Category: Cassette pets

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‘From Brussels With Love’ compilation cassette (Les Disques Du Crépuscule, TWI 007)

Where does one start on ‘From Brussels With Love’? Something of a who’s who of low-key, left-field acts, mostly contributing original, unreleased material, from the minimal synth jingles of John Foxx that bookend proceedings through a demo version of Thomas Dolby’s lush ‘Airwaves’, a healthy outing for Factory acts including A Certain Ratio, Kevin Hewick (with New Order backing him on this outing), Durutti Column and even Factory’s resident producer, Martin Hannett, contributing a piece. Harold Budd, Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman feature too, along with an interview with Brian Eno himself, whose ‘Obscure Records’ label unite all three in some form.

There have also been numerous re-issues over the years on LP and CD, with variations in tracklisting and sleeve designs – further info on those on the discogs.com website entry. The most recent re-issue, a CD from 2007 on LTM Publishing (Les Temps Modernes) LTMCD 2479, is the most faithful to the original cassette release.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking on the cassette packaging. This is my own copy, I believe there were variations to the original cassette release, such as including a badge.

'From Brussels With Love' cassette package front cover design
^ ‘From Brussels With Love’ cassette package front cover design
'From Brussels With Love' cassette package back cover design and cassette
^ ‘From Brussels With Love’ cassette package back cover design and cassette

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The Cure: ‘Faith’/’Carnage Visors’ UK cassette (Fiction FIXC6, 1981)

Long before the CD age, cassette tapes were the lucky medium which would find itself carrying bonus material, such as the occasional cassette-only bonus track, remixes and so on. (For another such example, have a look at New Musik’s ‘Anywhere’ cassette from a previous entry.)

The Cure 'Faith'/'Carnage Visors' UK cassette (front)
^ The Cure ‘Faith’/‘Carnage Visors’ UK cassette (front)

In the case of The Cure’s 1981 album ‘Faith’, the cassette came with a whole extra side-long piece, ‘Carnage’ Visors’, which was the soundtrack to the stop-motion movie that The Cure showed on their 1981 ‘Picture Tour’ live dates. A slower, wordless, meandering piece with wave-like builds and peaks, ‘Carnage Visors’  managed to attract The Cure comparisons to Pink Floyd in contemporary reviews. Built from guitar, keyboard, bass and drum machine, its sonically in the same space as much of ‘Faith’ and ‘Pornography’, those Pink Floyd comparisons no doubt just down to the ambitious side-long sprawl of its length.

The Cure 'Faith'/'Carnage Visors' UK cassette (back and cassette)
^ The Cure ‘Faith’/‘Carnage Visors’ UK cassette (back and cassette)

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Side by side: Associates ‘Sulk’ UK / European / US variations

If you are a fan of the Associates then ‘Sulk’ needs no introduction, being easily a high water mark for them and their particularly unique take on pop – but the variations on this release cause some confusion and probably you have a different idea of what exactly constitutes this album depending on when or where you bought it…

^ Side by side: Outer and inner sleeves of the original UK (left-hand side) and later European issues of 'Sulk' (right-hand side) on vinyl
^ Side by side: Outer and inner sleeves of the original UK (left-hand side) and later European issues of ‘Sulk’ (right-hand side) on vinyl

For me, the definitive version is the one I bought just after it came out in Britain;

‘Sulk’ (Associates/Beggars Banquet, ASCL1, vinyl LP)
Side One:

  1. Arrogance Gave Him Up
  2. No
  3. Bap De La Bap
  4. Gloomy Sunday
  5. Nude Spoons

Side Two:

  1. Skipping
  2. It’s Better This Way
  3. Party Fears Two
  4. Club Country
  5. nothinginsomethingparticular

A few notes before moving on… prior to the album’s release, ‘Party Fears Two’, ‘It’s Better This Way’ and ‘Club Country’ had all been released on singles – the versions on this album edition are all different to any from the singles. Continue reading “Side by side: Associates ‘Sulk’ UK / European / US variations”

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‘Dreams and Desires’ tape (Pleasantly Surprised, PS006, 1984)

‘Dreams and Desires’ was one the ‘Pleasantly Surprised’ series of various artist cassette compilations that appeared throughout the first half of the ’80s, this particular example hailing from late 1984. The sleeve design clearly has a nod and a wink to the Joy Division feel of ‘Closer’, while musically the selection is something of a feast for fans of the 4AD label, with demo/instrumental versions to be found from several of the then current 4AD stable.

Cassette - 'Dreams' side
^ Cassette – ‘Dreams’ side
Cassette - 'Desires' side
^ Cassette – ‘Desires’ side

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New Musik ‘Anywhere’ UK cassette (GTO, GTMC044, 1981)

In the years before CDs became available and the eventually dominant format, record companies would tempt buyers into shelling out for cassettes by including extra tracks not found on the vinyl albums. One such example is New Musik’s second album, ‘Anywhere’, released in 1981. It includes two extra tracks that never appeared on vinyl, neither on the vinyl album nor any of the single B sides.

New Musik 'Anywhere' cassette

However, there is a slight confusion there, since the sticker of the cassette case proudly states ‘plus 2 free extra tracks not on the album – ‘Guitars’ & ‘And”. The track ‘Guitars’ DID actually appear on vinyl, as one of the B sides to the ‘While You Wait’ single. Turns out that the sticker is incorrect – ‘Guitars’ is not to be found on the cassette – the track ‘Under Attack’ is there instead, along with the other extra track, ‘And’. Continue reading “New Musik ‘Anywhere’ UK cassette (GTO, GTMC044, 1981)”