Sometimes I've planned these posts in advance. Sometimes I'm writing on the fly, inspired by music I've listened to in the past 24 hours. Sometimes it's a serendipitous moment, where two parallel events converge in a happy and beneficial way. This falls into the latter category.
If you've followed previous posts, you'll have picked up that I've unearthed a box of mixtapes and CDs that I've compiled at various times since the late 1980s, either for myself, friends and family or both. I've recreated random sides as playlists and posted them here on a regular basis. Last Friday, I blew the dust off a few more and added them to my Apple Music playlist. On Saturday, I posted the first of these, Too Punk To Funk. Another on the list was The Times, effectively an ever-changing band with Edward (Ed) Ball at the core, who has recorded under a variety of aliases and across a broad range of genres.
Yesterday, at the excellent Linear Tracking Lives, Brian featured The Times, specifically their initial Whaam!/Artpop! phase in the first half of the 1980s. Brian mentioned that he was unfamiliar with The Times' second phase, specifically Ed Ball's time on the Creation label from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. And it just so happens that The Times playlist I'd recreated on Saturday focuses exclusively on the Creation period 1988-1993. Suddenly this post had more or less written itself...
So, here is Side One of a 1998 mixtape, rescued from the loft, and dedicated to Brian.
1) Manchester (12" Version) (from Manchester EP, 1989)
2) Septième Ciel ('Fast' Version) (from Pink Ball, Brown Ball, Ed Ball, 1991)*
3) French Film Bleurred (from E For Edward, 1989)
4) All I Want Is You To Care (from Alternative Commercial Crossover, 1993)
5) Chagrin D'Amour (from Et Dieu Créa La Femme, 1990)
6) Lundi Bleu (Radio Edit) (from Lundi Bleu EP, 1992)
7) The Obligatory Grunge Song (from Alternative Commercial Crossover, 1993)
8) No Love On Haight St. (from E For Edward, 1989)
9) How To Start Your Own Country (from Beat Torture, 1988)
10) Acid Angel Of Ecstasy (from E For Edward, 1989)
* I'm not sure if this is a mastering error, but this is very slightly faster than the album version on Et Dieu Créa La Femme.
Although partly represented here by a single edit of the cover of New Order's Blue Monday, Ed Ball's 1991 acid opus Pure is otherwise not featured above, but does appear on Side Two of the mixtape. That may take a while longer to pop up on Dubhed as it includes a couple of CD single B-sides which are currently residing in a box somewhere deeper in the loft. However, I have a mixtape for Love Corporation, another Ed Ball-related project, which may appear sooner. It will also give me an excuse to post more Andrew Weatherall, as it's been far too long since he last made an appearance on this blog...
There are three further Creation-era albums by The Times, which also aren't featured on the mixtape - The Times At The Astradome Lunaville, Sad But True and Pirate Playlist 66 - for the simple reason that I didn't own them at the time and/or they were released after the mixtape was compiled.
Dang, too bad it's bedtime in Seattle, Khayem. Means I'll have to wait until tomorrow to dive into it, but I can see this mix is exactly the taster I need to get my feet wet in the later years of the Times. Thanks for throwing it up so quickly. More to say in a bit.
ReplyDeleteOh, and this gives me a chance to thank you again for that bonus EP Touched by the voice of Green Gartside you had at JC's place last year. I went out on a hunt and found the singles by B.E.F. and Adele Bertei after that one. Big fan.
Top stuff Khayem. I missed Brian's post so shall head over there shortly. Love a lot of Ed's stuff. The Manchester single stays just the right side of the line and on one occasion, heard in France, made me feel almost homesick. The remixes of Lundi Bleu are excellent too
ReplyDelete@Brian, sorry about the timing. Postings tend to be early morning, pre-work, family asleep, cup of tea & headphones on...but I hope you enjoy the sampler. And thanks for the thanks re: the Green Gartside ICA bonus EP. If live music properly up and running later this year (it feels 50/50 at the moment), my first gig since Feb 2020 will be Scritti Politti in London in October. Really, really hoping it happens.
ReplyDelete@Adam, thanks also. Completely agree with your comments about the Manchester single. Pure was the first album by The Times that I bought and the original version of Lundi Bleu will always be dear to my heart, but The Grid, Bandulu and different language versions are all great. We keep coming back to the brilliance of Richard Norris, don't we?
You may both be pleased with what's coming next...
Oh, I'm pleased.! What an education. Quite a change in styles, as expected, but enjoyed the experience of side one more than I even thought I would. This has given me a leg up on what to put on my shopping list. Will hit side two tomorrow.
DeleteIf the UK will let me in without making me quarantine, I will be enjoying Scritti Politti at St. Lukes in Glasgow at the end of September. I bought the tickets when they went on sale last year with the optimistic thought this would all be over by the fall of '21. Now I'm less hopeful but am still keeping my fingers crossed.