80s Weekender

The gremlins have struck again and I have had to shelve my planned post for today, so here's a little dip into the archives for some 80s (or 80s adjacent) tunes.

I've created hundreds of mixtapes and compilations for this blog, but I only keep the links active for a month or so. Therefore, I've reactivated a selection that share my love of 80s music and especially the 12" remix. 

In total, there 159 songs, 94 artists, 12 mixtapes and selections, Enough to fill the weekend, I think!

A Kick Up The Eighties (Side 1 & Side 2)

Altered Perceptions (Side 1 & Side 2)

Floorshow

Flying In The Face Of Fashion

Just Walk Don't Talk

Kissing The Mix (Side 1 & Side 2)

Musik For Hairspray

Muzik For Hair Gel

Teenage Remix (Side 1 & Side 2)

The Fate Of The Eighties

What My Heart Yearns For Now

You Never Really Saw...

And the A-Z roll call of featured artists, noting if they pop up multiple times, with one runaway winner...

Act
Age Of Chance
Arthur Russell
Associates
Bauhaus
Belouis Some
Billy Idol (x4)
Billy Ocean
Blancmange (x3)
Bronski Beat (x2)
Cardiacs
Chakk
China Crisis (x2)
Clan Of Xymox (x2)
Cocteau Twins (x2)
David Bowie
Depeche Mode (x6)
Divine (x3)
Doctor & The Medics
Echo & The Bunnymen
Erasure
Eurythmics (x2)
Fad Gadget
Faith No More
Feargal Sharkey
Flesh For Lulu
Frankie Goes To Hollywood (x2)
Fun Boy Three
Gary Numan
Gene Loves Jezebel (x2)
Grace Jones
Heaven 17 (x2)
Howard Devoto
Icehouse
Iggy Pop
Information Society
It's Immaterial
Japan (x2)
John Foxx
Julian Cope
Killing Joke
King
Kissing The Pink (x2)
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (x2)
Lords Of The New Church
Luxuria
M (x2)
Marc Almond (x2)
New Order (x2)
O.M.D. (x2)
Ofra Haza
Pet Shop Boys
Pete Shelley (x3)
Pixies
Prefab Sprout
Propaganda (x2)
Psychic TV (x2) 
R.E.M.
Scarlet Fantastic
Scritti Politti (x2)
Simple Minds
Siouxsie & The Banshees (x3)
Soft Cell (x2)
Sparks (x2)
T. Rex
Talk Talk (x6)
Talking Heads
Tears For Fears (x2)
The Armoury Show
The B-52's (x4)
The Chameleons (x2)
The Communards
The Cult (x3)
The Cure
The Damned (x3)
The Godfathers
The Icicle Works
The Leather Nun (x2)
The March Violets
The Psychedelic Furs (x9)
The Sisters Of Mercy (x2)
The Smiths (x2)
The Stranglers
The Sugarcubes
The The
The Undertones
Thomas Dolby (x4)
Trouble Funk
U2
Vicious Pink (x4)
Visage (x5)
Wang Chung
Westworld
Zeke Manyika

Make The Sea Turn Turtle

Ushering in the weekend with 47 (and a half) minutes of electronica, spanning funk(i), broken beats, children's rhymes, new (and old) romantics, scuzzy guitars, pop vocals and non-stop dancing, sometimes ecstatic, always eclectic...

Some of these I haven't heard for at least half a decade, so it was a lot of fun playing mix 'n' match with the various sounds. Some of the segueways actually work, too! Which is nice.

1) Suck Acid, Pearl & Dean: Funki Porcini (1995)

2) Owner Of A Lonely Heart (2 Close To The Edge Mix By 808 State): Yes (1991)

3) I'm Still Searching (Junior Boys Spring 2005 DJ Mix By Jeremy Greenspan & Matthew Didemus): Visage (2005)

4) Leave Your Love (Justin Faust Remix): Young Summer (2014)

5) Backyard (Edit): Clearzone (1997)

6) Seventeen (Soulwax Mix By David Dewaele & Stephen Dewaele) (Edit): Ladytron (2003)

7) A Man Could Get Lost (Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing Remix By Harvey Goldberg): Soft Cell (1982)

8) Closer Than This (Xaphoon Jones Remix By Noah Beresin): St. Lucia (2012)

9) Make It Mine (Hilltop Mix By Daniel Stoner): The Shamen (1992)

10) Light Up: Fred Again.. & Mr Eazi (2022)

11) Love U More (Album Version): Sunscreem (1992)

1982: Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing: 7

1991: Owner Of A Lonely Heart EP: 2

1992: Art Of Compilation 10 (Art Of Mix bootleg CD): 9

1992: O₃: 11

1995: Ashabanapal's Big Pink Inflatable EP: 1

2003: nu:electronica_: 5

2005: Junior Boys Spring 2005 DJ Mix: 3

2009: Light & Magic: Remixed & Rare: 6

2012: We Got It Wrong EP: 8

2014: Leave Your Love EP: 4

2022: EarthPercent x Earth Day Compilation Album: 10

Make The Sea Turn Turtle (47:37) (GD) (M)

"A Moment In Time...That Echoes Through Eternity"

...so says @keithrooks4567 in the comments for neXiumvideos posting of a German TV performance of Fade To Grey by Visage from 1981.

When I say "Visage", this is all about Steve Strange, as Midge Ure, Rusty Egan et al do not join him. 

However, Steve is somewhat eclipsed by Perri Lister, Hot Gossip dancer, occasional Coconut and long-term partner of Billy Idol for most of the 1980s.

I had a crush on Perri back in the day and seeing this TV clip for the first time just made me fall for her all over again.

I think Keith was referring to the song in today's titular quote, but this welcome find on YouTube has been a memorable alternative to the unforgettable official video.

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) (GD) (M)

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)

Twenty Five

This Dubhed selection was brought to you today by the letter T and the number 25, for no other reason than it's the twenty fifth day of the fifth month of the year twenty twenty five. 

The usual eclectic sounds here today, spanning dance, prog, psych, soul, rap and pop. You'll also find a few artists hidiing in plain sight, from the likes of Love And Money, Hawkwind, XTC and, er, Gary Numan's former backing band.

Oh. and a blistering version of 25th Floor by Patti Smith, which is just brilliant.

1) 25 Years: Sugartown (2018)

2) In The Year 2525 (Special Dance Mix) (Cover of Zager & Evans): Visage (1983)

3) 25 Hundred Friends: Coeo (2021)

4) Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now) (Alternate Version): The Flaming Lips (1997)

5) 25th Floor (Live @ The Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC TV): Patti Smith Group (1978)

6) 25 Years (Single Version): Hawklords (1979)

7) 25 Minutes To Go (Live, Udine, Italy) (Cover of Shel Silverstein): Diamanda Galás (1996-97)

8) Twenty-Five Miles: Edwin Starr (1968)

9) Twenty Five Years: Saint Etienne (2012)

10) Oh! Twenty Twenty Five (7" Version): Dramatis (1981)

11) Under 25: Enny (2021)

12) 25 O'Clock: The Dukes Of Stratosphear (1985)

1968: Twenty-Five Miles EP: 8

1978: Live On The Old Grey Whistle Test 1978 (bootleg MP3): 5

1979: 25 Years EP: 6

1981: Oh! Twenty Twenty Five EP: 10

1983: Fade To Grey: The Singles Collection (Special Dance Mix Cassette): 2

1985: 25 O'Clock EP: 12

1998: Malediction And Prayer: 7

1999: Waitin' For A Superman EP: 4

2012: Words And Music By Saint Etienne: 9

2018: Goosebumps: 25 Years Of Marina Records: 1

2021: Support Ukraine Compilation: 3

2021: Under 25 EP: 11

Twenty Five (51:20) (KF) (Mega)

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)

Decade I: 1980

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded 3rd February 1990.

 

In 2023, Toby Roberts dreamed of competing in the 2024 Olympics, qualifying in October and yesterday bringing home gold with an incredible boulder and lead performance, aged 19.

In 1990, 19-year old me dreamed of girls, music and getting away from the UK. As Meat Loaf once over emoted on vinyl, two out of three ain't bad. My love life was at least consistent: mostly short-lived or unrequited. But...I did eventually get away from the UK later that year, a life-changing solo experience in Australia. Gold Coast rather than a gold medal, but good enough for me.

And my relationship with music has sustained me through the years, never letting me down. Well, apart from that Simple Minds headline gig at the Ashton Court Festival in Bristol, but nothing's perfect, right?

So, as 1989 turned into 1990 I had the notion of doing a themed series of cassette compilations, looking back at the previous decade. Five C90s, one year per side, 12 songs apiece. 

I had a growing record collection by that time, mostly vinyl and cassettes, with a few CDs creeping in. I also had access to my brother's vinyl - he'd gone to uni in Bournemouth and left most of behind with my parents - and my friend Stuart's collection, to plug any gaps in my 'wants' list.

1980 is inevitably a cracking selection, if I say so myself, as there was so much good music to choose from. Pretty much all of these came from my own records, the only exceptions being Martha & The Muffins (my brother's copy of Metro Music) and Talking Heads and U2, borrowed from Stuart.

And yes, I accept that Once In A Lifetime wasn't released in the UK as a single until January 1981. However, in those pre-internet years, I went by the P&C year stated on the back sleeve and labels. Remain In Light said 1980, so that was good enough for me. I subsequently found that the info printed on records were often unreliable in this regard. in this case, I'm happy to confirm that Remain In Light came out in October 1980. Yippee, me.

A strong opener to the series, then. Could I sustain it? 

You won't have long to find out...

 

1) Messages (10" Version): O.M.D.

2) Fade To Grey (Dance Mix Edit): Visage

3) Echo Beach (Album Version): Martha & The Muffins

4) Once In A Lifetime (Album Version): Talking Heads

5) Call Me (Theme From American Gigolo) (Single Version): Blondie

6) Do It Clean (Single Version): Echo & The Bunnymen

7) Independence Day (Album Version): The Comsat Angels

8) Israel (Single Version): Siouxsie & The Banshees

9) Love Will Tear Us Apart (Album Version): Joy Division

10) My Perfect Cousin (Album Version): The Undertones

11) A Day Without Me (Album Version): U2

12) Being Boiled (Album Version): The Human League

23rd March 1980: Metro Music (#10): 3

20th April 1980: Call Me EP (#1): 5 

11th May 1980: Holiday 80 EP (#56): 12 *

11th May 1980: Hypnotised (#9): 10 

15th June 1980: Messages EP (#13): 1

13th July 1980: Waiting For A Miracle (# n/a): 7 **

20th July 1980: Love Will Tear Us Apart EP (#13): 9

24th August 1980: Boy (# n/a): 11 

5th October 1980: The Puppet / Do It Clean EP (# n/a): 6

30th November 1980: Israel EP (#41): 8 

1st February 1981: Visage (#8): 2 ***

1st March 1981: Remain In Light (#14): 4 ****

Side One (46:12) (GD) (M)

 

* Being Boiled was re-released on the back of The Human League's chart success and peaked at #6 in January 1982.  

** Neither single nor album troubled the UK charts in 1980, but a re-recorded version of Independence Day made it to #71 in January 1984 

*** Fade To Grey first entered the UK singles chart on 14th December 1980

**** Remain In Light entered the UK album chart on 26th October 1980 and that, M'lud, is my sole defence!

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) (GD) (M) 

We Don't Really Need A Crowd To Have A Party

Another 45-minute selection of eclectic Eighties 12" mixes to shuffle in the weekend. 

I was an avid consumer of remixes as a newly minted record collector in my teens, spending a disproportionate amount of my hard-earned Saturday and holiday job money on 12" singles. My tastes were broadening from the outset: I had no problem parting with cash for Hi NRG, Pop, Goth, Electro, Rock, Indie or D.I.S.C.O., often within the same shopping trip.

For all that, I can say confidently that I didn't own a single one of today's selections until the advent of the internet, eBay, nostalgia-driven 3CD 12"/80s collections and as importantly, if not more so, music blogs.

Suddenly, things that had passed me by or were just out of reach were more readily available. Pre-Brexit and/or the sky-rocketing of shipping fees, I'd acquire tons of music from sellers in Europe and the USA. Without music blogs, would I ever have heard of Shona Laing? Or been able to deep dive into Joseph Watt and Art Maharg's Razormaid archive? Probably not.

Some of this selection may be familiar, it may trigger some fuzzy, happy memories or it may be music that you've never heard before today. If it's none of the above but it gets you shuffling and shimmying around the kitchen, then that's good enough for me!

 

1) Dancing In Berlin (Extended Version - Dance Remix By Giorgio Moroder & Richie Zito): Berlin (1984)

2) Flying North (Razormaid Remix): Thomas Dolby (1988)

3) So Bright So Strong (The Kissing Side) (Remix By Phil Harding & Paul 'Wix' Wickens): Nitzer Ebb (1985)

4) Big Fun (Juan's Magic Remix By Juan Atkins): Inner City (1988)

5) Work It Out (Acid Dub): Steve 'Silk' Hurley ft. M. Doc aka Marc Williams (1989)  

6) Beat Boy (Dance Dub): Visage (1984)

7) Soviet Snow (Meltdown Dub) (Remix By Justin Strauss & Murray Elias): Shona Laing (1987)

8) Our Darkness (Remix By Anne Clark & David Harrow): Anne Clark (1984)

We Don't Really Need A Crowd To Have A Party (46:22) (KF) (Mega)

Well It's Fun To Think That I'm Having The Time Of My Life

Torrential rain, an extremely laggy computer and a wailing cat have not been conducive to composing today's post, so I'll dispense with lengthy sleeve notes and offer up another 1980s selection, with one song from each year of that decade and veering towards the poppier end of the musical spectrum. 

 

Today's post and mix title are lifted from track 5 on this selection. Thanks, Mr. Tom Bailey! 

 

Photo is my own snap of graffiti adorning a building just around the corner from the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, where Clan K spent an enjoyable couple of hours on our last day in Valencia, just over a week ago. It's a bit blurry as I was on the other side of the street, crossing the road and trying to get the shot in motion. The fact that there isn't a follow up photo of me wrapped around a lamppost or on the bonnet of a car still amazes me...

Happy Friday, everyone!

 

1) Let's Dance (Long Version By David Bowie, Nile Rodgers & Bob Clearmountain): David Bowie (1983)

2) If Only I Could (Extended Version By Claus Zundel): Sydney Youngblood (1989)

3) I'm Not Scared (Disco Mix By Pet Shop Boys & Phil Harding): Eighth Wonder (1988)

4) Strangelove (Pain Mix By Mix Master Phil Harding): Depeche Mode (1987)

5) In The Name Of Love (Big Value Version/New Super Synthesized Version By Tom Bailey): Thompson Twins (1982)

6) Ruby Red (Re-Edited And Re-Structured By Mike Hedges): Marc Almond (1986)

7) Mind Of A Toy (Dance Mix By Visage): Visage (1981)

8) Call Me (Theme From American Gigolo) (Album Version By Giorgio Moroder): Blondie (1980)

9) Cry (Extended Remix By J.J. Jeczalik): Godley & Creme (1985)

10) It's My Life (US Mix By Steve Thompson): Talk Talk (1984)

Fun To Think (1:13:14) (KF) (Mega)

Another Teenage Remix

Side 1 of a 1980s 12" mix cassette compilation, recorded 24th April 2000. According to my sleevenotes on the reverse, "these 12" singles kept me going even when my hairstyle just couldn't keep pace". It's fair to say that in the mid to late 1980s, I went through an environmentally unfriendly amount of hairspray and gel, rarely to impressive effect.

The selection starts off with Act, who featured here in their own right last year. A short-lived but oh-so-wonderful collaboration between Claudia Brücken and Thomas Leer. Unfortunately for them, Act was launched just as label ZTT experienced a dip in popularity, post-Frankie Goes to Hollywood and pre-808 State and Seal. A shame as Brücken and Leer looked and sounded great, with satirical lyrics and none-more-80s production. 

 

Snobbery & Decay was Act's opening statement and deserved a far better UK chart placing than #60, which would sadly prove to be their biggest 'hit'. As with most ZTT releases, there were multiple formats and remixes. As this mix title suggests, this limited edition 12" was housed in a beautiful sleeve with a photo of Quentin Crisp by Anton Corbijn on the reverse. What's less obvious is that the remix heavily samples Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis from US TV series Moonlighting, which was hugely popular at the time. In fact, the song proper doesn't kick in until five and a half minutes into a remix just shy of nine minutes. All good fun, but you had to buy the other formats to get more Claudia and Thomas.

Visage arguably made one good album (their debut) and it was all downhill from there. Personally, I also have a lot of love for second album The Anvil and, singles-wise, everything up to Pleasure Boys. Night Train is one of their best and the record-buying public seemed largely to agree as it proved to be their fourth UK Top 20 hit, pipping Mind Of A Toy by one place to peak at #12. I first got the dance mix of Night Train on vinyl courtesy of the Old Gold series, which would usually slap two extended mixes on a 12" single in a hideously generic sleeve for a bargain price. I tracked down the original 12" single years later in Replay Records in Bristol. I still love it.

 

What can I say about Associates? Well, other than whether to use the definite article in their name or not. Billy MacKenzie and Alan Rankine created some of the finest pop music of the 1980s, managing both perfect and off-kilter often in the same song. Club Country had a tough gig, being the follow up to Party Fears Two, but it managed #13 in the UK and matched it's predecessor's 10-week run in the charts. I love the song, whether the 7" single, slightly longer album cut or here in it's extended version. And, for my money, the best phrasing of the word 'pseudonym' in a song, ever. 

 

It's only occurred to me whilst writing this that there's a Scottish theme running though this selection: Thomas Leer, Midge Ure, Billy MacKenzie and Alan Rankine. Zeke Manyika was born in Zimbabwe, but moved to (and I think still lives in) Scotland, joining Orange Juice in 1982, so that's good enough for me. 

 

Runaway Freedom Train was released in 1989 as the follow up to Bible Belt and sadly also seems to have had little impact on the charts. It carries a similar political heft to Bible Belt, albeit with a slightly more oblique comment on apartheid in South Africa:

"No matter how hard you try
To break this motion,
It's a one way ticket,
Only one destination,
You can't break the wheels of history" 

 

I still have the 12" single of Runaway Freedom Train, but I haven't digitised the songs or currently have the means to do so. The original 12" version is about eight minutes long and a fairly straightforward extended mix by Keith Cohen. The only version available online is the "U.S.A. Extended Club Version", which appears to be a re-edit of the Cohen mix, initially by The Latin Rascals and re-edited in 2009 by Mixmaster DJ Heavy M aka Malik Jefferson. The tracks runs to nearly ten minutes and is a veritable frenzy of scratches and edits. I tried cutting it down for use in this selection, but it just sounded way out of place with the rest of the tracks. I also didn't want to use different mixes of any of the other tracks to maintain the original running time.

 

So, what you've got here is my own re-edit of the re-edit of the, er, re-edit. Largely the album version from Zeke's second album Mastercrime, I've spliced a chunk of edits a little way into the intro and dropped in a further slab of edits at the end. It still runs a little short at just over seven and a half minutes, but (I think) it just about works. As ever, you'll be the judge of that. The mix title says it all.

 

Grace Jones next, with Living My Life. I first heard the song in 1983 on The Master Tape, a freebie compilation with Record Mirror which I think was a sampler of forthcoming releases. The irony with Living My Life was that it didn't appear on either her album of the same name or as a single in the UK, although a limited 12" was released in Portugal. I could have used the Long Version from the latter to solve the issue with Runaway Freedom Train, but true to the original mixtape, I've stuck with the 1986 remix by Steven Stanley, which is much closer to the version that I originally heard on the Record Mirror compilation. Neither Grace Jones nor Steven Stanley were born in Scotland and regretfully, I can't find any evidence that either have lived there, so my Scottish theme ends there.

 

But only briefly, as Aberdeen's own Annie Lennox leaps to the rescue with, er, Sunderland native David A. Stewart as Eurythmics. Would I lie to you? No, siree. This was the lead mix (of two) from the 12" single, with Eric 'ET' Thorngren bringing his customary BIG drums in and pushing everything bar Annie's vocals back in the mix. He likes his drums, does ET. I did buy the accompanying album, Be Yourself Tonight, but this was pretty much the point that I started checking out on Eurythmics. I like this single but it was all getting a bit slick and aimed squarely at global domination for my liking. Fair play to Eurythmics, they achieved it, but it's the first three albums that I return to time and again.

 

And blowing the Scottish theme once and for all (well, it was good while it lasted), Side 1 ends with Scarlet Fantastic, who both hail from the West Midlands, and are remixed here by Australian Karen Hewitt. The wonderfully named Maggie De Monde and Rick Phylip-Jones were previously in Swans Way, who had a Top 20 hit with the avant-garde pop of Soul Train. Scarlet Fantastic were more out-and-out pop and No Memory is a fantastic example, although it sadly didn't quite find an audience, reaching #24 in 1987. The pick of the bunch is the Extra Sensory Mix but the Ecstacy Mix is also a corker. The version here was ripped several years ago from my copy of the limited edition 12" single in  - what else? - "scarlet fantastic" red vinyl.

 

Have a fun Saturday, everyone!

 

1) (The Naked Civil) Snobbery & Decay (Remix By Stephen Lipson): Act (1987)

2) Night Train (Dance Mix By Visage & John Luongo): Visage (1982)

3) Club Country (Extended Version By Associates & Mike Hedges): Associates (1982)

4) Runaway Freedom Train ('All This Scratching Is Making Me Itch' Re-Edit By Khayem): Zeke Manyika (1989/2022)

5) Living My Life (Remix By Steven Stanley): Grace Jones (1986)

6) Would I Lie To You? (An Eric 'ET' Thorngren Mix): Eurythmics (1985)

7) No Memory (Ecstacy Mix By Karen Hewitt): Scarlet Fantastic (1987)

 

Side One (45:49) (GD) (M)

Side Two here

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) (GD) (M)