Pet Shop Boys re-issue three more of their albums today following in the remaster plus 'Further Listening' bonus material Catalogue series. The three albums Nightlife (1999), Release (2002) come in bumper 3 disc editions while Fundamental (2006) is a two-disc item.
As I never really took to either Release or Fundamental, Nightlife is perhaps the last PSB album I ever fully appreciated. Listening to it on Spottyfly (where not all of the bonus tracks are available - never quite understood why that sometimes happens) this morning it still sounded sounded good even though I was already used to a pristine sounding 1999 CD. But I'm sure they've added bits and stuff on some tracks. Little synth parts on the opening For Your Own Good and Closer to Heaven were unexpected. Singles I Don't Know What You Want... and You Only Tell Me You Love Me.. aside, Radiophonic and Footsteps remain favourites.
The wee Radiophonic video I made for youtube was taken down last year for 'copyright' reasons, so here's one with Spanish subtitles which is obviously perfectly acceptable and does not infringe any copyright at all.
Not really new music as this album originally dates back to 1986, but it's one I've been pretty attached to over the years even though it never really seems to figure in my true favourites of the eighties and otherwise. Some may remember the truly original single 'Driving Away From Home', which made It's Immaterial into a kind of one hit wonder, even though I am still baffled as to why the truly brilliant Ed's Funky Diner wasn't a hit too - that is one of my most favourite (eighties) 12" records ever.
Anyway their cheerfully titled album Life’s Hard and Then You Die has now undergone a long overdue makeover and has been fleshed out with all manner of goodies to form a deluxe edition. This definitely needs investigating as a timeless work of pop by the Liverpool duo which never really adhered to any particular genre so remains undated and may even sound like it has just been recorded. For the uninitiated think China Crisis with a bit more edge.
The new Deluxe is available from usual outlets and also thankfully on Spotify, which is how we are enjoying it for now, even though sadly the John Peel Session versions are not available in said streamage. We'll just have to wait for the real thing to plonk on our desks. Life's hard....
01.04 Pet Shop Boys - Super
- new album out lready and certainly their best for a long time. Now on heavy rotation at LiM - plenty of electro-dance stuff with a few slower numbers chucked in. Fave tracks atm: Groovy, The Pop Kids, The Dictator Decides
08.04 All Saints - Red Flag
Bit of a throwback to the nineties rather than the usual eighties, although these lovely ladies have always produced quality pop music so their new comeback album has been worth a listen. Fave tracks atm: One Strike, Red Flag.
08.04 The Very Best of Associates
- while waiting for re-issued remasters of their first three albums (including Sulk on vinyl) here's something to tide you over. 2 CD collection including a lot of previously unreleased material.
15.04 Phil Collins - No Jacket Required
Phil Collins continues his re-mastered deluxe re-issue schedule (inclusing updated cover artwork) with his third album origianlly released in 1984. Includes hits such as Sussudio and One More Night, with the by now customary live performances and demos on the extra disc.
15.04.2014 Duran Duran - Girls On Film 1979 demo
Out in both CD or clear 7" vinyl format, this is the official release of tracks which have going round on bootleg for some time now. The recordings pre-date Simon Le Bon as vocalist and, obviously, their first hit singles and album in 1981, so definitely for curiosity's sake only.
The remastered 30th anniversary edition of Zoolook by Jean Michel Jarre has unexpectedly turned up as a download only on amazon.co.uk and other download sites (available from 18th November on some in Europe). Although its part of the Sony JMJ re-issues which started earlier this year with Oxygène, Equinoxe, Les Chants Magnètiques and three live albums, this is the first to appear billed as an actual remaster.
The digital download release does in fact coincide with the original album release of November 1984. As usual I'm in two minds as to whether I should download the mp3 files straight away or wait for the actual hard copy to come through my letterbox. My original vinyl copy never did get all the play the earlier albums did although perhaps things will change this time around with the new issue which by all accounts has vastly improved sound with regard to the original or even successive digital editions.
Having said that I have always found the (over) use of the new fangled sampling technology rather tiresome, and despite all his efforts to always come up with something original, Jarre's electronic doodlings were beginning to tire a little. A more recent reworking of Zoolookologie however shows that its a work that stands up to the test of time surprisingly well, nothwithstanding this cringey video - a colourful slice of mid-80s euro-kitsch:
Official news on the further new releases is scarce - at least on the interweb - and this Spanish-language site is the only one I could find which confirms the re-issue of the next five albums in CD format as of 2nd January 2015. Olé!
There seems to have been another Mike Oldfield renaissance of late, mostly due to his starring role in the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony at the end of last month, in which our Michael churned out a new Olympics-opening-ceremony version of Tubular Bells, even making the thing 'swing' ...
Aside from that however Oldfield continues the remaster-masterplan, begun with the TB remaster/re-issue in 2009, continuing with Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn (2010) and Incantations (2011), with deluxe editions of Platinum, originally released in 1979, and QE2 from 1980. Both releases see a shift forward in Oldfield's work, moving away from the folk/prog musical style of yore over to more lightweight, and dare we say it, 'radio-friendly' shorter pieces which would also also put the artist in good stead with Virgin Records in the lucrative singles market.
Platinum is a breath of fresh air and a joy to listen to even today. Side one, divided into four parts, will never leave the listener bored and was obviously intended to appeal to a wider audience. You can even dance to it. For the first time, Oldfield abandons the "album name part one, part two, etc". formula, giving each of the four tracks a name and a life of its own, culminating in a re-working of Philip Glass' North Star. Side two is split into four separate "songs" (a breakthrough for Oldfield) including (shock!) properly sung lyrics on the dreamy 'Into Wonderland' and a splendid cover version of Gershwins' 'I Got Rhythm' both gorgeously sung by Wendy Roberts. (The original track 'Sally' was swiftly removed from the album after initail copies were released apparently at the behest of Richard Branson's who thought it was rubbish). The raucous track 'Punkadiddle' can only be described as punk-meets-folk dancing with a restrained "Oi!" occasionally punctuating the jolly tune,which recalls Oldfield's roots. The remaster also offers up a live studio version of Platinum(the track), a new mix of North Star and Blue Peter, which Oldfield recorded for the kids show of the same name around the same time as the Platinum album. A second disc on the deluxe version features nine tracks recorded live in Wembley Arena in 1980, which make for an interesting documentation of Oldfield's new found live prowess, his shy Tubular Bells live debut now very much behind him.
But speaking of 'live' one wonders why Oldfield has 'skipped' re-issuing 1979's live album Exposed, (originally issued before Platinum). No re-master for that one, more's the pity.
QE2 takes the 'easy-listening' and indeed radio-friendly Oldfield a few steps further with a series of shorter stand-alone tracks, although without any 'proper' singing this time. The album even featured two cover versions: Abba's Arrival and The Shadows' Wonderful Land, both issued as singles with modest chart results. There's a lighter, more sparse production even compared to Platinum, which however is not always so well suited to Oldfield's ply-instrumental style, although an extensive use of electronics (synths, drum machines, vocoders etc.) is very much starte-of-the-art and is usually put to good effect. OK, Gary Numan it ain't but it's clear that Oldfield wasn't just investing his money in guitar strings at this point.
The deluxe re-issue is again complemented with a couple of rare tracks, available in digital formats for the first time, as well as a new version of Sheba called Shiva. Again, a live bonus disc is included in the deluxe, this one recorded in Essen, April 1981.
Both lbums available from Universal Music or usual outlets.
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!
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?
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, DNAoff the abovementioned debut album.
A Flock of Seagulls: often derided, never imitated
David Bowie's classic 1976 album Station to Station is to be re-released on 20th September. There's the by now practically obbligatory ueber-expensive deluxe edition containing 5 CDs, audio DVD, vinyl, books, press kits etc. etc, all for just 80-odd quid or so. Details here:
Fortunately for mere mortals there's a cheaper CD edition (pic left) with the original album remastered plus 2 bonus CDs with previously (officially) unreleased Live Nassau Coliseum '76 concert, plus a couple of postcards and booklet. Details and order here
Fans need no introduction to the music of course, but for the uninitiated this is really is a marvellous Bowie recording after the glam-era Ziggy Stardust stuff and prior to the more miserable 'Berlin' albums, Low etc.. The original album contained just six tracks of which Golden Years is the best known ,although the gorgeously sloppy Wild is the Wind is perhaps one of Bowie's best and most moving vocal performances. It was also released as a single in 1981 on the back of the Scary Monsters/Ashes to Ashes renaissance success and Changestwo compilation LP. News to me was that the track was also recorded by Nina Simone, whose version actually inspired Dave to record it himself. The song originally comes from a 1957 Italo-American film of the same name starring the marvellous Anna Magnani. Anyway I'd love to hear the Nina Simone version, or even the original Johnny Mathis one, if anyone can help.
The John Lennon 70th birthday tribute will get started after the summer with the issue eight of Lennon’s classic solo albums and other recordings digitally remastered from his original mixes for a global catalogue initiative commemorating the music legend’s birthday, on October 9th 2010. Overseen by Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth” campaign will launch on 4 October with the worldwide release of eight remastered studio albums and several newly-compiled titles. The albums have been digitally remastered from Lennon’s original mixes by Yoko Ono and a team of engineers led by Allan Rouse at EMI Music’s Abbey Road Studios in London and by George Marino at Avatar Studios in New York. All of the remastered titles will be packaged in digisleeves with replicated original album art and booklets with photos and new liner notes by noted British music journalist Paul Du Noyer. The albums to be reissued are:
· John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970) · Imagine (1971) · Some Time In New York City (1972) · Mind Games (1973) · Walls and Bridges (1974) · Rock ‘n’ Roll (1975) · Double Fantasy Stripped Down (2010) / Double Fantasy (1980) · Milk and Honey (1984)
The 'Stripped Down' version of Double Fantasy is a newly produced and remixed version of Lennon's 1980 album. Says Yoko: “Double Fantasy Stripped Down really allows us to focus our attention on John’s amazing vocals. By stripping down some of the instrumentation the power of the songs shines through with an enhanced clarity. It was whilst working on the new version of this album that I was hit hardest emotionally, as this was the last album John released before his passing." Aww bless.
..and there's more... Power To The People: The Hits gathers 15 of Lennon’s most popular songs, and will be available as a 15-track single-disc and digital package, and as an Experience Edition with additional content.
This one nearly passed me by. Mike Oldfield has re-released two of his 70's albums Ommadawn and Hergest Ridge in deluxe version each comprised of two CDs and DVD. The CDs have the original album remastered plus bonus tracks and previously unreleased demo versions of the respective oeuvres. The DVDs have the 5.1 mixes.
Originally released in 1974 Hergest Ridge was the follow up to Tubular Bells and basically established Oldfield's style as instrumental hippy prog-rock featuring all manner of instruments, mostly played by the introspective Mike himself. Hergest Ridge is a real place in my native Herefordshire by the way although sadly I've never been there. Amazingly the album went straight to number one on release although was knocked off the top spot by Tubular Bells. According to wikipedia "The original 1974 vinyl mix is now available on the 2010 reissue of the album, along with a 2010 remix which sounds close to this 1974 mix, therefore making the radically different 1976 something of an oddity should the single disc CD be deleted." Got that?
Ommadawn was the follow up album in 1975 and although the style remains basically the same I find this one a bit more listenable with respect to its predecessor, oh and I love the uillean pipes bit on side 2. Ommadawn also features the wonderfully batty ditty On Horseback (which I hadn't realised was on the original vinyl too) and the deluxe edish also includes great little single-friendly Oldfield tunes like the Christmassy In Dulci Jubilo, Argiers and Portsmouth. Perhaps a better buy, but get them both at amazon or wherever you prefer.
"Ommadawn ye say? You hum it, I'll play it...."- a uillean pipes-player, yesterday
For those brave enough to venture into post-Diamond territory Spandau Ballet have released expanded and remastered editions of their 'True' and 'Parade' albums this week. 'True' is released as a three disc edition featuring a CD of the original album, remastered; a CD of bonus material including previously unreleased remixes and live tracks and a DVD of the band playing live at London's Sadlers Wells theatre in 1983. 'Parade' appears as a 2-CD edition, featuring the remastered album and a number of bonus tracks on one disc and a BBC In Concert show recorded at Wembley Arena in 1984 on the other.
We're very much in mid-80s territory here so the uninitiated please beware . Gone were the days of eccentric clothing and Blitz-era dance classics such as To Cut a Long Story Short and The Freeze and even the spruced up Beat-Route boys of Chant No. 1 or Instinction. Communication, Gold and Lifeline off 1983's number one album True (knocked off the top spot by Thriller) are still bearable although the sickly sweet sleeze of the title track was the shape of things to come. Only When You Leave, I'll Fly For You and Round and Round off Parade a year later were very much the soundtrack of wine bar smooching and such like up and down the country ....
Oddly The Spans' success hardly went much further than this, with later albums Through the Barricades and Heart Like a Sky producing relatively modest sales. The courtroom was just around the corner...
Spandau Ballet circa 1984 . ...do we look mid-eighties in this? Oh dear..
...for seminal New Romantic band Duran Duran release their debut eponymous album this week in remastered, expanded, extra-tracked, DVD-added format. As well as the debut in it's entirety on CD1 you'll get an extra CD with unreleased demos, remixes, Radio 1 session and all that plus DVD with TOTP, OGWT and Swap Shop performances and two naughty "uncensored" Girls on Film video. Gotta be worth the 18 quid...
Here's the Durannies back in the good old days before yachts and sun-tans when the Brummie-boy-band were considered 'experimental' enough to go on The Old Grey Whistle Test:
Spandau Ballet have recently re-released their 1981 debut album Journeys to Glory in 're-mastered' and expanded CD special edition, although judging by the reviews, the results are less than favourable. One reviewer on amazon.co.uk described the new issue as "Absurdly unlistenable. Harsh, painful, tinny. Spandau's best album ruined", while another states "It is physically hard to listen to, compressed, squashed, tinny, flat, and incredibly harsh and metallic." Another punter while lamenting the sound quality also complains about the omission of the Musclebound 12" and lack of DVD visual material. LIM also has a first hand description of the albums 'digipak' packaging which is equally pants with bad printing and sloppy overall design. Oh dear. Ths Spans' second album Diamond has also undergone the re-issue treatment although sound quality is apparently better. Something to do with the originals?
Let's hope fellow-New Romantic pioneers Duran Duran fare better with their re-release of their eponymous debut due the end of this month with re-mastered sound, B sides, extended versions etc. and DVD!
read The Quietus' excellent review of both Spandau albums and their collocation in time here.
ver Spans circa 1981 .. "pretending it's art.." - quite.
John Foxx will release two new special editions of previous albums as well as a new live album in October.
His first two albums recorded with Louis Gordon and will be issued in remastered double CD format: 97's comeback album Shifting City (“pure Urban Electronica...") together with “The Omnidelic Exotour” and 3 previously unreleased tracks, and 2001's The Pleasures of Electricity newly remixed in 2009 by Foxx with disc two featuring the original mix of the album plus two previously unreleased bonus tracks. In the Glow is a definitive 2 CD Edition of Foxx's first ever solo tour in 1983 promoting his then-current album “The Golden Section”. The set features both his own songs and some originally performed with Ultravox.
Kraftwerk are set to release their complete back catalogue in remastered CDs on 12th October. All eight albums ranging from 1974's Autobahn to Tour de France Soundtracks, released in 2003 will be issued as a digitally remastered single CD, vinyl LP or together as a complete box set entitled "The Catalogue". Digital downloads will also be available. Some of the original cover art has been re-designed, most notably on Man Machine where the iconic band photograph has been completely removed. Electric Café has also been renamed to it's original working title 'Techno Pop'. Tour de France also loses it's "Soundtracks" suffix. A German language version "Der Katalog" will also be available as early as October 2nd.
Kraftwerk's Man Machine then and now : spot the differenz
Synth-pop pioneer Thomas Dolby has just released a CD/DVD retrospective collection entitled The Singular Thomas Dolby on EMI. The British artist became one of the most recognizable figures of the synth-pop movement of early-’80s new wave with songs such as "Europa & the Pirate Twins", "Windpower" and "She Blinded Me With Science" (featuring Dr. Magnus Pyke) . Dolby successfully harnessed the power of synthesizers and samplers, to make catchy pop and light electro-funk, becoming successful in the US when the 'new wave' hit America in the mid 80s. The CD covers his career from the early tracks "Urges" and "Leipzig" through to "I Love You Goodbye" and "Silk Pyjamas", while the DVD features "..seldom seen cut from his 1983 concert, “Live Wireless”.." and all the videos.
Remastered and enhanced versions of Dolby's classic albums The Golden Age of Wireless (CD/DVD) and The Flat Earth are also set for release in June. Although the new CDs contain "all peripheral songs from each era that didn’t make it onto the albums for whatever reason" Dolby also promises that extras will also be available as free downloads from the official web site. 12" extended versions have been avoided. Dolby is currently working on a new studio album which will include songs performed on the 2006/2007 Sole Inhabitant tour called "Your Karma Hit My Dogma" and "Jealous Thing".
..that's a pun on 'Cries & Whispers' one of the many tracks on the 5 x 2 NewOrder remastered 'factory years' albums issued a few weeks back. Much griping and whingeing in fact by the punters who have shelled out loadsa cash for these artefacts which quite frankly, at least going on their various complaints, are just not up to scratch, oops no sorry , standard, many apparently having been remastered from vinyl records! Perhaps your passing common-or-garden NewOrder fan like myself would never have noticed the missing initial beats on Blue Monday or Senses (this one still to be confirmed..) or even traces of 'rumble' 'pops' and 'crackles' at various points, but I can well understand these hard-core fans being annoyed at "300 confirmed errors..and counting.." and not just in sound but also poor sleeve notes, missing information in CD text info and overall shoddy workmanship by the record company Warner - for it is they of course to blame for all of this...
Says bassist Peter Hook:
“They don’t have half the staff they used to have so everything becomes quite a trial...you get a lot of masters of old songs - they are mastered from the record because nobody can find the tape.” (source BBC)
Warner have 'responded' to complaints saying that if any of the fans want to contact them about the quality of the New Order re-issues, then they can email this address: Neworder.d2c@warnermusic.com .... Pah!
I don't think any fans of Ultravox and John Foxx will be experiencing the same kind of disappointment as their recent remasters were the fruits of the hard labours of hard core fans liaising with the artists and the record compay in order to ensure a first class product that will not disappoint. Power to the people!
NewOrder's Peter Hook..."this has nothing to do with us.."
Thanks to RadioBeach for the info sources and for prompting me to write this post.
After much gossip, rumours and speculation the news if finally official...an ULTRAVOX reunion has been confirmed. The 80s band line-up of Ure, Currie, Cann & Cross will be playing a series of concerts in the UK next year. The tour will take in 14 dates across the length and breadth of the nation starting in Edinburgh on 14th April and ending up in Portsmouth on the 28th.
Can't say I'm particulalry excited about this one, but credit for all this must surely go to the die-hard fans who have stuck with them over the past 25 years or more, also thanks to a very fine 'official' website and forum.
The band have also jumped on the 'remasters' bandwagon with the release of double disc 'definitive' versions of classic albums Vienna and Rage In Eden. Again much merit goes to the fans for making these possible.
John Foxx's MySpace has at last given details of a new 2CD 'Best of' entitled 'Glimmer' to be released in the autumn. Glimmer is a collection of Foxx's solo work over the years, with a heavy bias towards the Metamatic (1980!) and later 'electronica' periods, skillfully, and thankfully avoiding the mid-80s wilderness save a couple of tracks. The earlier Ultravox! period songs are in their reworked versions with Louis Gordon. Collaborations with Harold Budd, Jori Hukkonen and the Metamatics also feature. Rare versions of standard faves also included for the fans.
full tracklisting as follows:
CD1:
Glimmer Plaza No-One Driving
Underpass
Quiet City * Dislocation *
030
Twilight's Last Gleaming
Sunset Rising
Cities Of Light 5 *
Europe After The Rain
Hiroshima Mon Amour *
The Garden
CD2: Through My Sleeping *
Endlessly
My Sex *
He's A Liquid
Carcrash Flashback V2*
Dancing Like A Gun
Just For A Moment *
Dislocated (with Jori Hulkkonen)
Burning Car
Miles Away
Stepping Sideways (with Harold Budd)
Free Robot (with Metamatics)
No-One Driving (early version)
Plaza (extended version)
Burning Car (Dub Terror/Karborn 2008 mix)
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