Category: Region crazy

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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)”

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King Crimson ‘Sleepless’ West German 12″ single (EG/Polydor Records 817 990-1, 1984)

The ‘Beat’ album by King Crimson was my entry point to the band in 1982 – somewhat taken by the fusing of art rock and the Talking Heads connections, buying that album was something of an educated guess but one that paid off. ‘Beat’ was the middle album of a trio from the early 1980s and this ‘Sleepless’ single featured here was the lead-off single from the third part of that trio, 1984’s ‘Three of a Perfect Pair’. By this stage of the game, the band clearly had some ambitions to have something of a go at single chart success and ‘Sleepless’ took aim with a smoothed-out, funked up, sleek-lined rhythmic juggernaut of a sound that was fashioned into different mixes across the parent album as well as 7″ and 12″ releases, aided and abetted by celebrity mixers of the day, Bob Clearmountain and the more dance-groove focussed François Kevorkian – and in so doing, leaving us with some vinyl-only version craziness some 41 years on from its original release.

King Crimson 'Sleepless' 1984 West German 12" front cover design
^ King Crimson ‘Sleepless’ 1984 West German 12″ front cover design

Continue reading “King Crimson ‘Sleepless’ West German 12″ single (EG/Polydor Records 817 990-1, 1984)”

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David Byrne – ‘The Complete Score from the Broadway Production of “The Catherine Wheel”‘ USA cassette (Sire, M5S 3645, 1981)

This is one of those albums that was quite out of proportion in its importance in my early listening habits to what it seemingly was in its place in the grander scheme of things. Likely down to two factors for me; i) the critical hot stock that Talking Heads and David Byrne in particular enjoyed in the UK music press in 1981/82, and ii) the curiosity factor of an extended duration cassette version that featured way more music than the standard vinyl album version.

David Byrne 'The Complete Score from the Broadway Production of "The Catherine Wheel" USA cassette (front)
^ David Byrne ‘The Complete Score from the Broadway Production of “The Catherine Wheel” USA cassette (front)

Continue reading “David Byrne – ‘The Complete Score from the Broadway Production of “The Catherine Wheel”‘ USA cassette (Sire, M5S 3645, 1981)”

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Scritti Politti ‘The Basics’ Japanese mini album LP and cassette [Virgin, 20VB-1083 / 20VC-1083, 1986]

‘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
^ Scritti Politti ‘The Basics’ 1986 mini-album – LP and cassette front cover designs

The sleeve lists various differing mixes included – definitely worth a deeper dive… Continue reading “Scritti Politti ‘The Basics’ Japanese mini album LP and cassette [Virgin, 20VB-1083 / 20VC-1083, 1986]”

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Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1989/1990

1989 was the first year in the band’s history that would see no significant new releases from them, with various album CD re-presses seemingly the only new product to emerge. No live work either – in fact, there had been no live appearances during 1987 or 1988 either – a three year gap, that would not be broken until late 1990. But the band were far from idle during the year. 1989 saw the band acquire and fit out their September Sound studio [1], the former Eel Pie studios owned by Pete Townshend, where in time they would record at their leisure and what was to be the venue where all the band’s subsequent albums would be recorded. 1989 was a significant year on a personal level for the band members too, with the birth of Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie’s daughter, Lucy  Belle, in September 1989. The month was also significant for Simon Raymonde, though of a sadder nature with the passing of his father, Ivor Raymonde, as detailed in his excellent and moving autobiography published earlier this year, ‘In One Ear: Cocteau Twins, Ivor and Me’. [2]

Cocteau Twins - various 1990 releases
^ Cocteau Twins – various 1990 releases

1990 by contrast was an extremely significant year, with the eventual release of ‘Heaven Or Las Vegas’, which would prove to be the band’s final new album recorded and released for the 4AD label and the work that many fans consider to be their finest album – and, by the latter quarter of 1990, a return to live touring once more, though with a significantly different band line up.

Continue reading “Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1989/1990”