Decade IV: 1987

Side 2 of an 80s mixtape, compiled 8th April 1990.

 

This one goes up to 11...

 

The guitars are in full effect, though you'll be hard pressed to find any big (UK) hits this time around. Only The Cult's Love Removal Machine scraped into the Top 20 (#18 in its first two weeks of release).

 

Whilst The One I Love managed a creditable #16, it was in 1991 when ex-label I.R.S. sought to cash in on R.E.M.'s major label success. In 1987, the post-Christmas lull meant that the song managed a brief peak at #51, criminal given that it's now considered an all-time classic.

A couple of inclusions here failed to chart at all. I first saw Yon Yonson by The Dave Howard Singers on TV, The Chart Show to be precise, and I was both annoyed and fascinated by the song and video in equal measure. The latter won out and I ended up with both 12" single versions, neither of which did any good as far as a boost up the charts or appearance on Top Of The Pops was concerned.

Doctor & The Medics did make it to Top Of The Pops and a UK #1 with their cover of Spirit In The Sky in 1986. Despite an alleged six-figure signing fee (according to Smash Hits so it must be true, right?), The Doctor couldn't arrest ailing record sales. More, lead-in for second long-player I Keep Thinking It's Tuesday, failed to generate interest in either the single or the album. A shame as it's a decent enough song and the video was (typically) a lot of fun.

In a nice tie-in, I first encountered The Bambi Slam as one of two support acts for The Cult at the Colston Hall in Bristol on 23rd March 1987. I was sufficiently impressed by their set to go out afterwards and buy the only record of theirs that I could find, included here. The other support act was Balaam & The Angel, who are conspicuous by their absence on this mixtape, which may tell you all you need to know.

Confession time. If you're someone who likes to scrutinise the headline photos, especially my handwritten cassette sleeve track listings, then you will have spotted that song 3 should be Sidewalking by The Jesus & Mary Chain. Rookie error, as it wasn't actually released until March 1988 and on this occasion I can't even blag my way through by pointing to promos or previous releases in 1987. 

Nope, I messed up. Even more embarrassing when I acknowledge that I recorded the tape on 8th April 1990, exactly two years after the single had got to #30 on 9th April 1988. Nineteen years old and my memory was already shot...!

Luckily, being The Jesus & Mary Chain, I could swap Sidewalking out for another great single, Happy When It Rains, which peaked at #25 in August 1987 and therefore legitimately deserves a place in this selection. Oh, and don't be fooled by the 'long version' label. It's the same as the album version, but longer than the 7" version by about 30 seconds.

Bobbing around just outside the Top 50 were Faith No More, The Icicle Works, R.E.M. and The Fall. Mark E. Smith and crew make their one and only appearance in this series with Hit The North, arguably one of their greatest songs ever, let along in the 80s. 

 

I was surprised to find that I Started Something I Couldn't Finish by The Smiths and Trampolene by Julian Cope were as big hits as I thought they were, though in Copey's case that was pretty much the case with everything that he released in the 1980s.

At first glance, U2 also appear to have experienced a rare flop with In God's Country, the fourth single from The Joshua Tree. The previous three singles in 1987 had respectively got to #4, #6 and #4. By comparison, In God's Country achieved a surprising and disappointing peak of #48. That is, until you release that it was released as a 7" single in North America only and the UK chart placing was down to import sales alone. 

 

Ian McNabb may have given his good teeth for a #48 hit, given that The Icicle Work's Evangeline stalled at #53, the third consecutive single in less than 12 months to achieve a similar chart placing.

Mind you, the general record-buying public were being swamped with pop pap from 'The Hit Factory' of Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Or T'Pau and Wet Wet Wet. I'm not sure which is worse but either way, I literally wasn't buying. Even the Pet Shops Boys and Dusty Springfield were asking What Have I Done To Deserve This?!

That's it for another look back at the 1980s. See you here next week, and the year when I started to ditch black stretch canvas drainpipes and biker jackets for loose fit blue jeans and Converse trainers, but remained largely oblivious to the acid house revolution. Yep, 1988's on it's way.

1) Love Removal Machine (Album Version): The Cult

2) We Care A Lot ('Introduce Yourself' Album Version): Faith No More

3) Happy When It Rains (Long Version): The Jesus & Mary Chain

4) Yon Yonson (Single Version): The Dave Howard Singers

5) Hit The North (Part 1) (Single Version): The Fall

6) Happy Birthday (Yet Another) (Thick, Hard And Long Mix): The Bambi Slam

7) I Started Something I Couldn't Finish (Album Version): The Smiths

8) More (Album Version): Doctor & The Medics

9) The One I Love (Album Version): R.E.M.

10) Trampolene (Album Version): Julian Cope

11) Evangeline (Album Version): The Icicle Works

12) In God's Country (Album Version): U2

Side Two (45:51) (KF) (Mega)

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

 

Side Two (45:35) (KF) (Mega)

Decade II: 1983

Side 2 of a mixtape, compiled circa March 1990, lost along the way, reimagined and recreated 12th August 2024.
 
I hope you've brought your cardboard, there's some electric boogaloo ahead...
 

Again, as the cassette, sleeve and track listing are lost in the car fumes of history, I've recreated this from scratch, a dozen songs culled from my collection in spring 1990, when I originally recorded this thing.

I'll acknowledge the elephant in the room and say that yes, Temptation by Heaven 17 got to #2 in May 1983 and even that wasn't enough to secure a place in this collection, much as I love it. 

Was swapping it out for Kissing With Confidence by Will Powers (a mere #17 in Oct 1983) a step too far? Not for me, it's not. Besides, it's got Carly Simon on vocals and it's produced by Todd Rundgren! And the video's lots of fun.

At the expense of other contemporary classics, I've also given a nod to the fact that though I'd been blown away by The Message and Buffalo Gals, The Rock Steady Crew were the ones that my mates at school were more interested in. Whilst I didn't feel particularly inclined to wear a Sergio Tacchini tracksuit or start body popping behind the Science block, I did enjoy the music. 

I do remember that the original 1983 cassette started with Burning Down The House by Talking Heads, which is an obvious choice, perhaps. What's more surprising is that when released as a single in the UK in July 1983, it failed to chart. It took 16 years, Sir Tom Jones leathery lungs and The Cardigans' polish to take the song into the Top 10.

 

More debuts on this side, including Cocteau Twins with the beautiful (but non-charting) Sugar Hiccup. I perhaps should have picked something from the equally wonderful Sunburst And Snowblind EP as the record buying public at least managed to get that release to #86, but it's all good.

Talk Talk, Siouxsie & The Banshees and Depeche Mode are all back, with debuts from Aztec Camera, Shannon, Wall Of Voodoo, Fun Boy Three and an up-and-coming band from Manchester, with a striking lead singer and lyricist. Sadly now a complete twit, but made a big impression on me as a 12-year old.

 

More from this decade next weekend. Don't miss it, Big Brother is watching....

1) Burning Down The House (Album Version): Talking Heads
2) Oblivious (Album Version): Aztec Camera
3) (Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew (Vocal) (Single Version): The Rock Steady Crew
4) Let The Music Play (Radio Edit): Shannon
5) Kissing With Confidence (12" Mix): Will Powers ft. Carly Simon
6) Everything Counts (Single Version): Depeche Mode
7) This Charming Man (Manchester): The Smiths
8) Mexican Radio (UK Extended Mix): Wall Of Voodoo
9) My Foolish Friend (Extended Version): Talk Talk
10) Sugar Hiccup (Single Version): Cocteau Twins
11) Dear Prudence (Single Version) (Cover of The Beatles): Siouxsie & The Banshees
12) Our Lips Are Sealed (Singles Version): Fun Boy Three

Side Two (46:00) (KF) (Mega)

Bass Changes Everything

Celebrating Andy Rourke, 17th January 1964 to 19th May 2023.

 

A career that spanned so much more but Andy's place in history was cemented with The Smiths. I had a strange relationship with the band in as much as my first purchase was the Hatful Of Hollow compilation on cassette, which I became obsessed with and played to death, eventually replacing the worn out tape with a vinyl copy and later still with CD. For me, the definitive versions of many of The Smiths' well-known songs are to be found on Hatful Of Hollow.

Part of the reason for that however is that, during the band's lifetime, I never bought another album by The Smiths. I got a few 7" and 12" singles but not their self-titled debut or Meat Is Murder, neither The Queen Is Dead nor Strangeways, Here We Come. And certainly not live album Rank. I caught up in the 1990s.

 

Actually, I tell a lie: I bought another compilation, Louder Than Bombs, on double vinyl sometime in 1987; the album was released in April 1987 and The Smiths had spilt by September of that year so I might just have snuck that one in before the end. 

Much is made of the partnership between The Manchester Racist and Johnny Marr but as a band, The Smiths were incredible, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce's rhythm section something out of this world.

So, much as I wanted to pay tribute to Andy by focusing on The Smiths, I debated how to do that without effectively diverting attention to their lyricist and singer, whose increasingly repugnant views do not have a place here.

 

Today's selection therefore is a bit of a fudge and almost entirely Mozza free. As a starting point, there are three bonafide songs intentionally recorded as instrumentals: Money Changes Everything, The Draize Train (the 'Rank' rather than single version here) plus one of my favourite of their songs, the wonderful Oscillate Wildly. I've also obtained a couple of instrumentals from the unofficial and inspiringly-titled 2010 compilation, Unreleased Demos & Instrumentals. 

 

I'm less sure about the provenance of the rest, having sourced them in various places online, but the quality of several suggest that it's been run through filtering software to remove the vocals. I can't stake my life on it, but I'm hoping I haven't fallen into the trap of including one or more instrumentals that have been recorded by a 'soundalike' tribute/cover/pub rock artist. I'm already feeling mortified, just in case...

The idea though was to highlight just how bloody good a bassist Andy Rourke was and how special The Smiths' songs were because of his contribution. I hope this forty-odd minute selection goes some way to conveying this.

 

You'll find lots of superbly written and expressive tributes to Andy online, not least The Vinyl Villain, New Amusements and Bagging Area. 

Thanks, Andy, you were brilliant.

 

1) Barbarism Begins At Home (Instrumental) (1985)

2) This Charming Man (Instrumental) (1983)

3) Money Changes Everything (Single Version) (1986)

4) Hand In Glove (Instrumental) (1984)

5) Still Ill (Instrumental) (1984)

6) Vicar In A Tutu (Instrumental Demo) (1985)

7) Untitled Two (Marr Instrumental) aka Heavy Track (1987)

8) There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (Instrumental) (1986)

9) The Draize Train (Live @ National Ballroom, Kilburn, London) (1986)

10) Untitled One aka I Misses You (Marr Instrumental) (1984)

11) Oscillate Wildly (Single Version) (1985)

 

Bass Changes Everything (42:13) (Box) (Mega)

Another Happy Jolly Tape Thing

Side 2 of a mixtape, recorded sometime in 1992 for my then-girlfriend.

 

We went on a couple of camping holidays, the first of which was a return to Bowleaze Cove in Weymouth where my parents used to keep a static caravan for several years. There's a photo in a dusty album somewhere of me as a baby, having a bath in the caravan's tiny sink. I suspect I looked as bemused as I do now. 

 

We also used the take the cat with us, which seems bizarre in retrospect, but I guess we just didn't have the money to afford the luxury of a cattery for a week. I remember one trip where the cat hadn't returned from their daily patrol on our last day and we were actually driving (albeit very slowly) along the track out of the holiday park, windows open, shouting their name, when they suddenly appeared at the top of the hill, racing down to join us. I don't think my parents really would have left without the cat...would they? The cat was named Sacha, after the popular French singer, although my folks had never shown any particular fondness for his music. Parents are weird like that.

 

We swapped a caravan for a tent in 1992. I hadn't admitted to my girlfriend that I'd actually done very little camping at this point in my life and putting up a tent almost proved to be beyond my capabilities. Relatively early in our relationship, she may not have experienced quite the level of expletives that undoubtedly burst forth as I took about four times longer to get the darn tent up and staying up than any other complete novice.

 

Little had changed in the decade and a half since I'd last visited Weymouth, not least the shift from pebble (& tar) beach at the Bowleaze Cove end to golden sand as you got further along the promenade and into town. At the far end of the beach, before the pavilion and pier, the sand sculptor was still at work, creating scenes and still life art to wow and delight. We ventured into town to the fishmongers, sampling jellied eels (still disgusting) and whelks. All in all, a great few days away and some happy new memories to treasure. 

 

I've been back a couple more times since with Clan K and whilst the town and seafront have experienced more dramatic changes - and the beach-based sand sculptures have now moved slightly inland and upscaled to become Sandworld - we have had a great time, each time.

I like to think that Happy Jolly Tape Thing was playing on the drive from Bristol to Weymouth and home again, back in 1992. It's certainly chock full of travelling, sing-a-long tunes from Depeche Mode, Primal Scream, Talking Heads and Prefab Sprout. The Undertones are the only act to appear on both sides of the cassette, whilst my girlfriend was a huge fan of The Smiths and liked The Doors, although I think that was more to do with Jim Morrison in leather trousers than their music in particular.

Tacked onto the end of the compilation was a hidden track that played out following the closing seconds of the final song on Adam & The Ants' 1981 album, Prince Charmng. Sounds of waves lapping on a beach, guitar strums and a 'wimoweh' refrain, what better way to end, then and now?

 

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

2) (Keep Feeling) Fascination (Extended Version): The Human League (1983)

3) The Meaning Of Love (Single Version): Depeche Mode (1982)

4) Movin' On Up (Album Version By Jimmy Miller): Primal Scream (1991)

5) Tell All The People: The Doors (1969)

6) Road To Nowhere (Album Version): Talking Heads (1985)

7) Downtown ('Shag Times' Album Version): The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu (1988)

8) It's Going To Happen! (Album Version): The Undertones (1981)

9) Faron Young (Truckin' Mix By Thomas Dolby): Prefab Sprout (1985)

10) Ask: The Smiths (1985)

11) Streets Of Your Town (Album Version): The Go-Betweens (1988)

12) untitled: Adam & The Ants (1981)

 

Side Two (46:55) (Box) (Mega)

Side One here

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

Sandwich Bars & Barbed Wire

Cassette compilation recorded 5th October 1986, which I think makes it the oldest surviving C90 in my DIY collection. Strangely enough, I couldn't seem to manage to stretch a compilation over two sides. Side 2 was dedicated to a slight rejig of Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen, adopting the amended (and lawsuit-dodging) name used fot the album's release in the USA.

So, what was 15 year old me listening to? Well, the first two were more of a nod to my friend Stuart, who was a huge fan of U2. I didn't own any of their albums at the time but I had Sunday Bloody Sunday on an import 12" single. 

 

The Bridge by Cactus World News originally appeared on U2's Mother Records label, so again would have been of interest. I had the subsequent reissue on MCA Records, I suspect as part of a hard sell from Dave at Sound Seekers as I ended up with the 12" single and the limited edition 7" with free 2-track cassette. The original mixtape featured the album/single version but the running time was so short that I've swapped it here for the 12" remix.

Little needs to be said about Perfect Skin by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions. Simply one of the best singles of the 1980s from one of the best albums of the 1980s. I still get a joy from listening to it, nearly 40 years on.

 

I rescued the 7" single of Shakespeare's Sister by The Smiths from the ex-chart bargain bin at Woolworths. Worth the (reduced) price alone for the cover picture of Pat Phoenix alone, but a killer A- and B-side. 

 

Another slight tweak here, as the cassette originally featured the NME Version of Uncomplicated by Elvis Costello & The Attractions, from a cover mounted 7" single. I do still have it somewhere but I haven't got around to ripping it to MP3. Instead I've included the album version which I don't think is all that different, to be honest. 

 

Kick Over The Statues was also from a cover mounted 7" single, this time from the premiere issue of short-lived music magazine, The Hit. This was probably my first introduction to Redskins, although I would also have seen them on TV, on Channel 4's The Tube.  This song inevitably resurfaced when the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol was pulled down and dumped into the Harbour water in 2020.

 

A brace of Liverpool bands produced by Ian Broudie. First up, The Icicle Works with Understanding Jane. I became obsessed with the band after buying their Seven Singles Deep collection. This was another Sound Seekers special purchase, as I recall. I got the 7" single with a free 7" single featuring two live songs and then the 5-track 'cassingle', with three more live songs. I managed to resist the temptation to buy the 12" single with an exclusive cover of Van Morrison. Understanding Jane is not the band's finest moment but the song gained an added resonance a few years later when I fell in love with a woman called Jane and it became one of 'our' songs.

 

The second Broudie production is of course Echo & The Bunnymen, with the brilliant The Back Of Love. At the time, I only owned their 'greatest hits' collection Songs To Learn & Sing, which I played constantly. It hasn't aged a bit.

 

Beggars Banquet seemed to be a label that had an inadvertent draw on me: the aforementioned The Icicle Works, The Cult, The Fall, Gary Numan; The Go-Betweens would come to me years later. And then these two: Gene Loves Jezebel and Bauhaus. I almost certainly encountered both in my brother's record collection, but then I'd also bought the One Pound Ninety-Nine various artists compilation, 12 songs for the bargain price of (you guessed it) £1.99.

 

I've previously written about buying the Bauhaus collection 1979-1983 and the first Gene Loves Jezebel album I bought was Discover, which came with a free live album, Glad To Be Alive. It's a patchy album but Sweetest Thing is a highlight. I'd liked All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Bauhaus since I first heard it on my brother's copy of The Sky's Gone Out and it's still up there for me.

 

The final three songs are a rather odd bit of sequencing. I suspect I had lost a grip on my timings at this point and was just looking for songs to fill the remaining space with less of a care about whether they fit with the rest of the compilation...!

 

I had Public Image Ltd.'s 1986 album on vinyl, so it was titled Album. The title changed to reflect the format, i.e. Cassette and Compact Disc. I also had the 12" single of Home, which also featured the album version of Round as a B-side. It's a good song (and album), albeit with a 'heavy' production characteristic of the time. 

 

The same can be said of Tears For Fears and Chris Hughes, with their huge, none-more-Eighties commercial smash Songs From The Big Chair. Broken was a recycled B-side that was used on the album to sandwich Head Over Heels. When the latter was released as a single, the same approach was adopted for the 12" single's Preacher Mix. The mixtape used the opening segment of Broken, Roland Orzabal doing a pretty ropey Martin Luther King impression, the rest of the song thankfully remaining instrumental. I've less love for Tears For Fears than I had in the early to mid Eighties and this track is definitely out of place on this compilation.

 

To bring things back to a suitable finish, The Jesus & Mary Chain crash in with Taste Of Cindy. This featured along with Redskins, The Style Council and Simply Red on The Hit magazine freebie 7" single and it was some years later before I bought Psychocandy, and a considerable time after I'd seen them live in concert, which seems bizarre in retrospect. A great song, over and done in one hundred seconds. 'Nuff said.

 

1) Sunday Bloody Sunday (Album Version): U2 (1983)

2) The Bridge (12" Remix): Cactus World News (1986)

3) Perfect Skin (Album Version): Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (1984)

4) Shakespeare's Sister (Single Version): The Smiths (1985)

5) Uncomplicated (Album Version): Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1986)

6) Kick Over The Statues (Ramsey McKinnock Mix): Redskins (1985)

7) Understanding Jane (Album Version): The Icicle Works (1986)

8) The Back Of Love (Album Version): Echo & The Bunnymen (1982)

9) Sweetest Thing (Album Version): Gene Loves Jezebel (1986)

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

11) Round: Public Image Ltd. (1986)

12) Broken (Preacher Mix): Tears For Fears (1985)

13) Taste Of Cindy (Album Version): The Jesus & Mary Chain (1985)

1982: The Back Of Love EP: 8

1982: The Sky's Gone Out: 10

1983: War: 1

1984: Rattlesnakes: 3

1985: Head Over Heels EP: 12 

1985: Psychocandy: 13

1985: Shakespeare's Sister EP: 4

1985: The Hit RED Hot EP: 6 

1986: Album: 11

1986: Blood & Chocolate: 5

1986: Discover: 9

1986: The Bridge EP: 2

1986: Understanding Jane EP: 7

Sandwich Bars & Barbed Wire (45:15) (Box) (Mega)

Diving For More Pearls

Side 2 of a CD-R compiled by Atom Boy @ Metropolis Studios, Shizuoka, Japan, for me and Mrs. K in November 2004.

 

The second half of a rather brilliant compilation that we received as a gift in the winter of 2004. Six months later, Mrs. K and I spent a mind-blowing and unforgettable month in Japan, solely focused on the largest island Honshu, taking in Tokyo, Nara, Osaka, Kyoto and Hirsohima, amongst many other places. As part of the trip, we spent a week with Atom Boy and Atom Girl, who lived in Shizuoka not far from Mount Fuji. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many reasons, packed with happy memories.

Side 2 of Diving For Pearls if anything ups the ante. Pink Industry's exhortation to throw "Morrissey in the bin" has appeared on one of my previous mixtapes, which I'm surprised to find I haven't yet posted here. I love Pink Industry's album New Beginnings, which features What I Wouldn't Give, and various tracks frequently populated my cassette compilations in the mid- to late-1980s.

Seamlessly flowing into The Smiths, the first album of theirs I bought was the Hatful Of Hollow compilation on cassette, so the radio sessions of several songs have remained the definitive versions for me. The version of Back To The Old House recorded for John Peel's show is sublime and a clear example of Johnny Marr's musical brilliance, coupled perfectly with the Manchester Racist's lyrical skill.

In an another obvious-but-it-works pairing, This Mortal Coil with Elizabeth Fraser covering Tim Buckley is followed by another song they covered on debut album It'll End In Tears, namely Another Day by Roy Harper. I don't think I'd heard the latter until receiving this compilation. Elizabeth Fraser's version is indelibly etched in my memory but Roy Harper's is beautiful and disturbing in it's own right. 

As for the final two songs, I'd be hard pressed to think of a better way to close this collection than with The Clash and Joy Division, whether in it's current incarnation as a two-sided compilation or in it's original 20-song, 80-minute mix as Atom Boy intended.

One of my favourite selections, full stop.

 

1) What I Wouldn't Give (Album Version): Pink Industry (1985)

2) Back To The Old House (John Peel Session): The Smiths (1983)

3) Gather All The Hours: Heidi Berry (1989)

4) Happiness Is Easy (Album Version): Talk Talk (1986)

5) Song To The Siren (Cover of Tim Buckley): This Mortal Coil ft. Elizabeth Fraser (1984)

6) Another Day (Album Version): Roy Harper (1970)

7) Maria: David Sylvian (1987)

8) Listening Wind: Talking Heads (1980)

9) Straight To Hell (Album Version): The Clash (1982)

10) Atmosphere (Sordide Sentimental Single Version): Joy Division (1979)

 

Side Two (41:35)

You Never Really Saw...

I unearthed this CD-R, which I compiled and burned on 1st June 2005, featuring "alternative 1980s twelve inch mixes". This got me reminiscing about going to alternative clubs in Bristol, such as Badlands and The Whip. The latter I've discovered has had it's own Facebook page for years...I'm always late to the party! In all honesty, I think the majority of these songs would never had made it near the turntable of most of the clubs I went to at the time. Attempting to play The Icicle Works or U2 would likely have resulted in a Snakebite shower, but Is This The Life, How Soon Is Now?, Uncertain Smile and She Sells Sanctuary were regularly played, along with Fetish by Vicious Pink and Nag Nag Nag by Cabaret Voltaire. I'm not sure if it was always there, but I remember Badlands being in a small room above a huge club called Busbys (maybe Ritzys by that time), so there was always the fun of 'mingling' with the mainstream crowd on the way in and out. The Whip was even more fun in that respect as it was in The Studio, in a small room off the main club area, and you had to run the gauntlet of pissed up lager louts dancing to Stock, Aitken & Waterman to get to and from the bogs. A limbering up session at The Bunch Of Goths on Denmark Street usually got you ready for the long night (& morning) ahead, followed by an 'all back to mine' at someone's place in Stokes Croft or a 'keep going til the dawn' refresher at the wonderful Jamaican Good Food in St. Pauls. Great times.

1) The Love Parade (12" Version): The Undertones (1983)

2) Is This The Life (12" Version): Cardiacs (1988)

3) Summertime (Extended Version): Fun Boy Three (1982)

4) Hollow Horse (Long Version: The Icicle Works (1984)

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

6) Finest Worksong (Lengthy Club Mix): R.E.M. (1987)

7) Two Tribes (Carnage): Frankie Goes To Hollywood (1984)

8) How Soon Is Now? (12" Version): The Smiths (1984)

9) Driving Away From Home (I Mean After All It's Only 'Dead Man's Curve'): It's Immaterial (1986)

10) Two Hearts Beat As One (Club Version): U2 (1983)

11) Skin Deep (Extended Version): The Stranglers (1984)

12) Uncertain Smile (Extended Version): The The (1982)

 

You Never Reall Saw... (1:18:33)