you blow into (see New Order - Your Silent Face).

Anyway nothing about this song is not amazing, and here's a vintage TOTP performance from 1993 with guest vocalist Tim Burgess and our Sarah in a smashing party dress. Roll the tape....

Countdown to Christmas : John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

2011-12-20T15:19:00.000+01:00

Amazingly hard to find a decent video to this one on youtube, although an healthy amount of shit videos and shit cover versions, and even this "official" one got the spelling and artist all wrong.
Anyway here it is . .needs no comment, save that sadly its message is as valid today as it was forty* (yes, 40) years ago. War is over, no it ain't. The only ever totally cool use of the "Xmas" abbreviation.

*released in 1971 in US and 1972 in UK, fact fans, even though the billboard campaign dates back to 1969 even.

Christmas Countdown: Greg Lake - I Believe In Father Christmas

2011-12-19T13:29:00.001+01:00

Let's get together again

2011-12-07T10:31:00.001+01:00

A bit slow on this one but old muckers Vince Clarke and Martin L Gore are getting together again to make music as VCMG, almost 30 years after Clarke quit Depeche Mode leaving Gore with all the song-writing duties.

As with many band splits it's been beneficial to both parties over the years,as proved by the global success of ver Mode and Clarke's relatively smaller yet nonetheless important career with Yazoo and Erasure.

Anyway here's the official blurb on the new stuff:
VCMG is the fruit of initially tentative discussion and subsequent enthused collaboration where Vince and Martin, both influential as pioneers in electronic music, get to exercise their lifelong love of the genre as the techno inspired VCMG. The first release is an EP entitled Spock. EP1 / SPOCK will feature remixes from Edit-Select, aka Tony Scott, the UK DJ / producer and founder of EditSelect Records whose previous remix credits include Speedy J, Death In Vegas and Gary Beck; Regis, British techno musician Karl O’Connor, member of the Sandwell District collective and co-founder of Downwards Records); DVS1, Brooklyn based producer Derek VanScoten (Radiohead / Sleigh Bells / Emancipator); plus XOQ, the alter ego of Californian Überzone / Q, who mixed the VCMG album.

VCMG - Spock [Pitchfork Exclusive] by Mute UK

Call me a sad nostalgic, but it's not a patch on the "old-school" Vince n Martin stuff:

Music for collectors

2011-12-05T13:23:00.001+01:00

I don't usually talk about films, as I'm not really much of a 'film-buff' as they used to be called, but don't get me wrong I do like a good flick now and then, especially if it's got some decent music in it.

Quite by chance the other night I came across The Collector, a 1965 film starring Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar, which was being shown on late night telly. It's quite a scarey story about creepy loner and butterfly collector Freddie (Terence Stamp) who kidnaps art student Miranda (Samantha Eggar) just for the hell of it and keeps her prisoner in the cellar of his posh Tudor home (Freddie had suddenly become rich by winning the pools some time hence).

It's a great film in a 1960s kind of way, with some interesting outdoor shots in London and a small English village, although what struck me most was the music used during the film in great quantities and to great effect. Getting to the closing titles I saw that the soundtrack was done by none other than Maurice Jarre, father of Jean Michel, who did quite a lot of film music in his time, and who sadly passed away a few years ago. Here's a taste of Jarre's work with the 'theme' I found on youtube. I'd love to locate the full soundtrack album if it's still out there.

NB "The Collector" not to be confused with a 2009 American horror movie of the same name which is probably nowhere near as good.

Singles round-up

2011-12-02T15:32:00.001+01:00

I Love 1981 - pt. 23
With so many great albums out this time in 1981, let's have a quick look at some of the better singles of the time which may otherwise have escaped our avid attention:

Soft Cell - Bedsitter
an excellent follow-up to Tainted Love this was Cell's preview of the new album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, and a taste their rather seedy view of the early 80's society. More synth-pop greatness and the 12" was even better.

New Order - Everything's Gone Green
The low-profile band's second single was released in November and, typically, not included on their debut album Movement released around the same time. Gritty electronics mix with trademark bass-guitar riffs and electro-steady drumming, plus the usual enigmatic lyric (and title). A blueprint for their later electro-dance numbers to follow. Again , there was an excellent 12" extended version.

Scritti Politti - The "Sweetest Girl"
More from the indie scene, as championed by John Peel, but also making it onto other radio shows although sadly not onto the telly or into the charts.

ABC - Tears Are Not Enough
One band who did make it out of indie-obscurity into the big time were this erstwhile electronic experimental outfit from Sheffield (Vice Versa), now the glitzy and funky Treveor Horn-produced ABC. They would go to make one of the biggest albums of the 80s and this was their debut which got to number 19:

Laurie Anderson - O Superman
And here's the weirdest of them all: an experimental eight-minute long experimental semi-electronic minimalist piece that made it to Number 2 in October (held off my the only slightly less batty "It's My Party" by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin). Proof that in those days you could still experiment and be successful. Again championed by Peel it was perhaps understandably shunned by other national DJs. Contains the line ""Cause when love is gone, there's always justice / And when justice is gone, there's always force / And when force is gone, there's always Mom" . .still don't know what she was on about.

Japan - Tin Drum

2011-11-28T17:23:00.001+01:00

I Love 1981 - pt. 22

It really is quite amazing how many great albums were released in this latter part of 1981. Not that I wish to play down any albums released earlier or mid-year but there just seems to be a concentration of greatness in these last couple of months. Must be something to do with the stars and the planets. Maybe not.
Moving swiftly on from The Human League's Dare (and missing out an all important album, leaving it until last, can you guess what it is readers?) here we have Japan's magnum opus Tin Drum released at the end of November.
As most of you will know it was their last studio album (until the Rain Tree Crow project a decade later) and their most successful commercially. Quiet Life (1979) and Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) had gained much critical acclaim and had done quite well for the Catford glam-boys, but ironically it was Tin Drum which took them to super-stardom, albeit briefly, and mucho chart success - both with the album and no less than 4 singles taken from it - and then on to cult status.
They'd got off to a slow start with the new sound in the summer with The Art of Parties single which enjoyed modest success, and is the album's opening track albeit in a remixed form, the sound now blending in better with the faux-chinois and electronic sounds of the album. I say 'electronic' but to classify it as synth-pop (as some do) is both crass and unjustified. Apart from Sylvian's now characteristic voice (somewhere between Bowie, Ferry and Iggy Pop) the Japan sound is also characterised by the late Mick Karn's bendy fretless bass, the steady but creative drumming by David Jansen and, last but not least, Richard Barbieri's 'electronics'. (Guitarist Rob dean had since left the band)


Japan: just having a laugh out of the studio.

Problem was however that although Japan had at last 'found' an amalgamated and unique sound, as a band itself they weren't working. Basically (or so it has been said several times) each member of the group was going into the studio, doing their own thing then leaving again, without even so much as a 'howdya do' or a quick cuppa with fellow members. It was then obviously up to producer Steve Nye to put it all together.
While today in the days of 'e-mail bands' and swapping ideas and lyrics over the interweb and such that may not seem so difficult, back in the day it would have made for a very disjointed and tedious process indeed.

However the album itself does all come together quite wonderfully, and may even be considered a kind of concept album taking in sounds, moods and lyrics with an oriental theme. The band had finally come to write an album that - almost - befitted their name. Titles like Canton, Visions of China and Cantonese Boy may sound corny especially when listed on an album by a band called Japan, but they represent some of the finest pop moments of this and indeed any other band of the time. Oddly, Visions of China as a single didn't do very well chart-wise. Previous label Hansa had hastily re-issued the 1979 Quiet Life single over the summer, as well as a retrospective album Assemblage, perhaps creating some consumer confusion and pre-empting sales for the new album and material. (Japan's singles back catalogue is rife with re-issues and re-purposed tracks). In fact it wasn't until the release of the superb Ghosts as a single in March of 1982 - and that TOTP performance - that things really got going for Tin Drum, giving it a longer run for its money in the charts. From its release right up until the end of June 82, Tin Drum was rarely out of the Top 40.

As already mentioned the album spawned four hit singles, plus a fifth if we consider the live version of Canton released from Oil On Canvas in 83, although my favourite remains the marvellously tongue-in-cheek Still Life In Mobile Homes, an up-beat number which opens side 2 and has everyone on fine form, as well as some gorgeous female-nipponic wailing and a great screechy guitar solo. Enjoy!

Berliner Bowie

2011-11-28T14:33:00.001+01:00

Falling behind with all regular posting I'm afraid, not least the David Bowie Story ones, depsite the fact that I've been getting through David Buckley's book quite quickly.
Anyway blog-fans we're up the the "Berlin years" now, ie. the famous "Berlin-trilogy" albums Low, "Heroes" amd Lodger which take us up to 1979. Much to my disappointment Low wasn't actually made in Berlin, or not all of it at least. He started it off in rather more luxury surroundings in Switzerland before moving up to Berlin, thus meeting up with Brian Eno and various Krautrockers and local musikers.
It's probably my (and many others') favourite Bowie period as the music really does seem to gel at last, and although much removed from the punk/new wave scene emerging during those years these albums are a wonderful melange of solid rock and electro-experimental doodlings. He also did two albums with Iggy Pop in this period, so is also one of his most artistically fruitful to date.
Anyways to cut a long-ish story short here's a selection from each album, avoiding the more obvious songs, apart from Boys Keep Swinging off Lodger, mainly because it's the only one I like plus there's a zany performance/sketch off the infamous Kenny Everett Show from 79.

from Low:

from "Heroes":

from Lodger:

One I made earlier

2011-11-17T13:21:00.001+01:00

video: Watching A Bulding On Fire - John Foxx And The Maths
Here's a video I started putting together some time ago and finally got round to finishing off. It's a mixture of footage from Truffaut's film adaption of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and John Foxx's video for He's A Liquid, from 1980.
For those who don't know, Bradbury's novel is a story set in the not too distant future, where books are basically banned off the face of the earth and any that are found have to be burned, and those responsible for reading or keeping them duly punished. The story follows the relationship between 'fireman' Guy Montag (Oskar Werner) and his relationship with Clarisse McClellan, played by the ever gorgeous Julie Christie. 451°F is the temperature at which book paper burns. Enough said.

In making my video, the 'fire' association between the film and the song is obvious, although of course the former is more about books as opposed to buildings. The line "someone is in the room", instantly reminded me of the original Foxx video and, like most of the Maths album, the song has much of the sounds of Metamatic so the Liquid video sequence fitted like a glove, also given the man meets woman scenario as Foxx's voice interchanges with that of Mira Aroyo of Ladytron on Watching, who co-wrote it.
I had considered using the excellent new remix of Watching A Building On Fire, but it's longer and has a slightly different structure so would've meant re-doing the whole thing.

Here's the video - and the song. It's quite long but please stick with it til the end if only to see the scene as sampled below:.

original version of Watching A Building On Fire available here
original video of He's A Liquid here

Shake your Boots

2011-11-14T13:04:00.000+01:00

Hurrah! Some good news at last on the new music front. Blackpool synth-queen Little Boots is back with a new single Shake. It's been over two years since her electro-fantastic debut album Hands, and despite some worrying moments where LB (real name Victoria) was apparently lacking some inspiration, she's back with a blinder.

It's modern, it's dance-orientated and it's instantly catchy...but despite all of that we rather like it here at LiM.
Shake has already been previewed on the net and on the wireless last week and is now up for sale at i-tunes and all those sorts of places.

Anyway you can party down and shake your boot-y right now thanks to this soundcloud thang with the radio edit ..or there's even a really cool "record player" longer version on youtube. Awwwww.

Little Boots - SHAKE (Radio Edit) by LittleBoots

From Station to Earth

2011-11-11T13:15:00.001+01:00

The David Bowie Story pt.5

Well it's the mid-70s and Bowie, now The Thin White Duke, continues his cocaine-fuelled L.A./U.S. trip (pun intended) and proceeds to record his tenth studio album Station to Station. He was also working on the movie The Man Who Fell To Earth, Nicholas Roeg's film interpretation of the sci-fi novel by Walter Trevis, with Bowie acting and attempting to write a soundtrack in his L.A. home. But perhaps more about the movie anon, cos I haven't seen it for years.

The soundtrack idea was however abandoned and thus Station to Station came about. Or at least that's what seems to have happened since our David was so off his head all of the time that he remembers practically nothing of the period ("I know it was in LA because I've read it was"). Apparently it was at this time however that he started to take an interest in Krautrock, especially Kraftwerk, although to be honest not a lot of that transpires on this album.

Station to Station is however very much a transition (transit?) album, taking us out of the US soul dance fix and back towards a more European, nay Mittel-Europa, phase. The title track itself is two songs joined together at the hip, with a very much more European feel, whereas tracks like the hit Golden Years are still firmly rooted the "plastic soul" of Young Americans. The cover of the 50's song Wild is the Wind is my fave Bowie vocal performance to date.
A memorable live tour followed, for which Bowie had originally wanted Kraftwerk as support band. Sadly, this never happened for technical reasons.
The period is also notorious for Bowie's alleged penchant for all things Nazi, culminating in an apparent "nazi salute" to a crowd of fans on his arrival at Victoria Station in London in May 1976. Among the crowd was a young Gary Numan (né Webb), who also denied said gesture. "All you need is some dickhead at a music paper or whatever to make an issue out it ...." said Bowie, which is exactly what the NME did.

Station to Station has recently been issued in a special triple CD set - original album remastered plus the legendary Nassau concert. Get it.

Scary movie

2011-11-09T14:35:00.002+01:00

I don't really like horror films much, mostly because I don't actually enjoy being scared. The Shout looks quite good though, not least cos it has John Hurt as an avant-garde composer type, late 70s, who experiments with sound effects and various electronic sources in his secluded Devon studio, doing some pretty weird and wonderful stuff with microphones, electronics and tape-recorders. Cool.

Hurt looks quite Bowie-esque, I thought. Alan Bates and Susannah York, who died earlier this year, also star. Be afraid.

- thanks to Island of Terror for first pointing this film out to me.

The Human League - Dare

2011-11-05T17:17:00.000+01:00

I Love 1981 - pt 21
Well it's late Saturday afternoon in November 1981 so what better way to get the party started then getting all tarted up for the night whilst listening to the sounds of The Human League's breakthrough album Dare.
Like Speak & Spell there's already been so much written about Dare - seminal synth-pop album etc., especially in the wake of the recent electro-revival (La Roux et al) and an overall re-evaluation of the genre, now taht almost all pop music is made with electronic instruments.
Band leader and lead vocalist Phil Oakey has often described it as 'over-rated' but there's a little false modesty going on there as it still remains their most successful album to date and their most exploited during the live performances which they still seen very fond of doing. No Human League gig could ever be complete without a rendition of Don't You Want Me, and other Dare racks such as The Sound of the Crowd, The Things That Dreams Are Made Of, or even Darkness which have all recently been performed live.

Shiny synth-pop aside, what ultimately clinches it for the album is its strange mixture of upbeat pop (although still not in the region of the Mode's 'ultra-pop') and darker moments as in I Am the Law and Seconds. Dare managed to carefully tread between the two creating something for everyone: Darkness is a perfect sing-along pop song yet deals with one of our deepest fears, Do or Die will have us up and dancing yet its sci-fi scenarios ("alsatians fall unconscious at the shadow of your call..") are at once chilling and just a bit daft (cf. earlier League tracks such as The Black Hit of Space). Love Action (I Believe in Love) may have one of the catchiest riffs of them all yet deals with the pain and suffering of broken relationships we can somehow all relate to. And this is Phil talkin'.

Considering all that it almost seems a shame that the cheesy yet evergreen Don't You Want Me has to close it all, although it was in fact deliberately tacked on at the end as a 'joke' song. It's a complete pseudo-American soap-opera scenario (Oakey was inspired by A Star is Born for the lyric) which translated so well into the video-with-a-stroy-line format which was just coming into vogue.

All homage of course to the late Martin Rushent's production and overall technical contribution, not least the introduction of the Linn drum machine which finally gave the League, and electronic pop, the programmable beats they so strived for in earlier years (I nearly cried when I first heard Love Action - I thought they'd used 'real' drums..).
It was still early days though: "The programming took hours and hours and we were constantly battling the primitive and unreliable technology," said Rushent in 2008. But no matter: "I spent 28 hours straight writing and programming the brass parts for Hard Times and another 24 hours recording them. Didn’t mind a bit, had a wonderful time."..which is exactly what ultimately transpires on Dare.
So just put on your best party gear, plenty of jewellry and make up (men too), add your voice and have a wonderful eighties-time to the sounds of Dare.

For more on Dare and its making, see The Black Hit of Space's excellent 30th Anniversary Special.

Black music / white boy

2011-11-04T13:15:00.000+01:00

The David Bowie Story pt.4
..in which our David promptly turns his back on glam rock and plumps instead for a full-immersion in American black music in Philedelphia, USA of all places and invents 'plastic soul' (his phrase).
Gone was the glitter and make-up of Ziggy Stardust and all that the character ensued (including accompanying musicians such as Mick Ronson) and in was a more 'sobre' look and a new approach to music, adopting and adapting the American (read 'black') soul sounds to effectively create the first successful white singer of the genre. Many British white singers would emulate this approach in the not too distant future, becoming especially fashionable in the early 80s: from Paul Young to Tony Hadley, from Rick Astley to Boy George.

The ensuing album Young Americans (1975) was a big success in America of course although initially threw a lot of glam-Bowie/Ziggy fans, espesh in the UK, who were still not yet used to Bowie's habit of changing syles and persona. An edited version of the title track became his biggest US Billboard hit up to then. Despite its groundbreaking plastic or white soul style the album sounds a little dated today. His cover of The Beatles' Across the Universe, a late addition, sticks out like a sore thumb and can only be attributed to his new found friendship with fellow-Brit-in-the-USA John lennon with whom Bowie co-wrote Fame, the album's closer and other hit.
His cocaine habit (nay, addicition) continued of course and TV appearances for which the US producers and audiences craved, were often marred by Bowie being completely off his head on coke. He was also very thin, and very white...

I Love 1980 - appendix 9

2011-11-02T12:04:00.000+01:00

A rather late addition to the I Love 1980 series, but a good excuse to feature the excellent Sounds of the 20th Century which has been running on Radio 2 now for some weeks.
For those who are not familiar, the hour long show has been featuring consecutive years each week, starting from 1951, mixing news and current affairs items with popular music of the year, and usually there are some damn excellent choices too.
The series reaches 1980 this week so among news of the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, the consequent US boycott of the Moscow Olympics, embassy hostages, and "The Lady who is not for turning" it's top tracks from Blondie, UB40, The Jam, Bowie, Gabriel, Abba and many more. The 1980 programme also more or less opens with the death of Ian Curtis and closes with that of John Lennon. Never thought about those two dying in the same year.

Listen again to this week's programme here until Thurs. 3rd November, when it'll be time for 1981 at 10 p.m. GMT.

Official Radio 2 page here
Unofficial series blog here
and on twitter

Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell

2011-10-28T11:17:00.001+02:00

I Love 1981 - pt 20
Phew! Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks what with one thing and another so not much time for 1981, sorry to say. But there are three, four or maybe more blockbuster '81 albums coming up before Christmas so better get cracking.
First up, here's Depeche Mode's debut album , Speak & Spell, released in early October, although mysteriously it took over a month to get into the charts when, like a newly elected Prime Minister, it went straight in at Number 10. Boom boom.

I won't go into the in-s and out-s of the album much as all us Depeche-fans know you either love it or hate it. I love it. Not only was it 'ultra-pop' ( (c) Vince Clarke) but also a great combination of perfect pop and punk ethic - after all it was a group of lads who just got together, formed a band, did some live stuff locally and made a record, and what's more put it out on an independent label, unlike say the Sex Pistols who sold out to the majors. Added bonus: it's all synths and drum machines. Ace!

Anyway here's a real treat: the Dizzy Deps doing the 'pretty boy' song What's Your Name off the album live in Chincester (Chichester?) recorded for a telly programme called Off the Record, of which I have no recollection. I see most of this gig is online. Boys say go!

PS: take a moment to read Sophia Deboick's excellent appraisal of Depeche Mode and their relationship with native new town Basildon in The Quietus this month.

Peel Life

2011-10-25T16:43:00.000+02:00

pic: Keeping It Peel

Well, after I blogged about the new John Peel sessions compilation album Movement last week, blow me down if it isn't John Peel Day this very day. A world celebration of the great man and his life, work and music tastes. Much activity on twitter and so forth and a lot of good stuff coming out of it. While sites like Keeping It Peel are doing just that, it is rather sad that the BBC haven't updated their John Peel "online tribute" since September 2007 and are quite happy to confirm it too.

While searching for stuff on youtube I was pleased to see that Peely even went on This is Your Life (in 1996) and it was nice to see him in a totally spontaneous and joyful mode, as opposed to his intentionally stiff and sarcastic TOTP presenter-persona, which is really the only way we used to 'see' him. His radio-style was also, deliberately dry and sarcastic, but we loved that.

Here's the first part of said 'Life' episode with Michael Aspel popping up at the end of a TOTP show, and Peely being whisked away to the studio and a video message from none other than Mr. David Bowie. Nice one.

Part Two - Part Three

Again, many thanks John.

The rise and rise of David Jones

2011-10-21T15:13:00.000+02:00

The David Bowie Story pt. 3
Almost forgot my ongoing potted history of Bowie, with info mostly gleaned from reading David Buckley's Strange Fascination.
Well we're just about up to the Ziggy Stardust period (1972-74), and so much has been written about it already I won't go into it, other than say I never really took to it much and still don't "get" the whole thing. Mind you, had i been slightly older at the time I may well have "got" it when watching Bowie/Ziggy and friends doing Starman on TOTP. According to Buckley it was a seminal moment (ah the power of telly!) in the rise of Ziggy Stardust, especially the moment in which Bowie/Ziggy points his finger straight into the camera and wiggles it around a bit while singing "you-ou-ou", upon which millions of British teenagers promptly swooned and were won over to the cause. They then dutifully went out and bought loads of glitter, glam clothing, oh and the record, the following Saturday. Here's said clip - watch out for that moment at around 1:37...

Love it or love it not, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars certainly assured Bowie's success, after much faffing about, and left a legacy that would influence so many for many years to come. In fact mention of the TOTP epiphany moment reminded me of the first time I - and many others - saw Tubeway Army, or rather Gary Numan, a Bowie-fan himself doing Are Friends Electric? on the show in 1979... he didn't point his finger, and we didn't faint, but the effect was basically the same.: things would never be quite the same again.

Movement

2011-10-18T16:31:00.004+02:00

Now then, how many of you remember staying up "late" (after 10 p.m. was "late") to listen to the John Peel radio show of a weekday night, late 70s/early 80s? Well, for the uninitiated John Peel's nightly show was the place for the real alternative post-punk music that was going around at the time - you'r hear stuff here that you would not hear anywhere else, not even on Kid Jensen. Most of the stuff was so obscure that it basically remained such although the late, great Mr. Peel was famous of course for championing (he even championed the verb "to champion") many an obscure band who then went on to become quite successful, eg. Siouxsie & the Banshees, Generation X, XTC, The Undertones, The Jam, Joy Division and the like.
Each night Peely also featured usually two different "sessions", ie. bands who had gone in to the BBC studios to record three or four tracks especially for the show. These were often religiously taped and duly bootlegged, although many have already seen the light of day since as official releases (OMITD, Ultravox, Gary Numan, New Order to name but a few).

Anyway here comes possibly the first official 'Best of Peel sessions' release: Movement brings together many of those bands and more from the all-important 1977-1979 period. There's quite wide range of styles, not just the new-wavers but also ska from the likes of Madness, The Specials and Selecter and reggae from UB40, Aswad and Steel Pulse - all styles which were covered by Peel.

Of note to LiM is the inclusion of Being Boiled by The Human League, recorded for their only session in 1978 which has never had an official release, only bootlegs. So here's hoping it's been properly dusted down for the occasion. It's a unique version in that it's kind of half way between the original Fast version and the radically re-vamped Holiday '80/Travelogue version. Well, Blind Youth geeks will know what I mean anyway.

Advanced Maths - 3

2011-10-14T14:39:00.000+02:00

The John Foxx & The Maths tour kicked off last night from the intimate surroundings of the Assembly Rooms in Leamington Spa. The line-up of John Foxx, Benge, Hannah Peel and Serafina Steer suffered a few first-night nerves (according to Brigid Burke's excellent blog posting) but with a track-list which included some of Foxx's electro-classics from Metamatic (No One Driving, Underpass, Plaza, Burning Car, He's a Liquid), others from his Ultravox days (Hiroshima Mon Amour, Dislocation, Just For a Moment) and selected new tracks from the cracking 2011 album Interplay (Summerland, Evergreen, The Good Shadow, Catwalk), they couldn't really go wrong, and indeed they didn't.
The band and entourage are already on their way to Poland to play at the Unsound Festival in Cracow. Chris & Cosey ex of Throbbing Gristle also on the bill. The Maths' UK tour resumes next Thursday in Bristol.

Respected on-line music magazine The Quietus has uploaded a new JF & Maths track Where You End and I Begin feat. Tara Busch, who is the support act on most of the tour. (soundcloud link). The track comes from the new album The Shape of Things, available at gigs only for now.

Here's video footage of He's a Liquid performed at Leamington Spa last night, as filmed by Mateybloke who also took some rather good photos. (wonder what Mr B. Currie makes of the violin playing!)

The Sound of The Future

2011-10-11T17:30:00.003+02:00

(click for bigger)

Here's an interesting snippet from a feature in Smash Hits magazine of 30 years ago (as ever, thanks to the truly wonderful Like Punk Never Happened archive). A Beginner's Guide to the Human League who were just on the brink of becoming totally massive; in fact the feature/interview focuses on the imminent release of new album 'Dare', which has already been preceded by three hit singles, including the current Open Your Heart.
The 1981 section of the a.m. guide is of course incomplete for 1981 - perhaps not even the mighty League (and the immodest Phil Oakey) could have guessed what was just around the corner..
The question mark over 1982 is somewhat foreboding however, but fair-do's, they did manage a couple of great singles. More anon.

So open your heart, dare to feel and add your voice...

Of birthdays and weddings

2011-10-10T13:00:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was John Winston Ono Lennon's birthday, and as he was born in 1940, most mathematicians will tell you he would have been 71 years old, if he hadn't been so brutally shot and killed in 1980, when he was 40.
Loads of people around and the world will have remembered him yesterday (oops..) by playing Imagine, but I listened to The Wedding Album instead.
John and Yoko got married in Gibraltar on 20th March, 1969.

Funnily enough his old mucker Paul McCartney went and got married for the third time on the same day as aforementioned birthday, which is a bit in bad taste if you ask me. I wonder if a) he did it on purpose as a way of remembering the man who made him famous in the first place, b) a way of distracting people from the fact that it was Lennon's birthday so as not to get all the limelight, or even c) he'd forgotten it was his bloomin' birthday. Whatever it was here's a couple of pics of the happy couple thanks to the very excellent Beatles photo blog. She's quite nice isn't she?

The Man Who Wore a Dress

2011-10-10T09:51:00.000+02:00

The David Bowie Story pt. 2
Moving swiftly on in our David Jones mini-bigraphy (part 1 here) we find the young David still struggling somewhat in his apparent mission to become an arty-folky-spaced-out-rock-n-roll-star, meeting some interesting people but making a few mistakes along the way.
Since his debut album, Bowie had met and worked with Lindsay Kemp, dancer choreographer and all round arty-bloke who taught him a lot about body movement, theatre and mime (although Kemp didn't like the term much). This more or less resulted in Bowie making the Love You Till Tuesday mini-movie, which included a new song what he had written called Space Oddity. He even did a special scene for the movie to accompany the song, effectively making it one of the world's first purpose made 'promo-videos'. The song also went on to become Bowie's first hit in 1969, despite a veto by the BBC who thought it would bring bad luck to the impending Apollo mission which was to put a man on the moon for the first time. The song was inspired by space travel, Kubrick's 2001: a Space Odyssey released the previous year, and was also an apparent allegory of a drug-induced 'trip'. Far out man, and all that. Whatever it was, it was Bowie's first taste of stardom, even though he remained a 'one-hit wonder' for a few years yet. The album obtained modest success but in its confused use of styles and subject matter, the NME rightly described it as "vastly incongruous".

But on with the 70s, and a new rather nihilistic lifestyle for Bowie who had also met up with the flamboyant American citizen Angela Barnet, with whom he would marry and soon have a child together. They resided in the "art deco/art nouveau"-decorated Haddon Hall in Beckenham, where they would frequently entertain musicians, artists and various nightclubbers ina totally, er, free and open way. Bowie had in fact manged to assemble a group of trusted musicians to form something like a proper band and in 1970 released The Man Who Sold the World, his third album which featured a more 'rock' style although still leaning towards the folk-psychedelia of previous work, Bowie still trying to find his way in the new decade and the changing world. In the UK the album fared even less well than Space Oddity and failed to spawn a hit single, even though the title track would be bizarrely re-purposed for a cover version some years later for British petite-chanteuse Lulu.
Interest for Bowie grew with the album in the US however, and a promotional tour was organised in the early months of 1972, where the artist frequently showed up wearing a ("man") dress as on the UK album sleeve, exploiting his 'androgynous' tag and generating much interest. The trip was also fundamental in Bowie 'discovering' two American artists Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, as well as meeting with Andy Warhol, with whom he shared a revolutionary approach to art.

Bowie returned to the UK to make another album Hunky Dory, released just before Christmas 1971 and perhaps his most commercially viable to date, including songs like Changes, Oh You Pretty Things and the epic Life On Mars?, all of which would later become Bowie 'classics'. Critics were generally enthusiastic although the public still couldn't quite handle the quirkiness and eccentricity associated with the artist which runs throughout the album. Although Hunky Dory now stands as a milestone in his career and the development of 'art-rock' and many other genres, Bowie was still very much finding his way. Referring to Hunky, Bowie declared many years later "I'm getting it, I'm finding my feet. I'm starting to communicate what I want to do. Now: what is it I want to do?".

John Foxx - The Garden / Ultravox - Rage in Eden

2011-10-07T09:06:00.004+02:00

I love 1981 pt.19
Hate to have to lump these two albums together but they are of course related in more ways than one, sharing more than just the vicinity of their "birthdays".
Warning: I'm going to say some unfavourable things about the Foxx album. Don't get me wrong, I'm (officially) one of the world's biggest Foxx-fans, but The Garden just didn't do it for me, and thirty years on still doesn't. "There's a difference between creating your own distinctive sound and doing the same thing over and over again. John Foxx falls the wrong side of that line" : Ian Cranna said that in Smash Hits, not me but I couldn't have agreed more.

"I'd grown tired of being a frozen electrician"

After the ground-breaking revolutionary and utterly stupendous Metamatic, issued at the very dawn of 1980, John Foxx had gone to Italy to "thaw out", rubbed shoulders with the likes of film director Antonioni, tasted a bit of la dolce vita and came back to create what was essentially a re-working of his previous sound with Ultravox. Even the title of the the album's second track 'Systems of Romance' is re-cycled from his third album with the group, and who is to say he hadn't already written the track for the band. Tracks like When I Was a Man and You Were a Woman, You Were There and Walk Away may as well have had former band-mates Chris Cross, Warren Cann, Billy Currie as well as Robin Simon, who was in fact brought in on some tracks, playing their respective instruments on them, so close they are to the 1978 Ultravox sound with Foxx on vocals.
The fountains, squares and colonnades of Italy had rubbed off efficiently only in the opening Europe After the Rain and the post-Metamatic walking tours around England reflect in the closing title track, two songs which are essentially the album's saving grace. True, Foxx had already anticipated his move from the Ballardian underpasses and concrete jungle dystopias of Metamatic with the interim single Miles Away (there's a new man at the edge of me..making new plans for the rest of me), but few followers expected such a sharp turn-around in the underpass as they got with The Garden. OK, Ballard was still there with the images of overgrown cities and buildings and churches the like, but the warmer and more organic sounds seemed less suited to Foxx as he had established himself as a solo artist. "After 1981 everyone and his dog went electro, so I became Max Ernst dressed as Lord Lost, exploring the overgrown and abandoned city of London. To a psychedelic ecclesiastical disco soundtrack." Shame really. Nice booklet though.

John Foxx & friends perform Systems of Romance live in 1983

The new eighties Ultravox on the other hand rarely looked back on their Foxxy past and together with Midge Ure, Messrs Cann, Currie and Cross continued their rise to popularity and household name-ness with Rage in Eden, released two weeks before The Garden. Smash Hits, this time under the pen of Johnny Black, was equally scathing in their review stating that the album "was too bland to satisfy", favouring instead Numan's Dance, but this time they were wrong! Ultravox had good songs, Conny Plank at the helm to make one heck of an album. The Thin Wall had already announced it's tougher, edgier feel vis à vis Vienna, yet it was stomping tracks like The Voice, We Stand Alone and I Remember (Death in the Afternoon) (singled out by Black, to his merit) which push Rage along and we our attention is even maintained during the 7 minute long Stranger Within,and the closing, agonising angst of Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again).

At the time I don't think there was no real sense of competition between the two artists and their respective albums, but in retrospect it was Rage in Eden which had the upper hand. True, Ure-vox were pompous and just a tad pretentious in form and style yet they somehow managed to carry it off, at least for now. For the moment they were the ones who were taking electronic music into some sort of mainstream audience, and arguable "merit" in itself but it got them lots of radio play and onto Top of the Pops a lot and we loved that. RAge in Eden was quality new-music in huge quantities, adequately packaged by Peter Savile, the perfect match to their neo-thirties-cum-futuristic style.
No Ultravox album would be as good as this ever again, proof of that being the amount of tracks from Rage that are played live to this day - Thin Wall, I Remember, We Stand Alone, Rage in Eden and not least The Voice with its spectacular burundi-esque 4-man drum-pad finale.

Ultravox perform The Voice live in 1984

Kate goes Wild

2011-10-05T12:38:00.000+02:00

Kate Bush will publish her new single next week. Wild Man will also be previewed on Radio2's Ken Bruce Show on Monday 10th October. The release comes ahead of the new album 50 Words for Snow out in November, when it might even snow. List of international pre-order sites here, although too bad if you live in Burkina Faso.

As a tie-in to our I Love 1981 series let's remember how gorgeous Kate was thirty years ago in this little number .. in the song Sat In Your Lap, I mean.

Rubber Band Boy

2011-09-28T13:36:00.000+02:00

The David Bowie Story pt. 1
In an attempt to fill in quite a few gaps in my knowledge of the artist that is David Bowie, I've started reading David Buckley's exhaustive biography Strange Fascination.
Reading through the first few chapters I was intrigued by Bowie's eponymous 1967 debut album, often dismissed as risible and naive, and even completely batty.
Not necessarily so, however, I'm pleased to say as, therein lie by a surprising collection tiny colour folk-cum-music-hall-cum-pop songs which recount the rexpectives stories of some strange quintissentially English characters and situations. When discussing 'very early Bowie' many will cite the skeleton-in-thecupboard that is The Laughing Gnome although these songs - recorded earlier still - go beyond that. Hardly the stuff that rock stars and rock albums are made of, there's hardly a lead guitar in sight, yet wind instruments and percussion, for example, are used to full effect. Our young Bowie was already so obviusly striving to be something different from the rest.
Famously David Bowie was released on the same day as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper and although very much in its shadow (what 1967 album isn't?) it goes some way to sharing its Englishness, both often harking back to pre-WWI styles and imagery updated for the new psychedelic age.
The 20 year old David Bowie was still some way from 'glam rock' and even Space Oddity yet we must savour this debut album for its pop-single sized portraits such as Rubber Band (below), Love You Till Tuesday (exhumed in the 80s), and Silly Boy Blue. Unsurprisingly many of them were made into a mini-film in 1969 before the big Oddity breakthrough. We Are Hungry Men, Join the Gang and She's Got Medals touch on heavier themes, later to be explored by a more mature Bowie. Stay tuned.

a much better and more detailed review of David Bowie can be read here at Anorak Thing.

Advanced Maths Pt. 2

2011-09-26T10:37:00.001+02:00

More updates on the John Foxx front. News is now out of a new double CD album by the Man and his Maths, a matter of months after the release of the debut Interplay.
The Shape of Things will be on limited release at the upcoming JF&M live shows and via the official website. It's a double disc set with new tracks on the first disc and a series of remixes of Interplay faves on the second. Although coming out so close to its predecessor, it's said that The Shape of Things will be "rougher and more experimental than Interplay". Crumbs!
As a taster, here's Talk also available to download via Artrockertv / soundcloud here- apparently it features Electro Harmonix DRM16 drum machine, and the Moog and Paia modular synths, so there.

Here it is in youtube form, as uploaded by polterter

Heaven 17 - Penthouse & Pavement

2011-09-23T17:17:00.000+02:00

I Love 1981 - pt 18
So here's another one of those "classic 80s" albums, although if the truth be known Penthouse and Pavement didn't really have such a major success or impact at the time. It's an album of two halves - literally. The 'penthouse' side being the slik 'uptown' funky style which was coming back into fashion, and the darker 'pavement' side which was heavier on the electronics and darker lyrics, obviously harking back to Marsh & Ware's Human League days (you can easily imagine Phil Oakey singing these instead of Gregory).
Fascist Groove Thing is an uneasy opener, lingering somewhere between the two worlds - an early attempt at electronic funk with the lefty politically aware lyrics, driven along nicely by John Wilson's bass, as is much of the 'penthouse' side, boosted by the newly discovered Linn drum and, thankfully, some lighter lyrics. The funk-pop triptych of the title track, the non-charting single Play to Win and closing Soul Warfare lulls us into a false sense of "uptown" optimism before the needle lifts. A possible dance soundtrack to the shiny new 80s Britain.

Over on side two however it's more doom and gloom and grim late-70s: more Callaghan than Thatcher, more cold war than cool. Nothing wrong with that of course, as Heaven 17 - citizens of the People's Republic of South Yorkshire - knew only too well. Let's All Make a Bomb and Height of the Fighting are an ironic take on modern warfare, as advocated by the reigning Thatcher-Reagan alliance, while Song With No Name touches on the alienation of the modern artist in a fast changing world, with echoes of the Human League's darker sci-fi scenarios. We're Going To Live For a Very Long Time is the best take on born-again religion you'll ever find, and the final run out groove repetition on vinyl - unreproduceable in any other format - is a clever means of hammering a message home à la Billy Graham et al.

Problem is of course that Heaven 17's irony was never quite appreciated and au contraire was often taken on face value. From the faux-business brochure cover art to BEF's sales-pitch slogan, they were often misinterpreted as being part of the new yuppy culture - young, urban, professionals on the up, emerging from the grim-up-North pavements to the penthouse world of an emerging nouveau riche Britain. As it turned out Heaven 17 would take some time before they actually found their balance, but they would have their day later and duly became household names.
In hindsight, Penthouse and Pavement does remain a classic 80s album as demonstrated by its albeit premature 30th anniversary celebration in 2010, with live shows and a full blown re-issue, extra tracks, DVD etc. Heaven 17 and BEF now prepare two live shows at London's Roundhouse on 14th &15th October next. They're going to live for a very long time....for a very long time....for a very long time....for a very long time....for a very long time....for a very long time....for a very long time....

edit: a big "Holà!" to going underground and we refer you to that rather spiffing blog for HEAVEN 17: THE STORY OF 'PENTHOUSE & PAVEMENT' videos

The Beatles London - 2

2011-09-23T09:00:00.000+02:00

No Beatles tour of London would be complete without a trip to Abbey Road, to observe the studios and, naturally, the famous zebra crossing as immortalised on the Abbey Road album cover (left). Although I'd previously considered it a rather clichéd thing to do (and therefore avoided it) a trip to Abbey Road and environs is a quite emotional experience.

The road itself is set a fairly quiet residential area of North London, the nearest Tube station being St Johns Wood, if you're coming from central or south of the capital. Head straight out of the station cross the road into Grove End Road and after a few metres you're practically at the zebra crossing itself with AR Studios on the other side.

Luckily it was fairly quiet the morning I was there, and so just manged to get some decent photos including the obligatory one of yours truly crossing over (physically and metaphorically with your back to the studios, as The Beatles wanted it.). Just in time it turned out as shortly after arrived a crowd of Spanish tourists, as well as a young Italian lad who had his picture taken crossing over with no shoes on and cigarette in hand..wonder why? Sadly I forgot to have my pic taken standing on the right hand side pulling my breeches up, per John Lennon in one of my favourite AR cover session pics (see video below)

The studios themselves are perhaps misleadingly welcoming. The gates were open and there was a huge temptation to just walk over and have your photo taken on the steps. There were also people coming and going without any apparent need for passes or whatever. But a mere 'no unauthorised entry' sign on the gate was sufficient in deterring you from going too near. But to think how many have been through those doors to 'do' their albums...from The Beatles to Pink Floyd, from Kate Bush to Kiki Dee, as well as many many great filmscores being recorded there. That's the emotion, they'd all been there.

Just a word of warning. British drivers are generally disciplined and do stop at zebra crossings, but watch out that this particular one is right near to a busy junction and almost on a bend so watch out, and watch out especially those taking pictures who will have to stand in the road itself and not the pedestrian crossing!

Souvenir-wise you can get most stuff from The Beatles Coffee Shop which is practically built into the abovementioned tube station.... Not much room to manoeuvre but there are a few tables outside too if it's weather.

...but also check out St John's Wood Collectables in Violet Hill (a short walk away) for more 'collectable' items, vinyl, books etc. as well as souvenirs. Friendly chap there too.

Advanced Maths Pt. 1

2011-09-22T13:23:00.000+02:00

pic.: it's full of stars

Much fervent activity in the John Foxx & The Maths camp these days as the great man and his band prepare for their live performances, and artrocker.tv run a special John Foxx week. Phew! Rock n roll!
But more of that later as the goodies keep rolling in and Lost in Music tries hard to keep a-breast (oo-er missus!).

Meantime, take a few minutes to enjoy a fab new remix of Shatterproof form the Maths' Interplay album, executed by none other than Steven Mallinder, erstwhile Cabaret Voltaire member, electronic music guru and good bloke. Together with Phil from Wrangler they've come up with this rather wonderful remix for your listening pleasure, and The Maths' Benge has even done his own "low-tech" video to suit!

...and while we're at it let's pay homage to the great Cabaret Voltaire themselves with Just Fascination from 1983's excellent The Crackdown album. To quote one youtube commenter : "These guys should have been bigger, i mean they deserved to be bigger." Couldn't agree more.

further reading: Stephen Mallinder's music+art feature (Jan. 2010)

New Divisions

2011-09-20T17:53:00.004+02:00

pic: soundunwound.com

Well the good news is that Gillian Gilbert (pic. left) is getting back together with her old band New Order to play a couple of live gigs on the continent in October. Hooray!
Bad news, however, is that bass player Peter Hook will not be joining the band. Instead he's announced he'll be playing Joy Division albums Unknown Pleasures and Closer in their entirety live with his own band The Light in November. Pah!

New Order sans Hooky will play Brussels Ancienne Belgique on October 17th and Paris La Bataclan the following night. Both are benefit gigs to help with medical expenses for ailing friend Michael Shamberg.
Peter Hook's The Light will on the other hand play at The Lowry Theatre in rather less glamourous Salford, Manchester on 18th and 19th November next.

Well let's just hope they can all get back together again soon and make a proper New Order album : Barney, Gillian, Hooky and Steve. Meanwhile, let's enjoy the band in that classic line-up for this special perfomance of True Faith (amongst many other songs) at reading Festival in 1998.

Fab 40 - John Lennon's Imagine (1971)

2011-09-19T15:44:00.000+02:00

John Lennon's second solo album Imagine is 40 years old this month. Released on 9th September 1971 in the US and a month later in the UK, Imagine for many represents Lennon's best solo work, or at least second to the initial post-scream therapy album Plastic Ono Band released a year earlier.
Yet despite it being arguably his best, Imagine is by no means an easy album: Lennon covers a range of musical styles and subject matter as you're ruthlessly thrown from one side of his personality to another. The timeless title track opens proceedings but then you're thrown into the faux-country/bluegrass of the light-hearted Crippled Inside, then back again into sloppy ballad Jealous Guy, a song which dated back to Beatles times and would be covered so masterfully a decade later by Roxy Music.
Gimme Some Truth and I Don't Want to Be a Soldier again tackle political and pacifist themes, which would be his main preoccupations in the successive New York City album. There's more soul searching from primal-therapy in How? and It's So Hard and even time for an alleged dig at former bandmate Paul McCartney (later denied) in How Do You Sleep? The only really poor moment is the closing Oh Yoko!, a naive attempt at a sing-along tribute to his famous wife, but which works out an being about 2 minutes too long.
But put it all together and Imagine works - it's John Lennon all over. Fervent political activist one minute, clown the next; from angry young man to dedicated lover and husband, from world weary angst to profound introspection. Imagine, and Lennon, is all of this

The Imagine album also marked Lennon's - and Yoko's - transition from the UK to the USA, a place he would soon consider his artistic home. Initail tracks were recorded in his home in Ascot, and in part at Abbey Road, yet the album was completed in New York's Record Plant, with final production by Phil Spector. By September 1971 Lennon had left the UK with UK, never to return.

Although the title track became an immediate hit in the US, reaching number 3 in the Billboard 100, amazingly it was not released as a single in the UK until 1975 to promote the Shaved Fish "best of" album, released to fill the gap after Lennon's famous retirement from the music scene. Its message of universal love has become the anthem for just about every single world peace cause that has existed since, and despite hundreds of cover versions and live performances, the simplicity and sincerity of Lennon's original has never been equalled.

all the hits

2011-09-17T13:00:00.000+02:00

The new this-week-in-1981 issue of Smash Hits is out now, as ever thanks to the tirless collecting, scanning and posting of Brian McCloskey's Like Punk Never Happened blog/flickr page.

With features on Gary Numan, Simple Minds, Heaven 17, and,er, Meat Loaf it's a bumper issue, not least for the adverts for albums which are almost as exciting as the rest, and in some cases more so.

Here's a few for you to check out:

NB interesting to see an early picture of Boy George on p.13 where he's referred to as 'clothes seller George'! The article in question is a not-so-light-hearted dig and the spate of 'medley' singles which were all the rage at the time.

Carnaby Street Undressed (documentary)

2011-09-16T09:02:00.001+02:00

This looks good. Swinging London and all that.
It's on Yesterday TV in the UK on Sunday but, note to self, it's probably available on the net somewhere too.

OMD: Julia's Song - Live at Eric's - 10th Sept 2011

2011-09-15T15:11:00.001+02:00

Here's a good quality video of OMD (Humphreys and McCluskey at least) at the re-opening of Eric's Club in Liverpool doing the excellent 'Julia's Song'. Always been one of my fave tunes and a great choice by the boys to remember the good old days.

Looks very sweaty in there though..

Simple Minds - Love Song / Heaven 17 - Play to Win / Ultravox - The Thin Wall / John Foxx - Europe After the Rain / OMD - Souvenir

2011-09-14T12:30:00.000+02:00

I Love 1981 - pt 17
A veritable feast of great new "comeback" singles suddenly all came out around this time of the year in 1981, so many in fact that it's hard to keep up with proper reviews, so we've grouped them together with a few lines for each, for now, in the hope of being able to do them justice at a later date.
Glasgow's Simple Minds were still very much on the fringe of things before this year (their big break would come in 1982), although the new single and parent albums Sons & Fascination / Sister Feelings Call (yes, two albums) placed them firmly in the new dance / electronic pop-rock grouping as already so boldly established by Ultravox and others. Although much played by Kid Jensen in his evening programme, as with earlier 1981 release The American, Love Song failed to make the Top 40 although ensured they got their share of the dance floor-space in the trendier clubs. The albums remain often overlooked masterpices so check 'em out if you haven't done so already.

Emerging from their grim-up-north Sheffield studios, Heaven 17 went all out pop/funk to produce the jaunty Play to Win, a taster of their forthcoming album Penthouse & Pavement. It was a departure from the rather more serious agit-pop/funk predecessors Fascist Groove Thing and I'm Your Money although like them failed to make the charts. There was however a brave and rarely seen TOTP appearance as "bubbling under" or something, with Martyn Ware on guitar. We'll come back to Penthouse & Pavement at a later date. You can well imagine Ware/Gregory/Wright gnashing their collective teeth as fellow Sheffielders and former band mates The Human League were already storming the charts with their second hit Love Action, and causing quite a stir.

No strangers to the charts however were Ultravox, with Midge Ure at the helm, and after practically establishing a whole new genre with Vienna proceeded very nicely with their follow-up The Thin Wall, a jagged and jerky pop tune which, although not one of their best over the years, did its job very well it getting them firmly back on the map as pioneering electro-rockers. In hindsight, perhaps not their most accessible single, but the whole track shows off their competence as musicians, modern composers and techno-aces and Ure's vocal leaves any imitators literally breathless. Still not quite sure what The Thin Wall is all about but you just gotta love the line "they shuffle with a bovine grace and glide in syncopation.." Ridiculously pompous, but brilliant.
Again it was a preview of their upcoming new album Rage in Eden which would enter the charts at no. 4 a few weeks later. More of that meisterwerk anon.

And speaking of Ultravox, founder of said band John Foxx, after practically inventing the pure electro-pop artist genre, inspiring newcomers like Depeche Mode, Soft Cell etc to get up and do their thing with a few synths and a drum machine, promptly turned his back on pure electronics at least, got out his acoustic guitar, frilly shirt and baggy trousers and started to go all Italianate-Byron 'retro-romantic' ( I just invented that). Europe After the Rain is bouncy and tuneful enough to fit in with modern trends but was a long way from the dark and dank Underpass and Ballardian soundscapes of 1970's Metamatic which so many had already loved him for. As with Numan's foray into funk, many were alienated from John-Foxx-as-synth-god and duly abandoned him, although it could be debated that Foxx was merely going back to his Ultravox days of Systems of Romance - full circle. Another memorable TOTP appearance here but, alas, another non-starter chartwise, just scraping the no.40 spot.
Ensuing album The Garden was much of the same (if not worse), save for the title track and Systems of Romance, obviously revived from his Ultravox days. But we'll come back to that.

And lastly, and certainly not leastly, a record that suddenly seemed to sweep them all away during those heady end of summer days was the comeback single by OMD, or Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to friends. Emerging from their own Gramophone Suite studios, their slow and sloppy Souvenir was pumped out left right and centre by everyone from Peter Powell to Steve Wright on Radio 1 (although eveidently they were no longer loved by their champion John Peel) and is even reported to have been played on Radio 2..God forbid! That was the music your parents listened to! But no matter, the song had the appeal of both a smooch friendly tunes for couples, and dreamy would-be lovers but somewhow retained OMD's appeal of being just a tad different from your average "new wave" pop group, and not just because of their cumbersome name. Although they had been practically absent since the success of Enola Gay several months hence, Messrs Humphreys & McCluskey (the former providing vocals here) took just a couple of weeks to get to no. 3 in the charts and establish one of the best known pop tunes of the 80s.
Like most OMD videos, the one for Souvenir is deadly embarassing, inspired perhaps by the fashionable Brideshead Revisited, so here's a much better TOTP performance with the unique line up which included Martin Cooper (who wrote the song with Humphreys) on sax and Mike Douglas on, er, glockenspiel, who it seems stayed around just for this single.

Black is back

2011-09-13T14:46:00.001+02:00

80's Liverpool crooner Colin Vearncombe, aka Black is back with a new album wittingly entitled Any Colour You Like.
I bought his debut album (even more wittingly entitled 'Black') on vinyl back in the day and played it quite a lot but I didn't go beyond that. I see there's re-recording of 'Wonderful Life' and 'Sweetest Smile' from said album, so it'll be nice to hear those plus some new material.
Never quite sussed out whether Black was just our Colin or a group, or whatever, but no matter, I'm sure this will be quality stuff from a bloke with a great voice. New album available now from all decent download sites.

Here's one of my faves from back then:

'snow joke

2011-09-13T12:30:00.000+02:00

..this time it's for real.

Kate Bush has a new album ready. It's due out in November.
'50 Words for Snow' features seven brand new songs, all about falling snow. 65 minutes. Wow.

snow-info

Kate Bush has at last revealed why she's been dressed like this all summer.

Belgique: douze points

2011-09-07T14:47:00.002+02:00

Yes it's full marks from the Lost in Music jury to the splendid kingdom of Belgium where the good burgers of Hasselt have organised a rather spiffing 'industrial music' festival called Sinner's Day for 30th October next.
Said fest will feature such greats as Blancmange, John Foxx & the Maths, Karl Bartos, The Psychedelic Furs, The Cult, The Mission and top new romatic band Visage.
Check the Sinner's Day website for all the necessary info on everything from alcohol to, er, toilets...
Furthermore, being towards the Eastern part of Belgium, Hasselt is very close to Germany and Holland and conveniently placed for many Europeans. Uitstekende!

some good burgers of Hasselt (Belgium) yesterday, getting excited about seeing Visage live in October.

The Beatles' London - 1

2011-09-05T14:12:00.006+02:00

During a recent visit to London, I was keen to seek out some Beatles hot-spots - after all they were the ones who kept London swinging and everything in the 60s, right?
Apart from the obligatory Abbey Road zebra cossing / studios etc. I also stopped in front of 3, Savile Row, home of the Beatles' Apple Corps (geddit?) offices from around 1968, and also the Apple Studios in the basement. The famous rooftop concert was also perfomed and filmed there on a bitter cold January day in 1969.

Sadly there is nothing to commemorate this outside the building which could only be noted by the Beatle-related graffitti around the doorway. However, as I was there (Aug 31st) scaffolding was being erected on the front of the building so hopefully some kind of restoration is underway in order to bring it up to the standard of surrounding establishments (a well posh area of Regent Street/Mayfair) and to mark that this was the spot where so many great things happened during Apple's permanence in the building. Don't let me down..

Gary Numan - She's Got Claws

2011-08-31T16:23:00.002+02:00

I love 1981 - pt. 16

Wooaahh! .. this one ripped its way into the charts 30 years ago like there was no tomorrow..and indeed there wasn't really as it more or less disappeared as soon as it came.
Numan's return to vinyl and to the charts was a brave change of style, adopting a more funky attitude to his tardemark "colder" electronic sound of previous oeuvres. A shock for fans? Perhaps, but it the music was accompanied by a change of "look" which most followers seem to take to straight away .. baggy trousers, clean white shirt fixed at the top by yer mum's brooch, topped with yer Dad's trilby and Bob's your Gazza.
But back to the music She's Got Claws featured a much more refined sound aided by Mick Karn's trademark bass which had already been giving that touch of class to Japan's records for a good few years. The sound would also characterise the ensuing Dance album, which took a lot from more refined bands like Japan, and not just by stealing the bass player. He even revisted in his own track Metal, turning it into a sarcastic and somewhat bitter commentary of the "new romantic" scene, renaming the track Moral. Not entirely fair, as such artists were already catching up with him and indeed in many cases overtaking him.

Dance was Numan's first not to be accompanied by a tour, and Gazza probably disillusioned many with his new approach, but it was also arguably his last great creative album. We wouldn't see or hear Numan as interesting as this for a long, long time.

Which one's Pink?

2011-08-26T12:59:00.001+02:00

Get ready for a Pink Floyd revival onslaught from now until at least the end of the year, and beyodn, as loads of re-issues of the band's back catalogue are planned in various formats under the Why Pink Floyd? banner, as well as a new compilation CD A Foot in the Door.

UK music monthly MOJO celebrate the band (again) in their October issue (out now?!?!) with big feature and a double CD with cover versions of tracks off Floyd mega-albums Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here all by contemporary artists most of which we've never heard of, save for The Orb and the mighty John Foxx and The Maths.

Read the story about Foxx and Benge's cover of Have a Cigar in an exclusive interview on the Metamatic website. You can listen to the CD track in this youtube clip, although MOJO have since announced that they got the wrong version out (doh) and you can download the correct one free from their site here.

The Human League - Hard Times/Love Action - Soft Cell Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go?

2011-08-08T10:00:00.002+02:00

I Love 1981 - pt 15
In which Britain experiences it's first major synth-pop summer and the 12" single with extended dance mixes finally takes on as a mainstream musical art form.

The Human League first advertised theirs as featuring "a disco mix and odd mix, two separate very long versions of both songs". Major ground breaking here in more ways than one. Firstly it features the B side Hard Times before the A side Love Action, and secondly the B side is a kind of instrumental variation on the A side picking up only on the female 'hard times' vocal parts from the main song. Easier to listen to than explain.
The opus is a combination of The Human League's new style dance music with meaning and the late Martin Rushent's production skills who helped them achieve their distinctive sound not least by introducing them to the Linn drum machine. Lyrically, Phil Oakey is the tough Northern bloke (albeit with jewellry and make-up) who comes out with his hard times story "I've been a husband and a lover too..I've lain alone and cried at night...I feel the pain..." but ultimately gives in to, er, temptation, the 'love action' transmitted by.... who? The Daily Mirror published a gossip style story about his broken marriage and his affair with one of the girls (or both? ..can't remember) and we were even treated to a photo of his shock-horor-probe pierced nipple! Love Action ( I Believe in Love) is classic League of course and the one that got them to number 3 and well and truly on the road to fame (and we still haven't had Don't You Want Me yet).

Although Soft Cell were very much in the synth-pop catchment area their electronics were a tad more minimal and seedy compared to the League's lush production. No matter though as their cover of two Motown numbers remains a classic in its own right to this day. Again it's a 'segue' type long mix cleverly bringing together the two songs in a new style electro-dance bonanza which meant DJs could rest for a bit while the punters danced on.
Like The Human League's "instrumentals" 12" B side, theirs also fetaures a dubby trippy instrumental mix which became the blueprint for so many dub/dance crossover re-mixes for years to come. Tainted Love became a number 1 single in 17 countries and even broke the US top 10 in 1982. Famously however the duo made relatively little money from sales of the single as both sides were cover versions, leaving many royalties to their original owners.
Not bad going though for the archetypal odd couple (see Sparks) Marc Almond and Dave Ball who had recorded it as a make-or-break single for Phonogram. Northern Soul from Leeds for the new electronic age. Beep beep!

OMD to play Eric's Club re-opening

2011-08-04T12:30:00.001+02:00

That's according to the local press .

Let's hope it's in a better state than this..

Tubular Bells by the Brooklyn Organ Synth Orchestra

2011-08-03T15:08:00.003+02:00

Benge .. if you're reading, I know you're gonna love this.....

Wilde shots

2011-07-30T13:00:00.000+02:00

Following in the footsteps of greats such as David Bowie, John Lennon and, er, Andrea Corr, the ever fancy-able Kim Wilde will also be releasing her very own covers album "Snapshots", featuring fourteen of her fave songs from the past thirty years or so.
I was of course curious to find out the tracklisting, and found that thereby hangs a funny tale!
Kim's official site wanted to reveal the chosen tracks to the eager public three at a time, starting with East 17's "It's Alright" (which I've never heard..is it the same as the Pet Shop Boys' song?), The Cure's Inbetween Days (excellent choice!) and About You Know (ah-ah--oo-oo...). However, those hard working Teutonics at amazon.de made eine kleine cock-up and accidently published the whole tracklist on their site . .oopz, ja! Now it's there for all to see as well as on wikipedia and other sites.

Further choices from Kim include Black's Wonderful Life, the Buzzcock's Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone), Erasure's A Little Respect and Mike Oldfield's To France, so could be a bit of a cracker.. (a bit like Kim really). Final track is David Bowie's Kooks, which I'd never heard before. The Kooks got their name from it, apparently

Any road, here's Kim (phwoooar) in 1980-something with a spot of Water on Glass.

Incantado

2011-07-29T10:19:00.005+02:00

A remastered edition of Mike Oldfield's Incantations album is re-released this week, complete with some unreleased material and brand spanking new stereo remixing, new cover art and stuff. The best format would seem to tbe the 'de-luxe' edition with 2 CDs and a DVD with 5.1 remasters and some video material too. Details here at the official shop

I've always really liked Incantations since it came out in 1978. It's long (originally a double LP), complex, and just a tad pretentious. Perfect.

Although it continues Oldfield's characteristic mainly instrumental style (save for the Hiawatha recital-singing bit and a few choirs here and there), it's a departure from the more hippy-folky Tubular Bells-Hergest Ridge-Ommadawn mould. In fact its the album our Michael made after undergoing his Exegesis coming out of his shell therapy. He even went so far as to cut his hair, shave his beard off and wear a jacket for the photo on the cover of Incantations,which has sadly been replaced by an iceberg thingy (which is actually shaped like the rock on the original). No matter - the music's ace.

It's also the period he went and did a disco single called "Guilty" which is apparently based on Incantations too, but you can jig around to it and shout 'I'm guilty!' for no apparent reason. Bring it on Mike!

Spandau Ballet - Chant No 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)

2011-07-20T12:08:00.001+02:00

I love 1981 - pt. 14

And hail the new club culture of Thatcher's Britain with Spandau Ballet abandoning their Baltic tablecloth look in favour of the smarter, sharper zoot suits of London's trendy nightclubs.
It's the summer of 1981 and storming up the charts this week is ver Spands new single, the clumsily titled Chant No 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On) with a new look and new sound featuring funky guitars, horn (oo-eer) section and expensive doof-doof electronic drums to boot.

Although the preceding Glow had hinted at a slightly new sound, Chant No. 1 was a sharp change of direction for the band who had obviously caught on to the fact that the Blitz style make-up and clothing, and music were out and this was what was going down, Beat Route (geddit?) 'n' all.

As with Depeche Mode's New Life there was also a 12" version with extended mixes of the A side and the B Side Feel the Chant, which, as a variation on Chant No. 1 must make it one of the first "extended remixes" of its kind. Sadly, Feel did not emerge on the recent re-releases in any form. Anyways here's the Chant video but it's Vemo you'll have to go all the way over to YouTube to see it in all its fresh-faced and horny glory.

lyrics in Smash Hits

Happy 18th..

2011-07-18T12:30:00.000+02:00

My lovely daughter will be 18 this week, and although she won't care for this much I just wanted to post a track from New Order's Republic album, also 18 this year, which I was listening to quite a lot at the time as my wife had given it to me for our anniversary a few weeks earlier.

I would've chosen either 'Regret' or 'Young Offender' as favourites but the titles hardly seemed appropriate for the occasion. I would also have liked 'Times Change' too if only because it features the line "life will never be the same" which is kind of appropriate after the birth of your first child... although I think the song is about something rather more foreboding. So here's World (aka The Price of Love) which is fittingly summer-y and you can dance to it at your party... perhaps.

Happy Birthday..

FO-TV: Transmission Two

2011-07-04T12:10:00.000+02:00

..it's 1981 on FO-TV for this special programme with an electrical / electronic theme

Found Objects Television 2 from Found Objects on Vimeo.

Depeche Mode - New Life

2011-06-28T14:48:00.008+02:00

I Love 1981 - pt. 13
It was thirty years ago this month that Depeche Mode's second single New Life was released, beginning it's steady progress into the charts and effectively becoming the Basildon band's breakthrough single. 'New life' and indeed new blood was effectively brought onto the music scene, which notwithstanding the odd post-punk quirk such as Adam Ant, Toyah, Ultravox or The Specials, was still very much dominated by Americano disco - Jacko, Smokey, Odyssey, Champagne et al or Radio-2 friendly MOR homegrown pop-pap such as Shakin' Steves, Bucks Fizz, Elaine Paige, Phil Collins and so on and so forth.
We may think of 1981 as the year of shiny new synth pop but save for The Human League's Sound of the Crowd, already slipping away, and, say, Landscape, the all electronic-pop genre was still pretty much in its infancy and had yet to be embraced by the general public or even the yoof of the day.

That said, Britain was slowly awakening from it's seventies tupor and pop culture was starting to become a little more colourful. "Funny clothes" weren't a problem as we'd already had Spandau Ballet. 'Poofy' haircuts too had already been broken in by Duran Duran, so enter the-even-more-poofily-named Depeche Mode who, like The Human League before them, confounded TOTP cameras with the no guitarist or drummer line-up and did their damn hardest to get the audience to dance along with them, clumsy as they were themselves.

Despite being catchy, danceable and inevitably chantable, the Mode's breakthough single was still very much an uphill struggle, and took a full 8 weeks to reach its peak in August, even then just failing to reach the Top 10. But it was still early days for what was to become one of Britain's biggest music exports. Little did they know that as they famously lugged their hefty keyboards around on London trains to reach the BBC studios (there would be two more TOTP appearances of New Life as well as other pop shows), the Basildon boys (save for Vince Clarke) would one day be playing to crowded stadia worldwide.

True to the band and producer Daniel Miller's innovative form, both New Life and the B side Shout! were among the first ever tracks to be given the extended remix treatment, and issued as a 12" single, a trademark which holds true to this day with their second triple CD remix compilation just out, thirty years on. Operating, generating....

scars are scars

2011-06-27T13:02:00.001+02:00

Here are long-lost and quickly forgotten Scottish no-hopers The Scars on OGWT in 1981 introduced by a rather pasty and somewhat bloated Annie Nightingale, bless.
My thanks to Brian at Like Punk Never Happened for reminding me to forget them again.

The Beatles and “My Bonnie”: 23 June 1961

2011-06-23T19:00:00.000+02:00

The Beatles and “My Bonnie”: 23 June 1961

By Gordon Thompson

Vangelis - Chariots of Fire / Jean Michel Jarre - Magnetic Fields/Les Chants Magnètiques

2011-06-14T20:00:00.001+02:00

I Love 1981 - 12.1 / 12.2
Another double whammy in this week's installment of the popular I Love 1981 series. Not that we like to label artists or anything but here are 'contemporary' musicians and composers Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis who both published instrumental albums around this time 30 years back.
Vangelis is perhaps the better known opus: the soundtrack to 1981 period flick Chariots of Fire, which went on to win four Oscars - including best 'picture' and original music score - as well as the all important BAFTA. The film's main theme has been used in a thousand parodies and slow-mo sports-related scenes throughout the years. The famous athletes-running-along-the beach scene was originally meant to feature another Vangelis track "L'Enfant" although the Greek composer had different ideas and wrote a whole new theme and film soundtrack.
What was so brill about it was that it set modern synthesiser style music to a period film set in post-Great War Britain, a juxtaposition which was fairly unique, effectively inverting Kubrick's similar trick of setting classical music to futuristic scenes in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Full marks and top prizes then to Vangelis (real name Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου), for his immortal theme from an album which remained in the Top 100 for an incredible 103 weeks, fact fans.

On then to Jean Michel Jarre's brand spanking new bilingually titled Magnetic Fields/Les Chants Magnetiques (get the pun?) album. Having made loadsa money with previous albums Oxygène and Equinoxe a few years previous, Jean Michel had invested the cash in loadsa new technology including the new-fangled sampling synthesisers, creating, compared to Vangelis' Chariots, a much more modern and bouncy style for the shiny new eighties. Magnetic Fields Part 1 (all of side one) is a mostly up-beat affair split into three movements with just a slower middle bit to let you take a breather amongst all this new technology, and on side two you're straight into the clattering electro clap-trap of Magnetic Fields Part 2, also released as a single, which brings Frenchy style folk music into the Euro-disco synth-pop age. Gènial! The closing Magnetic Fields Part 5 (The Last Rumba) is just what it says on the packet - a straightfoward rumba rhythm again set to a tradtional-style tune updated to the modern age. Cheesy but it works.
Much is made of the sounds of trains and boats and planes, a nod to musique concrète as well as initial experiments in sampling. As for the pop-beats, I'm pretty sure Vince Clarke and pals must have listened to this while working on Speak & Spell. "It remains a rare case of an electronic composer exercising his sense of humor and humanity," says this review of the album and that's just about right. It even got a good review in pop-mag Smash Hits. World domination starts here.

Imagine Lennon

2011-06-08T12:50:00.000+02:00

The BBC's flagship arts show Imagine returns to BBC One at the end of this month with a couple of interesting episodes for John Lennon fans.
On Tuesday 12th July, Imagine: Lennon In Limbo delves into Lennon's life following his move to New York City, as well as his relationship with Yoko Ono. Featuring never-before-heard studio recordings from the Double Fantasy sessions in 1980 and never-before-seen outtakes from Lennon in concert and his home movies, the film reveals a wealth of new insights.
The following week on the 17th Imagine: Harry Nilsson – The Missing Beatle, focusses on the story of the riotous life and music of Harry Nilsson. Nilsson, a friend and hero of Lennon's, was one of the most successful, influential, but least known, songwriters of his generation (it says 'ere). They had a, er, few beers and laughs together during Lennon's time in LA when he had a bit of a "lost weekend", being separated from Yoko for 18 months in 1973-74.

Lennon & Nilsson in LA : just 'avin a laff.

Imagine starts on BBCOne on 28th June

Martin Rushent RIP

2011-06-06T09:32:00.006+02:00

Seem to be doing a few too many 'RIP's lately but unfortunately there goes another.. Producer Martin Rushent has died aged 63.
Us electro-poppers know him best for his work wuth The Human League on 1981's ground-breaking Dare and a year later with the innovative 'Love & Dancing', effectively one of the first albums based on 12" mixes.
He totally transformed The League of course in 1981 when he picked them out, shook them up ..and turned them into someone new. His first work with the band 'Sound of the Crowd' was in the charts 30 years ago. He was their George Martin, giving the band a distinctive musical style, perfectly reflecting Phil Oakey's visual ideas, transforming them from sci-fi geekdom into stars of TOTP. He eventually fell out with the band during the making of a Dare follow-up although still gave us the very wonderful single (Keep Feeling) Fascination.

Apart from his work with the League he also produced many bands in the late 70s such as The Stranglers, XTC, French band Téléphone and The Buzzocks. Indie band Altered Images, were also given a sound and style makeover by Rushent, similar to the Human League's, with their Pinky Blue album. He also assisted Buzzcocks' vocalist Pete Shelley in making a noteworthy 'electro' album Homo Sapien in 1981.
Continuing to work through the eighties he also returned with The Human League with two tracks on their ill-fated 1989 album Romantic?: Heart Like a Wheel and Get It Right This Time. There had recently been talk of a special re-issue of Dare! featuring, bizarrely, drums and guitars.

Here's a few of his better known recordings for your listening pleasure. Rest in peace Martin, and thank you.

Total joy and order

2011-05-25T10:01:00.007+02:00

As if Substance, the best of, the rest of, International, Singles and God knows what else weren't enough, New Order are publishing another 'greatest hits' package next month.
This time (oh let's make it a bit more original this time) they've also chucked in a few Joy Division tracks too just to get back to their roots...yeah. Total takes us from the very wonderful Transmission to 2005's Krafty in 17 easy moves and then (note subtle marketing ploy) tags a previously unreleased track Hellbent on at the end. Crafty.

All the better known tracks are included of course: Love Will Tear Us Apart, Blue Monday, True Faith, etc. etc., although of course punters will miss out on finer JD/NO moments such as Shadowplay, Your Silent Face and Everything's Gone Green. Tough.

Best thing about it would seem to be the Peter Saville sleeve design which makes good use of the letter 'O' (as in jOy and Order) making ghood use of primary colours which seem to be very fashionable these days. Total is available from June 6th - the kind of thing you might like to get your 17 year old nephew as a present, just to show hime how ace music used to be.

Here's the new track anyway:
New Order - Hellbent (Previously Unreleased) by Rhino UK

New Order: just havin' a laff

Kraftwerk - Pocket Calculator / Computer World

2011-05-24T12:30:00.000+02:00

I Love 1981 - pt. 11

Two birds with one Stein here as Kraftwerk's new single and album were published at more or less the same time in May, 1981. Although neither failed to make a massive impact in terms of (initial) sales, their impact would be much farther reaching both in terms of the minimal electronic sound and their 'computer world'. prophecy. Back then, Pocket Calculator barely scraped into the charts at no. 39 despite it being the group's comeback single, after being so heavily cited by many of pop's new artists - see Duran Duran, Human League, Ultravox, OMD et al - as such a huge influence.
Be that as it may, the pop charts were obviously still not ready for the minimal electronic sound, and the single was taken more as a Sparky's Magic Piano type novelty song rather than a pioneering musical form. Smash Hits scathingly called it a "silly song" stating that Kraftwerk had been "surpassed by technology". Mmmm, obviously missing the point there, Mr Silverton.

The parent album Computer World was similarly dimissed in the same issue as "a bunch of non-songs..as irritatingly gimmicky as "'Tomorrow's World'". Non-songs? Maybe..... Duesseldorf boys Kraftwerk were never ones for the 3-minute verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus to fade numbers, save for, say, The Model, which would in fact become a number one single within a few months. That said, Pocket Calculator did try so hard to be a proper song, without betraying the Kraftwerk ethic.

But tomorrow's world indeed it was: Kraftwerk brought us into a world where computers would control everything from entertainment to money and from business to travel. Data greedily collected by police forces and banks alike. Ring any bells?
Kraftwerk's prophecy would take some time yet to materialise, yet sure enough tracks such as Home Computer weren't far wrong.

Sorry Smash Hits, but sonically it was way ahead of it's time (as Autobahn and Showroom Dummies had been in the 70s). The short 'non-song' Numbers was a key track in shaping dance music in the eighties and beyond. Planet Rock would build on it's rapid tickety-tick rhythym, mix it with Trans Europe Express and, Bob's yer Onkel... hip-hop was born. True, Computer World may have seemed weak at the time, as pure electronic music to be presented in a pop form was still fairly primitive, drum sounds for example were still a problem, but just witness the 'Werk's innovative electronic percusssion to see how far ahead they were. This is 1981, folks, where 'computer science' was something that was studied only by A level maths geeks with big clunky machines spewing huge 'print-outs' of gobbledy-gook computer "language", and electronic music was still by and large that stuff made by the likes of Jean Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream.

When technology finally did catch up, much of the album would a decade or so later be heavily upgraded to fit in with the new electronica dance 'scene'. 1991's The Mix relies heavily on Computer World tracks - It's More Fun.. and Home Computer mixed into a single 'unit', Pocket Calculator united with its Japanese counterpart Dentaku, and Computer Love 'sexed up' into something new. Perhaps not surprisingly Numbers would become a live favourite, again hugely enhanced compared to its original form.

Computer World: prophecy of an imminent future or sci-fi geekiness translated into music? However you took it in 1981, Kraftwerk's compu-conceptual opus remains an icon and at just over half an hour long it's an economical excercise in a minimalist art-form which would shape the future as much as forseeing it. Fact!

Hard Day's Werk . .Kraftwerk knuckle down in 1981.

As with previous albums, Kraftwerk continued to produce lyrics in English and in German (Computerwelt was the Teutonic twin album issue) and Calculator was also done in French and Japanese. Here's a rare treat however: the Italian version which has only ever been done live or on Ital-telly. So here are the 'Werk with 'Mini-Calcolatore' which also nicely showcases their minimalist, robotic live performance style of the time, to a no doubt bemused studio audience. It's more fun to compute!

Essential rarities

2011-05-23T11:51:00.002+02:00

Frenchy synth-maestro and guru Jean Michel Jarre has a new compilation out next week called Essentials and Rarities, ie. a disc of 'essentials' (better known stuff) and - more interestingly - a second disc of rare never-heard-before-pre-Oxygène stuff. Tracklist as follows:

from cool Jarre-blog - here's some stuff and mastering and that ....

cool n'est-ce pas?

Posted via email from Lost in Music

heaven is closer, heaven is closer....

2011-05-23T09:03:00.001+02:00

Posted via email from Lost in Music

Luxury and Distinction

2011-05-11T16:53:00.000+02:00

The British Electric Foundation (B.E.F. to friends) will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 'Music of Quality & Distinction' album with a special weekend of performances at London's Roundhouse in October.

The two day festival will feature a major concert each night. Friday 14th October will include the world premiere of Heaven 17's 1983 album The Luxury Gap performed live for the first time, while Saturday 15th October will be the first ever live show by B.E.F. featuring collaborative tracks from the two Music of Quality and Distinction albums, and featuring guest vocals from Elly Jackson (LaRoux), Green Gartside (Scritti Politti), Shingai Shoniwa (Noisettes), Boy George (Culture Club), Midge Ure (Ultravox), Andy Bell (Erasure), Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), Sandie Shaw, Polly Scattergood and Kim Wilde...
Tickets & info here. Thanks to 80s Empire for the tip-off

The celebration does in fact come slightly ahead of the anniversary of the first volume of Music of Quality and Distinction which was released for the first time in 1982. The fairly unusual format of various poular singers covering classic songs didn't really fare too well at the time although Tina Turner's version of Ball of Confusion did revive her career as an 80's star-lette leading to her enjoy hit singles such as Let's Stay Together, also produced by BEF's Martyn Ware. Yes, that's who we've got to thank for that.

That aside, better MoQ&D tracks including the late Billy Mackenzie singing Bowie's The Secret Life of Arabia, Glenn Gregory doing Wichita Lineman and Sandie Shaw with Anyone Who Had a Heart. The album was also released a a special 5 x 7" collectors box set fact fans (although LiM distinctly remembers seeing the single singles in many a bargain bin..ehem)
MoQ&D came back for a second volume in 1991, again without much success.

As far as we know the BEF will sadly not be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Hot Gossip's Geisha Boys & Temple Girls album. Now, that might have been a laugh.

Nighthawks down

2011-05-09T20:10:00.002+02:00

The ever prolific John Foxx returns with his 'ambient' hat on and a new album's worth of music recorded with old mate Harold Budd and his mate Ruben Garcia.
Nighthawks is out on June 27th next, although to get it on CD you'll have to cop a remastered version of Foxx 'n' Budd's Transluscence/Drift Music, first issued in August 2003, as well.
The 3 CD set can be pre-ordered for now at Townsend, with instant download of the track 'Now That I've Forgotten You'.

Although we are familiar with the Foxx/Budd output, Ruben Garcia will a newcomer to these ears. Our ignorance is hardly to be forgiven however as, according to Close Tolerance Music, he is "self-taught pianist, engineer, and producer, with six CDs to his credit"..and what's more "Garcia creates simple instrumental music that is poised on the razor's edge between ambient and new age styles. His compositions possess a superior sense of spaciousness and dream-like soundscapes of delight."
Sounds like the right man for the job then.

Here's a picture of Harold Budd, cos we couldn't find one of the right Ruben Garcia and you know what John Foxx looks like.

JMJ - Essentials and Rarities

2011-05-09T15:00:00.000+02:00

Nous attendons le tracklist! merci..

New Order - Ceremony

2011-05-06T16:00:00.003+02:00

I Love 1981 - pt. 10
Arising from the ashes of Joy Division after lead singer had Ian Curtis topped himself, New Order released their debut single Ceremony in March 1981. Written when they were still JD with a Curtis half-finished lyric and a full on guitar sound (not a keyboard or drum machine in sight), it remains one of their best and most striking songs and fitting tribute to the late lead singer.
True to form, the title is not featured at all in the lyrics and the Peter Saville's bronze embossed sleeve was a stylish affair further fuelling the Factory-band enigma with more than a touch of class. There were of course no proper band photos or any such conformist nonsense and even the lyrics published in Smash Hits were 'unofficial' as the bandstaed they were open to interpretation. A cracking single which Joy Division fans religiously purchased, and were not disappointed.

That said, New Order were still struggling to find their own musical identity, trying to shake off Curtis' legacy while at the same time keeping their indie-miserablist appeal. Ceremony's gloom-laden B side "In A Lonely Place" was their own homage to Curtis, visiting his grave, lamenting his passing and still wishing "you were here with me now". You can almost feel the driving rain dripping down the collars of their trench coats.

The band would go in to re-record Ceremony later in the year having taken on board drummer Stephen Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert on guitar. The ensuing album Movement was still a pretty miserable affair, although an interest by band members in electronic instruments and new computer technology - albeit still rather cumbersome - meant that they would go on to develop their cross-over sound in future single releases. A couple of years later, Blue Monday was invented, the indie-dance divide finally broken down, no mercy shown...

For sale: second hand studio gear

2011-05-03T20:10:00.000+02:00

...which might not be such a big deal, unless you're talking about stuff coming from John Lennon's very own home studio at his Tittenhurst Park home near Ascot, UK.
Lennon built the studio around 1970 after his departure from The Beatles and went on to record his Plastic Ono Band and Imagine albums there, before sodding off to NYC.
The gear is to be auctioned off by recording equipment specialist seller MJQ Ltd who are also putting an Abbey Road mixing desk up for grabs. Lennon's microphones alone are expected to fetch around 5,000 quid each.
Don't all shout at once.

Bizarrely a coffee percolator owned by Starr who later acquired Lennon's home is also being sold. Sadly the Tittenhurst toilet (aka Lennon Loo) was already sold off last year for £9,500.

the Lennon Loo - 40 years in a builder's shed.

Keeping up with Mr Jones

2011-05-03T11:56:00.006+02:00

Keyboard supremo and High Wycombe boy-done-good Howard Jones has re-released his 12" remix albums, together with a bonus disc of special new remixes to go with it.
The 12" Album / Action Replay 2011 Remasters set contains reworkings of classic Howard tunes such as New Song, Dream Into Action, What Is Love etc. which were first available on the 12" albums back in 1984 and 85. Despite his chunky latter-day synth-pop going out of fashion almost as quickly as his hairstyle and shoulderpads, Howie has been surprisingly prolific over the years, most notably adapting his songs to the 'unplugged' piano only style fashionable in the 90s on Live Acoustic America to great effect. Subsequent albums have fared moderately in the noughties although with electro back on the map it's once more, it's high profile time for Howard.
Check out tumblr blog (inclusing remix comp.), facebook page and soundcloud thing to catch with his latest developments Jones-side.

Meantime, here's Howie in his hey-day with his debut New Song on TOTP, accompanied by,er, mate Jed. LiM recommend debut long-player 'Human's Lib' which contaiing New Song and a couple of other gems. Loads of 'best of' albums also available from good record shops and howardjones.com

The Human League - The Sound of the Crowd

2011-05-02T11:56:00.007+02:00

I Love 1981 pt. 9

Smash Hits called it the sound of revivalist groups in the year 2000 trying to reconstruct the genuine sound of the synthesiser "by banging a hammer on a corrugated roof in time to an assortment of fog-horns, humming kettles and finely tuned cake tins". Not a bad description as it really was like nothing you'd ever heard before.
Phil Oakey's Human League Mark II had already made an attempt to achieve pop success earlier in the year, although thankfully in the meantime he and partner Adrian Wright with local boy and tour musician Ian Burden had met up with producer Martin Rushent and together they came up with what was to be their first real milestone to success, "The Sound of the Crowd".

The ad campaign stated "Hear dance and add your voice" which was the new Human League manifesto in an electro-nutshell. Futuristic sounds which you could actually dance and sing along to this time aided somewhat by the new romantic frilly blouses and men's make-up chic, albeit an ilk to which Sheffield's finest never really belonged.
Backing singers and stylish dancerettes Susanne and Joanne finally did get to add their voice to a Human League recording, and were famously called away from sixth-form classrooms as they had to "do" Top of the Pops at the end of April, 1981.You can imagine TOTP producers' and cameramen's dismay when confronted with a set-up with no guitars, no drummer, but just some reel to reel tape-recorders, two keyboards and some pretty weird looking Northerners to capture on video. It was a draw dropping moment for many and the beginning of Oakey and co.'s much longed for chart success. The 1981 Human adventure was just beginning..... Get in line now!

..with continued thanks to Brian McCloskey for Smash Hits updates..

My sax

2011-04-11T09:50:00.005+02:00

Official sources have given news of a new album by prolific electro-maestro John Foxx and sax-virtuoso Theo Travis. The album - Torn Sunset - will be out 'sometime in June' via Edsel/Demon records who also released Foxx's ambient-style collaboration album with Harold Budd Transluscence/Drift Music some time ago.

We don't know much about Theo here at LiM but it says 'ere that he is "of significance to the worlds of jazz, ambient music and progressive rock in the United Kingdom." Blimey!

Not much is known about the music which the new coupling has produced either, as it's all been a pretty safe-guarded secret up to now. But song titles like Skyscraper Starlight and Lost Marilyn Molecule and All The Tides On All The Streets all sound like good Foxxy-like ambient material à la Tiny Colour Movies, but this time with added .....sax appeal?

Wooly variations

2011-04-06T12:10:00.001+02:00

David Sylvian has announced a new double CD for May called Died in the Wool (sic.), variations on 2009's album Manafon, plus six new pieces, and a stereo mix of his audio installation when we return you won’t recognise us.

I'm not saying anymore otherwise SamadhiSound will probably get me banned again or something.

Here's yer link, do what you will.

(PS just like to add that it sounds good and I actually like the artwork)

..oops I did it again...

2011-04-06T08:59:00.004+02:00

Not content with having shook the world of John Foxx and the Maths with my attempt at making a music video for their ace album track Destination, I'm having another shot at distorting the world's imagination with a few visuals for top Interplay track Summerland.
This week we are taken into the wonderful world of integrated circuits and new-fangled "micro-chips". We'll see how they're made, what they do, and how they can help us with our....maths.
Wake me up when we arrive..

20th Century TOTP

2011-04-05T12:16:00.000+02:00

UK telly viewers may like to know that BBC4 are set to re-broadcast all the Top of the Pops shows in their entirety from April 1976 onwards evry Thursday night starting this week!
Why start at AD 1976? I hear you ask, well that apparently was the month when the Beeb actually decided to keep all the shows (presumably on tape) for archive purposes, supposedly for these 'time capsule' type occasions. Hurrah! Should make interesting viewing if only for spotting the daft dancing and "fashions" of the time as bad news is that the music itself won't be very good for quite a bit. Just as an indication, number one in the UK in April 1976 was Brotherhood of Man's Euro-winner "Save Your Kisses For Me" (no, you don't need to sing it thank you).

If anything the new screenings may spawn a new and better quality crop of youtube uploads from the show, as there are plenty of geeks out there willing to record and upload their fave TOTP moments througout the years (cough).
Speaking of which, we came across this rather good youtube channel which is doing just that. The aptly named memorylane1980s channel features loads of good stuff from said decade for your coffee-break sized viewing pleasure. Here's Sheffield band and 80's TOTP regulars The Human League doing one of their best in their 'democratic' line-up, with Phil Oakey dressed in what can only be described as a 'girl's blouse'.
Howzabout that then guys n gals?

Ultravox - Slow Motion

2011-04-04T11:59:00.008+02:00

I Love 1981 - pt. 8
Bit of a cheat this one as it's not from 1981 at all, but rather a re-issue on the crest of the chart success of the new Ultravox with Vienna and all that. The original 1978 issue had bombed completely, as had the accompanying album Systems of Romance, Foxx-Vox's third LP issue. The Island re-release of the then John Foxx-led band is not completely unjustified however, as back in 1978 the track was so ahead of it's time that it fitted more than snugly into the brand new 80's context amidst the new sounds which had since been emerging.

Although even this time around the single only just scraped into the Top 40, the influence of this music three years hence had already been felt by many, including a young Gary Numan who has oft said that Ultravox and their music were the inspiration for him to get up and do his Tubeway Army synth-rock thang.

The unique style of Slow Motion (and similar tracks such as Dislocation and The Quiet Men also featured on this EP) with it's heavy synth bass, rock steady drums, and screeching keyboards were to all intents and purposes the blueprint for the new shiny new 80's Ultravox and were duly brought forward and developed by Messrs. Currie, Cross and Cann, with Midge Ure easily imitating the innovative scratchy guitar sound pioneered by Robin Simon (with Conny Plank producing then and now). Had John Foxx (pic. right) continued with the band, an ensuing product wouldn't have been to far removed from tracks like All Stood Still and New Europeans. But then again we would never have had Metamatic....

FAC Finder

2011-03-28T13:20:00.000+02:00

Factory records collector Colin Gibbins (pic. left) his to hold an exhibition of his FAC collection in a Manchester pub. Colin, 44, has been collecting the legendary FActory Records artefacts for the past 30 years and now that his collection is complete he will be showing it all off at the Ducie Bridge pub on Corporation Street, Manchester, on May 7th and 8th 2011. "I expect Factory fans from all over the world may take the pilgrimage to see this one off exhibition. It is going to be a really special event," says our Colin.

For those who don't know Manchester's independent Factory label, founded in 1978 by by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, was home to the likes of local bands Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, and later Happy Mondays. The label distinguished itself from the other independents not only with its unique FAC + number catalogue system but also with a special eye for design usually through friend and loclal lad Peter Saville.
The serial numbers also referred not only to records recorded by their bands but also artefacts such as posters, badges, T Shirts and famously the Factory nughtclub The Haçienda (FAC 51) which opened in MAy 1982. Famous FAC records include OMITD's Electricity (FAC 6), Joy Division's debut album Unknown Pleasures (FAC 10) and New Order's 12" only single Blue Monday (FAC 73).

Colin's exhibition (still to be FAC-ed?) will raise money for the Christie Hospital and is backed by Joy Division bassist Peter Hook and relatives of the band’s late singer Ian Curtis. Good on yer Colin.

Colin pic & source Oldham Advertiser
www.factoryrecords.net

Deconstruction Time Again

2011-03-28T10:00:00.000+02:00

Depeche Mode's official site has announced the release of a new re-mix compilaion for 6th June this year. Remixes 2: 81-11 is "An inspiring collection of new and classic mixes of material covering their entire career.." it says 'ere, and quite rightly every period from their 30-years seems to be covered. While the majoirty of remixes are from the year 2000s, a handful are are plucked from the 80s and 90s. Interestingly the massive 37 track collection also features remixes by former band members Vince Clarke and Alan Wilde, who have taken on Behind the Wheel and In Chains respectively. Will also be interesting to hear Röyksopp's remix of Speak and Spell's Puppets.
There will be a single disc edition or the full 3 disc bonanza, as well as , presumably digital downloads.
Pioneers of the genre - the Schizo Mix of Just Can't Get Enough was surely one of the first 12" remixes proper - Depeche Mode have always pushed forward the frontiers of the remix from the deconstructive techniques of the 80s to the kind of 're-makes' that compeletly revolutionised the original tracks in the 90s - witness Brian Eno's reworkings of 93's I Feel You as a fine example. They are also estimated to be about 156 billion fan remixes around, a few of which are actually quite good.
Here's one of the better more recent ones, even though you'll have to wait about a minute before it gets going.

Toyah - Four From Toyah

2011-03-24T12:50:00.000+01:00

I Love 1981 pt. 7
Lest we forget....although I believe early 80s starlet Toyah (real name Toyah) has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years as fund-raiser, Tellytubbie voice and even as a musical performer.
Emerging from the Brummie drama-school-meets-punk-rock scene Ms. Wilcox was a kind of half-way between Siouxsie and Kate Bush with her aggressive, warbling voice and theatrical "dance" moves and OTT make up and stage costumes. Toyah was actually the name of the whole band in the early days although the monicker gradually became associated with herself only. Well, it was her name in the first place I suppose.

Although 1980's Sheep Farming in Barnet and The Blue Meaning (ehem..) were often mentioned in trendy musical despatches, it wasn't until the Four From Toyah EP, with lead track It's a Mystery, that the flame haired chanteuse and her mates got a taste of chart success getting as high as no. 4, suitably trumped out of the top 3 by "competition" blonde Kim Wilde. Published an EP, I have no recollection whatsoever of the other 'three' tracks, but fear not, I am informed that they can be found on the CD edition of the ensuing Anthem album.

Toyah maintained a decent chart run in 81 and 82, thanks above all to her Numan-esque type loyal fanbase, although quite what appealed to them to me remains a myth-te-wyy (sorry, had to get that in). Take it away Toyah band...

Toyah now lives with her husband Mr Robert Fripp in Evesham, Worcs. and apparently occasionally records and performs with a band called The Humans.

Toyah official site here

Questions Time

2011-03-23T18:06:00.000+01:00

Phew! Let's take a break form all this electro-jiggery pokery (Credo and Interplay on heavy rotation, as they say) and take you back in time for a nice bit of...80s soul?
Heard Isley Bros.' classic Harvest For the World on't wireless this morning and thought 'what a cracking song that is'. Looked it up on't Tube and then came across this pretty amazing version by a hitherto by-us-underheard of beat combo The Questions grooving along on some 80's telly programme with none other than Paul Weller's Ver Style Council (bongos n joanna) left of stage. Amazing!
Even more amazing is that they all look about 14, and isn't that future Style Council choriste Tracie booging along up front too?

Turns out that The Questions were in fact a product of the late 70s/early 80s Scottish scene togther with the likes of Aztec Camera, Orange Juice et al, although opted for Zoom Records (rather than the more trendy Postcard) to give them a contract as far back as 1978. The young Edinburghians won the accolade of Best Young Band from Southern Television and released two singles on Zoom .. and all this before leaving school! Paul Weller picked them to support The Jam in 1980 and also signed them to his label Respond Records a year later, where they then met Tracie Young (backing vocals on Beat Surrender and Speak Like a Child).
Tracie's first hit The House That Jack Built was actually written by Questions members Paul Barry and John Robinson, fact fans, who also wrote three more songettes for her debut album.

Amazingly The Questions didn't get round to releasing their own album until 1984. Sadly, Belief got nowhere and they packed it all in at the 100 Club later that year.
Hard to say whether they deserved better but I'm indebted to Kenneth in the 212 for his blog post on the band's history and the two tracks made available for download. Not really my cup of tea but on this sunny Wednesday, Tuesday Sunshine sounds quite lovely in a 1983 kind of way. they did try very hard, bless 'em.

..here's one I made earlier..

2011-03-22T15:07:00.007+01:00

Just a little vid I put together to go with one of Foxx n Maths new album tracks. All done quite by coincidence of course, but the two things (Soviet TV ads and Destination) just sort of forged together like a dream.
Apologies to Messrs. Foxx and Benge, the latter quite rightly commenting WTF when he came across it on my dailymotion video channel. (snigger) I'll probably get banned from something for doing this so watch it while you can ...if you will.
My destination (and fate)...is unknown.

It's all done with mirrors, man.

2011-03-15T18:06:00.000+01:00

Kate's cut

2011-03-14T18:03:00.002+01:00

A rather cunning headline from The Quietus spotted on twitter had us trembling in our seats for about ten seconds last week. The "new" Kate Bush album will in fact be a re-working of two previous albums The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, which are incidentally two of four Bush albums which begin with 'The'.
The album entitled "Director's Cut" will be out in May while a re-worked "Deeper Understanding" from Red Shoes has been chosen as lead track, or single as it is sometimes known, in April.

A bit of a disappointment as Kate has oft said that she never wanted to go back on her past material, and lack of de-luxe re-issues or remasters with demos, live tracks etc. would testify that philosophy, save perhaps from the re-recording of Wuthering Heights for The Whole Story in 1986 (yes that's 25 years ago folks) and the box set anthology This Woman's Work in 1990, and quite frankly we were expecting brand new material this year...
But never mind, Director's Cut (crap title and crap cover btw) will give us a chance to get a, er, deeper understanding of two of her lesser known albums.

The question does arise though: is the enigmatic Kate working 'backwards' to cover all her back catalogue? Answers on a postcard...

Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime

2011-03-11T17:15:00.000+01:00

I Love 1981 - pt. 6
The UK Top 20 may have seemed an unlikely place to find a relatively little known "alternative" post-punk art-rock band from New York. Yet that's exactly where Talking Heads found themselves in 1981 with their single "Once In a Lifetime", and so, to paraphrase the song itself, you may ask yourself: how did they get there?
Originally released on the Remain in Light album in 1980, the track was written by the band and Brian Eno who also produced. He was also responsible for introducing Talking Heads to the jerky start/stop rhthms championed by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti, which form the song's structure.

The existentialist lyrics, referring to some kind of mid-life crisis of a middle-American male - "beautiful house / beautiful wife / behind the wheel of a large automobile" etc., - somehow appealed to the upcoming British nouveaux riches, who clearly pined for such a lifestyle, as well as Radio 1 DJS who played the record across the board and allowed it to get to no. 14 in mid-March. The track is also fitted in nicely with the new art/dance ethic rife in London clubs and now moving up into the provinces, playing nicely between the fashionable dance songs of the moment.

Arty is very much the keyword for the accompanying video - one of the first of its kind - with leadman David Byrne doing some pretty funny 'dancing' super-imposed onto backdrops of 'ethnic' dancers and some early video "special" effects, while bringing the "water theme" of the chorus nicely into play.

Much as the arty nouveau-funk stance quickly became fashionable, Talking Heads failed to repeat the commerical success of Lifetime save for the singles "Road in Nowhere" and "And She Was" in 1985. They soon returned to 'cult' status although their ensuing albums did relatively well in Britain as in their native U.S. where they also did good with the mighty Burning Down the House in 1983, utterly and criminally ignored in the UK.

Here's the official vid but be sure to have a look at the live version from the Stop Making Sense film here

Sylvian music is pants

2011-03-09T12:30:00.001+01:00

At the risk of receiving another "notification" by those nice people at SamadhiSound, this here blog is daring to feature some David Sylvian music which has been used in the latest video advert for Armani pants, sorry underwear, and jeans.

With Sylvian's 'Trauma Therapy' music in the background, hunky tennis star Rafael Nadal moodily flops around in black and white showing off his posh Armani pants and jeans in the process.

Tasteful.

Ace of Trons*

2011-03-08T20:10:00.000+01:00

Ladytron are one of those moody electronic bands you sort of think you should like, but then never get round to liking them that much, if thatnmakes any sense.
Anyway the band have a greatest hits compilation coming out soon. Aptly titled "Best of 00-10" it features (apparently) all thier best stuff from the past ten or so years plus new track Ace of Hz (geddit?). i-tunes is pushing a double deluxe-album thing and photo booklet to boot.

Here are Ladytron looking appropriately miserable, performing said new track, featuring vintage synthesisers in a post-war landscape. I'm sure it all makes sense to someone.

*post title may take some working out...

Bad Faith

2011-03-08T17:24:00.006+01:00

Much as Lost In Music appreciates George Michael's contribution to popular music, we sort of got the shivers hearing that our George has for some reason gone and done a cover version of New Order's untouchable opus True Faith. According to a gruniad.blog thing it's pretty damn awful too, which can only confirm what we thought it would be like...but worse.

Whatever next? Although we've already had Paul Young covering Love Will Tear Us Apart (not without its merits), will we soon be hearing Simon LeBon tackle Bizarre Love Triangle, or Limahl doing his rendition of Blue Monday? Heaven forbid.

So we're not even going to post Mr. Michael's auto-tuned effort here, but instead we'll take the opportunity to enjoy the New Order original, featuring the face-slapping high-jumping surrealist clown things... they make you feel so extraordinary...

Seagulls ahoy

2011-03-08T12:16:00.000+01:00

For those who just couldn't wait any longer for the re-release of A Flock of Seagull's eponymous 1982 debut album on super-sized CD, then .. the waiting is finally over.
Cherry Pop records have announced that said opus will be re-released on 21st of this month. This will in fact the third (yes, third) Seagulls re-release all of which "have sold well to the sizeable following the band still enjoys." Mmmmm.
It hasn't even got Wishing (if I had a Photograph of You) on it!!!

If that wasn't enough, their fourth studio album Dream Come True is also re-released on the same day, for those of you who missed that all important 1986 LP first time around... Can you bear the wait?

full details here

Although much mocked in their homeland, the Liverpool four-piece fared better overseas, notably in Australia and the U.S. where they even won a Grammy Award in 1983 for Best Rock Instrumental with, er, DNA off the abovementioned debut album.

A Flock of Seagulls: often derided, never imitated

Dreaming of Me Two

2011-03-03T20:10:00.000+01:00

Just as a quick follow up to earlier post on Depeche Mode's seven-inch debut, here's a clip from all-important music mag Smash Hits of 30-years-ago-this-week, as ever thanks to Brian McCloskey's Smash Hits archive.

In what must have been one of the dizzy Dep's first press appearances, tucked away in the 'Independent bitz' section, here we see three quarters of the Basildon boys fresh from the hairdressers giving it their all on stage. Awww..bless! And quite a promising young band they are too, according to Red Starr. Pasadena Rose Bowl..here we come!

(click for the bigger picture)

Depeche Mode - Dreaming of Me

2011-03-03T12:16:00.003+01:00

I Love 1981 - pt 5
Phew! Things are already getting pretty hot here at the I Love 1981 camp as yet another classic single celebrates it's 30 year anniversary. It's even got it's own website and 'fan-action' campaign to get it into the charts..unlike the first time around.

Basildon group Depeche Mode (né Composition of Sound) were initially featured on the Some Bizzarre label's showcase LP, albeit with a song called Photographic, but then duly signed to Daniel Miller's electro-based Mute label, fitting along nicely with Silicon Teens and Fad Gadget, with whom they recorded Dreaming of Me b/w Ice Machine. The 7" was released in Feb 1981, but didn't actually scrape into the top 100 at 75 until April.

(I know it's easy to say 'Oh I was listening to Depeche Mode before you were having hot dinners'..or something like that..but it's true! Although Depeche Mode's vinyl debut failed to set the charts alight, it was being played by DJ's like Kid Jensen and Richard Skinner and there was a bit of a buzz going around for this all synth outfit from some place called Basildon...and some of us were taking notice and taping their songs off the radio...end rant)

As for Dreaming.. itself, it's a catchy enough synth-choon but with totally meaningless lyrics in true Depeche-Clarke style: "so we left - understanding - clean-cut so we're sounding fast" (erm...)
Sure, the band were still a million miles away from playing to stadium audiences and worldwide fame and recognition, but you gotta start somewhere ... filming and dreamiiiing ...

Spandau Lorry

2011-02-24T13:16:00.002+01:00

Mamma mia.... Not quite sure how this very odd collaboration came about, but here's Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley crooning along on the latest single by Italian pseudo-hippy singer Caparezza "Goodbye Malinconia".
Stick with it to see our Tony doing a nifty bit of truck-driving t'ords the end. (thanks to A Welshie in Italy for the tip-off)

Next up, Simon Le Bon joins Carla Bruni on their version of "Au Revoir Les Wild Boys".

Don't You Want Glee?

2011-02-24T10:12:00.004+01:00

Almost 30 years after its original release The Human League's classic 80's track 'Don't You Want Me' has been given a new lease of life thanks to popular TV show Glee. The song was featured in "Blame it on the Alcohol", the latest episode of the show, famous for cover versions of classic songs from the past, broadcast this week in the US. As a result the original version, which was the Christmas number in 1 in 1981, has now shot to no. 5 in the US i-tunes chart.

watch the Glee sketch here

The revival coincides nicely with the release of the band's latest album Credo set to go out on 21st March, with a new single Never Let Me Go also to be released in March, although neither in the US. A spokesperson for the group has stated however that the album "will not be available domestically in the US or on I-Tunes in the US until such time as we have secured a domestic label for the record in that territory."
Don't they want it?

Modern dance

2011-02-21T20:10:00.003+01:00

OMD recently announced this as the winner of their video competition for their new single History of Modern (Part 1). It's a lovely piece of start/stop animation with quite a few OMD references dropped in here and there (how many can you spot readers?.

I also quite like this effort which came in as a sort of 'runner-up'. Sort of reminds me of some of the amateur dramatic "performances" I've been involved in of late and good to see some whacky youngsters doing their take on OMD's music, in their totally modern IKEA style living room.
Dance along if you will.

History of Modern (Pt. 1 ) will be released on 28th February 2011 and is (amazingly) OMD's 33rd single. Details here.