Here
you will gain exclusive access to my own personal record collection! I
try to bring you mp3s of rare tracks, deleted material, long forgotten
artists, total flops and down right obscure shit. Often, my choices were
only available on vinyl or were just plain unreleased, the aim being to
indulge an old fan or inspire a new one. I try not to post up
forthcoming releases or anything that's too readily available. Honest,
Gov!
There's a tenuous thread running through the tracks but
your requests are always welcome and I'll try and squeeze them in amongst my
own fancies... eventually.
Do read all the blurb, as there's often links to extra tracks lurking in
there... ; )
Tracks are only available for a 'limited
time' folks (sometimes months!), so get them while you can!
Now for the science bit! To access the music, please click on 'Download' and
you'll be whisked off to those nice people over at Sharebee.
Tracks are ripped at 192 kbps and wherever possible taken from the
highest quality source available. All of the music offered here has been
purchased by myself and is part of my own collection. Tracks are for
evaluation purposes only and wherever possible, purchasing is always
encouraged. If you own any of the material posted here or anywhere else
on this site and are very cross with me, please
email me with threats and such like...
Anita
Lane is an Australian singer and songwriter who was very active
and influential in the early 1980s European post-punk landscape. She was
born in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1950s and began singing and song
writing aged 16. She was a classmate of Rowland S.
Howard, who would form The Boys Next
Door and later The Birthday Party
with Nick Cave.
Lane became the girlfriend of
Cave and moved to London with the band in 1980.
Lane co-wrote the lyrics of three songs
for The Birthday Party; 'Dead Joe',
'Kiss Me Black' and 'A Dead Song', before they
imploded in 1983. Lane is sometimes
credited as a founding member of Nick Cave And The
Bad Seeds, which was forged from the debris left behind by
The Birthday Party's demise. She had an
undeniably strong influence upon Nick Cave
and his work, often cited as his muse, although her only recorded
performance with the band is one lone verse on their
Bob Dylan cover, 'Death Is Not The End', from
the much later recorded album, 'Murder Ballads' in 1996. She
co-wrote the lyrics of the title track to the band's 1984 album, 'From
Her To Eternity', as well as the lyrics for the song 'Stranger
Than Kindness' from 'Your Funeral, My Trial'. She also
performed and recorded songs with the German bands
Die Haut and Einstürzende Neubauten,
before recording material under her own name for her debut release on
Mute Records, the 'Dirty Sings' EP, in 1988. She was
joined on the record by Nick Cave and
Bad Seeds Barry Adamson,
Thomas Wydler and
Mick Harvey, who produced. The release features an inspired
interpretation of Sister Sledge's
anthemic disco number, 'Lost In Music'. No stranger to the
cover version, Lane also recorded a
groovy, beat-driven version of Nancy Sinatra's
'These Boots Are Made For Walking' (
Brigitte
Anne-Marie Bardot was a French actress, fashion model and singer,
who is now an animal welfare/rights activist. She was born in 1934 and spent
her early life aspiring to be a professional ballet dancer, attending The
National Superior Conservatory Of Paris For Music And Dance for three
years. She started her acting career in 1952 and along with
Marilyn Monroe is recognised as one of
the foremost examples of female sexuality in films of the 1950s and 1960s.
During her career in show business, Bardot
starred in 50 films, many of which were lightweight romantic dramas or
historical epics, in which Bardot was
cast as ingénue or siren and often in varying states of undress. She also
played bit parts in three English language films, the comedy 'Doctor
At Sea' (1955), 'Helen Of Troy' (1954) and 'Act
Of Love' (1954) with Kirk Douglas.
Her French-language films were often dubbed in English for international
release, however. Encouraged by husband and film director
Roger Vadim, who felt she was
underselling herself in these lesser roles, Bardot
appeared in the controversial art film, 'And God Created Woman',
in 1956. The film, about an immoral teenager in a respectable small-town
setting, was a big international success. Brigitte
went on to star along side notable actors such as
Alain Delon ('Famous Love Affairs', 'Spirits
Of The Dead'), Jean Gabin ('In
Case of Adversity'), Sean Connery
('Shalako'), Jean Marais
('Royal Affairs In Versailles', 'School For Love'),
Lino Ventura ('Rum Runners'),
Annie Girardot ('The Novices'),
Claudia Cardinale ('The Legend Of
Frenchie King'), Jeanne Moreau ('Viva
Maria!') and Jane Birkin ('Don
Juan, Or If Don Juan Were A Woman'). She also participated in
various musical shows and TV specials, as well as dabbling in pop music,
recording many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration
with Serge Gainsbourg,
Bob Zagury and
Sacha Distel. Her most well-known songs include 'Harley
Davidson' (
The
aforementioned Lothario Serge Gainsbourg
is quite rightly next up. Serge was the
dirty old man of French pop music. A Gallic singer/songwriter and
provocateur notorious for ceaseless gluttony for booze, fags and women, his
scandalous, taboo-shattering work made him a legend throughout Europe. In
America however, where his lone hit 'Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus'
stalled on the pop charts (fittingly enough at number 69...), he was
little more than a cult figure. Serge,
or Lucien Ginzberg as he was born in 1928, was the son of Russian
Jews who fled to France following the events of the 1917 Bolshevik uprising.
After studying art and teaching, he turned to painting before working as a
bar pianist on the local cabaret circuit. Soon he was performing a singing
role in the musical 'Milord L'Arsoille', which he was
initially uncomfortable with due to feeling self-conscious about his
appearance. He felt better suited to composing and producing rather than
being centre stage. Nevertheless, he made his recording debut in 1958 with
the album 'Du Chant a la Une'. Strong follow-up efforts like
1961's 'L'Etonnant Serge Gainsbourg' and 1964's
'Gainsbourg Confidentiel' arrived but
Gainsbourg's jazz-tinged solo work performed poorly on the
charts. Meanwhile, compositions he wrote for other vocalists, ranging from
Petula Clark to
Juliette Greco to Dionne Warwick,
proved much more successful. In the late '60s, he befriended the beautiful
actress Brigitte Bardot, and later
became her lover. With Bardot as his
muse, Gainsbourg's lushly arranged music
suddenly became erotic and delirious, and together, they performed a series
of duets that encapsulated their chemistry - including 'Bonnie And
Clyde', 'Harley Davidson', and 'Comic Strip'
- each celebrating pop culture icons (more on those later!).
Gainsbourg's affair with
Bardot was to be brief, but it's effects
were irrevocable. After he became involved with constant companion
Jane Birkin, they recorded the 1969 duet
'Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus', a song he originally penned for
Bardot complete with steamy lyrics and
explicit heavy breathing. Although banned in many corners of the globe, it
reached the top of the charts throughout Europe, and growing in stature,
it's since become an underground classic later covered by performers as
varied as Donna Summer and
Nick Cave.
Gainsbourg returned in 1971 with 'Histoire de Melody
Nelson', a dark, complex song-cycle which signalled his increasing
alienation from modern culture. Drugs, disease, suicide and misanthropy
became thematic fixtures in his recordings, which grew more esoteric,
inflammatory and downright outrageous with each passing album. Although
Gainsbourg would never again reach the
commercial success of his late-'60s output, he remained an imposing and
controversial figure throughout Europe, where he was both vilified and
celebrated for his shocking and sometimes embarrassing behaviour, such as
burning 500 francs in front of a live TV audience, releasing a reggae
version of the sacred 'La Marseillaise' and telling
Whitney Houston that he wanted to fuck
her live on French TV (
Jane
Mallory Birkin OBE is our most famous export to the continent, an English
actress, model, singer, film director and wild-child who now lives in
France. She is probably best known for her association with her mentor and
lover, French cultural hero, womanizer, filth-peddler and randy old bugger,
Serge Gainsbourg. Now in her 60s,
Birkin emerged from the swinging 1960s scene in London, appearing as one of the models in the 1966 film
'Blow-up'.
She was only 17 at the time and already married to John Barry, composer of
the James Bond theme, to whom she bore a daughter, Kate, before divorcing.
In 1968, Birkin attended an audition in France for the lead female role in
'Slogan'. Though she did not speak a word of French, she won the role. When she moved
to Paris to begin filming in 1968, the French fell in love with her
instantly and we never got her back. She co-starred in 'Slogan' with
Serge
Gainsbourg and duetted with him on the film's theme song - the first of many
passionate collaborations between the two. In 1969, she and
Gainsbourg
released the steamy romp-duet 'Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus' ('I Love
You...
Nor Do I'). Gainsbourg had originally written the song for
Brigitte Bardot.
The track caused a scandal for it's sexual explicitness and was banned by
radio stations in Italy, Spain and here in the UK. The song's infamy is
partly a result of it's salacious lyrics, sung in French by both
Gainsbourg
and Birkin to a backing of increasing sexual moans and groans from
Birkin
and culminating in her simulated orgasm at the song's conclusion. Nice! This
UK ban had 'Top Of The Pops' producers in a quandary as they always played
the number one single. Controversially, they played the instrumental version
which had been recorded by studio musicians Sounds Nice. This version was
also a UK number 18 hit in it's own right, under the title of 'Love At First
Sight'. 'Je T'Aime...' made UK chart history in October 1969 when it was
simultaneously at two different chart positions for two weeks, even though
it is the same song, the same artists and the very same version. The only
difference between the two was the record label. It had been originally
released on the Fontana label but due to it's controversy, Fontana
withdrew
the record, which was then re-released on the Major Minor label. Because there
were still Fontana singles in the shops, along with the Major Minor
pressing, on 4th October 1969, the Major Minor release held the number 3
position and the Fontana single was at number 16. Also at that time, it was
the biggest selling single ever for a foreign language record.
Gainsbourg
married the English ingénue (she was now 19, he was 36) and
Birkin next
appeared on Gainsbourg's 1971 album,
'Histoire de Melody Nelson', portraying
the Lolita-like protagonist in song and on the LP cover. Birkin released her
first solo album, 'Di Doo Dah', in 1973 with words and music by
Gainsbourg.
The pair eventually separated in 1980, their marriage producing
one child, daughter Charlotte, now an actress and singer herself, whom
courted a bit of controversy early in life by recording the single 'Lemon
Incest' with her father. Jane went on to record many albums throughout the
next four decades, mostly directed to a French audience, including 'Lolita
Go Home' (1975), 'Yesterday Yes A Day' (1978), 'Ex Fan Des Sixties' (1983),
'Baby Alone In Babylone' (1983), 'Quoi' (1985),
'Lost Song' (1987), 'Amours
Des Feintes' (1990), 'Versions Jane' (1996), 'A
La Legere' (1999),
'Arabesque' (2002), 'Rendez-Vous' (2004), 'Fictions' (2006) and
'Enfants
d'Hiver' (2008). Jane Birkin has also collaborated with many, many artists
from around the globe, including Feist,
Portishead, Bryan Ferry,
Placebo,
Franz Ferdinand,
Manu Chao, Suede,
Françoise Hardy,
The Divine Comedy, The Magic Numbers,
Beck, Rufus
Wainwright, Keren Ann,
Les Negresses
Vertes, Johnny Marr (The
Smiths), Zazie,
Étienne Daho, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
and others. Whilst she enjoyed a long recording
career, despite her limited range and quirky delivery,
Birkin also amassed an
impressive acting résumé, appearing in numerous films and plays including,
'Don Juan (Or If Don Juan Were a Woman)' (1973), 'Je
T'Aime... Moi Non Plus'
(1975 - nominated for a César Award for Best Actress), the
Agatha Christie
films 'Death On The Nile' (1978) and 'Evil Under The Sun'
(1982), 'Love On
The Ground' (1983), 'La Belle Noiseuse' (1991 - César
Award nomination for Best
Supporting Actress), Merchant Ivory's 'A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries'
(1998), 'Merci Docteur Rey' (2002) and 'Elektra' (2006). She also starred in
two films directed by Jacques Doillon -
'La Fille Prodigue' (1981) and 'La
Pirate' (1984 - César Award nomination for Best Film). In 1982, she had given birth
to her third daughter, Lou Doillon, from her relationship with the director.
The track I've posted here is the title track from her 1983 album, 'Baby Alone
In Babylone', a delicate little orchestral pop number I've recently found a new love
for. This 'Best Of' CD
Baby
Birkin had several incarnations but the line-up which recorded together
consisted of Raechel Leigh (vocals),
Kevin Younger (organ/keyboards),
James
Med (bass), Delia (ex-Mambo Taxi, guitar) and
Debbie Green (AKA
Bongo
Debbie, ex-Thee Headcoatees, drums/percussion). Much like
Dutronic, a
Jacques Dutronc covers band from the same time,
Baby Birkin's primary
function was to cover the songs of French chanteuse
Jane Birkin, as well as
the occasional 60s underground French classic by someone else (Françoise
Hardy, Serge Gainsbourg). They toured from late 1995 through to 1996 and
effectively disbanded without releasing a record around October 1996.
However, Russell Senior had expressed an interest in working with the band
and soon after his departure from Pulp in January 1997,
Baby Birkin were
re-activated with Senior acting as producer. They released three singles in
1997; The 'Hi Peach!' EP, the 'Tele Tours' EP (a split 7" with
Dutronc -
whom Debbie Green was also a member of) and
'Mélo Mélo'/ 'Black... White', a
double A-side and their first release on Dishy Records. A full length album
appeared in 1998, 'Classée X', which found
Senior not only producing, but
also providing guitar, strings and additional lyrics. The album even carried
a sticker proclaiming "Produced by Russell Senior - Ex-Pulp!". A fourth and
final single, 'Jane B', also arrived in 1998 but then no more was heard of
Baby Birkin. Russell Senior
went on to form Venini in 1999 (see
240).
Mambo
Taxi were Ella (guitar/vocals),
Andrea (Farfisa organ),
Lenie (bass/vocals) and
Anjali (drums/vocals), a London-based band that were
associated with the Riot Grrrl movement. They formed in 1991 and were
inspired by the UK garage rock scene and US punk bands. Their own sound was
a mixture of garage, punk and pop and their name is a reference to a film
directed by Pedro Almodóvar, 'Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown',
which features a Mambo-loving taxi driver. Signed to Clawfist Records (an indie
label ran by Vinyl Solution, a London record shop now called Intoxica),
Mambo Taxi's debut release was the
'Prom Queen' 7" in 1992. Drummer Anjali
left in 1992 to form Voodoo Queens and guitarist
Ella joined her soon
after in 1993. The new Mambo Taxi line-up by 1993 now included replacements Karin
(drums) and Delia (bass/vocals).
'Poems On The Underground' (
Hailing
from North London, Voodoo Queens were a noisy gaggle of feisty, day-glo,
indie-garage-punkettes with a strong feminist agenda and a dislike for
skinny supermodels. They were also very pro-chocolate and could often be
found showering the crowds at their gigs with Crunchies, Smarties and Mars
Bars. The band comprised of sisters Anjali Bhatia (ex-Mambo Taxi, guitar/vocals) and Rajni Bhatia (keyboards), plus their cousin
Anjula Bhasker (bass), Ella Guru (ex-Mambo Taxi, guitar/backing vocals... and
my
favourite member!) and Stefania Lucchesini (drums).
Rebecca Lunn later
stepped in for Anjula Bhasker who had to leave to visit family in India.
After their very first live gig, they were offered a Peel Session on
BBC
Radio 1, which aired in January 1993, whilst Anjali
was still working at
Virgin Megastore in Oxford Street. After which, they were snapped up by
indie label Too Pure (Stereolab,
PJ Harvey). Their debut single was the
wonderful 7"-only 'Supermodel-Superficial', a caustic attack on the beauty
industry and the resultant pressure on young girls to diet. The record also
came with a free fanzine, which raised questions about eating disorders and
gave information on support groups, etc. The music press were quick to latch
onto the band, lumping them in with the Riot Grrrl movement and dubbing them
"the female Cornershop", owing more to the fact that most of the members
were of Asian descent rather than any musical similarity.
Voodoo Queens
strongly resented the label. A second single arrived later in 1993, the
exuberant 'Kenuwee Head', a frothy, tongue-in-cheek paean to
Keanu
Reeves, whom Anjali was rather taken with
("...cuz you look good in a wetsuit!"). Get it
In
1995, ex-Voodoo Queen
Anjali Bhatia performed some new songs she'd written
acoustically Upstairs At The Garage. This led to fellow Riot Grrrl refugee
Gary Walker signing her to his Wiiija label. Like label mates,
Cornershop,
Anjali's ears were bored with the major-label indie sludge that was on offer
and instead she found inspiration in the East Coast hip hop renaissance of
Nas, Gang Starr Foundation,
Beastie Boys' 'Check Your Head' and a strange
hybrid of dancehall, hip hop & techno, dubbed jungle. She decided her new
weapon of choice after the drum kit, guitar and microphone would be the
sampler. After embarking on a music technology course, she began
experimenting with her basic home set-up, finally producing her first track,
'Maharani'. Featuring scratching from DJ Spykid, whom she'd met one fateful
night at North London's Sausage Machine night where they both DJ'ed, it was
released as a 12" single in late 1996. 'Maharani''s beats recall the rawness
of early Wu-Tang productions, whilst
Anjali's Hindi vocals and Bollywood
flourishes make for truly exotic listening. A second 12", 'Ju Ju/Triton'
hinted at a new nu-jazz direction, with some freestyle action and broken
beats, when it arrived in early 1998. It was quickly followed by another
pair of 12"s; the funky punk vibes of 'Aquila' and the sultry and hypnotic
'Feline Woman' (download that
"Beauteous
melodies in bad flares", said 'NME' of
Velocette, who make their third
appearance here (see 072 and 446). Ex-Comet
Gain members Sarah Louise Bleach
(vocals), Sam Pluck (guitars),
Jacqueline 'Jax'
Louise Coombes (brass and keyboards) and
Phil Sutton (drums) brought us four wonderful singles and one
album on the Wiiija label between 1997-99. We've previously featured
'Spoiled Children', their second and best single, as well as
'Bitterscene', their fourth and second-best single! This time,
we've plumped for the gorgeous melody burst, sunshine bounce of
'Sister', the B-side to third single 'Reborn'. If
you're a fan of Saint Etienne's
'Good Humor' album, this might, and should, be right up your
street, too. It should also come as no surprise that
Velocette were actually the support act for
Saint Etienne's 'Good Humor'
tour in 1998. They also toured with Kenickie,
label mates Bis and
Brassy and took part in Camden Crawl.
I cannot recommend the Velocette back
catalogue highly enough! 'Fourfold Remedy' is a delightful
collection of feel-good, warm autumn day, cosy-tone, folk-tinged, acousti-pop
nuggets and not one of their nine lovely B-sides would be out of
place on their either. So, probably for the last time, we'll say do yourself
a favour and pick up a copy of the album for not much pence
During
1979-80, Richard Carpenter, one half of
brother and sister duo The Carpenters,
was being treated for his addiction to prescription sleeping pills. His
sister Karen wanted to remain productive
during the break and continued to record songs whilst waiting for
Richard to be well enough to return to the recording studio. The
songs she worked on were produced in New York by
Phil Ramone and were scheduled to be released as a solo album in
1980. However, the material was eventually shelved. It didn't see the light
of day in full until A&M Records issued the sessions as 'Karen
Carpenter' in 1996 - thirteen years after
Karen's death. Some of the songs had previously featured on
The Carpenters' 1989 compilation,
'Lovelines'. In the liner notes, Karen
dedicates her solo project to Richard,
writing "Dedicated to my brother Richard with all my heart". The
liner notes also include comment from both Richard
Carpenter and producer Phil Ramone,
with Richard explaining the reason to
shelve the album and his decision to later release it as
Karen approved it. After completing the
album, Karen played it to A&M
executives and her brother. The response to the album was relatively
negative. Karen was said to be so
devastated that she opted, against her will, not to release the album.
'The E! True Hollywood Story - Karen Carpenter' claims that the
album was not released in 1980 because Herb Alpert
called it "unreleaseable". Furthermore,
Quincy Jones argued with Derek Green,
an A&M Records Vice President, pushing for the album's release, but
Alpert, Green
and Jerry Moss said the album
had to be cancelled. Ramone also recalls
that Karen broke down in tears. The
album itself cost $400,000 of Karen's
own money to make. The cost was offset against The
Carpenters' future album royalties; something that
Karen was not happy about. Another note
of interest regarding the 'Karen Carpenter' album is that
Karen had apparently called
Ramone on February 3 1983 and in the course
of the conversation with him, the solo album was brought up.
Karen asked
Ramone if she could use the "F" word. He said she could.
Karen then stated, "That album is
fucking great!". The next morning, Karen
died. The songs on the album remain the way
Karen wanted them to be mixed. Many fans feel that the album
should have been released back in 1980, disagreeing with the negative
opinion that A&M executives and Richard
Carpenter had about it at the time. It is a pretty solid work and
contains some of the best vocal work Karen
has ever recorded. See 'Still In Love With You' or 'If I
had You', which is posted here. The sleeve artwork is rather stylish
for the period and re-establishes Karen
as a glamorous, independent young woman who wouldn't have looked entirely
out of place on the sofa at the Charles Townsend Private Investigations
Agency. Perhaps in place of Sabrina Duncan? Loving the jacket. Karen's
eponymous solo album is actually deleted nowadays, although you can still
pick it up
"She’s a good singer, and a normal person…" (Mike Stock, Producer). What a
wonderfully underwhelming statement! Nicki French is, to me, a bit of a poor
man's Hazell Dean. She is best known for her 1995 dance cover version of
'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' (originally by
Bonnie Tyler), and also for
representing the United Kingdom in 2000 at Eurovision in Stockholm. Born in
Cumberland in 1964, Nicki started out as a session singer and provided
backing vocals on Rose-Marie's 1992 album,
'Emotional Exposure'. French's
first solo single, 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' (
Born
into a large family which included five siblings, a coal miner for a father
and an Opera lover for a mother, Award-winning Welsh lung-belter Gaynor
Hopkins (AKA Bonnie Tyler) grew up listening to
Motown music and strong
female artists like Janis Joplin and
Tina Turner. Aged 19, she entered a
talent contest, singing the Mary Hopkin hit
'Those Were The Days', but only
came in second place. She was never the less good enough to bag herself a job
singing backing vocals with Bobby Wayne & The Dixies
and then two years
later, she'd formed her own band, Imagination, who performed in pubs and
clubs all over southern Wales. It was then that she decided to adopt a stage
name, Sherene Davies, and in 1975, she was discovered by
Roger Bell, who
arranged a recording contract for her with RCA Records. Before signing, she
was asked to choose a different stage name, and thus
Bonnie Tyler was born.
Following a top 10 hit, 1976's 'Lost In France', Tyler released her first
album in 1977, 'The World Starts Tonight' and scored a further hit with
'More Than A Lover', which reached the UK top 30. In 1977,
Tyler was
diagnosed with nodules on her vocal cords that were so severe that surgery
was mandatory. However, Tyler began using her voice again soon after,
contrary to doctor's orders, causing her voice to take on a raspy quality
and giving her the now distinctive, husky voice she is famous for. At first,
she believed that her singing career may have been over, but to her
surprise, her next single made her an international star. 'It's A Heartache'
made number 3 on the US chart and became a worldwide hit, topping the charts
in several countries (including France and Australia) and peaked at number 2
in Germany and number 4 in the UK. Though further global success was elusive
during this era, Tyler did have some success in Germany and France. She next
charted in the UK with 'Married Men', a minor top 40 hit in 1979 and the
theme to the TV film 'The World Is Full Of Married Men'.
Tyler released four
albums for RCA between 1977 - 1981 but during that time, she'd grown
dissatisfied with her management, who were trying to push her into the
country music market. When her contract with RCA expired, she signed with
David Aspden Management and sought help from songwriter
Jim Steinman, hoping
her could give her music a rock-style makeover. She signed with CBS Records
in 1982. Her next album, 'Faster Than The Speed Of Night', was released in
Spring 1983 and included the soft rock ballad radio playlist staple, 'Total
Eclipse Of The Heart' (
Frou
Frou was an electronic music duo featuring
Imogen Heap and Guy Sigsworth.
Heap and Sigsworth met in the mid-1990s on the London music scene -
Sigsworth coming to the attention of Heap and her record label due to his
writing/production/keyboard-playing work with Seal
and Björk. Their first
work together consisted of Heap providing extra vocals for
Sigsworth's
ill-fated band Acacia. She subsequently contributed to the live
Acacia line-up at several concerts, became a significant floating member of the
band and sang on all but one track on Acacia's debut album,
'Cradle'.
Sigsworth subsequently contributed to
Heap's debut album, 'i Megaphone'
(an
anagram of Imogen Heap), which was released on the now-defunct
Almo Sounds
label in 1998. Together they wrote the lead single, the disturbing 'Getting
Scared' (it was posted here in entry 091, folks!), which
Sigsworth also
produced, and the B-side to the album's second single, 'Shine', entitled
'Airplane'. Heap then undertook an international tour, promoting the album,
while Sigsworth, following the split of
Acacia in 1997, continued to write
and produce for other artists, including Madonna and
Lamb. Having remained
friends, the pair kept in contact throughout. In 2001,
Sigsworth began to
put together an album under the project name of Frou Frou. The initial brief
was to assemble tracks written and produced by Sigsworth, with contributions
from singers, songwriters, poets or rappers. One of the first vocalists
Sigsworth contacted was
Imogen Heap. At the time,
Heap was in career limbo.
Her record label had folded, been bought out and subsequently dissolved,
leaving her without a record contract (despite her second album being
written and ready to record). Having been stalled for a year, she welcomed
the opportunity to begin collaborating on new tracks with
Sigsworth.
Sigsworth invited her over to his studio, to write lyrics to a four-bar
motif he had, with one condition - that she include the word "love"
somewhere. The first line she came up with was "lung of love, leaves me
breathless", and the track 'Flicks' was born. A week later,
Sigsworth phoned her up again, and together they wrote and recorded
'Breathe In',
which would eventually become the first Frou Frou single. Further
collaborations continued throughout the year, with both
Heap and Sigsworth
playing equal roles in writing, instrumentation and production, until nearly
half the album was completed. In December 2001, Sigsworth and
Heap made the
conscious decision to establish themselves as a formal duo project.
Heap approved of the
Frou Frou name, and it was kept. The first official
Frou
Frou release was a remix of 'Airplane' - renamed
'Aeroplane' - which the duo
had completed for the Japanese re-release of Heap's debut album. By 2002,
Frou Frou had signed a deal with Universal Records, on the
Island Records
imprint in the UK and Europe, and MCA Records in the USA. They released
their first, and sadly only album, 'Details', in August 2002. Featuring a
wide range of electronic music, with elements of trip-hop, pop and rock, the
eclectic, intricately produced tracks use a wide range of organic
instruments from cellos, autoharps, guitars, keyboards and Indian drums,
with multi-layered vocals from Heap. The album received critical acclaim,
but this did not translate into the mass sales the duo had hoped for.
'Breathe In' was released as the first single and it debuted in the top 50
on the UK singles charts, but the follow-up singles 'Must Be Dreaming' (
"I've
been playing live since I was 5 years old, and that is the most natural
thing for me. Later in life, I started doing records and I find it a very,
very different process. In a way, very unnatural. And that kind of makes it
a challenge. So I look at them as opposites, but I don't prefer one to the
other. But it's very important for me that a gig is a gig, and a record is a
record. And that's why I completely rearranged my songs for the concerts"
(Björk speaking to AOL in 1995).
Last time Björk rocked up on this site I
featured some of her work as a collaborator. This time, I thought I'd
revisit her work as a live performer... This brilliant, thumpin', bangin', pumped
up version of 'Violently Happy' was recorded live at Wembley Arena
on 13th
September 1996, during the 'Post' tour. It's from the CD2
format of the 'I Miss You' single. Play it loud! Juxtaposed with this
track,
Leila
Arab (professionally known simply as Leila) is an Iranian musician who was
born in 1971 and moved with her family to London after the 1979 Iranian
Revolution. She left a media studies course at Staffordshire University in
1995 to play live keyboards as part of Björk's touring band. After the tour
came to an end, Leila set about working on her own music back in her bedroom
at her parents home. She drew on influences as wide and varied as techno,
funk, soul, electronica, hip-hop and classical, resulting in two EPs ('Don't
Fall Asleep', 'Space Love') and her critically lauded debut album,
'Like
Weather', all released by her mate Richard D James (AKA
Aphex Twin) on his
own Rephlex label in 1998. Painstakingly pieced together in the same arbitrary way
that most people buy and consume music, and with little sense of genre
boundaries, the album echoed the grandeur of DJ Andrea Parker, the shiftiness
of Tricky, the sonic perversity of the
Aphex Twin and the savvy of hip-hop.
At one point, the album was actually rather bizarrely rumoured to be a lost
Prince recording!
Luca Santucci, Donna Paul
and Leila's sister
Roya (ex-Archive) all supplied
vocals on the album. At the time of the album's release, Channel 4 broadcast a 30
minute documentary made by LWT which featured Leila creating songs, remixing
tracks and shooting her first video for the single, 'Feeling' (
Archive
were formed by Darius Keeler and
Danny Griffiths in 1994 from the ashes of a
UK break beat act called Genaside II
(...never 'eard of them!). Together with a Iranian female vocalist,
Roya Arab (sister of
Leila) and a young rapper by the name of
Rosko John, the band released two
singles ('So Few Words' and 'Londinium') and
their first album, 'Londinium' (that's Latin for London, by
the way), on Island Records in 1996. The album, a atmospheric mix of
dark trip-hop, electronica and progressive rock, received moderate critical
acclaim, but due to internal disputes amongst the members, the band split up
later the same year. Keeler and
Griffiths were quick to re-group and
reformed Archive in 1997 with a new
female singer, Suzanne Wooder. In 1999,
they released their second album on the Independiente label,
'Take My Head', which was markedly much more commercial, with it's
bold mix of pop and symphonic trip-hop, far more melodic than their debut
offering. The lead single, 'You Make Me Feel' (
"...heavenly
synth, choirs and trumpets… this is glorious, epic pop." ('The
Guardian'). Taking their name, after a friend's suggestion, from the
title of a book about drug dealing (and finding the nod to
Cocteau Twins' 'Sunburst And
Snowblind' EP agreeable), Snowblind
appeared on the indie scene in 2001. Jane
Murphy (vocals) and multi-instrumentalist
Paul Williams (guitar, keyboards) had bummed about previously
in various bands in Leeds and Liverpool respectfully (Jane
was in MK13,
Paul was in Swish - no, us
neither!) and had the usual crummy telesales/customer service jobs before
they were drawn together in Manchester with a shared vision of how life was
(ie. crap) and what pop music should be (ie. amazing).
Snowblind were hereafter born and a deal with Heavenly
Records resulted in their debut single, a bittersweet song about
domestic violence called 'Cut' (
Espiritu
was the musical project of Vanessa Quinones
(AKA Vanessa Contenay-Quinones/Vanessa
St. James), a Paris-born, London-based singer-songwriter. From
1992-97, she co-wrote/co-produced as Espiritu,
assisted by former Frazier Chorus
member, Chris Taplin, from 1992-95.
Influenced by a wide variety of music, Quinones
established Espiritu with
Taplin in Brighton, where they were
inspired by local dance music culture, before moving to London with their
own brand of dance music which added Latin infused beats and samples to the
mix. Signing a recording contract with Heavenly Records in 1992,
Quinones and
Taplin released a number of singles as
Espiritu, such as 'Francisca' (featured way back in
post 069!), 'Conquistador' and 'Los Americanos',
with the last two charting just within the UK top 50. A debut album called
'Manifesto' was announced, but did not appear, due to Sony
ending its distribution deal with Heavenly. One of the tracks on
the album, a cover of Bacharach and
David song 'Always Something There
To Remind Me' (made famous by Sandie Shaw),
was remixed and released by Tin Tin Out,
credited to Tin Tin Out Featuring Espiritu,
and went to number 14 on the UK single charts. The original version of the
single, without Tin Tin Out and
featuring a full vocal (
Tin
Tin Out were a dance music duo comprised of
Lindsay Edwards and Darren Stokes.
They are well known as very active remixers, working on tracks for
increasingly higher-profile artists as the 1990s progressed. They've remixed
(deep breath!) E'voke,
Michelle Gayle,
Lisa Moorish, Mark Morrison,
Nightcrawlers,
Erasure, Louise,
Jon Of The Pleased Wimmin, Marc Almond,
Pet Shop Boys,
Crystal Waters, TLC,
Olive, North &
South, Chumbawumba,
Sparks, Billie,
Duran Duran,
Sash!, The Corrs,
Vengaboys, The
Pretenders, Lene Marlin,
Des'ree,
Enrique Iglesias, Simply Red,
Sting, Emma
Bunton, Faith Hill and a
whole lot more. However, they have also enjoyed success with a recording
career of their own. Their debut release as themselves was 'The
Feeling' (featuring a sample of late '80s female rap/hip-hop singer
Sweet Tee), on Deep Distraxion
Records, which was a very minor hit for the duo, reaching 32 in the
singles chart. Their next release was the 'Always...' single,
on the Hooj Choons label. A cover of the
Bacharach and David classic,
'Always Something There To Remind Me', it featured vocals from
Espiritu and charted at a very respectable number 14 in the UK
singles chart in 1995. Signing a deal with Virgin subsidiary VC
Recordings, a follow-up single finally appeared in 1996 with 'All
I Wanna Do' (31). 'Dance With Me' (35) featured the
vocals of Tony Hadley (ex-Spandau
Ballet) and followed in 1997. Another single release, the
anthemic 'Strings For Yasmin' (31) followed towards the end of
1997 and was used as the 1997/98 Premier League football commercial, as well
as being frequently played at Elland Road before Leeds United
home matches. It's also featured in the Vinnie
Jones film, 'Mean Machine', released in 2001.
Tin Tin Out then achieved one of their
highest charting singles in the UK with 'Here’s Where The Story Ends',
a collaboration with vocalist Shelly Nelson,
that took them to number 7 in the UK top 10 in 1998. 'Sometimes',
a follow-up featuring Shelley once
again, reached number 20 later the same year. Both hits appeared on their
debut album, 'Always', also released in 1998. In 1999,
Tin Tin Out had recorded a follow-up
album, 'Eleven To Fly', which was preceded by a single of the
same name, featuring vocals from Wendy Page
(ex-Skin Games) and hitting 26 on the
chart. They wanted to include a cover version of the
Edie Brickell track 'What I Am' on the album and
struck lucky when Spice Girl Emma Bunton
accepted their offer to sing the track. 'What I Am' (
Vocalist
and songwriter Shelley Nelson first
appears on the pop landscape as the singer on
Dudearella's 'Top Of The World' (
Kirsty
Hawkshaw is the daughter of music composer and producer
Alan Hawkshaw (he did the themes for
'Grange Hill', 'Countdown' and 'The Channel 4
News', amongst other things) and her father's love for music
inspired Hawkshaw to pursue a career in
the industry herself. At a rave in 1991, she met producers
Ian Munro,
Kevin Dobbs and Nigel Walton,
who at the time were working together as A.S.K..
The foursome became Opus III, finding
chart success with 'It's A Fine Day' and releasing two albums
between 1992-94. After the group broke up in 1994,
Hawkshaw pursued a solo career, releasing her debut solo album
'O<U>T (On Ultimate Things)' in 1998 on the Coalition
label. Two singles were lifted from the album, 'Sci-Clone' (