Taste The Poison

A brand new Fad Gadget selection today, which was initially inspired by the cover version of debut single Back To Nature by the new electronic supergroup Doublespeak. Comprising Vince Clarke, Neil Arthur and Ben 'Benge' Edwards, Doublespeak in turn chose to release Back To Nature as their debut single earlier this week..

Back To Nature opened The Damage Done, a C90 cassette compilation that I recorded in 1990 and recreated for this blog in 2021. I recorded a further 46-minute Fad Gadget selection in 2024 and so today's collection could be considered 'Side 4' of a mixtape that's been three and a half decades in the making.

Having settled on my today's post, I then realised that today marks the 24th anniversary of Frank Tovey's untimely passing on 3rd April 2002. This post was clearly always meant to be.

Given that creating this selection has pretty much exhausted the Fad Gadget catalogue, bar 12" versions and the odd (with the emphasis on odd) instrumental B-side, this doesn't feel like a barrel scraping exercise in the slightest. In fact, what continues to surprise and delight is how so much of the music sounds like it could have been recorded last week, not decades ago.

The first Fad Gadget album I bought was Under The Flag, Frank's third from 1982, created at a time that the British Army was engaged in war with Argentina over The Falkland Islands. I've listened to the follow up Gag more recently, released two years later and the closest Fad Gadget ever got to a pop album. 1986's Snakes And Ladders by Frank Tovey took it one step further, but he was never going to be O.M.D. or Erasure.

The first two albums, Fireside Favourite (1980) and Incontinent (1981) are wonderfully dark, both in terms of sound palette and lyrical focus, but they are also surprisingly groovy when you least expect it. State Of The Nation from the former and AA-side single Make Room are prime examples of this.

More years have now passed since Frank's death than the entirety of his recording career from 1979 to 2001. Yet, his music continues to inspire and remind us of true innovation, artistry and great, great music.

1) Make Room (1981)

2) Pedestrian (1980)

3) One Man's Meat (Album Version) (1984)

4) Arch Of The Aorta (1980)

5) The Sheep Look Up (1982)

6) Handshake (1980)

7) Innocent Bystander (1981)

8) State Of The Nation (1980)

9) Ad Nauseam (1984)

10) Plainsong (1982)

1980: Fireside Favourites: 2, 4, 8

1980: Ricky's Hand EP: 6

1981: Incontinent: 7

1981: Lady Shave / Make Room EP: 1

1982: Under The Flag: 5, 10

1984: 3, 9

Taste The Poison (46:31) (GD) (M)

For the complete Fad Gadget Dubhed selection, you can pick up The Damage Done (Side 1 & 2) and Watch The Mass Be Served More Trash (Side 3) to add to Taste The {Poison (Side 4)

Inexplicably, you can't buy Fad Gadget or Frank Tovey's music from the Mute Records online shop or via Bandcamp, but you can find their releases on other mainstream platforms.

Decade III: 1985

Side 2 of a misplaced mixtape, compiled circa March 1990, wrecked or abandoned some years later, resurrected and repurposed 18th August 2024.

 

In stark contrast, the hits don't keep coming in this selection, the number of singles that failed to chart in the UK (4) outnumbering those reaching the Top 20 (2). 

 

I could have easily filled the 45 minutes with bonafide hits from a-ha, China Crisis, Fine Young Cannibals, Kate Bush, Level 42, Pet Shop Boys, Simple Minds, Thompson Twins and The Waterboys without finding myself in the dire straits of having to include, er, Dire Straits. However, I think this recreation is a pretty fair representation of where this nascent goth was in 1985.

To acknowledge the elephant in the room, I've fallen foul of the record label info again and included Godstar, Psychic TV's tribute to Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, as a release in 1985. The Official Chart Company insists that the single didn't begin to trouble the charts until the end of March 1986, peaking at a dizzying #67 in its fifth week. 

 

In my defence, I can't confirm the single's official release date but promos were circulating in late 1985 and the record sleeve states that Godstar "is the theme song from the forthcoming feature film of the same name about the Life and Times of Brian Jones which begins shooting on February 28th 1986". So, it's staying put in 1985 as far as I'm concerned!

Continuing the ropey Six Degrees Of Separation theme that I failed to extend beyond three songs yesterday, there is a further connection between sides 1 and 2 of this cassette. Godstar is co-credited to The Angels Of Light, including Rose McDowall, who featured yesterday with Strawberry Switchblade. 

There's a further connection between Since Yesterday by Strawberry Switchblade and track 2, You've Got The Power by Win, in that both were David Motion. You can't make this stuff up, you know.

Fire In The Twilight by Wang Chung didn't trouble the Top 100 here, but is forever etched in my mind for its inclusion in John Hughes' film The Breakfast Club, sound tracking the scene where the tearaway teens are racing to get back to their desks ahead of scumbag teacher Vernon. It's an unfeasibly enormous school, based on this scene.

Bring On The Dancing Horses was the first 12" single that I bought by Echo & The Bunnymen, along with their Songs To Learn & Sing greatest hits compilation. Late to the party I may have been, but both have been enduring favourites. 

How Soon Is Now? was the first 12" single I owned by The Smiths, but I've gone for my second purchase, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side, rescued from the ex-chart bargain bin at my local WH Smiths (in the days when there were enough WH Smiths to have a local one). 

The Dream Academy couldn't even quite match Psychic TV's peak, The Love Parade entering the charts at #96 on this day in 1985 and reaching a disappointing #68 a couple of weeks later. A far cry from their previous high of #15 with Life in A Northern Town. They tried again later in the year with a cover of The Smiths' Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want. The record buying public clearly misinterpreted this request as "another flop single", as it limped to #83. Still, at least the inclusion of the instrumental version in another John Hughes movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, guaranteed immortality.

By 1985, Frank Tovey had shed his Fad Gadget persona and was arguably aiming for a slightly more commercial sound, ably demonstrated by the single Luxury. Personally, I liked the new direction. It wasn't a hit, of course, and Tovey ploughed a different, darker, folkier furrow with subsequent albums.

No G.D.M. (Dedicated To Quentin Crisp) by Gina X was first released in 1979, again in 1982 and then re-mixed and re-released by original producer and collaborator Zeus B. Held in 1985. It didn't trouble the UK charts on any of these occasions, which understates its impact and brilliance. I guess Radio 1 playlists - and our sensitive ears - remained unprepared for a song about lesbians, transvestites and "red haired queers". Philistines!

What I Wouldn't Give by Pink Industry is one of the greatest singles of the 1980s. Seriously. I read a review of it in Smash Hits, of all places, where Chris Heath described it as "A very strange record, but a good one" which says it all really, though he had a word count to deliver so does go on a bit more. What I Wouldn't Give contains the brilliant verse,

 

There's my Smiths tapes you never wanted to hear

Throw them away, Morrissey in the bin

If that would bring you back again

A similar fate befell Mozzer's collection in households across the UK years later, when he devolved into a complete prick.

Some loud guitars from either end of the spectrum, first off with The Jesus & Mary Chain, followed by The Cult. I bought the latter, along with The Smiths, O.M.D. and, er, Animal Nightlife with a bunch of other 12" singles whilst holidaying with the family in a caravan in (I think) Bournemouth in the summer of 1985. 

It was a while longer before I owned a record by The Jesus & Mary Chain (not counting their appearance on The Hit Red Hot EP), though my love for their continuing recordings has outlasted that of The Cult by some distance. 

ZTT scored a coup by signing Grace Jones. Slave To The Rhythm was originally written and intended as a follow up to Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Relax and their demo finally saw the light of day a few years ago. It's good though I don't think anyone will argue that gifting it to Grace was the right move. For this selection, I've re-edited sections from the 7" and 12" 'Blooded' remix, including Ian McShane's introduction, to create a - for me, at least - more satisfying composite version. Heeeeere's Grace!

Normal service resumes next weekend, as I revisit the Decade cassette that I recorded in 1990, covering 1986 and 1987. Expect the unexpected. Well, a little.

 

1) Godstar (7" Version): Psychic TV ft. The Angels Of Light

2) You've Got The Power (7" Version): Win

3) Fire In The Twilight (Specially Remixed Version): Wang Chung

4) Bring On The Dancing Horses (Single Version): Echo & The Bunnymen

5) The Boy With The Thorn In His Side (Album Version): The Smiths

6) The Love Parade (7"): The Dream Academy

7) Luxury (Album Version): Frank Tovey

8) No G.D.M. (7 Inch): Gina X

9) What I Wouldn't Give (Album Version): Pink Industry

10) Never Understand (Album Version): The Jesus & Mary Chain

11) She Sells Sanctuary (Album Version): The Cult

12) Slave To The Rhythm (Cold Blooded Edit By Khayem): Grace Jones

3rd March 1985: Psychocandy (#47): 10

20th April 1985: Fire In The Twilight EP (# n/a): 3

?? May 1985: No G.D.M. EP (# n/a): 8

?? June 1985: You've Got The Power EP (#95): 2 *

?? July 1985: New Beginnings (# n/a): 9

28th July 1985: Love (#15): 11

?? August 1985: Snakes & Ladders (# n/a): 7

8th September 1985: The Love Parade EP (#68): 6

6th October 1985: The Queen Is Dead (#23): 5

20th October 1985: Slave To The Rhythm EP (#20): 12

27th October 1985: Bring On The Dancing Horses EP (#21): 4

20th April 1986: Godstar EP (#67): 1 **

 

Side Two (45:35) (GD) (M)

* You've Got The Power was originally released in June 1985 then twice more, the third time proving lucky - kind of - when it got to #95 the week of 16th March 1986.

** According to Discogs, and my personal copy of the 12" single, Godstar was released in 1985. The sleeve info also notes that Godstar is the theme to a Brian Jones biopic "which begins shooting on February 28th 1986". I've no recollection why the single didn't enter the charts until late March 1986 and the film never saw the light of day, if indeed filming ever began...

Watch The Mass Be Served More Trash

My first Fad Gadget compilation since a C90 cassette in 1990, which I posted on this blog in October 2021. 

 

The trigger for this wasn't the usual random airing of a song or coming across a video or live performance online. No, it was far more innocuous than that. Surfing the crap TV the other day, I spotted an advert for a Channel 5 show called Your Kitchen: 60 Years Of Fads & Gadgets. I mean, what more sign does one need?

 

As the original selection was a 20-track 'best of', this is arguably the 'best of the rest', but there's absolutely no barrel scrapng here. There are three singles - For Whom The Bells Toll, Fireside Favourite and I Discover Love - alongside the debut B-side from 1979, The Box.

 

Wheels Of Fortune has featured on another various artists cassette that I've compiled and posted here previously. Taken from 1982 Falklands War commentary Under The Flag, it's one of several tracks to feature label mate Alison Moyet on the saxophone.

Sleep appeared on the 1984 album Gag, an earlier version circa 1982 appearing as the B-side to One Man's Meat, the final single by Fad Gadget. Frank Tovey went on to record several albums under his own name and with The Pyros.

In 2001, Mute Records released The Best Of Fad Gadget, which compiled 30 A-sides, B-sides and 12" versions. Amongst them were a couple of new remixes. I Monster tackled Fireside Favourite whilst Frank himself 'regurgitated' Swallow It from 1981 album Incontinent.

On the back of the compilation, Frank revived Fad Gadget for a support slot on Depeche Mode's Exciter tour in late 2001 and then headed out on a headline tour of Europe in January 2002, culminating in the SAMA festival in Gothenburg, Sweden on 30th March 2002. At home in London, on 3rd April 2002, Frank died of a heart attack at age 45. A tragic, shocking loss.

To these ears, Frank Tovey's music as Fad Gadget sounds just as fresh, incisive and relevant as it did when I first heard it in the 1980s.

 

1) Incontinent (1981)

2) Swallow It (Regurgitated) (2001)

3) Stand Up (1984)

4) For Whom The Bells Toll II (Single Version) (1982)

5) Salt Lake City Sunday (1980)

6) Wheels Of Fortune (1982)

7) Speak To Me (1984)

8) Sleep (Electro-Induced Original) (1982)

9) The Box (Single Version) (1979)

10) Blind Eyes (1981)

11) Fireside Favourite (Album Version) (1980)

12) I Discover Love (Single Version) (1983)

 

1979: Back To Nature 7": 9

1980: Fireside Favourites: 5, 11

1981: Incontinent: 1, 10

1982: For Whom The Bells Toll 7": 4 

1982: Under The Flag: 6

1983: I Discover Love 7": 12

1984: Gag: 3, 7 

1984: One Man's Meat 7": 8

2001: The Best Of Fad Gadget: 2

Watch The Mass Be Served More Trash (46:41) (GD) (M)

 

 

You can find my C90 Fad Gadget compilation, The Damage Done, here

The Damage Done

8th September marked the 65th anniversary of Frank Tovey's birth; on 3rd April 2022, it'll be twenty years since his death. My recent posting of the 1980s compilation Modern Dance prompted a comment from Mike about the enduring appeal and lasting significance of music we discover as teenagers and, for me, Fad Gadget is a prime example of this.

 

Sometime in 1981, I remember reading - probably in my brother's copy of Smash Hits - that Fad Gadget was supporting Toyah (who I was a big fan of at the time) on tour, mainly because it was accompanied by a photo of Frank/Fad in his "Mr. Punch" costume from the Incontinent album cover. That wasn't my jumping on point, though: that came in slightly reverse order from listening to Tovey's solo album from 1986, Snakes And Ladders, then the final Fad Gadget album from 1984, Gag. The first album that I actually bought for myself, circa 1988 and a couple of quid for a secondhand copy from Replay Records in Bristol, was Fad Gadget's third album, Under The Flag.

 

This is what I had to say about Under The Flag on my old blog, featured in Juicebox Jukebox #4, posted 31st October 2005:

 

Originally released in 1982, the third Fad Gadget album is a direct comment on being British during the Falklands War. Re-released in 1991 (coinciding with the first Gulf conflict), I picked this up recently in a second-hand CD shop, to replace my crackling, worn-out vinyl copy. With the protracted British presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, the album’s lyrical content continues to resonate. Despite being tagged as a leftfield electronic artist, there are traces of the folk tradition in Frank Tovey’s songs, notably the processed accapella of “Plainsoing”, which he would exploit more fully in 1989’s Tyranny And The Hired Hand and his two subsequent albums with The Pyros. 

Tovey’s scepticism of the government’s justifications for war is obvious, For Whom The Bells Toll cynically responding “If I’ve heard them once, I’ve heard them a thousand times before.” The title track’s dismissal that “the script is so damned obvious” could easily be applied to Margaret Thatcher’s cod-Churchill proclamations at the time. Paraphrasing the familiar World War II slogan in Cipher, “Careless talk can cost lives” also implies that criticism of the government’s pro-war stance is seen as unpatriotic, even treasonous, whilst The Sheep Look Up is a self-explanatory expose of the ‘go with the flow’ masses, never questioning the information they are supplied with. The tone throughout is sombre, yet surprisingly rich and layered, with unsettlingly muted contributions from Alison Moyet on backing vocals and saxophone. 

 

Occasionally the tempo picks up but, as the title of robo-disco stomp Love Parasite suggests, this doesn’t represent an escape into hedonistic club culture. Under The Flag was the last fully electronic Fad Gadget album: 1984’s Gag sought a more organic sound, further developed in Frank Tovey’s ‘solo’ albums. 2001’s Best Of reasserted his Fad Gadget persona as an electronic pioneer, and his sole new contribution – a rework of Swallow It – promised much, making his premature death the following year all the more tragic. Under The Flag is not comfortable listening – and rightly so – but it’s political message is one that’s sorely lacking in this generation’s electronic artists.

 

...I'm assuming that last comment was a dig at the electroclash movement, which had been the "next big thing" at the turn of the 21st Century though had already fizzled out by 2002-03. I really liked the music, but found it lacked artists with the social commentary and lyrical heft of 1980s electronica like Soft Cell, Cabaret Voltaire and Fad Gadget.

I followed Frank Tovey throughout his career and, as much as I enjoyed his natural progression to a more organic, contemporary folk sound, it was a thrill when Tovey resurrected Fad Gadget in 2001 for a best of compilation, updated remixes and a tour supporting Depeche Mode. He was reportedly working on an album at the time of his death from a heart attack in 2002. An unreleased song, Sleeper, appeared on a posthumous CD/DVD collection in 2006 so we can only wonder at the shape and sound of his new material.

Today's selection covers both sides of a mixtape that I recorded around 1990. Another 'best of', though heavily favouring Under The Flag, which remains my favourite Fad Gadget album. Frank Tovey was the first signing to the Mute label and what better way to announce Fad Gadget's arrival than with the single Back To Nature. Along the way, the selection takes in other brilliant standalone singles in Ricky's Hand and Lady Shave, as well as King Of The Flies, which improved on the album version with it's faster pace and rolling bassline. The extended versions of Saturday Night Special and Collapsing New People are my preferred takes on both of these songs. The latter song title was inspired by and features German band Einstürzende Neubauten, which translates as "collapsing new buildings". There's a more sombre, reflective feel to the closing four songs, including one which was tucked away on the B-side of the aforementioned Collapsing New People. Spoil The Child showcases the haunting vocals of longtime collaborator Joni Sackett and is one of the greatest Fad Gadget songs in an immense body of work.

 

Side One (45:04)

1) Back To Nature (1979)

2) Newsreel (1980) 

3) Coitus Interruptus (1980)

4) Ricky's Hand (Single Version) (1980)

5) Plain Clothes (1981)

6) Saturday Night Special (Album Version) (1981)

7) Lady Shave (Single Version) (1981)

8) Collapsing New People (Berlin Mix ft. Einstürzende Neubauten) (1983)

9) King Of The Flies (Single Version) (1982)

Side Two (44:54)

1) Ideal World (1984)

2) Jump (1984)

3) Scapegoat (1982)

4) Life On The Line (Version IV) (1982)

5) Sleep (Album Version) (1984)

6) The Sheep Look Up (1982)

7) Love Parasite (Album Version) (1982)

8) Under The Flag I (1982)

9) Cipher (1982)

10) Spoil The Child (ft. Joni Sackett) (1983)

11) The Ring (1984)

 

1979: Back To Nature 7": A1

1980: Fireside Favourites: A2, A3

1980: Ricky's Hand 7": A4

1981: Incontinent: A5, A6 

1981: Make Room / Lady Shave 7": A7

1982: King Of The Flies 7": A9 

1982: Under The Flag: B3, B4, B6, B7, B8, B9

1983: Collapsing New People 12": A8, B10

1984: Gag: B1, B2, B5, B11

Side One (45:04) (GD) (M)

Side Two (44:54) (GD) (M)

Zoo Time Is She And You Time

Side 1 of a mixtape cassette titled heartbeatincreasingheartbeat, recorded 25th September 1991. 

 

Back in Bristol after a year working and travelling in Australia, back at college for a second go at 'A' levels having dropped out after 6 months a few years previously, back living with my parents after a period of independence and freedom and back in local record shops, sniffing out new and old vinyl.

1) The Man With The Golden Arm (Full Length Version) (Cover of Elmer Bernstein): Barry Adamson (1988)

2) Strange Days: The Doors (1967)

3) Trip, Stumble & Fall: The Mamas & The Papas (1966)

4) De-Luxe: Lush (1990)

5) Theme II: Clan Of Xymox (1986)

6) Spoil The Child: Fad Gadget ft. Joni Sackett (1983)

7) This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us: Sparks (1974)

8) Thank You For Sending Me An Angel: Talking Heads (1978)

9) The Light Pours Out Of Me ('One Pound Ninety-Nine' Version) (Cover of Magazine): Peter Murphy (1985)

10) The Sleeper: John Cale (1985)

11) The Avenue: O.M.D. (1984)

12) The 'In' Crowd (Cover of Dobie Gray): Bryan Ferry (1974)

13) Wheels Of Fortune: Fad Gadget (1982)

Side One (47:19)

Find Side Two here 
 

Fever Needs A Cure

Side 2 of a 1996 mixtape, rescued from the loft. 

 

1) Only Baby (Album Version): No-Man (1993)

2) Luxury (Remix): Frank Tovey (1986) 

3) Rope (Extended Mix): It's Immaterial (1986)

4) 1963 (Single Version): New Order (1987)

5) Tarantula (Second Version) (12"): Colourbox (1983)

6) 11 Years (Sabres Main Mix 2 By Sabres Of Paradise aka Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner & Gary Burns): The Wolfgang Press (1995)

7) It's A Fine Day (12" Mix): Opus III (1991)

8) Mission From God (Single Version): Curve (1992)

Side Two (47:40)