Part 2 of this short series, this time around the focus is on the badges which were on sale at the merch stall for the 1984 UK tour to promote the album ‘The Top’.
New Musik ‘From A To B – The Sony Years’ 2023 CD box set (Lemon Recordings, CDLEMBOX249, 2023)
New Musik will always be a favourite of mine and there has been no shortage of previous VersionCrazy coverage, what with ‘The Planet Doesn’t Mind’ version craziness, ‘Greatest Hits’ Promo 7″ EP (GTO, XP112, 1981) and New Musik ‘Anywhere’ UK cassette (GTO, GTMC044, 1981) posts. They have also been relatively fortunate in that their back catalogue has been re-issued fairly regularly since the 1990s onwards, so they have never been left behind and forgotten about. My slightly sanguine ‘relatively fortunate’ is because over the years the re-issues have had a tendency to play a little fast and loose when compiling extra tracks as bonuses to the standard album track lists.
Button Badge Goodness: The Cure (Part 1)
One of a short series on button badges from back in the day dedicated to The Cure that I was more than happy to make space for on jacket lapels and the like to show off that eager teenage fandom!
In part 1, some early badges of various nature, including the three badges sold on the tour to promote the ‘Pornography’ album, ‘Fourteen Explicit Moments’. (Its a wonder that there has never been a bootleg release of that name from the tour given that’s what the band themselves named it…) Continue reading “Button Badge Goodness: The Cure (Part 1)”
Side by side: Xmal Deutschland ‘Sickle Moon’ UK singles (Xile/Phonogram XMAL2 / XMAL212, 1987)
Another post of mine that holds a torch for Xmal Deutschland, who I was seriously into in the 1980s and was fortunate to see play live a few times. This time around, the final single release by the five-piece version of the band, ‘Sickle Moon’, the second single from the ‘Viva’ album of 1987.
Released in 7″ and 12″ formats in the UK, it managed to contain two versions of the A side, ‘Sickle’ Moon’, and two versions of the shared B-side, ‘Illusion’, as well as 12″-only track, ‘In Onyx’. Continue reading “Side by side: Xmal Deutschland ‘Sickle Moon’ UK singles (Xile/Phonogram XMAL2 / XMAL212, 1987)”
Kraftwerk ‘Radioactivity’ US 12″ single (Elektra, 0-66486, 1991)
The sleekly re-engineered and re-envisioned ‘Radioactivity’ was a particular standout track from Kraftwerk’s 1991 album ‘The Mix’ and so it was an obvious choice for a single release. In the band’s homeland of Germany and European territories 7”, 12” and CD single editions were issued with mixes by François Kevorkian on the A side and William Orbit on the reverse. (The UK and France also got cassette single formats too.) In both cases, 7” and longer 12” remixes were produced. In the case of the 7” mixes, German language and English language mixes were issued. The 12” mixes were only in English language variations however.
There was one more mix that managed to see light of day though and that is the ‘William Orbit Hardcore’ Mix’ that was only ever issued at the time on this US 12” single, making it an attractive item to track down on import on my side of the ocean.
Continue reading “Kraftwerk ‘Radioactivity’ US 12″ single (Elektra, 0-66486, 1991)”