Archive for the ‘Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music’ Category

Music for Unicorns

Thursday, July 5th, 2012

I celebrated American Independence Day by watching clips of The Day After on YouTube. Actually, my roommates did more to celebrate the holiday and they’re both Chinese immigrants. I fail at being American.

But I totally rule at sharing 80s music, so let’s do this.

Bryan Ferry
Is Your Love Strong Enough (Extended Version)
Man, that’s one stone cold stare.

When Ridley Scott finished his Tom Cruise frolics with unicorns fantasy epic that is Legend, the studio was not happy with his final cut. Not only did they strip his original 113 minute version down to 96 minutes for European audiences, they also went ahead and cut the American version even more, down to a scant 89 minutes. But that wasn’t the only change they made to the film when bringing it to American shores.

No, in addition to randomly slicing out seven minutes of pesky plot , they also completely removed Jerry Goldsmith’s fully symphonic score and replaced it with a synthesized score by Tangerine Dream, with additional contributions by Jon Anderson of Yes and Bryan Ferry. From what I’ve read it was because they wanted the film to have a broader appeal, but I think it was just because someone at Universal Studios thought Firestarter was dope.

It’s such an odd thing to do if you think about it. Did the executives at Universal really thing that an electronic soundtrack would really help to bring in the kids and families? Why even bother? Why eat the costs of Jerry Goldsmith’s score? Just seems totally random to me.

Besides, it didn’t help. The movie was a bomb and critical dud. Ironically today, you can find Goldmith’s original score on iTunes and Amazon relatively easily, but Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack has long been out of print. The soundtrack version of this song (which features guitar work by David Gilmour) is on a few Ferry compilations, but this 12″ version has never seen the light of day digitally.

The Cure
Kyoto Song (Live)
A Night Like This (Live)
I was going to put a picture of Robert Smith up, but I think one freaky looking British dude is enough for one post.

These two live tracks are from the 12″ single to “Catch” and originally appeared in The Cure’s 1987 concert film The Cure In Orange. (In case you’re wondering, the Orange in question is the Theatre antique d’Orange, located in the Principality of Orange, France.) The movie was released on tape and laserdisc, but it still has never seen a DVD or Blu-Ray release, something that no doubt makes fans of The Cure even more depressed than they already are. Mopey bastards.

 

Posted in Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music, live, remixes, The Cure | 2 Comments »

Dropping Love Bombs on Northern Towns

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

It seems like forever that I’ve had a post of nothing but random 80s remixes! Sounds like a problem that I need to fix.

The Dream Academy
Life in a Northern Town (Extended Mix)
Test Tape No. 3
Poised On The Edge of Forever
 Did you know that Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour produced The Dream Academy’s debut album from which “Life in a Northern Town” originally appeared? I didn’t know that until I scoped the linear notes for this 12″ single.

David Gilmour’s 80s career was…weird. In addition to producing and contributing guitar work on this album, the legendary guitarist also appeared on or produced albums with Wings, Bryan Ferry, Arcadia, Pete Townshend, Dalbelldo(!!!), Kate Bush, Warren Zevon and Atomic Rooster. He also worked with Berlin on their 1986 album Count Three & Pray, contributing an amazing outro guitar solo for their seven-minute ode to junkies in love, “Pink And Velvet.” That song is one of Berlin’s best, and if you haven’t heard it, I recommended you check it out. And I’m not just saying that because of my long-standing unrequited crush for Terri Nunn.

Anyways, back to The Dream Academy. “Life In A Northern Town” is a classic tune, and you probably know it , even if you don’t know that you know it. It’s one of those ubiquitous tunes that have become part of the world’s collective subconscious (no matter how much Sugarland’s shit cover damaged its reputation).

You also probably know the original version of “Edge Of Forever” if you grew up in the 80s and watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This renamed version is a little different than the album cut (which was the version that appeared in the movie). It has some crowd noise at the end, but I suspect that was tacked on to give it the illusion of sounding live. I suspect it may be a demo version or early mix. I’m certain that’s what “Test Tape No. 3” is, if for no other reason than the rampant amount of tape hiss in the original recording.

Godley & Creme
Cry (Extended Version)
Love Bombs
Speaking of songs you don’t know you know, I bought this 12″ single just because I saw Trever Horn’s name on it. I had no idea that it was the song that had that awesome video with the fading/morphing faces from the 1980s. This extended remix is completely awesome, and it may be the mopiest song that I’ve rocking out to all week/month/year. I should hate this song, it’s so “Waaaah! Please don’t leave me!” But I think I’m too busy screaming “You make me wanna cryyyyyyyyy” at the top of my lungs to accumulate any amount of hate for this truly magnificent ode of rejection. Although I suspect my roommate may be getting sick of it.

“Love Bombs” sounds like a Sparks song gone horribly wrong, but kind of in a good way. It definitely has Trevor Horn’s fingerprints all over it, and a shitload of bongos.

Also “Love Bomb” sounds the worst sexual slang ever, but I don’t think it is.

Bryan Ferry
Limbo (Latin Mix)
Limbo (Brooklyn Mix)
Is it just me or does Bryan Ferry sometimes sound like Bob Dylan on Quaaludes?  There is nothing “Latin” nor “Brooklyn” about either of these mixes, unless there’s something about excessive synthesizers being from Latin America/New York that I don’t know about. They’re still cool mixes though.

Posted in B-sides, Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music, Godley & Creme, remixes, The Dream Academy | 5 Comments »

Who Can Dance?

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

So maybe someone can explain this one to me?

Here’s the video to Bryan Ferry’s single You Can Dance, taken from his latest album Olympia.

Now here’ s the video to Hell’s “U Can Dance”, released in 2009 and taken from the epically amazing album Teufelswerk.

And yes, I know the videos don’t fit in the frame…I’m working on it.

This annoys me on a couple levels. First there’s the fact that someone, either Bryan Ferry or Hell, is really lazy. Either Hell took a yet-to-be-released Bryan Ferry track (with permission), remixed it, and called his own. Or Bryan Ferry lifted his own vocal track from the Hell track and recorded his own version of it. On Olympia the track is credited to Ferry and David Stewart of the Eurythmics. I don’t have a physical copy of Teufelswerk, so I don’t know who is credited as the songwriter on that version. If Hell is the sole songwriter then I’m even more confused. Anyone out there have that album and want to confirm this?

But what also annoys me is that NO ONE is mentioning this in their reviews of Olympia, and album. Granted, Hell isn’t exactly a common name in America, but you think some German rock critic would have heard Ferry’s track and gone “Wait a minute” (except, y’know, in German). I’ve read a few reviews of Olympia and not one person has called him out on it. It wasn’t even on the freaking wiki for the album until I added it myself.

Whatever, I guess its not that important. I’ve heard very good things about Olympia, and I can tell you first hand that Hell’s Teufelswerk is one of the best albums of the decade that you should fucking buy right this second you bastard. I’m listening to it as a I type this very sentence. (so what I’m saying is, I recommended it). But I find the whole situation with “You Can Dance/U Can Dance” to be utterly confusing.

Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music
Let’s Stick Together (Westside ’88 Extended Remix)
Nocturne
Angel Eyes (Twelve Inch Mix)
The Price of Love (The R&B ’89 Extended Remix)
Lover
I do not know enough about Roxy Music and I am personally ashamed by that. I need to own more of their music. More specifically, I need to get me a copy of Country Life on vinyl because that cover might be the hottest thing in the history of things that are hot. Someone sold a bunch of Bryan Ferry singles at Jerry’s Records last week…so now I own a few Bryan Ferry singles. These tracks are from said singles. Some are credited to Ferry, others to Roxy Music. They’re all prety good. The remix of “Let’s Stick Together” especially so. Warning: The single for “The Price Of Love” looked like it was dragged through a pile of broken glass. I fixed some of it, but there’s still a bit of scratchiness in it. I couldn’t take it out without hurting the overall fidelity of the song. It’s not that bad after the first minute.

Posted in Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music, remixes | 7 Comments »