This curious little 3″ CD single of Heaven 17’s 1981 debut single, ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’, featuring three 12″ single mixes from their back catalogue, was released as part the Virgin CDT series, a series of re-issues of classic singles from the Virgin back catalogue on the then in-vogue 3″ CD single format. The series flagged the selling point of containing ‘12” versions previously unavailable on compact disc’ by way of a flash box printed at the foot of the front cover design. The covers were tiny replicas in keeping with the original sleeve designs for the most part, and came packaged in generic Virgin records clear plastic ‘blister pack’ covers, though the choice of tracks often had odd combinations of mixes, that were not necessarily quite the intended ’12” mix’ that the hype would have you believe.
So, while on first sight this looks like it might include the original B side from the original single release, ‘The Decline of the West’, that is nowhere to be found and it instead included two other singles from 1981.
Tracklist:
- (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (4’53”)
- I’m Your Money (Specially Fortified Dance Mix) (5’42”)
- Height Of The Fighting (He-La-Hu) (Full Length 12″ Mix) (2’55”)
Of the tracks included, it’s worth noting that they do indeed match the original 12” singles. So, in the case of ‘Fascist Groove Thang’ and ‘I’m Your Money’ they are the full-length mixes followed by the ‘B.E.F’ ident jingle that those first few vinyl singles included. In the case the ‘Full Length 12″ Mix’ of ‘Height Of The Fighting (He-La-Hu)’ – technically that is correct, but since that single remix was originally only released on 12” single, there is only the one mix and no shorter 7” mix exists. (Though there is a curious 7” single without a picture sleeve with a similar catalogue number that can be found, but I can’t recall it being released at the time.)
There is also another Heaven 17 in this series, ‘Temptation’, one to cover another time perhaps.
I remember how excited I was to have the mighty Virgin Records troll through their 12″ back catalogue and release singles I had collected on record in the new CD-3 format. I will go as far as saying that I had prescient dreams of this happening before it actually did in advance of the roll out of the CD-3! Although they never got to the Cabaret Voltaire 12″ singles that were part of my dream. The 12″ mix of “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” was almost identical to the 7″/LP version save for the “B.E.F. Ident” tacked onto the end of the track as a coda. Where this really delivered for me was in the other two 12″ A-sides which were on CD first on this release. The great “I’m Your Money [Specially Fortified Dance Mix}” only made the silver disc four years later on the Virgin budget line “The Best Of Heaven 17” [VVIPD 118]. While “Height Of The Fighting (He-La-Hu) (Full Length 12? Mix)” was only widely available on CD five years later on the best-selling Virgin “Higher + Higher – The Best Of Heaven 17” [CDV 2717] compilation. I own [and treasure] many of these Virgin catalogue CD-3s!
i distinctly remember Height Of The Fighting (he-la-hu) being heavily publicised as a 12″ only release at the time, definitely in the UK at least. it always amused me that a song that only lasts 2 minutes and 55 seconds was destined for the large vinyl format only although I do believe it came out in some European countries as 7″ with either Honeymoon In New York or Penthouse And Pavement as the b-side. Perhaps it was originally going to be released as a 7″ in the UK and this is a test copy, I guess it will be one of life’s great mysteries
Thanks Monk – wouldn’t that have been something to have the CV singles as part of this 3” CD series?!