American Music Club - Over and Done

American Music Club - Over and Done

This isn't the version of this single that brims with live performances; this North American promo includes the title cut (the weakest thing on this single, actually) and two far more impressive and winningly-titled B-sides. I'm not sure what "The Amyl Nitrate Dreams of Pat Robertson" (shouldn't that be amyl NITRITE?) has to do with the homophobic evangelical prick from The 700 Club, but it's a weird little spoken-word number reminiscent of Tom Waits and perhaps even Jandek. "In My Role As the Most Hated Singer in the Local Underground Music Scene" is the best selection here, a driving little number about a frontman driven to murder.

The Fatima Mansions - Three EPs

The Fatima Mansions - Nite Flights EP / 1000% single (CD 1) / Popemobile EP

Here are three fairly hard to find EPs collected all in one place. Nite Flights includes a somewhat commercial but fine and faithful take on The Walker Brothers' song alongside a remix of said song, a Suicide cover ("Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne"), and most importantly the B-side "As I Washed the Blood Off," which goes from soft to loud in the same manner of Mansions classics like "A Walk in the Woods" and "Angel's Delight." 1000% includes the title cut alongside a complete industrial reworking of the song – replete with screamier re-recorded vocals from Cathal Coughlan – and a pretty brutal take on Leonard Cohen's "Paper Thin Hotel." The Popemobile EP was only released as a promotional item in the States and collects a random but excellent smattering of tracks. You get the then-current "Popemobile to Paraguay" alongside one of the B-sides to "The Loyaliser" (the jungle-tinged "Gary Numan's Porsche") and the previously unreleased "Sleep of the Just." The EP additionally comes with two selections from 1992 with less tinny sound quality: Valhalla Avenue's "Evil Man" appears here, as does the spiteful version on Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" that provided the Mansions with their lone de facto Top Ten UK hit, even if it mainly banked on being included with "Suicide is Painless" as done by Manic Street Preachers.

Frank Tovey - Sam Hall

Frank Tovey - Sam Hall

From 1989, the man who was Fad Gadget with a very different offering than his usual. Main reason we're posting this one is the BBC Session version of Fad Gadget classic Ricky's Hand. Done in the acoustic/protest style he'd taken up by this time. We've also got a cover of House of the Rising Sun on here and it's curio to say the least.

I wasn't entirely convinced by this direction when I first heard it, and to be honest I don't think it really clicked for him until '92, when Worried Men In Second Hand Suits came out. Which really is a massively underrated album. But anyway, Frank Tovey - Sam Hall, come for Ricky's Hand, stay one of the pioneers of industrial against industrialiation.

Vam Cyborg - Gods Valley

Vam Cyborg - Gods Valley

Bit of italo disco from 1984 with a hint, just a hint of EBM about it. Who, what or whom Vam Cyborg are I could not tell you, which is half the fun of this sort of thing. There's countless faceless bands and producers churning this stuff out by the dozen. Although, Vam Cyborg did have another single out the year before (Actos de Maldad), which was a bit less moody and a bit more bouncy.

Anyway, more updates to follow. Been awfully busy since Christmas but more shiny things are on the way.