Category: Small objects of desire

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Blast from the past: ACME official merchandise 1984/85 vintage for The Cure, Bauhaus, Simple Minds, Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke, PiL, Big Country U2 and all that good stuff

1983/1984/1985 were good years for gig-going for me and alongside enjoying the show, wherever possible and budget allowed I would visit the merch stall and come away with the customary T-shirts, badges and posters.

ACME merchandise brochure S84 page 6
^ ACME merchandise brochure S84 page 6 – The Cure official merch

Having been fortunate enough to see The Cure play live on their 1984 tour to promote ‘The Top’, at Edinburgh Playhouse, I came away from that show with a fair few of the items you see in the spread above – all long since gone now apart from some of the button badges This is a page from the promo brochure of ACME merchandise that I got a few months after the gig and a subsequent update supplement. Continue reading “Blast from the past: ACME official merchandise 1984/85 vintage for The Cure, Bauhaus, Simple Minds, Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke, PiL, Big Country U2 and all that good stuff”

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Heaven 17 ‘Fascist Groove Thang’ UK 3″ CD single (Virgin CDT21, 1988)

This curious little 3″ CD single of Heaven 17’s 1981 debut single, ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’, featuring three 12″ single mixes from their back catalogue, was released as part the Virgin CDT series, a series of re-issues of classic singles from the Virgin back catalogue on the then in-vogue 3″ CD single format. The series flagged the selling point of containing ‘12” versions previously unavailable on compact disc’ by way of a flash box printed at the foot of the front cover design. The covers were tiny replicas in keeping with the original sleeve designs for the most part, and came packaged in generic Virgin records clear plastic ‘blister pack’ covers, though the choice of tracks often had odd combinations of mixes, that were not necessarily quite the intended ’12” mix’ that the hype would have you believe.

Heaven 17 - 'Fascist Groove Thang' UK 3" CD front cover design in generic Virgin 3" CD single series plastic pack
^ Heaven 17 – ‘Fascist Groove Thang’ UK 3″ CD front cover design in generic Virgin 3″ CD single series plastic pack

So, while on first sight this looks like it might include the original B side from the original single release, ‘The Decline of the West’, that is nowhere to be found and it instead included two other singles from 1981.

Tracklist:

  1. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (4’53”)
  2. I’m Your Money (Specially Fortified Dance Mix) (5’42”)
  3. Height Of The Fighting (He-La-Hu) (Full Length 12″ Mix) (2’55”)

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Pete Shelley vs Power, Wonder and Love – ‘Homosapien II’ UK 3″CD single (Immaculate Records IMMAC 11CD, 1989)

2025 has been a good year for remembering the wonderful Pete Shelley, by way of various re-releases, firstly, the Record Store Day exclusive of the ‘Yesterday Is Not Here (Radio Sessions 1979 – 1983)’ album (which includes the first, acoustic guitar and vocal rendition of the song that is the subject of this post, in the form of ‘Homosapiens’), then new re-releases of Pete’s ‘Homosapien’ and ‘XL-1’ albums. But, what do we have here? Not one of these new releases, no – quite a curio in fact and one that passed me by back in the day.

Pete Shelley vs Power, Wonder and Love - 'Homosapien II' 3"CD single - front
^ Pete Shelley vs Power, Wonder and Love – ‘Homosapien II’ 3″CD single – front

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Magazine – ‘BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert’ UK CD (Windsong International WINCD 040, 1993)

Magazine are a long-standing favourite of mine and it’s been welcome to have seen them been back in the public eye once again over the past year with the re-releases of their studio back catalogue. A nicely curated re-issue series, refreshed and re-visited, notably absent however are any of the live albums. The subject of today’s post is something of a curio. While 1980’s ‘Play’ (and its later, expanded 2009 re-visit as ‘Play+’) live album has tended to be the go-to de facto live document, this release is worth seeking out as a short but interesting example of a slightly earlier vintage.

Magazine – 'BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert' UK CD front cover design and CD label
^ Magazine – ‘BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert’ UK CD front cover design and CD label

The UK BBC Radio 1 music station’s ‘In Concert’ series was a simple yet valuable format, one matched around the world in many differing names – ultimately, a chance to hear a well recorded excerpt of a live show, broadcast a week or two after the recording date. Established or new and upcoming bands, they were of equal interest and importance to the producers. This show was recorded on 22nd November 1978 at the BBC’s then ‘Paris Theatre’ venue, on Lower Regent Street, London, which has long since closed its doors as a venue for such live recordings. This is a short release, clocking in at the 37 minute mark, so, far from a full live show. This is partly because the broadcast was shared with another act, the short-lived Snips.

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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)

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