Youth Is Wasted On The Young

Youth aka Martin Glover could never be accused of slacking off. Since picking up a bass and co-founding Killing Joke, he's been a constant in my musical consciousness since the 1980s and shows no sign of slowing down in 2026.

Youth's CV includes production, collaboration, "supervision" and remix credits for artists ranging from Tom Jones to The Irresistible Force, Transglobal Underground to Cast, Du Blonde to Crowded House, The Orb to Shack and back again.

This ten-track, hour-long selection is rooted in the early 1990s, occasionally branches out into the 21st century and features some of my favourite reworks.

There's the Led Zeppelin-sampling cavernous boom of Björk's old band The Sugarcubes, with late period classic VItamin. 

This is preceded by a mighty dub of Killing Joke circa 1994, when the original line-up not only reformed but dove even deeper into the dub oceans they had previously explored a decade and a half before.

The remixes of Walking On Air by Frazier Chorus were a game changer, and I would have loved to have heard what Youth would have done if let loose on the entire album Ray, not just a couple of songs.

And Natacha Atlas' breathtaking ululations find a perfect complement in Youth's remix of Yalla Chant, which cropped up on a disproportionate number of my mixtapes in the mid-late 1990s.

Not that the remainder are any less of an experience, whether it's teaching old Goths new tricks (Peter Murphy, The Mission), flirting with pop (The Art Of Noise, P.M. Dawn) or going toe-to-toe with legends (Bim Sherman, Jah Wobble). Youth takes it all in his pace, weighted down with plenty of bass.

1) The Art Of Slow Love (Remix By Youth): The Art Of Noise (1991)

2) A Watcher's Point Of View (Don't 'Cha Think) (Youth Extended Mix): P.M. Dawn (1991)

3) Freaks Of Nature (Natural Dub Mix By Youth & Ott): Dub Trees ft. Bim Sherman (2000)

4) I Am My Own Name (Youth Remix): Peter Murphy (2015)

5) Another Cult Goes Down (Portobello Mix By Youth & Greg Hunter): Killing Joke (1994)

6) Vitamin (Babylon's Burnin) (Remix By Youth): The Sugarcubes (1992)

7) Tower Of Strength (Lysergic Dub) (Remix By Youth): The Mission (1994)

8) Walking On Air (Dub Instrumental) (Remixed By Youth): Frazier Chorus (1990)

9) Inspector Out Of Space: Youth Meets Jah Wobble ft. Rhiannon Sharkey (2020)

10) Yalla Chant (The Lesson Four Remix By Youth): Natacha Atlas (1995)

1990: Ray/The Baby Album (ltd 2x CD): 8

1991: A Watcher's Point Of View (Don't 'Cha Think) EP: 2

1991: The FON Mixes: 1

1992: Vitamin EP: 6

1994: Exorcism EP: 5

1994: Tower Of Strength EP: 7

1995: Yalla Chant EP: 10

2000: Nature Never Did Betray the Heart That Loved Her: 3

2015: Remixes From Lion: 4

2020: Acid Punk Dub Apocalypse: 9

Youth Is Wasted On The Young (1:00:07) (GD) (M)

Sat In The Passenger Seat, Having An Out Of Body Experience

A selection of long songs for Sunday, designed to transport you...well, take your pick from Mars or Dorset and all points in between, or just head straight out of this galaxy and see what else is out there.

 

The shortest song in this selection clocks in at a few seconds under twelve minutes, the longest contribution edges over fourteen and a half. Too many beats between them all to be considered pure ambient music perhaps, but they all have enough going on to stimulate the senses.

First stop, Japan and a couple of electronic music legends. Magic Dome by Yoshihiro Sawasaki was (I think) his debut release, first appearing on the flip of the Neocrystal 12" single, then the album Perfumed Garden, both in 1994. 

Soft Ballet was formed by Ryoichi Endo, Ken Morioka and Maki Fujii in 1986, though my introduction to them was via their remix albums featuring Western artists such as LFO, Jah Wobble, Orbital, Fluke and Global Communication. The third and final in the series reworked 1995 album Form, by which time Soft Ballet had split, although they reunited for a couple of albums in the early 2000s. 

Speaking of Global Communication, Tom Middleton resurrected the GCOM alias in 2021 for a 20-track magnum opus E2-XO. Most of them are pretty short, several clocking in at a minute or less, until you get to the album closer, Beyond The Milky Way. Just ride the stellar wave and drift into the unknown.

 

The Orb and Youth transformed ambient music in the late 80s/early 90s, whether separately or together. I've plumped for the latter, with a remix of Spanish Castles In Space, one of my favourite songs by The Orb, in any incarnation. Alex Paterson and Martin Glover have continued to work together, not least last year's Orb album, Prism.

 

Back down to Earth now, more specifically Wimborne in Dorset. Al Stewart grew up there and Robert Fripp was born in Wimborne Minster, so you know the vibes are good.  MLO were/are Jon Tye and Peter Smith; Jon continues to push the ambient envelope, as one half of Seahawks.

 

Matt Gunn is the new kid on the block, relatively speaking, with a clutch of great releases on the Paisley Dark and Electric Wardrobe labels. Matt's first album Mostly Fiction is a good jumping on point, though his EPs also come recommended.

 

Youth is back for the finale, with an end of the millennium reworking of psychedelic rockers Gong. I first discovered Steve Hillage as the credited producer on the 12" single of Sweat In Bullet by Simple Minds, later as a founder of System 7, so my journey back to Gong was full of detours and diversions, but I eventually got there. A bit like this compilation, if you will.

 

1) Magic Dome (Full Length Version): 澤崎吉広 (Yoshihiro Sawasaki) (1994)

2) No One Lives On Mars (Even Longer) (Remixed By Carl Craig): Soft Ballet (1995)

3) Beyond The Milky Way (Full Length Version): GCOM (2021)

4) Spanish Castles In Space (Extended Youth Mix By Martin Glover): The Orb (1991)

5) Wimborne (Spacetime Continuum Mix By Jonah Sharp): MLO (1994)

6) Space Drohne I & II (Album Version): Matt Gunn (2023)

7) A Sprinkling Of Clouds (Full Length Edit By Youth aka Martin Glover): Gong (1999)

 

1991: Aubrey Mixes: The Ultraworld Excursions: 4

1994: Perfumed Garden: 1

1994: Wimborne Revisited EP: 5

1995: Forms: Remix For Ordinary People: 2

1999: You Remixed: 7

2021: E2-XO: 3 

2023: Mostly Fiction: 6

Sat In The Passenger Seat, Having An Out Of Body Experience (1:30:02) (KF) (Mega)

Infinite Sunrise

The Orb's 1991 song Perpetual Dawn is one of the greatest singles and album tracks of the year, decade, all time, in any genre. I never tire of listening to it and it sounds as 'now' in 2024 as it did over three decades ago.

Clearly in agreement, the full nine-and-a-half minute version from The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld has been reissued with a brand new video, visualised by Kavi-Karnapura Robin Buckley.

Alex Paterson pops up here and there, vintage footage woven into the visual fabric. Thomas Fehlmann joins him on the decks at 4:42 and Alex and Youth aka Martin Glover come together for a split-second 'then and now' segment at 4:51. 

The narrative, such as it is, either makes no sense or complete sense, depending on how you approach it but as someone who is ambivalent about AI and/or CGI, this is a compelling watch and if it introduces a new audience to the greatness of The Orb and Perpetual Dawn, all the better.

Fatal Fascination

Today's post is literally Brilliant. Yes, really.  

 

Brilliant were an '80s group that were originally formed after Marcus Myers had auditioned for lead singer with Killing Joke when frontman Jaz Coleman escaped to Iceland. Instead, bassist Youth aka Martin Glover ended up leaving Killing Joke and starting up Brilliant with Myers. The rest of the first line-up of Brilliant is in retrospect pretty impressive: Jimmy Cauty (The Orb, The Timelords, The KLF), Ben Watkins (The Flowerpot Men, Sunsonic, Juno Reactor) and Guy Pratt (Icehouse, Madonna, Bryan Ferry, Pink Floyd and currently performing with Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets). 

Apparently, Brilliant hosted more than 30 members between 1982 and 1986, including Kris Needs (Secret Knowledge, Delta Lady), Stephane Holweck (Total Eclipse, Juno Reactor), Jake Le Mesurier (Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction), Jean-Marie Carroll (The Members) and 'Big' Paul Ferguson (Killing Joke).

 

I first heard Brilliant in their final, more pop-oriented phase, where they had settled into the trio of Youth, Jimmy Cauty and former backing singer, now lead, June Montana. Sadly, despite some great singles, interesting promo videos and numerous TV appearances and a good debut album, this didn't translate into commercial success and Brilliant called it a day in 1986. 

 

This latter period is also notable for the production by Stock, Aitken & Waterman, assisted by Phil Harding. Given their subsequent global domination with their Sausage Hit Factory for pop giants Sonia, Sinitta, The Reynolds Girls and some others I forget, this was a surprising flop but infinitely preferable to much of the pap pop that followed.

 

Amongst my vinyl collection is a lovely double pack 12" single of Love Is War, containing a bonus remix 12" of their cover of James Brown's 1966 classic It's A Man's Man's Man's World. My copy of the main 12" is also a limited edition, including this rather nice large poster:
 

Today's selection is a brief sojourn through Brilliant's pop period, mainly because I don't own that many Brilliant songs and have ripped even fewer. Apologies for any variations in sound quality; no apologies for including two versions of Love Is War in a mere 6-track, 30-minute sampler.

 

1) Somebody (New Extended Mix By Freddy Bastone) (1986)

2) Love Is War (Instrumental) (Remix By Stock, Aitken & Waterman & Phil Harding) (1986)

3) Ruby Fruit Jungle (Single Version) (1985)

4) The Burning Necklace (1986)

5) Love Is War (Alternative 12" Mix By Stock, Aitken & Waterman & Phil Harding)

  (1986)

6) It's A Man's Man's Man's World (The Trans Global Mix By Stock, Aitken & Waterman & Phil Harding) (Cover of James Brown) (1986) 

 

Fatal Fascination (31:47)

 

I couldn't resist including a couple of videos, available on YouTube. The first is Brilliant's promo for Love Is War and a shining example of Youth and Jimmy's guitar choreography.

 

The second is an appearance on Dutch TV show, Pop Sjop, which demonstrates that Youth and Jimmy's synchronised axe moves were not limited to the promos. However, the real star of this clip is the presenter introducing the clip. None more 80s, indeed.