Side 2 of a C90 cassette, "mixed & mashed with abandon" 24th April 2000.
Back to the old school (disco) today and a bunch of 12" singles that I can guarantee didn't trouble the turntables at Pucklechurch Community Centre or Chasers Nightclub in Kingswood back in the day.
The selection starts off with Sir William of Idol, an example where the 12" mix was much more exciting than the original version. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Billy's best album was the Vital Idol 12" remix compilation. Vital Idol was an essential purchase and frequently on loan to various school friends at the time.
I loved Communards and this was a prized purchase from Plastic Wax Records, when it was on West Street, Old Market in Bristol. The best remix of an already brilliant song. I wonder what happened to Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles?
Kissing The Pink first came to my attention with the weird pop of The Last Film. By the mid-'80s, they'd gone none-more-pop with this 12" by 'Mixmaster' Phil Harding being one of their highlights. This was originally titled the 'Garage' mix but on my later copy of the Stand Up 12" single, it had been re-titled the 'Engagedmix'.
In the late '80s, I guess Thomas Dolby was still trying to lose the 'science geek' label that had stuck since the days of She Blinded Me With Science and Windpower. Aliens Ate My Buick was a great pop album and Airhead was a wonderfully subversive and scathing song about superficiality. François Kevorkian delivered a mighty 10-minute mix on the US 12" single. This edited version also appeared on 1999's 12x12 remix collection; I haven't checked, but I'm pretty sure that the version on my UK 12" single is slightly shorter again. But hey, never mind the length, feel the quality.
I was one of the poor unfortunates who heard Dollar's execrable version of Oh L'Amour before I heard the original by Erasure. What kind of mad world (™ Tears For Fears) do we live in where the asinine David Van Day & Thereze Bazar got to #7 in the UK singles chart in 1987, whilst the original by Andy Bell & Vince Bell managed a measly #85 the previous year? At least the latter enjoyed a second run in 2003, achieving the more respectable #13. David Van Day was running a burger van at the start of the 21st century, so I guess there was some justice, at least.
Another purchase from Plastic Wax (or Replay, I'm not sure), I retrospectively amassed China Crisis' singles on 12" in the mid- to late-'80s, which were by then bargain secondhand purchases. I loved the first album but was less familiar with the second or the title track and lead single. I can see why, as it only made it to #48 in 1983; follow up Wishful Thinking became their biggest hit, reaching #9 the following year. In a startling display of economy, the song neither retains it's full title or has a decent remix label on the 12" single, perfunctorily listed as Fire And Steel (Mix). The song's lots more fun.
And to close, Tom Lord-Alge pulverises O.M.D.'s delicate La Femme Accident with some typically huge '80s synthetic drums and stretched out vocals... and yet, I loved it. I purchased this as a lavish gatefold double pack 12" single, which included Enola Gay and a rather crap live version of Locomotion. I bought the accompanying album Crush on the back of So In Love. I wasn't a fan of follow-up Secret and I didn't think La Femme Accident was an obvious choice of single. Apparently, looking at the diminishing chart peaks, the UK-singles buying public agreed. Still, this version is about as 1980s as it gets.
Having just read that Chasers is due to reopen in 2022, any chance any of these will make a belated appearance? What do you think?
1) Catch My Fall (Remix Fix By Billy Idol & Steve Stevens): Billy Idol (1985)
2) Disenchanted (Total Dance Remix By Mike Thorne): Communards (1986)
3) Certain Things Are Likely (Engagedmix By Phil Harding): Kissing The Pink (1986)
4) Airhead (Extended Version: Francois' Mix By François Kevorkian & Goh Hotoda): Thomas Dolby (1988)
5) Oh L'Amour (PWL Funky Sisters Say 'Ooh La La' Mix By Pete Waterman & Phil Harding): Erasure (1986)
6) Working With Fire And Steel (Fire And Steel (Mix) By Mike Howlett): China Crisis (1983)
7) La Femme Accident (12" Mix By Tom Lord-Alge): O.M.D. (1985)
Fine looking pair of venues Khayem. Strong tracklist in today's mix. Oh L'amour is a tune and a half.
ReplyDeleteThe days of living out in the sticks and being reliant on a lift from your parents for a night out. Much as we used to complain about the crap music, there was little alternative. A few years later and I was able to get in, underage, to the clubs in the big city. Life changing.
DeleteJudging by the online roars greeting Chasers imminent reopening, it seems that many have been waiting for the opportunity for the club to go back to how it was in the 1980s. I'll just stick with the music, I think!
And yes, Oh L'Amour is fantastic, isn't it? I'll even grudgingly admit that Pete Waterman could occasionally turn out a decent remix (although my money's on Phil Harding doing the heavy lifting here).
re: OMD - locomotion is the track I can't stand. Its the synthetic steel drums noise that does it for me very time. Can cope with almost anything else from their back catalogue but when they play it live I head off for a piss to come back for the 'decent stuff' finale... I do like the mix of LFA here also!
ReplyDeleteHa ha, I know what you mean, Mike! Perversely, I don't mind the 12" version of Locomotion as much, but the song is generally very low down on my list of 'must hear' OMD. Perhaps inevitably, Locomotion was still in the setlist when I saw them again at Bath Forum in 2019, as was Sailing On The Seven Seas, which jostles for bottom place with Locomotion on the aforementioned list. On this occasion, I was having such a good time, I grinned and bore it.
DeleteAnd yes, the 12" mix of La Femme Accident is wrong on so many levels, but I can't help liking it!