Quiet Men

Sorry about the lack of activity from the vinyl archives this week but I’m afraid I’ve had sick children to deal with. Anyway, here’s something keep you going til the weekend.

One of my favourite Ultravox songs is the single version of Quiet Men as featured on my old Three Into One album. A few years ago I got a copy of The Island Years, an excellent 16 track compilation, which apparently featured all 10 Three Into One tracks. However, the Quiet Men featured on this was the Systems of Romance album version. It’s still a great song but I prefer the single mix with the extra drum machine.

Fast forward to nearly a year ago (still way before I got my new turntable) Island Records released remastered versions of the first three Ultravox! albums. I immediately ordered a copy of Sytems Of Romance because:

(a) It’s my favourite Ultravox album.

(b) One of the bonus tracks was Quiet Men (Full Version) which I assumed was the single version.

And maybe it is but it sounds terrible – so trebbly and toppy that it hurts my ears to listen to it. It’s just this track – the rest of the CD sounds great.

So, just in case anyone else has experienced the same problem here is Quiet Men as featured on my old vinyl copy of Three Into One.

mp3: Ultravox - Quiet Men

Dreams To Fill The Vacuum

I realise I should be more informative about the artists featured on this blog but in many cases I don’t know anything beyond the fact they made a record I obviously liked at the time.

A good example is Dreams To Fill The Vacuum by I’m So Hollow (1980); Heard it on the John Peel show, liked it, bought a copy, never heard of them before or since. I think a bit of Googling is required.

I’m So Hollow are a short lived band from Sheffield, contemporaries of Cabaret Voltaire, Human League, Clock DVA etc. They released a handful of singles and had tracks featured on compilations but never released their own album.

Band members were:
Yosef (Joe) Sawicki - drums
Rod Leigh - vocals/guitar
Gary Marsden - bass
Jane Wilson - synths/vocals

One unkind review had this to say: “This moderately unpleasant new-dance quartet from Sheffield has two awful singers, a solid drummer and a penchant for tossing in odd noises and “treatments” when the songs bog down. The music is competently dull, but the vocals are a real detriment.” I can only agree with one part of that. This is a good post-punk song augmented by “odd noises and treatments”.

I'm So Hollow - Dreams To Fill The Vacuum

Live footage of them can be seen in the Made In Sheffield DVD available here.

Happy Birthday to two petite Scottish ladies

Today is my wife's birthday and, coincidentally, also Clare Grogans.

So there's only one song I can possibly post.

Altered Images - Happy Birthday

Get it here

A Lost Synthpop Classic

With so many synthpop records being released in the early 80’s it was inevitable that some good ones would slip through the net and not get the acclaim they deserved. For example, Is There A Reason by The Mood, from 1981.

In their short life span they released five singles and no albums. I’ve been championing this one as a lost classic for over 25 years now and most people I’ve played it to agree, apart from those who have an aversion to the genre. If you’ve ever liked synthpop give this a listen.

You can find out a little bit more about The Mood on this wikipedia entry.

The Mood - Is There A Reason (12-inch version)

Some cool tunes from 1976

Why 1976? Just because that’s the year I really started collecting records. There are a few embarrassing ones but I’m posting these to give the impression my taste that really quite cool.

Some of you older readers will remember how you would be playing records and then one would be (or at least seem) twice as loud as the others. Cherry Bomb is one of those records. It grabbed you with the opening riff and didn’t let go for two and a half minutes. When I started digitising my old vinyl it became an instant favourite with my three boys (ages from 3 to 6) so I think that qualifies it as a timeless classic, in our house at least.

Oh and er…yes I really did cut pictures out of the NME and stick them to the sleeve. Well, picture sleeves weren’t common in those days so I was being creative, not sad. Honestly.

The Runaways - Cherry Bomb

Another timeless record but for different reasons is Can’s I Want More. This song defies categorisation, which is probably why it still sounds so fresh.

Can - I Want More

Buy The Runaways here

Buy Can here

One of those great gloomy early eighties songs

Here’s a good song with a connection to yesterdays post. Troy Tate was the teardrop’s 3rd guitarist following Mick Finkler and Andy Gill. This is a solo single released in 1981 while he was still in the band. He talks about it in an interview here.

Troy Tate - Thomas mp3

Speaking of Teardrop Explodes connections I suppose this would also be a good time to listen to Julian Cope’s best known solo effort.

Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth

Julian Cope stuff can be found here.

For Troy Tate best try here.

Bouncing Babies

So my wife got me a USB turntable for christmas and I thought as well as converting my record collection it would be nice to share it. Most of it dates from the mid 70's to the mid 80's, so if that's your era keep visiting.

For no particular reason I have decided to start with Bouncing Babies, the 2nd single (I think) from The Teardrop Explodes. This single is from 1979 on the Zoo label and is a less slick version of the song featured on the on the excellent Kilimanjaro album, which you can buy here.

The Teardrop Explodes - Bouncing Babies MP3

I'm new to blogging so please leave a comment and let me know if you have download problems.