Dance Music With Exxtraneous Xs

October 9th, 2012

Eighties dance compilations are great because you never know what you’re going to find on them. For example, check out the four radically diverse songs that I’m featuring tonight. I grabbed them all from the same 2LP set, the descriptively titled Dance Traxx. In addition to these songs, the compilation also includes mixes of songs by artists as diverse as Mantronix, INXS, Steve Arrington and even Yes. Because remember kids, all you needed to make your song a “dance track” in 1986 was a good synth line and some drum machines!

Shannon
Let The Music Play (Remix Version)
This is my favorite kind of disco, if you even want to call it that (and I do). It’s after Moroder’s influence revolutionized the genre, but before synthpop really replaced it outright. Part traditional disco, part electro, and part electronic music; a perfect mix if you ask me.

Phil Collins
Sussudio (Extended Version)
A lot of people have pegged “Sussudio” as one of the worst hit songs of all time. That’s bullshit. Hell, it’s not even the worst hit single of 1985 (“Everytime You Go Away,” “Broken Wings,” I’m sure Corey Hart had something out that year that was worse, the list goes on).

Nor is it the worst single by Phil Collins (“You’ll Be In My Heart,” “Groovy Kind of Love”). “Sussudio” is not a bad song at all. It’s catchy, fun and upbeat. It’s not great, but I can’t see how anyone could be offended by it either. I like it.

However, it is probably one of the stupidest fucking songs of all time.

Do you know what “Sussudio” means?

It means nothing. Nothing at all. Not a damn thing. It was a fake word that Phil Collins improvised while composing the song. He couldn’t think of any other word that fit the song better, so he left it in. Lazy bald bastard. I mean, if that’s all it takes to make a hit track, why stop there? Why not a song called “Gobbly gook” “Blargh” or “omgwtfbbq?”

Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if Will.I.Am or either of those idiots from LMFAO have songs in the works with those titles, so forget I said anything.

Laura Branigan
Gloria (Remix Version)
“Gloria’ is a pretty direct song when it comes to the lyrics, but it’s still hard for me to pin down exactly what Gloria is doing that is drawing the ire of Laura Branigan. She obviously wants Gloria to slow down, but is it because she’s sleeping around? If that was it then men would certainly be calling her, but that’s apparently not the case. Or maybe she is sleeping around and the men just aren’t calling her back?

I like to think that Gloria is a bit on the delusional side (hence the line about the voices in her head) and she just thinks she’s hot shit, but in reality no one is calling her, even though they got her number and the alias that she’s been living under.

Whatever it is, it’s really pissing off Laura Branigan. She really wants Gloria to know that she doesn’t approve of her lifestyle choices. In fact, I like to imagine that this version of the song is actually a toned down one, and that the original included verses like  “Gloria/get your shit together/I mean seriously, what the fuck’s your problem?”

Then maybe they could have gotten a fake Gloria (ala Roxanne) and she could have written a reply track with lines like “Laura/fuck you and your advice/I’m living my own life/I’ll date who I want to.” Then someone could’ve mashed them together into a rad megamix that would have been on Dance Traxx 2

Sigh.

I think about shit like this all day. Must be why I can never get anything done.

Stevie Nicks
Stand Back (Remix Version)
Stevie Nicks dance party! Quick, everyone grab some lace and spin around in slow motion while I go get a backlight! And some cocaine.

This version of “Stand Back” is only about 20 seconds longer than the original, and aside from that I really can’t tell much of a difference between the two. But I really wanted to work that Stevie Nicks dance party joke into tonight’s post and I couldn’t do that without putting this song here. So…yeah.

Posted in Laura Branigan, Phil Collins, remixes, Shannon, Stevie Nicks | 2 Comments »

Robert Palmer Is A Liar

October 7th, 2012

Busy times coming up for me. In all the excitement and planning for my December/January trip to Beijing and Tokyo, I almost forgot that I’m going to New York in less than two weeks to see NEW ORDER. I know I’m having a good fall/winter when the trip to the most exciting city in America to see one of my favorite bands of all time is my “lesser” trip.

Still, I’m completely stoked to go to NYC, even with the whole “millions and millions of people” thing. I’ll be spending the majority of my time in Brooklyn anyways, checking out a seemingly endless selection of hipster-run record stores. If anyone has any recommendations for quality record stores in the NYC area, preferably in Brooklyn, let me know. I’m not looking to break the bank when I’m in NYC (that’s my Japan plan) but I hope to pick up a few good records while I’m there. Y’know, quality, highly regarded stuff like this.

Elton John & RuPaul
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Remix)
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Don’t Go Dubbing My Heart Mix)
Has Elton John ever been on an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race? I don’t think so, someone’s agent is fucking something up.

Robert Palmer
I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On (Extended Dance Mix)
I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On (Dub Version)
I don’t believe that for one second, although at least it’s a lyric that makes sense. Has anyone ever figured out what “she’s so fine there’s no telling where the money went” means?

Ready For The World
Oh Shelia (Extended Version)
Oh Shelia (Dubstrumental)
Oh Shelia (A cappella) 
Ready For The World has to be one of the worst band names of all time, but give them credit, they were light years ahead of the whole “our band name is a complete sentence” trend that seemed to hit the Hot Topic set a few years back. They’re also light years better than As I Lay Dying,  Cute Is What We Aim For and This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb. Although at the same time you could basically describe their genre of music as “Prince.” But whatever, originality is for suckers, and “Oh Shelia” is a great slice of 80s cheese.

Posted in Elton John, Ready For The World, remixes, Robert Palmer | 5 Comments »

90s As Shit

October 4th, 2012

Since I know some people only read my posts that have MP3s, I want to mention again really quick that I am currently selling some of my LPs and singles to help fund my trip to Japan. Check out my “For Sale” post and if you see anything you want, follow the instruction on that page.

Now let’s listen to some dope 90s remixes.

Information Society
Now That I Have You (7″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ House Dub)
Information Society (who will herein be referred to as InSoc) occupy a weird space of electronica, “cyberpunk” and neo-hippie wackiness I like to call the early-90s. A time where ideas like the Sega CD, multimedia and the film Johnny Mnemonic seemed totally rad.

InSoc did a lot of wacky shit during this time. For instance, their first CD was a rare example of the CD+G format, which basically allowed for silly low-res karaoke style videos to play during the music. I remember popping in my copy of the album into my Sega CD and even thinking back then that it was pretty damn stupid.

What was cool though was the band’s idea to include tracks of modem noise on two of their albums. On Hack the modem tones could be decoded into a text file, while the story behind the modem tones on 1997’s Don’t Be Afraid (no longer the early 90s, I understand, but it was in spirit) could be used to start a wild goose chase on the Internet to find a hidden song. You can read about it here.

Anyways, I find it funny that surrounding all that wacky shit was a pretty damn great pop band who took a lot of the conventions of 80s synthpop and expanded upon them in a slightly more modern way that definitely made their overall sound feel very “90s,” at least for a couple years.

“Now That I Have You” is a lesser song (in terms of popularity) in the InSoc singles discography, but I still like it. I got all these mixes from a 12″ promo single. I don’t think that a non-promo version of this single was ever released.

Sting
Demolition Man (Soulpower Vocal)
Demolition Man (Jazzy Hip Hop Mix)
Demolition Man (Soulpower House Dub)
Demolition Man (Ridiculous Tribal Mix)
Demolition Man (3rd Floor Hump Mix)
Demolition Man (Hip Hop Dub)
I wonder if the makers of the 1993 Stallone/Snipes/Leary/Bullock opus Demolition Man came up with that name for the movie first and then realized there was a song with the same name, or if they got the idea for the name from the song? Either way, it’s pretty damn weird. When I think of non-stop action and adventure, I don’t think a Sting song that Grace Jones covered. But hey, I’m not in Hollywood.

The Grace Jones version is, of course, the superior version of this song. And it also has one of the most batshit crazy performance videos you’ll ever see. So I suggest you check that out. The Police version is…okay, but it’s just a little too jazzy for my tastes. I actually prefer Sting’s solo version over it, it’s one of the few times that Sting took something he did with The Police and made it rock harder.

These remixes, on the other hand, they’re kind of a letdown. As the titles indicate, they are more jazz, pop and hip hop-influenced takes on the song, with the heavier elements and guitar solos completely removed. They’re certainly great examples of how production can change the feel and even the genre of a song, but they still kind of bum me out. I assume someone out there will like them though.

Posted in Information Society, remixes, Sting | 1 Comment »

Yo! Wanna Buy Some Records? The Final Chapter

October 1st, 2012

So far, my efforts to sell my unwanted records have been an astonishing success, both here and on eBay. Thanks to all who have purchased anything from me, you’re really helping me out.

As a result of my success, I have decided to expand my efforts. Below is every album I plan on selling that is not currently on eBay. Want to buy any of these records? Read this:

HOW TO BUY RECORDS
If you see some records on this list you like, contact me at lostturtanble AT yahoo DOT com (formatted to avoid spam). Include in the email subject “I WANT TO BUY” followed with at least one of the records you are interested in. Give me an offer in the body of the email. If you’re looking for multiple records, I’ll give you a discount.

This is not an auction, I will not be playing different offers against each other. If one person offers me $10 for something and someone else offers me $20, I will sell to the person offering me $20, I won’t go back to the first person and give them the chance to outbid the other potential buyer.

After I see your offer I will either agree or counter. Once we come to agreement over a price I will send you a payment request over PayPal. YOU WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO FULFILL THAT REQUEST. Failure to do that results not only in a loss of the records but a loss to ever buy records from me again. I will ship out your records the following business day. All US shipping will be media mail, unless you specify otherwise. International shipping is also available, but be aware that it is usually very expensive.

This list will occasionally be updated with new product, while items will be removed if they are sold or moved to eBay. I intend on keeping this post up until the first week of December, so if you can’t afford something right away, you have time! Unless someone else snags it up first of course.

When items are added to this list I will mention it both on a blog post and on Twitter. So if you want early dibs to anything, be sure to follow me on Twitter and get the heads up!

Happy hunting!

Oh, and since people were asking, here’s where you can find my eBay auctions.

AC/DC
Let’s Get It Up 12″ Single

Acid Folk
Perplexer

Adam And The Ants
Physical (You’re So) 12″ Single

Afroboogie
Only The Strong 12″ Single

Against Me!
Against Me Is Reinventing Axl Rose (White/Pink) SOLD!
Don’t Lose Touch (Mouse On Mars Remix) 12″ Single
From Her Lips To God’s Ears 12″ Single

Araknofobia
Arachnophobia 12″ Single

Arcade Fire
Keep The Car Running/Broken Window 7″ Single
Neighborhood #3 (Lights Out) 7″ Single
Intervention 7″ Single (Sealed)
Wake Up 7″ Single

Richard Ashcroft
A Song For The Lovers 12″ Single

Ayla
Liebe The Remixes 12″ Single

Baby Ford
Fetish 12″ Single

Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force
Planet Rock 12″ Single SOLD OUT!

Bebop Deluxe
Live! In The Air Age
Sunburst Finish

Bedrock
Set In Stone/Forbidden Zone 12″ Single

Big Audio (Dynamite)
Looking For a Song 12″ Promo SIngle

Big Country
East OF Eden (Extended Version) 12″ Single

Big Star
1# Record 2010 Yellow 180g repressing

Braindead Sound Machine
I’m In Jail 12″ TEST PRESSING
Where The Pavement Ends 12″ Single

James Brown
Living In America 12″ Single
The Payback Mix 12″ Single SOLD!!

David Byrne
3 Big Songs
Music From The Knee Plays

Beck
Sexx Laws 12″ Single (Transparent) SOLD!

Black Eyed Peas
Request Line 12″ Single (Fuck you it’s a great song)

Blackalicious
Blazing Arrow

Bizarre Inc.
Keep The Music Strong 12″ Single

Chris ‘n’ Cosey with The Eurythmics
Sweet Surprise 12″ Single

Elvis Costello
High Fidelity 12″ Single

Crookers
Il Brutto 12″ Single

Billy Currie
Transportation

Dajjamondo
The Phoenix/The Big Hum 12″ Single

Die Warzau
Liberated 12″ Single
Never Again 12″ Single
Funkopolis 12″ Single

Dixie Dreggs
Dregs of the Earth

DJ Krush
The Message of the Depth
Zen

The Doobie Brothers
Listen To The Music (Remixes) 12″ Single SOLD!

Duran Duran
The Relfex (Picture Disc)
Mixing (Includes HUGE POSTER and awesome 8×12 band portraits) SOLD!

Missy Elliot
Cop That Shit 12″ White Label Remix Single

Brian Eno
Fourth World Vol. 1 (w/John Hassell) SOLD!!!
Ambient 2 The Plateaux of Mirror (w/Harold Budd) SOLD!!!
Ambient 3 Day of Radiance (Laraaji, produced by Eno) SOLD!!!
Ambient 4 On Land SOLD!!!

Eon
Basket Case

EPMD
I’m Housin’ 12″ Single

Euphoria
I like Noise/Genocide 12″ Single

Everything But The Girl
Temperamental 12″ Single

Exotic Birds
No Communication 12″ Single SOLD!
Day After Day 12″ Single SOLD!
Exotic Birds SOLD!

Jake Fairley
Crisis

The Farewell Party
Here

Ade Fenton
Ade Fenton vs Wet Musik

Fischer-Z
Going Deaf For A Living
Word Salad

Fishbone
Freddie’s Dead 12″ Single

The Five Man Electrical Band
Good-Byes & Butterflies

Front 242
Tragedy For You 12″ Single

Front Line Assembly
Digital Tension Dementia 12″ Single
Millennium 12″ Single

Game Theory
Lolita Nation, still in shrink wrap

Guns N Roses
Lies

Jan Hammer
Make Love

Jazzy Jeff (the other one)
Rock It (Rock It) 12″ Single

High Priest
Ghost In The Drummachine 12″ Single

Herbie Hancock
Sound-System

Paul Hardcastle
Don’t Waste My Time 12″ Single
Rainforest 90

John Hassell
Personals 12″ Single

Heaven 17
Who Will Stop The Rain 12″ Single

Don Henley
All She Wants To Do Is Dance 12″ Single

Lauryn Hill
G Spot Factor EP (Bootleg Remixes)

Humante
Love Stimulation 12″ Single

Hypertrophy
Beautiful Day 12″ Single

Ice-T
New Jack Hustler 12″ Single

Jacky Dean Foundation
Caravan of Love 12″ Single

Jean-Michael Jarre (With Hank Marvin)
London Kid 12″ Single

Daniel Johnston
Hi, How Are You (2007 Re-Press) SOLD!

Elton John
Honky Chateau (Chinese Bootleg)

Jon The Dentist
Shindo 12″ Single

Grace Jones
Slave To The Rhythm 12″ Single SOLD!!

Howard Jones
The 12″ LP (Promo, no cover)
Things Can Only Get Better 12″ Single

Justice
Waters of Nazareth 12″ Single

Evelyn “Champagne” King
Give It Up 12″ Single

Klubbheads
Discohopping 12″ Single

Interactive
Dildo 12″ Single SOLD!!

INXS
Devil Inside 12″ Promo Single
Disappear 12″ Single
Suicide Blonde 12″ Single
What You Need 12″ Single

Kitchens of Distinction
Love Is Hell 12″ Single

Laibach
Sympathy for the Devil (Picture Disc)

Annabelle Lamb
Riders On The Storm 12″ Single

Paul Lekakis
Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room) 12″ Single

Level 42
World Machine (The Shep Pettibone Remix) 12″ Single

Love Child Orchestra
Whole Lotta Love 12″ Single

M.I.A.
Paper Planes (Homeland Security Remixes) 12″ Single

Marschmellows
Flash Fried 12″ Single

Mastodon
The Hunter (2LP Deluxe Edition) SOLD!
Live At the Aragon (DVD Missing) SOLD!

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes
Ruin Johnny’s Bar Mitzvah SOLD!

LCD Soundsystem
Tribulations 7″ Single (with poster) SOLD!

Meat Loaf
Paradies By The Dashboard Lights 12″ Single

Bporis Mikulic
Hersey

Mix Master Mike
Atmosfear
Bangzilla

Hugo Montenegro
Moog Power SOLD!!

Muse
Supermassive Black Hole 7″ Single Picture Disc SOLD!

Mussolini Headkick
Themes For Violent Retribution

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
Sex On Wheelz 12″ Single
Sex On Wheelz 12″ Promo
Sexplosion! SOLD!!

Murk
Time 12″ Single

National Lampoon
That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick! SOLD!

NWA
Express Yourself 12″ Single SOLD!!

Mike Oldfield and Roger Chapman
Shadow On The Wall 12″ Single

Pearl Jam
Amonst The Wave 7″ Single (Sealed) SOLD!!

Phoenix
Fences (Pink) (RSD Exclusive) 12″ Single SOLD!

Ariel Pink
Baby 12″ Single

Plastic Little (With Spank Rock and Diplo)
The Jump Off

Portishead
Portishead SOLD!

Roxy Music
Dance Away 7″ Single (JAPANESE IMPORT)

Roger Powell
Air Pocket

Power Station
Get It On 12″ Single SOLD!!

Billy Preston
The Wildest Organ In Town!

Pressure Drop
Silently Bad Minded 12″ Single

Primus
Green Naugahyde SOLD!

Quadrophonia
Schizophrenia 12″ Single
Quadrophonia 12″ Single

R.E.M.
Everybody Hurts (Orange Vinyl) 12″ Single
Everybody Hurts (White Vinyl) 12″ Single
Finest Worksong 12″ Single
Finest Worksong 12″ Promo Single
S. Central Rain (I’m Sorry) 12″ Single
The One I Love 12″ Single

Alex Reece
Feel The Sunshine 12″ Single

Richard Humpty Vission
Alright (The Remixes) 12″ Single
Soul-Tronik “The Musik” 12″ single

Steve Reich
The Desert Music

Chris Rock
Champagne 12″ Single

Sasha + Digweed
Expedition (3 LP Unmixed Version)

Schooly D
Where’d You Get That From 12″ Single

Science Dept.
Persuasion/Repercussion

Peter Schilling
The Different Story 12″ Single

Sebadoh
The Freed Man (Repressing)

The Senate
The Original Sin Megamix 12″ Single

Shiek Moxo
Look Into The Magic Eye 12″ Single

Simian Mobile Attack Disco
Attack Sustain Delay Release

David Sylvain
Gone To Earth
Secrets Of The Beehive

The Smiths
So This Is America (Bootleg)

Snatch
Another Brick In The Wall 12″ Single

Spank Rock
Yo Yo Yo Instrumentals

Bruce Springsteen
Streets Of Fire JAPANESE IMPORT 7″ Single

Sting
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free 12″ Single
We’ll Be Together

Vincent Stormfield
Sweet Harmony ’92 12″ Single

Styx
The Grand Illusion (With original poster)

Morton Subotnick
Silver Apples Of The Moon

Sugar Daddy
Another One Bites The Dust 12″ Single

Supernova
Justice 12″ Single

System Of A Down
Chop Suey! 7″ Single (Clear, numbered)

Geggy Tah
Whoever You Are 12″ Single

Talking Heads
Workshop Image (Bootleg)

Techno Madness
Techno Madness 12″ Single

Tone-Loc
Wild Thing (Peaches RMX) 12″ Single

Torch Song (William Orbit)
Don’t Look Now 12″ Single

Toro y Moi
Causers of This SOLD! 
Undernearth The Pine SOLD!

Two Nice Girls
Like A Version 12″ Single

UB40 with Chrissie Hyde
Breakfast In Bed 12″ Single SOLD!

Armand Van Helden
Flowerz 12″ Single
Kentucy Fried Flow 12″ Single

Various Artists (That’s the name of the artist)
8 8.5. 9 12″ Single

Vector
Please Stand By

The VHB
Beethoven Fifth (Street) Symphony 12″ Single

Violent Femmes
s/t (First Printing) SOLD!!

Joe Walsh
Barnstorm

Whale
Crying At Airports 12″ Single

Whirlwind Heat
Pink 7″ Single SOLD! (To a real prick)

The Who
Live At Leeds (with all the inserts)

Wink
Are You There 12″ Single

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Maps 7″ Single
Pin 7″ Single (Red Transparent Vinyl)
Gold Lion 7″ Picture Disc

Xymox
Phoenix of MY Heart

Soundtracks
2010
Altered States
Antartica
The Awakening
Battle Beyond The Stars
Battle of Neretva
Battlefield Earth (The soundtrack of the Book)
Beastmaster
Black Rain
Bright Lights Big City
Capricorn One
Carrie
Clash Of the Titans
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (MOOG Version)
The Company of Wolves
Cooley High
The Dark Crystal SOLD!!
Dark Shadows (TV Show Soundtrack)
Down And Out in Beverly Hills
Dreamscape
Emmanuelle
Empire State (with bonus 12″)
Enemy Mine
The Final Countdown
Ghost Story
The Green Hornet (TV Show)
The Hobbit (Complete Original Soundtrack including dialogue, music and songs)
The Howling
The Hunger
Intervista
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978 Version)
King Kong Lives
Laugh-In ’69
Listen To The City
Midnight Run
Mishima
The Mission
Night Hawks
A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 (12″ Single for Dream Warriors by Dokken)
The Omen
The Omen II
Poltergeist
Poltergeist II
Quest For Fire
Sacco & Vanzetti
Leviathan
The M Squad (1959 TV Soundtrack featuring John Williams)
Mallrats (Sealed) SOLD!
Modesty Blaise
Mutant
Midnight
The Neverending Story
Night Breed SOLD!
Out Of Bounds
Outland
Rambo First Blood, Part II
Red Faction Armageddon (Video Game soundtrack)
Russ Meyer’s Soundtrack Collection
The Return of the Living Dead
The Seven Samurai/Rashomon
Sex, Lies, And Videotape
Sisters
Scream For Help
The Swarm
The Twilight Zone (TV Series Soundtrack Volume 2)
The Twilight Zone (TV Series Soundtrack Volume 4)
The Twilight Zone (TV Series Soundtrack Volume 5)
The Twilight Zone (Film Soundtrack)
Witness
The Untouchables
Urgh!
Wild In The Streets

Compilations
Back To the Grindstone (Fact 22, Mental Anguish, Nomuzic and more)
A Bunch of Stiffs
California Jammin (Bootleg with Deep Purple, ELP and Pink Floyd)
California Jam 2 (Heart, Santana, Dave Mason, Aerosmith and more)
A Factory Quartet (The Durutti Column, Kevin Hewick, Blurt and The Royal Family & the Poor)
Grid Slinger
Horse Meat Disco III
Live For Life (REM, Jeff Beck, Bob Marley, Bangals…)
Two Revolutions (DNB Mix)
Scream The Compilation (Jane’s Addiction, TSOL and more)
London Funk All-Stars
Maiden Australia
Om Lounge
Platinum On Black II (Remxies of Brand New Heavies, New Order, Everything But The Girl and more)
Y4K Part One (Nubreeed and Dirty Fours)

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Depeche Minogue

October 1st, 2012

Records are like drugs, and a good record dealer is like a good drug dealer in that he/she knows just what it takes to separate you from your hard-earned dough.

I was at Jerry’s Records last week (as I am apt to be) and within seconds of walking in he tells me that he has boxes of singles that I’m going to want to look through, boxes filled with “the kind of shit I like.”

Sighing, because I am trying to save money, I am led to the boxes, where I proceed to grab about 50 bucks of awesome 12″ singles from Sparks, Aztec Camera, The B-52s and more. As I go to pay Jerry, he points to two more boxes and says “oh, you should look through these too, they’re all rare DJ mix records.”

I glance over at the stack of boxes and turn my head away, “No!” I say with the kind of authority a junkie says when presented with a hit, “I’m trying to save money, whatever is in there, I don”t need it.”

“Are you sure?” I got some good stuff in there?”

“No, I need to save-”

“I saw some rare Depeche Mode in there.”

“Where are these records again?”

Sigh.

Anyways, he was right. Those boxes did have some pretty oddball Depeche Mode stuff. Oddball Depeche Mode stuff that I of course bought. So enjoy.

Depeche Mode
Mega Mix Part 1
Mega Mix Part 2
Depeche Mode Medley 1987
The two “Mega Mix” tracks are taken from an unofficial 1990 single put out by the bootleg label On-USound, who released several bootleg mixes in the late 80s and early 90s. Despite being a bootleg, it’s very professional sounding, and rather creative as well, incorporating album cuts, single remixes and even some live stuff. Quality shit all around.

“Depeche Mode Medly 1987,” is an official remix, but ironically it’s not nearly as good as the bootleg mix, and the single from which it came is incredibly unprofessional and cheap looking. First of all, it has no real title, just a generic “M” logo at the top, it turns out that it’s from a DJ remix series that was just called “M.” This is the first in the series, so its official name is M1.

On side one are the two standard versions Enigma’s “Mea Culpa” and Eon’s “Spice.”  Good songs to be sure, but they really don’t have much in common so their combined inclusion is bizarre. Furthermore, “Mea Culpa” is spelled wrong (“Mia Culpa”) giving the whole thing a very amateur feel. The DM medley takes up the B-side, and like I said before, it’s not as good as the bootleg mixes, but if you’re like me and worship the Mode, it’s worth a listen if for curiosity sake and nothing else.

Kylie Minogue
Confide In Me (The Truth Mix)
Confide In Me (Big Brothers Mix) 
I’ve mentioned this in the past, but my knowledge of Kylie’s early 90s output is really limited, thanks to be me being in the one industrialized country on the planet who didn’t care about Kylie Minogue during most of the decade. As such, I’ve been trying to catch up ever since. I just heard this song for the first time when I picked up this single last week and, damn if it isn’t one of the best pop songs I’ve heard in a long time. This is an amazing tune: dreamy, sexy, beautifully-produced and, most of all, perfectly sung by Kylie. Damn. It’s annoying that this song wasn’t a hit in the states. How the hell did that not happen? My country is dumb.

Also, while “The Truth Mix” is probably the better of the two, I love the “Big Brothers Mix” because it discos the fuck out the song. Fabulous.

Posted in Depeche Mode, Kylie Minogue, remixes | 2 Comments »

Duran Michael Duran

September 28th, 2012

Been a hectic week. Deluna Fest was a lot of fun and I plan on writing something about it next week sometime. I’ve also had a lot of actual honest to goodness writing work to do too, which feels great. Although whenever that happens the blog kind of falls to the back burner. Hence the lack of posts all week and the relatively brevity of tonight’s post. But hey, the music is pretty rad. More music next week I promise. I got a lot of great stuff to record, you’ll all dig it.

Duran Duran
Girls On Film (Tin Tin Out Mix)
Girls On Film (Tall Paul Mix 1)
Girls On Film (8 Millimetre Mix)
If I made a list of Duran Duran singles in order of greatness, I think “Girls On Film” would fall somewhere in the middle. Sure, it’s no “Rio” or “Hungry Like A Wolf,” but it’s certainly better than “I Don’t Want Your Love” or pretty much anything the group put out int he late 80s that I can remember. What I’m saying is, I think it’s good, but I really have no strong feelings about it either way. So…yeah…sorry if that’s not enthralling copy for y’all, but sometimes I got nothing.

George Michael
Killer/Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (P.M. Dawn Remix)
Killer/Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (P.M. Dawn Remix) (Extended Version)
“Killer” is the “Bridge Over Troubled Water” of dance/pop song. Who hasn’t done this song by now? I don’t know why anyone bothers though, any of the versions featuring Seal are the best. The most anyone else can hope for is second place. Actually, make that third place, because these remixes of George Michael’s version (that is a medly with “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”) are pretty damn great too. That’s really saying something coming from me too, because I fucking hate “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.”

Posted in Duran Duran, George Michael, remixes | 3 Comments »

I should really just go to bed already

September 21st, 2012

As I write this I have to leave in six and a half hours to catch a plane to go to Florida to go to Delunafest to see Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Joan Jett, The Joy Formidable and a few other bands I love. And I know that was a poorly constructed run on sentence but I’ve been writing like a madman all week and I think all my grammatical abilities are nearly shot.

But not shot enough to plug my fire sale! Please, if you’re interested in buying any of the records I have for sale let me know! I’ll be taking them off my site sometime next week and moving them to eBay. Don’t forget, all prices are negotiable! Also, I plan on selling some concert posters (mostly Pearl Jam) as well. So keep an eye on that if you’re interested. I might even try to sell my comic book statues. So if you REALLY like Spider-Man or Punisher, let me know.

But until then, hey, music.

Cutting Crew
(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight (Remix)
Me buying this 12″ single just proves that I will buy damn near any extended version of a pop song from my youth. Well, I guess that’s not true. You’re never going to see any 12″ singles from the Thompson Twins (“Hold Me Now” can fuck right off), but that’s really about it. Shit, if there’s an extended mix of The Outfield’s “You Love” I’ll probably get it at some point.

Also, this song is gross. Google it.

Siouxsie And The Banshees
Kiss Them For Me (Snapper Mix) 
Staring Back/Return 
I bought this single and then less than 24 hours later a friend of mine emailed me and asked if I had a remix of another Siouxsie song. That’s some Siouxsie symmetry right there. As great as “Kiss Them For Me” is, the real star of this 12″ is “Staring Back/Return,” a two-song suite that is powerful, beautiful and a must-hear for fans of Siouxsie. I can’t believe it was never released on a proper album by the group.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Brothers In Rhythm Rollercoaster Mix)
Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Elevatorman’s Non-Stop Top Floor Club Mix)
Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Elevatorman’s Deep Down Bass-ment Dub)
My quest to get every single Frankie Goes To Hollywood remix continues. I know it is an exercise in madness, because the discography of “Relax” remixes is greater than some bands complete musical output, but dammit I’m still going to try. I know own five different versions of that 12 inch, and three different 12 inch singles for this track. These remixes aren’t “original” mixes, instead they come from a 1993 re-issue, but I don’t care. I love me some Pleasuredome and I will take it anyway I can get it (I’m sure that’s a phrase that one person from Frankie Goes To Hollywood said at some point).

Both the Elevatorman remixes are decent, but if you want some bang for your unspent buck, check out the Brothers In Rhythm mix first. It is 16 minutes of hedonism-loving joy.

Sneaker Pimps
Spin Spin Sugar (Farley + Heller’s Fire Island Vocal Mix)
Spin Spin Sugar (Phlude’s Creeping Vine Mix)
Sneaker Pimps is a hideously horrendous name for a band. I posted these remixes a few years ago, but I totally forgot I own this single and I just bought it, and recorded it again this week. So hey, this recording sounds better probably, so you should just go ahead and download it even if you have the other one.

Also, if you want to buy this fucker, let me know. Because I’m stupid and I forget what I own apparently.

Posted in Cutting Crew, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, remixes, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Sneaker Pimps | 3 Comments »

Live At CBGB’s

September 13th, 2012

 

If I told you I had a compilation album from 1976  called Live At CBGB’s, what would you guess would be on it? Blondie? Talking Heads? The Ramones? Dead Boys? Televsion? Nope. Try Tuff Darfs, Manster, The Miamis and Sun, to name a few.

Why are there no big-name acts on this LP? Well by 1976 the majority of those bands, including almost all of the ones I mentioned, were either already signed to major labels or in the process of being signed to the majors, leaving only the lesser-known (but still good…for the most part) bands left behind and available for a compilation like this.

Even though nearly all of the acts on this group vanished into thin air, that doesn’t mean they’re totally without merit. In fact, I’m glad this compilation focuses on the lesser-known and more obscure acts of the CBGB’s club scene. I think it helps to paint a much more accurate picture of the groups that were playing there during that era. It wasn’t all punk, new wave and art-rock. As this compilation shows, there were a ton of power pop, blues-influenced guitar rockers, and even one straight-up metal act playing to enthusiastic audiences at the “punk” club. Discovering these lesser-known obscurities makes me love the now-lost venue even more. I hope you feel the same way after giving these tracks a listen.

Tuff Darts
All For The Love of Rock ‘n Roll
Head Over Heels
Slash
The Tuff Darts did manage to release one album in 1978, although by then they had lost their original lead singer, Robert Gordon, in lieu of replacement vocalist Tommy Frenzy. I think this is the only recording of the group ever released that features Gordon. The band isn’t very punk, isntead they have a slight glam element to their sound. I could totally see Bowie of the era adding some flourish to a track like “All For The Love Of Rock ‘n Roll.” The most punk track of the bunch is “Slash,” a dark, macabre number about preferring suicide over going on a second date with a girl from hell. Speed this track up half a beat and you’d totally have a Ramones number. Tuff Darts are just one of many bands on this album who are still around in some form or another, check out their official site here.

The Laughing Dogs
I Need A Million
It Feels Alright Tonight
The Laughing Dogs are a power pop band, which of course means that they never found any modicum of mainstream success. I can’t even imagine that they found much of a following in the CBGB’s scene, they’re way too poppy and “fun” when compared to a lot of the other bands of the era. The group released two albums in the late 70s/early 80s, and although they never took off they’re apparently still around and performing live, and good for them.

Manster
Over, Under, Sideways, Down
I’m Really Not This Way
I don’t know if you could ever really call a cover of a 60s blues-jam “post-punk” but these guys sure straddle the line with their version of The Yardbirds’ “Over, Under, Sideways, Down,” thanks largely to the batshit manic vocals of lead singer Warren Stahurski. “I’m Really Not This Way,” a heartbreaking song about being homeless,  is even an even weirder tune. It sounds like a lounge act tune from hell. What the hell happened to these guys? It sounds like they were a bit nuts. Love it.

The Miamis
We Deliver
Another power pop act. This song is so damn cute I want to hug it. You can find out more about the group, and buy their only record, at their official website.

Mink DeVille
Cadillac Moon
Change It Comes
Mink DeVille started out as a band, but as they progressed into the 80s they pretty much became a vehicle for lead singer/guitarist Willie DeVille, who became somewhat of a successful musician in the 80s and up until his death in 2004.  Mink DeVille remain a cult band to this day, and I know more than one record nerd who swear by them. I’ve never really gotten into the group, too much of a soul sound for me. They sure as hell don’t fit in on this record. That’s not to say they’re bad, they just stick out like, well, a blues/soul band on a punk/rock compilation.

The Shirts
Operetico
Poe
A.V.M.
One of the most interesting acts on this album, The Shirts have a sound that’s part new wave, part power pop and part 70s rock ‘n roll. And there were apparently like nine people in this group at one point, so I guess there were plenty of genres to go around. “Opertico” is a good tune with an amazing riff, “Poe” is a punky little rocker that fits in with the kind of music one would expect to hear at CBGB’s at the time, while “A.V.M.” is a six-minute banger that definitely has its roots in traditional 70s rock music. All are good tunes.

Another group that hasn’t gone away, The Shirts are still kicking it after 30 some years. You can check out their site here.

Stuart’s Hammer
Everybody’s Depraved
Stuart’s Hammer never got a record deal but they sure seemed to be a mainstay at CBGB’s back in the day. At their official website you can find a few posters advertising their gigs from back in the day, as well as some other cool nuggets from the era. Based on this tune I really wouldn’t call them punk, but they’re good.

Sun
Romance
This is one of the cases where the story/members of the band is far more interesting than the song itself (although I do dig the song).

First of all, if this song is any indication, Sun was a straight-up metal band. No pretense of punk or art-rock here. These dudes loved themselves some crazy guitar solos and howling banshee vocals. They sound like a band out of time and place on this record. They belong in 1983 LA, not 1976 NYC.

From what I could dig up, Sun went through a number of line-up/name changes during its short run. The guitarist in this line-up was a man by the name of Niki Buzz, who some may know for his work with the 80s rock groups M-80 and Vendetta. A more notable contributor to the band, however, would be their bass player Bill Laswell. While that name may not ring a bell for some of you, Laswell is one of the most influential and experimental bass players and producers of the past 30 or so years. He played a key role in Herbie Hancock’s electronic phase of the early-80s, and he formed the experimental rock outfit Praxis in the 90s, a supergroup that had a revolving door line-up that included Mike Patton, Iggy Pop and Buckethead.

I don’t know how long Laswell stuck around in Sun, but at some point the group lost him and Buzz and then changed their name to Son. Then, I assume after more line-up changes, they became Getaway and released a pair of albums in the early 80s for A&M records, one of which included a slightly different version of “Romance” under the name “Getaway.” Someone from the band is on YouTube today, and he has more than a few videos featuring the band in its various incarnations. Check out his channel if you’re interested in learning more about the group.

Posted in Complete Albums, Manster, Mink DeVille, Stuart's Hammer, Sun, The Laughing Dogs, The Miamis, The Shirts, Tuff Darts | 14 Comments »

Switched-On Rock – The Belated Return of Moog Monday

September 10th, 2012

Switched-On Rock
Spinning Wheel
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)
Get Back
Yummy Yummy Yummy
The Weight
Time Of The Season
Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In
You Keep Me Hangin’ On
Hey Jude
Switched-On Rock is an all-Moog covers album, one in a long line that came out in the late 60s and early 70s to capitalize on the surprise runaway success of Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On Bach, the first of its breed. It’s a cash grab, no doubt about it, but it’s a relatively decent cash grab that was obviously made by people with some recording knowledge.

The album was produced by one Norman Dolph. And if you read this blog or follow Velvet Underground news at all, then that name probably sounds familiar. Dolph was an executive at Columbia Records in the 60s and 70s who funded the recording of The Velvet Underground and Nico in 1967. He also served as an uncredited engineer on the album, and it was his test acetate of an early version of the album that found its way onto eBay and eventually into the hands of a collector for the price of $25,200 back in 2006.

It seems like this record was a passion project for Dolph, as not only did he work as the album’s producer and “big twiddler” (that’s the credit he has) but he also wrote the majority of the album’s lengthy liner notes, which I’ve transcribed for you below.  They’re a fascinating glimpse not only into the shockingly complicated recording process (Moogs could only play one note at a time, meaning that many overdubs were needed), but also into the popular views of what electronic music was at the time. Dolph makes sure to go out of his way to explain that these aren’t the creation of some computer, that a group of people actually worked on these compositions.

Download and enjoy the groovy instrumental Moogsrumations (yeah, I made that word up, so what?), and be sure to read these liner notes, they’re something else.

 

Because I thought up the basic idea for this album (and then contributed little else), I was thrown the bone of writing the liner notes. To give me something to work from, I asked Norman Dolph, the album’s producer, to send me a memo on the subject. The result was so much better and more understandable than anything I could have written that it is simply reproduced below.

Cordially, Russ Barnard

LINER STUFF
I’ll just sit here at the typewriter and spew out odds and ends about the project and let the literary maven sit it right.

To begin, we are a triumvirate: Kenny does all the keyboard work, Alan writes the arrangements, and I tune the machine and perform sundry A&R functions.

The amazing thing about all the sounds is not that they are done one voice at a time, but rather one finger at a time. The silly machine only plays one note at a time and the temptation to play a chord must be overcome…you only get the lowest note if you press more than one key. Improvisation is difficult but far from impossible if you redefine the problem.

We, being faced with the limitations of the Moog as far as chords are concerned, built a gadget called the Protorooter that structures chords above the note the keyboard is playing to alleviate the problem somewhat.

Compared with the old cut-and-splice way of making electronic music, the Moog is a tune boon. As great as we feel the Moog is for making music in the light of what is possible and what Mr. Moog is no doubt cooking up, the Moogs of today are like the Kon Tiki. It takes quite a bit of physical tuning and set-up time to achieve the sounds, though once tuned they go down very quickly.

After kicking the project around in our heads and experimenting, Alan decided to look at the problem as one of orchestration, writing from scratch as though any instrumental texture available or conceivable existed – and then we set about to tune the machine to fit the arrangement.

The charts are such that if acoustic instruments existed to create the sounds, then live men could perform the record as such.

Likewise, we worked all ten tunes at once so that a tuning economy could be effected; e.g., tuning up a basically brass sound and then touching it up for various parts in a couple of songs.

By working on all of them at once we also could take advantage of any auspicious accidents that generated a sound that we had not conceived exactly but had a spot for.

There are hundreds of dials and jacks on the machine and many of the sounds are quite hair-trigger and difficult to re-recreate. Copious were the notes taken of these sounds, but when we found a screaming nugget of sound, we used it where it fit and then went back to the agenda.

One thing that must be stressed: namely, is that this record is virtually 100& Moog – only two instruments are live. One is the drum set; Moog drums are possible, but, in this stage of the art, sound kind of mechanical and ricky-tick…we decided to preserve the firepower in the music by moving it along with real drums. Leon Rix joined us on drums…very tasty. The second real sound we leave to the listener is to spot. We defy him to do so, and welcome his guesses.

This is a synthesized record. All the orchestral textures, somewhere in the vicinity of 150 different varieties, come out of that funnybox.

The semantics of keeping track of the sound from a bookkeeping point of view were kind of testy in that many of the sounds have no natural counterparts, so we coined neo-names to enable communication: e.g., the Gworgan, which is like a Gwiped organ. Gwiping is the act of sweeping a filter with a high regeneration setting (whatever that means) from top to bottom. It makes the sound “gwirp” with millions of variations depending on the rest of the brew. The inverse is Pwee, sweeping from bottom to top.

The Pagwipe sounds like a ferocious, leaky bagpipe.

The Jivehive sounds like a megaton of bees all swarming in tune. And there is the dread Moogoboe. And the Sweetswoop, a back and forth roar of harmonic sounds like a jet plan flying through your head. Other parts were named by their function in the song…the Octangle, an 8-part progression…the Big-Band, the Neoturnsolo, the Dharmilt, a mixture of descending harmonies and a sound that reminds you of a little three-inch-high Milt Jackson playing an equivalent size vibraharp: the thumps, the buzz, the telegraph keys.

In addition, many, many straight instruments: trombones, trumpets, flutes, basses, strings, drums, clarinets, bassoons, bass clarinets, tubas, clarinets, saxes, harps, electric pianos, harpsichords, organs, piccolos, ocarinas and recorders.

About half and half recognizable textures and totally new musical texturues.

No gimmicks though for their own sake, no one-shot gags.

We used a sixteen-track recorder for the job, making several passes, and then a demi-mix to boiled down the results to one track or a stereo pair. The results were parked and then the tracks used over.

Every time the engineer cleaned the tape heads I kept thinking that that’s my music you’re scraping off.

The stereo possibilities are remarkable in that there is no leakage from one side to the other, the sound is quite transparent and the listener can listen through the many layers and focus on whatever he wishes.

One thing to stress to thos unfamiliar with the way the m achine works is that it is not a computer and does not play or tune itself. In fact, having lived with it, we are as conscious of what it won’t do as what it is capable of.

For one thing, constant touch-ups of the tuning is necessary to correct its drifts over a fifteen-minute period.

Moog himself is quite a guy too. Most cooperative and now has a weekly emissary to New York to touch up any fixits and keep everyone up on the new discoveries. Moog really made quite an invention – and how appropriately space-age his name is! How bland would be the “Jones” or the “Irving Spidorsha” as a nickname for the gadget. If he ever comes to town for a lecture, go listen. There is nothing like inventing a synthesizer to give you expertise in its use.

Anyway, the music is human music, and, most important, it is music, not Moog effects.

This album is supposed to be a chuckle. Make sure you convey that we hope the people enjoy it!

All best,
Norman

 

Posted in Complete Albums | 6 Comments »

Yen Manifold Vol. 1 – Awesome Japanese Electronic Music

September 7th, 2012

Yen Records was an imprint of the Japanese label Alfa Records. The label was formed by Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takashi of Yellow Magic Orchestra, a highly influential Japanese electronic group who many consider to be the progenitors of synthpop and electronic dance music.  The label mostly existed as a means for the duo to release albums they were somehow associated with, either as performers or as producers. A good analog would be something like The Beatles’ Apple label or Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records.

Yen Records only existed for a few short years in the early 80s, but what little music they released developed a rather devoted cult following. I found two fan pages dedicated to the label (one in English and the other in Japanese), while I also stumbled upon quite a few pages dedicated to artists who were associated with the label. That’s some pretty impressive staying power for a Japanese vanity label, you can’t say that about most American ones.

From what I can gather, one of the most beloved releases on the Yen label was this record, a 1983 compilation that features three artists who were on the imprint:Interior, Koji Ueno and Testpattern. Since the label went under, many of the songs on this record have gone in and out of print, although none of them have ever gotten a release in the states at all.So I hope you all enjoy reading about, and listening to these great artists, and if you get a chance, check out more Japanese sytnpop/electronic music from the early-80s, a lot of it is really fascinating and out there stuff.

Interior
Hot Beach
Miracle
Hawks
D.T.T.
Interior put out two records. The first was self-titled and the second was called Designs. And to that I say, well played sirs.

Thanks to their generic name it was a bit tricky digging up information on these guys, but I was able to find a few things out I think. Last.fm treats the group as a threesome, featuring the members Eiki Nonaka, Mitsuru Sawamura and Daisuke Hinata. However, Discogs also gives credit to a fourth member, Tsukasa Betto, who I can find nothing about outside of that reference. Of the other three, Hinata seems to be the most active today, doing commercial and TV work as well as producing and performing on a variety of Japanese pop albums. He also appears to have some totally radical glasses.

Musically the group seems to be pretty diverse, running the range from Tangerine Dream-inspired ambient numbers to light 80s pop (complete with English lyrics). I dig the ambient tracks more, but the pop stuff isn’t bad, if entirely generic. Of the four tracks, on the final one, “D.T.T.” is kind of a wash out, thanks to needless 80s saxophone. Although the song came a few years before “Careless Whisper,” so at least you can’t accuse them of being copycats.

Koji Ueno
Tempo di Jazz
Movement Perpetuels
Fu No Oboegaki
These songs are great, and far more experimental/interesting than the Interiors stuff. All are purely instrumental, and run the gamut from jazz-inspired pieces to more ambient/experimental works. I’m digging them.

Unlike Interiors (and the third band on this album), Koji Ueno is a somewhat recognizable name, at least in Japan. He routinely works with Ryuichi Sakamoto, collaborating on multiple scores with the legendary musician, and he has even released a few solo scores for some anime and other Japanese TV shows.

He also has an amazing photo on his Discogs page. Dude is totally rocking the “I’m a tux wearing piano man – oh hey, there’s a desk fan” look.

Testpattern
Ryugu
Friday
A mysterious band, I can find virtually nothing on them, which is a shame because I have fallen in love with what little I have found. These two songs are great. I am especially fond of “Ryugu,” it’s playful and energetic, but it has a modern sound that would fit on a release by Warp Records today. If you want to hear more of their music (and you damn well should) I suggest checking out this page, it links to quite a few YouTube vids that feature the group’s music. Listen to “Technobase,” it’s beautiful.

Sadly, if you want to know more about the actual band itself, I can’t help you there. Aside from that page, I couldn’t find anything of substance about the people behind the music. If you know anything about Testpattern, including where I can get more of their music, please let me know!

And hey, since I”m asking for favors, I might as well get this out of the way…

If you follow me on Twitter then you probably know that I’m planning a big trip to China and Japan later this year/early next. I’m going to China for a wedding and will only be there for a few days, the main focus of my trip will be Tokyo, where I will be spending nearly two full weeks.

If anyone reading this blog lives in Tokyo, has been to Tokyo or knows anything at all about record stores or buying music in the city, please drop me a comment or an email. I want to make the  most out of this trip, and that of course includes buying more records than I can possibly carry back home with me.

Posted in Complete Albums, Interior, Koji Ueno, Testpattern | 4 Comments »

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