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The Graphic Language of Neville Brody book (with a Cabaret Voltaire focus…)

As charity shop finds go, this was my best one in a while. The edges a little discoloured, fair enough… but for the price, no complaints. Neville Brody’s work has spoken for itself for many decades now and this book, dating from 1988 (there are later editions too) is an excellent display of his craft and thoughts, some of which are recounted below. Inevitably, I’ve focussed on the Cabaret Voltaire element for this post, but the book obviously covers in fine detail the broad scope of the man’s work up till the 1988 publication period in this case.

The Graphic Language of Neville Brody book
^ The Graphic Language of Neville Brody book

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Gary Numan ’80/81′ Box Set – Discs 1 and 2: ‘Telekon’ (Vinyl 180, VIN180LP038, 2011)

We return once more to the intriguing story of the variations to Gary Numan’s ‘Telekon’ album in this post, by way of the lavish and unique ‘80/81’ box set from November 2011. I found this a quite tempting release at the time for reasons I can’t quite recall now, other than it was a pre-Christmas treat to myself – well, why wouldn’t you?!

The Box

Packaged in a sturdy, matt-silk finish black box with the familiar double red ‘Telekon’ bars, the 80/81 title is picked out in high-gloss spot varnish. May all be either tasteful high-tech minimalism or just a bit too plain for some, depending on your taste.

Gary Numan '80/81' Box Set - front
^ Gary Numan ’80/81′ Box Set – front

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Button badge goodness: Public Image Ltd [Part 1]

Who could tire of the humble button badge? A staple adornment of the era, these badges in Part 1 all hail from 1980/81, when I first took to the charms of Public Image Ltd. ‘Flowers of Romance’ the focus of the first few, pretty sure these are likely to be ‘Better Badges’ designs, though couldn’t say for sure – anyone?

Public Image Ltd - Flowers of Romance button badge from 1981 - design 1
^ Public Image Ltd – Flowers of Romance button badge from 1981 – design 1

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He Said – ‘Could You?’ versions

Some while back I posted about the wonderful (thought of its time) He Said album, ‘Take Care’. The supporting single release for the album was the uneasy ‘Could You?’. Who knows for sure what the ‘text’ by Graham Lewis really alludes to, but for me it has always leaned towards some cryptic confession of murder/mercy killing. Despite the opaque nature of the lyric, it looks like there were high hopes for its commercial success as a single and it provides rich pickings for version craziness to be uncovered, with no less than six mix variants across the ‘Could You?’/’Could You (Too)’ main variants.

He Said - Could You? - UK 12 inch single front sleeve design.
^ He Said – Could You? – UK 12 inch single front sleeve design.

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