Category: Versions, versions

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John Foxx and Louis Gordon – ‘Neuro Video’ live CD (Metamatic META19CD, 1998)

The 2000s were a great time to be a John Foxx fan, with so many releases and re-releases and events of all kinds. If you lived near enough to London to make attending events feasible, even better. To be fair, John had also been making his way elsewhere since his return to active duty in 1997 – but London got far more than its fair share of Foxx action (as it does of just about any kind of action)…

John Foxx and Louis Gordon - 'Neuro Video' live CD front cover and disc and 'From Trash' T-shirt in the background
^ John Foxx and Louis Gordon – ‘Neuro Video’ live CD front cover and disc and ‘From Trash’ T-shirt in the background

‘Neuro Video’ is a live CD that captures a particularly memorable live event at the short-lived London venue ‘The Luminaire’ – and there is a significance to why the photos here picture the CD against a backdrop of a ‘For Trash’ T-shirt – as the date of the event, 24th November 2007, was the ‘T-shirt gig’ that had been trailed some while beforehand via the metamatic.com website (and John’s MySpace site of the time). Cynical marketing push to sell merch? With a capacity of 275, The Luminaire was a tiny venue, so hardly the case… but who could resist gaining free entry to a John Foxx and Louis Gordon gig for free simply by turning up in that specific T-shirt, if you could make it. Continue reading “John Foxx and Louis Gordon – ‘Neuro Video’ live CD (Metamatic META19CD, 1998)”

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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)”

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Xmal Deutschland – ‘The Peel Sessions’ UK 12″ EP / US CD EP [Strange Fruit, SFPS017, 1986 / Dutch East India Trading, DEI8313-2, 1991]

The Strange Fruit label series of John Peel Sessions was a real godsend… so much good stuff made available from a fate of home recorded cassettes taped from (at best) occasionally hissy FM or dull and crackly medium wave radio broadcasts. This particular release of Xmal Deutschland and their spring 1985 John Peel session is an interesting one in a number of respects.

Xmal Deutschland - 'The Peel Sessions' UK 12" EP / US CD EP front covers
^ Xmal Deutschland – ‘The Peel Sessions’ UK 12″ EP / US CD EP front covers

Continue reading “Xmal Deutschland – ‘The Peel Sessions’ UK 12″ EP / US CD EP [Strange Fruit, SFPS017, 1986 / Dutch East India Trading, DEI8313-2, 1991]”