The Magic's Back In My Heart Again

Breathless is a 4-piece band comprising Dominic Appleton (vocals. keyboards), Gary Mundy (guitar), Ari Neufeld (bass) and Tristram Latimer Sayer (drums), who this year celebrate four decades together.

 

Breathless' music is variously described as dream pop, shoegaze (latterly applied), ethereal rock, psychedelic (at times) and in many ways the perfect signing to the 4AD label in the 1980s. Except that Breathless never were.

From April 1984's debut single Waterland to their most recent album, 2022's See Those Colours Fly, Breathless' releases have been on their own Tenor Vossa label.  To date, there have been eight albums, one compilation (1994) and fourteen singles/EPs. I don't (yet) own any of the albums but I have so far been able to source ten of the singles digitally.

Over And Over was a 4-track CD single in 1991, a double A-side with All That Matters Now, both songs taken from fourth album Between Happiness And Heartache. Over And Over was accompanied by an official video, directed by Damon Heath. Tristram Latimer Sayer took leave of Breathless in 1987, returning in 2011, with Martyn Watts on drums for the intervening period.

Truth be known
The magic's back in my heart again
It's sad I know
You leap up before me
Are you back now to haunt me?
Just one night when I pushed you aside
I knew what was done was done
Well, if I knew then
Just what I know now
That I'd lose you
As I couldn't tell you
I need you
I need you

 

Well, it's a funny old world
When you're too long on your own

When you fall in love
Well, in and out of love again
Well, it's wrong, wrong, wrong
I've been on my own for too long
Yes, it's wrong, wrong, wrong
To be on your own for so long

I think of you, think of you, everyday
Do you think of me, think of me, ever?
I count every day you're gone away
I count them all, I do
Over and over, over and over

Over and over, over and over

I need you

I need you

 

 

Although Breathless have never been signed to 4AD, it was there that I first heard Dominic Appleton's distinctive voice. He was one of a very few non-4AD artists to record with This Mortal Coil, contributing vocals to three songs on second album Filigree & Shadow (and one on third and final album Blood), including this beautiful cover of Tarantula, originally by Colourbox. Here's a video created in 2019 by Virgil Pink.

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

Wanted Too Much To Say No, No, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

One of the greatest pair of songs ever committed to 7" vinyl? Chris Bell's single, I Am The Cosmos b/w You And Your Sister, was released in 1978 and proved to be the only post-Big Star recordings issued in his lifetime. Tragically, by the end of the year, Chris lost his life in a car accident. A posthumous album called I Am The Cosmos, compiling these and other unreleased songs, came out in 1992. 

 

As a teenager in the 1980s, I didn't have a clue about any of this. My brother one day brought home a cassette called It'll End In Tears by This Mortal Coil. I was struck by the cover image and even more so by the music within, which in turn was my introduction to the music of Tim Buckley, Roy Harper and Big Star. 

 

I bought This Mortal Coil's second album, Filigree & Shadow, and pretty much thought that was it for 4AD founder Ivo-Watts Russell's collective. In 1991, I was walking past a record shop in Perth, Western Australia and was surprised to see This Mortal Coil's logo atop a striking image of cover star Pallas Citroen's face, eyes following me as I walked past. Of course, I had to go in and have a look.

 

I didn't buy the album until I was back home in England later that year but it included covers of both sides of Chris' single. I Am The Cosmos is recreated as a duet between Deirdre Rutkowski and Dominic Appleton.

 

It's good but, discovering the original I Am The Cosmos via a freebie CD with Uncut magazine the following year (to promote the posthumous album of the same name), Chris Bell's version is unbeatable.

I didn't hear Chris' version of You And Your Sister until a few years later. It's a beautifully simple yet nuanced performance, even more so with Alex Chilton's backing vocals. But...

 

Not just because I heard it first - and repeatedly over a relatively short period of time - but This Mortal Coil's version absolutely, unequivocally nails it. And it's all down to Kim Deal's heart-wrenching lead vocal, wonderfully supported by Tanya Donnelly's harmonies. It gets me every time. 

Others have tried - and failed - to capture the magic of You And Your Sister. Whale did a frankly awful version of the song in 1995, made even worse with a misplaced (and missed-the-point) rap from Leafnuts. Thankfully, this was relegated to a B-side. Not recommended but if you really must...

 

However, whilst it again doesn't match the sheer beauty of This Mortal Coil or Chris Bell's version, there is another cover that I like, which I'm sharing here in a live version from last December because... well, just because.

Your Cassette Pet!

Side 2 of a cassette compilation, recorded September 1991. 

 

Essentially, this is a trawl through my brother's collection of albums on tape, cherry picking favourite songs to stick on two sides of a C90. The title is nod to 1980's cassette-only album by Bow Wow Wow, which my brother didn't own and therefore isn't featured here, but I had a copy of a copy which my friend had given me.

It's an eclectic mix albeit firmly in 'alternative' territory, with Flesh For Lulu, Marc Almond (here with The Mambas), Bauhaus and Howard Devoto. I was arguably the bigger Depeche Mode fan as a teen but I bought only the singles, whilst my brother had their first three albums, all on cassette. 

Part of the appeal of cassettes was the 'double play' format, where you'd either get two albums for the price of one or a slew of bonus tracks on Side 2. Quite a few examples here: Fashion's Fabrique contained a whole side of remixes, whist Laibach paired Opus Dei with their cover of The Beatles' Let It Be album. 

 

The The's Soul Mining was perhaps the strangest of the lot. The original album on Side 1, the flip side containing 6 songs purportedly planned for The The's aborted album The Pornography Of Despair. Things get off to a reasonably normal start with the re-recorded version of Perfect. And then Three Orange Kisses From Kazan, a real WTF? moment. Initially, I was both shit-scared and morbidly fascinated by the song, but it's long since become a highlight of The The's back catalogue for me. 

 

Many of the artists have 2 or 3 songs on this compilation. This Mortal Coil is no exception, though the late inclusion of a 1:30 edit of Waves Become Wings was clearly to pad out Side 2's running time. With apologies to Lisa Gerrard, who is just getting into her stride when she's unceremoniously faded out, I've retained the edit for this recreated selection.

 

Last but not least, a brace of cover versions by Laibach (a third from Let It be is on Side 1). In both cases, they take songs - by Queen and Opus - that I didn't particularly care for and create bruising, industrial marching songs that take the clichéd phrase "...and make it their own" to a whole other place. 

 

Side 1 may take a while to come, as it features a track from Bristol-band Renegade Flight, who I saw live several times in the late 1980s and picked up a couple of their DIY cassettes from their merch stall. I think I've still got them - and a tape deck - somewhere in a box in the attic, so hopefully I can find and convert to MP3 format in the next 12 months. Just don't hold your breath!

 

1) The Sun And The Rainfall (Album Version): Depeche Mode (1982)

2) Rainy Season (Album Version): Howard Devoto (1983)

3) Subterraneans (Album Version): Flesh For Lulu (1984)

4) Something In Your Picture (Alternative Playback) (Half Frame) (Remix By Zeus B. Held): Fashion (1982)

5) Shame (Album Version): Depeche Mode (1983)

6) Geburt Einer Nation (Album Version) (Cover of 'One Vision' by Queen): Laibach (1987)

7) Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?: Bauhaus (1983)

8) Three Orange Kisses From Kazan: The The (1982)

9) Caroline Says II (Cover of Lou Reed): Marc & The Mambas (1982)

10) Waves Become Wings (Edit): This Mortal Coil ft. Lisa Gerrard (1984)

11) Opus Dei (Album Version) (Cover of 'Live Is Life' by Opus): Laibach (1987)

1982: A Broken Frame: 1

1982: Something In Your Picture EP / Fabrique (Special Edition Double Play Cassette): 4

1982: Untitled: 9

1983: Burning From The Inside: 7

1983: Construction Time Again: 5

1983: Jerky Versions Of The Dream: 2

1983: Uncertain Smile EP / Soul Mining (Special Edition Double Play Cassette): 8

1984: Flesh For Lulu: 3

1984: It'll End In Tears: 10

1987: Geburt Einer Nation EP / Opus Dei: 6, 11

Side Two (45:55) (KF) (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)

Junk Garage

Side 2 of a mixtape recorded by my friend Stuart, circa August 1991.

There was an excellent post from JC (could it be anything else?) at The Vinyl Villain on Thursday, titled State Of The Blogging Nation, which provoked a great response from readers and fellow bloggers alike. Whether we read and comment, or write and post, it's the passion for music and the tangible sense of community that keeps bringing us back. I regularly read dozens of music blogs, some of which are updated daily, others weekly, others considerably less so. I try to comment as much as possible, but it's increasingly hard to keep up, especially since committing last year to posting on Dubhed every day for as long as I can keep being inspired.

A guaranteed daily visit is Charity Chic Music as I read with awe about Stevie's latest find for mere pennies in his never' ending search for charity shop gems. Friday's post featured Pere Ubu's 1990 album Worlds In Collision and one of the two songs he showcased was I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue. This was almost certainly the second Pere Ubu song I ever heard (after Waiting For Mary) and came courtesy of another trusty tape from my friend Stuart. We'd been apart for a year whilst I was working and travelling Australia, so this was a kind of "welcome home" mixtape, summing up what he had been listening to recently.

 

Renegade Soundwave are hugely underappreciated, in my opinion. Actually, I've just realised that this is their first appearance on this blog, so clearly by me too! Soundclash and RSW In Dub were incredible sonic slabs that demanded repeat listening and whilst it was a few years before their respective follow ups, they maintained a singular sound before their premature end. Murder Music is a great example and a perfect opener to Side 2.

 

Tracks 2 & 3 were lifted directly as the opening two songs on The Island Tape, a Select magazine freebie cassette, but Julian Cope's magnum opus Peggy Suicide was an immediate purchase on my return whilst - bizarrely, in retropect - it was a couple of years later with Bone Machine that I finally bought a Tom Waits album. I borrowed and taped Stuart's copy of Out Of Time but, of course, R.E.M. achieved global domination with this, so I was already familiar with most of the songs from constant radio and MTV rotation.

 

I was largely ignorant of Bob Dylan at this time (dismissive even, given his association with The Travelling Wilburys), so it was a bold move to an 11-minute epic on, but it paid off. Desolation Row remains one of my favourite Dylan songs. Despite being 3 decades older than most of the other songs, fits perfectly , sandwiched between one of This Mortal Coil's (& Kim Deal's) and R.E.M.'s finest moments.

 

We saw The Fat Lady Sings supporting The Psychedelic Furs in 1990 and in Stuart's opinion, they were the highlight of the night. He's followed them and subsequently singer/songwriter Nick Kelly's solo exploits ever since.

 

I've tweaked the playlist slightly, for practical reasons: I don't have the original album version of Aeroplane Blues, only the "LA Mix" from the Volume CD/magazine series. It sounds like a rougher, earlier mix to these untrained ears, but my box of Volume is buried in the attic somewhere so I can't check the detail.

 

I've also swapped the album version of Hang On St. Christopher from The Island Tape for the USA-only 12" version as (a) you may be less familiar with this one and (b) it bolsters the running time, which was running a bit short on the original tape.

Junk Garage (American pronunciation of the latter) is a phrase taken from R.E.M.'s Country Feedback. 

 

Junk Collage (do you see what I did there?) by me, ripped from various magazines and adverts. I can easily spot Buddy Holly and Christian Slater in there. I think the main picture was a toilet wall backdrop to a photo of a music artist, but I've forgotten who.

Some of the typeface has worn away, but you get a sneak preview of what will eventually pop up when I post Side 1. The reason I didn't go with that one today is that the tape opens with an expletive-ridden intro, but one which segues perfectly into a Neil Young & Crazy Horse track. I'm debating whether it stays, goes or is edited in some way before posting. Watch this space...it might be a while.

 

1) Murder Music (Album Version): Renegade Soundwave (1989)

2) Hang On St. Christopher (Extended Remixed Version By Tchad Blake): Tom Waits (1987)

3) Double Vegetation (Album Version): Julian Cope (1991)

4) You And Your Sister (Cover of Chris Bell): This Mortal Coil ft. Kim Deal & Tanya Donelly (1991)

5) Desolation Row: Bob Dylan (1965)

6) Country Feedback (Album Version): R.E.M. (1991)

7) Aeroplane Blues (LA Mix): The Blue Aeroplanes (1991)

8) Sexy Eiffel Towers: Bow Wow Wow (1980)

9) I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue: Pere Ubu (1990)

10) Twist (Album Version): The Fat Lady Sings (1991)

11) Safesurfer (Reprise): Julian Cope (1991)

 

1965: Highway 61 Revisited: 5 

1980: Your Cassette Pet: 8

1987: Hang On St. Christopher (USA 12"): 2

1989: Soundclash: 1

1990: Worlds In Collision: 9

1991: Blood: 4 

1991: Out Of Time: 6

1991: Peggy Suicide: 3, 11

1991: Twist: 10

1991: Volume Two: 7

 

Side Two (45:59) (Box) (Mega)