I have liked Cabaret Voltaire for a long time now. First introduced in 1981 with their classic Rough Trade era singles and EP up to that point courtesy of a school friend, Eddie. I’ve stuck with them over the years and changes in sound and was fortunate enough to be able to see them play live for the first time ever (at least, the 2025/26 incarnation of Cabaret Voltaire) late last year, along with my other schoolmate of the same period – and frequent contributor to this blog – Lieutenant030. I can thoroughly recommend trying to see them live on their tour later this year if you are in any doubt about it. I mention in passing the 2025/26 incarnation of Cabaret Voltaire, as this is a band (along with other Post Punk contemporaries) with a complicated history. Even within the timeframe of the most stable and long-lasting line-up, the duo of Kirk and Mallinder, there were periods that would divide opinion, with radical shifts in the bands sound. This release hails from one of those periods, their era signed to EMI’s Parlophone label.
The parent album this single hails from is ‘Code’, the first of two albums the band released on Parlophone. Up to this point the band’s history was relatively straightforward in respect of their releases. Largely, the Rough Trade era from 1978 through 1982 which resulted in a variety of albums, singles and EPs almost all recorded by the Kirk/Mallinder/Watson line-up of the band – only the final Rough Trade release, the ‘2X45’ double 12″, differed in that Watson had by this time formally left the band and only contributed to a couple of its tracks. From then on, the due of Kirk and Mallinder signed up to Some Bizarre for management and releases via Virgin. I can recall at the time their was much gasps of surprise at a band such as Cabaret Voltaire signing to a ‘major’ such as Virgin and with the increasingly dance/electronica influenced sound that they embraced. It’s funny to reflect on that from two perspectives, firstly that Virgin were hardly a major corporation label at that point and had a fine pedigree of labelmates on their roster, and secondly even this more ‘commercial’ Cabaret Voltaire sound remained weird as hell for the most part. This era on Virgin lasted from 1983 through 1986 and birthed three distinct albums and numerous singles/EPs. But by 1986, a parting of ways with Some Bizarre and Virgin led firstly to a 2 x 12″ release on their own Doublevision label (‘The Drain Train’) and then to a new contract with EMI and their Parlophone imprint and a good deal more resource for the band that was witnessed in the distinctly more high-tech sheen that the ‘Code’ album and its singles exhibited. Big label, big budget, big name producers and mixers.
‘Here To Go’ was the second single to be lifted from the album and this is its very hard to find UK CD single incarnation featured here. On the whole, since the early 1990s onwards, Cabaret Voltaire have largely been well served with re-issues and keeping their catalogue in print. There is one big exception though, and that is this EMI/Parlophone era, which was from 1987 through 1990. The two albums, ‘Code’ and ‘Groovy, Laidback and Nasty’. and their satellite singles, remain largely unavailable digitally unless you track down those that were released on CD back in the day, or find one of the few official digital download/streaming releases. In the case of ‘Here To Go’, the single release contained radically different mixes compared to the album version, but these are hard to come by. Which is shame, as the short, ‘single remix’ as found on the 7″ A side and track three on this CD single absolutely rocks with its techno-funk hinted malevolence. I have to say that it also has one of my all time favourite promo videos – that EMI budget was visible there for all to see. (View on YouTube.)
‘Code’ and its single releases features the talents of Adrian Sherwood, John Robie, François Kevorkian in the production/mixing chairs and also featured additional contributions Bill Nelson on guitar and Mark Brydon on bass guitar – on the singles only, there are additional backing vocals by Dolette McDonald, and Tessa Niles (‘Don’t Argue’) and Julie Roberts and S D Clarke (‘Here To Go’).
The mixes of ‘Here To Go’ found on this CD are;
- Here To Go (Extended Mix) (6:57)
- Here To Go (Space Dub) (7:58)
- Here To Go (4:25)
The ‘Extended Mix’ was later re-issued on the ‘The Original Sound Of Sheffield ’83 / ’87. Best Of;’ compilation CD in 2001, where it is titled ‘Here To Go (Kevorkian Extended Mx)’ – that compilation is easy enough to come by these days.
On the US releases, the ‘Space Dub’ version here is known by the name ‘Big Dub’ instead. The ‘Space Dub’ / ‘Big Dub’ mix I don’t think has re-surfaced since this release.
The only other source of the 4’25” single remix (titled ‘7″ Version’ on the US releases) on CD I am aware of is a very obscure 1987 compilation CD, ‘CMJ Presents Certain Damage! Volume 3’, which I can’t imagine is easy to find either. (View entry on discogs.com.)
There are more mixes of ‘Here To Go’ out there, as in the UK there was – as was the norm by this period of the 1980s – a second 12″ release that followed the initial release, this time with remixes by Adrian Sherwood… and there is the ‘Dub’ and ‘Little Dub’ versions too – but those are for another time.
I had commented weeks ago on this but apparently forgot to hit the all-important “post comment” button! No matter as this re-do is far superior!
I first heard CV when a college station 70 miles away that I could barely receive had an excellent Friday Night New Wave program that was must listening. If I held the antenna in just the right way, I could get a static riddled, but listenable signal. I heard a log that made a big impression on me at the time. Among that pool of music was material from “Voice of America.” I was definitely intrigued! My first purchase was the “Eddie’s Out/Jazz The Glass” package. Followed by “2×45.” Then things went quiet for a bit. Until I saw the brain-melting “Sensoria” video. Then I was all-in! For several years it was Cab Volt in their imperial period of high productivity. I could not get enough of their sound! To the point where I began listening to lesser artists with the same vibe. But I eventually got over that! CV were the gold standard of whatever Industrial music was.
My favorite Cab Volt album is “The Covenant, The Sword, And The Arm Of the Lord.” I absolutely loved its “8-bit dirty” sampler + early computer sound and high voltage chaos. So when they signed to EMI and issued “Code” I initially balked at the clean, almost antiseptic sound. I still bought all of the singles I could get my hands on, including this CD5! Then the next EMI album made this one sound really great! And I came to see it as the last gasp of the band I cared for. Following their I-Still-Can’t-Believe-They-Made-A-House-Album, I see the “Code” era as the last stop on a train that lasted almost through the 80s for me. All of the archival releases with plenty from this period have been amazing gifts to the CV fans. There’s at least an album or two of material that never made it out among the program of release that constituted “Listen Up With Cabaret Voltaire,” Radiation,” and especially “Conform To Deform ’82 / ’90 Archive.”
The albums after that pivoted to faceless Techno. Mallinder was so marginalized on “Body + Soul.” His seething menace was more endemic to my enjoyment of CV than I suspected. The only track on that album that worked for me was “Decay,” the brief callback to the Rough Trade era for my ears. With CV and Yello, it seemed like the juice that the vocalist brought to the party was diminished by the start of the 90s as the bands in question went all-in on catering to a “dance” crowd and cut off the eccentricities that pulled me in. As poor as “Body + Soul” was, I thought that the “Technology” remix album and the “Plasticity” album were Kirk solo projects in everything but name.
I really missed Mallinder but I guess he was getting his doctorate in Oz so more power to him! I was thrilled to see his return with the Billie Ray Martin “Crackdown Project” and since then he’s been far more active than my pathetic ability to keep up with his exploits! It’s fantastic that he’s also hooked up with Benge for Wrangler, Creep Show, and the Campbell/Mallinder/Benge project. Of all of those I only managed to find “LA Spark” and that was down to shopping in Amoeba Hollywood my first visit!
Last year one of my commenters expatriated to the UK [!] and attended the CV shows and actually bought me a CV T-shirt [the cyan “Micro Phonies” art – which my wife loves!] and when they came back to the US for a wedding, they could afford to send it to me! Naturally at the time I was envious of his ability to attend what I considered an Organ Auction Event like the final CV tour! Normally, I’m more tolerant with Kirk’s thoughts on looking backward and nostalgia. However, in the case of where CV were scarcely on the world’s stages, comparatively, I totally understand Mal and Watson’s interest in playing that amazing catalog. With the venue sizes, they can’t be socking away a small fortune for “retirement.” When the US dates were announced, I was on pins + needles. As the first leg was concurrent with our 30th anniversary trip to Chicago in May, I was rubbing that Monastic prayer cloth extra hard [a Pentecostal joke] for the East Coast dates to materialize. When they did I was on that Washington D.C. date so fast my head spun! I’m taking a friend along who’s a fan as he lives in Virginia, along the drive up from North Carolina where I live. He’s a musician [in Fluid Japan] who has a pretty amazing run of music in Bandcamp that I highly recommend. I will send you a single [“Afterlife”] which should rightly function as a gateway drug for you!