CRC Retro Mix #39

Clearance Rack Classics Retro 80s and 90s Dance Mix by DJ Tintin

1. Souvenir (DMC Postcards From The Edge) - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
2. I Touch Roses (Full Bloom Version) - Book Of Love
3. The Good Samaritan - Counterfeit
4. New Dress (Razormaid! Mix) - Depeche Mode
5. Animal Magic (Dance Vocal) - Belouis Some
6. Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep Pettibone Remix) - New Order
7. It's Alright - Pet Shop Boys
8. The Great Commandment (Acid Commandment) - Camouflage
9. Last Train To Trancentral (Razormaid! Mix) - The KLF
10. The Sun Rising (Norty's Spago Mix) - The Beloved
11. 900 Hours (Mr. E Mix) - Boxcar
12. How To Be A Zillionaire (Bond Street Mix) - ABC
13. Cccan't You See (Razormaid! Mix) - Vicious Pink
14. Get The Balance Right! (Combination Mix) - Depeche Mode
15. Goodbye Horses (Extended Version) - Q Lazzarus
***SPECIAL NOTE FROM CRC AND DJ TINTIN***: Apologies to everyone who has attempted to download and/or listen recently, but gets a pre-recorded bandwidth notification. For awhile I had a pro account with much more bandwidth, but I couldn't justify the cost with my time limitations over the past three years. That said, I also don't like fans and followers to be cock-blocked for weeks on end by bandwidth overages. Right now, I have to be satisfied with a free account, but I didn't anticipate using up my bandwidth three days after the reset date each month. It's a good problem to have, but still a problem. Anyway, I'll keep you all in the loop should things change. For now, I guess, circle the 24th of each month on your calendar to remind yourself to grab these episodes when you can before my 15 gigs of bandwidth per month evaporates! Thanks to each and every one of you for tuning in. It really makes a guy feel good.
Notes and other random things:
Alright! It's 3 hours to dawn, I've got a full bowl of cereal, half a glass of water, it's dark and I'm making a podcast. Hit it!
This sassy little number contains ABCs and OMDs, Counterfeits and Camouflages, Boxcars and Beloveds, something "vicious", something "new" and even a double DM! Happy Listening!
Okay, so like any normal testosterone-fueled male member of the species I'm a competitive guy, my own worst critic and I can't stand giving a less-than-competent effort in whatever it is I choose to undertake. That said, I do read comments and check reviews with regard to my 'casts to make sure I'm living up to some realistic level of excellence. For the most part, I've been thrilled that this insignificant little program I assemble in my basement has brought so much joy to so many of you. I try to be honest and forthright in my write-ups for my sake, for your sake, for band's sake, for God's sake. Most of what I write is knowledge I've gleaned over the years from being a fan, from reading music mags, from collecting umpteen thousands of records and reading umpteen thousands of liner notes on the bands I feature here. Often, however, I look up artists to confirm or deny stuff I thought I'd read, thought I'd heard, figured I'd seen or otherwise dreamed. Most importantly, I try to get it right.
But I don't always.
...Which brings me to the first band I'd like to mention here: Counterfeit. In episode #23, I included Lee McFadden and Co.'s song "The Good Samaritan" At the time, it was a new find for me, one I discovered on a compilation I had just purchased. Until that point I knew nothing of the band and had a difficult time finding much information on them. I jumped to the conclusion that the song I possessed was probably their only release. Thankfully, a kind listener made a comment to the contrary. He wrote:
"In fact there is a three-track EP of "The Good Samaritan" that was released a couple of years ago. Myself and the other two members are still in contact and work together occasionally on music." - Lee McFadden.
Holy S#!+, Lee McFadden just wrote to tell me I'm full of crap. That's so COOL! Anyway, thanks to Mr. McFadden for correcting my error. I thought it appropriate to let you all know there is more to the band than just one song. I also figured that by using Lee's comment as part of my write-up it would give me another chance to feature the excellent track here.
So, back to the "my own worst critic" comment a moment ago. One of the things about this podcast that is endearing/aggravating is that it's a live mix. That is, I hit record and go for an hour or more - typically 15 songs. As you can imagine, things can sometimes go wrong when performing live, especially at 3 in the morning when I recorded this one. Some errors are bad enough I scrap the whole thing and start over. Sometimes, I just accept things like variances in recording levels or slightly mismatched beats because it's too time-consuming to spend an hour or more redoing an entire 'cast for small inconsistencies, especially when you're using cheap, finicky mixing equipment as I do. In the case of this podcast it turns out two of the tracks here had questionable endings. The first, Book Of Love's "I Touch Roses" mix had a repeated phrase for the last 30 seconds that sounded as if the track were skipping. Of course, I remembered that at the last possible moment and quickly began mixing it out. So, if it sounds like an unnatural point at which to fade in/fade out, it is. And now you know why. I'd say Daniel Miller should be flogged for ending the track in that way, but how can I possibly stay angry at the fellow who founded Mute Records? I forgive you Daniel. Just don't do it again! In case you were wondering about the other track with the weird ending it was 900 Hours by Boxcar. Thankfully, the first gaffe reminded me to avoid a second.
I'd like to spend a moment to write about Belouis Some. Frankly, I could spend a day debating the correct pronunciation of Neville Keighley's alter-ego ... but I won't. Just know that all the variants I've encountered rank right up there with bands like INXS, Cetu Javu, EBN-OZN and others whose names were all butchered during their infancy. (C'mon ... admit it. You called them "Inks" the first time you saw their record in the storefront window. You know you did!) Anyway, the track "Animal Magic" was released in 1987 on Belouis Some's self-titled album, two years after the band found chart success UK and stateside with the songs "Imagination" and "Some People". Those songs led to opening gigs for Nik Kershaw and Frankie Goes To Hollywood during their heyday in 1985 and a track called "Round Round" which appeared on the Pretty In Pink soundtrack. The soundtrack is notable for two things: it's association with a John Hughes film and for being killer back when soundtracks were mostly filler. (That rhymes!) As an interesting side note: Nik Kershaw's song "Wouldn't It Be Good" also appeared on the Pretty In Pink soundtrack as a cover version by Danny Hutton Hitters. Belouis Some's "Some People" would also surface on a Swatch commercial circa 1986.
Australia had its share of good rock music in the 80s. Men At Work, INXS (however you pronounce them) and Midnight Oil represent just a few of the names. But as club culture began to consume record racks in the mid-80s, fledgling bands began to dabble in electronics, shifting their focus from guitar-infused pub rock to synth-based dance music. Brisbane's Boxcar were one of those bands that gained prominence world-wide. But old pub-rock habits die-hard and the band had a difficult time of things even in their home country where they were often met by a chorus of boo-birds during live performances. The group was also ridiculed for being too derivative of established artists like New Order (whom they toured with at the turn of the 90s.) Thanks in part to producer Robert Racic, who had worked with Severed Heads (also an Aussie electronic band) and Single Gun Theory among others, Boxcar's first full-length release "Vertigo", issued in 1990, was praised by critics for it's sophisticated electronic sound. Tracks like "Freemason", which charted at #8 on the Billboard Dance Chart and "Gas Stop" brought the group some recognition outside Australia. But despite support gigs for Depeche Mode, Erasure, The Pet Shop Boys and the aforementioned New Order, the band was never really able to gain much traction and after two more albums, "Revision" in 1992 and "Algorhythm" in 1994, the band's output and live dates began to ebb even though they never officially called it quits.
ABC were like the cool kids in high school that everyone wanted to be like. They had the swankiest clothes, the hippest hair cuts, listened to the coolest music and seemed to always have their finger on the pulse of whatever the "it" thing was to do at the time ... at least until the 20-year reunion rolled around and you saw them wearing the same clothes and sporting the same haircuts, albeit with much less hair and carrying around 50 extra pounds and you realized there had been little personal growth there. The band's roots grew from a band called Vice Versa. Both guitarist and synthesizer player, Mark White, and saxophonist, Stephen Singleton, were members of that group and are notable for their first ever gig being the opening act for Wire. (Not a bad way to kick off a career). After the release of an EP called "Music 4", future ABC singer Martin Fry, at the time editor of his own fanzine called Modern Drugs, interviewed the band. Shortly thereafter, they asked him to join. From the start, the band were pretty set on making 100% machine-made music. Having mega-producer Trevor Horn of The Buggles Fame, a guy affectionately nicknamed, "The Man Who Invented The Eighties" in your corner can certainly help chart a solid course for success. And did it ever. The first album, "Lexicon Of Love", went #1 in the UK, spawned innumerable imitators, featured great songs like "Look Of Love", "Poison Arrow", "Tears Are Not Enough", "Date Stamp" and others, and should be on a short list of the best albums from start to finish to come out of the 80s. From there, however, the band never ventured far from their original song-writing formula and were unable, despite some hits here and there, to duplicate the immense success of "Lexicon". In ABCs defense, not many bands could. Further, the group continued to splinter, losing members as the years went on. Drummer David Palmer left to join Yellow Magic Orchestra shortly after "Lexicon" was released. Stephen Singleton left in 1984. Remaining members Fry and White then recruited Fiona Russell-Powell (known as Eden) and David Yarritu to mitigate the departures of Palmer and Singleton. That line-up produced their biggest hit stateside with "Be Near Me". Mid-1987, ABC's album Alphabet City spawned the Top 10 hit "When Smokey Sings", a tribute to the great Motown singer, Smokey Robinson. Interestingly, Smokey was in the midst of a career resurgence for a new generation of fans and was himself firmly ensconced on the pop charts with his single "One Heartbeat" at the same time as ABC's tribute. It marked one of the only times in chart history a singer had a Top 40 hit while simultaneously being the focus of another.
Not many bands can say they were responsible for coining a term that would become part of the vernacular. In an earlier CRC, I mentioned that Throbbing Gristle's Genesis P. Orridge is widely recognized to have created the "industrial" tag with the advent of his label, Industrial Music, in the mid-70s. March 27, 1982 - that's the date Vicious Pink described their music as "techno" in a feature published in Sounds magazine - almost 4 years before the term gained wider acceptance in the Detroit DJ subculture. Band members Josephine Warden and Brian Moss formed the group in 1981 in Leeds, England, getting their start as backup singers for Marc Almond and Soft Cell. Originally called Vicious Pink Phenomena, Brian describes how the name came to be: "I met [Josephine] when I was DJ at an alternative night, I put on with friends, at a pub called “The Adephi” in Leeds. I also met Dave Ball and Mark Almond there through Jose, as she went to the same College as them, Leeds Polytechnic. We decided to start a band together for a bit of fun. Jose, Dave Ball and I wrote our favourite words down on pieces of paper, turned them upside down and shuffled them about. Then we each chose one of the pieces of paper, after that we rearranged them into the name Vicious Pink Phenomena, Jose’s word was Vicious, Dave’s was Pink and mine was, well, Phenomena. It was a kind of lottery I guess, but it worked. We thought it also sounded like it could be the title for a 50’s / 60’s Science Fiction B Movie." In all, the duo would release 5 dance singles, many produced by Dave Ball of Soft Cell. Despite zero promotion and garnering next-to-no mainstream support Vicious Pink managed to chart all five of those singles in the UK. The particular track here, "Cccan't You See" was their third single and was produced by the great Tony Mansfield of New Musik fame. It was the highest charting single of the bunch, reaching #67.
That's it for this episode. I'll be back soon with another. Thanks everyone and Happy Listening!