The Human League/The Future - Dance Like A Star EP

The Human League/The Future - Dance Like A Star EP

Golden Hour of the Future was a fantastic compilation of early Human League (and pre Phil Oakey, as The Future) songs and demos that came out in around 2002. Just before it came out, a limited 12" EP of tracks that weren't collected on the album came out. We've got a couple of different versions of Dance Like A Star, the disco funeral march of C'est Grave and a few more instrumentals besides.

I love this EP, mainly as it's got the massively snotty intro version of Dance Like a Star ("We're the Human League, and we're *much* cleverer that YOU"). Ah, for a time when electro pop used to be interesting... what have we got now? People like La Roux. And it's always the same old formula, girl backed by much older gentleman(or men) doing nothing that hasn't been done much better a million times before. Yuk.

One day, something *interesting* will happen. It has to. It will.

And after all that, I'm probably going to post something like Roman Holliday next.

(I'm not going to post Roman Holliday)

(maybe Haircut 100 though)

(hang on, how did I remember Roman Holliday had two l's?....eep)

The Fauves - Tortured Soul

The Fauves - Tortured Soul

From 1988 (and not to be confused with the Australian band of the same name) a rather fine c86 indie record. They're probably most known for having Grant Morrison on vocals but from what little I've heard they were a pretty good band in their own right. Most of this band (if not all) were in the Mixers, who had a couple of tracks on a Whaaam! compilation back in the day. There was talk of some sort of CD of GM related stuff being collected a few years back but I don't think anything ever came of it. A pity. Anyway, I have no record sleeve scan, so here's a picture of singer and cat. Meow.

Coming up next....er, stuff. And possibly a new contributor. Everyone should have a third man (or woman/donkey/sentient Tonka toy) and we here shall be no different, by jingo. Actually, if you *are* a sentient Tonka toy and you want to write for us, do let me know. Don't fib, we shall be checking the cut of your die-cast chassis.

Fred - All Rights Reserved

Fred - All Rights Reserved

Minimal synth pop/wave from the early 80's. I think. I have no information on who/what Fred is. They did one single and disappeared, the title track found it's way onto a few of the Flexi-Pop CDR's (as did Reactor Lightning I think) but apart from that I've got nothing. And it's a pity, as it's a cracking single. Wistful, vintage synthpop, one of the many tracks kept alive by the Return Of Flexi Pop/Shockwaves/etc series of compliations. Any information would be gratefully received.

But yes, no sleeve for this one so I did a picture of what I think Fred could be. A giant mad scientist head floating through space. We can but hope.

John Cale - Music for a New Society

John Cale - Music for a New Society

More like music for the bleakest soap opera imaginable. I've been listening to this in heavy doses for the first time in roughly five years after realizing how much influence this record and older Cale songs like "Hedda Gabler" probably had on old keyboard-dominated Fatima Mansions numbers (particularly "The Door-to-Door Inspector"). The comparatively cheerier and more accessible tracks on this release mostly remind me of Elton John on the verge of self-immolation. Don't get me started on the others. This rip comes from the ridiculously out-of-print 1993 CD reissue on Rhino. I managed to acquire it for a steal of $17 several years ago, but otherwise I've never seen that edition of it offered anywhere else until looking around just now, where it fetches $55 on GEMM and about $100 on eBay Buy-it-Now listings. Ouch. How the fuck does Sunny Day Real Estate and the entire Beatles catalogue get needlessly reissued while this effort (one of Cale's most acclaimed, mind you) from a former member of the goddamn Velvet Underground languishes in relative obscurity for nearly fifteen years because no one has half a mind to make it available again? Oh, music industry, you deserve to burn in cassingle and 8-track Hell. But yes, the bonus track "In the Library of Force" is included here.

NOTE: I started writing this three days before I LOVE TOTAL DESTRUCTION made a similar post. Bah, thunder stolen, but it's nice to know someone else is on the same wavelength.

Linoleum - Black Session

Linoleum - Black Session

Not my cup of tea but I've had a bit of interest in uploading it so call it another request. Linoleum were a Britpop band who were on the outskirts of fame, but they were based in London so they had a fair run. For early singles (and the album Dissent I seem to remember) sleeves were made out of linoleum, which does not lend itself to fit neatly into one's record shelves. Tsk tsk. Anyway, they did a Black Session back in '96 (I think) and here it is. Enjoy.

Come to think of it, I always had a soft spot for She's Sick.....

Next: Something completely different.

Associates - Live at the Marquee 1980

Associates - Live at the Marquee 1980

Request time! A bootleg from the Associates at the Marquee in 1980, around the time of the Affectionate Punch. Despite this, there are early versions of Nude Spoons, It's Better This Way and other Sulk tracks (nothing from Fourth Drawer Down though). It's the Associates at their most frantic and hysterical and is therefore completely essential.

As a bonus, another gig from 1980 in Holland. Similar tracklisting but longer, I think this is possibly because it's got some crossover tracks from the Marquee gig which is probably why I didn't post these before. Ah well, a little bit of amateur hour never hurt anyone. Enjoy!

Blam Blam Blam - The Complete Blam Blam Blam

Blam Blam Blam - The Complete Blam Blam Blam

The title of this collection is slightly misleading, as it lacks songs like "Agency", "Pensioner Love" and "Cachunga Cachunga", but otherwise this disc comprises most of the material that these Aucklanders issued during their brief career in the early Eighties. Most of their output sounds reminiscent of a drier Talking Heads augmented with lyrics that serve as sociopolitical satire of then-current events (homeland espionage, wrongful imprisonment, social unrest) in their native New Zealand, but the moments when they musically break from form prove to be the real standouts. Selections like the insistent B-side "Learning to Like Ourselves Again" (the most classically post-punk number in structure on here), the shifting textures and moods of the romantically suspect "Don't Fight It Marsha, It's Bigger Than Both of Us" and the unofficial Kiwi national anthem "There is No Depression in New Zealand" — a winsome song title if ever there was one — are worth the colloquial price of admission on their own. The latter two numbers are particularly beloved in their native country, making the NZ Top 20 in spite of minimal radio airplay, and frontman/French horn player Don McGlashan actually resurrected "Marsha" for his later and more successful vehicle The Mutton Birds.

It's really quite a pain to find this outside of New Zealand, particularly sans credit card — unless you have a cool Kiwi benefactor, of course — but if you have one of the former, then SmokeCDs might be the only place you'll be able to track this (and many other Kiwipop releases) down.

One Year On....

Odds and Sods - Vol 1

Just noticed today that this blog has been going for a whole year. Bloody hell. Thought I'd better do something to mark the occasion so I present to you a compilation of stuff. No real rhyme or reason, just *stuff*. Seems somewhat apt. Here's to another year of random gubbins.

Tracklisting

1. Prefab Sprout - King of Rock and Roll (demo)
2. Sepp Meier's Gloves - Ambition
3. Force Dimension - Ice Planet Asteroid
4. BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Fourth Dimension
5. Tin Tin - Only Ladies Play Croquet
6. SPK - Will To Power (12" Version)
7. Performance - Pilotes
8. My Bloody Valentine -Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
9. Moomins Theme (First Version)
10. Pavillion 7b - Les Révoltés
11. The Future/Human League - C'est Grave
12. Fatima Mansions - Only Losers Take The Bus (Dangers mix)
13. Caravan - Golf Girl
14. Esqueletos - Radio 222
15. Coil - Hellraiser Main Theme

Enjoy!

Colourbox - Jensen Session and Sex Gun

Colourbox - Jensen Session and Sex Gun

Kid Jensen session from 1982. Rather less overproduced than their studio stuff and possibly slightly better for it. The version of Punch on here is a real eye-opener.

As a bonus, I've included Sex Gun, which is a demo version of Just Give 'Em Whiskey. Much rawer, more guitar, more Prisoner samples and as much as I love the later, 'proper' version Sex Gun has got this energy to it that just pips it.

Possibly coming up soon: Linoleum Black Session, Brian Brain, some more Howard Hughes (got hold of all four singles in the end) and Zwischenfall. Or possibly something else. Possibly.

Quando Quango - Love Tempo

Quando Quango - Love Tempo

Influential synth-funk-dance-latin-disco on Factory. Their second single, and probably their most famous. Certainly can be argued that it foreshadowed a lot of the following Chicago House scene. Tore up the dancefloors, didn't really trouble the charts. But it didn't belong in the charts, this was music for the feet, not the ears, the heart, and not the mind.

Mike Pickering (vox) formed M-People some time after QQ's split, If this wasn't enough, he then got into A&R and now pulls the strings of the Gossip, Kasabian and the Ting Tings. God only knows what horror he shall unleash on the world next. Plague? Eternal darkness? A Britpop revival? Keep watching those skies.

Anyways, top tune. Seek out Go Exciting (the original mix if you're being picky, which I am) if you want more of the same.