As promised here's the first Thrashing Doves CD, Bedrock Vice.
Freeez
I loved Freeez. There, I said it. Yes, I loved Freeez and I make no apologies for it. I first remember them on TOTP when I was a kid with Southern Freeez, which was nice, but I really paid attention when I heard IOU and then this. Both of those records were produced by the legendary Arthur Baker who went on to produce Confusion for New Order.
It's hard to believe now, but at the time, I was amazed by the vocal trickery on this and IOU. Outstanding. Yes, I said outstanding!
Endgames
They didn't get the break they deserved, Endgames. They're probably best known for First Last For Everything as it appeared on some compilation CD or other in the 90s.
Although I'm a big fan I did think their tendancy to go proto-disco on some tracks didn't help. This is a cracker.
Clark Datchler
Look, I'm not going to lie to you. This track is pretty dreadful, but it is of historical interest. Maybe.
Blue Zoo
Poptastic 12" single from Blue Zoo. I keep emailing Cherry Red asking for a Blue Zoo best of or something, but they keep ignoring me.
SPK
The Church, Jason Donovan, Skippy. All legendary and all Australian. SPK were Australian too and although not legendary, were pretty good. More poppy that you'd imagine too.
Mainframe
This is it now, the final thing I have by Mainframe. Released in 1983, Talk To Me didn't have a b-side as such, just four computer programs. I've not included those. A few people were doing this at the time, most notably Pete Shelley with his XL-1 album.
Thrashing Doves
I had a request for more Thrashing Doves, so here's the second album, Trouble in the Home. Their debut, Bedrock Vice, is coming soon.
Yello
Do you remember the days when CD singles were exciting? When remixes and extended versions still sounded like the original song? I do. This is one of them. A very enjoyable half-an-hour here.
Shack
The first single from Shack. Just try to ignore the drum machines (bloody Broudie!) and you'll be richly rewarded.
Diesel Park West
DPW can't do much wrong in my book. The first two albums in particular are fabulous. This CD single includes Fine Lilly Fine.
Howard Jones
When this was released in '98 it was a real return to form for HoJo. However, like most things HJ, the good is always tempered by the, er...not so good. The remixes on here are as rubbish as the single version is brilliant. Does that make sense?
Nick Heyward
A cracker from Nick. His "comeback" single after the disappointment of Postcards From Home.
I can remember watching him on Wogan doing this and thinking "He's back, this will be a monster hit!". Of course, it wasn't, but us Nick fans didn't mind too much.
This 3" CD single contains a great track synthpop (yes synthpop!) called Strange Life, which for a time was the name of a Nick Heyward website I ran in the late 90s.
Thrashing Doves
A couple of nice 3" CD singles from the Foreman Brothers, AKA The Thrashing Doves.
The brothers' first band The Climb were also pretty good and I'll post the wonderful Touch Me (Heaven) when I can find it.
These two CD singles, Reprobate's Hymn and Angel Visit were taken from the bands' second album Trouble In The Home. I'll post that if there's any interest.
Eyeless In Gaza
EIG were one of my favourite bands in the early 80s. I went through one of those funny phases where I was into stuff like Eyeless and DAF.
This is a great compilation CD released in the early 90s containing a batch of unreleased EIG material. If you're aware of EIG then you'll know that they don't pop it up too often, but when they do, they're magical. There's a couple of tracks on here that they didn't release mainly because their poppiness made them uncomfortable! Tracks such as Stay and All Lone Hours spring to mind.
In the early 90s I suffered a period of unemployment as many people did around that time and I signed up to a local government training thing in Warwickshire. On my first day I was thrilled to discover that my main tutor was none other that Peter Becker from EIG. I did tell him I knew who he was but he didn't seem too bothered about it all. He did say that they were thinking of getting back together and from the mid-90s they started releasing more material. Although I still try and keep up with their releases, this CD is still one of my favourites.
The Messengers
You know all those American synthpop bands that appeared in the late 80s/early 90s? Well, the problem for me was that whatever the band, the vocalist was always desperately trying to sound like Dave Gahan; that distracted me so much from the music that I couldn't listen. Well, that wasn't a new phenomenon.
Back in the 80s, there was a band called the Messengers who lead vocalist desperately tried to sound like Midge Ure and, you know what, he succeeded. The really creepy thing about it all though was that Midge Ure actually produced the band...
Pete Shelley
This is a little known remix 12" of one of Pete Shelley's finest tracks, Waiting For Love. The Immaculate mix was a limited run 12" single released during the summer of 1986. I actually picked up mine when I went to see him on the Heaven & The Sea tour at Leicester Poly. Great night.
To be honest, the Immaculate Mix isn't the best, so I've included the regular 12" version too.
The Lotus Eaters
I know they had a little renaissance in the late 90s, but let's be honest, this is the last decent thing they did.
Posts
