Versions, versions

7 April, 20267 April, 2026

Visage ‘Fade To Grey’ 1988 CD single

This 1988 CD EP release is something of a curio as it contains two mixes by Visage that have for whatever reason been rather forgotten about in the digital age. Not that you would know from the sleeve design, as it doesn’t provide any details on the specific mixes included. But these two mixes of interest are the original extended 12” mix of ‘Fade To Grey’ and the ‘Dance Dub’ mix of ‘Beat Boy’.

This original 12” mix of ‘Fade To Grey’ first emerged not on the 1980 UK 12” single but on the West German 12” single release. (The UK 12” single featured the same single edit as the 7” mix). The West German 12” release (Polydor 2141 318) – see discos.com entry – featured an extended mix of ‘Fade To Grey’, though its fair to say that this 12” extended mix has since been eclipsed and replaced as seemingly the ‘definitive’ 12” mix of the song by the later ‘Dance Mix’ version that first appeared on the US ‘Visage’ Mini-Album (Polydor, PX-1-501) released in July 1981, as featured in a previous post. For example, on many various artists compilation CDs in recent decades whenever there is a 12″ or extended mix of ‘Fade To Grey’ it is almost always the ‘Dance Mix’, or, even more confusingly, a slightly shorter edit of this ‘Dance Mix’. (See ‘Postscript’ below for more detail on this.) The most recent example of this is from Rusty Egan’s 4-disc ‘Rusty Egan Presents Blitzed!’ collection (view the discogs.com entry), which features the full-length ‘Dance Mix’ version of ‘Fade To Grey’ in all its glory – it truly is a superb mix.

Visage 'Fade To Grey' 1988 West German CD single front cover design — ^ Visage ‘Fade To Grey’ 1988 West German CD single front cover design

Meantime, the ‘original’ 12″ mix as featured on this CD single is quite a different affair. It lacks the downright irresistible straight-ahead funkiness of the Dance Mix and has in the past come in for the occasional comment that its basically just the single mix repeated twice.

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21 March, 202628 March, 2026

Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1991

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.

Cocteau Twins - 1991 - Singles Box Set - front cover — ^ Cocteau Twins – 1991 – Singles Box Set – front cover

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”

7 March, 20267 March, 2026

The Durutti Column – ‘Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)’ Belgian CD (Factory Benelux, FBN 2 CD, 1991)

From the vantage point of 2026 and the myriad of Durutti Column re-releases that we have been fortunate to have available this century, you might wonder why it’s worth dwelling on a compilation from 1991, ‘Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)’. And well you might, since everything on this CD is readily available nowadays. But… this was one of those very early CD purchases of mine once I had finally decided to adopt the format and was quite something at the time with its combination of familiar single releases, compilation album odds and ends, all gathered up along with previously unreleased tracks of the same early period from an abandoned album that made way for 1984’s ‘Without Mercy’ instead.

The Durutti Column - 'Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)' 1991 Factory Benelux compilation CD front cover design — *^ The Durutti Column – ‘Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)’ 1991 Factory Benelux compilation CD front cover design*

Originally released in 1991, this was a vital CD purchase at the time and was basically drawn from the following sources that were released throughout the 1980s, though recorded between 1980 through 1984;

Single releases
Various artists compilation album tracks
The abandoned ‘Short Stories For Pauline’ album.

These original sources are examined in much greater detail below… and the tracklist notes those tracks which have multiple titles from their different releases.
Continue reading “The Durutti Column – ‘Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone)’ Belgian CD (Factory Benelux, FBN 2 CD, 1991)”

28 February, 202628 February, 2026

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:

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

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