The original release of the ‘Wheel In The Roses’ EP was one of the earliest 4AD releases, coming after the initial batch of four singles that had gone under the label’s original name of ‘Axis’. It was the only release from Rema-Rema, a short-lived band but from whom the seeds of a good few other acts would evolve or intersect, including Wolfgang Press, Renegade Soundwave, Psychic TV and of course most famously Marco Pirroni’s saddle-up with Adam Ant.
What I love about this small object of desire is that despite it being so wilfully obscure and the band’s only proper release (two other songs did appear as live recordings on a tape-only compilation, ‘The Men With the Deadly Dreams’) (the songs from which can be heard on the Rema Rema MySpace site), 4AD saw fit to lovingly reproduce it in CD form. Perhaps it could be down to the fact that despite it’s obscurity, two of the songs had been covered subsequently – ‘Fond Affections’ appearing on the first This Mortal Coil album, ‘It’ll End In Tears’, with Big Black taking on ‘Rema-Rema’ itself. Continue reading “Rema-Rema, ‘Wheel In The Roses’ CD EP (4AD, BAD 5CD) / Various artists: ‘Natures Mortes’ (4AD CAD 117CD)”
