Category: Small objects of desire

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Side by side: The Sun And The Moon ‘Alive Not Dead’ French/UK EP (Midnight Music DONG 44 / DONG 44CD, 1989)

The last release by the short-lived The Sun And The Moon while they remained a working entity, ‘Alive: Not Dead’ is a wonderful four track EP that pointed in a positive direction for the quality of the band’s future work, only for that future to fail.

The Sun And The Moon - 'Alive: Not Dead' 12" EP and CD front cover designs
^ The Sun And The Moon – ‘Alive: Not Dead’ 12″ EP and CD front cover designs

By this stage of the band’s arc they had left the Geffen label and found a home for this EP on the indie label Midnight Music, licensed from Glass Pyramid. Released in 12” and CD single formats, four quality tracks, one of which is the band’s spirited take on Alice Cooper’s ‘Elected’, complete with short dialogue snippet from an episode of ‘The Prisoner’ television series. Continue reading “Side by side: The Sun And The Moon ‘Alive Not Dead’ French/UK EP (Midnight Music DONG 44 / DONG 44CD, 1989)”

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David Sylvian ‘Everything And Nothing’ Radio Edit UK two track promo CD single (Virgin VSCDJ1789, 2000)

His contract with Virgin coming to an end, the year 2000 saw an attractive and interesting selection of Sylvian’s work pulled together as the ‘Everything and Nothing’ compilation CD. The selections reached back to the 1980 period with Japan through to previously unreleased works that were leftovers from the previous year’s ‘Dead Bees On A Cake’ album, finished off in 2000. The album kicked off with one such leftover, ‘The Scent Of Magnolia’. This featured promo CD contains a unique 3’28” ‘Radio Edit’ of that song.

David Sylvian 'Everything And Nothing' Radio Edit two track promo CD single - front cover design
^ David Sylvian ‘Everything And Nothing’ Radio Edit two track promo CD single – front cover design

Tracklisting:

  1. The Scent Of Magnolia (Radio Edit) 3’28”
  2. Ghosts (Version 2000) 3’43”

Continue reading “David Sylvian ‘Everything And Nothing’ Radio Edit UK two track promo CD single (Virgin VSCDJ1789, 2000)”

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Peter Murphy ‘4 Cuts Deep’ Canadian Promo-only Cassette EP (Beggars Banquet / Vertigo PROC 51, 1990)

‘Deep’ was very much Peter Murphy’s breakthrough solo album and perhaps it was in no small part due to the promotional push of the record company machinery of the era, still some years away from the MP3 meltdown and subsequent diminished times. This cassette is one of those curious promo-only releases of the era picked up along the way, a reminder of those times.

Peter Murphy '4 Cuts Deep' Canadian Promo-only Cassette EP - front pack design
^ Peter Murphy ‘4 Cuts Deep’ Canadian Promo-only Cassette EP – front pack design

Continue reading “Peter Murphy ‘4 Cuts Deep’ Canadian Promo-only Cassette EP (Beggars Banquet / Vertigo PROC 51, 1990)”

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Danielle Dax – ‘The Janice Long Session’ UK 12″ EP / ‘The BBC Sessions’ US CD EP (Strange Fruit / Nighttracks, SFNT 006, 1987 / Dutch East India Trading/Strange Fruit, DEI8002-2, 1991]

Another example from the many releases on Strange Fruit from the late ’80s into the ’90s that delved back into the BBC Radio 1 session recording archives. This one is on the ‘Nighttracks’ imprint which was reserved for the sessions that were recorded for the BBC Radio 1 evening shows other than John Peel’s show – sadly, that sun-label only released a fraction of the possible sessions compared to the main label.

Slightly different titles on these two releases, but the same session. Dating from the period of the ‘Yummer Yummer Man’ single release, the tracks chosen range from the then current single back through the previous ‘Jesus Egg That Wept’ mini-album and ‘Pop Eyes’ album.

Danielle Dax - 'The Janice Long Session' UK 12" EP / 'The BBC Sessions' US CD EP front cover designs
^ Danielle Dax – ‘The Janice Long Session’ UK 12″ EP / ‘The BBC Sessions’ US CD EP front cover designs

Continue reading “Danielle Dax – ‘The Janice Long Session’ UK 12″ EP / ‘The BBC Sessions’ US CD EP (Strange Fruit / Nighttracks, SFNT 006, 1987 / Dutch East India Trading/Strange Fruit, DEI8002-2, 1991]”

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Suzanne Vega – ‘Live In London 1986’ Australian Mini-Album (A&M, L20054, 1986)

‘Live In London 1986’ is a curious yet appealing release I spotted amongst the racks way back in the day, styled to fit in with the UK single releases of ‘Left Of Center’ and ‘Marlene On The Wall’ (1986 re-release) by the looks of it. Turns out that it was only issued in Australia, New Zealand and Japan and it is made up of a variety of live recordings that in some cases found themselves spread across various B side and 12″ singles in the UK – but also a couple that look to be exclusive to this release. My copy is the Australian vinyl mini-album, picked up on import.

Suzanne Vega - 'Live In London 1986' Australian mini-album front cover design
^ Suzanne Vega – ‘Live In London 1986’ Australian mini-album front cover design

Continue reading “Suzanne Vega – ‘Live In London 1986’ Australian Mini-Album (A&M, L20054, 1986)”