Category: Versions, versions

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The Cure – ‘Concert and Curiosity’ UK cassette (Fiction, FIXHC10, 1984)

The Cure were no strangers to giving fans a bonus side of music to their cassette releases, with 1981’s ‘Faith’ cassette coming with the long form ‘Carnage Visors’ soundtrack piece as a cassette-only exclusive. By 1984 and their renaissance as a more pop-oriented act (on the surface at least as the Sturm und Drang outings from ‘The Top’ such as ‘Shake Dog Shake’ and ‘Give Me It’ would attest), time was ripe for their first live album in the shape of the faux bootleg look and feel of ‘Concert’ (The Cure Live)’. Limited to a single album rather than the more traditional sprawling double, it was a fair trawl through various highlights, heavy on the singles and a side order of more recent album tracks. Fair enough. But of more interest, certainly for longer term fans, was the cassette-only ‘Concert and Curiosity’.

The Cure 'Concert and Curiosity' UK cassette
^ The Cure ‘Concert and Curiosity’ UK cassette

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Side by side: Brian Eno and John Cale – ‘One Word’ CD singles

What news it was at the time of the ‘Wrong Way Up’ album release that Brian Eno had returned to vocal duties and was actually to be heard singing on record once more. As big a thing as his continual questioning in interviews in those first few years of why wasn’t he singing anymore… Of course, he had still been singing, just not centre-stage on his own albums. Just listen to Talking Heads for example and even closer to this period he had sung on his take of ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ included on the soundtrack of the movie ‘Married To The Mob’ in 1988.

Brian Eno and John Cale - 'One Word' UK CD single front cover design
^ Brian Eno and John Cale – ‘One Word’ UK CD single front cover design

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Kraftwerk – ‘Autobahn’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single (Kling Klang/Parlophone, 2019)

Given away with the April 2019 edition of the German magazine MuzikExpress, this blue vinyl, one-sided 7″ single includes a new and unique edit of the track. The magazine itself came with a lengthy write-up on the parent album, hailing it in the number 1 position of the ‘100 Best Albums from Germany’.

The record features the new 4’35” edit from the original recording of ‘Autobahn’ and this differs from the 7″ single edits originally issued back in the day. This new edit is something of a best of both and includes a good deal more of the vocal sections than either. Being a minute and thirty seconds longer than the rather brutal British edit, that’s perhaps no surprise.

Kraftwerk - 'Autobahn' MusikExpress magazine German 7
^ Kraftwerk – ‘Autobahn’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single front cover

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The Golden Hour of The Future – Recordings by The Future and The Human League

Released in 2002, this CD finally shone official light of day on to early material by The Human League and immediate forerunners The Future that had been circulating in bootleg form for 20+ years. Hurrah!!! A compilation of this type had been mooted for official release long before – back in late 1981, Heaven 17’s ‘Penthouse and Pavement’ album inner sleeve advertised ‘The Future Tapes’ as a forthcoming release, for example.

The background story is even more involved than I was aware of and adds to the enjoyment of listening to this release now, albeit in some cases that is a pretty lo-fi experience, to be fair.

The Golden Hour of the Future - front cover design
^ The Golden Hour of the Future – front cover design

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Gary Numan – ‘Telekon’ 2015 Double LP re-issue (Beggars Banquet, BBQLP19, 2015)

Back to a favourite subject of mine, the variations to be found with Gary Numan’s wonderful ‘Telekon’ album. Here we have the most recent vinyl re-issue, from 2015 and the lure of the limited red vinyl double album edition clearly proved far too tempting. So, go on Beggars, give me yet another copy for the collection…

Gary Numan - 'Telekon' 2015 Double LP re-issue front cover design
^ Gary Numan – ‘Telekon’ 2015 Double LP re-issue front cover design

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