Kraftwerk ‘Computer World’ Japanese bonus track CD (Toshiba-EMI, TOCP-8974 / 0777 7460402 4, 1997)

To this day, Kraftwerk remain an act that does things its own unique way and more often that not flies in the face of the norms of the music business. If you expect to be able to find the band’s back catalogue re-issued every few years with a multitude of bonus tracks added, you will be very mistaken. For the most part, the albums come as the album’s were originally released, with no extra tracks such as remixes, alternative versions, etc. In some cases, you simply cannot find official releases at all – e.g. the bands first three albums (‘Kraftwerk’, ‘Kraftwerk 2’, ‘Ralf and Florian’) have never received any official re-release since 1980 and never on CD/digitally. One exception to Kraftwerk’s otherwise strict behaviour however is this CD dating from January 1997, a Japanese CD edition of ‘Computer World’ that contains… hold your breath… a bonus track!

Kraftwerk 'Computer World' 1997 Japanese CD re-issue - front cover and obi
^ Kraftwerk ‘Computer World’ 1997 Japanese CD re-issue – front cover and obi

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John Foxx compilations across the years Part 2

The second part of this series looking at John Foxx’s music as compiled over the years… 1989’s (presumably) self titled promo video clip collection and 1992’s compilation CD, Assembly’.


John Foxx video compilation (Virgin Music Vault, VVC582, 1989)

John Foxx 1989 UK VHS video EP
^ John Foxx 1989 UK VHS video EP

This odd little release was one in a series of short video compilations of Virgin label catalogue artists issued in 1989, while VHS was still the format of choice. Amongst other acts of interest in the series (at least for me…) were Skids and Magazine. This video was the first time I was able to view again some promo videos I had seen only a handful of times anyway back in the very early ’80s, and some I had never seen before, so it was a welcome purchase, despite the brevity (clocking in around 25 minutes). Being a UK based Top Of The Pops viewer, the videos were less common sights due to the frequent and memorable John Foxx appearances in the TOTP studio, not least for ‘Underpass’, ‘No One Driving’ (the latter with no less than four Yamaha CS80’s for the backing band!) and ‘Europe, After The Rain’. Continue reading “John Foxx compilations across the years Part 2”

Button Badge Goodness: Bauhaus (Part 1)

Can hardly believe it has taken this long to get round to posting the first in a series of button badge goodness from one of my all time favourite acts, Bauhaus…

Bauhaus button badge selection 1
^ Bauhaus button badge selection 1

This first badge in the selection features an archive photo from a theatre production produced by Oskar Schlemmer, from the original Bauhaus period – I first came across it with its use on the cover of the book ‘Performance: Live Art, 1909 to the Present’, by Roselee Goldberg, from 1979 – the band plundered a detail of this photo for press adverts for the ‘Spirit’ single in 1982 but which wasn’t used on the final (rather disappointing, if I may say) sleeve design. Continue reading “Button Badge Goodness: Bauhaus (Part 1)”

John Foxx compilations across the years Part 1

With a post-Ultravox solo career now into its 43rd year, John Foxx has a rich back catalogue to his name and along the way there has been many a compilation that gathered up his work and sliced and diced it salted with tasty, unreleased or hard to come-by morsels. This series of posts will examine each of these compilations in detail and summarise what each one has going for it and therefore worth your time seeking out.

A selection of John Foxx compilation albums
^ A selection of John Foxx compilation albums

Starting with two releases dating from 1981… Continue reading “John Foxx compilations across the years Part 1”

New Order ‘Touched By The Hand Of God’ UK CD single (Factory, FACD193, 1987)

‘Touched By The Hand Of God’ was one of a handful of tracks by New Order included on the soundtrack to the movie ‘Salvation’. Released as a single in December 1987, it was remixed for the occasion and also acted as the follow-up to the surprisingly big chart success that ‘True Faith’ had gifted the band a few months earlier.

New Order 'Touched By The Hand Of God' UK CD single front cover design
^ New Order ‘Touched By The Hand Of God’ UK CD single front cover design

Continue reading “New Order ‘Touched By The Hand Of God’ UK CD single (Factory, FACD193, 1987)”