Celebrating vinyl / CD / cassette / memorabilia releases of musical gems and curiosities from the punk era onwards
Bill Nelson’s 1986 ‘Getting The Holy Ghost Across’ album is one that deserves a fuller write-up given its complex trans-Atlantic history and many variations. I will get there someday, but as a taster for that, today’s focus is on the UK cassette edition, another cassette pet that offered its own unique content for those willing to seek it out at the time.
A brief synopsis of the album… Continue reading “Bill Nelson – ‘Getting The Holy Ghost Across’ UK cassette (Portrait, PRT 4022602, 1986)”
This release is from a series of 3″ CD singles that Virgin Records pushed hard to establish in the late ’80s as a going concern in formatting. Cute as they were, and despite a good number of such releases from the Virgin and related labels, they never quite took off. Nevertheless, I have a lot of time for many of these, since they were a good way of finding sometimes obscure mixes on CD for the first time. But equally, many are somewhat maddening in the choice of tracks that were included to accompany the main single selection. We’ve been here before for example, look back on Side by side: 1988 Japan 3” CD singles for a good example of what I’m talking about; to this day, the ‘Ghosts’ 3″ CD single appears to be the only way to find that mighty fine late 1981 vintage live recording of ‘The Art Of Parties’ (Version) that was on the flip side of the original single release in digital form, despite may latter-day re-issue opportunities on Japan’s back catalogue. You want to hear a take with Steve Jansen hammering away on Simmons drums, roll right up! Meanwhile, an open goal is missed with the ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ 3″ CD single which picks two tracks that were never even anywhere near the original double-pack 7″ release – that single mix of ‘Burning Bridges’ remains unreleased digitally to this very day.
This Scritti Politti release sits somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, perhaps. Continue reading “Scritti Politti – ‘The Word Girl’ UK 3″ Mini-CD (Virgin CDT 13, 1988)”
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.
Continue reading “Cabaret Voltaire ‘Here To Go’ UK CD single (EMI Parlophone, CDR 6166, 1987)”
The first few months of 2026 have gotten off to start with not one but two books that revisit, to varying degrees, the subject of the Skids and Stuart Adamson. The first of them is this slim but illuminating book from Richard Jobson reflecting ostensibly on the background to the 1980 Skids album ‘The Absolute Game’, but much more beside. The second tome is ‘Stay Alive: The Life and Death of Stuart Adamson’, by Scott Rowley and is an official biography chronicling his career and tragic death. That will have to wait for another time
Continue reading “Richard Jobson – The Absolute Game book (No Bad Books, 2026)”
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.
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”