Category: Design crazy

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John Foxx compilations across the years Part 11

2016’s ‘Burning Car’ and 2020’s ‘Concrete and Organised Noise’ LPs had set the scene for ‘companion’ albums gathering up related tracks on vinyl to ‘Metamatic’, and 2021 would see this same concept applied to John’s 1981 album, ‘The Garden’, by way of this post’s featured compilation, ‘Church’.

John Foxx ‘Church’ LP front cover design
^ John Foxx ‘Church’ LP front cover design

‘Church’ UK LP (Metamatic Records, META71LP (red vinyl) / META71LPV (neon violet vinyl), 2021)

Release date: 19th November 2021.

As it happens, ‘The Garden’ was being given a 40th anniversary edition re-release on vinyl the same year, with half on green vinyl and half on yellow vinyl. An email from Metamatic records had announced that release thus; Continue reading “John Foxx compilations across the years Part 11”

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Cabaret Voltaire ‘Here To Go’ UK CD single (EMI Parlophone, CDR 6166, 1987)

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.

Cabaret Voltaire 'Here To Go' UK CD single front cover design
^ Cabaret Voltaire ‘Here To Go’ UK CD single front cover design

Continue reading “Cabaret Voltaire ‘Here To Go’ UK CD single (EMI Parlophone, CDR 6166, 1987)”

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Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1991

1990 had by far been an intense yet successful year for the band – following the release of the ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’ album, the final few months of 1990 (October through December) had seen the band tour Europe, North America and Canada, which then continued on into 1991, with the North and South American tour to promote the ‘Heaven Or Las Vegas’ album that kept the band occupied during March and April of 1991. Along the way, the band also parted ways with 4AD records following some degree of acrimony, a move that would be reflected upon at a later date as not necessarily the best of moves. Simon Raymonde’s ‘In One Ear’ book also provides a bleakly dramatic tale of the human toll of the tour to support promotion of ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’ by way of a rather dramatic end to the tour on a personal level. By this point in time the band were now finding that their relationship with their label, 4AD, was being brought to a close. So, its perhaps little surprise to find that 1991 was otherwise a low-activity period other than the intense touring schedule.

Cocteau Twins - 1991 - Singles Box Set - front cover
^ Cocteau Twins – 1991 – Singles Box Set – front cover

Yet, it was not a quiet year for releases, with a box set of their singles and EPs (in enhanced form with complementary bonus tracks added as appropriate) proving to be a very welcome release on CD format. Continue reading “Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1991”

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Blast from the past: ACME official merchandise 1984/85 vintage for The Cure, Bauhaus, Simple Minds, Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke, PiL, Big Country U2 and all that good stuff

1983/1984/1985 were good years for gig-going for me and alongside enjoying the show, wherever possible and budget allowed I would visit the merch stall and come away with the customary T-shirts, badges and posters.

ACME merchandise brochure S84 page 6
^ ACME merchandise brochure S84 page 6 – The Cure official merch

Having been fortunate enough to see The Cure play live on their 1984 tour to promote ‘The Top’, at Edinburgh Playhouse, I came away from that show with a fair few of the items you see in the spread above – all long since gone now apart from some of the button badges This is a page from the promo brochure of ACME merchandise that I got a few months after the gig and a subsequent update supplement. Continue reading “Blast from the past: ACME official merchandise 1984/85 vintage for The Cure, Bauhaus, Simple Minds, Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke, PiL, Big Country U2 and all that good stuff”

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The Durutti Column – ‘Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)’ Belgian CD (Factory Benelux, FBN 2 CD, 1991)

From the vantage point of 2026 and the myriad of Durutti Column re-releases that we have been fortunate to have available this century, you might wonder why it’s worth dwelling on a compilation from 1991, ‘Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)’. And well you might, since everything on this CD is readily available nowadays. But… this was one of those very early CD purchases of mine once I had finally decided to adopt the format and was quite something at the time with its combination of familiar single releases, compilation album odds and ends, all gathered up along with previously unreleased tracks of the same early period from an abandoned album that made way for 1984’s ‘Without Mercy’ instead.

The Durutti Column - 'Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)' 1991 Factory Benelux compilation CD front cover design
^ The Durutti Column – ‘Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)’ 1991 Factory Benelux compilation CD front cover design

Originally released in 1991, this was a vital CD purchase at the time and was basically drawn from the following sources that were released throughout the 1980s, though recorded between 1980 through 1984;

  • Single releases
  • Various artists compilation album tracks
  • The abandoned ‘Short Stories For Pauline’ album.

These original sources are examined in much greater detail below… and the tracklist notes those tracks which have multiple titles from their different releases.
Continue reading “The Durutti Column – ‘Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)’ Belgian CD (Factory Benelux, FBN 2 CD, 1991)”