TO BE CONTINUED... (?)

When I started this blog back in February 2009, I didn't had a clear idea about what its future would be (I still don't have, as you'll see). Truth is - after all these months and several hundred thousands visits later - I am now happy to say that your response to this project was truly great, certainly well above what I expected when I started posting.

But - and there's always a but - I must admit that a certain amount of fatigue has recently crept in. I'm not saying that I've grown tired of spreading my (admitedly very limited) knowledge, or sharing the music from one of the most creative periods in the Story of Pop (for lack of a better word). The problem lies above all in the fact that this is an extremely time consuming activity - not just the posting in itself, but also the fact that coming up with interesting ideas on a daily basis can be hard work (and some of you must know what I'm talking about). Most importantly: I've grown aware that maintaining this blog alive is keeping me from actually listening to the music I love, which is somewhat of an obvious contradiction with this blog's original intentions.

So, getting to some sort of a final resolution, I'm not saying that this is the end - who can say what the future holds - but I'm definitely putting this blog in a state of 'suspended animation' - which is to say that I won't be posting any time soon (if ever), but I'm not shutting it down either: the streamed mp3s will still be there, together with all the album links (at least as long as the service providers let them live). In other words, TO BE CONTINUED - but with a big question mark right there at the end.

Thanks for all the visits, kind comments, general support and for your love of great music.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Lost In the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill

LP A&M Records 1985
CD A&M Records 1985 with bonus tracks



"First time I heard this I started muttering, 'Kurt Weill invented rock and roll', which I report only to indicate how turned on I was, because it's ridiculous - Weill really only invented rock. Milking abrasive pop for outreach and meaning, he had more in common with Dylan and Newman than with Porter and Berlin, and the rock artistes who take their turns on this sequel to Hal Willner's 1983 Monk tribute sound completely at home. You can imagine improvements on some of Willner's choices - David Jo rather than Sting on Mack the Knife, the Clash rather than Stanard Ridgeway on Cannon Song, etc. - but that's a parlor game. With Lou Reed's September Song and Marianne Faithfull's Ballad of the Soldier's Wife the unmitigated triumphs, every track on this hour-long disc holds its own. Introduce yourself to one of the century's greatest songwriters and composers. Or augment your Weill collection and be glad you did".
(Robert Christgau)

ENJOY


The Cannon Song

FURNITURE - Food, Sex & Paranoia

LP / CD Arista Records 1990



"The British pop band Furniture was founded in London in 1981 by vocalist Jim Irvin, guitarist/pianist Tim Whelan and drummer Hamilton Lee. A 1983 self-financed EP, The Boom Was On, won the trio a contract with the Survival label, and after swelling to a five-piece with the additions of bassist Sally Still and keyboardist Maya Gilder, they began issuing a string of singles, later collected as the LP The Lovemongers. After jumping to Stiff Records in 1986, Furniture released Brilliant Mind, which reached the Top 25 on the UK singles chart. The group's future appeared bright, but within weeks of issuing the follow-up, Love Your Shoes, Stiff went into liquidation; Furniture's 1986 album The Wrong People was picked up by ZTT, but after only 30,000 copies were pressed the record was abruptly deleted. After a three-year court battle, the band was finally able to remove themselves from ZTT's grip; signing to Arista, they resurfaced with 1989's Food, Sex and Paranoia, but the long hiatus destroyed any chart momentum they had accrued, and the record quickly vanished. Furniture dissolved in 1991".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY


Slow Motion Kisses

COLIN NEWMAN - It Seems

LP Crammed Discs 1988
CD Crammed Discs 1988 with bonus track



"Colin was a founder member of the legendary 'art' combo Wire. Wire was formed in 1976 in the midst of the first flush of punk's youth but immediately diverged from the 'pogo' standard thrash with a combination of a sparse aesthetic, obtuse lyrics and a much vaunted (but never charted!) 'pop sensibility'. Through the Seventies they built a formidible reputation based on a rapid evolution of style until one band could no longer contain the prodigious output of it's members and Wire went into one of it's periodic hibernations. During the early 80's Newman recorded solo albums, became a record producer, working with amongst others the notorious Irish band The Virgin Prunes, and then quit the music business for a 14 month sojurn on the Indian Subcontinent. On his return Wire recommenced activity running in paralell with both more solo albums and more record production, this time including seminal Israeli band Minimal Compact. Wire's 80's output eclipsed it's 70's output both in quantity and sales with it's new electronic styles finding favour amongst a new (mainly American) generation weaned on Brit synthpop".
(swimhq.com)

"The first of Colin Newman's records to fully take advantage of sequencing, It Seems is mostly driven by layers of interplaying rhythms. Where it differs from traditional sequenced album (aka dance music) is in direction and instrumentation. Both seem to follow on from Commercial Suicide; the mood is quite dreamy, and the album almost devoid of drums. Improvements over the older release are immediately apparent: although often musically quite sedate, It Seems has an edge, and the arrangements seem richer. Although perhaps sounding slightly dated, the result is an intriguing combination of mellow rhythms and occasional hard edges. The release is full of engaging music, from the dreamy title track to the philosophical mickey-take Round and Round. The wonderful Better Later than Never including Robert Gotobed on drums, is the album's undisputed high point - a fairly 'pop' number with a chord sequence to die for. One to watch out for".
(Craig Grannell, wireviews.com)

ENJOY


Better Later Than Ever

THE BAND OF HOLY JOY - Manic, Magic, Majestic

LP / CD Rough Trade Records 1989



"The rough-and-tumble British acoustic unit Band of Holy Joy formed in the New Cross area of London in 1984. Led by singer Johny Brown, the group - which also included trombonist Adrian Bailey, drummer Bill Lewington, keyboardist/banjoist Big John, violinist Karel Van Bergen, accordionist Alf Thomas and double-bassist Mark Cavener - created a uniquely English urban folk sound, free of guitars, which brought frequent comparisions to their Irish counterparts the Pogues; while steeped in the grit and grime of London street life, Brown's songs were uplifting and optimistic, a call-to-arms against the oppressions of Thatcherism. Upon signing to the small indie label Flim Flam, the Band of Holy Joy debuted in 1986 with the EP The Big Ship Sails, followed in 1987 by the full-length More Tales From the City. The group signed to Rough Trade for 1988's Tactless single; the next year's Manic, Magic, Majestic won widespread critical acclaim, but the commercial breakthrough projected for 1990's Positively Spooked - an LP backed by a promotional tour of the U.S.S.R. - never materialized".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

"The second album by the the Band of Holy Joy saw the band move from Flim Flam to major U.K. independent label Rough Trade. Main music writer Max left the band, leaving much of the composing to Big John. The emotions still swirled and swooned as on their previous album More Tales From the City, but the music and production is smoother and more accomplished. Undoubtedly the highlight is What the Moon Saw where soaring violins crescendo as the starstruck lover's world comes crashing down. Although filled with melancholy and desperation - Baubles, Bangles, Emotional Tangles relates the story of becoming pregnant but not by the one she loves - the Holy Joy also describe the feeling of rapture, whether that's making a new start with a loved one, Bride, or the title track Manic, Magic, Majestic, where possessions take second place to the happy-go-lucky charm of the heroine. On releasing the single Tactless, the video filmed the band performing in an out-of-season seaside resort, which sums up this album very nicely".
(Christian Smillie, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY


Baubles, Bangles, Emotional Tangles

JAZZATEERS - I Shot the President

Original recordings 1982-1987
Compilation CD Marina Records 1997



"The album you are listening to is by a guitar group called the Jazzateers. The music isn't new - it was mostly recorded between 1983 and 1987 (that's after New Romantics and before New Psychedelia). We were a guitar group who liked being a guitar group - when we played live people who liked it, liked it and those who didn't, didn't. We liked Neil when he was Young, Brian when he was Wilson and Glasgow was the city we grew up in. We didn't travel all that far - but we knew the world from comics, movies and records. Jazzateers didn't play live a lot - but we always wrote songs. Some of those songs are on this album and you may have heard a couple before - others, though, you most definitely won't have. Some I even have trouble remembering and I helped write most of them. I hope you enjoy it - I did".
(Ian Burgoyne, CD liner notes)

ENJOY


Sixteen Reasons

ATTRITION - Recollection 1984-1989

Compilation CD Projekt Records 1990
Reissued 1994 with different artwork



"Attrition are pioneers in a darker electronica, carving out a unique slice of the creative underground for over two decades, fueled by a succession of critically acclaimed albums, selling over 50,000 to date, the band has toured all Europe and North America, Mexico and Asia, appeared at major festivals and had their music included on a number of film soundtracks. Formed in 1980 by Martin Bowes and Julia Waller in Coventry, England, influenced by a mix of punk ideology and experimental art aesthetics, they emerged as part of the early '80's UK Industrial scene alongside contemporaries Test Department, Coil, Legendary Pink dots, In The Nursery, Portion Control et al. Their music is an undefinable marriage of dark and light, of futures and pasts, probing unexplored sonic landscapes with an eclectic marriage of experimental and traditional sound, of electronics and acoustics, of male and female.
(attrition.co.uk)

"Attrition have always been a nexus of industrial fury, gothic drama, ambient structural finesse and classical chamber orchestrations. Stunning in scope, character and intellect, Martin Bowes has been a paragon of true creative prowess, holding in two hands the past and future of music, and smashing them together with a calculated and charismatic menace. Bowes builds his dark industrial music with all the compassion and attention to detail of a classical musician..."
(Electroage)

ENJOY


Monkey in a Bin

Request: THE WORLDS OF LOVE - The Worlds of Love

LP Review Records 1989
CD reissue Review Records 2000 with bonus tracks



"The Worlds of Love was formed as a collaborative project, dedicated to performing love songs and improvised pieces that bridge the gap between chaos and romance (is there a gap?). Together, The Worlds of Love creates a new kind of romantic music, one in which lovely melodies meet raucous noise, hand-played drum machines meet banjo and synthesizer, fragile sopranos meet blustery baritone, and boy meets girl. Most of the songs on this album are Worlds of Love originals, but we were inspired by Jo Stafford to record You Belong to Me, and by Francoise Hardy to record two of her songs, In The Sky and Et Meme, as a medley. Boy/Girl, Boy/Boy, Girl/Girl, Parent/Child, Person/Place, etc. There are many worlds of love, and these are but a few of them".
(original 1989 LP liner notes)

"The songs on the [Worlds of Love] album work as adult, if weird, love songs. They’re funny, a reimagining of Weill, children’s songs and pop, all processed through a synthesizer swirl and informed with free improvisation (...) an act of reclamation, mixing pop music with noise and turning them into something new. The noise of urban life is tamed and used; the effluvium of mainstream music, where love song after love song is mass produced, is made sensible by music that both appreciates and pokes fun at the process".
(Peter Watrous, New York Times)

ENJOY


You Belong To Me

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye

CD Sire / Warner Bros. 1990



"Roky Erickson often seems to be better known in rock circles for his well publicized psychological maladies and his less-than-gentle treatment at the hands of Texas' judicial system than for his music - and that's a shame. While Roky's habit of informing anyone who asks that he's a Martian or is in contact with Satan makes for good fanzine copy, the best reason to be interested in Erickson is his songwriting - there's a graceful, vivid surrealism to his lyrical style that's endured far better than most of the noodlers who came out of the psychedelic rock movement, and his later bursts of horror film fancy conjure up a troubling tension that's laughed at only by the shallow or ignorant. When Erickson's legal problems came to a head in the late 1980s, longtime fan and Sire Records executive Bill Bentley assembled Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson to raise money for Erickson, as well as drawing attention to the unique beauty of his music. Like most multi-artist tribute albums, the results are a bit uneven; some of these artists seem to have appeared out of convenience rather than any great love of Roky's music, and a few of the interpretations are simple miscalculations (Thin White Rope's Guy Kyser really goes overboard on his version of Burn the Flames). But there are a several moments of very real beauty and power here, especially from the artists who share Erickson's Texas heritage - Doug Sahm and ZZ Top rock out on their contributions, the Butthole Surfers' version of Earthquake is one of their finest moments on wax, and T-Bone Burnett's take on Nothing in Return is a heart-tugging gem. The 13th Floor Elevators' first two albums are still the best place to sample Erickson's music (and the latter-day All That May Do My Rhyme is a fine album, for which Erickson actually receives royalties - hint, hint), but Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye is a sincere if inconsistent tribute to his work, and shows how well his songs can translate to the styles of other artists".
(Mark Deming, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY


I Walked with a Zombie

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Rutles Highway Revisited

LP / CD Shimmy Disc 1990



"Of the hundreds of tribute albums that have been assembled since the mid-'80s, this had one of the most clever concepts: perform a 'tribute' to a band that never existed. The Rutles, Eric Idle's spot-on television parody of The Beatles, were never a bonafide unit, but they did record some fine satires for the film's soundtrack, composed by Rutle and ex-Bonzo Dog Band honcho Neil Innes. What we have here are 20 alternative acts of the '90s covering all of The Rutles' songs. Better than most tributes, it still falls prey to the genre's chief pitfalls: compared to the original, it's forced, stiff, and lacking. The best interpretations tend to be the most straightforward, like Syd Straw and Marc Ribot's acoustic I Must Be In Love; Shonen Knife's Goose Step Mama, with its high-pitched vocals and jerky tempos, would have fit easily onto one of their actual albums. Alternative rock collectors may want to pick this up for the otherwise unavailable tracks by Galaxie 500, King Missile, Jellyfish, and Daniel Johnston; there are also some half-famous stalwarts of the indie scene like Das Damen, Unrest, and Peter Stampfel, as well as total obscurities like The Tinklers and Paleface".
(Richie Unterberger, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY


Cheese & Onions

MARTY WILLSON-PIPER - Art Attack

LP Ryko Analogue 1988
CD Rykodisc 1988 with bonus tracks



"Marty Willson-Piper is a guitarist and member of Australian independent rock band The Church. After busking his way around the world, the Englishman found himself in Australia. Having taken in an early concert by The Church, which were at that time performing as a three-piece, Willson-Piper soon joined Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes and Nick Ward in 1980, expanding the band's lineup and broadening its sound. Along with contributing to each of The Church's studio releases, he has maintained a steady solo effort since the mid-1980s. Other side projects and collaborations include two stints as guitarist for UK rock group All About Eve, David Gedge's Cinerama and work with Jules Shear, Tom Verlaine, Martin Rössel, and Aimee Mann. In 2005, Willson-Piper joined veteran band The Saints to record an album and tour".
(wikipedia.com)

"His gently-plucked 12-string makes a wonderful, warm sound throughout, the Piper pipes are accomplished in a scruffy sort of way and his cosmopolitan reportage ultimately makes Art Attack ideal for those Bohemian evenings when the Cointreau flows and conversation turns to the lips of Beatrice Dalle. Art Attack is almost maddeningly precious - the lead track, O' Stockholm, comes in two tempos and two languages, and Willson-Piper actually pauses in the middle of Too Round to Be Square to recite the lyrics, just in case you need help appreciating all their zen implications and yet it will win you over by virtue of the incredible sweetness of its melodies. You Whisper opens with the sound of a ticking clock, over which an acoustic twelve-string guitar then begins to play a beautifully arpeggiated chord progression. She's King is a simple and perfect folk-rock love song. Evil Queen of England is a charmingly simple-minded protest song made all the more effective by its spare voice-and-string-bass arrangement. Marty Willson-Piper is on a high - and getting higher, the spirit amid the magician".
(martywillsonpiper.net)

LISTEN
&
ENJOY


She's King

THE SOUTHERN DEATH CULT - The Southern Death Cult

Original recordings 1982-1983
Compilation LP Beggars Banquet 1983
CD reissue Beggars Banquet 1996



"One of the leading bands in the post punk, pre-gothic movement of London, an emerging form of gloom and doom rock. The band was the brainchild of Ian Astbury, the only one who would remain in the band for all of its incarnations. The Southern Death Cult would become infamous, several lineup changes and two name changes later, as The Cult. It is easy to see the formative influence this earlier incarnation had on the goth blues metal 'cult', though the music is much more raw and powerful. I think that this incarnation is the best of the three Cults, the next being the Death Cult, before axing all those long words from their name".
(deathrock.com)

"Southern Death Cult had the tribal tom-tom rhythms, while singer Ian Astbury wore a Mohican just like [Bow Wow Wow's singer] Annabella, along with feather and chicken-bone necklaces (a jewellery collection that expanded with each visit to KFC). But Astbury's obsession with Native American culture went slightly deeper than Adam Ant's, with his skimmed library books and cosmetic appropriation of the Navajo nose-stripe. Astbury had spent five years in Canada as a youth, during which time he'd visited Indian reservations and cultural centres. Returning to the UK just in time for Punk, he became deeply involved in 1977's revolution. When Punk died, Astbury felt bereft and rudderless, and turned to Native American culture for spiritual sustenance. The name Southern Death Cult itself came from a Mississipi Valley tribe who maintained burial mounds and shrines".
(Simon Reynolds, Rip It Up and Start Again)

ENJOY


Fatman

KARL BISCUIT - Secret Love

Original recordings Crammed Discs 1984-1986
Compilation CD Crammed Discs 2003



"He came from the world of contemporary ballet and became a mysterious cult figure following his three releases which combined electro beats, tongue-in-cheek romantic darkness and strange mambo influences: Regrets Éternels (1984), Fatal Reverie (1986), and Secret Love (1987), which were all re-released on one CD in 2003, as part of the Crammed Global Soundclash re-issue series. Karl Biscuit went back to his first love and formed successful modern dance company Castafiore, which he co-directs to this day, and for which he continues to create intriguing soundtracks, early examples of which are compiled in the Aktualismus album, which came out in the Made To Measure series in 1991".
(crammed.be)

"The cookie has crumbled and the grains have been tumbled out of the aerosol of synth-tone poppery into a dark, dank well where turbulence and torment cling to the talents of Karl like poisonous fungi. Since seeing this singer (pronounced Bisk-wee) in Paris last year, he seems to have undergone an amputation with traumatic side-effects. Adroitly fingered at the time as a Serge Clerc character in 3-D, the accompanying stylised cocktail mannerisms have dried out and what remains is an emotional brainburn where Fairlights blink with a hangover instead of grinning like dumb robots. Death, Loneliness, No Friends, Requiem - with song titles like these you get the idea of the horrorshow on offer, how many ways you can terminate or be terminated is equal to the pleasures of this record. Pleasures ? Hell, yes, but not of the ugly bedsit torment sort. Karl is pretty enough to have aimed for the wide-eyed-innocent end of the synth spectrum with its lure of big bucks. Instead, he's inhabiting the cutting space that both the Human League and Depeche Mode are trying to reach in vain at present. Regrets Eternels is pimple synth-pop lanced until the pus runs. Vampire instrumentation sucks at the neck of linear tunes, foreign textures unfurl and infect the clean kid's ideas. Take a peek at the liner notes and everything makes sense. Aided in sections by Blaine L.Reininger and Honeymoon Killer Marc Hollander, the whole project is filtered through the hemlock hands of Gilles Martin of the great Tuxedomoon. Regrets Eternels is the alternative madness in the method dance"
(Jack Barron, Sounds 1984 review)

ENJOY


Regrets Éternels

ASPHALT RIBBONS - Old Horse

MiniLP / CD ETT Records 1991



"Asphalt Ribbons were a UK band that formed in 1988. They were the pre-Tindersticks, featuring vocalist Stuart Staples, David Boulter, Dickon Hinchliffe, Neil Fraser and Al Macaulay. Mark Colwill replaced John Thomson in the last days before Asphalt Ribbons became Tindersticks. Mark was recruited when John left but it is not sure if he played any gigs under the Asphalt Ribbons name. They then changed their name to Tindersticks after Stuart discovered a box of German matches on a Greek beach. Their sound is more country-ish than Tindersticks, but already features the distinctive vocals of Stuart Staples".
(discogs.com)

ENJOY


Rosemarie

AUTUMNFAIR - 1986-1989

Compilation CD Mobilization Recordings 2002



"One of the many offshoots of Savage Republic, Autumnfair based their sound in the early-'80s post-punk output of the Factory and 4AD labels. Savage Republic bassist/guitarist/vocalist Thom Fuhrmann started the band in 1986 with Val Haller, a bassist/vocalist who had previously played with Jayne County, the Flying Lizards, and Lords of the New Church. The remainder of the band included, at various points, Biff Sanders (a SR engineer), Scott Feemster, Caroline Topalian, Jack Housen, and Savage Republic's Greg Grunke. All told, they went through three lineups. Though the group quit operating in 1989, none of their material was issued until 1991, when Independent Project Records (the label run by SR's Bruce Licher) issued the 10" EP Glaciers and Gods in 1991. 11 years later, the Mobilization label (yet another SR-related imprint) released Autumnfair 1986-1989, a CD compilation that paired a remastered version of the 1991 EP with previously unissued material".
(Andy Kellman, All-Music Guide)

"Thom Fuhrmann has described the work on this CD as being from his '4AD period', and that's not a half-bad way to look at the results, which draw together both the single tracks and a variety of unreleased material for a complete, if unannotated, overview. He and partner Val Haller, along with a rotating crew of backing players, created a generally dark and oftentimes dramatically powerful series of tracks that do have a bit of This Mortal Coil-styled impact to them, spiked more than once with Joy Division's sense of power as filtered through Martin Hannett's production. More rock and less texture, though - the opening cut, Alone, is practically an epic, with pounding drums; soaring, wordless backing vocals; and a piano part snaking through the mix. There are certainly dollops of Savage Republic-styled aggressiveness on Autumnfair 1986-1989, but generally speaking there's nothing in the way of industrial/metallic rhythms (Read My Lips being a definite exception) or roared, shouted vocals - guitar, first and foremost, leads the way. But Haller's growling bass often offsets his calm, reflective singing (reminiscent of Simon Huw Jones' quieter moments with And Also the Trees, as on the pounding She Only Smiles), while Fuhrmann's at once cold and enveloping guitar work is often pure post-punk ecstasy. Add in touches such as the reverbed choir sample starting the swirling, very Cocteau Twins/Xymox-tinged instrumental Novy Mir, and it's little wonder one could imagine this packaged in artwork by Vaughan Oliver or Chris Begg. Other strong numbers include Cascade, with a conclusion worthy of Unknown Pleasures (down to the echo on the drum machines), and the rumbling, doom-laden punch of Glaciers and Gods, which also has the best song title of the bunch hands down".
(Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY


She Only Smiles

BRIAN SETZER - The Knife Feels Like Justice + Live Nude Guitars

LP EMI America 1986
LP EMI America 1988
CD reissue American Beat Recordings 2007



"After the Stray Cats broke up for the first of several times in 1984, guitarist and frontman Brian Setzer seemed determined to prove he could do a lot more than make like Eddie Cochran, and his first solo set was 1986's surprisingly ambitious The Knife Feels Like Justice. Leaving his rockabilly influences at home for the time being, Setzer reinvented himself as a thoughtful heartland rocker on this set, which shows clear influences of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp's work of the period, and his snappy retro guitar work was replaced by the jangly peal of a Rickenbacker, though his fretwork was no less impressive in this new context, especially on the rollicking Radiation Ranch and the atmospheric title cut. Setzer also dipped his toes into old-school R&B on Bobby's Back, and demonstrated a previously unaired concern for social justice on Maria and Aztec; while Setzer's songwriting wasn't always quite as sharp as the folks he clearly emulated, there's a heart and sincerity to this material that's genuine and affecting, even when his lyrics lean to the obvious. (...) Setzer demonstrates some typically fine guitar work on Live Nude Guitars, but it's a creative hodgepodge that desperately needs a cleaner focus, and suggests he was in need of a new creative direction; the next time Setzer was heard from as a solo artist, he was fronting his big band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra".
(Mark Deming, All-Music Guide)

LISTEN
&
ENJOY


The Knife Feels Like Justice

Request: VIRGINIA ASTLEY - From Gardens Where We Feels Secure

LP Happy Valley Records / Rough Trade 1983
CD reissue Happy Valley Records 1989 with bonus tracks
Japanese limited edition



"Virginia Astley's solo debut (she had previously been a member of the short-lived Ravishing Beauties with Kate St. John and Nicky Holland, and played piano on her brother-in-law Pete Townshend's single Slit Skirts) is a magical piece of instrumental pop. It's too melodic to be Brian Eno-style ambient music, too involving to be new age mush, too simple and casual to fit in comfortably with the post-minimalist school of Michael Nyman, Andrew Poppy, or Wim Mertens, and too restrained to truly be pop music. Almost entirely instrumental, save for a few wordless vocals on A Summer Long Since Past, and featuring little instrumentation besides Astley's piano and some subtle woodwinds, the album is a lovely 35-minute meditation built around field recordings Astley made of the ambient sounds of the rural English countryside. This description makes the album sound much more twee and insubstantial than it actually is; however, Astley is no mere ambient noodler. These nine songs are melodically rich and varied; mood pieces in the truest sense of the term. Specifically designed to mirror the moods of an indolent summer day (the sides of the original LP were even marked 'morning' and 'afternoon'), From Gardens Where We Feel Secure is a dreamy, involving, and occasionally even fascinating listen".
(Stewart Mason, All-Music Guide)

"Evoking images of summer afternoons in the countryside, From Gardens Where We Feel Secure is, superficially at least, soothing sonic wallpaper. Except for a few syllables, it's entirely instrumental, consisting basically of piano, flute, clarinet and tape loops. Upon closer scrutiny, the tapes (animal sounds, church bells, etc.) build subliminal tension: there's more to Ms. Astley than initially meets the ear".
(David Sheridan, Trouser Press)

ENJOY


Hiding in the Ha-Ha

TOPPER HEADON - Waking Up

LP Mercury Records 1986
CD reissue Mercury Records 1992 with bonus tracks



"Originally Headon joined The Clash with the intention of establishing a reputation as a drummer, before moving onto other projects, but he soon realized their full potential and remained with them for four years. Headon appeared on the albums Give 'Em Enough Rope (1978), The Clash (US version, 1979), London Calling (1979), Sandinista! (1980) and Combat Rock (1982), as well as several landmark singles the Clash recorded during their early period. Also of note are his lead vocal on Ivan Meets G.I Joe from Sandinista and his work on the hit single Rock the Casbah from Combat Rock, on which Headon composed most of the music and played drums, piano and bass guitar. He also appeared on Super Black Market Clash (1993), which included B-sides from the band's single releases. Clash singer/guitarist Joe Strummer is quoted as saying that Headon's drumming skills were a vital part of the band. Tensions rose between Headon and his fellow band members due to his addiction and he left the band on 10 May 1982, at the beginning of the Combat Rock tour. The band covered up the real reason for Headon's departure, the apparent growing use of heroin, claiming Headon's exit was due to exhaustion. In a later interview for the rockumentary Westway to the World, he apologised about his addiction and speculated that had he not been asked to leave The Clash the band might have lasted longer and might possibly still be together. He also lamented the fact that the best known Clash line-up had been considering a reunion at the time of Strummer's death, after the positive reunion during the Westway to the World rockumentary.
(wikipedia.com)

"Topper Headon's musical acumen should have ensured a lengthy run, if only for composing the Clash's biggest U.S. hit, Rock the Casbah (on which he played everything but lead guitar). However, well-publicized heroin problems led to the drummer's 1982 dismissal, followed by guitarist Mick Jones' ouster on dubious ideological grounds in 1983. Fans assumed the former Clash mates would work together, which didn't happen. Left to his own devices, Headon cut this sleek-sounding album with first-rate help from guitarist Bob Tench (of Jeff Beck fame), ex-Clash session keyboardist Mickey Gallagher, and vocalist Jimmy Helms, who sounds appropriately gritty without being overbearing. Musically, the album offers few surprises from the Clash's resident soul-jazz buff, falling comfortably into unhurried jazz, R&B, and soul grooves; just compare his relaxed take on the Stax classic Time Is Tight to his former band's more urgent treatment on Super Black Market Clash. Highlights include the swirling pop-funk of Got to Keep on Going, one of several songs addressing Headon's addiction; Pleasure and Pain, a hard-hitting showcase for Tench; and Just Another Hit, whose poppy drive belies its clever metaphor for stardom, professional killing, and drug addiction".
(Ralph Heibutzki, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY


Got To Keep On Going

AUTOPSIA - Death Is the Mother of Beauty

CD Staalplaat 1989



"Autopsia is a depersonalized art project dealing with music and visual production. Autopsia gathers authors of different professions in realization of multimedia projects. Its art practice began in London in late '70s of the last century, and continued, during the '80s in art centers of the former Yugoslavia. Since 1990, Autopsia acts from Prague. At the beginning of its activity Autopsia issued a dozen of MCs, in the period after 1989, twenty CDs were issued, at first for Staalplaat from Amsterdam, then for German label Hypnobeat and London's Gymnastic Records. Autopsia's music can be found on numerous compilations issued all over the world. One of its compositions is a part of the soundtrack for Peter Greenaway's film Pillow Book. Music production of Autopsia is associated with a large graphic production which consists of original graphic objects, design of flyers, booklets, CDs and a Web Page www.autopsia.net, with its offsprings: Autopsia TV and Illuminating Technologies.
(discogs.com)

"Autopsia does not deal with predictions. It deals with reality, which means - Death. Scars of Europa narrates a new spirit of Europe, which is filled with the scars of history. Such an historical component also belongs to the new spirit of Europe. Death is the Mother of Beauty and the presage of the world to come. After the domination of an all-encompassing simplified modernism, the world that could have been different was presaged, the world which, throughout the channels of its networks, will not reproduce the same. It could have been only the world aware of its history, the world of an individual, which was known to such a history. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen. The entire project of the new spirit slipped into a globalized network of technological modernism. The only things that remained after particular histories were images, appearances and illusions that were poured into us by means of the media in order to cover the real condition - the flow of money. (...) Project Death is the Mother of Beauty can be translated into the domain of the political or the cultural, but it is not directed towards the presentation of something real, but towards an understanding of the homelandlessness (‘not-being-at-home', 'not-being-in-homeland’), which occurs in the catastrophic age of groundless faith. Since the messages cannot be checked anymore, one can only believe in them. Truth has lost its meaning, only belief remains and pure faith without religions and ideologies".
(autopsia interview, chaindlk.com)

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Scars of Europa

Request: PAUL QUINN & THE INDEPENDENT GROUP - Will I Ever Be Inside of You

2xLP Postcard Records 1994
CD Postcard Records 1994



"Glasgow-born singer Paul Quinn first emerged in the early '80s lending his deep, rich voice as a backing vocalist for Edwyn Collins and Orange Juice. After tenures with Yazoo's Vince Clarke and Aztec Camera's Roddy Frame, Quinn set out for a solo career, forming a support band dubbed the Independent Group which also featured Alan Horne, the founder of the famed indie label Postcard".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

"Within the framework of the Independent Group, Quinn's so-distinctive voice, which lands somewhere between Bowie, Lloyd Cole and Scott Walker, spins out in front of what amounts to a series of interesting, but unobtrusive, backing melodies. The opening title track is a dirgy, longing lament loaded with odd electronic bits and pieces, as well as an ethereally brief chorus. Lover, That's You All Over meanwhile, is a sparse, guitar twang that vividly repaints some of the alternative post punk's gloomier acoustics. And, while the rest of Will I Ever Be Inside of You follows along in the same sort of vein and, while it's also true that Quinn doesn't break any new ground, there are some absolute gems in the set, as Misty Blue unravels like some long lost ballad spun through cobwebs, and the closing At the End of the Night, with its subtly buried rhythm, plays out a somewhat beery, and completely fitting nightcap. Often startling, Quinn loads Will I Ever Be Inside of You with unexpected dips and twists, keeping the mood fairly somber, but ensuring that anyone taking the chance can't settle in and kick back too easily. Sweet and just slightly sinister, this set can't be ignored - it's gorgeous fodder for the older doom and gloom set".
(Amy Hanson, All-Music Guide)

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You Have Been Seen