The mighty ZE Records today, perhaps most famous (& commercially successful) due to Kid Creole & The Coconuts, but also a key player in the No Wave movement, with artists such as James Siegfried (aka James Chance aka James White) and the label's legendary compilation, Mutant Disco: A Subtle Discolation Of The Norm.
Partnerships with other labels such as Island, Elektra and Antilles saw releases by musical forebears Alan Vega, Suicide and John Cale. It was all over for ZE Records by 1985, but co-founder Michel Esteban resurrected ZE in 2002 as a reissue label, still active today. 2009 saw the release of ZEvolution: ZE Records Re-Edited, with 11 reworkings by the likes of Idjut Boys, Pilooski, Leo Zero and Richard Sen, in addition to those included in this selection.
The only vinyl I own is the 12" of Coati Mundi's Me No Pop I (pictured), which I found at Music & Video Exchange on Smallbrook Queensway in Birmingham about a decade ago. Coati was a member of Kid Creole & The Coconuts and I seem to remember this song having quite a bit of airplay on Radio 1, although it only reached #32 in the UK charts. I didn't pay any attention to the lyrics as a kid, though the refrain of "Me No Popeye / You No Olive Oyl" was an earworm. I'm not quite sure what sense I would have made of the actual narrative of the song, including this choice verse:
When I came from the VD clinic
I thought our love was finished
How could you be so crude
Makin' love to so many dudes
I thought our love was finished
How could you be so crude
Makin' love to so many dudes
Underneath the upbeat tune, it appears that ol' Coati aka Andy Hernandez was feeling somewhat emasculated...
Topping and tailing the compilation is the wonderful Cristina Monet Palaci. Cristina was a very belated discovery for me, via the reissued Mutant Disco compilation which I picked up about 10 years ago and which included the 7" version of Drive My Car. However, I only heard her version of Is That All There Is? after reading an excellent tribute by Post-Punk Monk, following her tragic death from COVID-19 in March 2020.
A great label that shone brightly for a relatively short time, ZE Records continues to illuminate today.
1) Drive My Car (Long Version) (Cover of The Beatles): Cristina (1980)
2) My Male Curiosity (Remix Version): Kid Creole & The Coconuts (1984)
3) Que Pasa / Me No Pop I (12" Version): Coati Mundi (1981)
4) Contort Yourself (Album Version): James White & The Blacks (1979)
5) Fast Money Music: Suicide (1980)
6) Hungry For Love: John Cale (1984)
7) On A Day Like Today (Todd Terje 'Friendly Children' Edit): Gichy Dan's Beachwood #9 ft. Beachwood Kids (2009)
8) Out Come The Freaks (Dub Version): Was (Not Was) (1982)
9) Spooks In Space (Filthy & Foolish Edit By Felix Dickinson & Luke Howard): Aural Exciters (2009)
10) Wipeout Beat (Extended / Album Version By Ric Ocasek): Alan Vega (1983)
11) Busting Out (Long Version) (Edit): Material ft. Nona Hendryx (1981)
12) Tell Me That I'm Dreaming (Greg Wilson ZE-Edit): Was (Not Was) (2009)
13) Is That All There Is? (Single Version) (Cover of Georgia Brown): Cristina (1980)
1979: Off White: 4
1980: Cristina: 1
1980: Is That All There Is? (12"): 13
1980: Suicide: Alan Vega · Martin Rev: 5
1981: Me No Pop I (12"): 3
1982: Tell Me That I'm Dreaming (USA 12"): 8
1983: Saturn Strip: 10
1984: Caribbean Sunset: 6
1984: My Male Curiosity (USA promo 12"): 2
2003: Mutant Disco: A Subtle Discolation Of The Norm (Expanded Edition): 11
2009: ZEvolution: ZE Records Re-Edited: 7, 9, 12
Brilliant playlist! ZE was really important to me. I grew up in that Downtown/No Wave music scene in the late 70s and very early 80s. When Busting Out got airplay across the airwaves of NYC, it was sort of game changing, or a clarion call - a New Wave wasn't just emerging, it was taking over.
ReplyDeleteReading about the scene decades - and an ocean - apart, I can only imagine how thrilling it must have been to have immersed in it.
DeleteGood to hear some of these again. You could do a mix just of different versions of "Out Come The Freaks", there must be several hundreds of them to choose from.
ReplyDeleteAbout 1,424 at last count, I think. I've even got a cover (in the loosest sense of the word) of the song by Sheep On Drugs. I clearly need help.
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