Drinking Electricity ‘Shake Some Action’ UK 7″ single (Pop:Aural, POP 005, 1980)

We’ve visited Drinking Electricity once before, with their ‘Cruising Missiles’ 45, which was my introduction to the band and their work. I’d go on to buy the subsequent single releases on and off as they came out, where their own original synth pop sound would emerge. This single though was their own unique minimal synth rock’n’roll take with a cover version of the 1976 Flamin’ Groovies track, ‘Shake Some Action’. Like the band’s previous cover version of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates’ ‘Shakin’ All Over’, this was again a faster tempo, stripped down angular guitar thrashing and synth interpretation. Depending on how well you get on with late 70s/early 80s minimal synth pop and its production values versus the original, lushly produced power-pop take of the Flamin’ Groovies, this may well take a bit of getting used to. In the context of a produced-to-death, auto-tuned attention deficit get-to-the-chorus within a count of seconds not minutes of modern pop, this is beamed in from another world.

Drinking Electricity 'Shake Some Action' UK 7
^ Drinking Electricity ‘Shake Some Action’ UK 7″ front cover design

Flip it over and its a whole other galaxy of primitivism in comparison to the original – the ‘Cheapo’ demo version replaces drums with ticky-ticky drum box and even a prominent earth-hum buzzing in the background throughout. Nonetheless, it sparks away in its own exciting, cheapo way. Continue reading “Drinking Electricity ‘Shake Some Action’ UK 7″ single (Pop:Aural, POP 005, 1980)”

Kraftwerk – ‘Heimcomputer’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single (Kling Klang/Parlophone, 2021)

A week ago I posted about the 2017 MusikExpress magazine exclusive of ‘Die Roboter’ (3-D edit) 7″ single and trailed the release of another addition to the ongoing series of exclusives, ‘Heimcomputer’, due for release with the June 2021 issue of the magazine. A week on and I now have a copy of that arrived to hand…

Kraftwerk - 'Heimcomputer' MusikExpress magazine June 2021 issue German 7
^ Kraftwerk – ‘Heimcomputer’ MusikExpress magazine June 2021 issue German 7″ single

Continue reading “Kraftwerk – ‘Heimcomputer’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single (Kling Klang/Parlophone, 2021)”

Kraftwerk – ‘Die Roboter’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single (Kling Klang/Parlophone, 2017)

What is it? A one-sided 7″ single with a 3 minute 33 seconds edit of the ‘3-D’ re-recording of ‘Die Roboter’ given away exclusively with the German magazine MusikExpress in its August 2017 issue. The flipside, rather than completely blank, still has a red label design with the pixelated band members logo and has an etched artwork design on the vinyl, with ‘KRAFTWERK’ (top) and ‘12345678’ (bottom) in the familiar pixelated font so beloved of many a Kraftwerk release from 1981 onwards.

Kraftwerk 'Die Roboter' MusikExpress magazine German 7
^ Kraftwerk ‘Die Roboter’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single front cover

This is the first of what now appears to be something of a biennial series of 7″ releases for Kraftwerk in MusikExpress magazine. It was followed in 2019 with a new edit of ‘Autobahn’ on blue vinyl 7″, which was featured in a previous post. Continue reading “Kraftwerk – ‘Die Roboter’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single (Kling Klang/Parlophone, 2017)”

Button badge goodness – Post-Punk Selection 1 (Joy Division, Gang of Four, Wire)

A small but historical selections of period badges, of a Post-Punk flavour this time round. None of your recent eBay purchases here, I can vouch that all of these designs pictured date back to 1981/82, which is when I picked them up and swiftly fastened them to lapel or pocket flap to sport around town. They would have almost certainly been from 1-UP records in Aberdeen, when they were still to be found on Rosemount Viaduct.

Post-Punk badge selection 1
^ Post-Punk badge selection 1

Continue reading “Button badge goodness – Post-Punk Selection 1 (Joy Division, Gang of Four, Wire)”