The Rolling Stones in Mono / 16LP coloured vinyl box set repress

Mono vinyl box re-emerges as a coloured vinyl offering

Back in July, SDE informed you of a forthcoming vinyl repress of The Rolling Stones in Mono from ABKCO Records. It all went a bit quiet and this was never officially confirmed, although now it finally is and there’s a surprise bonus to boot! This 16LP vinyl box set of The Rolling Stones‘ albums from 1963 to 1969 will now be reissued in January next year, and unlike the original vinyl box, first issued back in 2016, this repress will offer 16 coloured vinyl records.

The Rolling Stones in Mono 16LP coloured vinyl box set (click image to enlarge)

This long out-of-print collection (Discogs prices start at over £600) brings together 14 studio albums plus Stray Cats, a compilation of songs from singles and EPs issued in the 1960s. In total, The Rolling Stones in Mono delivers 186 tracks, 56 of which, when issued in 2016, “had never before been heard in mono since the advent of the digital age.”

The Rolling Stones in Mono spans the era between 1963 and 1969 when most rock and pop recordings were originally mixed to mono, and as we know with The Beatles, stereo was often an afterthought, often completed far more quickly than its mono counterpart. This doesn’t mean mono is always ‘better’ than the stereo versions, but it can regularly be the case, with mono often more ‘powerful’ than a hastily mixed, and sometimes dubiously panned, stereo version.

The vinyl box starts at the band’s 1964 debut and runs through to 1969’s Let It Bleed and includes the US and UK versions of both Out of Our Heads and Aftermath. The Stray Cats compilation (think The Beatles’ Mono Masters) is a double vinyl LP, which means this is a 16LP vinyl box set.

The Rolling Stones in Mono was mastered by engineer Bob Ludwig and the albums are all pressed on 180g coloured vinyl. The records come packaged in an unusual outer box with a ‘wraparound’ flap at the top with a magnetic clasp. Inside is a 48 page booklet with photos and an essay by David Fricke

The Rolling Stones in Mono will be released on 20 January 2023 via UMC/ABKCO. Please note: any pre-orders made via Amazon UK in July should still be valid, because it’s the same product code (ASIN), but you should double-check your account to verify!

Tracklisting

In Mono The Rolling Stones / 16LP vinyl box set

    • LP 1: The Rolling Stones (UK) [Cobalt Blue vinyl]
      1. Route 66
      2. I Just Want To Make Love To You
      3. Honest I Do
      4. Mona (I Need You Baby)
      5. Now I’ve Got A Witness
      6. Little By Little
      7. I’m A King Bee
      8. Carol
      9. Tell Me
      10. Can I Get A Witness
      11. You Can Make It If You Try
      12. Walking The Dog
    • LP 2: 12 x 5 [Yellow vinyl]
      1. Around And Around
      2. Confessin’ The Blues
      3. Empty Heart
      4. Time Is On My Side
      5. Good Times, Bad Times
      6. It’s All Over Now
      7. 2120 South Michigan Avenue
      8. Under The Boardwalk
      9. Congratulations
      10. Grown Up Wrong
      11. If You Need Me
      12. Susie Q
    • LP 3: The Rolling Stones No. 2 [Steel Blue vinyl]
      1. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
      2. Down Home Girl
      3. You Can’t Catch Me
      4. Time Is On My Side
      5. What A Shame
      6. Grown Up Wrong
      7. Down The Road Apiece
      8. Under The Boardwalk
      9. I Can’t Be Satisfied
      10. Pain In My Heart
      11. Off The Hook
      12. Susie Q
    • LP 4: The Rolling Stones, Now! [Gold vinyl]
      1. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
      2. Down Home Girl
      3. You Can’t Catch Me
      4. Heart Of Stone
      5. What A Shame
      6. Mona (I Need You Baby)
      7. Down The Road Apiece
      8. Off The Hook
      9. Pain In My Heart
      10. Oh, Baby (We Got A Good Thing Goin’)
      11. Little Red Rooster
      12. Surprise, Surprise
    • LP 5: Out Of Our Heads (US) [Sky Blue vinyl]
      1. Mercy Mercy
      2. Hitch Hike
      3. The Last Time
      4. That’s How Strong My Love Is
      5. Good Times
      6. I’m All Right
      7. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
      8. Cry To Me
      9. The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man
      10. Play With Fire
      11. The Spider And The Fly
      12. One More Try
    • LP 6: Out Of Our Heads (UK) [Green vinyl]
      1. She Said Yeah
      2. Mercy Mercy
      3. Hitch Hike
      4. That’s How Strong My Love Is
      5. Good Times
      6. Gotta Get Away
      7. Talkin’ ‘Bout You
      8. Cry To Me
      9. Oh, Baby (We Got A Good Thing Goin’)
      10. Heart Of Stone
      11. The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man
      12. I’m Free
    • LP 7: December’s Children (And Everybody’s) [Silver vinyl]
      1. She Said Yeah
      2. Talkin’ Bout You
      3. You Better Move On
      4. Look What You’ve Done
      5. The Singer Not The Song
      6. Route 66
      7. Get Off Of My Cloud
      8. I’m Free
      9. As Tears Go By
      10. Gotta Get Away
      11. Blue Turns To Grey
      12. I’m Moving On
    • LP 8: Aftermath (UK) [Purple vinyl]
      1. Mother’s Little Helper
      2. Stupid Girl
      3. Lady Jane
      4. Under My Thumb
      5. Doncha Bother Me
      6. Going Home
      7. Flight 505
      8. High And Dry
      9. Out Of Time
      10. It’s Not Easy
      11. I Am Waiting
      12. Take It Or Leave It
      13. Think
      14. What To Do
    • LP 9: Aftermath (US) [Grey vinyl]
      1. 1Paint It, Black
      2. Stupid Girl
      3. Lady Jane
      4. Under My Thumb
      5. Doncha Bother Me
      6. Think
      7. Flight 505
      8. High And Dry
      9. It’s Not Easy
      10. I Am Waiting
      11. Going Home
    • LP 10: Between The Buttons (UK) [Azure Blue vinyl]
      1. Yesterday’s Papers
      2. My Obsession
      3. Back Street Girl
      4. Connection
      5. She Smiled Sweetly
      6. Cool, Calm & Collected
      7. All Sold Out
      8. Please Go Home
      9. Who’ s Been Sleeping Here?
      10. Complicated
      11. Miss Amanda Jones
      12. Something Happened To Me Yesterday
    • LP 11: Flowers [Pink vinyl]
      1. Ruby Tuesday
      2. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
      3. Let’s Spend The Night Together
      4. Lady Jane
      5. Out Of Time
      6. My Girl
      7. Back Street Girl
      8. Please Go Home
      9. Mother’s Little Helper
      10. Take It Or Leave It
      11. Ride On, Baby
      12. Sittin’ On A Fence
    • LP 12: Their Satanic Majesties Request [White vinyl]
      1. Sing This All Together
      2. Citadel
      3. In Another Land
      4. 2000 Man
      5. Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
      6. She’s A Rainbow
      7. The Lantern
      8. Gomper
      9. 2000 Light Years From Home
      10. On With The Show
    • LP 13: Beggars Banquet [Maroon vinyl]
      1. Sympathy For The Devil
      2. No Expectations
      3. Dear Doctor
      4. Parachute Woman
      5. Jig-saw Puzzle
      6. Street Fighting Man
      7. Prodigal Son
      8. Stray Cat Blues
      9. Factory Girl
      10. Salt Of The Earth
    • LP 14: Let It Bleed [Red vinyl]
      1. Gimme Shelter
      2. Love In Vain
      3. Country Honk
      4. Live With Me
      5. Let It Bleed
      6. Midnight Rambler
      7. You Got The Silver
      8. Monkey Man
      9. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
    • LP 15 & 16 Stray Cats compilation [White vinyl]
      1. Come On
      2. I Want To Be Loved
      3. I Wanna Be Your Man
      4. Stoned
      5. Fortune Teller
      6. Poison Ivy (Version 1)
      7. Bye Bye Johnny
      8. Money
      9. Poison Ivy (Verison 2)
      10. Not Fade Away
      11. I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
      12. The Under Assistant West Coast Promo Man (Single)
      13. 19th Nervous Breakdown
      14. Sad Day
      15. Con Le Mie Lacrime (As Tears Go By)
      16. Long, Long While
      17. Who’s Driving Your Plane?
      18. We Love You (Single Version)
      19. Dandelion
      20. Child Of The Moon
      21. Jumpin’ Jack Flash
      22. Street Fighting Man (Single)
      23. Honky Tonk Women
      24. You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Single)

Bret McKenzie on his new album and the art of not being funny

Sean Hannam talks to Bret, as his prepares to complete his tour in London

Bret McKenzie is one half of New Zealand musical comedy duo, Flight of the Conchords – the other member is Jemaine Clement. SDE caught up with Bret, who has recently released his debut solo album, Songs Without Jokes, and plays London later this week, to talk about his current tour, the challenges of writing serious songs and working with some of L.A.’s top session musicians.

I tried really hard to write songs without jokes because all the time I’m writing a lot of dick jokes

Bret McKenzie

SDE: Hi Bret. Thanks for sparing the time to talk to us. You’re on tour in the States. How’s that going?

Bret: I just played the Fillmore in San Francisco – it was epic and so fun. It’s a legendary venue – it was like the ghosts of all the previous gigs are in there and it’s got cool chandeliers… The crowd were really great.

The gigs have been rockin’ – the audiences come and they’re not sure what’s going to happen, to be honest. ‘What he’s gonna do? What is this thing?’ The show’s kind of a mixture of music and comedy – it’s funny because I banter away in-between the songs and I’ve been really trying to wake the audience up. I spent quite a few years at home, what with COVID, so I want the audience to be awake and not drifting off. I’m trying to connect with them. With stand-up comedy gigs, there’s a connection with the audience, so I try to bring that connection to the music show.

You’re playing London at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 20 November – are you looking forward to that?

I can’t wait – it’s a beautiful room and I haven’t been there in a while. My band are from New Zealand and half of them have never been to the UK before. It’s a buzzy time and it’s the last show of the tour – we’ve been across New Zealand and America, travelling on a bus, and the band is really smokin’. I’m psyched, man – it’s a tricky time to tour, with COVID – it’s really complicated. We were going to do all of the UK, but we had to reschedule the dates. We’re coming back next year to do a proper UK tour.

You’ve got an eight-piece band, haven’t you?

Yeah – in fact, in London, it’s going to be nine, with two horn players. It’s a huge band – ridiculously large and highly unviable financially, but it’s so much fun.

Let’s talk about your solo debut album, Songs Without Jokes. It has a real ‘70s singer-songwriter / L.A. vibe – you recorded it at EastWest Studios, in Hollywood. It sounds like Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, as well as Springsteen and Steely Dan. Are they all big influences on you?

Yeah – that’s spot on. That feels like quite a romantic period for singer-songwriters, in those L.A. West Coast studios. The production on the record is pretty high level. A friend of mine was laughing at how most COVID albums come out being bedroom recordings, but my record has high-end, Los Angeles session musicians on it! With those inspirations, like Randy Newman, Steely Dan, Harry Nilsson, and a little bit of Bruce Springsteen and Dire Straits, what was really exciting was that we were able to capture very accurately the sound that they make.

In the press material, you mention how you wanted one of the songs to sound like Steely Dan, so you told session guitarist, Dean Parks, that, and he told you that he’d actually played with them…

Yeah – that was so funny. He was like, ‘I’ve got that covered’…

You worked with some great US session musicians on the album, including drummer, Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.), and bassist Lee Sklar (James Taylor, Phil Collins). How was that?

It was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done – they are some of the master studio musicians and they were just so generous and encouraging. I’d say, ‘I’ve got this little song – let’s give it a go,’ and they’d launch off into these rockin’ jams. They’ve played with everyone. Great session musicians not only have to be great musicians but also cool people to hang out with because it’s part of the job. Lee Sklar looks like Gandalf, with a big, long beard.

The first track on the album, ‘This World’, which has a great horn arrangement, is very Randy Newman, and it deals with environmental issues…

It’s an eco-warrior song. I like the way it’s such a jaunty tune about such a tragic catastrophe. In that sense, it’s a little like Randy Newman, and it’s a piano song. Lots of the songs I wrote at home once I’d got my kids to bed – I was playing around in my lounge. During the day, I’d be writing songs for TV and film, but the other songs were little ideas and fragments that didn’t fit into the world of songwriting that I do for work. I collected them all up. It wasn’t really a concept album – they are more a collection of songs.

So, did it start off as a side-project and then turn into something much bigger?

Yeah – it really was a side-project, but once you release it, you have to do all these interviews…

Sorry about that...

No, it’s great – but it sounds like I’m on a mission to not be funny. It wasn’t like that, but I’m really enjoying it. I wanted to do something that was new and different. Creatively, I thought it would be a really interesting challenge. I tried really hard to write songs without jokes because all the time I’m writing a lot of dick jokes. I was like, ‘OK – no dick jokes’.

Was No Dick Jokes ever a working title for the album?

No, but someone suggested I should call it Songs Without Jemaine.

So, how much of a challenge was it to write songs without jokes?

I tried to avoid outrageous comedy rhymes. What was more interesting was writing songs based on an emotional state or a feeling. That was a different challenge for me, but I loved it. I’ve been enjoying opening up that side of songwriting.

Earlier you mentioned Dire Straits as being an influence. Your song ‘Dave’s Place’ has a Mark Knopfler feel vocally and some ‘80s synths on it…

Yeah, it really does. It started off sounding like a country song, but when we got into the studio, Mickey Petralia [producer], said, ‘How about we add a post-apocalyptic synth and a vintage drum machine?’ And then it came out the other end sounding like Dire Straits.

‘Here For You’ sounds like ‘Streets of Philadelphia’-era Springsteen…

I’ll take that. I was trying to write personal songs and to let them flow out a little more, which is a different style of writing for me. I think I’m still learning how to do it. Often the songs for Conchords and for films get chopped up, cut and pasted, broken down and rewritten.

The album does sound like a complete piece of work…

Thank you. Part of that was recording with the band and trying to capture that time. It’s funny – a lot of it is quite doomy. I’m writing newer songs that are a little less doomy.

‘That’s L.A.’ is a bit yacht rock, but it has a melancholy undercurrent, and ‘Up In Smoke’ is another sad song. The latter was written about the wildfires in California, wasn’t it? Were you caught up in that disaster?

A friend of mine was moving out of his house because of the forest fires and he was telling me about it. At the same time, there were forest fires in Australia and the smoke was drifting across to New Zealand. It was just a weird time – one night, I was playing the piano and I came up with a little song about that. It’s funny because I wasn’t trying too hard to write these songs…

What’s your songwriting process? Do you write on guitar and piano?

A bit of both. I have a terrible memory. My wife is really good – sometimes I’m in the lounge and playing the piano, and she’ll say, ‘Have you recorded the songs you think are good?’ Otherwise, the next day I can’t remember anything. So now I just record the little fragments on my phone.

‘A Little Tune’ could be a song from a musical and it has some great barroom piano on it…

I love that one – it’s the most Harry Nilsson one and it has the Preservation Hall Horns on it, from New Orleans. That song started small, but in the studio it blew up into this huge arrangement.

There’s a song called ‘America Goodbye’ on the album, and on the last track, ‘Crazy Times’, there’s a line where you sing, “L.A. – I miss you now – never thought I would…” Do you have a love-hate relationship with L.A. and the States?

Yeah – I do. I’ve got a real love-hate thing. I love working in America because they’re so foolishly optimistic. I don’t think it’s false optimism – they just think every dream can come true. Creatively, that’s really helpful because people say, ‘That’s a great idea – that would be awesome’. In New Zealand, people say, ‘Oh – that would never happen’, or it’s more like the UK: ‘Good luck with that, mate, you’ll never get another job…’. ‘America Goodbye’ is a song about leaving America but also about the crumbling American empire. It’s funny playing it to American audiences – it seems to really connect with them at the moment.

You write for TV and films, including The Muppets movies. What are you currently working on and what’s next? Another solo record?

I just wrote a song for The Simpsons – I was recording Homer yesterday. It was really fun. I’ve got five or six films I’m writing songs for – I have a big list of songs that I’ve got to write. I’m really lucky – I have plenty of work. I’ve started another record – I’m really enjoying it and the songwriting and working with musicians is energising me. It’s creatively very satisfying and it’s exciting.

At the London show, will you be doing any jokes without songs?

I do that joke – I say, ‘I’m going to do songs without jokes, some old songs with jokes and some jokes without songs’.

Oh, there you go, then…

You got it.


Thanks to Bret McKenzie, who was talking to Sean Hannam for SDE. Songs Without Jokes is out now on Sub Pop Records. Bret McKenzie is playing O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London on 20 November 2022. Book tickets here.

Out This Week / on 18 November 2022

Queen / The Miracle CD, Vinyl, Blu-ray, DVD

Queen’s 1989 album The Miracle is reissued as an 8-disc ‘Collector’s Edition’ box set.

Kiss / Creatures of the Night (reissue)

40th anniversary reissue of Kiss’ 1982 album.. The 5CD+blu-ray super deluxe features 75 unreleased tracks including demos, rarities, outtakes and soundboard live recordings from the Creatures ’82/’83 tour. The blu-ray contains Atmos and 5.1 surround mixes and the newly remastered stereo mix.


Neil Young and Crazy Horse / World Record

Neil Young and Crazy Horse release their third album of original material in four years, co-produced with the Rick Rubin at his Shangri-La studio in Malibu, California.

Win a Blondie ‘Against The Odds’ box set

In another great SDE competition, we have copy of Blondie’s Against The Odds box set to give away! This is the large format 8CD edition that features the six classic albums, remastered with bonus tracks and two further CDs of demos, alternate takes, home recordings and more. That’s 125 tracks in total.

The prize draw is open to all SDE Members. Simply ensure you are logged in and confirm your entry into the competition in the poll below! If you aren’t an SDE member yet, it’s free and easy to sign-up!

This competition has ended. The winner was announced on this post!

One winner will be randomly selected at 12 noon (GMT) on Saturday 19 November 2022 and will be contacted via the email address linked to their SDE account. The winner will also be announced on SDE. Good luck!

SDE Members are a valued part of SDE community and can leave comments on this site, rate physical releases, offer feedback via polls, receive release & deal alerts via email and more. Membership is free.

Film music supervisor Tarquin Gotch talks John Hughes, Kelly LeBrock and Kate Bush

Life Moves Pretty Fast: The John Hughes Mixtapes is the first official compilation of music from the movies of John Hughes 1983-1989. Curated by Hughes music supervisor Tarquin Gotch these 4CD and 6LP box sets include a diverse array of music including tracks from Simple Minds, OMD, The Dream Academy, Kate Bush, New Order, The Beat, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Yello, Book of Love, Lindsey Buckingham and many more.

Gotch spoke to SDE recently about life in the 1980s working with Hughes and the challenges and satisfaction of pairing music with pictures…


SDE: You must be very pleased to be involved in this Life Moves Pretty Fast project because it brings everything together.

Tarquin Gotch: Indeed. I’m very proud of it. And it’s taken literally years, many years. We’ve been working on it specifically for about three years. It took me a while to realise that when you look at the body of John’s teen films it was an interesting subject… him as a filmmaker and as somebody that used music as he did. So I thought it was a worthy subject. The next step was to make sure that the estate was happy. And that meant, building up trust by making sure they were across absolutely everything we did. The ambition was to do the definitive collection, and I think we’ve got 95 percent there. I am very frustrated that there are certain tracks that I can’t have. Tracks like Sixteen Candles by the Stray Cats. I signed the Stray Cats, I’m immensely proud of them and it was so clever of John to have them do that, so early in their career and in his career. But the deals that were done in those days were if you commissioned the work from a band, the film company owned the master for use in the film. And any other use was sort of left and unspoken. So you go to the film company say, “Well, we don’t want it to use in the film, obviously, we want to use it on this compilation”. They say: “We don’t have that right”. So we go to all the rights owners of The Stray Cats and say can we use it in this way and they say “We haven’t got that right”. Nobody has that right!? So I go to [Stray Cats drummer] Slim Jim [Phantom]. Jim is a wonderful man who I know personally. He says “Oh, yeah. We’d be fine [with it]”. Not enough! Not enough for the BBC [who own Demon Music]… So that happened on a few tracks, and it was very frustrating. There were other ones like ‘Apron Strings’ by Everything But The Girl where the band just said no, sadly.

You were the music supervisor on many of John Hughes films. Could you explain what the role of a music supervisor is on a film?

Anything to do with music falls on the music supervisor’s desk. From finding the composer, doing the deals for the composer, making sure the composer knows what is wanted. Most directors have a fairly intimate relationship with their composer and talk directly. You don’t need the music supervisor [for that]. But when it comes to licensing in tracks or creating tracks, then the director turns to the music supervisor and says “here you go”. And that’s a pretty personal relationship. I’ve done other stuff – I was on the first series of The Wonder Years and I did a Tom Waits film, blah blah blah… but I was very much a John Hughes guy.

John Hughes was an Anglophile. He loved everything English

Tarquin Gotch

The reason why I worked well for John was because he was an anglophile. He loved everything English, because when he was in high school, the way that he marked out his otherness was by being on the case in terms of hip music. And at that time, that meant being across English imports. It started, I believe, with The Beatles, when he got the import version of Revolver. And so when I met John, which was he was directing Weird Science and in post production on Pretty in Pink, the internet wasn’t there and you couldn’t just get music at the drop of the hat. Nobody was doing instrumental versions… so as an ex-A&R man out of the UK, I had access to tracks that he couldn’t find anywhere else. I look back and I realise just how sweet and great he was, to put so many of my bands in his films. But you can turn that around and go, because I had those bands and could give him instrumental versions, demos, TV versions with no vocal… whatever, it was a two-way street.

You had been an A&R man for Arista and then WEA, so you had all that background and knowledge of working with artists.

Correct. So I had access to a lot of the UK music business. The only other band in The Breakfast Club really is Wang Chung and I signed them. With Arista, it was tricky, because Clive Davis would never take any of my groups for America. So was a frustrated A&R man, Paul. And now I’m a frustrated old man!

Apparently, Kelly LeBrock was was your introduction to John Hughes. How did you know her?

[Laughs] Am I lucky guy or what? I mean, Kelly LeBrock in Weird Science…  God dammit! I knew her from London because she grew up here. In fact, she went to school here in Lewes, she has told me since. So I was lurking about with her, flirting away like mad and having lots of fun. She was this sort of wild model and I was a late night A&R man, so the two lifestyles really worked and she very kindly invited me out to stay with her. She was married to Victor Drai, the producer of The Woman in Red and she was filming Weird Science and said “come to the set”.  I got talking to John and I got the job! She now claims it was a well thought out plan by her, and it may well have been. Frankly, whatever Kelly says is in good in my books.

You mentioned earlier about composers. There were scores in John’s films, but no one ever really remembers that, they remember all the pop music. What was what was it about pop music that John Hughes was so enamoured with?

Ira Newborn, who was his ‘go to’ composer by and large, was just this wonderful man. Very funny, very self-effacing, and he called himself the king of the ‘stings’. Because John would have him score the whole film, and then John would fill it up with all these tracks. Why did John do that? I think it’s because directors love choices, above all. That’s why they do lots of takes and John was famous for doing that. And there are stories throughout his career of him just wanting to try different music against picture and watch what it does.

Directors love choices, above all. That’s why they do lots of takes and John was famous for doing that

Tarquin Gotch

And we would spend all night doing that. And sometimes you’d find something – I’m going to say Yello at the end of Ferris Bueller – and you go “fuck me, that is great!” And John would say, “Yeah, but let’s try some opera..” What? I mean, he would just keep going, and then double-back and go “Alright, yeah, Yello”.

How did the process work? Did he always wait until filming was completed before looking at different music?

No. He’d send the script to me. And of course, he was the first director I’ve ever worked with, so I didn’t know that scripts weren’t always that good. The first script I read was, I don’t know, Pretty in Pink, and you’re like, “that’s pretty good”. I think one of the reasons I worked well with him was because I was in the UK, so there was a time difference. He loved to talk on the phone: cigarette, coffee, talk! So he sent me the script, we’d talk about it, and we’d start sending music to him. Then as he started shooting we’d get VHS tapes of the scenes that he knew he wanted music for, and we’d get little instructions: “I want it sad”, “I want it romantic”, “I want it introspective”, “I want it exuberant”… and then we’d send more music to him. As the scenes got edited, you would narrow it down and it would become much more specific. But I would turn up at his house with bags of ideas. And that’s what they want – choice.

So you were backwards and forwards to America a fair amount?

I lived on planes a lot, in those days. I lived in both LA and London. I had a house in London and rented a place in LA. It was before they realised that planes had to be full and you could often lie down on the seats. Those days are long gone.

Were the artists involved aware of the commercial benefits of having their song played in movies?

Yes. I mean, obviously, nobody was immune to the fact that ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ had gone to number one. Nobody was immune to the fact that three artists out of Pretty in Pink really were launched by that film. I’m thinking Psychedelic Furs, OMD, and Suzanne Vega. So that had become apparent. On the downside. There was still a big feeling at that time from groups like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles that no, no, we don’t do that. We don’t licence our music. It is art and it has to be enjoyed in the way that we intended it to be consumed, not just added on to somebody else’s thing. Very valid. But you had you had that going on.

You talked about licencing problems all these years later for this boxset, but you clearly still would have had problems at the time. And the story I want to pick up on is the one about This Mortal Coil, and She’s Having A Baby which I found really interesting, because everyone’s so familiar with the Kate Bush song from that film, but it could well have been something else completely.

It could have been This Mortal Coil’s ‘Song to the Siren’, and it was great. And it had an eerie vagueness to it that was really good. But, boy, did they do us a favour [by saying no]. Despite the obvious commercial advantages of giving your music to a film, not to mention the money, a lot of groups were rather sneery about John Hughes films. It wasn’t Fellini, it wasn’t Jean Luc Goddard, it was this sort of white, middle class, Capra-like material, which it was absolutely their prerogative to not want to embrace. And This Mortal Coil was a case in point.

You have to grudgingly admire them because it sounded like a lot of money was being thrown at them, yet they were still saying no…

Yes, it was. The one time that throwing money at it worked was with The Beatles and ‘Twist and Shout’ in Ferris Bueller. Money!

Money. That’s what I want!

And it worked. John was a huge Beatles fan. I mean, they were Gods to him. And then Paul McCartney made this understandably, slightly narky remark about us having added brass to the song, which we did, because in the scene in Ferris, in the parade, you can see brass players, so we just added it. And then we got this letter from some lawyers and Paul later made that comment.

Continuing on with the She’s Having A Baby thing then… Kate Bush has this reputation, especially these days, of taking 10 years to make an album. So how did you manage to get her to write and record a song in a relatively short space of time? And how did you know her in the first place?

My lawyer introduced me, I went down, we smoked joints, we got smashed, and it all just seemed to go perfectly. And it wasn’t slow. I think for her, the fact that John gave her a whole segment and said “here you go” and she was writing to picture. I hope I’m not doing her a disservice, but it may have been the first time that she did that. And that’s a creative challenge that I think probably stimulated her. You know, it’s, it’s easier than a blank canvas, I’m going to humbly suggest.

So when she came back to you, did she basically give you a finished product and say, “that’s it”?

Yes.

What did you think when you first heard it?

I can’t tell you the relief. The utter, utter relief when John said, “Oh my God, that’s brilliant”. And he extended the segment to cover the whole song because it was so bloody good. But what I’m missing out of that is that you’ve just got deadlines bearing down on you. And, you know, I’ve stopped working on features films really because the pressure of those deadlines is just unforgiving.

The video to This Woman’s Work that Kate Bush made when she released the song as a single in 1989

Was there any ever any pressure for the artists to release a song as a single to promote the film? Because the Kate Bush one was interesting in that she waited until the end of 1989 when The Sensual World had come out, and it was the second single from that album. But of course, if she had released it as a single with clips from the film in the video, at that time [1988], it would have helped the film and her, probably.

She did not give us the right to use it as a single. I think she was protecting her own schedule  and you’re absolutely right. It wasn’t John’s most successful movie, obviously, and the fact that that track sort of creeped out… It is something that’s grown in stature over the years..

One of the things that’s quite interesting is that some of these films didn’t get a soundtrack album at the time. So Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is the obvious example of that. When pop music is such an important part of those films, why why wasn’t there a soundtrack? I

It’s one of the great mysteries, and I’m afraid I don’t have the definitive answer. I have theories. John’s public position was that the music is too diverse. It wouldn’t make a cohesive soundtrack. But that’s not logical; it doesn’t really makes sense. He had a very creative and close relationship with the music executive at A&M called David Anderle. He’d seen him through Pretty in Pink and that suddenly stopped, and we moved away from A&M records. So I have a feeling it has more to do with that than than anything else. The other possibility is that we did not have soundtrack rights for The Beatles’ ‘Twist and Shout’. So we wouldn’t be putting out a soundtrack album without the hit. I think it’s probably a combination of all those three.

John was building up the Hughes Music business. It wasn’t just about putting a few pop songs on his on his films, it was an integral part of, his interests, his life.

He had said “I only make the films so I can put the music in them”. He so loved that process of putting music to picture and going back to where we started the conversation, there’s him as an outsider in high school, finding obscure music. So he brought that to the process. So there’s two things going on: the movie platform and unknown artists. And the obvious thing was to do a deal and in the end it was with with Irving Azoff at Universal. The deal was that he could sign one band per soundtrack. Unfortunately, this clever idea happened, just as he was fading away from doing teen movies and into family movies. And the simple rule is that if adults are talking, you can’t play loud music.

You managed XTC, Stephen Duffy amongst others. I guess you enjoyed that and it must have been hard to give that up, because you had to drop them in the end. How difficult was that?

It was horrible. He phoned me up… John was mercuial and you were either his best friend or you weren’t getting calls at all. I was in doing Christmas Vacation when the relationship ended, I went back to England and was busy managing all my artists. And I get the call from John going, “I want you to come and run the company in Chicago and be my producer”. This is a lifetime ambition [of mine] to be a movie producer. You know, I was thinking, of course, that it meant palm trees, sun and that I’d meet lots of actresses. The reality was I ended up in Chicago, I made four movies for him, and they all shot in the middle of winter, in Chicago – it was hell. But the condition was, if I wanted the job, I had to give up the [artist] management. I’ve regretted it. I came back to England in 2004 and I had no job.

Yello’s ‘Oh Yeah’ was used in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

But when you were getting into film producing, your role was changing dramatically. You were effectively leaving the music element behind, to a certain degree.

Yes. And it was brilliant, exciting, incredibly demanding and that pressure I referred to earlier was intense. And I went on to work for Fox and run their TV movie division. And that was the same, you know, three movies a year… it eats your life. The thing about those sorts of jobs is that they pay you very well, but they take your life.

Did you enjoy living in America or were you pleased to get back to the UK, when you eventually came back?

I loved America. When I first went out to California, I was a hippie, taking loads of drugs and went to San Francisco. With LA, I could not imagine a worse place on earth, and it was a bit of a shock to realise I lived there for 20 years! When did the hippy say “No, that’s fine. I’ll work for Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and I’ll live in LA – not a problem!” But it’s great to be back here. Coming back here gave me permission to decide, ‘fuck it’. I don’t need to produce movies all the time. I’ll manage Jon Lord – what a pleasure that was!

Out of all his John’s films and which one do you think uses music the most memorably?

In some ways, it’s She’s Having A Baby, which is annoying because it wasn’t the most successful. But actually, it’s probably a fight between Ferris Bueller and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Is there one particular moment that you can hone in on a John Hughes film and say “that’s perfect”?

I’ve got a few: The Dream Academy in the museum in Ferris Bueller, looking at the paintings. Of course, Yello at the end of Ferris… I think The Beat’s ‘March of the Swivelheads’, when Ferris runs through the back yards. And I think Emmylou Harris, in the motel scene –  “Those aren’t pillows!” – in Planes Trains and Automobiles. I’m just so pleased that Emmylou stayed because we did a test screening of that film and the audience hated country music at the time. And we had to take it all out, but somehow we kept that and I’m so pleased.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is my favourite John Hughes film. I can watch it endlessly and it never gets old…

I agree. If I had to choose my favourite film that I have my name on, it’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles.


Thanks to Targuin Gotch who was talking to Paul Sinclair for SDE. Life Moves Pretty Fast: The John Hughes Mixtapes is released today.

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Various Artists

Life Moves Pretty Fast - deluxe 4CD box set with cassette and seven-inch single

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Life Moves Pretty Fast - 6LP red vinyl box set

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Life Moves Pretty Fast - standard 4CD deluxe set

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Tracklisting

Life Moves Pretty Fast Various Artists / The John Hughes Mixtapes

    • CD 1
      1.    Kajagoogoo – Kajagoogoo (Instrumental) – From The 1984 Movie ‘From The 1984 Movie Sixteen Candles’
      2. Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me) – From The 1985 Movie The Breakfast Club
      3. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – If You Leave – From The 1986 Movie Pretty In Pink
      4. Oingo Boingo – Weird Science – From The 1985 Movie Weird Science
      5. Furniture – Brilliant Mind – From The 1987 Movie Some Kind Of Wonderful
      6. Dave Wakeling – She’s Having A Baby – From The 1988 Movie She’s Having A Baby
      7. The Flowerpot Men – Beat City – From The 1986 Movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
      8. The Psychedelic Furs – Pretty In Pink – From The 1986 Movie Pretty In Pink
      9. Flesh For Lulu – I Go Crazy – From The 1987 Movie Some Kind Of Wonderful
      10. Dr. Calculus – Full Of Love – From The 1988 Movie She’s Having A Baby
      11. Lick The Tins – Can’t Help Falling In Love – From The 1987 Movie Some Kind Of Wonderful
      12. Steve Earle & The Dukes – Six Days On The Road (Album Version) – From The 1987 Movie Planes, Trains And Automobiles
      13. Kirsty MacColl – You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby (Soundtrack Version) – From The 1988 Movie She’s Having A Baby
      14. Suzanne Vega & Joe Jackson – Left Of Center – From The 1986 Movie Pretty In Pink
      15. Pete Shelley – Do Anything (Soundtrack Version) – From The 1987 Movie Some Kind Of Wonderful
      16. Carmel – It’s All In The Game – From The 1988 Movie She’s Having A Baby
      17. The Dream Academy – Power To Believe (Instrumental) – From The 1987 Movie Planes, Trains And Automobiles
      18. Kate Bush – This Woman’s Work – From The 1988 Movie She’s Having A Baby
      19. New Order – Elegia (2015 Remaster) – From The 1986 Movie Pretty In Pink
    • CD 2
      1. The Beat – March Of The Swivelheads (Rotating Heads – Dub Version)
      2. Nick Heyward – When It Started To Begin
      3. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Tesla Girls
      4. Big Audio Dynamite – BAD
      5. Killing Joke – Eighties
      6. The Specials – Little Bitch
      7. Gene Loves Jezebel – Desire (Come and Get It) (US Club Mix)
      8. Flesh For Lulu – Slide
      9. Love And Rockets – Haunted When The Minutes Drag
      10. Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Love Missile F1-11 (Ultraviolence Mix)
      11. Lords Of The New Church – Method To My Madness
      12. The Jesus And Mary Chain – The Hardest Walk (Single Version)
      13. Echo & The Bunnymen – Bring On The Dancing Horses
      14. General Public – Tenderness
      15. The Blue Room – I’m Afraid
      16. Belouis Some – Round, Round
      17. Thompson Twins – If You Were Here
      18. The Dream Academy – Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental) 3.07
    • CD 3
      1. Yello – Oh Yeah
      2. Book Of Love – Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes)
      3. Otis Redding – Try A Little Tenderness
      4. Patti Smith – Gloria: In Excelsis Deo
      5. Westworld – Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo
      6. Divinyls – Ring Me Up
      7. Topper Headon – Drummin’ Man
      8. Billy Idol – Catch My Fall
      9. The Association – Cherish
      10. Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Music For A Found Harmonium
      11. Zapp – Radio People
      12. The Blue Room – Cry Like This
      13. Ray Charles – Mess Around
      14. Joe Turner – Lipstick, Powder and Paint
      15. Darlene Love – (Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry
      16. Marvin Gaye – How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
      17. Perry Como With Mitchell Ayres And His Orchestra And The Ray Charles Singers – Juke Box Baby
      18. The Chordettes – Mr. Sandman
      19. Ray Anthony And His Orchestra – The Peter Gunn Theme
    • CD 4
      1. Lindsey Buckingham – Holiday Road
      2. Emmylou Harris – Back in Baby’s Arms
      3. Hugh Harris – Rhythm Of Life
      4. Spandau Ballet – True
      5. Propaganda – Abuse – Here
      6. The Dream Academy – The Edge of Forever
      7. Yello – Lost Again (Album Version)
      8. Bryan Ferry – Crazy Love
      9. The Rave-Ups – Positively Lost Me
      10. Los Lobos – Don’t Worry Baby
      11. Steve Earle – Continental Trailways Blues (Album Version)
      12. The Revillos – Rev Up!
      13. Boston – More Than A Feeling
      14. Balaam And The Angel – I’ll Show You Something Special
      15. The Rave-Ups – Rave Up/Shut Up
      16. Pop Will Eat Itself – Beaver Patrol
      17. The Vapors – Turning Japanese
      18. Silicon Teens – Red River Rock
    • Cassette
      Side A
      1. Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me)
      2. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – If You Leave 3. Oingo Boingo – Weird Science
      3. Yello – Oh Yeah
      4. Dave Wakeling – She’s Having A Baby
      5. Lick The Tins – Can’t Help Falling In Love
      6. The Flowerpot Men – Beat City
      7. Steve Earle & The Dukes – Six Days On The Road (Album Version)
      8. Kate Bush – This Woman’s Work
      Side B
      1. The Psychedelic Furs – Pretty In Pink
      2. Furniture – Brilliant Mind
      3. Killing Joke – Eighties
      4. Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Love Missile F1-11 (Ultraviolence Mix)
      5. Flesh For Lulu – I Go Crazy
      6. Echo & The Bunnymen – Bring On The Dancing Horses
      7. General Public – Tenderness
      8. Kirsty MacColl – You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby
      9. The Dream Academy – Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental)
    • 7″ single
      Side A
      1. The Flowerpot Men – Beat City
      Side B
      1. The Blue Room – I’m Afraid

Paul McCartney / The 7″ Singles

Paul McCartney is to release a massive seven-inch singles vinyl box set next month. The 7″ Singles contains 80 vinyl seven-inch singles, starting with 1970’s ‘Another Day’ and working through the decades to ‘Women and Wives’ from 2020’s McCartney III.

There are 65 recreations of singles/promos using restored artwork from 11 different countries. Additionally 15 singles are included that have never before been issued on seven-inch. These are mostly digital-only releases or songs that were for other reasons not issued on seven-inch.

As you can imagine, 80 seven-inch singles requires a big box and so these are packaged in a two-piece, four-walled FSC-approved “Redwood pine and Birch Ply wooden art crate” manufactured in the United Kingdom.

The 7″ Singles box set (click image to enlarge)

This comes with a 148-page book containing foreword from Paul, essay by Rob Sheffield, recording notes, release dates, and chart information on each of the singles.

Some of the audio has been remastered and some of it is taken from the previous Archive Collection remasters. What has been remastered and what hasn’t, will be an interesting talking point and since certain albums haven’t been reissued yet (like Wings’ London Town and Back to the Egg) and Paul McCartney’s Give My Regards To Broad Street and Press to Play) this is an opportunity to hear some songs from those albums remastered for the first time (although a few cuts featured on 2016’s Pure McCartney).

This box set is limited to 3,000 units worldwide and according to the blurb, includes “1 exclusive test pressing randomly selected from the manufacturing process” which appears to be shown in the image below.

No surprises, this is expensive! In the UK is retailing for £615 and is only available via McCartney’s shop or Universal Music channels (like Sound of Vinyl or uDiscoverMusic). It is going to be available digitally and on streaming but there’s no CD edition.

The 7″ Singles is released on 2 December 2022, via MPL/UMC.

US Links: Paul McCartney’s shop •

Alternative view of The 7″ Singles (click image to enlarge)

Track listing

1970, Sweden
1A: Another Day
1B: Oh Woman, Oh Why

1971, US Mono
Promotional Release
2A: Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey [Mono]
2B: Too Many People [Mono]

1971, UK
3A: The Back Seat of My Car
3B: Heart of the Country

Previously unreleased on 7”
4A: Love Is Strange [Single Edit]
4B: I Am Your Singer

1972, UK
5A: Give Ireland Back to the Irish
5B: Give Ireland Back to the Irish [Version]

1972, UK
6A: Mary Had a Little Lamb
6B: Little Woman Love

1972, Belgium
7A: Hi, Hi, Hi
7AA: C Moon

1973, Israel
8A: My Love
8B: The Mess [Live at The Hague]

1973, Sweden
9A: Live and Let Die
9B: I Lie Around

1973, Spain
10A: Helen Wheels
10B: Country Dreamer

1974, Germany
11A: Jet
11B: Let Me Roll It

1974, Germany
12A: Band on the Run
12B: Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

1974, The Netherlands
13A: Mrs. Vandebilt
13B: Bluebird

1974, Belgium
14A: Junior’s Farm
14B: Sally G

1975, Australia
15A: Listen to What the Man Said
15B: Love in Song

1975, Germany
16A: Letting Go
16B: You Gave Me the Answer

1975, Belgium
17A: Venus and Mars / Rock Show
17B: Magneto and Titanium Man

1976, France
18A: Silly Love Songs
18B: Cook of the House

1976, Germany
19A: Let ‘Em In
19B: Beware My Love

1977, Japan
20A: Maybe I’m Amazed (Live)
20B: Soily (Live)

1977, UK
21A: Mull of Kintyre
21AA: Girls’ School1978,Germany
22A: With a Little Luck (DJ Edit)
22B: Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link

1978, UK
23A: I’ve Had Enough
23B: Deliver Your Children

1978, The Netherlands
24A: London Town
24B: I’m Carrying

1978, France
25A: Goodnight Tonight
25B: Daytime Nightime Suffering

1979, UK
26A: Old Siam, Sir
26B: Spin It On

1979, UK
27A: Getting Closer
27AA: Baby’s Request

1979, Japan
28A: Arrow Through Me
28B: Old Siam, Sir

1979, UK
29A: Wonderful Christmastime
29B: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reggae

1980, UK
30A: Coming Up
30B: Coming Up (Live at Glasgow) 30BB: Lunch Box/Odd Sox

1980, UK
31A: Waterfalls
31B: Check My Machine

Previously unreleased on 7”
32A: Temporary Secretary
32B: Secret Friend
[7” Single Edit]

1982, UK
33A: Ebony and Ivory
33B: Rainclouds

1982, UK
34A: Take It Away
34B: I’ll Give You a Ring

1982, UK
35A: Tug of War
35B: Get It

1983, UK
36A: Say Say Say
36B: Ode to a Koala Bear

1983, UK
37A: Pipes of Peace
37B: So Bad

1984, UK
38A: No More Lonely Nights (Ballad)
38B: No More Lonely Nights (Playout Version)

1984, UK
39A: We All Stand Together
39B: We All Stand Together (Humming Version)

1985, US
40A: Spies Like Us
40B: My Carnival

1986, US
41A: Press [Video Edit]
41B: It’s Not True

1986, Art reformatted from US 12” promotional vinyl
42A: Pretty Little Head (Remix)
42B: Write Away

1986, US
43A: Stranglehold
43B: Angry (Remix)

1986, UK
44A: Only Love Remains
44B: Tough on a Tightrope

1987, UK
45A: Once Upon a Long Ago
45B: Back on My Feet

1989, US
46A: My Brave Face
46B: Flying to My Home

1989, UK
47A: This One
47B: The First Stone

1989, Australia
48A: Figure of Eight [7” Bob Clearmountain Mix]
48B: Où Est le Soleil

1989, UK
49A: Party Party
49B: Artwork etching

1990, UK
50A: Put It There
50B: Mama’s Little Girl

1990, Europe
51A: The Long and Winding Road
51B: C Moon

1990, UK
52A: Birthday
52B: Good Day Sunshine

1990, UK
53A: All My Trials
53B: C Moon

Previously unreleased on 7”
54A: The World You’re Coming Into
54AA: Tres Conejos
54B: Save the Child
54BB: The Drinking Song (Let’s Find Ourselves a Little Hostelry

1992, Europe
55A: Hope of Deliverance
55B: Long Leather Coat

1993, Germany
56A: C’Mon People
56B: I Can’t Imagine

1997, Reformatted from 7” picture disc
57A: Young Boy
57B: Looking for You

1997, Reformatted from 7” picture disc
58A: The World Tonight
58B: Used to Be Bad

1997, Reformatted from 7” picture disc
59A: Beautiful Night
59B: Love Come Tumbling Down

1999, UK
60A: No Other Baby
60B: Brown Eyed Handsome Man
60BB: Fabulous

2001, Europe
61A: From a Lover to a Friend
61B: Riding into Jaipur

2004, Europe
62A: Tropic Island Hum
62B: We All Stand Together

2005, Europe
63A: Fine Line
63B: Growing Up Falling Down

2005, Europe
64A: Jenny Wren
64B: Summer of ’59

Previously unreleased on 7”
65A: Dance Tonight
65B: Dance Tonight [Demo]

Previously unreleased on 7”
66A: Nod Your Head
66B: 222

2007, Europe
67A: Ever Present Past
67B: House of Wax (Live)

Previously unreleased on 7”
68A: Sing the Changes
68B: Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight [Radio Edit]

Previously unreleased on 7”
69A: (I Want To) Come Home
69B: (I Want To) Come Home [Demo]

Previously unreleased on 7”
70A: My Valentine
70B: Get Yourself Another Fool

2012, US
Christmas Kisses
71A: The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
71B: Wonderful Christmastime

Previously unreleased on 7”
72A: New
72B: Early Days

Previously unreleased on 7”
73A: Queenie Eye
73B: Save Us

Previously unreleased on 7”
74A: Hope for the Future
74B: Hope for the Future [Thrash Mix]

Previously unreleased on 7”
75A: In the Blink of an Eye
75B: Walking in the Park with Eloise

2018, Global
76A: I Don’t Know
76AA: Come on to Me

Previously unreleased on 7”
77A: Who Cares
77B: Fuh You

2019, Global
78A: Home Tonight
78AA: In a Hurry

Previously unreleased on 7”
79A: Find My Way
79AA: Winter Bird / When Winter Comes

Previously unreleased on 7”
80A: Women and Wives
80B: Women and Wives (St. Vincent Remix)

New Order / Low-Life box set

The ‘Definitive Edition’ of the album is a LP+2CD+2DVD box featuring unreleased audio and rare live performances

New Order are to reissue a ‘definitive edition’ box set of their 1985 album Low-Life, early next year.

The album featured the singles ‘The Perfect Kiss’ and ‘Sub-Culture’, although neither song was a top 40 hit in the UK. The non-album track ‘Shellshock’ followed (it featured on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack) and reached #28 in the UK charts.

The box set features a 180g vinyl LP, two CDs, two DVDs and a book. The second CD features previously unreleased mixes and alternate versions of songs including rough mixes and ‘Writing Session Recordings’.

The New Order Low-Life ‘definitive edition’ box set (click image to enlarge)

The two DVDs include an unreleased performance from The Manhattan Club, Belgium and rarely seen footage from Rotterdam Arena (Netherlands), International Centre (Toronto, Canada) and a BBC filmed Whistle Test at The Hacienda, 1985. The vinyl LP record comes in its original ‘heavyweight tracing paper’, designed by Peter Saville. In addition, the CD will also be wrapped in the same way for the first time ever

The box includes a hardcover book with rare photos and a new interviews with band members. As with previous box sets, New Order will release the singles on vinyl 12-inch. These are ‘The Perfect Kiss’, ‘Sub-Culture’ and ‘Shellshock’.

The Low-Life box set will be released on 27 January 2023, via Rhino.

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New Order

Low Life [Definitive Edition]

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The Perfect Kiss - 12-inch single reissue

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Sub-Culture - 12-inch single reissue

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Tracklisting

Low-Life New Order /

    • CD 1
      1. Love Vigilantes
      2. The Perfect Kiss
      3. This Time Of Night
      4. Sunrise
      5. Elegia
      6. Sooner Than You Think
      7. Sub-Culture
      8. Face Up
    • CD 2: Extras
      1. Love Vigilantes – TV Pitch Instrumental Edit (mono)
      2. The Perfect Kiss – Writing Session Recording
      3. Untitled no. 1 – Writing Session Recording
      4. Sunrise – Instrumental Rough Mix **
      5. Elegia – Full Length Version *
      6. Sooner Than You Think – Album Session Unedited Version
      7. Sub-Culture – Album Session Early Instrumental Version
      8. Face Up – Writing Session Recording
      9. Let’s Go – Album Session Instrumental
      10. Untitled no. 2 – Writing Session Recording
      11. Sunrise – Writing Session Recording
      12. Love Vigilantes – Writing Session Recording
      13. Sooner Than You Think – Writing Session Recording
      14. Skullcrusher – Demo
      All tracks previously unreleased except * and ** (previously unreleased on CD and Digital)
    • DVD 1
      Live in Tokyo
      The Koseinenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan 1985
      1. Confusion
      2. Love Vigilantes
      3. We All Stand
      4. As It Is When It Was
      5. Sub-Culture
      6. Face Up
      7. Sunrise
      8. This Time Of Night
      9. Blue Monday
      Live in Rotterdam
      The Rotterdam Arena, Netherlands 1985
      1. As It Is When It Was
      2. Everything’s Gone Green*
      3. Sub-Culture*
      4. Ceremony*
      5. Let’s Go*
      6. This Time Of Night*
      7. The Village
      8. The Perfect Kiss*
      9. Age Of Consent*
      10. Sunrise
      11. Temptation*
      12. Face Up*
      Live in Manchester
      Whistle Test, The Hacienda 1985
      1. As It Is When It Was
      2. Sunrise
      3. Face Up – Restored version using available footage from The Hacienda Dec ‘85 and July ‘85.
    • DVD 2
      Live in Leuven
      The Manhattan Club, Leuven, Belgium 1985
      1. Let’s Go*
      2. The Perfect Kiss*
      3. Age Of Consent*
      4. State Of The Nation*
      5. As It Is When It Was*
      6. The Village*
      7. Sub-Culture*
      8. Atmosphere*
      9. Blue Monday*
      Bonus Tracks
      1. Thieves Like Us*
      2. Temptation*
      3. Confusion – Restored version from damaged tape with mixing desk audio.*
      Live in Toronto
      Filmed by Paul Boyd
      The International Centre, Toronto, Canada 1985
      1. Elegia*
      2. Sub-Culture*
      3. The Village*
      4. Sunrise*
      5. We All Stand
      6. As It Is When It Was*
      7. Love Vigilantes*
      8. 586*
      9. Age Of Consent
      10. Temptation
      11. Ceremony*
      12. The Perfect Kiss*
      The Perfect Film
      Rehearsal Room, Cheetham Hill, Manchester 1985
      1. The Perfect Kiss
      *unreleased

British Mod Sounds Volume 2: The Freakbeat & Psych Years

Follow-up compilation features 95 tracks on 4CDs, 91 tracks on 6LPs and a 31-track 2LP set. Limited signed editions available.

Acid Jazz Records and Modcast founder Eddie Piller has curated a second volume of his rather good British Mod Sounds of The 1960s compilation. Volume 2 is dubbed The Freakbeat & Psych Years although it could be called ‘What Mods did next’ as it traces the scene from early 1965 to the end of the 1960s. It is available on three physical formats.

The limited version of British Mod Sounds Volume 2 features 4CDs and comes with a signed print.

This compilation tracks the development of the original Mod mainstays (the Small Faces, The Who, The Action, The Kinks), with a selection of future superstars (David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Fleetwood Mac, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Steve Howe of Yes are all represented here), alongside a few artists so obscure, that they never even got to release a record in the ’60s (but Eddie has tracked down the tapes nonetheless!).

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British Mod Sounds of The 1960s Vol 2: The Freakbeat & Psych Years is available as 95-track 4CD set (Amazon UK has an exclusive signed edition limited to 750 copies), a 6LP package with signed print (91 tracks & pressed on purple-coloured vinyl) and a 2LP overview (31 tracks).

It includes a new sleeve notes by Richard Norris and is released on 17 February 2023 via Demon Music.

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The 6LP version is pressed on purple vinyl and includes a signed print

Tracklisting

British Mod Sounds Vol 2: The Freakbeat & Psych Years Various Artists /

    • CD 1

      1. The Fairies – Get Yourself Home
      2. The Birds – No Good Without You Baby
      3. The Poets – Call Again
      4. The Sorrows – You’ve Got What I Want
      5. The Eyes – When The Night Falls
      6. The New Breed – Unto Us
      7. The Riot Squad – I Take It We’re Through
      8. Jan Panter – Scratch My Back
      9. Wimple Winch – Save My Soul
      10. Loose Ends – Taxman
      11. The Ivy League – My World Fell Down
      12. Yardbirds – Happenings Ten Years Time Ago
      13. Fleur De Lys – Mud In Your Eye
      14. The Truth – Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness)
      15. Scots Of St James – Tic Toc
      16. The Flies – I’m Not Your Stepping Stone
      17. The Move – Disturbance
      18. The Craig – I Must Be Mad
      19. The Drag Set – Day And Night
      20. Apostolic Intervention – Tell Me (Have You Ever Seen Me)
      21. David Bowie – The Gospel According To Tony Day
      22. Tomorrow – My White Bicycle
      23. John’s Children – Midsummer Night’s Scene
      24. Caleb – Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad
      25. The Attack – Created By Clive
      26. The Gods – Come On Down To My Boat Baby
      27. Alex Harvey – The Sunday Song
      28. Keith West – Excerpt From a Teenage Opera
    • CD 2
      1. Our Plastic Dream – Encapsulated Marigold
      2. The Action – In My Dream
      3. Dantalian’s Chariot – Madman Running Through The Fields
      4. Kaleidoscope – Flight From Ashiya
      5. Sands – Listen To The Sky
      6. Scott Walker – Montagu Terrace (In Blue)
      7. The 23rd Turnoff – Michael Angelo
      8. The Fairytale – Listen To Mary Cry
      9. Felius Andromeda – Meditations
      10. Ice – Anniversary Of Love
      11. Rupert’s People – Dream On My Mind
      12. The Accent – Red Sky At Night
      13. The Creation – Life Is Just Beginning
      14. The Who – I Can See For Miles
      15. Fleetwood Mac – Rambling Pony
      16. The Cymbaline – Matrimonial Fears
      17. Tintern Abbey – Vacuum Cleaner
      18. Traffic – Coloured Rain
      19. Andy Ellison – It’s Been A Long Time
      20. The Micky Finn – Garden Of My Mind
      21. Warm Sounds – Nite Is A Comin’
      22. Mike Stuart Span – Children Of Tomorrow
      23. Nirvana – Rainbow Chaser
      24. Mark Wirtz – (He’s Our Dear Old) Weatherman
    • CD 3
      1. Spencer Davis Group – Moonshine
      2. The End – Shades Of Orange
      3. The Fire – Father’s Name Is Dad
      4. Turquoise – Tales Of Flossie Fillett
      5. Billy Nicholls – London Social Degree
      6. Aquarian Age – 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box
      7. Status Quo – Pictures of Matchstick Men
      8. The Idle Race – The Morning Sunshine
      9. The Montanas – A Step In The Right Direction
      10. July – Dandelion Seeds
      11. Family – See Through Windows
      12. Icarus – The Devil Rides Out
      13. Plastic Penny – Your Way To Tell Me Go
      14. The Elastic Band – 8 1/2 Hours Of Paradise
      15. Vamp – Floatin’
      16. Paul West & Compass – Hey You
      17. Sam Gopal – Escalator
      18. Sound Barrier – Groovin’ Slow
      19. Apple – Buffalo Billycan
      20. Timebox – Gone Is The Sad Man
      21. Locomotive – Mr Armageddon
      22. Ossie Layne Show – Rock My Plimsoul
      23. The Californians – The Cooks Of Cake And Kindness
    • CD 4
      1. The Koobas – Barricades
      2. The Troggs – Evil Woman
      3. Graham Bond – Love Is The Law
      4. The Misunderstood – Children Of The Sun
      5. Small Faces – Me, You and Us Too
      6. The Fruit Machine – I’m Alone Today
      7. Brian Auger Feat. Julie Driscoll – Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In)
      8. Terry Reid – Superlungs My Supergirl
      9. Jason Crest – Black Mass
      10. The Open Mind – Magic Potion
      11. Quiet Melon – Diamond Joe
      12. Humble Pie – Wrist Job
      13. Mighty Baby – Same Way From The Sun
      14. Colosseum – Elegy
      15. Blonde On Blonde – Castles In The Sky
      16. Peter Wyngarde – Neville Thumbcatch
      17. The Kinks – This Time Tomorrow
      18. Satisfaction – My Fixation (Edit)
      19. Nucleus – Song For The Bearded Lady
      20. Graham Dee – Car Chase

John Mellencamp / Scarecrow reissue

Super Deluxe Edition box set • 2CD deluxe • Vinyl LP

John Mellencamp’s 1985 album Scarecrow has been remixed and expanded and has just been reissued.

Mellencamp’s eighth studio album was massive in America and delivered three top 10 singles in ‘R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.’ (#2), ‘Small Town’ (#6) and ‘Lonely Ol’ Night’ (#6). The album itself peaked at number two on the Billboard album charts.

The super deluxe edition of John Cougar Mellencamp’s Scarecrow (click image to enlarge)

The reissue offers a new stereo mix of the album and both the 2CD edition and the super deluxe edition offer a full disc of rare and previously unreleased tracks. This includes two previously unreleased full-length songs (‘Carolina Shag’ and ‘Smart Guys’), three rough mixes, demos, B-sides and a previously unreleased cover of ‘Shama Lama Ding Dong’ performed originally by the fictional band Otis Day and the Knights in the 1978 film National Lampoon’s Animal House.

The super deluxe edition is a 2CD+LP+blu-ray lift-off lid box set. In addition to the two CDs mentioned above, the blu-ray offers a new Atmos Mix of the album as well as a hi-res stereo mix. This disc also has all the bonus tracks in hi-res stereo as well. This box includes a half-speed mastered black vinyl LP and a seven-inch single (‘Small Town’). This box comes with a booklet with a new essay by Anthony DeCurtis (including new interviews with John Mellencamp) and additionally, there’s various ‘bits’ including lithos, poster etc.

A standalone half-speed mastered black vinyl is also available. As with the other formats this contains the new stereo mix. Scarecrow is out now, via UMC/Virgin.

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Tracklisting

Scarecrow John Mellencamp /

    • CD 1

      1. Rain On The Scarecrow (2022 Mix)
      2. Grandma’s Theme (2022 Mix)
      3. Small Town (2022 Mix)
      4. Minutes To Memories (2022 Mix)
      5. Lonely Ol’ Night (2022 Mix)
      6. The Face Of The Nation (2022 Mix)
      7. Justice And Independence ’85 (2022 Mix)
      8. Between A Laugh And A Tear (2022 Mix)
      9. Rumbleseat (2022 Mix)
      10. You’ve Got To Stand For Somethin’ (2022 Mix)
      11. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (A Salute To 60’s Rock) [2022 Mix]
      12. The Kind Of Fella I Am (2022 Mix)
      13. Small Town (Acoustic Version) [2022 Mix]
    • CD 2
      1. Under The Boardwalk (2022 Mix)
      2. Lonely Ol’ Night (Rough Mix)
      3. Between A Laugh And A Tear (Writer’s Demo)
      4. Carolina Shag
      5. Cold Sweat (2022 Mix)
      6. Rumbleseat (Writer’s Demo)
      7. Smart Guys
      8. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (A Salute To 60’s Rock) [Rough Mix]
      9. Minutes To Memories (Rough Mix)
      10. Shama Lama Ding Dong
      11. Small Town (Writer’s Demo)
    • Vinyl LP
      1. Rain On The Scarecrow (2022 Mix)
      2. Grandma’s Theme (2022 Mix)
      3. Small Town (2022 Mix)
      4. Minutes To Memories (2022 Mix)
      5. Lonely Ol’ Night (2022 Mix)
      6. The Face Of The Nation (2022 Mix)
      7. Justice And Independence ’85 (2022 Mix)
      8. Between A Laugh And A Tear (2022 Mix)
      9. Rumbleseat (2022 Mix)
      10. You’ve Got To Stand For Somethin’ (2022 Mix)
      11. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (A Salute To 60’s Rock) [2022 Mix]
      12. The Kind Of Fella I Am (2022 Mix)
    • Blu-ray
      1. Rain On The Scarecrow (2022 Atmos Mix)
      2. Grandma’s Theme (2022 Atmos Mix)
      3. Small Town (2022 Atmos Mix)
      4. Minutes To Memories (2022 Atmos Mix)
      5. Lonely Ol’ Night (2022 Atmos Mix)
      6. The Face Of The Nation (2022 Atmos Mix)
      7. Justice And Independence ’85 (2022 Atmos Mix)
      8. Between A Laugh And A Tear (2022 Atmos Mix)
      9. Rumbleseat (2022 Atmos Mix)
      10. You’ve Got To Stand For Somethin’ (2022 Atmos Mix)
      11. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (A Salute To 60’s Rock) [2022 Atmos Mix]
      12. The Kind Of Fella I Am (2022 Atmos Mix)
      13. Small Town (Acoustic Version) [2022 Atmos Mix]

Peter Gabriel announces European tour

Peter Gabriel has today announced a UK and European tour for 2023.

The man himself said “It’s been a while and I am now surrounded by a whole lot of new songs and am excited to be taking them out on the road for a spin. Look forward to seeing you out there.” 

Those ‘new songs’ are from his forthcoming album i/o and as well as this new material, i/o The Tour will see PG delving into his amazing back catalogue of music, with “hits, fan favourites and the unexpected”.

Gabriel will be joined by regular band-mates Tony Levin, David Rhodes and Manu Katché. The 22 shows in Europe will kick off in Krakow, Poland on 18 May 2023, with dates in Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and the UK before wrapping in Dublin, Ireland on 25 June 2023. The tour will then continue in North America in the late summer/fautumn (dates to follow). 

There is no further information on the i/o album right now, other than the title and the fact that it’s confirmed!

Tickets for i/o The Tour go on sale on Friday 11 November at 9am (O2 priority starts tomorrow at 9am).

Out This Week / on 11 November 2022

Guns N' Roses / Use Your Illusion CD, Vinyl, Box Set, Blu-ray

Guns N’ Roses reissue their albums Use Your Illusion I & Use Your Illusion II across nine different physical formats. The 7CD+blu-ray version (there’s 12LP vinyl set as well) currently has an SDE Reader Rating of just 1.3 out of 5.

Bruce Springsteen / Only The Strong Survive

Bruce Springsteen’s new album is a covers album; a collection of soul music gems, that celebrate the legendary songbooks of Gamble and Huff, Motown, Stax and many more.  

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a-ha’s True North: track-by-track review

a-ha’s 11th studio album was released a couple of weeks ago and here SDE takes a look at the record, track by track. The writer of each song is noted, in parentheses.


I’m In (Magne Furuholmen)

Unfortunately,True North starts with a bit of a plodder. ‘I’m In’ tries to be epic and windswept but is hampered both by a twee lyric about not giving up and just believing in yourself and melodically only having one idea. There’s nothing wrong with the arrangement and the string/drum break at the 2.40 mark is a nice touch, but after that the song just reverts, with Morten Harket singing fairly high in his range which becomes a little tiresome after a while, with the limited melody on offer. Poor choice, frankly, for the opening track. I’m really not ‘in’, at this point.

2/5

Hunter in the Hills (Paul Waaktaar-Savoy)

This is more like it. ‘Hunter in the Hills’ starts with a groovy, shuffling drum beat accompanied only by bass, before ‘big band’ Sinatra-era strings comes in. As the arrangement develops with horns, piano, jazz drums and chiming guitars, it becomes apparent that the sixties work of Burt Bacharach is a key influence here. A great chorus, a wonderful arrangement and some good lines from Paul. A whole album like this would have been excellent, although as we will see, that doesn’t come to pass.

4/5

As If (Paul Waaktaar-Savoy)

The opening verse is sparse and doesn’t feel particularly strong, either melodically or lyrically, but the chorus saves this song; it’s pretty catchy and even if the titular ‘As If’ grates a little bit. It’s another strong arrangement but as we return to the somewhat lacklustre verses, it’s clear that their main role is to make you ‘look forward’ to the chorus and it is a relief when it kicks in. A great, cinematic ending, but overall, ‘As If’ is a little bit disappointing from a songwriter as good as Waaktaar-Savoy.

3/5

Between The Halo And The Horn (Magne Furuholmen)

‘Between The Halo And The Horn’ has an intriguing title and the intimate, yearning beginning promises much, but rather like Magne’s ‘I’m In’, it doesn’t really go anywhere and gets stuck on variations of one unmemorable melody line. You are hoping for a brilliant chorus that takes you somewhere else, but it doesn’t arrive, and you’re left in the same place. It’s all ploddingly polite and predictable and another decent arrangement is wasted on a dull and earnest song.

2/5

True North (Magne Furuholmen)

‘True North’ sounds so much like ‘Stay On This Roads’ at the beginning that it surely must be a deliberate nod to the title track of a-ha’s third album. While the listener gets a buzz from the familiarity, it’s not the best idea from a band point of view because ‘True North’ is rather a pale imitation. “Stay on these roads / We shall meet, I know” from the 1988 song are simple, brilliant lines – so emotional and powerful, when combined with that melody. You will search in vain for lyrics as good in ‘True North’. I mean, “Due north / You just have to believe” doesn’t cut the mustard and the ongoing sailor metaphor (“far from the shore”, “guiding me to port” etc.) is tedious, although allow me extend it by saying ‘True North’ should walk the plank.

2/5

Bumblebee (Paul Waaktaar-Savoy)

The arrangement of ‘Bumblebee’ is cut from the same cloth as ‘Hunter in the Hills’, with a lovely ’60s-style arrangement, with flutes, piano, jazzy drums and funky guitar, which had me thinking about Paul Weller’s 1992 solo debut. It has pace to it, which is a relief after some slower numbers, and the lyric – sung by Morten largely at the lower end of his range – is Paul’s tribute to his older sister Tonje, as he recalls the old days and specific details like her ‘corduroy jacket’ and ‘leather satchel’. It’s beautifully executed and is rather charming.

3.5/5

Forest For The Trees (Paul Waaktaar-Savoy)

Lead string lines and acoustic guitars kick off this likeable mid-paced song which mostly ticks all the right boxes, with a strong melody, reassuring structure, and a good lyric, where Paul reflects on the world around us (“I don’t live in a time / Where the truth prevails”). The strings build in the chorus, injecting some drama, and it resolves satisfyingly for the “What you really see / Forest for the trees” payoff line. Not up there with the outright classics, but one of the better numbers on the album. Good vocal performance from Morten.

3.5/5

Bluest of Blues (Magne Furuholmen)

With True North songwriting contributions split evenly, with six songs from Paul and six from Magne, it’s fair to say that thus far, a-ha’s keyboard player hasn’t delivered the quality we might have hoped for. All the best songs have been Paul’s. But with ‘Bluest of Blues’ Mags finally offers something pretty good. Furuholmen has crafted a fine chamber-pop type chorus that genuinely feels like it could have been an album track on Hunting High and Low or Scoundrel Days. It’s a bit on the sweet side (I’m craving some darker undertones, eight tracks into this record) but nonetheless it’s a solid effort.

4/5

Make Me Understand (Paul Waaktaar-Savoy)

Finally, ‘Make Me Understand’ delivers what used to come so naturally to a-ha, the massive pop chorus complete with synth stabs and electronic production. In a future greatest hits, ‘Make Me Understand’ will be the song that ‘represents’ True North. This song is brilliant and has your reaching for the hairbrush/air guitar as you practise ‘your’ performance for Top of the Pops. It’s so good that the non-existent verses are effectively irrelevant.

5/5

You Have What It Takes (Magne Furuholmen)

This is a beautiful ballad as Mags’ final act continues to impress. Morten sings to a pretty guitar figure supported with elegant strings. ‘You Have What It Takes’ flows effortlessly as words and music combine to deliver something rather special.

4/5

Summer Rain (Magne Furuholmen)

Another one from Magne, ‘Summer Rain’ recalls the acoustic, vibe of much of East of the Sun West of the Moon and like a few tracks from that 1990 album, it wears its Doors influences on its sleeve, particularly with Morten’s voice pitched lower for the verses and the keyboard refrain after the first chorus. This song is fantastically engaging and despite the title, has a windswept autumnal feel to it. Mags is on a roll!

4/5

Oh My Word (Paul Waaktaar-Savoy)

Paul wrote the final song on True North and it has that wonderful, slightly low-key, end-of-record quality. Think ‘(Seemingly) Nonstop July’ or ‘Mary Ellen Makes The Moment Count’. We’re back to delicate, polite chamber-pop style arrangements and this could almost be the song that takes you into the interval in a musical theatre setting, but it works rather well.

3/5

Summary

So what to make of True North? It’s an album full of compromises with Morten apparently having no interest in writing any songs, or lyrics, Magne looking to contribute significantly (it won’t be a coincidence that he has an equal number of tracks as Paul) and Paul just wanting to record an a-ha album so he could do something with all the songs he naturally stockpiles.

No one, apart possibly from Paul, wanted to be stuck in a studio together for months, so the album became a high concept project, where much of True North was recorded live in a concert hall and filmed at the same time. There are similarities with The Beatles and their what-are-we-going-to-do-next Get Back/Let It Be project. The a-ha recording location was the Svommehallen concert hall in a town called Bodø, 90km outside the Artic Circle.

This certainly explains the strings, the style of arrangements but ultimately the album lives or dies on the strength of its songs. On the 2LP vinyl set the four sides are called ‘North’, ‘East’, ‘South’ and ‘West’ and it has to be said that the first half of the album (‘North’ and ‘East’, which is ‘I’m In’ to ‘Bumblebee’ is noticeably weaker than the second. This is mostly because Magne’s songs are lacking in the early part of the album and halfway through I thought it was going to no contest at all between the bandmates. However, things pick up noticeably for the last six tracks and Mags’ songs do match Paul’s in quality with the exception of Waaktaar-Savoy’s ‘Make Me Understand’ which remains the best track on the album.

True North ultimately feels fragmented and is rather sails in whatever direction the creative winds were blowing at any particular time. To pick up on the maritime analogies that Magne is so fond of, a-ha is now a ship with three captains, and that’s not a recipe for success. I’m glad they tried, but four of five good-to-great songs and some inspired arrangements are all we are left with.

Album rating: 3/5


True North is out now.

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Young Limbs Rise Again: The Story of the Batcave Nightclub 1982-1985

Features tracks from The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Killing Joke, The Birthday Party, Joy Division, Soft Cell, Specimen, Sweet, T-Rex, Roxy Music, New York Dolls, Sparks, The Velvet Underground and more…

Young Limbs Rise Again is a forthcoming compilation album that celebrates the subculture of Goth via the music that was played, and the bands that performed at the legendary Batcave, a weekly club night hosted in London’s Dean Street (and later in Leicester Square) in the early 1980s.

The 5CD edition of Young Limbs Ride Again is a large format deluxe set (click image to enlarge)

By the summer of ’82, The Batcave became a focus for alternative club culture, just like The Roxy and The Blitz before it and it’s “No Funk, No Disco” rule set it apart from other club nights at that time. Famous regulars included musicians and singers such as Nick Cave, Robert Smith of the Cure, Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin, members of Bauhaus, Marc Almond and many others. Acts would play live (the club even had its own house band, Specimen) and visitors could enjoy four-hour DJ sets.

It was a light bulb for all the people like me who were from the sticks and wanted a bit more from life. Freaks, weirdos, sexual deviants, there’s people around who’ll always be attracted by something shiny, glittering, exciting 

Jonny Slut, Specimen

The Young Limbs Rise Again collection attempts to capture both the fun and freedom of The Batcave while also looking back to reflect the musical influences on the scene and examining how that scene pointed forwards. There’s plenty of space in which to do that, since it’s offered as a 5CD or 6LP vinyl set. Both come with an 80-page hardcover book with an introduction from Kris Needs, packed with flyers, record sleeves, over 100 photographs, many previously unseen, and the whole story of the club as told by the people who were there.

The 80-page hardcover book which comes with both 5CD and 6LP sets tells the store of The Batcave (click image to enlarge)

Both big sets are broken down into themed albums and the 6LP vinyl offers 63 songs while the more generous (and cheaper) 5CD large format box delivers 89 tracks. There’s a 2LP vinyl edition for a more concise overview.

Specimen’s Jon Klein and Jonny Slut, along with Sophie Chery (from another stalwart Batcave band, Sexbeat), have worked with the record company to help putting together this musical and visual accompaniment to this very specific moment in time.

Young Limbs Rise Again: The Story of the Batcave Nightclub 1982-1985 will be released on 24 February 2023, via Demon Music.

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Tracklisting

Young Limbs Rise Again: The Story of the Batcave Nightclub 1982-1985 Various Artists /

    • CD 1: THE HOP (A NIGHT ON THE DANCEFLOOR 1)
      1. Temple Of Love (Extended Version)- The Sisters Of Mercy 7.40
      2. Let’s Go To Bed- The Cure 3.34
      3. Isolation- Joy Division 2.53
      4. Resurrection Joe (Long Version)- The Cult 6.04
      5. Garbageman- The Cramps-3.34
      6. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (12” Version)- Specimen- 5.00
      7. Pagan Lovesong (Vibeakimbo)- Virgin Prunes 6.49
      8. Incubus Succubus- Xmal Deutschland 4.43
      9. The Hop- Theatre Of Hate 2.57
      10. This Is Not A Love Song (12” Version)- PiL 4.29
      11. Subterraneans- Flesh For Lulu 5.1
      12. Against The Wind- Getting The Fear 3.3
      13. Club Country (12” Version)- The Associates 6.57
      14. Cccan’t You See… – Vicious Pink 3.32
      15. Misty Circles- Dead Or Alive 3.39
      16. The Light Pours Out Of Me- Magazine 3.28
      17. All About You- Scars 5.06
    • CD 2: SLOWDIVE (A NIGHT ON THE DANCEFLOOR 2)
      1. Follow The Leaders- Killing Joke 5.35
      2. Slowdive- Siouxsie and the Banshees 4.18
      3. Release The Bats- The Birthday Party 2.35
      4. We Love You- The Psychedelic Furs 3.27
      5. Fodder- The March Violets 2.30
      6. Black Leather- Nightmares In Wax 5.04
      7. Your Turn To Run- Malaria! 4.09
      8. Planet Claire- The B52’s 4.33
      9. The Back Of Love- Echo and the Bunnymen 3.13
      10. I Travel (Extended Version)- Simple Minds 6.03
      11. My Daddy Is A Vampire- The Meteors 3.32
      12. Strict Tempo- Dave Ball featuring Gavin Friday 3.42
      13. Collapsing New People- Fad Gadget 4.15
      14. Heaven Is Waiting- The Danse Society 3.45
      15. Nemesis- Shriekback 3.40
      16. United- Throbbing Gristle 4.00
      17. Sweat- Sexbeat 3.00
      18. Holes- Specimen 4.00
      19. I Wish I Was A Girl- Wasted Youth 5.43
    • CD 3: ADOLESCENT SEX (A NIGHT ON THE DANCEFLOOR 3)
      1. Temptation- New Order 5.24
      2. Soul Inside- Soft Cell 4.31
      3. Uncertain Smile- The The 4.55
      4. Ignore The Machine- Alien Sex Fiend 6.47
      5. Alice- The Sisters Of Mercy 3.34
      6. Copped It- The Fall 4.15
      7. Adolescent Sex- Japan 3.42
      8. Kick!- Adam & The Ants 2.06
      9. Qual- Xmal Deutschland 3.55
      10. Human Fly- The Cramps 2.12
      11. Dr Mabuse (First Life)-Propaganda- 5.02
      12. Metal Dance- SPK 3.39
      13. Being Boiled-The Human League 4.22
      14. The Beauty Of Poison (12” Mix)- Specimen 4.15
      15. Like An Animal- The Glove 4.42
      16. Punch Drunk- Gene Loves Jezebel 2.23
      17. Baby Turns Blue- Virgin Prunes 3.43
      18. Jo’s So Mean To Josephine- Flowerpot Men 5.00
      19. She’s Fallen In Love With A Monster Man- The Revillos 3.18
    • CD 4: SEXBEAT (THE BANDS WHO PLAYED)
      1. Dead Man’s Autochop- Specimen 3.57
      2. Sexbeat-Sexbeat 3.35
      3. I.P. – Alien Sex Fiend 3.49
      4. Deathwish- Christian Death 2.13
      5. Sleaze- Marc and the Mambas 7.22
      6. Propaganda- Play Dead 3.15
      7. Roman Candle (12” Version)- Flesh For Lulu 10.18
      8. Fats Terminal- Bone Orchard 2.45
      9. Last Year’s Wife (12” Version)- Zero LeCrêche 4.35
      10. Dance With Me- Lords Of The New Church 3.43
      11. Tracey’s Burning- Anorexic Dread 9.33
      12. Cuts- Lets Wreck Mother 3.06
      13. Raymond- Turkey Bones & The Wild Dogs 8.33
      14. The Gold Of Our Lives- Furyo 3.48
      15. Torment- Marc and the Mambas 4.21
    • CD 5: HELL RAISER (THE GLAM ROCK ROOTS)
      1. Hell Raiser- The Sweet 3.16
      2. Telegram Sam – T Rex 3.42
      3. Vicious- Lou Reed 2.55
      4. All I Want Is You- Roxy Music 2.53
      5. Amateur Hour- Sparks 3.37
      6. Jet Boy- New York Dolls 4.41
      7. Funtime- Iggy Pop 2.53
      8. Ghost Rider- Suicide 2.33
      9. Roll Away The Stone- Mott The Hoople 3.11
      10. Mr Soft- Cockney Rebel 3.17
      11. Needles In The Camel’s Eye- Brian Eno 3.15
      12. Only After Dark- Mick Ronson 3.31
      13. Night Time- Wayne County and the Electric Chairs 3.28
      14. Then He Kissed Me- Hollywood Brats 3.13
      15. Cherry Bomb- The Runaways 2.18
      16. Kick Out The Jams-MC5 2.45
      17. I’m Waiting For The Man- Velvet Underground 4.37 1
      18. Dance With The Devil- Cozy Powell 3.33
      19. New York Groove- Hello 2.45

Tangerine Dream / Three O’Clock High

Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack to the 1987 US teen comedy Three O’Clock High will be reissued on vinyl in January next year.

The film was directed by Phil Joanou, who went on direct U2’s Rattle and Hum and 1992 Hitchcockian thriller Final Analysis. It wasn’t well received and ultimately flopped at the box office, although it’s been reappraised over the years, to a degree. Darker than your average 80s teen-flick, executive producer Steven Spielberg even felt compelled to take his name off the credits.

The Three O’Clock High soundtrack hasn’t been reissued since it was first released in 1987 (click image to enlarge)

Tangerine Dream provide most of the music, although there are a handful of tracks by Sylvester Levay and Jim Walker performs the song ‘Something to Remember Me By’.

Out-of-print for decades, this 35th anniversary vinyl reissue includes an insert of the original film poster (drawn by Drew Struzan, who did Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner etc.). It also includes new liner notes and comes with a printed inner sleeve. 

Three O’Clock High will be released on 27 January 2023, via Concord.

Tracklisting

Tangerine Dream / Three O'Clock High soundtrack vinyl reissue

Three O’Clock High Tangerine Dream /

    • Side A
      1. It’s Jerry’s Day Today
      2. 46-32-15
      3. No Detention
      4. Any School Bully Will Do
      5. Go To The Head Of the Class
      6. Sit
      7. The Fight
      8. Jerry’s Decisions
      9. The Fight Is On
      10. Paper
    • Side B
      1. Big Bright Brass Knuckles
      2. Buying Paper Like It’s Going Out Of Style
      3. Dangerous Trend
      4. Who’s Chasing Who
      5. Bonding By Candlelight
      6. You’ll Never Believe It
      7. Starting The Day Off Right
      8. Weak At The Knees
      9. Kill Him (The Football Dummy)
      10. Not So Quiet In The Library/Get Lost In A Crowd
      11. Something To Remember Me By
      12.  Arrival

Intrigue: Steven Wilson presents Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-89

“This is my personally-curated attempt to redress the balance, and to perhaps introduce any ‘80s-sceptics out there to the idea that conceptual thinking and ambition didn’t suddenly evaporate after ’77… ambitious, weird and thrilling music was all around you in the ‘80s —if you looked in the right places”.

Steven Wilson

Demon Records are to release a new compilation curated by musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, Steven Wilson. Intrigue: Steven Wilson Presents: Progressive Sounds In UK Alternative Music 1979-89 features 58 tracks, and as the title suggests, it explores the creativity, experimentation and progressive spirit of alternative British music from 1979-1989.

Artists include Wire, XTC, The Stranglers, Ultravox, The Durutti Column, Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush, Tears For Fears, The Cure, New Order, and many more.

The compilation will be available across three formats; The 4CD and 7LP vinyl editions both feature all 58 tracks while a 2LP edition offers a cut down selection of 19 songs. The 7LP vinyl edition comes with a Steven Wilson signed print (limited to 1000 copies).

The 7LP vinyl box set has been pressed at Pallas on 140g black vinyl. It comes with a 40-page booklet featuring an introduction by Steven Wilson and extensive track-by-track notes from James Nice. The 4CD deluxe comes in casebound book packaging and includes an 80-page booklet. Mastering is by Phil Kinrade and the vinyl was cut by Cicely Balston and Barry Grint.

Intrigue: Steven Wilson Presents: Progressive Sounds In UK Alternative Music 1979-89 will be released on 10 February 2023, via Demon Music.

Important update:

Amazon UK do not have a the signed version of the 7LP box set, just yet. They posted the wrong info/images yesterday. The artist store is exclusively carrying the signed edition this week, but Amazon will have the signed version available next week (beginning 7 Nov).

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Steven Wilson

Intrigue - Steven Wilson presents - 4CD set

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Tracklisting

Intrigue: Steven Wilson presents Various Artists /

    • CD
      1. I Should Have Known Better – Wire
      2. A Better Home In The Phantom Zone – Bill Nelson’s Red Noise
      3. Back To Nature – Magazine
      4. Complicated Game (Steven Wilson 2014 Mix) – XTC
      5. Careering – Public Image Limited
      6. The Raven – The Stranglers
      7. Puppet Life – Punishment Of Luxury
      8. Astradyne (Steven Wilson Stereo Mix) – Ultravox
      9. Contract – Gang Of Four
      10. I Travel (Extended Version) – Simple Minds
      11. Sketch For Summer – The Durutti Column
      12. Health And Efficiency – This Heat
      13. Burning Car – John Foxx
      14. Cognitive Dissonance (Steven Wilson 2022 Mix) – Robert Fripp And The League of Gentlemen
      15. Fatal Day – In Camera
    • CD 2
      1. I Can’t Escape Myself – The Sound
      2. The Eternal – Joy Division
      3. Big Empty Field – Swell Maps
      4. Enemies – Art Nouveau
      5. The Joy Circuit – Gary Numan
      6. The Gospel Comes To New Guinea – 23 Skidoo
      7. All My Colours – Echo And The Bunnymen
      8. Ghost Town (Extended Version) – The Specials
      9. They All Run After The Carving Knife – New Musik
      10. The Him – New Order
      11. White Car In Germany (Single Edit) – The Associates
      12. Hit – Section 25
      13. Sealand – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
      14. Talking Drum – Japan
      15. Faith – The Cure
    • CD 3
      1. Three Dancers (Steven Wilson 2021 Mix) – Twelfth Night
      2. Airwaves – Thomas Dolby
      3. Are You Ready? – Crispy Ambulance
      4. The Outsider – Rupert Hine
      5. Knife Slits Water – A Certain Ratio
      6. Memories Fade – Tears For Fears
      7. Patient – Peter Hammill
      8. Donimo – Cocteau Twins
      9. In A Waiting Room – Mr And Mrs Smith And Mr Drake
      10. Close (To The Edit) – The Art Of Noise
      11. Dalis Car – Dalis Car
      12. Rawhide – Scott Walker
      13. Brilliant Trees – David Sylvian
      14. Dream Within A Dream – Propaganda
    • CD 4
      1. Waking The Witch – Kate Bush
      2. Ivy And Neet – This Mortal Coil
      3. Beehead (7” Version) – Perennial Divide
      4. This Corrosion – The Sisters Of Mercy
      5. Ascension – O Yuki Conjugate
      6. No Motion – Dif Juz
      7. Gutter Busting – SLAB!
      8. Murderers, The Hope Of Women – Momus
      9. The Host Of Seraphim – Dead Can Dance
      10. R.E.S. – Cardiacs
      11. Good Morning Beautiful – The The
      12. Omega Amigo – The Shamen
      13. Night Sky, Sweet Earth – No-Man
      14. The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule – Kitchens Of Distinction

Now Yearbook ’80-’84: The Final Chapter

The Now That’s What I Call Music Team say they intend to “move forward to the second half of the 1980s” with the popular NOW Yearbook series but before they do that they will take care of unfinished business with regards to the “golden pop years” of 1980-1984. To that end, they will issue a special Yearbook which spans that era and has the subtitle ‘The Final Chapter’.

They point out that there were more than 1500 new entries in the UK top 40 singles chart between 1980 and 1984 but so far the Yearbooks and ‘Extras’ have presented 726 tracks between them, which is less than half of that total. So there is one last hurrah: NOW Yearbook 1980-1984: The Final Chapter.

Like the other Yearbooks, ’80-’84: The Final Chapter comes presented in deluxe hardcover book format (click image to enlarge)

In 4CD guise, this offers 81 tracks issued between ’80 and ’84 and is presented in deluxe hardcover book format, which comes with the usual 28-page booklet featuring a summary of the period and track-by-track guide, original singles artwork and a quiz. There is also a standard 4CD version in a card sleeve and a 43-track 3LP vinyl set pressed on gold-coloured vinyl.

Even though this is clearly a mopping up exercise, such was the quality of this era, it doesn’t really feel like it. This new set includes hits from Wham!, Eurythmics, Kate Bush, The Smiths, Scritti Politti, Sade, Spandau Ballet, Roxy Music, The Police, Paul McCartney, Kim Wilde, Toyah, Culture Club, Gary Numan, Ultravox, Blancmange, The Human League, Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw, U2, New Order, The Jam, The Creatures and more!

NOW Yearbook 1980-1984: The Final Chapter will be released on 2 December 2022.

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Various Artists

Yearbook 80-84 - 4CD deluxe edition

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Yearbook 80-84 - 3LP coloured vinyl

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Tracklisting

Now Yearbook '80-'84: The Final Chapter 4CD set

Now Yearbook ’80-’84: The Final Chapter Various Artists /

    • CD 1
      1. Wham! – Freedom
      2. Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart – Love Is A Stranger
      3. Laurie Anderson – O Superman
      4. Kate Bush – Sat In Your Lap
      5. The Smiths – What Difference Does It Make?
      6. Scritti Politti – Absolute
      7. Bronski Beat – Why?
      8. Sade – When Am I Going To Make A Living
      9. Tom Robinson – War Baby
      10. Robert Wyatt – Shipbuilding
      11. Spandau Ballet – Round And Round
      12. Roxy Music – Take A Chance With Me
      13. The Police – So Lonely
      14. The Specials – Nelson Mandela
      15. Fun Boy Three – Our Lips Are Sealed
      16. Elton John – Kiss The Bride
      17. Billy Joel – The Longest Time
      18. Neil Diamond – Love On The Rocks (From “The Jazz Singer” Soundtrack)
      19. Paul McCartney – We All Stand Together
    • CD 2
      1. Bananarama – Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)
      2. Adam Ant – Desperate But Not Serious
      3. Kim Wilde – Water On Glass
      4. Toyah – Thunder In The Mountains
      5. Gary Numan – We Are Glass
      6. Ultravox – Hymn
      7. Blancmange – Living On The Ceiling
      8. Talk Talk – Talk Talk
      9. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Tesla Girls
      10. Thomas Dolby – Hyperactive!
      11. Heaven 17 – Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry
      12. Simple Minds – Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
      13. Soft Cell – Where The Heart Is
      14. The Human League – Louise
      15. Howard Jones – Hide And Seek
      16. Nik Kershaw – Human Racing
      17. Thompson Twins – Lay Your Hands On Me
      18. Kajagoogoo – Hang On Now
      19. Culture Club – The Medal Song
      20. Tracey Ullman – Move Over Darling
    • CD 3
      1. Iron Maiden – Run To The Hills
      2. Meat Loaf – Modern Girl
      3. Pretenders – Day After Day
      4. Rick Springfield – Human Touch
      5. Laura Branigan – The Lucky One
      6. Chicago – Hard Habit To Break
      7. Daryl Hall & John Oates – Say It Isn’t So
      8. Tina Turner – Better Be Good To Me
      9. The Fixx – One Thing Leads To Another
      10. Madness – Grey Day
      11. UB40 – Cherry Oh Baby
      12. The Style Council – A Solid Bond In Your Heart
      13. Jo Boxers – Just Got Lucky
      14. The Go-Go’s – We Got The Beat
      15. Hazel O’Connor – D-Days
      16. The Creatures – Miss The Girl
      17. The Jam – Just Who Is The 5 O’Clock Hero?
      18. U2 – 11 O’Clock Tick Tock
      19. New Order – Everything’s Gone Green
      20. Echo And The Bunnymen – Silver
      21. Associates – 18 Carat Love Affair
      22. Japan – Cantonese Boy
    • CD 4
      1. Lionel Richie – Running With The Night
      2. Donna Summer – Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)
      3. Shalamar – Friends
      4. The Pointer Sisters – I’m So Excited
      5. Flash And The Pan – Waiting For A Train
      6. Patrice Rushen – Forget Me Nots
      7. Kool & The Gang – Fresh
      8. Jeffrey Osborne – Stay With Me Tonight
      9. The Temptations – Treat Her Like A Lady
      10. Linx – Intuition
      11. Animal Nightlife – Mr. Solitaire
      12. Modern Romance – Don’t Stop That Crazy Rhythm
      13. Stars On 45 / Starsound – More Stars (ABBA Medley) / Stars On 45 Vol. 2
      14. Bucks Fizz – Piece Of The Action
      15. F.R. David – Words
      16. Sheena Easton – When He Shines
      17. Kenny Rogers – Coward Of The County
      18. The Art Company – Susanna
      19. Goombay Dance Band – Seven Tears
      20. Renée & Renato – Save Your Love

Jellyfish / When These Memories Fade – unboxed!

SDEtv unboxes When These Memories Fade, the recent Jellyfish seven-inch vinyl box, which contains seven coloured vinyl singles and a 64-page booklet.

The black vinyl edition of When These Memories Fade is limited to 1000 units worldwide and will be released on 2 December 2022, via Newland Records. You can pre-order your copy from the SDE shop using this link or the button below.

Tracklisting

When Memories Fade Jellyfish / 7″ black vinyl box set

    • Disc 1: The King Is Half-Undressed
      1. The King Is Half-Undressed
      2. Calling Sarah
    • Disc 2: Baby’s Coming Back
      1. Baby’s Coming Back
      2. All I Want Is Everything
    • Disc 3: The Scary-Go-Round EP
      1. Now She Knows She’s Wrong
      2. Bedspring Kiss
      3. She Still Loves Him – Live
      4. Baby’s Coming Back  Live
    • Disc 4: I Wanna Stay Home
      1. I Wanna Stay Home
      2. Jet – Live At The Hard Rock Cafe, San Francisco, 1991
    • Disc 5: The Ghost At Number One
      1. The Ghost At Number One
      2. All Is Forgiven
    • Disc 6: New Mistake
      1. New Mistake
      2. He’s My Best Friend
    • Disc 7: Covers
      1. No Matter What – Live at Roxy, Hollywood, October 25th 1990
      2. Think About Your Troubles – Recorded February 1994 in North Hollywood, CA.

Who has won The Human League Virgin Years vinyl box?

We had over 1200 entries for the Human League The Virgin Years competition and we have randomly selected one winner!

The lucky winner is SDE member with the username ‘rakn’

Congratulations to rakn. We will be in touch via email about getting your prize out to you. Thanks to all who entered. Another SDE giveaway is coming soon!

Out This Week / on 4 November 2022

Seal / Seal CD, Vinyl

Seal’s self-titled debut album from 1991 is reissued as a 4CD+2LP deluxe set.

 

PJ Harvey / B-Sides, Demos & Rarities

59-track collection of B-sides, demos and rarities from the PJ Harvey. 14 tracks are previously unreleased. Big investment if you want the 6LP vinyl box.

Mark Knopfler / The Studio Albums 2009-2018

Delayed 6CD set offers the following Mark Knopfler studio albums: Get Lucky (2009), Privateering (2012), Tracker (2015) and Down The Road Wherever (2018) and a collection of studio b-sides and bonus tracks (plus two previously unreleased songs). Audio has been overseen by original mastering engineer Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering.

Donna Summer 40th anniversary book edition

Donna Summer’s 1982 album is reissued in deluxe 32-page ‘mediabook’ format. Includes extra tracks (seven-inch versions and remixes). A 2LP red and blue coloured vinyl set (with bonus tracks) is also available.

Sting ignores physical for digital-only ‘deluxe’ of Nothing Like The Sun

Universal Music Group have recently made available an ‘Expanded Edition’ of Sting’s second solo album, …Nothing Like The Sun, but only via digital services – there is no physical edition.

The 1987 album is arguably Sting’s best solo long-player and was produced by Neil Dorfsman and Sting. It was notably a ‘DDD’ compact disc, meaning it was recorded, mixed and mastered in the digital domain (the third digit was always a ‘D’ given that CD is a digital format!).

The album features the singles ‘We’ll Be Together’, ‘Englishman in New York’, ‘Fragile’ and ‘They Dance Alone’. Remarkably, none of them were top 40 hits in the UK, although ‘Englishman in New York’ did belatedly grace the British top 20 when The Ben Liebrand Remix was issued in 1990. In the US, Sting enjoyed more success and ‘We’ll Be Together’ was a top 10 single and ‘Be Still My Beating Heart’ (uniquely picked as the second single in North America) reached number 15.

‘If You There’ was the B-side to Englishman in New York in the USA

The singles produced a reasonable array of remixes, B-sides and edits although these have never appeared on any physical reissue. In the early ’90s, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs (MFSL) released an ‘Ultradisc’ 24k gold CD edition (no bonus tracks) and later in that same decade came a ‘Digitally Remastered’ version of Nothing Like The Sun which again had no extra tracks, but did deliver the dubious bonus of a CD-ROM video of ‘Englishman in New York’.

Most interestingly, in 2000 a ‘DTS-CD’ housed a new 5.1 surround mix of the album, for those that had the kit to decode it, but since then, apart from the odd Japanese ‘paper sleeve’ SHM-CD reissue, and reasonably standard vinyl reissues, there’s been little activity.

This new digital expanded edition offers 14 bonus tracks and they are as follows:

• Conversation With A Dog (B-Side of ‘We’ll Be Together’)

• If You There (B-Side of UK 7″ single ‘They Dance Alone’, B-side of US 7″ single ‘Englishman in New York’)

• Up From The Skies (extra track on the US CD single ‘Englishman in New York’ – original release)

• Someone to Watch Over Me (extra track on the US single ‘Englishman in New York’ – original release)

• Ghost in the Strand (B-Side of original UK single ‘Englishman in New York’)

• Englishman in New York (Ben Liebrand Mix – 6.12 version) (from UK 12″ & CD single reissued in 1990)

• Englishman in New York (Ben Liebrand Mix – 4.13 edit) (from UK CD single reissued in 1990)

• Fragile (dj MONK’s Extended Vocal Remix Version) (from 2001 12-inch promo single)

• Fragile (dj MONK’s Radio Edit Version) (from 2001 promo CD single)

• Fragile (dj MONK’s Hard Rain Dub Version) (from 2001 promo 12-inch single)

• Fragile (Bedroom Rockers Remix Version) (from 2001 promo CD single)

• We’ll Be Together (Extended Mix) (from UK CD single)

• We’ll Be Together (Alternate Version) (from UK CD single, aka ‘Previous Version’)

• We’ll Be Together (Instrumental) (from UK CD single)

Yes, those Fragile remixes are out-of-era (not to mention pretty awful) and this gathering of non-album tracks isn’t perfect (where’s the two unique radio edits of ‘Be Still My Beating Heart’?) but this still feels like a slap in the face of the physical music fan. If you are wondering, those 14 bonus tracks would fit comfortably on one single CD, so the obvious question is why didn’t/doesn’t Sting approve this expanded edition of the album for physical release?

There could be many reasons, but given that no other Sting album – with the exception of some very recent output – has been expanded and neither have any of The Police’s five studio albums (although the recent Ghost in the Machine picture disc is a positive nod in that general direction) you have to conclude that Sting does not want to – or perhaps, more accurately, isn’t motivated to – ‘look back’ in this way.

Poll Icon SDE Poll

We are of course still waiting for ‘that’ Regatta De Blanc box set which, in the summer of 2021, Andy Summers told SDE “was coming”. Summers was behind The Police’s Around The World restoration and reissue and so is clearly interested in archival activity, even if drummer Stewart Copeland admitted to this site earlier in 2022 that “Coming back to The Police business is interesting, but it’s not the most exciting thing for us to do”.

These digital expanded editions having been timed around anniversaries. Nothing Like The Sun is 35 years old this year and a Soul Cages one was put up last year for that album’s 30th. Rather like your granny giving you a pair of socks on your birthday, we’ll smile gratefully but hope for something better next year.

You can listen to Nothing Like The Sun (Expanded Edition) on streaming channels or download via various official providers. In the meantime, vote for your favourite Sting album, in the poll above!