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27 March, 201027 December, 2021

Love and Rockets – ‘Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven’ on CD

With this post I’m going to look at the various releases on CD of ‘Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven’, the debut album by Love and Rockets, released in Late 1985 and a particular favourite of mine through the years – and specifically digging about at the various different mixes of some of its tracks and bonus tracks which were added to the numerous CD issues.

Winding back to 1985, the album was preceded by two related releases ahead of its release: firstly, the fabulous (IMHO) single, ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’, which in the UK came in 7″ and 12″ versions, the 12″ including an extended version of the A side, which remains one of my all time favourite songs and, in particular, 12″ mixes – at least, the actual mix that was on the original UK 12″, because the version labelled as such on the 1999 UK CD re-issue is not the same. The B side on both 7″ and 12″ was ‘God and Mr Smith’ (4 mins 47 secs), a rearrangement of the A side stripping out the main vocals and including copious samples, largely of an eastern bent. Continue reading “Love and Rockets – ‘Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven’ on CD”

23 February, 20107 June, 2022

John Foxx ‘Burning Car’ Japanese ‘Pic Label’ series 12″ single (Virgin, VIP-5903, 1981))

A companion release from the same series as the Flying Lizards ‘Move On ‘Up’ 12″ documented in a previous post. Taking the usual cavalier attitude to track selection and sleeve design that many Japanese releases of this period had, this little beauty gathers together a selection of tracks from three of John Foxx’s 1980 singles (‘Miles Away’, ‘Burning Car’ and the extra single from the ‘No-One’s Driving’ double-pack 7 inch) in a sleeve/label design unlike any other Foxx release.

John Foxx 'Burning Car' Japanese 12 inch mini-LP — *^ John Foxx ‘Burning Car’ Japanese 12 inch mini-LP*

Along the way, it has also managed to include a different mix of ‘Miles Away’, the same one as used in the promo video for the single, I believe. (This mix finally made it on to CD with the late-2008 2-disc re-issue of ‘The Garden’.) Continue reading “John Foxx ‘Burning Car’ Japanese ‘Pic Label’ series 12″ single (Virgin, VIP-5903, 1981))”

30 November, 200929 December, 2019

Rema-Rema, ‘Wheel In The Roses’ CD EP (4AD, BAD 5CD) / Various artists: ‘Natures Mortes’ (4AD CAD 117CD)

The original release of the ‘Wheel In The Roses’ EP was one of the earliest 4AD releases, coming after the initial batch of four singles that had gone under the label’s original name of ‘Axis’. It was the only release from Rema-Rema, a short-lived band but from whom the seeds of a good few other acts would evolve or intersect, including Wolfgang Press, Renegade Soundwave, Psychic TV and of course most famously Marco Pirroni’s saddle-up with Adam Ant.

'Wheel In The Roses' CD EP - front cover, inner sleeve (front), insert (front) and CD label — *^ ‘ Wheel In The Roses’ CD EP – front cover, inner sleeve (front), insert (front) and CD label*

What I love about this small object of desire is that despite it being so wilfully obscure and the band’s only proper release (two other songs did appear as live recordings on a tape-only compilation, ‘The Men With the Deadly Dreams’) (the songs from which can be heard on the Rema Rema MySpace site), 4AD saw fit to lovingly reproduce it in CD form. Perhaps it could be down to the fact that despite it’s obscurity, two of the songs had been covered subsequently – ‘Fond Affections’ appearing on the first This Mortal Coil album, ‘It’ll End In Tears’, with Big Black taking on ‘Rema-Rema’ itself. Continue reading “Rema-Rema, ‘Wheel In The Roses’ CD EP (4AD, BAD 5CD) / Various artists: ‘Natures Mortes’ (4AD CAD 117CD)”