Category: Small objects of desire

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Bauhaus – ‘4AD’ UK Mini-Album (4AD, BAD 312, 1983)

Having worked away steadily and with increasing pressure since 1979, Bauhaus finally arrived into the upper ends of the UK charts with the double impact of the ‘Ziggy Stardust’ single (top 20) and ‘The Sky’s Gone Out’ album (top 5) in late 1982. The early months of 1983 would see two more singles and further success, a major tour and then the belated release of ‘Burning From The Inside’ following the band’s implosion in the summer of 1983 and split. It all seemed premature and left a void, such that the pent up demand for their work would see numerous digs into the archive over the next couple of years and beyond – undead, the maschine rolled on, starting with this ‘4AD’ mini-album in September of 1983…

Bauhaus - '4AD' UK Mini-Album front cover design
^ Bauhaus – ‘4AD’ UK Mini-Album front cover design

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Landscape ‘Einstein a Go-Go’ Japanese 7″ (RCA RPS-39 (PB-5307), 1981)

The single that finally brought Landscape some attention, ‘Einstein a Go-Go’ with a quick focus on this Japanese 7″ edition. In the UK, the single was issued on 7″ (backed with ‘New Religion’) and 12″ (which was a quite different extended remix of the A side, with ‘Japan’ on the B side. Neither of these came in a picture sleeve – not that unusual for RCA releases in the UK. Foreign climes, by contrast, came with a variety of different designs – some going with scaled down versions of the ‘From The Tearooms Of Mars…’ LP sleeve, others going with various band photos and even more abstract (the Portuguese issue springs to mind in this respect…)

Landscape 'Einstein a Go-Go' Japanese 7" front cover design
^ Landscape ‘Einstein a Go-Go’ Japanese 7″ front cover design

Continue reading “Landscape ‘Einstein a Go-Go’ Japanese 7″ (RCA RPS-39 (PB-5307), 1981)”

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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)”