The Fate Of The Eighties

Will I ever run out of 12" mixes from the 1980s to post? Probably not.

Five years into this blog, and I'm still pulling some big hitters out of the record bag that (I'm 99.9% sure) haven't previously featured in a Dubhed selection.

One from each year of the decade, not necessarily in that order, though the selection starts with 1980 and ends with 1989, so there's some order, at least. As well as some New Order.

I've cheated a little with the 1980 pick. The 12" version of Methods Of Dance is the same as the album version that appeared on Gentlemen Take Polaroids in 1980. However, the song didn't appear on a single until 1982, as the B-side to Nightporter. But hey, it's Japan, it's in!

The song that triggered the idea for this playlist a few days ago was a random shuffle of Dum Dum Girl (12" Mix) by Talk Talk. I love the mixes by the band, latterly with Tim Friese-Greene, though have a lot of love for the remixes by Steve Thompson & Richard Barbiero too. Dare I say it? I prefer this version of Dum Dum Girls to the original.

Sowing The Seeds Of Love by Tears For Fears closes out the selection. The 'Full Version' is lifted from the CD single I bought at the time (even though I hadn't yet bought a CD player!) If you bought Tears For Fears' Greatest Hits in the early 1990s, the one with the bonus CD of remixes, you will have found this labelled as Sowing The Seeds Of Love (Wen's Overnight Mix). It's a whopping thirty seconds longer than the album version, too!

In between, some cracking tunes by Depeche Mode, Howard Devoto, Icehouse, Information Society, Pet Shop Boys and Visage, extended to perfection by legends such as Daniel Mlller, 'Little' Louie Vega, The Latin Rascals and Shep Pettibone.

All guaranteed to bring some sunshine into your day...although as we're officially experiencing a heatwave in the UK, perhaps the last thing you may want...!

1) Methods Of Dance (12" Version by Japan & John Punter): Japan (1980)

2) Crazy (Manic Mix By David Lord & Michael H. Brauer): Icehouse (1987)

3) The Perfect Kiss (12" Version By New Order & Michael Johnson): New Order (1985)

4) What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) (Club Mix By 'Little' Louie Vega, Roman Ricardo & The Latin Rascals): Information Society (1988)

5) We Move (Dance Mix By Midge Ure & Visage): Visage (1981)

6) Love Comes Quickly (Pettibone Mastermix By Shep Pettibone): Pet Shop Boys (1986)

7) Dum Dum Girl (12" Mix By Steve Thompson & Richard Barbiero): Talk Talk (1984)

8) Leave In Silence (Longer) (12" Version By Depeche Mode & Daniel Miller): Depeche Mode (1982)

9) Cold Imagination (Extended Version By Howard Devoto & Greg Walsh): Howard Devoto (1983)

10) Sowing The Seeds Of Love (Full Version By Tears For Fears & Dave Bascombe): Tears For Fears (1989)

The Fate Of The Eighties (1:08:33) (KF) (Mega)

If that's got you on a 12'/80s kick, I've reactivated links to some previous Dubhed excursions from the archives....

History Reinvented (2021)

Kissing The Mix (Side One & Side Two) (2000)

Teenage Remix (Side One & Side Two) (2000)

You Never Really Saw... (2005)

Decade II: 1982

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded sometime in March 1990, lost sometime in the next two decades, reimagined and recreated 11th August 2024.

 

And the hits just keep on coming...

 

If you were here for last weekend's opening brace of 80s-themed mixtapes, you'll know that of the five cassettes I recorded in 1990, only three remain. 

 

The two lost volumes covered 1982 to 1985 and I've had a go at recreating the track listing and cover art (kind of) from scratch. Some songs I vaguely recall being on the original mixtapes, others I've no idea, but I've excluded any songs that I couldn't have owned or borrowed in spring 1990. Lots had to be left out, inevitably, but I think the end results are faithful reproductions that sit well with their contemporary cassettes.

 

1982 was another fantastic year for pop and I realise how lucky I was to grow up surrounded by all this diverse and exciting music troubling the Top 40. Synths were fully embedded in the mainstream by now but with all sorts of influences and flavours stirred in. 

 

Looking back, there's a marked shift towards heavy marketing and promo by this point: videos, double pack 7" and 12" picture discs with free posters, saturation on kids' TV shows, and so on. If a single wasn't a hit, it would be re-mixed, re-recorded and re-re-re-released until, damn it, it became a hit.

Kiss Me is a prime example of this. Stephen Duffy originally formed the band Tin Tin with a couple of guys from Fashion, a Dexys Midnight Runner and producer Bob Lamb. Kiss Me was their debut single in November 1982 and flopped. The single was remixed and released in the USA by François Kevorkian in 1983 and became a minor club hit. 

 

Taking notice, Duffy's label released the remix in the UK in 1984 and it scraped to #78. Undeterred, Kiss Me was remixed yet again, this time by J.J. Jeczalik (Art Of Noise) and Nicholas Froome, and given one last shot in early 1985. Fourth time lucky, as Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy reached the dizzy heights of #4 and enjoyed several other hits afterwards.

I've cheated a little here and gone for François Kevorkian's remix from 1983, partly because I didn't own the original Tin Tin single back in the day and partly because it's a much better version than the 1982 original.

I've also plumped for the 12" remix of Talk Talk's eponymous single to open proceedings. An early purchase from Plastic Wax Records in Bristol, back when it was in Old Market, opposite the Trinity. As with most Talk Talk extended mixes, there are fewer vocals than the single/album version and lots of none-more-80s bridges, bells and whistles.

I was tempted to drop in the 12" mix of Party Fears Two by Associates but it pops up quite frequently in my 80s mixtapes so I've stuck with the single version here instead. Hearing this for the first time on Top Of The Pops was an attention-grabbing moment and began a lifelong love of Billy MacKenzie. What a voice.

Making their debut here along with Talk Talk are Tears For Fears, Blancmange and Scritti Politti, who will all (probably) reappear in later volumes. Others, like Yazoo, ABC and Monsoon make one-time appearances in this series.

Squeeze wrapped up an incredible run of singles with Annie Get Your Gun, recorded to promote their essential compilation, 45s And Under. 

And should any 1982 collection be without Pete Wylie's epic The Story Of The Blues? No Wah!, sorry, no way!

 

No prizes for guessing the year in tomorrow's post...

1) Talk Talk (Extended Mix Long Version): Talk Talk

2) Don't Go (Album Version): Yazoo

3) Party Fears Two (Single Version): Associates

4) Living On The Ceiling (Single Remix): Blancmange

5) The Story Of The Blues Part One (Single Version): Wah!

6) Mad World (Album Version): Tears For Fears

7) Kiss Me (U.S. Remix) (7" Version): Tin Tin

8) Poison Arrow (Single Version): ABC

9) Windpower (Single Version): Thomas Dolby

10) Ever So Lonely (Single Version): Monsoon

11) Asylums In Jerusalem (Album Version): Scritti Politti

12) Annie Get Your Gun (Single Version): Squeeze

Side One (45:46) (KF) (Mega)

Peel The Layers

Watching late night BBC4 recently offered up Top Of The Pops presented by John Peel and Janice Long.

As good an excuse as any then to collate a selection of John Peel sessions and repost my tribute to Janice Long from December 2021.

Only a couple of crossovers with The Fall and Julian Cope, with the John Peel selection focusing in more on the alternative/indie side of things and keeping under forty-five minutes. 

 

Good times.

 

1) Cut Dead: The Jesus & Mary Chain (29th October 1985) 

2) Ladybird (Green Grass): The Fall (13th March 1993)

3) DoubtBeat: Scritti Politti (13th December 1978)

4) Через Річку, Через (Cherez Richku, Cherez Hai): The Wedding Present (15th May 1989)

5) Turn The Heater On (Cover of Keith Hudson): New Order (1st June 1982)

6) The Sin Of Pride: The Undertones (7th December 1982)

7) The Awful Flute Song (First Part): The Bambi Slam (1st March 1987)

8) Suffer The Children: Tears For Fears (10th October 1982)

9) Suicide High Lie: Big In Japan (12th February 1979)

10) Oh Lucinda (Love Becomes A Habit): The Only Ones (2nd June 1980)

11) After Murder Park: The Auteurs (8th March 1996)

12) Search Party: Julian Cope (11th June 1984)

13) Waves: Blancmange (13th February 1982)

Peel The Layers (44:14) (KF) (Mega)

Not intentionally trying to be contrary, but whilst the recording dates were listed for each of the songs on the Janice Long selection, the dates for the John Peel sessions relate to when the songs were first broadcast...I think!

Always Your Cassette Pet!

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded September 1991. 

 

My brother used to buy a lot of albums on cassette. Needs must: there was one family turntable in the lounge and both of us had cassette decks of varying quality in our bedrooms to soundtrack our teenage angst. My brother had gone to university, I'd just returned from a year in Australia, and this was a last opportunity to trawl through the boxes of tapes at our parents' house, before they were shipped off to join him or get stuck up in the loft for some undetermined period.

There was obviously some haste involved and/or a lack of blank cassettes as I didn't copy many albums in their entirety, but I did manage to pull together this compilation, a hybrid of my brother's tapes and the odd cassingle that I'd added to my collection. As with Side 2, posted last November, a varied and quite dark mix overall.

 

Laibach are, er, back with, er, Get Back. Clearly, they were were a big favourite at the time, with 3 out of the 21 songs in total. The previous selections were from Opus Dei, this one is the opener of their track-by-track cover of The Beatles' Let It Be. Both albums were available as a 'double play' cassette back in the day and I remember my brother blasting Laibach out of the car stereo, windows down, as we drove through the centre of Bristol, to the bemusement of most. Solid times.

It'll End In Tears by This Mortal Coil is also represented by 3 songs on this compilation. Fortunately, unlike Lisa Gerrard who was subject to a harsh edit on Side 2, both Howard Devoto and Elizabeth Fraser get to finish their songs. Covers of Big Star and Roy Harper, these were the first versions I heard and remain the definitive takes for me.

The The gets another excerpt from the unreleased album The Pornography Of Despair, one of 6 songs tacked on as a bonus side to the cassette version of the Soul Mining album. Like many of these songs, Waitin' For The Upturn was also released as a B-side.

In the mid-late 1980s, I had no idea really about Alison Statton, or her history with Young Marble Giants. To me, she was the voice of Weekend, who were kind of jazzy; they recorded an album with Keith Tippet live at Ronnie Scott's. Weekend were also capable of some really dark indie pop like Red Planes, featured here. I was inevitably drawn to the latter. Alison's voice still sends a shiver down my spine.

Troubling my sphincter was The Prisoner by Tears For Fears. The Hurting - which I still love - was a bleak, soul-searching debut that explored concepts that were completely over my head in 1983. The Prisoner was originally a B-side to second single Pale Shelter (a chart flop the first time around). Both were re-recorded for The Hurting to great effect, The Prisoner particularly benefiting from some screaming synth stabs.

Both Tears For Fears and The Icicle Works have covered Robert Wyatt's Sea Song. The latter is the better of the two, though neither really come close to the plaintive beauty of Wyatt's own version.

Lou Reed and John Cale reunited in 1990 for a tribute to departed friend Andy Warhol, a bit of a purple patch for both of them at the time. This is perhaps my favourite song from the Songs For Drella album.

Untitled by Marc & The Mambas is a real curio. The striking cover portrait of Marc Almond by Val Denham, the mix of original songs and covers, possibly my first introduction to Scott Walker and Jacques Brel. And then, on the cassette B-side, just three tracks: a Syd Barrett cover (Terrapin) and Twilights & Lowlifes in two eleven-and-a-half minute versions. I've gone for the first, vocal version here.

When I posted Side 2 last November, I mentioned that Side 1 could take a while due to the inclusion of a track from stalwarts of the 1980s Bristol live circuit, Renegade Flight. Your Cassette Pet! originally featured God Said, a track from one of their DIY cassettes that I picked up at a gig. As there's no immediate prospect of locating and digitising the tapes and God Said is currently unavailable online, I've opted for another song, Automation from roughly the same period. It's twice as long as God Said so the C90 running time is shot to pieces but I felt that Renegade Flight deserved a nod, sandwiched between Tears For Fears, Lou Reed and John Cale. Thanks, lads!

 

1) Get Back (Cover of The Beatles): Laibach (1988)

2) Holocaust (Cover of Big Star): This Mortal Coil ft. Howard Devoto (1984)

3) Red Planes (Album Version): Weekend (1982)

4) Sea Song (Cover of Robert Wyatt): The Icicle Works (1986)

5) The Prisoner (Album Version): Tears For Fears (1983)

6) Automation: Renegade Flight (1986)

7) It Wasn't Me: Lou Reed / John Cale (1990)

8) Waitin' For The Upturn: The The (1982)

9) Twilights & Lowlifes (Album Version): Marc & The Mambas (1982)

10) Another Day (Cover of Roy Harper): This Mortal Coil ft. Elizabeth Fraser (1984)

 

1982: La Varieté: 3 

1982: Untitled: 9

1983: The Hurting: 5

1983: Uncertain Smile EP / Soul Mining (cassette): 8

1984: It'll End In Tears: 2, 10

1986 (?): Renegade Flight (gig-only cassette): 6

1986: Up Here In The North Of England EP: 4

1988: Let It Be: 1 

1990: Songs For Drella: 7

 

Side One (48:08) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two here

You Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone

Side 2 of a Fluke mixtape, compiled 8th May 1997. 

 

As mentioned when I previously posted Side 1, this is the second volume of Fluke cassettes, somewhat confusingly titled (Singles), with volume one being (Mixes). Both compilations are similar in that they're a bit of a free-for-all of single (re)mixes, album tracks and remixes for other artists.

Unlike Side 1, which only featured one Fluke single, Side 2 justifies the cassette compilation title slightly more, with four. There's an alternative remix of Philly from the 12" single, plus Bullet and Atom Bomb, which respectively reached #23 and #20 in the UK chart, the highest placing of any of their singles.

Side 2 starts off with another single, Joni, Fluke's wonderful tribute to Ms. Mitchell, sampling Big Yellow Taxi. This is the slightly more polished version from their debut album The Techno Rose Of Blighty.

 

Top Of The World and Wobbler are highlights from follow up albums, Six Wheels On My Wagon (1993) and Oto (1995), both of which sold respectively but just missed out on cracking the Top 40 UK albums.

The final track is a remix of an obscure Tears For Fears song, the B-side to Advice For The Young At Heart, released in March 1990 and peaking at #36. In February 1991, a pair of Fluke remixes of Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams were released as a single in their own right. Tears For Fears were not explicitly labelled as the artist on the sleeve or label, although a peek at the small print credits would have given the game away. This wasn't an unusual practice in the early 1990s and although it's success as a single was limited - 2 weeks in the UK chart at #70 then #72 - it was another excellent calling card by Fluke.

Jon Fugler, Mike Bryant and Mike Tournier called it a day as Fluke in the early 2000s, apart from a one-off live performance in 2009. A hugely underrated and underappreciated act in my opinion, Fluke didn't enjoy the same level of acclaim as, say, The Chemical Brothers or Underworld, but in their singles, albums and remixes they perfectly captured that feeling of optimism, togetherness and unbridled, bouncy joy of the 1990s. 

1) Joni (Album Version): Fluke (1991)

2) Atom Bomb (Atomix 5): Fluke (1993) 

3) Top Of The World: Fluke (1993)

4) Bullet (Bitten): Fluke (1995)

5) Wobbler: Fluke (1995)

6) Philly (Jamoeba Mix): Fluke (1990)

7) Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams (Mix One By Fluke): Tears For Fears ft. Biti Strauchn (1991)

1990: Philly EP: 6

1991: Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams EP: 7

1991: The Techno Rose Of Blighty: 1

1993: Six Wheels On My Wagon: 3

1995: Bullet EP: 4

1995: Oto: 5

1996: Atom Bomb EP: 2

Side Two (46:05) (KF) (Mega)

Side One here

Senza Voce

...or 'without voice' (thank you, Google translate), which sums up today's selection of instrumental songs, stripped of their usually familiar vocals bar the odd sample, whoop and ad lib here and there.

When trawling for ideas for a cover image, I was reminded of the rather bizarre primary school ritual of 'fingers on lips'. Teachers obviously considered us such a wild, unruly, feral lot that simply telling us to be quiet wasn't enough, we had to seal the deal by placing a digit on our mouth and hold it there until we were deemed worthy of voice again. What a strange instruction. 

 

No surprise that Shane MacGowan would struggle with this into adulthood, Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 seems similarly resistant but you can rely on ol' Madge, although she's unsurprisingly adopting the role of teacher not pupil here.

For anyone feeling anxiety before casting their eyes down at the track list, I can reassure you that Hush by Kula Shaker does not appear in any shape or form. There is Simply Red, but DJ Muggs has done us all the favour of removing Mick Hucknall altogether...along with pretty much the whole band, by the sound of things.

The selection starts with the opening track of Madonna's 1998 album Ray Of Light, albeit with no trace of Ms. Ciccone's dulcet tones. From there, we go past Simply Red to Tears For Fears reading Sylvia Plath, winding our way into Hell's Ditch where we find The Pogues and Joe Strummer.

Love And Rockets lend a hand out of the ditch with an instrumental version of If There's A Heaven Above, re-titled God And Mr. Smith, before Frazier Chorus give us a lift the rest of the way there until The KLF point out that we're actually about 30 miles southwest of Glasgow 3 miles north of Manchester [note; thanks for the save, Charity Chic, I don't think anyone noticed!]

 

Renegade Soundwave riff on Serge Gainsbourg with their eponymous 1994 single, crashing into Yo La Tengo's motel room in the wee hours of the morning with Jah Wobble and Animal (Dave Maltby, not the Muppets drummer). 

 

Crawling out of the room the following morning, we find Pete Wylie slumped against a wall, with a note pinned to his chest explaining that L'Espwah! is French for Hope (I Wish You'd Believe Me). I got a D in my French 'O' Level, so I don't have a clue what he means. 

 

No-Man promise fun Days In The Trees but we're distracted by The Wolfgang Press arguing with the vicar about Christianity outside the local church. We ditch the both of them and head back with Heaven 17. I'm hungry and fancy noodles but all we get is a noodly Fairlight and System 100 Simulated Classical Guitar instrumental of The Skin I'm In, which does little for my appetite.

Depeche Mode try to convince us that It Doesn't Matter but having had enough of them all, we head off with It's Immaterial to find some Space. Peace at last, and it only took an hour.

 

1) Drowned World / Substitute For Love (Instrumental Version By Madonna & William Orbit): Madonna (1998)

2) Never Never Love (DJ Muggs Instrumental Mix): Simply Red (1996)

3) Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams (Instrumental): Tears For Fears (1990)

4) Hell's Ditch (Instrumental Version By Joe Strummer & Paul Cobbold): The Pogues (1990)

5) God And Mr. Smith (Instrumental Version): Love And Rockets (1985)

6) Heaven (God Like Instrumental) (Remixed By Youth): Frazier Chorus (1990)

7) Prestwich Prophet's Grin (Instrumental Remix) (120 BPM): The KLF (1988) 

8) Renegade Soundwave (7" Instrumental): Renegade Soundwave (1994) 

9) From A Motel 6 #2 (Instrumental Version): Yo La Tengo (1993)

10) A Long, Long Way (Instrumental): Jah Wobble with Animal (1982) 

11) L'Espwah! (Instrumental Version By Mike Hedges & Pete Wylie): Wah! (1983)

12) Days In The Trees (Bach) (Instrumental Version By Steven Wilson): No-Man (1991)

13) Christianity (Instrumental Remix By Drostan Madden & Howard Gray): The Wolfgang Press (1995)

14) Skin (Instrumental Mix By Greg Walsh & Martyn Ware): Heaven 17 (1984)

15) It Doesn't Matter Two (Instrumental): Depeche Mode (1986)

16) Space (Instrumental Remix By Bert Bevans): It's Immaterial (1986)

 

1982: A Long, Long Way EP: 10

1983: Hope (I Wish You'd Believe Me) EP: 11 

1984: This Is Mine EP: 14

1985: If There's A Heaven Above EP: 5 

1986: A Question Of Lust EP: 15

1986: Space EP: 16

1988: Burn The Beat (USA 12") / Shag Times: 7

1990: Advice For The Young At Heart EP: 3

1990: Ray / The Baby Album (ltd 2x CD): 6

1990: Summer In Siam EP: 4

1994: Renegade Soundwave EP: 8

1995: Christianity EP (USA promo CDS): 13

1996: Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo: 9

1996: Never Never Love EP: 2

1998: Ray Of Light (Instrumentals) (bootleg): 1

2001: Lost Songs: Volume One: 12

 

Senza Voce (1:00:37) (KF) (Mega)

A Kick Up The Eighties

Side 1 of a mixtape, recorded 22nd January 1990, and an early Eighties retrospective, a few weeks into the new decade.

This side firmly focuses on 1980 to 1985, with half of the tracks from 1982, now unbelievably (to this listener, at least) four decades ago. It's mostly hits and perhaps obvious choices, with a few oddities from albums and B-sides. All personal favourites.

The title is a nod to the BBC2 TV comedy sketch show of the same name that ran for two series from 1981 to 1984, featuring Rik Mayall, Tracey Ullman, Miriam Margoyles and (from the second series) Robbie Coltrane. A full episode from the first series has been posted on YouTube and is worth a look, if only for the brilliant Rik Mayall as investigative reporter Kevin Turvey.

The cover photo is a even more obscure, a scene from 1987 sci-fi movie, Cherry 2000. You wouldn't know it, but the person precariously hanging on to the car is none other than Melanie Griffith. I've watched the film once, which was possibly one time too many, but the picture seemed a good fit with the title. 

Happy listening!

1) Visage (Album Version): Visage (1980)

2) Today (Single Version): Talk Talk (1982)

3) Europa And The Pirate Twins (Album Version): Thomas Dolby (1981)

4) The Chase (Album Version By Stephen Lipson & Trevor Horn): Propaganda (1985)

5) The Beach: New Order (1983)

6) Blind Vision (Album Version By John Luongo): Blancmange (1983)

7) Night Suit: John Foxx (1981)

8) We Take Mystery (To Bed) (Single Version): Gary Numan (1982)

9) Mad World (Album Version By Chris Hughes & Ross Cullum): Tears For Fears (1982)

10) The Ring: Fad Gadget (1984)

11) The Walk (Album Version): Eurythmics (1982)

1980: Visage: 1

1981: The Garden: 7

1982: The Golden Age Of Wireless: 3 

1982: The Hurting: 9

1982: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This): 11

1982: Today (7" single): 2

1982: We Take Mystery (To Bed) (7"): 8

1983: Blue Monday (12" single): 5 

1983: Mange Tout: 6

1984: Gag: 10

1985: A Secret Wish: 4 

Side One (45:27) (Box) (Mega)

History Reinvented

You can blame it all on Tom Moulton, for inventing the remix in the 1970's and creating floor-filling club classics, resurrecting 'old' hits by The O'Jays for the disco generation. For the past five decades, there has been a continuing, arguably obsessive, need to review, refresh and reinvent our rich musical history to reflect changing dancefloor tastes. Ironically, the remixes themselves end up being a snapshot of a particular period in time. From Tom Moulton to Ben Liebrand to 808 State to Blank & Jones to Luxxury and The Reflex, there is a constant stream of DJs and artists diving into their record collections to pull up (& pull apart) a classic song.

Some artists appear to embrace the deconstruction and tinkering, for example The Cure and Soft Cell. Others take a much different view. When Talk Talk's former record label EMI, buoyed by the success of singles compilation Natural History, decided to release a follow-up, History Revisited: The Remixes in 1991, Mark Hollis asked them not to. When EMI did it anyway, Talk Talk successfully sued and EMI was forced to withdraw and destroy all remaining copies of the album. The Wikipedia entry on the remix album includes an extract from a contemporary Melody Maker interview with Hollis and you can understand where he's coming from:

 

"I've never heard any of this stuff and I don't want to hear it . . . but to have people putting this stuff out under your name which is not you, y'know, I want no part of it. It's always been very important to me that I've got on with the people we've worked with. People's attitude has always been really important to me. So much of why someone would exist on one of our albums is what they are like as a person. So to find you've got people you've never given the time of day to going out as though it's you . . . it's disgusting."

 

Manager Keith Aspden put it even more succinctly:

"It's a distortion—more like History Reinvented".

 

I'm guilty of having bought - and enjoyed - the Talk Talk remix 12" singles and album (okay, with the exception of the Talk Talk Recycled megamix by Jive Bunny, which is an abomination). I also have a broad interest in new remixes of old songs, although there's generally more shit than shine.

To be honest, you'll find a bit of both in this selection, depending on your attachment to a particular song. My approach to the playlist was a very simple one: I've simply referred to the running order of 2005 compilation 12"/80s and pulled together a selection of updated remixes and reworks that I happened to have in my collection. Arguably, none are better than the original version, and some do little more than sling  some dance beats under the song. Others take the song somewhere new or present the music in a new and interesting way. I'm particularly fond of Fluke's remix of The Human League, Jakatta's remix of Tears For Fears and, yes, Dominic Woosey & JJ Montana's controversial Talk Talk reinvention.

1) A Forest (Tree Mix By Mark Saunders): The Cure (1990)

2) Tainted Love '91 (Remix By Julian Mendelsohn); Soft Cell (1991)

3) Promised You A Miracle (Mylo Promised U A Remix): Simple Minds (2013)

4) Love Action (I Believe In Love) (Fluke's Dub Action Remix): The Human League (2003)

5) Fade To Grey (Bassheads 7" Edit): Visage (1993)

6) Situation (Richard X Remix): Yazoo (2006)

7) It's My Life (Tropical Love Forest Mix By Dominic Woosey & JJ Montana): Talk Talk (1990)

8) Kiss Me (Remix By Rusty Munno): Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy (1993)

9) Pull Up To The Bumper (Funk's Extension Mix By Funkstar De Luxe): Grace Jones (2000)

10) Sinful! (Scary Jiggin' With Doctor Love) (Remix By Pete Wylie): Pete Wylie ft. The Farm (1991)

11) Shout (Jakatta Thrilled-Out Mix By Dave Lee): Tears For Fears (2004)

12) Ever So Lonely (Remix By Ben Chapman): Monsoon (1990)

13) Wonderful Life (Deepend Bootleg): Black (2013)

14) Dr. Mabuse (Blank & Jones so80s Reconstruction): Propaganda (2014)

History Reinvented: 12"/80s Reimagined (1:24:32) (KF) (Mega)