Arriving within a short period of one another, two releases which both delve back into the history books in order to refashion roughs into polished new shapes. Wire have taken a selection of material that previously saw release only as live versions (on 1981’s ‘Document and Eyewitness’ live set and, later, the ‘Turns and Strokes’ compilation gathering together remaining waifs and strays of the period) – so, mostly familiar to long-time Wire fans. Bartos meanwhile has looked back to private musical sketches to bring something new to the world.
^ Wire ‘Changes Becomes Us’ limited edition and Karl Bartos ‘Off The Record’ CDs
The re-energised Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark will soon be releasing their second album since they returned to active duty, ‘English Electric’. The emerging picture points towards something that may revisit the spirit of 1983’s left-field wonder that is ‘Dazzle Ships’. Certainly the recently released cover artwork for the album harks back to Peter Saville’s angular design for that work.
An impeccable slab of early Antz, which has been resurrected in the live shows that Adam Ant has been playing in recent years. While I’ve known for a long while that there was the famous ‘mis-pressing’ that featured a take of ‘Physical (You’re So)’ on the B side instead of ‘Whip In My Valise’, it was much later in the day that I realised some small differences to the A side as well on different issues of this single.
In a previous post, I looked at the UK single release of ‘Nightporter’, which saw a 7″, 12″ and unique DJ edit 7″ editions. Another notable issue is the Japanese 12″ 6-song ‘Pic Label’ series EP (Virgin, VIP-4181). Retaining the same design for the front as the UK 12″ release, the rear featured a band pic along with the titles for the featured songs – which gathered together a number of edits and non-LP tracks that had surfaced originally on UK singles.
^ Japan – \’Nightporter\’ Japanese pic label 12 inch single
Of note, despite being a 12″ single, it is the 5’02” remix that is featured, as per the regular UK 7″ single, as opposed to the longer 12″ remix you might have expected to find. Similarly, despite being titled as ‘Long Version’, ‘Ghosts’ as featured on this release is in fact the same 7″ edit as per the UK single release. Finishing off side one, ‘The Art of Parties’ is the live ‘version’ that first appeared on the flip side of the ‘Ghosts’ UK 7″ single. Side two of this 12″ features a couple of tracks from the ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ UK 7″ single along with ‘Life Without Buildings’, the superb B side of the original ‘Art of Parties’ single release. Continue reading “Japan – ‘Nightporter’ Japanese 12″ ‘Pic Label’ series single (Virgin, VIP-4181, 1982)”
UK 7″ single (Virgin, VS 554), 1982
A: ‘Nightporter’ (Remix) (5’02”) / B: ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’ (Remix) (4’58”)
UK 12″ single (Virgin, VS 554-12), 1982
A: ‘Nightporter’ (Remix – Extended) (6’48”) / B: ‘Methods of Dance’ (6’53”)
UK 7″ promo DJ edit single (Virgin, VDJ554), 1982
A: ‘Nightporter’ (Remix – Edit) (3’38”) / B: ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’ (Remix) (4’58”)
^ Japan ‘Nightporter’ UK 7 inch single sleeve
Japan were rich pickings for collectors in their heyday, due to the large amount of single releases that competing record labels issued to try and capitalise on the market that existed for a band who’s time had finally come, with the rise of all things New Romantic. Yet, as many flopped as would succeed. The band had been signed to the German label Ariola-Hansa and put out three albums and a handful of accompanying, and non-LP, singles between 1978 and the start of 1980, only to jump ship to Virgin, where a further two studio LPs would see a release. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to what hit and what didn’t. ‘Life In Tokyo’, easily one of the bands most commercial efforts was released and re-released several times over and never became anything more than a minor hit in the lower reaches of the Top 40 of the day, while the genuinely eerie sounding ‘Ghosts’ which you would never imagine as single material proved to be the bands biggest ever hit single, when it peaked at number 5 in the Top 40 in early 1982.
