Returning once more to an old favourite featured many times before, Hard Corps, and their wonderful single that should have been a hit, ‘Je Suis Passée’ and all its many versions. It has been a long while in the offing, this post, what prompted me to post it now is the newly released compilation CD celebrating the work of producer Martin Rushent, ‘Autonomy – The Productions Of Martin Rushent’, available from Ace Records, as this includes the 7″ single mix of ‘Je Suis Passée’, its first release on CD format.
^ Hard Corps ‘Je Suis Passée’ multiple versions sleeve assemblage
From the moment I heard Hard Corps I was hooked – that was in the summer of 1984 with the release of the ‘Dirty’/Respirer’ double A side 12″ (and later 7″) single. That love for the band became even greater with ‘Je Suis Passée’. Continue reading “Side by side: Hard Corps – Je Suis Passée versions”
‘The “Sweetest Girl”’ never provided Scritti Politti with the full-on pop chart hit that might have ambitiously been hoped for, but the impact it made with its sea-change in style ensured its high profile all the same. What I had not quite appreciated until more recent years was just how many versions of the song there are and it’s curiously stop/start release history.
1988 saw the band return from what, to the outside world, probably looked like some kind of extended break, but had witnessed the band finesse their studio in Acton and record the album ‘Blue Bell Knoll’. Along the way, it also saw the band make changes in their relationship with 4AD records, including signing a new deal for five further albums for the label and their American releases made via Capitol records, as well as further worldwide territories.
Blue Bell Knoll LP / CD / Cassette / DAT
LP version (4AD CAD 807)
The original release of the vinyl album came packaged in a tri-fold sleeve and, unlike previous releases, it was not the work of 4AD’s in-house designers 23 Envelope, but by designer Paul West and Jeremy Tilston, with photography by Juergen Teller.
^ Cocteau Twins ‘Blue Bell Knoll’ 1988 UK LP fold-out front cover design
Another post of mine that holds a torch for Xmal Deutschland, who I was seriously into in the 1980s and was fortunate to see play live a few times. This time around, the final single release by the five-piece version of the band, ‘Sickle Moon’, the second single from the ‘Viva’ album of 1987.
^ Xmal Deutschland – Sickle Moon UK 7″ single front cover design
The fourth, and to date last, of the main David Sylvian related compilations featured in this series – two versions, side-by-side, of the ‘Sleepwalkers’ CD, which compiles collaborations with other artists from the early 2000s onwards.
^ Side-by-side David Sylvian ‘Sleepwalkers’ CDs – 2010 original (left) and 2022 re-issue (right) – front cover designs
First released in 2010, there was a re-mastered version in 2022 and on this occasion a micro-site to promote the 2022 release (an updated variant of the page for the original September 2010 release) presents some very useful detail spanning both versions. The notes from the site nicely encapsulates the spirit behind the compilation with the following summary;
in the 00s, DAVID SYLVIAN produced two of his strongest and most solitary statements, BLEMISH and MANAFON. but those records don’t tell the whole story. during that the same period, SYLVIAN created an alternate body of work: a series of collaborations and side projects with leading talents of pop and improv, electronic and contemporary classical music. the best of these recordings are gathered here on SLEEPWALKERS, meticulously sequenced and remixed: the fruits of one-off meetings and lifelong partnerships, they jump from bliss to intrigue, romance to sensuality, as arch experiments lead into the lushest pop.
The compilation isn’t a be all and end all – David Sylvian has collaborated on many other occasions not compiled here and in some cases the tracks selected provides a taster of further work that can be sought out (e.g. the Nine Horses and Tweaker works).
