WareHouse

Happy 69th birthday to Martyn Ware, born 19th May 1956.

Founder member of both The Human League, The British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.) and Heaven 17, Martyn has also had a hugely successful career as a production, working with the likes of Tina Turner, Erasure and Terence Trent D'Arby.

Today's selection pulls together some extended examples of Martyn's production prowess, which pretty much speak for themselves. 

Have a good one, Martyn!

1) Those First Impressions (Extended Version): Associates (1984)

2) Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Parts One And Two) (Uninterrupted Single Version): Heaven 17 (1983)

3) Medley: Rock 'n' Roll / Nightclubbing: The Human League (1980)

4) Wishing Well (Three Coins In The Fountain Mix): Terence Trent D'Arby (1987)

5) I Don't Depend On You (Extended Re-Edited Version By gkugno): The Men (1979/2011)

6) Brilliant Creatures (Album Version): Marc Almond (1996)

7) Party Fears Two (Album Version): B.E.F. ft. Glenn Gregory (2013)

1980: Holiday '80 EP: 3

1983: Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry EP: 2

1984: Those First Impressions EP: 1

1987: Wishing Well EP: 4

1996: Fantastic Star: 6

2011: I Don't Depend On You EP: 5

2013: Music Of Quality And Distinction Volume 3: Dark: 7

WareHouse (47:00) (KF) (Mega)

Here It Comes Again

"it" being "Friday", "the start of the weekend" or "another bloody 12"/80s Dubhed selection".

If the latter doesn't get your hackles rising then you're in for a treat with some poptacular extended mixes featuring Altered Images, B.E.F., Billy MacKenzie, Erasure, Eurythmics, New Order, Pet Shop Boys and Stephen Duffy.

Fair warning that the BPMs will remain "up" for the next 72 hours....

1) See Those Eyes (Long Version) (Remix By Martin Rushent): Altered Images (1982)

2) It Doesn't Have To Be (Boop Oopa Doo Mix By Mixmaster Phil Harding): Erasure (1987)

3) In The Night (Remix By Arthur Baker): Pet Shop Boys (1986)

4) Round & Round (Club Mix By Ben Grosse & Kevin Saunderson): New Order (1989)

5) Cool Blue (Vocal Mix By John 'Jellybean' Benitez): Eurythmics (1984)

6) The Secret Life Of Arabia (Dub Mix By Martyn Ware & Ian Craig Marsh) (Cover of David Bowie): B.E.F. ft. Billy Mackenzie (1982)

7) I Love You (Diversion) (12" Version By David Leonard): Stephen Duffy (1986)

1982: Methods Of Dance Volume 2: 6

1982: See Those Eyes EP: 1

1984: Touch Dance: 5

1986: Disco: 3

1986: Extended Play EP: 7

1987: It Doesn't Have To Be EP: 2

1989: Round & Round EP: 4

Here It Comes Again (46:06) (KF) (Mega)

Let's Celebrate And Vaporise

I first heard Let's All Make A Bomb on my brother's copy of Heaven 17's debut album, Penthouse And Pavement. 

 

I think it was one of a bunch of cassettes of albums that our uncle had borrowed from his local library and taped on his fancy hi-fi so we didn't have the artwork though I remember it well from ads in Smash Hits at the time. 

 

I loved this song but I only discovered a few days ago that an official video had been made. Unsurprisingly, it's predominantly black and white, with the band walking through an abandoned, rubbish-strewn London. You can probably guess the reason for the short segment in colour at the end... Of it's time but a brilliant if on-the-nose visual accompaniment to the song.

 

The first time the song was in my collection was not through my own purchase of Penthouse And Pavement but when a 'new version' popped up as the B-side of Come Live With Me in 1983. Although the A-side turned out to be their second UK Top 5 hit (after Temptation, which did it again in 1992), personally this was one of those examples of the B-side being a better song that the A-side.

 

In 1998, Heaven 17 released the Retox/Detox album, a double CD comprising 23 reworks of (mostly) songs from their first three albums. Let's All Make A Bomb got two 'retoxes', both quite different.

Geek aka Neale Johnson delivers a stripped back 'synthapella' version, which highlights just how good Glenn Gregory's voice is. I don't know anything else about Geek and they don't appear to have released more than a couple of singles and remixes around the same period, but this is a winner in my book.

Not an obvious choice perhaps, the other retox has ON-U Sound maestro Adrian Sherwood at the controls. As you might expect, it's a bass-booming dub behemoth, although heavier on the vocals than you might usually expect. Not to everyone's taste and perhaps won't be considered up there with Sherwood's best even by his fans. I like it a lot, of course.

I've also found and listened to three live versions of Let's All Make A Bomb, which I've enjoyed. The first is from 2010's Penthouse And Pavement tour, though no info on the location or date. It looks and sounds great.

The second is from 20th September 2022, with the band doing an impromptu version of Let's All Make A Bomb during a soundcheck VIP Meet And Greet at The Magic Bag in Ferndale, which is self-described as "Detroit's Premier Nightlife, Comedy & Concert Venue". The song was apparently prompted by a 17 year-old fan who said it was their favourite Heaven 17 song. Looking at the shuffling, mobiles-aloft audience in the video, I'd suggest that the 17 year-old was (a) in the minority and (b) possibly the grandchild of another VIP ticket holder. A good performance though and Glenn made good on his promise that the song would not be performed again in that evening's headline set.

 

Bang up to date with the final live version of Let's All Make A Bomb, performed seven weeks ago at the Kubix Festival in Sutherland. I'd never heard of this festival but interested to see that Glenn and Martyn were sharing the bill with the likes of Marc Almond, The Boo Radleys, Derek Forbes, The House Of Love, EMF, Squeeze, Terrorvision, Inspiral Carpets and - not a name I expected to see again - The Armoury Show.

These days Martyn Ware seems to be living his best life, wardrobe-wise, suggesting that he had a sideways glance at what Vince Clarke was wearing on-stage in the mid-to-late 1980s and wishing he could have some of that. And now he can. Martyn and Glenn respectively celebrated their 67th and 65th birthdays in May and all I can say is, more power to them.

I've never seen Heaven 17 live in concert and (I think) there are tickets left for an upcoming gig in Bristol in November, which is also a Friday night. The only downside is that it's the O2 Academy, a venue that I'm not a particular fan of. Mrs. K likes the music but also dislikes the venue. Decisions, decisions...

No surprise that the news of two desperate male despots meeting and talking potential arms deals called this song to mind and growing up at a time when mutually assured destruction was a bandied around with resigned abandon. There's a good interview with Martyn Ware from 2021 on 909 Originals which mainly focuses on (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang but also touches on Let's All Make A Bomb and other songs from the period. Well worth a few minute sof your time.

And as the low aggress the high
All you can do is sit and cry
You've only got yourself to blame
Don't try to stop me it's too late
My mind's made up, this job won't wait
There's nothing left for me to say

 

Hey! There's no need to debate
It's time to designate your fate
Take the M out of M.A.D.
Let's all make a bomb

 

 Take one hundred scientists or more
Place in a room and lock the door
Let them confer for half their lives
Unlock the door, go in and see
What they have made for you and me
A brand new toy to idolize

 

Hey! There's no need to debate
It's time to designate your fate
Take the M out of M.A.D.
Let's all make a bomb

 

 Although the war has just begun
Ignore the sirens, let's have fun
Put on your best, go out in style
Although our future's looking black
We'll go down town and join the pack
Let's celebrate and vaporise

If Lloyd Cole Was Ambient...

Wolves is the closing song on Lloyd Cole's current album, On Pain, which came out in June. Having delivered the album in late 2022 and frustrated with the record label release schedule, exacerbated by the vinyl production queues, meaning that the album itself would not be released for another 6 months, Lloyd decided to release a couple of "premixes" of Wolves, both by Martyn Ware.

The Red Star Mix is a minimal masterpiece, and in retrospect closest to the album cut (which was the version I heard last of all), coming in at under four minutes. 

The LyncanthroMix is longer, just under five and half minutes, but strips things back even further to Lloyd's vocals floating above synth washes. It's really quite beautiful.

This inevitably took me back to the album version, which is a seven and a half minute bubbling epic, stretching out the verses over pulsing synths, credited to Lloyd's former Commotions compadres, Blair Cowan and Neil Clark. Wolves - and the remainder of On Pain - is produced by Chris Merrick Hughes. This song alone was enough to send me off to belatedly buy the album.

  

Following the two "premixes" of Wolves and the release on On Pain, there will be two further remixes of Wolves to come. Lloyd's explanation for the pre- and post-album release of the mixes is simple: the first - by Barry Burns of Mogwai - wasn't ready in time and the second by Chris Merrick Hughes "is insane and I can't let people hear it before they hear the original version".

 

This and other nuggets about On Pain are available on YouTube, Lloyd interviewed by Paul Cashmere for Noise11.com back in May. Well worth 20 minutes of your time, with Lloyd on top form.

 

And being a Lloyd Cole, the lyrics to Wolves are of course exemplary.

 

 

We tired of the mountain
The forest and stream
We’d heard of your cities
And your hot children
We danced to your disco
And your boogaloo
Ah ooh

 
We came to be near you
But you’re frightened, we see
We stalk on the borders of your decency
We wait for your bitches
We know they will come
Ah ooh

 
We tire of the abstract
We long for concrete
This Gothic architecture
This brutality
Your jails and slaughterhouses
Your democracy
Ah ooh

 
You worship false idols
You love the deceased
You cower before tyrants
You spread the disease
You lack imagination
You lack imagination
Ah ooh

 

 

Today's post is in the shadow of the sad news that we have lost three more iconic artists in the past couple of days, Jamie Reid, Sixto Rodriguez and Robbie Robertson. You were many things, but you never lacked imagination. Rest easy.

Time For Another Party!

I don't often post about an artist in quick succession, but I had unfinished business with Heaven 17. Wednesday's post of Heaven 17 12" mixes was originally intended as a single, 15-track, 90 minute behemoth. I just had one problem: much as I love and wanted to include This Is Mine, I've never been satisfied with any of the 12" versions. 

This Is Mine was originally released on 7", 12" (with fold out poster) and limited remix 12". Across the formats you'll find the Single Version, Extended Version, Mine (an instrumental version), Filmix and Cinemix. The version of the latter on the European 12" is nearly 3 minutes longer than it's UK counterpart, but none of them really do it for me. 

 

One of my early music blog discoveries in the early 2000s was Dreamtime, picking up the baton of Razormaid, Art Of Mix and their ilk and producing new, ultra-extended re-edits of 1980s classics. I liked the idea, even if the execution was often only as good as the variable source material. The blog was retired in 2012, the victim of numerous DMCA notices, but a few edits subsequently resurfaced on Dreamtime's Soundcloud page and various YouTube places, including this one.

The Dreamtime Mix of This Is Mine is nearly 10 minutes long and starts off brilliantly, switching between different mixes. Ultimately, it's let down by a couple of jarring changes in vinyl source and playing speed and it was far too long for this selection. I ended up creating a very simple edit of my own, essentially taking the Album Version and, inspired by the Dreamtime Mix, overlaying a couple of elements from the end of the Filmix to create a longer intro. In reverse, I also created a reprise to close this selection by taking the Album Version intro and splicing that with an offcut of the Filmix outro. I'm not going to pretend it's any better than the others, but I do at least get a version of This Is Mine that I like and a selection that more or less matches the C90-friendly run time of Wednesday's part 1.

Sandwiched between the coffee-fueled re-edits, you'll find another bunch of Heaven 17 favourites, including a few album tracks that received the remix treatment and appeared as 12" B-sides, as well as 1986's Endless compilation. 

 

Today's selection is dedicated to Mike and Echorich...East Side, West Side, the world moves on!

1) This Is Mine (Dream Within A Dreamtime Streamix Re-Edit By Khayem) (2022)

2) We Live So Fast (Special Dance Mix) (1983)

3) Play To Win (B.E.F. Disco Mix) (1981)

4) Who'll Stop The Rain (Special Dance Mix) (1983)

5) Penthouse And Pavement (12" Mix) (1981)

6) Trouble (U.S. Club Mix By Bruce Forest) (1987)

7) Let's All Make A Bomb (New Version) (1983)

8) This Is Mine (Filmix Reprise Re-Edit By Khayem) (2022)

 

1981: Penthouse And Pavement (12"): 5

1981: Play To Win (12"): 3 

1983: Come Live With Me (12"): 7

1983: Temptation (12"): 2, 4 

1987: Double Trouble (limited edition double pack 12"): 6

2022: This Is Mine (Khayem Re-Edits) (MP3): 1, 8

Time For Another Party! (44:53)

Time For A Party!

After slowing it down yesterday, time to pump it back up today with some Heaven 17. Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware had known each other previously, but formed Heaven 17 when the latter two split from The Human League, initially launching production entity B.E.F. aka the British Electric Foundation.

I think I first took notice of Heaven 17 in 1981 when they performed Play To Win on Top Of The Pops. One of those frequent TOTP oddities in that the single only managed #46 in a 7 week run. However, it left a lasting impression because I found Glenn Gregory's facial expressions both alarming and hilarious and I couldn't work out what Ian Craig Marsh was leaning into the mic to mime. And the ponytails...! I've just found and watched it again on YouTube and it's every bit as entertaining as I remembered.

 

I probably got into Heaven 17 with either K-Tel's Modern Dance compilation, which featured both Play To Win and Penthouse And Pavement (and which I wrote about last year) or my brother's cassette of the Penthouse And Pavement album. Either way, once I had a Saturday job and some money, I got that and The Luxury Gap on vinyl, plus 12" singles when I could get them. Whilst I enjoyed Sunset Now and ..(And That's No Lie), I'd lost interest by third album How Men Are and only bought a couple more singles (Contenders and Trouble) and the Endless remix cassette compilation during the rest of the 1980s.

 

Heaven 17 enjoyed a brief resurgence of interest in the early 1990s with a trio of remixed singles and a best of compilation. Brothers In Rhythm's remix of Tempation attained #4 (two places lower than the original) and a (pretty ropey) remix of debut (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang by Rapino Brothers just bettered the original UK chart placing of #45 by scraping to #40. Penthouse And Pavement, arguably the best of three remixes, only managed 1 week and #54, three places higher than it's previous attempt at global domination in 1981.

 

The trio reunited in the late 1999s and produced new music. Ian Craig Marsh stopped touring with Heaven 17, left the band around 2007 and subsequently became a music teacher. Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware have continued as a touring concern and - pandemic permitting - will resume live performances during 2022.

 

I've approached today's selection as the first of a series, dip sampling some of the 12" versions from their 1980s heyday. It's been done before and - with the exception of the Let Me Go! / Temptation segue, I wanted to avoid a slipshod retread of the Endless compilation. I had the limited edition box set cassette, which looked lovely and (Heaven 17 Megamix aside) was an almost perfect compilation. Unfortunately, living in a very damp and cold bedsit in Derby in the mid-1990s did for it, the outer box becoming mouldy and the cassette unplayable, so I had to ditch it. 

 

This selection misses some personal favourites, including the aforementioned Play To Win and Penthouse And Pavement as well as Let's All Make A Bomb, and adds a post-Endless track with the best remix of Contenders. There will be more to come, hopefully this year!

 

In the meantime, the official Heaven 17 website still appears to be offering a free 3-track EP from 2011, if you join the mailing list.

1) ..(And That's No Lie) (Re-mixed To Enhance Its Danceability) (1985)

2) Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Extended Dance Version) (1983)

3) Contenders (U.S. Club Mix By Bruce Forest) (1987)

4) I'm Your Money (Special Fortified Dance Mix!) (1981)

5) Let Me Go! (12" Extended Version) (1982)

6) Temptation (Special Dance Mix) (ft. Carol Kenyon) (1983)

7) (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (Full Length Version) (1981)

8) Sunset Now (Extended Version) (ft. Afrodiziak) (1984)

 

1981: I'm Your Money (12"): 4 

1981: (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (12") / Penthouse & Pavement: 7

1983: Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (12"): 2

1983: Temptation (12"): 6

1984: Sunset Now (12"): 8

1985: ..(And That's No Lie) (12"): 1 

1987: Double Trouble (limited edition double pack 12"): 3

Time For A Party! (46:28)

Forever Green But Not To Be Seen

If you've followed this blog for a while, you'll know that I love the music of Green Gartside and Scritti Politti. When it was announced in December 2020 that Scritti Politti would be playing Cupid & Psyche 85 in it's entirety live in concert for the first time, I got a pair of tickets for what was going to be my first live gig in over 2 years. I intentionally  went for the London date as a) it was at the weekend and b) being one of the last dates of the tour, in early October, surely it would be okay to go by then. Surely?

 

I should be sitting on a train to London, with growing excitement and anticipation at seeing Green Gartside/Scritti Politti performing live on a stage for the first time since June 2007. Sadly, I’ve had to pull out of this weekend’s trip. I have loved ones who are extremely vulnerable and, whilst we’d initially discussed my going solo to London, it was both a difficult and easy decision to make. Had it been a local gig in a spacious venue, it might have been okay. As the Scritti Politti experience would involve several hours on public transport to and from London, Tube travel, the gig itself plus an overnight stay, it just wasn't an option. 

 

It probably says a lot about the fragile normality we're all living in at the moment that I literally could not give the tickets away, despite various calls out to friends, friends of friends and the wider music loving community. Add to the mix a nationwide petrol panic and people are understandably reticent about a trip to or across The Big Smoke.

JC at The Vinyl Villain made it to the Glasgow gig on Monday and posted a brilliant and heartwarming review. It not only confirmed that Green Gartside remains possessed of one of the finest voices ever, but just how much it means to get out and enjoy live music with people again. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't gutted not to be seeing Scritti Politti tonight, but some very kind people have posted songs from the Glasgow & Cardiff concerts on YouTube: a few notes into each song and my heart lifts.

So, the tickets will now go into my collection of "gigs I got tickets for, but never made it to". The irony is that, having bought the Scritti Politti tickets for London, shortly after John Grant's postponed gig at Bath Forum was rescheduled for - you guessed it - 2nd October. I still can't make it to this gig either, but I'll have more to say about that in Sunday's post...

 

Anyway, why regret when there's so much beautiful music from Green Gartside to enjoy? Today's selection shares the same name as the Forever Green mixtape I posted back in August, but is by and large the Imaginary Compilation Album (#261, to be precise) that was my debut posting on The Vinyl Villain. At the time, I stuck rigidly to the 10 songs, 5 per side of (imaginary) vinyl format. In recreating it for today's post, I realised that that there was a real imbalance in the running times. I initially considered replacing the 12" mix of Boom! There She Was with the shorter album version. Instead, I've added two bonus songs to Side Two: B.E.F.'s cover of Stevie Wonder, featuring Green on vocals, and A Place We Both Belong, which was one of two new and exclusive songs on the 2011 compilation, Absolute. I think they slot in pretty well.

This post is a thank you to Green Gartside for getting back on stage with Scritti Politti and continuing to be an inspiration. I also read that the multi-talented Rhodri Marsden - and Scritti mainstay - celebrated his 50th birthday yesterday (1st October) with the gig at Brighton. A belated happy birthday, Rhodri! Sorry I missed you all this time, hopefully I'll see you again soon.

 

Side One (25:21)

1) Boom! There She Was (Sonic Property Mix By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero) (UK Edit): Scritti Politti ft. Roger Troutman (1988)

2) A Little Knowledge: Scritti Politti ft. B.J. Nelson (1985)

3) Petrococadollar: Scritti Politti (2006)

4) Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me (Nice Up The Area Mix By Green Gartside & Ian Craig Marsh) (Cover of Gladys Knight & The Pips): Scritti Politti ft. Sweetie Irie (1991)

5) Flesh & Blood (Version): Scritti Politti ft. Ranking Ann (1985)

 

Side Two (24:35) 

1) Confidence: Scritti Politti (1979)

2) Tinseltown To The Boogiedown (Album Version): Scritti Politti ft. Mos Def & Lee Majors (1999)

3) Wishing Well (Cover of Anne Briggs): Green Gartside (2020)

4) Gettin’, Havin’ And Holdin’: Scritti Politti (1982)

5) I Don’t Know Why I Love You (But I Love You) (Album Version) (Cover of Stevie Wonder): B.E.F. ft. Green Gartside & Billy Preston (1991)

6) A Place We Both Belong: Scritti Politti (2011)

7) Forgiven (Live Acoustic Version) (Charles Hazlewood, BBC Radio 2, 17 May 2007): Green Gartside (2007)

 

Side One (25:21)

Side Two (24:35)