Celebrating vinyl / CD / cassette / memorabilia releases of musical gems and curiosities from the punk era onwards
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.
‘Temptation’ was the third (or fourth, depending on whether you count the Factory Benelux 12” variant of ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ as a unique variant) single release by New Order, released May 1982, it was a big deal at the time. The first unique release after the debut ‘Movement’ album, it highlighted that the band had finally parted ways from the influence of Martin Hannett as the producer, and both sides of the single saw the band’s sound build further on the minimal electronic sequencer-driven sound that ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ had first ushered in. Yet, it retained a somewhat delicately ramshackle vibe too, ahead of the polished dance-beat driven sound that would subsequently re-write the band’s DNA for their more electronic-based tracks.
Continue reading “New Order – ‘Temptation’ / ‘Hurt’ UK 12” and 7″ (Factory, FAC63, 1982)”
Back in the day (1980, in fact in this case) it would have been de riguer to sneer at such a release as this. Ronco? Didn’t they make the ‘Buttoneer’?! The ‘Veg-O-Matic’?! What were they doing making a punk/new wave LP?! And take a look at the track listing – goodness, just look at that selection – where else might you find Gary Numan lumped in the same selection as The Plasmatics? The Sex Pistols with the Nick Straker Band?!
Welcome to the world of the budget label TV advertised compilation – Ronco, K-Tel etc. Continue reading “‘Street Level (20 New Wave Hits)’ UK compilation LP (Ronco, RTL2048, 1980)”
‘The Basics’ is a curious oddity, a 1986 Japanese-only compilation that gathers together various mixes of five singles that were peeled from the ‘Cupid & Psyche ’85’ album. It comes housed in a design based on the UK 1985 12″/gatefold 7″ single sleeve design. Why the title of ‘The Basics’? I have no idea. And despite being housed in a sleeve filched from the UK 12″ of ‘Perfect Way’, the mix of that song that is included is actually a quite different mix from the US 12″ single! Odd!
The sleeve lists various differing mixes included – definitely worth a deeper dive… Continue reading “Scritti Politti ‘The Basics’ Japanese mini album LP and cassette [Virgin, 20VB-1083 / 20VC-1083, 1986]”
Another Record Store Day and another new, limited edition Propaganda release culled from the ZTT label archives. 2024’s, ‘Die 1000 Augen Des Dr. Mabuse’, was very much a ‘Part 1’, so you might have expected any Propaganda RSD release to continue onwards with that. But no, this year moved to focus on both sides of the band’s ‘p:Machinery’/‘Frozen Faces’ single, first released in summer 1985. The Propaganda of ‘A Secret Wish’ were always about the duality, so as well as both songs, this release also features the subsequent αlpha and βeta versions that have come to be released or retitled over the many ‘after the fact’ releases from ZTT.
