Wise Up! Again

Side 1 of a mixtape, recorded between December 1991 and January 1992. When I posted Side 2 last August, I mentioned the use of a couple of tracks from Keeping The Faith: A Creation Dance Compilation and there's another here. I didn't buy either of the two 12" singles of Come Together by Primal Scream at the time, but the excellent Hypnotone remix opened Side 2 of Keeping The Faith and remains my second only to Andrew Weatherall's unassailable mix. 

 

The other reference point on this mixtape side is Renegade Soundwave's debut album Soundclash. Excellent though it is, I think the real reason two tracks appear here is that I had been lent a copy by my friend Stuart and ended up cramming songs onto various mixtapes before returning it. 

 

There's also a heavy Adrian Sherwood vibe on this side, with production and remix duties for Cabaret Voltaire, Gary Clail / On-U Sound System and Tackhead. The full length version of False Leader featured on the album The Emotional Hooligan, whilst this edit was a B-side of the Escape remix 12". The Tackhead remix of Dangerous Sex was edited to squeeze onto the cassette side, so I've done the same here to preserve the original running time.

 

A Certain Ratio's Martin Moscrop remixes opening instrumental Bendy, which initially appeared on the Intastella single People; my copy resurfaced on the limited edition "Intastella Meet Adamski" remix 12" of follow-up Century. This is my favourite version of the song.

 

Killing Joke's Youth remixes Pop Will Eat Itself, dropping the BPMs and stretching the song out to over five minutes. Again, this one has the edge as my preferred version and - no surprise - provides the mixtape with its title.

 

Lastly, the song that introduced me to Colourbox. I picked up the Vertigo-Sampler from a record stall in St. Nicholas' Market in Bristol a few years previously, a Canadian import double vinyl compilation from 1985. If I'm honest, most of it is dispensable: late-period Boomtown Rats, Big Country, Dire Straits and - even more dire - Mark Knopfler solo, twice! However, there are a couple of sides of alternative and indie music: Cocteau Twins, Love And Rockets, This Mortal Coil and Colourbox, which made the price worth a punt. 

The Colourbox track is listed as Sex Gun (Instrumental Version) but is identical to the version (re)titled Just Give 'Em Whiskey on their eponymous debut album. The vocal version of Sex Gun made it onto the free extra album that came with limited quantities, though the one featured in today’s selection is far and away the best version out there, heavy with samples from Westworld and The Prisoner.

 

1) Bendy In The Disco (Remix By Martin Moscrop): Intastella (1991)

2) Biting My Nails (Album Version By Flood & RSW): Renegade Soundwave (1989)

3) Thank You America (Album Version By Cabaret Voltaire & Adrian Sherwood): Cabaret Voltaire (1987)

4) False Leader (Edit By Adrian Sherwood, Doug Wimbish & Skip McDonald): Gary Clail / On-U Sound System ft. Big Youth (1991)

5) Head Like A Hole (Album Version By Trent Reznor & Flood): Nine Inch Nails (1990)

6) Come Together (The HypnotoneBrainMachine Mix By Hypnotone): Primal Scream (1990)

7) Wise Up! Sucker (12" Version By Youth): Pop Will Eat Itself (1989)

8) Blue Eyed Boy (Album Version By Flood & RSW): Renegade Soundwave (1989)

9) Sex Gun (Instrumental Version) (aka Just Give 'Em Whiskey): Colourbox (1985)

10) Sex Overdubs (Remix By Adrian Sherwood, Doug Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc & Skip McDonald) (Edit): Tackhead (1990)

 

Side One (45:59)

Side Two here