And a thing of beauty, a piece of 80’s Art that I snaffled up last weekend. A slightly different and superior version of their “Close To The Edit” track this is amazingly over 30 years old!! 2 nice B-sides which were new to me in these mixes.
For the anorak fans of ZTT this is for you, shame picture disc quality was never as good as the old black vinyl, but this isn’t so bad…gulp!
From 1987 and a bit of a weird album from Aussie Graeme Revell’s SPK project. It starts off with the electro pop of “Breathless” and the pre industrial angst of “Crack!” but then dives into experimental, ambient World sounds. So the first 2 tracks perfectly represent the alternative new wave synth sounds of the 80s. The others incorporate tribal chants, exotic instruments and drones which hark back to earlier SPK material. Released on the legendary Nettwerk label this probably pre-empted his film score career from the 1990’s to the present, starting with “Dead Calm” It is interesting to hear the creative use of samples and textures, definitely sound track material.
A new favourite band for 2015 and going to see them live on Saturday in Londinium. Check out their new album, epic songs with a slight shoegaze flavour, love it! Wall of sound guitar and a nod to the great 80’s melodies.
The best thing about doing an 80’s blog is you find out stuff you would of dismissed by your prejudiced, teenage ears back in the day. I was shocked to find that the Blow Monkeys started out as more of an indie sounding, guitar band. I had obviously dismissed them at the time for being a coffee-table, rolled-up-jacket-sleeved, white soul band. Which they did turn out to be, with Dr Robert preening away!
From 1984 and off their debut album , “Limping For A Generation” this has plenty of jangle and brass and isn’t half bad! Produced by Peter Wilson (Style Council, Comsat Angels) it has that clear, mid 80’s production and the press actually heralded them as the next “Smiths” ! B-side, “Resurrection Love” continues the Indie guitar with a bit of saxophone thrown in for good measure. “Slither” nods towards their later jazz leanings in an accomplished instrumental.
Your Numan dose for this fortnight is this funky number from 1982 when he started wearing a trilby and getting into funky bass lines from Pino Palladino. I still love it after all these years but never could understand what he was singing about! B sides comprise of the almost pre industrial sound of “Noise Noise”, expanding on the blueprint left by “Metal” (with input from pop duo Dollar and Theresa Bazars backing vocals !!!) and the humorous, live jam of “Bridge ? What Bridge” (Bridge being in the musical sense)Apparently a test recording for a particular bridge, the final version of which appears in the 1981 live version of ‘Remember I was Vapour’ and it is Mick Karn on bass.
Straight back to the heart of the 80’s. The Truth came out of the ashes of Nine Below Zero and were fronted by Dennis Greaves and were bigger in the States than England. AOR with touches of U2, think Cutting Crew. It was featured in the cult film, “The Hidden” The extended is errrr, extended but not too much. B-side is another 80’s guitar chugger. Another forgotten gem!
From 1989 and the bewildering mix of classical music and (for the time) electronic dance music from the late, great Malcolm Mclaren. Smoothly produced and bulging with ideas this was greeted with mixed reactions from the critics. Mostly female vocals lead the tracks with guest musicians such as Bootsy Collins, Jeff Beck and remixers Mark Moore and William Orbit get some time to develop the tracks. Some of its lyrics are to fashion, possibly as a result of McLaren’s relationship with designer Vivienne Westwood. The last track is a cracker and it went down well with fans of the Balearic dance scene.
Some more Shut Up And Dance stuff now, moving onto 1992 and the simple , rave tinged slice of old skool. Vocals provided by the mysterious Erin and the breaks and bleeps by Smiley and P.J. It is pretty formulaic stuff and something which probably could be knocked up by some 13 year old bedroom D.J. on his laptop or phone nowadays. Still a slab of musical nostalgia. Nothing different between the mixes just one longer that t’other.
Discovered singing in a nightclub by the pioneering founders of Shut Up And Dance Records , Smiley and P.J. , this Nigerian born vocalist had is debut with this breakbeat heavy promo from 1990.
With quite a gospel style with a harder backing track this typified what the label and its founders were aiming for, simple and powerful club music. The normal version works out a deep house groove. A rare gem for any dance anoraks out there.