‘Cut-Throat – How to get started in the music business – and survive!’ is a newly published book drawn from the archives of the sadly now departed Nash The Slash (the late Jeff Plewman) that I received recently in its limited edition form. Published by Skill, which bills itself as an ‘outsider micro-label and press offering discerning multi-genre releases in beautifully rendered limited editions’ the wonderfully packaged limited version is now sold out, but the regular edition is available – view the Skill Bandcamp. Along with the ‘Nash The Slash Rises, Again!’ [Facebook link] documentary, this will surely help keep the interest alive.
^ Nash The Slash ‘Cut-Throat – How to get started in the music business – and survive!’ book front cover
‘Temptation’ was the third (or fourth, depending on whether you count the Factory Benelux 12” variant of ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ as a unique variant) single release by New Order, released May 1982, it was a big deal at the time. The first unique release after the debut ‘Movement’ album, it highlighted that the band had finally parted ways from the influence of Martin Hannett as the producer, and both sides of the single saw the band’s sound build further on the minimal electronic sequencer-driven sound that ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ had first ushered in. Yet, it retained a somewhat delicately ramshackle vibe too, ahead of the polished dance-beat driven sound that would subsequently re-write the band’s DNA for their more electronic-based tracks.
^ New Order ‘Temptation’ 1982 UK 12″ front cover debossed title detail
‘The Basics’ is a curious oddity, a 1986 Japanese-only compilation that gathers together various mixes of five singles that were peeled from the ‘Cupid & Psyche ’85’ album. It comes housed in a design based on the UK 1985 12″/gatefold 7″ single sleeve design. Why the title of ‘The Basics’? I have no idea. And despite being housed in a sleeve filched from the UK 12″ of ‘Perfect Way’, the mix of that song that is included is actually a quite different mix from the US 12″ single! Odd!
^ Scritti Politti ‘The Basics’ 1986 mini-album – LP and cassette front cover designs
Another Record Store Day and another new, limited edition Propaganda release culled from the ZTT label archives. 2024’s, ‘Die 1000 Augen Des Dr. Mabuse’, was very much a ‘Part 1’, so you might have expected any Propaganda RSD release to continue onwards with that. But no, this year moved to focus on both sides of the band’s ‘p:Machinery’/‘Frozen Faces’ single, first released in summer 1985. The Propaganda of ‘A Secret Wish’ were always about the duality, so as well as both songs, this release also features the subsequent αlpha and βeta versions that have come to be released or retitled over the many ‘after the fact’ releases from ZTT.
^ Propaganda ‘p:Machinery (The αlpha/βeta Definition)’ Record Store Day LP 2025 front cover design.
Wire have proved to be a band who have come and gone from active duty many times over their nearing fifty year history. Often with several years of inactivity between each period, something seemingly compels the complex magnetism that exists between the band members, flipping poles to re-attract and re-form. The ‘Ahead’ single is from the period of Wire’s first reactivation (Wire (Mark 2) aka the ‘beat combo’ and partnership with Mute Records for their recordings) following their split in 1980 and their departure from existiing label, EMI/Harvest records.
^ Wire ‘Ahead’ UK 12″ and 7″ singles front cover designs
It was quite the year, 1980, the short while it lasted for the band. They had a second attempt at recording their ‘Our Swimmer’ single (first recorded late 1979) with an aim to release it as the calling card for their post-EMI existence, including a possible release on Charisma Records – see Side by side: Wire – ‘Our Swimmer’ and ‘Second Length’ versions, for further details. More famously, February 1980 witnessed an infamously self-immolating live appearance at the Electric Ballroom in London. By standard logic, a band that had freed itself from a label (and Wire were at pains to point out that they had walked away from EMI) might be more inclined to make use of such a gig as something of a commercial shopfront to woo a new a label. But no such intent from Wire. Its outright commercial suicide note of a performance put light to Wire (Mark 1) and torched it. But that gig is another story and will be documented before too long on VersionCrazy. Continue reading “Wire – ‘Ahead’ UK 7″ and 12″ (Mute, 7 MUTE 57 / 12 MUTE 57, 1987)”
