The lead single from the album, “Midnight To Midnight” see’s the Furs fully embrace the late 80’s technology. I like the way this 12″ builds up to the opening and captures your attention for the whole 8 minutes. Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero add extra polish to Chris Kimsey’s production. All bubbling sequencers (Sparks/Moroder-esque) and sampled sounds over the ultra cool snarl of Butler. The Dub is dub-lightful, sounding amazing for 1987 and keeping most of the vocals in (still not sure about those lyrics)
B-side, “New Dream” starts off a bit like Japan and then funks along nicely, nice guitar solo.
Not too alternative or obscure with some later, more commercial stuff by the Furs, 1987 to be precise. (Going to see these on the last date of their current Hits Tour in Brooklyn, NY next month!!)
From the album, “Midnight To Midnight” Shep Pettibone keeps the guitars plugged in but also turns the synths up; the Furs still manage to sound like themselves through all the production sheen, helped by the ever present saxophone of Mars Williams. A great 12″ version.
The rare 7″ mix by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero is also here.
Obscure, indie Mancunian….jangle with slight synths from 1988. Like a cross between New Order and the Psychedelic Furs. Private Sector was led by guitarist/singer Mark McStea and released on their own record label, a great mix of guitars and sequencers in a late 80’s producetion. Is this the same punk band from the early 80’s that nearly crossed over to the mainstream????..answers appreciated !! They may be from America!
Obscure enough to be laughable but a “holy grail” to any fans of Sudden Sway and this curious bit of marketing. From Discogs
“Members of Sudden Sway present a promotional disc for their single ‘SingSong’ which was released in 8 versions to compliment a potential listener’s ‘socio-economic level’.
‘Media’ consists of an interview with ‘the band’ about the reasons behind the release in a mock 80’s music show style with snatches of each version.
‘Retail’ is more straightforward satirical corporate puff piece theoretically designed to convince pluggers et al to push the single(s).”
Considering singles are a long forgotten format this is a niche piece of the musical nostalgia linked to marketing, something KLF would have come up.
A release from 1987 from Sweden’s weirdly named , Trance Dance. (No Trance and no Dance) Synth rock and from their debut album “A-Ho-Ho” ????? Classic euro/synth with added guitars and powerfully remixed by Christer Modig (Swedish Chris) but lots of Yamaha CX sounds.
So we have been in the obscure/alternative mode for quite a few months and this could be considered quite obscure. TicToc are not the Tic And Toc robotic duo of the Blitz scene but a Canadian New Wave band, still quite synthy in a cheesy sort of way. Written by singer Tevin Kaplan and produced by veteran producer Terry Brown (Rush, Cutting Crew) and given quite a funky mix (especially on the longer Canadian and rather fab Dub mixes) by Chris Barbosa and Nelson Cruz (giving it a Duran Duran feel!)
Anyone for some Psycho-Billy/ Surf Punk from 1985 and as you’d expect willfully obscure ?? The Mel-O-Tones were a Liverpool quartet that only released 2 E.P. on the Probe Plus label. All pretending to be Americans, they comprised vocalist of Frank Martin, Jon Neesam (drums), Martin Dempsey (bassist and who was New Wave band Yachts) and Bob Parker (guitar). Three of the band became the ban morphed into The Walkingseeds in the late 80’s.
Weird and de-produced by Dempsey and the wonderfully named Sir Freddie Viaduct (an alias for Gerry Kenny (The Minister Of Noise) Lose Indie improv “Melonhead”
A release from 1989 from London band Eat and their debut release. Another 5 piece, the group’s personnel was Ange Dolittle, (vocals and harmonica) Max Noble, (guitars and was in The Blue Aeroplanes) Paul Noble, (guitars and who did work with Robyn Hitchcock) Tim Sewell (bass and synths) and Pete Howard (drums)
Produced by Mike Hedges, “Red Moon” sounds like some Deep South Blues with social commentary. Fun Stuff!!! “Skin” keeps the electronic blues theme and appeared on their debut album. Certainly original sounding. “Eat, Eat, Eat” is rocky blues and the stand-out track. Eat a very hard band to Google!!!
More “Mighty” stuff with this bit of whimsy from Birmingham’s Mighty Mighty. Again from 1987 on Chapter 22 Records. From the C86 stable of artists, a whole thread can be found on The (New) Vinyl Villain’s blog here https://thenewvinylvillain.com/
One album and a handful of singles the five piece included; D.J.Hennessy, (drums) Hugh Harkin (lead vocals), Mick Geoghegan, (Guitar) Peter Geoghegan (Guitar, keyboards and backing vocals) and Russell Burton (vocals and bass)
“One Way” is cha-cha-cha indie with a little bit of synth thrown in. “Law” which did appear on the C86 compilation appears is the pick of the B-sides, a mix of jangle, drum machines and synths. “I Never Imagined” has a Housemartin’s feel about it. “Night After Night” is a 60’s ballad with swirling organ a la Clint Boon. All tracks were produced by John A. Rivers (Love And Rockets, Eyeless in Gaza, Felt)
A determined effort today to do 3 Indie posts. (or maybe more!)
So taking off with the jangle of Wolverhampton’s The Mighty Lemon Drops.
“Out Of Hand” shimmers along with added strings from the production by Pete Brown, an indie classic and seemingly timeless.
B-side, “Going Under” again nods to Echo And The Bunnymen with tribal drums and strong riffage.
The 2 live tracks recorded at the Astoria Theatre, London on 22th November 1986 and were produced by former member of the Punk Band, The Vibrators, Noel Thompson. “All The Way” gently builds up a swirl of guitar. “My Biggest Thrill” anticipates the psychedelic vibe of The Inspirals and The Charlatans, sounding like The Doors hit, “Gloria”(Both tracks were from their debut album, “Happy Head”)
