In Moonage Daydream, Brett Morgen’s new documentary film, David Bowie narrates the story of his life and career with audio lifted from a multitude of interviews over the years and decades. There are no ‘talking heads’ to guide us through (there’s not even any captions), the only voice we hear is Bowie’s and the various interviewers from around the world that talked to him. All this is set to footage of David Bowie being David Bowie. Whether that’s playing live on the Ziggy Stardust tour in 1972/3, walking around looking meaningful in the Far East (from the Ricochet documentary of 1984), acting in films (The Man Who Fell To Earth) or simply talking to Russell Harty.
In one respect, the documentary is fairly traditional, with Bowie’s aural history broadly in chronological order. He tells us of his “ordinary” upbringing, his cool relationship with his mother (“we have an understanding”), the positive influence of his half-brother Terry (who went on to spend most of his life in hospital due to schizophrenia) and in the early 1970s, his relaxed attitude to (bi)sexuality. We move through the various phases of his creative life, as he departs for America to soak up the influences (like a fly in a carton of milk!), heads to Berlin to record with Eno and Visconti, decides to become an “entertainer” in the early 80s with Let’s Dance and then ends up in the creative ghetto of Pepsi-sponsored corporate rock for most of the rest of that decade. He reconnects with his desire to be artistic, vows to please himself in the 1990s, meets his second wife Iman (there’s no mention of Angie), falls in love and is finally contented.
That’s where convention stops. Visually Moonage Daydream is a feast, bordering at times on overindulgence. As Bowie speaks to us, Morgen will often overlay a period-relevant visual, before juxtaposing other shots of David from completely different eras of his life and career. Ziggy on stage in 73 cuts straight to a pensive Bowie in being filmed in the Far East a decade later, before switching back again. 1991 ’Sound + Vision’ Bowie drops in regularly throughout the 1970s (much footage is used from the ‘Fame ’90’ video) and during a ‘Let’s Dance’ sequence there’s a frenzied pace to the editing that switches frenetically from Earls Court in ’78 to Ziggy in ’73, to David Live in LA, to Footstompin’ on The Dick Cavett Show and so on. Woven into this are often stunning animations and celestial visuals; cuts to iconic pop-culture visuals from the 20th century (e.g. Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey); familiar footage (Alan Yentob’s Cracked Actor documentary from 1975) and the not so familiar (stunning film of Bowie in Hansa Studios in Berlin).
The spoken word audio and visuals rest of a bed of music that binds everything together. The sound design is incredible and with the help of Tony Visconti songs are often deconstructed and reconstructed during a sequence before morphing into something else. This provides a kaleidoscopic and sometimes disorienting experience. Morgen is clearly influenced by Bowie’s mid-seventies ‘cut-up’ lyric-writing techniques (a concept borrowed from William Burroughs) where he’d write lyrics and cut them up and jumble them about with the goal being to inspire new ideas. Morgen takes his cue from that and uses this non-linear technique visually, something Steven Soderbergh played with in his 1999 film The Limey.
As a technical and creative achievement it’s significant and one can only wonder how long it took Morgen (who ‘wrote’, directed and edited the documentary) to put together this million-piece jigsaw. It was surely an all-consuming obsession for some years.
While it’s clever, one question we must ask is whether this technique truly works as a documentary. Does Moonage Daydream teach us anything new about David Bowie? The wonderful footage, the probing interviews (some more revealing than others) and the incredible live performances are all highly enjoyable, but when stitched together they do not add up to more than the sum of their parts. The film searches for some higher truth and deep insight but fails to find it. David Bowie was an interesting interviewee, but you have to question whether linking disparate, on the hoof responses together provides us with a reliable world view.
For example his ’selling out’ to be a unit-shifting ’80s pop star is certainly covered but isn’t properly explored, save for hints that he simply wanted a big pay cheque by moving to EMI (in one clip he laughs before exclaiming “no shit, Sherlock” when it’s put to him in the late 1970s that his Berlin period of albums can’t have been the most lucrative). There are also gaps, including that significant creative control-alt-delete that was rock band Tin Machine in 1989. This is completely ignored (possibly due to ongoing contractual disputes).
At two hours and 15 minutes the film is at least half an hour too long, a feeling accentuated by the reuse of clips you’ve already seen on a number of occasions which gives a rather circular, haven’t-we-been-here-before vibe to proceedings. When you’re sneaking a glance at your watch regularly during the last stretch and hoping it’s the end when the screen fades to black (only for it to start into the next sequence) you know there’s something wrong, somewhere.
Most disconcertingly, Moonage Daydream is oddly unmoving, even in the final throes, as ‘Blackstar’ plays. There’s a feeling of Bowie keeping his distance with his interviewers over the years. He’s in control, perhaps playing a role like Ziggy or The Thin White Duke. You can see why the Estate approved this documentary concept. With David as narrator, Moonage Daydream is yet another masterclass in Bowie pulling the strings, this time from beyond the grave.
Moonage Daydream opens on 16 September 2022. A soundtrack will be released as a 2CD set on 18 November.
Toyah’s 1981 album Anthem will is reissued across three physical formats, one of which is a large seven-disc super deluxe edition box set which comes with a signed print.
XXV is a new Robbie Williams album that consists of all his classic hits newly orchestrated and re-recorded with the Metropole Orkest. This also includes ‘Lost’, a new composition. The 2CD deluxe features 10 bonus tracks, and three new songs.
The Proclaimers release their 12th studio album. Dentures Out is described as “a record of the times, for the times” with the twins “at their political, observational, satirical and fist-punchingly tuneful best”. It’s produced by Dave Eringa and features the Manic Street Preachers’ guitarist James Dean Bradfield.
The Kinks / Muswell Hillbillies – Everybody’s In Showbiz
This reissue combines Muswell Hillbillies, The Kinks’ 1970 studio album, with the part-live, part-studio offering that was 1972’s Everybody’s In Showbiz • Everybody’s A Star. Both original albums have been remastered and the 2CD set brings them together and offers bonus tracks of four new Ray Davies remixes, casebound book packaging, and more. There’s also a standalone Everybody’s In Showbiz CD, a single LP vinyl reissue of Muswell Hillbillies, a 2LP set of Everybody’s In Showbiz • Everybody’s A Star and a massive super deluxe edition box set with 6LPs, 4CDs, a blu-ray and more. Phew!
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The Kinks
Muswell Hillbillies - Everybodys in Showbiz 6LP+4CD+blu-ray super deluxe box set
You can dance for inspiration, but do you still want to? SDE explores FinallyEnoughLove…
The album that kicks off Madonna’s reissue campaign is called Finally Enough Love. It’s part ‘best of’, part remix album and is available as a 16-track edition on CD and vinyl. The 3CD version (and limited 6LP edition) has 50 tracks and carries the subtitle ’50 Number Ones’. While Madonna has been incredibly successful, even she hasn’t had 50 number ones on the ‘main’ pop charts in any country. What this refers to is the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. This is a Billboard-exclusive chart whose history goes back to late 1974 . It’s a weekly national survey of popular songs in US “dance clubs” and is compiled from playlists submitted by DJs, who have to apply and meet certain criteria to become “Billboard-reporting DJs”.
Admittedly, this gives the compilation an identity, and there’ll be those who declare that we don’t need another straightforward ‘greatest hits’, so on the face of it, this seems like a good idea. Well, yes and no.
First off, there has been no comprehensive Madonna ‘best of’ that features all of her singles. Secondly, the three compilations that have been issued thus far (1990’s Immaculate Collection, 2001’s horrendously titled GHV2 and Celebration from 2009) all took liberties in terms of which version of the song they used, with remixes, album versions, weird edits and so on. A compilation of genuine seven-inch/radio versions was high on many fans’ lists but Finally Enough Love isn’t that.
The other problem with this new compilation is because the song has to have topped the Dance Club Chart (I presume they haven’t taken any liberties…) there’s loads of great Madonna singles that simply don’t feature at all because they didn’t reach the summit of this particular chart. Example: ‘Who’s That Girl’ was a transatlantic number one single but was a flop on the Dance Club Songs chart, so it doesn’t feature, despite the fact that it received extended and dub mixes from Steve Thompson And Michael Barbiero for the 12-inch vinyl. I’ve always preferred ‘Human Nature’ to ‘Bedtime Stories’ (both from the 1994 Bedtime Stories album), but the former doesn’t feature (there were loads of remixes) while the latter does. And of course songs that naturally aren’t going to go down well in a club are absent. Slow or breezy numbers like ‘Crazy For You‘, ‘Live to Tell‘, ‘Papa Don’t Preach‘, ‘True Blue‘, ‘Cherish‘, ‘La Isla Bonita‘, ‘Bad Girl‘, ‘You’ll See‘ etc.
This immediately creates a bit of friction. Is this compilation about great mixes, or great songs? Many tracks are both, but plenty aren’t. In fact, if you were to measure this triple disc set with a very blunt instrument you might conclude that CD 1 features great songs with great remixes (80s-style reworkings which ‘respect’ the song), CD 2 contains great songs with not-so-good remixes, and CD 3 is predominantly not-so-good songs which means the quality of the remixes becomes a moot point. Yes, it’s more nuanced than that, but that’s not an altogether misleading approximation.
I can see the attraction of focusing on club hits from Madonna’s point of view. While her mainstream singles chart success nosedived around 2010 (along with many other artists of a certain age/era) in terms of club hits it was business as usual. So ‘Bitch I’m Madonna (feat. Nicki Minaj)’ did just as well as ‘Like A Virgin’ or ‘Material Girl’ by this yardstick. Whether the majority of Madonna’s audience would give them equal weight is another matter. Is this compilation for Madonna or her audience? The press release told us that she had “curated” Finally Enough Love, although surely it more or less curated itself, if it’s based on club chart-toppers. It’s not clear if the specific mixes selected are the ones that were played in clubs at the time or whether Madonna has given herself freedom to select ANY mix of a particular song. One thing we do know is that they are all edited to single length which has allowed 50 tracks to fit on three CDs. Many of these edits are either new or have never been issued on CD.
The first CD takes us from ‘Holiday to Secret’, which represents a period of just over a decade. This was unquestionable Madonna’s ‘imperial phase’. In that 11 year span in the UK, only one single failed to reach the top 10 and that was right at the beginning with ‘Holiday’ follow-up, ‘Lucky Star’ (#14). After that Madge enjoyed 32 consecutive top 10 singles. Absolutely phenomenal. Funnily enough, the very next single after ‘Secret’, which was ‘Take A Bow’ (not on Finally Enough Love), was the track that broke the sequence, bizarrely stalling at #16 in Britain but romping to seven consecutive weeks at the top of the US charts. Go figure.
The ‘problem’ is that this first disc doesn’t really feel like a remix album at all. There are many seven-inch versions (‘Holiday‘, ‘Like A Virgin‘, ‘Material Girl‘, ‘Vogue‘) and even when that isn’t strictly the case, the songs don’t sound that different. For example, ‘Open Your Heart’ is the ‘video version’, the excellent ‘Keep It Together’ (not included on Celebration) is an ‘Alternate Single Edit’, the brilliant ‘Like A Prayer’ is here in ‘7” Remix/Edit’ form, and so on.
So Finally Enough Love rather lulls you into a false sense of security. Things start to change around the time of ‘Justify My Love’ and ‘Erotica’. There’s no faulting William Orbit’s remix of ‘Justify My Love’ but I must admit I always had a soft spot for Andre Betts’ beat-heavy ‘Hip-hop MIx’. As far as ‘Erotica’ is concerned, it was a brilliant single but the fact is, none of the many remixes were ever as good as the seven-inch/album version and that includes the Underground Club Mix featured on this compilation, which is tedious and dull. Things pick up for a relatively intact ’Deeper and Deeper’ (‘David’s Radio Edit’) but one can only presume that the limp ‘Fever’ is only here to make up the numbers (49 Number Ones doesn’t sound as good) and ‘Junior’s Luscious Single MIx’ of ‘Secret’ is okay but makes the song too fast.
The first disc is largely excellent, with one of the highlights being the promo edits of the remixes of ‘Into The Groove’, ‘Physical Attraction’ and ‘Everybody’ from the You Can Dance album (which is why they appear out of sequence), but towards the very end, some of the remixes act as a warning bell for what you’re about to enjoy/endure on CD 2.
Junior turns up again at the beginning of the second disc to remix ‘Bedtime Stories’. It’s not bad, to be fair, which is more than can be said for the atrocity which is the ‘Miami Mix Edit’ of ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’. At least that Lloyd-Webber/Rice song is hardly a Madonna classic, whereas ‘Frozen’ certainly is and the compilers haven’t done it much justice by including the ‘Extended Club Mix Edit’ which is another generic, lets-speed-up-the-BPM club mix and isn’t a patch on the Stereo MC’s version, for example. Things start to go down hill as we enter the ruining-good-songs-with-crap-remixes phase of Finally Enough Love.
The Sasha Ultra Violet Mix of ‘Ray of Light’ sounds like the kind of music that hostile military forces play when they are trying to break the spirit of the captured enemy. ‘Nothing Really Matters’ starts well but turns into an exercise in ‘boom-tish’ tedium. The Calderone Radio Mix of ‘Beautiful Stranger’ was surely never played on any radio and the Richard ‘Humpty’ Vission Radio Mix of ‘American Pie’ is something that all the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t save. The Deep Dish Dot Com Radio Edit of ‘Music’ has a name that had my finger hovering over the ‘skip’ button, but it’s actually rather good and offers some respite mid-CD, but Thunderpuss Video Remix of ‘Don’t Tell Me’ is truly awful. The Above And Beyond Club Radio Mix of ‘What It Feels Like For A Girl’ is supposed to be a remix classic; it probably sounded good in Ibiza. And so it continues. The ‘Die Another Die‘ remix is unlistenable and suddenly, I am no longer familiar with the original songs anymore. ‘Me Against The Music’? Nope. ’Nothing Fails’? No memory at all. A quick check on Wikipedia confirms this song from American Life (the first Madonna album I didn’t bother to buy) wasn’t even a single in the UK.
The third CD in this triple-disc package starts strongly, thanks to the success of Confessions On A Dance Floor. ‘Hung Up’ and the Pet Shop Boys’ Maxi Mix Edit of ‘Sorry’ (with obligatory Neil Tennant backing vocals) are both excellent, but of course both of these songs were number ones in the main pop chart in the UK. This last disc is hard going, purely because unless you really made a lot of effort to buy and try and ‘get into’ these more recent Madonna albums, you’re going into it blind. I confess I didn’t, with Madame X being an exception (because I was going to the live show).
It may be factually correct, but the ’50 Number Ones’ moniker is arguably a sleight of hand. Marketing smoke-and-mirrors that suggests incredible sustained success on a global scale. When actually, especially in more recent times, the number one has been generated by a tiny sample of a population, locked into a demographic that probably won’t be buying this 3CD set and located in one specific geographical area.
Despite best efforts, Finally Enough Love doesn’t escape the fundamental problem that dogs any compilation that follows the long career of an artist whose commercial success tailed off towards the end. Even a Madonna compilation that stuck to original single versions would have this issue. Madonna lasted much longer than most and, roughly speaking, had 20 years of incredible creative and commercial success, which is an astounding achievement. But much of CD 3 is inescapably weak. And because this is a remix album, it manages to transform Madonna’s fairly consistent 1990s output into a more hit-and-miss affair because the quality of the remixes doesn’t always match the quality of the songs.
But Madonna, the pop star, was born in the clubs and I can understand her enthusiasm for this collection. It’s far from perfect, it’s still worth it for that first CD (avoid the single CD edition which compresses the first 20 years of Madonna’s output into nine songs!).
Elvis Costello’s 1996 album All This Useless Beauty is to be reissued as a limited edition coloured vinyl pressing next month.
Originally conceived as a collection of songs for other artists, the record ended up being recorded by Costello and The Attractions. ‘Complicated Shadows’, for example, was intended for Johnny Cash. There are four songs which did get released by other artists: ‘The Other End Of The Telescope’ was co-written with Aimee Mann; ‘You Bowed Down’ was recorded by Roger McGuinn; ‘All This Useless Beauty’ and ‘I Want To Vanish’ was recorded by June Tabor.
The theme was extended even further at the time when a series of limited edition CD singles were issued with bonus tracks that saw bands like Sleeper and Lush covering tracks from All This Useless Beauty.
The album was also notable in that it was the final studio album by either Paul McCartney or Elvis Costello to be released with song from the McCartney/MacManus sessions; ‘Shallow Grave’ starts side two.
All This Useless Beauty is available to pre-order as a limited edition (of 2500) individually numbered copies on gold coloured vinyl. It is released on 14 October 2022 via Music On Vinyl. Pre-order this release via the SDE shop using this link or the buttons below.
Remember the World Party vinyl reissue campaign from last year? It started in spring with Private Revolution (1987), before moving on to Bang! (1993) and then 2001’s Dumbing Up. The classic Goodbye Jumbo from 1990 was delayed until October 2021 and then it all went a bit quiet leaving, 1997’s Egyptology un-reissued. That will be corrected soon when World Party’s fourth studio album is reissued as a 2LP set at the end of October.
Egyptology is a good record, even if it doesn’t reach the heights of both Goodbye Jumbo and Bang! It’s home to ‘She’s The One’, the song Robbie Williams took to number one in the UK, and while it’s a little workmanlike in places (‘Is Is Time’, ‘Call Me Up’) that counterbalanced by some more interesting compositions and arrangements (‘Rolling Off A Log’, ‘Hercules’, ‘Vanity Fair’).
‘Rolling Off A Log’ from Egyptology set to a fan-made video
This 2LP set is actually slightly expanded. Top marks to frontman/one-man-band Karl Wallinger for putting five live tracks on side four (recorded Live in NYC 1997), rather than giving us the dreaded ‘etched disc’, even if, in truth, I’d have preferred some of those cover versions and studio bonus tracks from the ‘Beautiful Dream’ single.
Egyptology is reissued as a 2LP gatefold set on 29 October 2022. Like the other reissues this will have been remastered.
A new Gary Crowley-endorsed collection of 1990s indie is on the way in the form of a 3CD set called Gary Crowley’sIndie 90s Playback.
This collection takes in various genres and sub-genres of music that were prevalent at the time including Britpop, Madchester, Baggy, Shoegazing, Alternative Rock, Trip Hop, Big Beat and the like.
Artists include The Wonderstuff, Electronic, Jesus Jones, Pulp, Saint Etienne, Gene, Primal Scream, The Fountains of Wayne, Dodgy, Supergrass, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Definition of Sound, World of Twist, Manic Street Preachers, Paul Weller, Tricky, Fatboy Slim and many more. Things are kept interesting via many of the selections being remixed versions from the era.
A variant of this Lynch Mob Beats Mix version of Paul Weller’s ‘Cosmos’ appears on Indie 90s Playback
This package includes a book with contributions from the likes of Paul Weller, Alan McGee, Andrew Innes of Primal Scream and Sarah Cracknell and more.
A limited edition version of this set, exclusive to Amazon UK, comes with a postcard personally signed by Gary Crowley (only 500 copies).
All sounds pretty good, with the only misstep surely the use of the word ‘Bangers’ in the subtitle of this release: “Classics, Curveballs and Bangers”. Inappropriate for a ’90s collection.
Gary Crowley’s Indie 90s Playback is released on 28 October 2022, via Wienerworld (not Edsel!)
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Gary Crowleys Indie 90s Playback - standard 3CD set
The Complete Albums Collection, The Alan Parsons Project CD set issued back in 2014, will be released as an 11LP vinyl box in November.
It includes the 10 original studio albums plus The Sicilian Defence which was originally recorded in 1979 and was previously unreleased until it was offered in the 11CD box in 2014.
All albums have been half-speed remastered at Abbey Road and cut from hi-res files transferred from the best available analogue master tapes (digital master tapes for all albums from 1983 onwards). Everything has been approved by Alan Parsons.
The Complete Albums Collection is an 11LP vinyl box set (click image to enlarge)
All the records are pressed on heavyweight 180gm black vinyl and these are housed in a ‘cigarette’ style outer box. It comes with a 60-page 12″x 12″ hardcover book which feature lyrics, new sleeve notes and an essay from Miles Showell about the half-speed mastering. This package also comes with a large A1 poster.
The Complete Albums Collection is limited to just 1500 copies and is only available via the official Alan Parsons Project online shop. The first 500 copies come with a print signed by Alan Parsons. It’s released on 18 November 2022 via Cooking Vinyl.
The Complete Albums CollectionThe Alan Parsons Project/11LP vinyl box set
LP 1: Tales Of Mystery And Imagination Edgar Allan Poe (1976 Version)
A Dream Within A Dream
The
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Cask Of Amontillado
(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether
The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Instrumental)
(i) Prelude
(ii) Arrival
(iii) Intermezzo
(iv) Pavane
(v) Fall
To One In Paradise
LP 2: I Robot
I Robot (Instrumental)
I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You
Some Other Time
Breakdown
Don’t Let It Show
The Voice
Nucleus (Instrumental)
Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
Total Eclipse
Genesis CH.1 V.32 (Instrumental)
LP 3: Pyramid
Voyager (Instrumental)
What Goes Up
The Eagle Will Rise Again
One More River
Can’t Take It With You
Pyramania
Hyper-Gamma-Spaces (Instrumental)
Shadow Of A Lonely Man
LP 4: Eve
Lucifer (Instrumental)
You Lie Down With Dogs
I’d Rather Be A Man
You Won’t Be There
Winding Me Up
Damned If I Do
Don’t Hold Back
Secret Garden
If I Could Change Your Mind
LP 5: The Turn Of A Friendly Card
May Be A Price To Pay
Games People Play
Time
I Don’t Wanna Go Home
The Gold Bug (Instrumental)
The Turn Of A Friendly Card
(i) The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part One)
(ii) Snake Eyes
(iii) The Ace OF Swords (Instrumental)
(iv) Nothing Left To Lose
(v) The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part Two)
Following on from the 1972T. Rex release from earlier this year, Demon Records will soon issue two new vinyl-only sets that concentrate on the years 1970 and 1971, with a special focus on Marc Bolan’s development as a songwriter.
T. Rex 1970 and T. Rex 1971 are the first instalments in this new series and are vinyl-only releases, the first being a single LP and the latter being a 2LP set.
T. Rex 1970 is the year in which Tyrannosaurus Rex metamorphosed into T. Rex. This 18 track selection commences with six numbers by Tyrannosaurus Rex, where songs like ‘Woodland Bop’ point the way to the duo’s future sound.
T.Rex 1970 is a single vinyl album
Side two of 1970 is when the electric T. Rex sound emerges with songs like ‘Beltane Walk’ and the hit ‘Ride A White Swan’. In fact, included here is the ‘White Swan’ session studio conversation between Bolan and producer Tony Visconti where Marc actually exclaims “I want that sound!”.
T.Rex 1971 covers the year the band became a chart-topping phenomenon. The 19 tracks on this double (140g) vinyl set include the full-length versions of the hits ‘Hot Love’ and ‘Get It On’, along with the single version of ‘Jeepster’, complemented with choice cuts from the chart-topping Electric Warrior album. There are some B-sides and a work-in-progress version of ‘Life’s A Gas’ alongside rarities such as the 15-minute acoustic home demo of Bolan’s unfinished sci-fi rock opera ‘Children Of Rarn.’ The album then looks forward to the following year with alternate studio versions of ‘Thunderwing’ and ‘Telegram Sam’, recorded in Copenhagen as 1971 came to an end.
T.Rex 1971 is a 2LP black vinyl package
Both releases have been compiled and fully annotated by Mark Paytress, author of the biography ‘Marc Bolan: The Rise And Fall of a 20th Century Superstar’. He says: “The idea behind this series is to shine a light on Bolan’s great inner gift – his songwriting. We all know about those glorious, idiosyncratic hits; about songs like Girl and Cosmic Dancer, which sound as if they landed in his lap; about the mind-mangling pop poetry which to this day remains lodged in pop’s collective brain. Yes, Marc Bolan was all that. And there’s more…The Songwriter series takes a deep dive into the vast Marc Bolan & T. Rex archive and emerges with a year-by-year song-portrait of the man behind the music.”
Both 1970 and 1971 vinyl sets are to be released on 30 September 2022, which would have been Bolan’s 75th birthday.
Producer Giles Martin has confirmed that The Beatles’ 1966 album Revolver is the next reissue in the ongoing campaign.
Regarded by many as their finest album, Revolver was the last studio long-player to be recorded while the band were still touring (although they played nothing from it in 1966) and saw John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr really start to experiment with sonics and using ‘the studio’ to shape their sound. Examples of that include the backwards guitar on ‘Paperback Writer’ B-side ‘Rain’ and John’s astonishing psychedelic, one-chord closer, ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. Everyone was at the top of their game; George’s contributions were in the form of the brilliant ‘Taxman’ and ‘Love You To’, his foray into North Indian classical music (continued on Sgt. Pepper with arguably the inferior ‘Within You Without You’).
Nothing from Revolver was ever played live by The Beatles. The nearest they got was the non-album single ‘Paperback Writer’
The album contains some of Paul’s finest ballads and it’s still amazing to think that songs of the quality of ‘For No One’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ were all on the same album! Ringo’s much-loved ‘Yellow Submarine’ also features on Revolver (despite the animation and US soundtrack being released two years later in 1968) and it’s fair to say that his drums are turned up to ’11’ for the first time (as is Paul’s bass).
The Revolver reissue and box sets haven’t been officially announced but there were plenty of rumours going around towards the end of last week, with Variety taking the decision to post about the, still unofficial, news.
On Sunday, Giles choose to retweet Variety’s news story, which perhaps didn’t go down too well with Apple and their label partner Universal Music, but I guess the cat was out of the bag and it puts an end to the speculation. Martin even followed up with another tweet a few hours later with the words “It’s all going a bit immersive too…” and a picture of some headphones on the desk of a mixing studio. This is effectively confirmation that a Dolby Atmos Mix of Revolver will part of the offering (not a surprise, since ‘Abbey Road’ and Let It Be both included Atmos Mixes in their respective box sets).
To stress once more, nothing is confirmed, but you can find the rumoured track listings below, which appear feasible enough. They include a new stereo remix, two CDs of sessions, the original mono mix via a new tape transfer and a four-track ‘Bonus EP’. The blu-ray will include a Dolby Atmos Mix, a 5.1 mix and perhaps the mono mix and some other content.
I spoke to Giles last year about mixing The Beatles and I specifically asked him about Revolver and whether the so-called ‘de-mixing’ technology was good enough to allow him to remix the 1966 album. His answer suggested not, but he left the door open for it to happen:
I don’t think [de-mixing] is [good enough] at this moment in time. And I just think you have to have a good reason to do it. And that reason has to be a sonic improvement, there’s no point in doing it for the sake of it. Although I can’t really answer that because I haven’t really looked at that properly”.
Giles Martin
It’s worth going back and reading that interview, which is primarily about Let It Be and his work on Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary. I’ll do my best to try and talk to Giles again about Revolver.
Revolver is likely to be the start of a reverse-chronology reissue approach to The Beatles studio output. Since 2017, Apple/UMC have worked forward from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with 50th anniversary releases. They re-released that ground-breaking album five years ago and followed it in yearly increments with 1968’s ‘The White Album’, Abbey Road (1969) and Let It Be (recorded in ’69, released in 1970). COVID and Disney’s Get Back plans denied fans an album reissue in 2020, which is why Let It Be arrived a year ‘late’ in 2021.
The next reissue should be 1965’s Rubber Soul unless Apple opt to switch to 60th anniversary reissues for an autumn 2023 reissue of the band’s 1963 debut Please Please Me.
The official announcement about Revolver is expected in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned to SDE for the usual comprehensive coverage of formats, content and pre-order links.
Tracklisting
RevolverThe Beatles/RUMOURED track listing for Revolver 4CD+blu-ray box
CD 1: 2022 Stereo Mix by Giles Martin & Sam Okell
Taxman
Eleanor Rigby
I’m Only Sleeping
Love You To
Here, There And Everywhere
Yellow Submarine
She Said She Said
Good Day Sunshine
And Your Bird Can Sing
For No One
Doctor Robert
I Want To Tell You
Got To Get You Into My Life
Tomorrow Never Knows
CD 2: Sessions
Tomorrow Never Knows (Take 1)
Tomorrow Never Knows (Mono Mix RM 11)
Got To Get You Into My Life (First Version/ Take 5)
Got To Get You Into My Life (2nd Version/ Unnumbered Mix)
Got To Get You Into My Life (2nd Version)
Love You To (Take 1)
Love You To (Unnumbered Rehearsal)
Love You To (Take 7)
Paperback Writer (Takes 1 & 2/Backing Track)
Rain (Take 5)
Rain (Take 5/Slowed Down)
Doctor Robert (Take 7)
And Your Bird Can Sing (First Version/Take 2)
And Your Bird Can Sing (First Version/ Take 2/ Giggling)
SDEtv takes a look at the brand new Swing Out Sister box set called Blue Mood, Breakout and Beyond. This collection was issued about a week ago and features the band’s first three studio albums, Live at the Jazz Café and four bonus discs of remixes and B-sides.
This compilation of Elton John ballads was issued originally back in 1995. It contains 18 songs and was actually issued on vinyl at the time, although the pressing was very limited. It’s now reissued on the format with the 2LP presentation faithful to the original. Three other Elton John albums are reissued on vinyl this week; they are: The Captain & The Kid (2006), Breaking Hearts (1984, features ‘Passengers’) and A Single Man (1978, features ‘A Song For Guy’).
Fatboy Slim’s Big Beach Boutique II was Norman Cook’s 2002 free open air concert at Brighton Beach, which attracted a crowd of 250,000 people. This release is a 20th anniversary set and features two CDs and a DVD of the concert film.
Mötley Crüe’s fourth studio album from 1987 is reissued on vinyl and CD. This is part of a wider reissue campaign via BMG and other albums are also available, including their 1981 debut Too Fast For Love.
Duran Duran’s 1997 album Medazzaland will be reissued for its 25th anniversary in October.
The album was the band’s last for EMI who actually refused to release it in the UK, meaning it’s not technically a ‘reissue’ in Britain. It was issued in the US and Japan, although only on CD, meaning 25 years later it’s available on vinyl for the first time.
The album features the singles ‘Out Of My Mind’ (which was on the soundtrack to the 1997 film The Saint) and ‘Electric Barbarella’ (only issued in the UK the following year to promote the Greatest ‘best of’.
‘Electric Barbarella’ features on Medazzaland
It’s an experimental art-rock album which rather wasted the return to the mainstream the band enjoyed with ‘The Wedding Album’, although the messing around with the Thank You covers record hadn’t helped in that regard. John Taylor also left the band during the recording (he only appears on 4 tracks) which feeds into a ‘going-slightly-off-the-rails’ narrative). Having said all that, there’s much to enjoy with the atmospheric ‘Midnight Sun’ being a real highlight for this writer.
Medazzaland is being reissued on CD and 2LP coloured (‘neon pink’) vinyl. The vinyl is cut at 45RPM. Anyone who bought the US CD at the time (guilty as charged) will recall the ‘neon pink’ jewel case tray, so that ties in well. There doesn’t appear to be any bonus audio on the physical releases, although the original Japanese extra track ‘Ball and Chain’ is available on streaming platforms.
A companion album to Brett Morgen’s forthcoming David Bowie feature documentary, Moonage Daydream, will be released in November.
The film is coming to cinemas next month and apparently uses never-before-seen footage, performances and music to create a “feature length experiential cinematic odyssey [that] explores David Bowie’s creative, musical and spiritual journey”. I’m seeing it in a couple of weeks and will tell you if any of that is true!
Of course, it was almost inevitable that there would be a soundtrack, but no one wants, or needs, another collection of standard versions of Bowie tracks, and at least this isn’t that. While this musical accompaniment includes classic songs spanning Bowie’s career, it includes previouslyunheard material, unique mixes created for the film and it incorporates dialogue from Bowie himself. You have my attention!
Highlights include a previously unreleased live medley of ‘The Jean Genie/Love Me Do/The Jean Genie’ recorded live at the final Ziggy Stardust concert at Hammersmith Odeon in 1973, featuring Jeff Beck on guitar. Other rarities include an early version of the Hunky Dory favourite ‘Quicksand’ and a previously unreleased live version of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me’ from the legendary 1974 ‘Soul Tour’. Have a listen to the ‘Moonage Daydream Mix’ of ‘Modern Love’, above.
There’s no vinyl version (for now), just a 2CD set which offers a generous 43 tracks. Update: A 3LP vinyl edition will be released in spring next year!
Moonage Daydream: Music From The Film is released on 18 November 2022. The 3LP vinyl edition is released on 31 March 2023.
Altered Images’ singer discusses why it’s taken so long to make new music, how her unreleased solo album left her feeling broken and the possibility of writing again with Altered Images founder Johnny McElhone. John Earls asks the questions for SDE.
Almost a year ago, Altered Images announced they were ready to release a new album. Mascara Streakz is a defiant, uptempo and also troubled return for a band whose last album Bite was released way back in 1983. Clare has enjoyed a varied career in entertainment, acting in shows from Red Dwarf to Skins as well as Gregory’s Girl and the recently-released My Old School with Alan Cumming. She’s been a TV presenter and writer. But for a generation, Altered Images’ spiky pop was intoxicating. Having made the albums Happy Birthday, Pinky Blue and Bite in just two years, they abruptly split.
Clare returned to playing live in 2004, and is finally ready with a new album made with her husband Stephen Lironi, who joined Altered Images for Bite. Co-writers include Clare’s neighbour, Bernard Butler, and Robert Hodgens, aka fellow Scottish 80s survivor Bobby Bluebell.
SDE spoke to Clare to discover the reasons for her break from new music, as Clare explains why she felt insecure during Altered Images’ height and why she’s decided to embrace her legacy.
Hi Clare, welcome back! How does it feel to have a new album ready to go after so long?
Clare Grogan: It feels massive. It’s absolutely terrifying. Making the album was great, but letting go of it? I’m struggling with that, as I want it to be significant, but I have no real control over that. I’ve made an album I love, with people I love. That’s enough for me, but of course you can’t help but want everyone else to love it too.
How are you with letting go, in terms of not wanting to change the album itself? Did you know when it was properly finished, or are you someone who wants to endlessly tinker with the songs?
Because of the shenanigans with vinyl shortage, the album has taken a while to be released. There was a long time when I didn’t listen to it, but I went back to it recently and I’m really happy with it. I really love one of the bonus tracks, ‘The Other Side’, and I sometimes think I should have put that on the album, instead of maybe ‘The Flame’. But everyone I talk to has a different favourite track.
It’s funny you say that, as I love ‘The Flame’. For me, it’s a great one-two energetic attack with ‘Double Reflection’ for near the end of the album.
Oh, great. I’m glad I’ve kept it, then! I was angry when I wrote ‘Double Reflection’ and I hope that comes across. I get so weary of the constant shaming that goes on, which has touched me over the years. There are a lot of themes going on in this record, among me dancing around.
It does feel a punk record in spirit, going right back to your earliest days as the teenage punks who supported Siouxsie And The Banshees.
Well, I’ve always dressed up difficult themes within a big pop chorus, even on ‘I Could Be Happy’. I’ve always had that side to me, as I think life is bittersweet. With this record, I wanted to make a few points. In some ways, it’s a protest record.
A lot of that was from being around my daughter Ellie in lockdown. Ellie was 16 then, and I thought about how I was starting out in Altered Images when I was her age, about how vulnerable we were. I don’t like dwelling on age, but I’m at the other end of that time now, yet I still feel vulnerable. Why is that? I spoke to Ellie a lot about self-motivation during lockdown and I thought: ‘I need to take a leaf out of my own book here.’ I wanted songs that celebrate myself. All of us have moment when we think we’re not enough, and I wanted to stop thinking I’m not enough.
With this record, I wanted to make a few points. In some ways, it’s a protest record.
Clare Grogan
Were any songs particularly challenging to write?
There are a couple, yeah. I’ll leave it to the listener to work out which ones. The whole album is quite intense, as I’ve revealed myself in a way I’d never have had the confidence to do, even 10 years ago. I love singing these songs, but there’s one that I might never be able to get through live.
How enjoyable is the title track to sing live? That particularly feels like a celebration of who you are.
Oh, that goes down brilliantly well live. There’s a lot of pain on this record, but I can only talk about that because there’s also a lot of light in my life. I don’t want to say Mascara Streakz is a happy ending, but I have finally found a good place to be. Being OK with everything is what the record is about. Well, apart from ‘Double Reflection’ and I’m not going to say what inspired that. I’m so pre-disposed to happiness. Everything in life can get in the way of that, but I’ll still keep going: ‘Let’s have a good time!’ When you’ve faced a lot of difficult scenarios, they can either sink you or you go ‘Fuck it!’ I’ve learned I’m a strong person by having to deal with some incredibly tough scenarios.
What’s it been like to play full-length gigs again, rather than a handful of songs at nostalgia festivals?
That’s been amazing, but I don’t knock those nostalgia festivals. I have such a ball at Rewind and Let’s Rock, but I do say to them all the time: ‘Why can’t I bring my band?’ I hasten to add the Rewind house band is amazing and I have such a good time with them. A lot of bands play certain shows which allows them to afford to play other shows.
You’ve said this album was intended as a love letter to your favourite musicians. Did you ever fall out of love with music in your time away?
No, but I fell out of love with the music business. That slapped me in the face at one point, and I underestimated just how much that affected my confidence. When I got asked back to performing, with the Here And Now tour in 2004, I just wasn’t sure I should do it, as I couldn’t get my head around why people would be interested. I had to reclaim myself, turn those doubts into something positive.
I fell out of love with the music business
Clare Grogan
I’m a huge fan of those early Altered Images records. It’s no reflection of anyone in the band, but it’s no secret it all ended up not great between us for a while. I’m so relieved Johnny and I are friends, obviously I’m married to Stephen, but I don’t have any connection with the others. But I’ve realised there’s no escaping Altered Images. I could either decide to be annoyed about that or to embrace it, and I think the right decision was to totally embrace it.
Is that why the album is released as Altered Images, rather than as Clare Grogan?
It would have worked both ways. But, because my live shows are gaining momentum, I thought releasing a new Altered Images album was the best way to say thank you to all the people who’ve kept turning up at the shows. This record is almost a thank you from Altered Images.
What’s the bonus EP that fans get with the album bundles on your webstore?
Because we’re crazy, Stephen and I wanted to do Cuban versions of old Altered Images songs, which became Clara Libre. That was a lot of work, and we ran out of time to finish some of the songs intended for this album. Also, Stephen and I run two restaurants locally in North London and we open a third in Soho next month. When our restaurants re-opened after lockdown, I lost my top producer.
How enjoyable was it to write songs with Stephen?
It’s the only thing we don’t fight about! We have a shorthand when it comes to writing songs, and I became obsessed with writing for this album. I couldn’t stop – it was almost a Red Shoes moment. It drove Stephen nuts, it drove my daughter nuts, it drove Robert and Bernard nuts. I kept thinking: ‘I have to make this work.’ It was all in there, waiting for the right moment. Who’d have thought that right moment would be 39 years on? I’d never write an autobiography. But writing my memoir through my songs? That’s much more interesting.
Having been friends and a neighbour of Bernard Butler for so long, what was it like writing ‘Glitter Ball’ and ‘Home’ with him?
We’ve been pals a long time, but I was really nervous asking him. I’d started writing ‘Beautiful Thing’ with Robert before asking Bernard, and Robert said: ‘You’re really good at this.’ Robert’s not really like that, so him saying that was huge as I knew he meant it. I’ve always slightly made fun out of myself as a defence mechanism, but I’ve learned now to take a compliment without going ‘Aw no, I’m rubbish, really.’
I’ve always slightly made fun out of myself as a defence mechanism
Clare Grogan
I say that to Ellie all the time: ‘Feel your strength, the power to create something. Make people feel good.’ Robert gave me the confidence to ask Bernard, and our songs happened so effortlessly. The sketch for ‘Glitter Ball’ was so quick and I was so relieved about that. Imagine being round at Bernard’s house for hours and not having a single idea. That would have been so embarrassing.
Could you have written with Johnny McElhone for this album too?
We spoke about it, but it felt we were rushing it a bit with the label deadline approaching. Neither of us wanted that. Johnny was massively busy with Texas’ album Hi coming out, so we decided: ‘Let’s look at this again.’ I’ve got a two-album deal, and I really hope we can do something for the next one.
What was it like to sing on ‘Look What You’ve Done’ for Johnny on Hi?
I love Johnny and Sharleen (Spiteri), and it’s been incredibly special when they’ve asked me on stage a couple of times. For ‘Look What You’ve Done’, I just went to Johnny’s house and sang it a few times. I love getting the chance to work at places like Abbey Road, but it doesn’t always have to be like that, and I love the intimacy of being in a room with people you care about. There’s a shorthand in working with Johnny too, and I’ll always credit Johnny with the fact that, when I joined Altered Images, he said I’d have to help writing songs. I told him: ‘I’m not doing that. I’ve never written a song, how am I going to do that?’ Johnny bought me a book of poetry and basically told me I couldn’t stay in the band if I didn’t start writing. What a gift, encouraging me to do that.
Do you still feel in touch with that younger self who joined the band?
I got asked to do a show with Dame Denise Mina, where I looked back at my early career. The producers had uncovered a lot of footage I hadn’t seen. I’d thought it’d just be good fun to look back at that stuff, but it was very emotional and it unsettled me. Back then, I was hiding all my nervousness by being louder than I really am. I felt quite protective of my younger self, which I hadn’t expected. I had to tell myself afterwards: ‘You know what, Clare? You did OK.’
It couldn’t have been easy as a teenage woman in the music industry in 1981.
I had absolutely no life experience, so I had nothing to gauge it against. I was just living it. People always ask why I left the band, and a lot of it was loneliness. At that time, you didn’t have anyone looking after you, so a lot of the time it was just me and the boys. It’s not that I fell out with them, I just got tired of being the only girl in a very male-dominated environment. It just became too hard. I was on the receiving end of endless criticism, which made me realise I was very thin-skinned. I thought: ‘I don’t want this for myself, I can’t take it.’ I still feel funny about it.
Was there a particular moment when you realised ‘That’s enough’?
I had a big meltdown on tour in America, feeling under so much pressure to deliver. I was questioning myself and I was also being courted by Hollywood producers. I just thought: ‘This is too much.’ I probably just needed a good holiday but, when you’re young, everything is so black-and-white. Altered Images were held to account a lot. We put out three records in very quick succession, but we were made to feel we weren’t doing well enough. It was tough, a weird period in my life where it all felt out of control. By that point, I’d been on the move for four years and I realised I actually quite like routine. So I went home to Glasgow to make Comfort And Joy with Bill Forsyth, who’d directed Gregory’s Girl. I stayed at my mum and dad’s and thought: ‘I’m not leaving here again.’ I felt safe and secure there and, looking back, I must have felt unsafe elsewhere. I don’t know why I didn’t feel safe specifically, I just know I felt vulnerable.
It felt like you had a kinship with Siouxsie And The Banshees, that you were the lighter side of their ethos, yet you were attacked for being ‘pop’. From the outside, it feels like you couldn’t win.
Yes, maybe. We weren’t faking any of our excitement. We went from watching Top Of The Pops to being on it. The summer I left school, we got signed to Epic and I made Gregory’s Girl. And it all just rollercoastered from there. Everything that was on our dream checklist, we achieved within weeks. ‘It’d be nice to support The Banshees.’ Tick. ‘It’d be nice to get a John Peel session.’ Tick, and John Peel really liked us. It was insane and I’ll never understand how it happened. It was an incredible thing to happen to me – until it wasn’t.
Did you ever wonder why it happened to you specifically?
I used to wonder that, but I learned in lockdown that I’m obsessed with performing. It can’t all be luck that I’ve kept this career going all this time. I work really hard behind the scenes and I’m very hands-on with everything. I don’t know what that says about me, it’s just who I am. I had that work ethic from my parents, and I absolutely view this as a job. I love the job, I have amazing perks from it, but you have to treat it as a job. I’m the dullest person at my shows afterwards because, even if everyone is partying around me, if I’ve got a show the next day, I’ll be so focused.
With the band and Gregory’s Girl taking off at the same time, presumably you never had time to party even at the start of your career?
I didn’t, and I’ve also always known when to go home. Something in me says: ‘Right, time to go!’ and that’s probably why I’ve survived too. I love a carry-on more than anything, but when I’m working, I’m working. I’ll have that carry-on at home with my family and friends. If I’m doing a job, I focus on that. I’m cautious, and I have to be. Quote me on that when I’m dancing on the tables after my next show.
What was that tour supporting Siouxsie And The Banshees actually like?
So lovely. What strikes me now about the bands we supported in our early days – The Banshees, U2, Simple Minds – is their kindness and support towards us. It let me get on stage and show off. It was funny and crazy, but we were looked after by those bands too. They all seemed so much older than us and they seemed like they knew what they were doing, but they were all only a couple of years older.
How encouraging was Steve Severin when he produced Happy Birthday?
He was great, we had such a brilliant time making that album at Rockfield. He made us work hard, but he’d join in the fun too, like when The Cure came to visit and we had a food fight. Stephen has produced at Rockfield and, whenever I go back, I think of what a great time we had. You’re in a little bubble in a residential studio like Rockfield, and Johnny had a big work ethic. On one level, we had fun, but we really thought about that first record too. I listened to it recently as I was curious about it, and I thought Steve did a great job.
How much of the progression from Happy Birthday to Pinky Blue was down to Martin Rushent being such a great pop producer, and how much was it from the band naturally becoming poppier?
We really wanted to have hits. Johnny wanted us to sell 500,000 records, not 5,000. We loved Dare and had been Human League fans since ‘Being Boiled’, so Martin was perfect. We’d made a decision to be more synth and less guitar-y. Martin came to a band rehearsal. At that point ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘I Could Be Happy’ were the same song, and it was Martin who told us: ‘You need to split that up: there are two brilliant pop songs in there.’ We’d already recorded the two-in-one version of both songs with Steve Severin, which must exist somewhere. I’d love to hear that.
How do you view Bite now?
I like that record a lot. Stephen came along and took us to another level, as he was obsessed by technology. He had a Linn drum, and he was the first person I knew who owned a computer. He was obsessively tech and we had a lot of attention to detail. Also, imagine getting to make a record with Mike Chapman and Tony Visconti. In your wildest dreams – tick. The gobby Glaswegian side of us had to be there for Bite: working with legends like that and telling them how you want it to work. That’s just cheeky. Mike is brilliant. I saw him a few years ago, and he told me: ‘You guys nearly pushed me over the edge.’ I felt quite proud of that.
When did you start to feel confident as a songwriter?
It always seemed like an accident at the time. We just did it. Now, I love the idea of sitting around a table to write. I come up with a lot of melodies when I’m running. I sing them into my Dictaphone when I’m back and show them to Stephen. He makes it work brilliantly, and that’s how a lot of this album was written.
What happened with your unreleased solo album Trash Mad after Bite?
There was a crazy bidding war to get me for a solo deal, which London won. I was produced by Mark Kamen, and we did a lot of the record in New York. But London just didn’t believe in the record. That was really hard, and it absolutely broke me.
Could it ever get released one day?
I’d like to hear it for myself first, partly as I think: ‘It can’t have been that bad.’ Maybe it could come out, but right now I have to be in the moment and focus on this record.
As you have a two-album deal, do you have ideas for the next record already?
I do, but it’s such a great feeling to be here and concentrating on this record. Whatever happens next, I never know. That’s what I like about my career, knowing something fun will come along and not knowing what it’ll be. I get to grab things I want, which is nice. I’ve had a great time doing lots of things: acting, writing, presenting. I love all of that, but singing makes me feel so free. I had a moment when it didn’t, when instead it made me feel not good enough. I’m so over that now. I have a polarising voice, I know it’s Marmite, but when you listen to all that negativity, it fucks you up. There could have been so many obstacles to making this record, and I thought I’d ignore them and do it for myself.
It feels like people are ready for a new Altered Images record, that the time is right for you to release something new. Does it feel that way to you?
It does. A lot of new music is quite 80s-influenced, and there might be something in that. But I’ve no idea what’s going to happen with this album. I wanted to cause a bit of a ripple and, beyond that, I can’t control it. I’ve caused that ripple and that’s good enough for me. At this point it’s a labour of love, and slight madness. Music has given me so much, and I love connecting with people through music. When I look out into the audience, I know we’ve all been through shit. But when we’re there, in that moment, nothing else matters. And I love that.
Thanks to Clare Grogan, who was talking to John Earls for SDE. Altered Images’ new album Mascara Streakz is released on Cooking Vinyl today, on vinyl, CD and cassette.
Mascara Streakz will be released on 26 August 2022.
SDEtv takes a look at Def Leppard’s most recent studio album, Diamond Star Halos, with a video examination of seven different variants, including coloured vinyl and Japanese CDs.
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Def Leppard
Diamond Star Halos - Japan SHM-CD with two exclusive bonus tracks
In a surprise move, Kate Bush’sRunning Up That Hill is being made available as a CD single.
The 1985 hit has enjoyed incredible success this year on streaming services thanks to its high-profile inclusion in Netflix’s sci-fi drama, Stranger Things. The song topped the UK charts and in America is still at number five in the Billboard Hot 100, having reached as high as number three.
‘Running Up That Hill’ wasn’t issued on CD in 1985, since the earliest commercial CD singles (at least in the UK) didn’t appear until 1986 (Kate’s first UK CD single as a solo artist was 1989’s ‘The Sensual World’). However, it was Kate’s first single to be remixed for a 12-inch vinyl single.
A listing for the limited edition CD single has appeared on Rhino’s US D2C store. Presumably it will become available in the UK and elsewhere. It would be strange if that didn’t happen. The label say the “CD single stays true to the original, featuring period correct artwork”.
While it’s great news that RUTH is being issued as a CD single, it’s disappointing to note that only the standard seven-inch/album version and the B-side ‘Under The Ivy’ feature, echoing he original seven-inch. Two other cuts were issued at the time of the original release: the excellent (slightly) extended 12-inch remix and an instrumental version. The instrumental has NEVER been issued on CD, and there was no physical version of the ‘Running Up That Hill’ single (in the UK) that featured all three variants and the B-side, so this new CD single is one to fill under ‘missed opportunity’!
The ‘Running Up That Hill’ CD single is released on 2 September 2022, according to the Rhino site.
‘INXS Day’, as it has become known, is 16 August. It’s the day the band played their first gig (some 45 years ago, this year). INXS always like to mark the occasion and last week there was a flurry of activity and announcements around new physical products and streaming activity.
For example, 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the band’s third studio album, Shabooh Shoobah. While there is no physical deluxe box set, there will be a ‘digital deluxe’ with 15 rarities, including extended mixes, B-sides and live tracks. Before you get too depressed, there is at least one physical release associated with this, albeit a live performance of nine out of the ten tracks on the album from the US Festival in 1983. INXS Recorded Live at the US Festival 1983 is being issued on vinyl and CD in October. For what it’s worth, only four of the nine tracks from this physical release form part of the digital deluxe.
INXS Recorded Live at the US Festival 1983 is released on CD and vinyl in October
The other quite big INXS news is that the 2011 compilation The Very Best has been newly mixed in Dolby Atmos. The 20-song compilation features hits such as ‘What You Need’, ‘Original Sin’, ‘Baby Don’t Cry’ & ‘Bitter Tears’, recently celebrated 500 weeks in the Australian Top 100 ARIA charts and has been awarded Diamond status. The Atmos Mix was created by Giles Martin and will be available on streaming services from 26 August.
Before you ask, this INXS compilation was all set to be the fifth in the SDE Surround Series of exclusive Atmos blu-ray products when I was informed a few days before we were due to announce that it wouldn’t be going ahead. I do not know the reason why. I’m sorry we couldn’t bring you what would have been a very exciting physical release.
The Very Best has been remixed in Dolby Atmos by Giles Martin.
There are four songs from 1992’s Welcome to Wherever You Are on The Very Best and because this month is the 30th anniversary of that rather wonderful album (probably my favourite), five videos have been upgraded to HD and will be available to view via the band’s YouTube channel (although they aren’t live at the time of writing). The videos are: ‘Heaven Sent’, ‘Baby Don’t Cry’, ‘Taste It’, ‘Beautiful Girl’ and ‘Not Enough Time’.
The Live Shabooh Shoobah album is released on 28 October 2022. The Atmos Very Best should be up on Friday this week.
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INXS
Shabooh Shoobah live at the US Festival 1983 - CD edition
Vince Guaraldi’s score from the classic 1965 animated Peanuts special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, is subject of a major reissue campaign from Craft Recordings.
One the the best selling jazz albums of all time is explored across a number of formats, including a comprehensive 4CD+blu-ray super deluxe edition, which features hours of newly unearthed session tapes from Fantasy Records’ vaults. This set also offers a blu-ray audio with a Dolby Atmos Mix and hi-res stereo mixes.
The 5CD+blu-ray super deluxe edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas
In fact, the standard version of the album has now been upgraded with a new stereo mix from engineer, Paul Blakemore. This features on a special 2LP deluxe vinyl which offers 13 bonus alternates. An expanded CD edition mirrors this content.
A single LP vinyl edition maintains the original 1965 mix but for this reissue is offered in gold foil sleeved with embossing details. So the outside cover is gold, but the actual vinyl is available in a number of coloured vinyl variants, depending on retailer.
The ‘gold foil’ vinyl edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas also has an embossed sleeve
The super deluxe offers more than 50 never-before-heard outtakes from five recording sessions and features both mixes of the album on CD 1. It is housed in a hardcover book which helps to guide fans through the entire recording process, via new, in-depth sleeve notes by Derrick Bang – a Peanuts expert.
The single LP vinyl editions of A Charlie Brown Christmas are released on 16 September 2022. The super deluxe, 2LP and single CD editions follow on 2 December (was 14 October), via Craft Recordings.
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Vince Guaraldi Trio
A Charlie Brown Christmas - 4CD+blu-ray super deluxe
German synth-pop band Alphaville are issuing a ‘symphonic’ greatest hits collection called Eternally Yours. All the songs have been rearranged and recorded with the German Film Orchestra Bablsberg.
Alphaville are best known for their 1984 international hit single ‘Big in Japan’ and enjoyed success in Europe at the time with singles such as ‘Forever Young’, ‘Sounds Like A Melody’ and ‘Jet Set’.
The new orchestral recordings are described as a “symbiosis between [lead singer] Marian Gold’s unique vocal abilities, the original Alphaville sound and the majestically powerful multifaceted nature of the large German Film Orchestra Babelsberg”.
The album is being issued in three physical formats. A 2CD set offers 23 tracks including some bonus single edits and alternate versions. A 3LP vinyl edition (available in yellow and black versions) delivers 26 tracks, with three bonus cuts on side F.
The box set edition of Eternally Yours includes a Dolby Atmos mix on a USB stick (click image to pre-order)
Finally, there is an all singing and dancing super deluxe edition collector’s box set that’s exclusive to German retailer JPC. This includes the 2CD set, the 3LP gold vinyl, a (gold) cassette edition and a USB stick with a Dolby Atmos version of Eternally Yours along with a hand-signed art print, large format booklet with a track-by-track annotation by Marian Gold and “photographic insights” into the recording history of Alphaville. The box even comes with a tote bag!
Eternally Yours is due to be released on 23 September 2022, via Edel’s ‘New Masters’ imprint.
Blondie/Against The Odds 1974-1982CD, Vinyl, Box Set
Almost four years since it was announced, Blondie’s box set is finally here. And there really is a format for everyone. Check out the very thorough SDEtv unboxing video.
Heather Nova releases an acoustic covers album which takes in such songs as Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ (!), Sting’s ‘Fragile’, Neil Young’s ‘Like A Hurricane’ and Foreigner’s ‘Waiting For A Girl Like You’.
Flight of the Conchords‘ Bret McKenzie (an ‘Best Song’ Oscar-winner, no less) is releasing a record not filled with comedy songs! The 11-track album is available on CD and blue/white smoke-coloured vinyl. If you aren’t sure what to expect, we are promised songs “reminiscent of the finest work of Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, and even a touch of Elvis Costello”.
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