Muzik For Hair Gel

Day 2 of the Eighties 12" Weekender with a new selection, based on an old idea.

Digging out archive Dubhed selections to include with yesterday's post, I'd planned to include Muzik For Hairspray, a mixtape I'd compiled circa 2000 and posted here in May 2021.

I was barely six months into the blog, Muzik For Hairspray was my 29th post and I had no expectation at the time that five years and over 1,500 posts later, I may want to re-post the selection...so I deleted it.

In recreating the original mixtape (again), I was inspired to create a companion set, inspiringly titled Muzik For Hair Gel.

The idea was simple enough: use exactly the same artists and sequence of the Muzik For Hairspray mixtape*, just different songs, and ideally ones that I hadn't used on a previous 12"/80s compilation. And it was that last bit that took the most time!

That said, I'm pretty happy with the end result. After the controversy of 1979's Pop Musik on the previous comp, today's song by M (aka Robin Scott) was genuinely released in the 1980s...just. 

Official Secrets was only released on 7" in the UK and many other countries, though the Spanish put the full length album version on theirs, and Mexico went one step further by putting it on a promo 12". Tick!

I've used the dub remix of Love Calling by Sir William of Idol in a previous Best of Billy selection, so I stuck with the album version. As with Mexico, it was Australia to the rescue this time, releasing this version on a promo 12" single. Double tick!

This is the fourth appearance on this blog of Boom! There She Was (Sonic Property Mix) by Scritti Politti. However, whilst the previous three selections all featured an edit included on the UK 12", this time it's the unexpurgated 9-minute version direct from the U.S.A. 

Divine makes a welcome reappearance, again teaming up with Bobby Orlando for Love Reaction. But what 1983 12" single could possibly have inspired their own dancefloor smash?

* With one exception.

Having recorded this selection first, I then revisited Muzik For Hairspray, only to discover too late that I've accidentally missed off the last song on Side 1 when I originally posted the tracklist. So, apologies to Belouis Some for missing out on Muzik For Hair Gel. Them's the showbiz breaks, I guess!

This weekend's selections are dedicated to Mike, his mates and anyone else making their way to the Milton Keynes Bowl for today's Forever Now festival, featuring several of today's artists and some unbelievably great headliners to boot. Have a fab day!

And a very happy birthday to Green Gartside, who is 70 today!

Side One

1) Official Secrets (Album Version By Robin Scott): M ft. Brigit Vinchon (1980)

2) Love Calling (Album Version By Keith Forsey): Billy Idol (1982)

3) Cccan't You See... (8:15 To Nowhere Mix By Tony Mansfield): Vicious Pink (1984)

4) Love Reaction (12" Version By Bobby Orlando): Divine (1983)

5) Junk (Remixed By Harvey Goldberg): Bronski Beat (1984)

6) Dissidents (The Search For Truth Part II) (Remix By François Kevorkian & Dominick Maita): Thomas Dolby (1984)

7) Where The Heart Is (12" Version By Mike Thorne & Harvey Goldberg): Soft Cell (1982)

Side Two

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

2) Channel Z (Rock Mix By Don Was & Michael Hutchinson): The B-52's (1989)

3) On Your Own (New York Mix By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero): Pete Shelley (1986)

4) Let's All Make A Bomb (New Version By B.E.F. & Greg Walsh): Heaven 17 (1983)

5) Shock (The Shep Pettibone Mix): The Psychedelic Furs (1987)

6) It's Called A Heart (Extended) (Remix By Depeche Mode & Daniel Miller): Depeche Mode (1985)

7) Without You (12" Mix By Tim Friese-Greene): Talk Talk (1984)

Side One (45:52) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two (46:19) (KF) (Mega)

You can find Muzik For Hairspray here

And, for your further 12/80s listening pleasure:

Flying In The Face Of Fashion (2022)

Just Walk Don't Talk (2022)

Fun To Think (2023)

No Games (2024)

Party Down, Rock The House (2024)

Decade I: 1981

Side 2 of a mixtape compiled 4th February 1990.

 

After setting the bar high with side 1, could I hope to match it on the flipside? Well, this is 1981 we're talking about here...

 

Although I didn't start buying records in earnest for another few years, when I had a Saturday job and therefore money to spend, 1980 and 1981 were perhaps the two years when my love of music became an obsession. 

 

I started sticking posters on my wall, mostly from Look-In, occasionally Smash Hits or one of the other pop mags that included pin-ups and lyrics for all the chart hits. I used to send blank cassettes to my uncle so that he could borrow albums from his local library and help build my collection. I was fascinated by the New Romantic and synthpop bands that would pop up with alarming regularity on kids' TV shows. 

 

And pop videos! It was a perfect time, musically speaking at least.

Making a return visit on this side are Visage, The Human League and O.M.D., others for the first time but destined to reappear in later volumes. Again, I'm really happy with the sequencing of this selection, although I ran out of tape on the original recording and had to go back and fade out Heaven 17 early in order to squeeze in Gary Numan. No such ignominy in this digital age, so you get the full version of (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang, as intended.

I will return to this series over the next few weekends but I have to confess that Decade volumes II and III (1982-1985) were lost many years ago on my travels. I don't have a note of the track listings either so I will aim to recreate selections that reflect what was in my collection at the time.

In the meantime, get that trench coat on, back comb that hair and go stand on a street corner looking moody whilst listening to this on your Walkman!

1) Vienna (Album Version): Ultravox

2) Europe After The Rain (Album Version): John Foxx

3) Mind Of A Toy (Album Version): Visage

4) Passionate Friend (Album Version): The Teardrop Explodes

5) Pretty In Pink (Album Version): The Psychedelic Furs

6) Grey Day (Album Version): Madness

7) Bedsitter (Album Version): Soft Cell

8) The Sound Of The Crowd (Album Version): The Human League

9) Joan Of Arc (Album Version): O.M.D.

10) New Life (Remix): Depeche Mode

11) (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (Album Version): Heaven 17

12) She's Got Claws ('Modern Dance' Edit): Gary Numan

1st March 1981: Vienna (#3): 1

22nd March 1981: Penthouse And Pavement (#45): 11

29th March 1981: Visage (#13): 3

10th May 1981: 7 (#4): 6

24th May 1981: Dare (#12): 8

5th July 1981: Talk Talk Talk (#43): 5

2nd August 1981: Speak & Spell (#11): 10

30th August 1981: Dance (#6): 12

30th August 1981: The Garden (#40): 2

27th September 1981: Wilder (#25): 4

8th November 1981: Architecture & Morality (#5): 9

29th November 1981: Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (#4): 7

Side Two (46:24) (GD) (M)

I Follow Where My Mind Goes

Happy birthday to Richard Butler, born 5th June 1968.

On 25th January 2023, I posted the video for The Psychedelic Furs' 1991 single Don't Be A Girl, noting that "I thought I'd posted at least one side of a cassette of The Psychedelic Furs from the early 1990s but apparently not. It's that or a recreated set list from one of the three times I've seen them live in concert. Either way, watch this space, the Furs are coming back (fairly) soon."

 

Well, nearly 18 months later might be stretching it somewhat, but here at last is the long overdue Dubhed selection...kind of.

As it's Richard's birthday, I've expanded the scope to include Love Spit Love, his collaboration with Richard Fortus in the 1990s, his unexpected self-titled solo album in 2006 and a couple of guest vocals with Ralph Schuckett and BT aka Brian Transeau.

Despite being criminally ignored to date on this blog, I was a huge fan of The Psychedelic Furs during my teens and their return in 2020 with an album of new material (Made Of Rain) was nothing short of a triumph. A couple of months later, Richard married model and actor Erika Anderson following a romance that reads like a movie synopsis.

Oh, and if you've got a few thousand dollars spare, you can buy one of Richard's artworks. If you've have that kind of money, postage and packing from the USA will be a snip. 

This 11-song selection includes a couple of cover versions, which may be divisive. Alabama Song, originally written by Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptmann and first performed by Lotte Lenya in 1927, appeared on The Doors' self-titled debut album and is perhaps the version I'm most familiar with. This is a close second, thanks to it's inclusion on a mid-80s Kurt Weill tribute album that my brother owned. It's very hit-and-miss overall, but I have a lot of love for this version.

The closing song is Love Spit Love's brave take on How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths. It first appeared in the 1996 film The Craft though is perhaps better known for it's use as the theme tune to hugely popular late 90s US TV series Charmed. No version could ever hope to come close to matching the brilliance of the original and I think the two Richards went in, acknowledging that from the start. It's a lot better than I may have expected.

The difficulty for me with The Psychedelic Furs was how to limit to only five selections. Whilst Love My Way is an obvious choice, it was an obvious follow on from the solo Richard Butler song in the selection and besides, Forever Now was the first Furs album I bought (with a WH Smith voucher, natch). 

No Release was a B-Side of 1986 single Angels Don't Cry and also popped up as a bonus track on the CD of the Midnight To Midnight album. It was this tour that provided my first opportunity to see The Psychedelic Furs live in concert, and they were great.

All That Money Wants was released as a standalone single in 1988 to promote a compilation album. Produced by Stephen Street and marking the return of original member Vince Ely, it's one of the best things they've ever done.

The final two choices effectively bookend The Psychedelic Furs to date. Sister Europe, their second single from 1980, still sends a shiver down my spine and the anticipation of hearing the first Furs album in decades was more than rewarding with the opening song The Boy Who Invented Rock & Roll.

 

And of course what ties this all together, and provides a much more cohesive selection that I might first have imagined, is Richard's voice. Decades of (presumably) gargling gravel is definitely not advisable but it furnishes the songs with a quality and resonance that others simply cannot match.

Now, let's hope you don't have to wait another 18 months for another selection...!

Cheers, Richard, hope you're having a good one.

 

1) Shineaway: BT ft. Richard Butler (1997)

2) No Release: The Psychedelic Furs (1986)

3) Satellites: Richard Butler (2006)

4) Alabama Song (Cover of Lotte Lenya): Ralph Schuckett ft. Richard Butler & Ellen Shipley (1985)  

5) Wake Up (Acoustic Version): Love Spit Love (1994)

6) Maybe Someday: Richard Butler (2006)

7) Love My Way (Album Version): The Psychedelic Furs (1982)

8) Breathe: Richard Butler (2006)

9) All That Money Wants (Single Version): The Psychedelic Furs (1988)

10) The Boy Who Invented Rock & Roll: The Psychedelic Furs (2020)

11) Sister Europe (Single Version): The Psychedelic Furs (1980)

12) How Soon Is Now? (Album Version) (Cover of The Smiths): Love Spit Love (1996)

 

1980: Sister Europe EP: 11

1982: Forever Now: 7

1985: Lost In The Stars: The Music Of Kurt Weill: 4

1986: Angels Don't Cry EP / Midnight To Midnight (CD bonus track): 2 

1988: All That Money Wants EP / All Of This & Nothing (compilation): 9

1994: Volume Twelve: 5

1996: The Craft OST: 12

1997: The Jackal: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture: 1 

2006: Richard Butler: 3, 6, 8

2020: Made Of Rain: 10

 

I Follow Where My Mind Goes (49:58) (KF) (Mega) 

What My Heart Yearns For Now

...is forty-five minutes of four to the floor from '84.

A cheat from the start as the official 12" single of The Ghost In You by The Psychedelic Furs contained the 4:17 album version. A bootleg extended version of indeterminate age and provenance opens this selection, welding a new rhythm track to the undercarriage and stretching out the intro and outro ever so slightly. Good enough for me, it's in!

You Can't Hold Me Down by Felix was written and mixed by Killer Whale, both pseudonyms for the multi-talented Arthur Russell, here in collaboration with NYC DJ and producer Nicky Siano. You Can't Hold Me Down was a double A-side 12" with Tiger Stripes, but Arthur apparently disliked the latter so much that he refused to be credited on the release, hence the alias(es).

On the other hand Billy Ocean was so certain he had a surefire hit, when European Queen failed to set the UK chart alight in June 1984, he rejigged, retitled and re-released the single four months later. By November 1984, Caribbean Queen enjoyed a 4-week stint in the Top 10, peaking at #6.

Similarly, it took two goes with Doc Marten despoilers King to have a hit with Love & Pride. Both the UK and USA 12" versions were produced by Richard James Burgess, better known at the time as frontperson with Landscape, who had a couple of hits with Einstein A-Go-Go and Norman Bates. Whether distracted by Paul King's mega mullet or other summer singles, this version entered the UK chart at #84 and it was downhill from there. Undeterred, King tried again in January 1985, achieving seven weeks in the Top 10, three at #2. There's nowt so weird as the record buying public.

Dancing With The Big Boys by David Bowie is the final track on his album Tonight and included as a B-side to Blue Jean. Not one of his best - or best-loved - songs, even Bowie shortly after dismissed Blue Jean as "a piece of sexist rock 'n roll. It's about picking up birds. It's not very cerebral, that piece". Dancing With The Big Boys was co-written with Carlos Alomar and Iggy Pop, who had turned up at the end of the recording sessions and helped Bowie get some unfinished songs over the line. For the 12" single, Bowie enlisted John 'Jellybean' Benitez to remix the A side; Arthur Baker supplied vocal and dub mixes of Dancing With The Big Boys.

 

Pete Shelley had previously worked with Martin Rushent, but here he goes it alone. Never Again may be a comment on their studio partnership, but more likely it tackles with aplomb Pete's usual theme about love and disappointment. Criminally, another non-hit in a solo career packed with pop perfection.

Also yesterday's news by 1984 were Visage. Despite reaching #13 with their self-titled debut (1981) and soaring to #6 with follow-up The Anvil (1982), third album Beat Boy managed 2 weeks in the Top 100, with a first week peak of #79. The title track didn't even crack the singles chart. Far from their finest moment, the absence of Midge Ure (who was enjoying greater success with Ultravox) was keenly felt...

 

1) The Ghost In You (12" Remix): The Psychedelic Furs

2) You Can't Hold Me Down (Extended Version By Killer Whale aka Arthur Russell): Felix

3) Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run) (New Extended Mix By Keith Diamond & Bryan 'Chuck' New): Billy Ocean

4) Dancing With The Big Boys (Extended Dance Mix By Arthur Baker): David Bowie

5) Love & Pride (USA Summer Mix By Richard James Burgess): King

6) Never Again (Extended Version): Pete Shelley

7) Beat Boy (Album Version): Visage 

 

What My Heart Yearns For Now (44:58) (KF) (Mega) 

Altered Perceptions

Side 1 of a mixtape recorded 26th November 1999.

Given the big hitters included on both sides, I'm surprised it's taken me this long to get around to posting this 1980s selection. This side perfectly captures the excess of glossy and expensive videos, stylised leather outfits, biiiig production (and hair) and film soundtrack numbers. Oh, and Talk Talk going in their own unique direction, against the flow.

First off though, it's The Psychedelic Furs and what for many long-term fans was the death knell of the band, re-recording and re-releasing Pretty In Pink to tie in with John Hughes' film of the same name. Personally, I have a lot of affection for this version of the song,  especially the 12" mix. I knew about the band before, but this was my proper entry point. I saw The Furs for the first time on the Midnight To Midnight tour and whilst I will always lean towards the first three albums, this period has a special place in my heart.

I don't think Rebel Yell was that much of a hit when first released in 1983 but more than made up for it when re-released on the back of White Wedding's success. The 12" mix mini-album Vital Idol (which didn't include Rebel Yell) was an essential purchase amongst a select few of us at secondary school. Sir William of Idol at the height of his powers.

 

It was a couple of years after it's release as a single that Siamese Twist by Flesh For Lulu wormed it's way into my head, from being played out at the indie/alternative clubs I was going to in the late 1980s. The 12" single survived my strapped-for-cash cull in the late 90s/early 00s and still gets an occasional airing at Casa K. I love the rather cack-handed false ending, too.

 

The long version of She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult has appeared here before but it's the definitive version for me, so why not? Another one (in this version) that got the dancefloor heaving back in the day. One of those examples of a band's most popular song also being their best song. 

Simple Minds, like The Psychedelic Furs, are here with the song that represented a turning point in their fortunes but also fans who had stuck with them through several albums of singular, angular music. Yep, it's Don't You (Forget About Me) from the soundtrack to another seminal John Hughes (him again) film, The Breakfast Club. Written by Keith Forsey and intended for Billy Idol, whose Rebel Yell album he'd produced a year or so previously, the song eventually went to Jim Kerr and crew. Although I've increasingly less fondness for the path Simple Minds took for the next decade or so, it was absolutely the right decision in the end. Even more so, having heard Billy Idol's subsequent go at the song years later. Don't You (Forget About Me) is another one where it's the 12" version over the 7" version, although the excessive sing-a-long live version that popped up on a later single gives it a run for it's money.

Life's What You Make It was a real jolt when it was released in 1986, a further stylistic shift for Talk Talk but also one that confirmed their intention to go against the general move into big music with ludicrously big production. Talk Talk were creating a sense of scale and grandeur but on a much more organic level, though the subsequent insights into how the sounds of this and The Colour Of Spring album were painstakingly created contradict that last statement somewhat. I owned the initial 12" with the more straightforward Dennis Weinrich extended version on it. It was another ten years or more before I finally got to hear Tim Friese-Greene's 'dance' mix on a compilation. I agree with the general view that this is the superior version. 

Give Me Back My Man by The B-52's first appeared on second album Wild Planet and it's a reminder that the band were capable of really heart-wrenching songs, even when it was underpinned by a compelling beat and lovely musical touches (the xylophone motif gets me every time). Give Me Back My Man didn't have a 12" extended version when released as a single. However, The B-52's were an early champion of the remix album with Party Mix! in 1981 taking six of their songs and reworking them, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter than the original versions. Give Me Back My Man closes the album and is truly spectacular.

 

1) Pretty In Pink (Berlin Mix): The Psychedelic Furs (1986)

2) Rebel Yell (Extended Version): Billy Idol (1983)

3) Siamese Twist (12" Version): Flesh For Lulu (1987)

4) She Sells Sanctuary (Long Version): The Cult (1985)

5) Don't You (Forget About Me) (Extended Version): Simple Minds (1985)

6) Life's What You Make It (Special 12" Dance Mix): Talk Talk (1986)

7) Give Me Back My Man (Party Mix): The B-52's (1981)

 

Side One (46:01) (KF) (Mega)

 

As an extra treat - well, it was the MTV-era for goodness sake! - here are the official videos for each of the featured songs. I particularly enjoyed Flesh For Lulu, which I haven't seen before and was at times unintentionally hilarious. The B-52's didn't have a video for Give Me Back My Man so I've plucked a performance from Netherlands TV show TopPop, broadcast 1st June 1980. it's brilliant, of course.

 

Some Days It Just Doesn't Pay To Get Out Of Bed...

It started off well enough. 

 

I woke up at 6.45am, fed the cat, made myself a cup of tea, checked some emails, casually mooched around the house.

Mrs. K entered the kitchen, looked at me, oddly I thought. I talked about some ideas for the day.

"You do realise that it's Friday, not Saturday?" she said.

Oh shit.

The day didn't get any better, believe me.

The post that I'd originally planned for today that was half written and due to be finished off this morning will now see the light of day on Monday. That's if I remember what day it is and post it...

Another Alien Attack!

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded 22nd July 1998.

As with Side 1, mostly 1990s indie with a few 1980s and major label releases thrown in for good measure. Matt Johnson appears twice, both with The The and The Gadgets (albeit on guitar and backing vocals only on the latter).

I've seen The Psychedelic Furs, The The, The Boo Radleys, PJ Harvey and Gold Blade live in concert. Gold Blade would have been circa 1996/1997, probably the latter as this was undoubtedly the prompt for buying the Home Turf album. I've long lost the ticket and I can't find any details online, but it must have been a good gig...!

 

There are a couple more inclusions from the Volume CD/book series, this time featuring Ultra Vivid Scene and Madder Rose. I got the first couple but the two here more likely came from Sharks Patrol These Waters, one of two Volume compilations released in the mid-1990s. Likewise, the Pulp song came from cash-in compilation Countdown, collecting their pre-Island label recordings and repackaging it to make it look like a contemporary Pulp release in the style of Different Class.

 

The cassette sleeve artwork has been cut up and pasted from the Captain Star comic strip by the brilliant artist Stephen Appleby. The series originally appeared in NME but I think had transferred to Vox (and in colour) by 1998. Apart from some record sleeve artwork in my collection, notably Nobody's Diary by Yazoo, I haven't really followed their work since and it was difficult to find much info online, apart from their bibliography on Amazon and an enlightening biography ahead of a guest appearance at last year's International Literature Festival in Berlin. Time to catch up with my reading, I think.

 

1) Entertain Me (Album Version): The Psychedelic Furs (1989)

2) Always Crashing In The Same Car (Album Version): David Bowie (1977)

3) Leaves And Sand: The Boo Radleys (1993)

4) Uneasy Listening: The Gadgets (1983)

5) Blue Glow: Pulp (1985)

6) Saddest Song: Gold Blade (1997)

7) Easy (4-Track Demo): PJ Harvey (1992)

8) Rave Down: Swervedriver (1990)

9) Cut Throat (Remix): Ultra Vivid Scene (1993)

10) Roland Navigator: Madder Rose (1994)

11) Bluer Than Midnight: The The (1993)

 

1977: Low: 2

1983: Blue Album: 4

1985: Little Girl (With Blue Eyes) EP: 5

1989: Book Of Days: 1

1990: Rave Down EP: 8

1993: 4-Track Demos: 7

1993: Dusk: 11

1993: Giant Steps: 3

1993: Volume Six: 9

1994: Volume Nine: 10

1997: Hometurf: 6

Side One (46:05) (Box) (Mega)

Side Two here

All Their Promises Come So Easy

In July 1991, The Psychedelic Furs released what would prove to be their first and only album of new material in the 1990s...and 2000s...and 2010s. In fact, it was something of a surprise and delight when in July 2020, they released a further album, Made Of Rain.

World Outside is a far better album than history suggests, tucking it away as the last gasp of a band struggling to keep up with the changing times and sounds. The two singles accompanying the album - Until She Comes and Don't Be A Girl - are cracking, even if the latter does come across like Happy Mondays' more snarky older cousin.

 

The 12" single of Don't Be A Girl came with a trio of remixes by Youth, including the Dancehall On Fire mix, which I featured on a 1993 cassette compilation. If you didn't know of the original song or the band, you'd be hard pressed to identify the remix as a Furs song but it remains one of my favourite songs touched by the hand of Martin Glover.

I thought I'd posted at least one side of a cassette of The Psychedelic Furs from the early 1990s but apparently not. It's that or a recreated set list from one of the three times I've seen them live in concert. Either way, watch this space, the Furs are coming back (fairly) soon.

Another Kick Up The Eighties

Side 2 of a cassette compilation, recorded 22nd January 1990 and looking back on the 1980s.

 

Whereas Side 1 was firmly rooted in the first half of the decade, Side 2 is split 50/50, slightly favouring 1986 to 1989 and 7" and 12" single versions. A few songs have appeared previously, others albeit in different versions/remixes, whilst some I'm surprised to find haven't featured before now. Incredibly, this is the first time that Faith No More have been on this blog, full stop. Introduce Yourself, indeed.

 

I realise I could have waited a couple of days to post this on the 33rd anniversary of originally recording this compilation but I saw that I'd previously uploaded Side 1 on a Friday and I decided to do the same here. Let's face it, Side 2 is definitely more Friday than Sunday listening!

 

This one's for Dave. Fourteen years and still miss you lots.

1) Burning Down The House (Album Version): Talking Heads (1983)

2) House (Flashback Mix): The Psychedelic Furs (1989)

3) How Soon Is Now? (Single Edit): The Smiths (1985)

4) Spellbound (Album Version): Siouxsie & The Banshees (1981)

5) We Care A Lot (Album Version): Faith No More (1987)

6) River Euphrates (Single Version): Pixies (1988)

7) Never Let Me Down Again (Tsangarides Mix): Depeche Mode (1987)

8) All We Ever Wanted Was Everything: Bauhaus (1982)

9) Deus (10" Remix): The Sugarcubes (1988)

10) Kiss (Leeds v. The Bronx) (Remix By DJ Chakk) (Cover of Prince): Age Of Chance (1986)

11) Perfect Blue (Album Version): Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (1985)

 

1981: Juju: 4 

1982: The Sky's Gone Out: 8

1983: Speaking In Tongues: 1

1985: Easy Pieces: 11

1985: How Soon Is Now? (7" single): 3 

1986: Kiss (Jack-Knife Remixes) (limited edition 12" single): 10

1987: Introduce Yourself: 5

1987: Never Let Me Down Again (limited edition 12" single): 7

1988: Deus (limited edition 10" single): 9

1988: Gigantic / River Euphrates (12" single): 6

1989: House (12" single): 2

 

Side Two (45:45) (Box) (Mega)

Side One here

Phil Good Times

Happy birthday Phil Thornalley, born 5th January 1960.

 

Phil's had an interesting career, to say the least. He started out as a recording engineer aged 18, working with the likes of Steve Lillywhite, Alex Sadkin and Mickie Most. In 1982, Phil produced Pornography, the fourth album by The Cure, subsequently joining the band when Simon Gallup left (the first time). That's Phil's double bass on The Love Cats.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Phil joined Johnny Hates Jazz as lead singer following the departure of founding member Clark Datchler. Oh, and he also co-wrote a song called Torn which became a rather big hit when covered by Natalie Imbruglia in 1997.

I'll confess that I haven't followed Phil's career into the 21st Century, but a a flick through my music collection highlights how many beloved artists he has produced, co-produced, remixed or performed with. This then is a 12-song selection that put a big grin on my face and got me turning up that dial.

Have a good one, Phil!

1) Here Come The Good Times (Album Version By Phil Thornalley): A House (1994)

2) The Yearning Loins (Single Version By Phil Thornalley): Prefab Sprout (1984)

3) Mr. Pink Eyes (Single Version By Phil Thornalley, Chris Parry & The Cure): The Cure (1983)

4) The Greatness And Perfection Of Love (Remixed Version By Stephen Lovell, Phil Thornalley & Stephen Lipson): Julian Cope (1984)

5) Who Knows What Love Is? (Album Version By Phil Thornalley): Strawberry Switchblade (1985)

6) Mack The Knife (Single Version By Phil Thornalley & The Psychedelic Furs) (Cover of Gerald Price): The Psychedelic Furs (1981)

7) Bitter Heart (Extended Mix By Phil Thornalley): Seona Dancing (1983)

8) What Presence?! (Extended Version By Phil Thornalley & Orange Juice): Orange Juice (1984)

9) Girl From Mars (Single Version By Owen Morris & Phil Thornalley): Ash (1995)

10) Kindred Spirit (Re-Recorded Version By Phil Thornalley & Tom Dokoupil): Edwyn Collins (1989)

11) Songs Of Love (Phil Thornalley Remix): The Divine Comedy (1999)

12) C'est La Vie (Single Version By Alex Sadkin & Phil Thornalley): Robbie Nevil (1986)

Phil Good Times (46:09) (Box) (Mega)

Just Walk Don't Talk

A companion of sorts to the Floorshow compilation I posted last summer, it's back to the alternative 1980s for a lucky 13 of 12" and extended versions.

I've stuck with most of the artists from Floorshow, but with different song selections, the majority of which haven't appeared on this blog previously. Again, whilst many of these songs didn't make it onto the decks at the alternative pubs and clubs I bothered as a pan-stick caked and hairpsrayed teen, they would get played to death at home, to my parents' frequent dismay.

I've managed to hold onto some of the original vinyl 12" singles: The Sisters Of Mercy, The Damned (transparent yellow vinyl 10"), Siouxsie & The Banshees, Psychic TV. Others have been replaced with shiny disc. A couple - The March Violets and the Razormaid mix of Vicious Pink - have been 21st century discoveries thanks to the power of the blogosphere. 

 

And yes, that misspelling of Ressurection Joe still bugs me, four decades on.

 

I think I'd need more than pan-stick and hairspray to look halfway decent this days, but the music takes me right back, even if there is a soundtrack of creaking bones and groans running in parallel...!

 

1) Stranger (Album Version By Clan Of Xymox, Ivo & John Fryer): Clan Of Xymox (1985)

2) This Corrosion (12" Version By Jim Steinman): The Sisters Of Mercy (1987)

3) Peppermint Pig (12" Version By Alan Rankine & John Fryer): Cocteau Twins (1983)

4) 506 (Full Length Version): The Leather Nun (1985)

5) Anything (And Yet Another Mix By Lance Phillips): The Damned (1986)

6) Sister Europe (Album Version By Steve Lillywhite): The Psychedelic Furs (1980)

7) Song From The Edge Of The World (Columbus Mix By Mike Thorne): Siouxsie & The Banshees (1987)

8) Walk Into The Sun (Extended): The March Violets (1984)

9) Modesty Plays (Long Version): Sparks (1983)

10) Take Me Now (Razormaid Mix By Joseph Watt): Vicious Pink (1986)

11) Swamp Thing (Full Length Album Version): The Chameleons (1986)

12) Roman P. (Fireball Mix By Mark Freegard): Psychic TV (1986)

13) Ressurection Joe (Long Version By Chris Kimsey): The Cult (1984)

Just Walk Don't Talk (1:20:16) (KF) (Mega)