The Sound Of A Brand New World

1986 was either a good year or a really, really terrible year for music, it's always subjective, isn't it? 

Whilst Wham! and The Police called it a day, Pet Shop Boys and Erasure became huge, Q magazine launched, Doctor Who faced The Trial Of A Time Lord both on- and off-screen, not least for the limpest version of the theme tune to date, whilst John Barry did alright at the Oscars with his soundtrack for Out Of Africa. Bizarrely, given my parents' spartan music collection, my mum actually bought this latter. On vinyl, too.

Anyway, none of the above feature in today's 8-song, 46-minute selection of 12" mixes. Instead, it's a mix of hits and non-hits, (quite a few) cover versions and songs that should be more deeply etched in the collective consciousness but had to make way for numerous singles from No Jacket Required by Phil Collins and The Chicken Song by Spitting Image instead. 

Train Of Thought was a-ha's fourth single from their debut album and third consecutive Top Ten, peaking at #8 in April 1986. The video is a similar mix of animation and live action that made Take On Me unforgettable. The animation by Michael Patterson actually originated as his student film at the California Institute of the Arts so predates his work on Take On Me. Unfortunately, the video is less memorable.

I paid little attention to Love And Money in 1986 but have come back to them in more recent years due to following the many and varied 21st Century exploits of former members James Grant, Paul McGeechan, Stuart Kerr, Bobby Paterson, Gordon Wilson and Douglas MacIntyre. Dear John is a 12" vinyl rip so the quality of the recording doesn't match the quality of the song. Not that the publlic noticed, it failed to dent the UK charts.

Similarly, Sparks seemed to be a spent force in the UK in the 1980s. They had just one charting single in the decade; Change managed to scrape to #85 in July 1985. Fingertips was a cover of the Stevie Wonder song, a rare step away from the Mael Brothers' focus on writing their own material. Both it - and Sparks' 1980s output - deserved more love over here than it got and it's wonderful writing four decades later in the knowledge that they've subsequently been embraced as the legends that they are.

Radio Head by Talking Heads has the dubious distinction of being the song that inspired the name of Thom Yorke and chums' own band, though generally that's the only inspiring thing about this song. I don't mind the music from the True Stories album and film, though it's a far cry from the essential early albums. Full Force clearly thought so too and felt obliged to drop in a sample from Once In A Lifetime to pep things up. 

No-one's going to argue that Communards' cover of Don't Leave Me This Way was a deserved #1, but Jeanie Tracy had a go the year before with her own version, produced by close friend Sylvester. In 1986, a re-edit by Razormaid co-founder Joseph Watt appeared on his 12 By 12 album and it's fair to say that I would have equally moved at the school disco if they'd popped this platter on.

Although I'm a fan of much of Boy George's music, I've not really connected to Culture Club, then and now. Gusto Blusto, featured here, was the second single from From Luxury To Heartache... in the USA and Canada, at least. Over here, we got God Thank You Woman. The latter stalled at #31. I'm not sure that Gusto Blusto would have fared any better. 

I'd known about The Residents for years, though I wasn't all that familiar with their music. I spotted the 12" single of Kaw-Liga in a secondhand record shop and was sufficiently intrigued to buy it and I'm glad I did. A cover of a Hank Williams song from 1953, it opens with a shuffling beat ripped from inspired by Billie Jean. The full 12" version runs to nine and a half minutes, the original aka album version runs to about half that, just as good.

Wrapping things up is Iggy Pop and David Bowie, reuniting as performer and producer for the first time in a decade, with greeat commercial results for the former. Blah Blah Blah will never be my go-to Iggy album but I enjoy it for what it is and the time it captured. I also ended up buying all the 12" singles, though the label had an annoying habit of recycling tracks for B-sides. The extended remix of Fire Girl was a 12" A-side then re-appeared on the B-side of Isolation the same year.

Sunday's selection will feature another trip back in time, for a different kind of dance music.

1) Train Of Thought (U.S. Mix By Steve Thompson): a-ha

2) Dear John (Extended Mix By John 'Tokes' Potoker): Love And Money

3) Fingertips (Extended Club Version By Steve Bates) (Cover of Stevie Wonder): Sparks

4) Radio Head (Extended Mix By Full Force & Glenn Rosenstein): Talking Heads

5) Don't Leave Me This Way (Re-Edited By Joseph Watt) (Cover of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes): Jeanie Tracy

6) Gusto Blusto (Rock Mix By Arif Mardin & Lew Hahn): Culture Club

7) Kaw-Liga (Album Version By The Cryptic Corporation aka Hardy Fox & Homer Flynn) (Cover of Hank Williams): The Residents

8) Fire Girl (Remix By David Bowie & David Richards): Iggy Pop

The Sound Of A Brand New World (45:47) (GD) (M)

How Can It Be Remixed?

45 minutes of glacial Norwegian pop, courtesy of a-ha.

Most of these are 12" extended versions from the 1980s, including a couple that remained unreleased until 2016. I've also opted for one contemporary 21st century remix, plus revamps of their two biggest songs from the same decade.

Mark Vidler aka Go Home Productions is perhaps best known as a master of the mash-up, but also turned his hand to some (unofficial) remixes. The Sun Always Shines On T.V. appeared on a GHP compilation in 2007 but dates from 2-3 years previously.

The Twelves are a pair of Brazilian boys, clearly inspired by the likes of Daft Punk and Justice, who released music on the trendy Kitsune label and did tons of remixes for the hip and beautiful likes of New Young Pony Club, Black Kids, La Roux, Groove Armada and Fever Ray. Their remix of Take On Me appeared on a Chevrolet (Brazil)-commissioned promo for the Vectra GT sports car. 

Of the rest, you get Morten Harket's vocals on full display, be it for ballads, club tracks or rockier numbers (or at least, Norway's singular take on the genre). I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of a-ha, then or now, but they knew how to write and play songs laden with hooks, for sure.

Happy Friday, everyone!

1) The Sun Always Shines On T.V. (Go Home Productions Remix By Mark Vidler) (2007)

2) You Are The One (Dub Mix Edit By Justin Strauss & Daniel Abraham) (1988)

3) Cry Wolf (Extended Version By Magne Furuholmen, Paul Waaktaar & Gerry Kitchingham) (1986)

4) Stay On These Roads (Extended Remix By Alan Tarney & John Hudson) (1988)

5) I've Been Losing You (Extended Mix By John 'Jellybean' Benitez) (1986)

6) Summer Moved On (Remix By C.L.A.S.S. Production aka Andreas Herbig) (2000)

7) Touchy! (House Mix By Paul Simpson) (1988)

8) Take On Me (The Twelves Remix By João Amaral & Luciano Oliveira) (2009)

1986: Cry Wolf EP: 3

1986: I've Been Losing You EP: 5

1988: Stay On These Roads EP: 4

2000: Summer Moved On EP: 6

2007: GHP Unofficial Remixes 2: 1

2009: Vectra GT Remix EP (promo CD single): 8

2016: Time And Again: The Ultimate a-ha (2x CD): 2, 7

How Can It Be Remixed? (45:39) (KF) (Mega)

Saturday's Alright For Alighting

A bumper selection of train-themed/titled songs for you to steam into the weekend. It's been done before - and undoubtedly better - elsewhere in the blogosphere, but when I have ever let that stop me in the pursuit of an unoriginal idea?!

So, two volumes to neatly fill a C90 cassette, 25 songs across an hour and a half, criss-crossing the globe as we go and ignoring the logistics of traversing those pesky oceans, seas and rivers.

All aboard!

 

Volume One 

1) Rail On: Julian Cope (1989)

2) King Of The Track: Dennis Alcapone (1974)

3) Ur Train: Leila ft. Luca Santucci (2008)

4) Can't Catch The Train: Soulsavers ft. Mark Lanegan (2009)

5) Beside The Railway Tracks: The Divine Comedy (2010)

6) Mule Train (Cover of Buz Butler): Count Prince Miller (1970)

7) Roots Train (Album Version): Junior Murvin (1977)

8) The Last Train: Josh Rouse (2005)

9) Last Train To Lhasa (2k2 Mix): Banco De Gaia (2015)

10) Railroad Man: Eels (2005)

11) Train Of Thought (Remix 7" Version): a-ha (1986)

12) Last Train To Satansville (Satansville Revisited) (Album Version): Swervedriver (1993)

Volume Two

1) The Gravy Train (Nightmares On Wax Mix - Delayed Departure Edit By Khayem): Ian Brown (2002/2024)

2) No Train To Stockholm (Cover of Lee Hazlewood): Erlend Øye (2002)

3) Long Empty Train: The Gadgets (1983)

4) Night Train To Lichtenstien: Dawn Of The Replicants (1998)

5) Stop The Train: The Wailers (1970)

6) Blue Train: The Bluebells (2023)

7) Long Black Train: Richard Hawley (2001)

8) It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry: Bob Dylan (1965)

9) Railroad Blues: Beastie Boys (2000)

10) Dead Grammas On A Train: Thin White Rope (1985)

11) Victoria Train Station Massacre: The Fall (2017)

12) Train Is Coming: Iklan ft. Law Holt (2020)

13) Lame Train (Single Version): Flesh For Lulu (1983)

 

1965: Highway 61 Revisited: B8

1970: Mule Train EP: A6 

1970: Stop The Train EP: B5

1974: King Of The Track: A2 

1977: Police & Thieves: A7

1983: Blue Album: B3 

1983: Roman Candle EP: B13

1985: Exploring The Axis: B10

1986: Train Of Thought EP: A11

1989: China Doll EP: A1 

1993: Mezcal Head: A12 

1998: Hogwash Farm (The Diesel Hands E.P.): B4 

2000: Country Mike’s Greatest Hits: B9

2001: Late Night Final: B7

2002: Remixes Of The Spheres: B1*

2002: Total Lee! The Songs Of Lee Hazlewood: B2

2005: Bedroom Classics Vol. 2 EP: A8 

2005: Blinking Lights And Other Revelations: A10

2008: Blood, Looms & Blooms: A3

2009: Broken: A4

2015: Last Train To Lhasa EP: A9 

2017: New Facts Emerge: B11

2020: Album Number 1 Featuring Law Holt: B12

2020: Bang Goes The Knighthood/More Sordid Details (Expanded Edition): A5

2023: In The 21st Century: B6

* This is essentially the main vocal mix, with the first 90 seconds of the instrumental mix tacked onto the front to provide an extended intro.

Volume One (46:10) (KF) (Mega)

Volume Two (45:33) (KF) (Mega)

 

Today's cover photo is Queenstown Road Station in London, snapped and written about by 'Joe Blogs' in August 2010.

Hell For Leather On A Helter Skelter

Sometimes, only a poptastic playlist will do. Over 500 posts in and I'm surprised that this is the first appearance on this blog for a-ha, The Lover Speaks, Kool & The Gang, The Kane Gang, Split Enz and ABC (unless you count the latter's appearance in a mash-up mix by Go Home Productions last year).

 

I have a large sub-folder of music, which was my go-to when Lady K was very young. Very loosely labelled "Pop", it is better described as upbeat, uptempo songs without any sweary bits, although I came a cropper when this one popped up in the car. Fortunately, Mrs. K wasn't present and the F-word wasn't firmly embedded in Lady K's vocabulary from there on.

 

I'm a little bit more relaxed about the playlist these days, although you still won't find me playing either "Part 4" of this song by Alexei Sayle from the 12" vinyl or the current single by Julian Cope when Clan K are within earshot.

 

No parental advisory for this selection, 11 tunes for a (hopefully) sunny September Saturday, wherever you are.

 

1) Take On Me (Extended Version By Alan Tarney): a-ha (1985)

2) Every Lover's Sign (7" Remix By Andy Wallace & Bruce Forest): The Lover Speaks (1986)

3) Think Twice (Edit): Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band ft. Christine Sandtorv (2003)

4) Take It To The Top (Album Version By Eumir Deodato): Kool & The Gang (1980)

5) Funky Kingston: Toots & The Maytals (1973)

6) Beat The Clock (Short Version By Giorgio Moroder): Sparks (1979)

7) Six Months In A Leaky Boat (Album Version): Split Enz (1982)

8) Respect Yourself (R & B Mix) (Cover of The Staple Singers): The Kane Gang (1984)

9) Mystify (Album Version): INXS (1987)

10) I Want You To Know (Album Version): Charlotte Hatherley (2007)

11) Viva Love (Album Version): ABC (2016)

Hell For Leather On A Helter Skelter (45:06)