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Archive 20
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476 - 500
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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...
Mark
Wahlberg, at age thirteen, had been one of USA boyband
New Kids On The Block's original
members, along with big brother Donnie,
Danny Wood,
Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight.
Apparently uninterested in the group's bubblegum pop and squeaky-clean
image, he soon quit. It was his departure that eventually allowed
Joe McIntyre to take his place as the
fifth member of the group. As a self confessed troubled teen,
Wahlberg often participated in acts of
violence and vandalism. He had been in trouble many times with the Boston
Police Department and by the age of thirteen he had developed a serious
addiction to cocaine and other substances. Between the ages of 15-21, he is
alleged to have assaulted a group of school kids with rocks, robbed a
pharmacy under the influence of PCP, knocked a middle aged man unconscious
with a stick, permanently blinded another man in one eye, attacked a
security guard and fractured the jaw of a neighbour in an unprovoked attack,
as well as being generally racially abusive. For these crimes,
Wahlberg was eventually charged with
attempted murder, pled guilty to assault, and was sentenced to two years in
jail at Boston's Deer Island House Of Correction, of which he served
45 days. Wahlberg then channelled his
anger into music, forming Marky Mark And The Funky
Bunch, a hip-hop group whose members included
Scottie Gee,
Hector The Bootie Inspector, Duffle,
DJ-T and Ashey
Ace. The group's best known song is this, 'Good Vibrations',
which samples Loleatta Holloway's
'Love Sensation' heavily, hence her credit. 'Good Vibrations'
made it to number 1 on the American music charts in 1991 and was the
only number 1 single for both The Funny Bunch
and Holloway. Their debut album,
'Music For The People', was a huge success in the states, reaching
number 1 on the independent album chart, and 21 on the Billboard 200. It
spawned an additional top 10 single, 'Wildside', as well as
the minor hits, 'Peace' and 'I Need Money'. The
album was certified platinum and although their music career was only
minimally successful in the UK, they also won the Best Dance Act award at
The Smash Hits Poll Winners Party in December 1992. The group rushed to
record a follow up album, but due to a combination of poor material and
controversial homophobic comments quoting in the press, 'You Gotta
Believe' was a huge failure, only scraping in at number 67 on the
Billboard 200. Marky Mark then began to
distance himself from the controversy and left the music scene. Aside from
his music, Wahlberg was known for his
impressive physique (and the visibility of the waistband of his underpants).
He first revealed his signature bare-chested look in the 'Good
Vibrations'
John
Spence (keyboards), Eric Stefani
(vocals) and Eric's sister
Gwen Stefani (vocals) formed the ska pop
band Apple Corps in 1986, having worked
together at a local Dairy Queen. The trio recruited several more
members and had an unsteady line-up for several years before renaming
themselves No Doubt. It played small
gigs around the Orange County area, with Spence's
on-stage antics carrying it's performances. Tony
Kanal went to one of these early shows and soon joined the band
as it's bassist. After initially rejecting her advances, he began dating
Gwen, but they kept their relationship
secret for a year, feeling that it was an unspoken rule that nobody date
her. In December 1987, Spence committed
suicide several days before the band was to play a gig at The Roxy
Theatre for record industry employees. No Doubt
disbanded but decided to re-group after several weeks with
Alan Meade taking over vocals. When
Meade left the band,
Gwen replaced him as lead singer, while
No Doubt continued to develop a live
following in California. In early 1988, Tom Dumont
left heavy metal band Rising
and joined No Doubt as the band's
guitarist and Adrian Young replaced
Chris Webb as the thong-wearing drummer
the following year. Impressed by Gwen's
on-stage presence, Tony Ferguson signed
the band to a multi-album deal with the newly created Interscope Records
in 1990. No Doubt's self-titled debut
album was released in 1992 and featured the single 'Trapped In A Box'.
The album's distinctly pop sound sharply contrasted with the grunge movement
and the album was a commercial failure, selling just 30,000 copies. The band
embarked on a national tour in support of the album, though
Interscope had lost faith in the band
and refused to support the tour. The band began work on it's next album the
following year, but Interscope rejected much of it's material and
sublicensed the project to Trauma Records. Eric left
No Doubt in 1994 to pursue an animation
career on the cartoon TV series 'The Simpsons' and
Kanal ended his seven-year relationship
with Gwen. Unsure of their future,
No Doubt released 'The Beacon Street
Collection', consisting of outtakes from it's previous recording
sessions, in 1995 on it's own label, Sea Creature Records. A much
rawer set of tracks, it sold more than three times as many copies as it's
predecessor. Later that year, 'Tragic Kingdom' was
released, with much of the material dealing with the relationship between
Kanal and
Stefani. The new wave-inspired single, 'Just a Girl',
brought the group mainstream commercial success. No
Doubt began touring in support of the album later that year and
it grew into a mammoth 27-month international tour. In 1996, the second
single, 'Spiderwebs', was successful and 'Don't Speak',
their big hit, was released as the third single and broke the previous
record when it topped the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart for sixteen weeks.
No Doubt was nominated for two Grammy
Awards for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album and by the end of the
year, half of the songs on 'Tragic Kingdom' had been released
as singles. The album was eventually certified eight times platinum. Later,
they were nominated for two more Grammys for Song Of The Year and
Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (?!), both for
'Don't Speak'. The Recording Industry Association Of America
certified the album diamond (!) in February 1999 and with worldwide sales of
sixteen million, it is one of the best-selling albums in history. The band's
self-titled debut album also began selling copies again off of the success
of 'Tragic Kingdom' and reached total sales of over a quarter
of a million copies. The band finally finished it's tour in December 1997
and had several releases during the two year writing process to make its
follow-up to 'Tragic Kingdom'. 'Live In The Tragic
Kingdom', a video filmed on the tour, was then released and
'The Beacon Street Collection' was re-released due to demand. The
band also recorded 'I Throw My Toys Around' with
Elvis Costello for 'The Rugrats
Movie' and contributed to 'Burning London: The Clash Tribute'
album. No Doubt also included the song
'New', inspired by Gwen's
budding relationship with Bush's
Gavin Rossdale, on the soundtrack to the
movie 'Go' in 1999. In 2000, the band released 'Return
Of Saturn', the follow-up to 'Tragic Kingdom'. The
album featured a darker tone and was more lyrically advanced than
No Doubt's previous work. The main
lyrical focus of the new record had shifted from
Gwen Stefani's relationship with bassist
Tony Kanal to her new relationship with
Rossdale. 'Return Of Saturn' was critically
acclaimed but was not as commercially successful as their previous album,
and the lead single, 'Ex-Girlfriend' (
Hugely
popular industrial group Nine Inch Nails
really only has the one official member -
singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor.
He is, however, supported in concert by a regular backing band.
Reznor began playing the piano at age
five, studying classical music, and later learned tenor sax and tuba in the
school band. He also acted in musicals and became an avid
Kiss fan. He spent a year studying music
and computers at Allegheny College, but dropped out after a year to
pursue music full time. Whilst discovering new wave and early industrial
music aged 19, he successfully auditioned for a rock band called
The Innocent, releasing one album,
'Livin' In The Streets' in 1985. He quit the group after just
three months and subsequently gigged with local bands, as well as working in
a keyboard store and as a janitor in the local Right Track recording
studio. Eventually, he became a studio engineer, teaching himself various
computer skills and working on his own material during his time off. In
1987, Reznor appeared in the
Michael J. Fox/Joan
Jett film, 'Light Of Day', playing keyboards with a
trio called The Problems during a bar
scene. As Nine Inch Nails,
Reznor began recording his own
Ministry and
Skinny Puppy influenced compositions in 1988, playing all the
instruments himself. He sent demo tapes to several labels, nearly every one
of them offering him a deal. He signed with TVT Records, releasing
the debut album, 'Pretty Hate Machine', in 1989.
Reznor quickly assembled a backing band
and toured with Skinny Puppy and more
wide-spread alternative acts. As a result, the single 'Down In It'
got some airplay, especially in dance clubs, reaching Billboard's dance
and modern rock charts, and MTV later picked up the video for the
more rock-oriented 'Head Like A Hole'. In 1991,
Nine Inch Nails became part of the
inaugural Lollapalooza tour, which expanded their fan base by leaps
and bounds. 'Pretty Hate Machine's momentum kept building
slowly and it spent over two years on the album charts, eventually selling
over a million copies - one of the first indie albums to do so. TVT
had a massive hit on their hands and to ensure that
Reznor would produce another one, they attempted to take
control of the follow-up's creative direction. Enraged by their outside
meddling, Reznor tried to wriggle out of
his contract, leading to a vicious court battle. Eventually, he was able to
sign with Interscope, which helped him set up his own label, the
Nothing imprint. Reznor had been
recording new material on the sly and in 1992 released the 'Broken'
and 'Fixed' EPs. Despite many reviews characterizing
'Broken' as a harrowing, difficult listen, the support of
Nine Inch Nails' now-considerable fan
base ensured it debuted in the top 10 and the single 'Wish'
won a Grammy for Best Heavy Metal Performance.
Reznor enhanced his reputation as a provocateur with the
banned clip for 'Happiness In Slavery' (
Kat
Bjelland, a baby doll dress-wearing guitarist and
singer/songwriter from Minneapolis, was the figurehead of harsh all-female
grunge-core three piece, Babes In Toyland.
Kat had been a former member of
Sugar Baby Doll, which also included
L7 bassist
Jennifer Finch and Courtney Love
of Hole.
Bjelland, a straight A student, struck up a friendship with
Love, whom having been expelled from one
of the world's best private schools, was sent to
Kat's high school in Oregon. After high school, the two girls
moved to San Francisco for it's legendary rock and roll bohemian underground
scene, where they met hip musician, Jennifer Finch.
She took them to a Frightwig gig (an all
girl punk rock band) and they were inspired enough to form their own band,
Sugar Baby Doll.
Courtney and Kat decided
to move the band over to Minneapolis by the late '80s (exit
Finch), where they had heard a great new
music scene was happening (later to evolve as Riot Grrrl/Grunge). There they
hooked up with Lori Barbero and
Kat somehow convinced her that she would
make an excellent drummer. She was right. Kat
then kicked difficult Courtney
out of the band (depending on whom you ask) and
Lori and Kat continued
playing with a handful of replacements without much success. A new bassist
in the shape of Michelle Leon arrived
and Kat dropped the name
Sugar Baby Doll in favour of the name
Babes In Toyland. A debut single on
Treehouse Records ('Dust Cake Boy') was an instant success
and Kat soon became a feminist icon and
a major influence on other female Riot Grrrl/Grunge bands. She was
particularly influential stylistically, with her unique `kinderwhore' look
(thrift store baby doll dresses, 'Mary Jane' shoes, ripped stockings, ringlets, garish red
smeared lipstick, doll accessories, etc.) quickly being adopted by the scenesters. Many years later, Courtney Love
and Kat Bjelland would argue over who
had come up with the idea of the 'kinderwhore' look.
Kat claimed that Love had
stolen it from her back in San Francisco. The pair's tumultuous on again/off
again friendship and many similarities, made it difficult to prove either
way who came up with it first. After releasing a single on Sub Pop's
singles club, Babes In Toyland came to
the attention of Sonic Youth, who took
them on a tour of Europe. They soon recorded their abrasive debut LP,
'Spanking Machine', with producer Jack
Endino and another EP, 'To Mother', before the band
signed to Reprise. Between labels, bassist
Michelle Leon left the group in 1992 and was quickly replaced by
Maureen Herman.
Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo
produced the Babes' second album,
'Fontanelle', which showed no signs of concession to a major label
and is considered their creative peak ('Bruise Violet' is
probably their best known song -
Courtney
Michelle Harrison had a troubled childhood which incorporated
unpleasant family break-ups, bitter custody battles, therapists and
disagreeable boarding schools, all
before she reached the age of 12. At 16, Love
emancipated herself from her family and travelled around the US, England and
the Republic of Ireland, living on a trust fund set up by her mother's
adoptive parents. During her stay in England, Love
spent time in Liverpool, hanging around
Julian Cope of The Teardrop Explodes,
where she became a regular face at live gigs and developed a taste for the
rock and roll lifestyle. Eventually, she headed back to the States, ending
up in Portland, Oregon, where Love
supported herself by working as a stripper, whilst still hanging around the
fringes of the music scene. She had a brief stint as the lead singer of
Faith No More but the other members
didn't think she fitted in. At age 22, Love
had moved to Portland, then on to Los Angeles in 1987, with her new
chum Kat Bjelland. The pair would form a
series of bands, including Sugar Babylon
(later Sugar Baby Doll),
The Pagan Babies and
Italian Whorenuns before
Bjelland settled on the
Babes In Toyland moniker and ousted
Love from the line-up. During this time,
Love and
Bjelland had began to dress alike, wearing dirty baby doll
dresses, plastic girl's hair clips, ripped stockings and overdone, smeared
make-up. An argument between the two raged for years after over who had come
up with their signature style, later dubbed 'kinderwhore'.
Love claimed that she took the style
from Christina Amphlett of
The Divinyls.
Love had some early success as an actress, appearing as the best
friend of Nancy Spungen in
Alex Cox's Sid
Vicious biopic, 'Sid And Nancy' in 1986, and in
Cox's 'Straight To Hell'
in 1987, as well as some small roles on television shows. In 1989,
Love taught herself to play guitar and
set out to form her own band. She recruited Eric
Erlandson and the pair co-founded Hole.
They are the only two members to remain constant throughout the band's
history. The group made their first gig in November 1989, after just three
months of rehearsal, and quickly started releasing singles on the
independent label Sympathy For The Record Industry. The band's debut
album, 'Pretty On The Inside' was released in early 1991 and
was produced by Sonic Youth's
Kim Gordon and
Don Fleming of the band Gumball.
It sold well for an independent release and received ecstatic reviews from
the UK indie rags 'NME' and 'Melody Maker'.
During this period, she befriended many influential figures in the
alternative rock scene, including Michael Stipe
of R.E.M. and
Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins,
whom she briefly dated. Love met
Kurt Cobain on January 12, 1990, before
either of the two singers had any success with their respective bands.
Love lived a block away from the Los
Angeles apartment complex where Nirvana
resided during the recording of their second album, 'Nevermind'.
Love would stop by often, pursuing an
initially evasive Kurt but she and
Cobain finally became a couple whilst
touring Europe at the same time. Love
and Cobain were married on Waikiki
Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, on February 24, 1992. Six months later, on
August 18 of that year, the couple's daughter,
Frances Bean Cobain, was born. On April 8, 1994, four days before
the release of Hole's second album,
'Live Through This', Kurt Cobain's
body was found in his Seattle, Washington home, killed by a self-inflicted
shotgun wound to his head. The band was struck by disaster again when
bassist Kristen Pfaff died of an
apparent heroin overdose on June 16, 1994, just two months after
Cobain's death and the new album
release. Hole recruited 22-year-old
bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur (on
Corgan's recommendation) to fill in for
Pfaff, and took
Hole on the road, appearing at Reading Festival.
Meanwhile, 'Live Through This' was a commercial and critical
success. 'Rolling Stone', 'Spin' and 'The
Village Voice' all declared it Album Of The Year and by April 1995,
it had gone platinum.
The
Raincoats were a post-punk band formed in 1977 by
Ana Da Silva (vocals, guitar) and
Gina Birch (vocals, bass) while they were
students at Hornsey College Of Art, London. An early line-up included
Kate Korus (from
The Slits and later The Mo-dettes)
on guitar and in 1978, they were joined on drums by
Palmolive (also of The Slits)
and Vicky Aspinall on violin. The band
went on their first UK tour with Swiss female band
Kleenex in May 1979 to support the release of their debut single,
'Fairytale In The Supermarket', on Rough Trade.
Palmolive left the band after their
seminal first album, 'The Raincoats' and
Ingrid Weiss joined in 1980. The band then recorded their
beautiful second album, 'Odyshape', and toured Europe and the
east coast of the USA. In New York, in December 1982,
The Raincoats recorded a live album at the art space The
Kitchen, titled 'The Kitchen Tapes', which was released on
cassette via ROIR in 1983. The band commenced the recording of their
third full length release, 'Moving', the same year and after
it's release in 1984, The Raincoats
petered out as they each began to concentrate on solo projects.
Gina Birch and Vicky Aspinall
eventually formed stylish pop duo Dorothy
(see entry 27!), whilst Ana Da Silva
worked with choreographer Gaby Agis on a
series of dance projects and formed Roseland
with Charles Hayward.
Dorothy released a pair of singles on
Blue Guitar/Chrysalis in 1988 ('Still Waiting',
'That Loving Feeling') but their completed album never saw the
light of day. By 1992, The Raincoats
experienced something of a renaissance, not least of all due to super-fan,
Kurt Cobain of
Nirvana. The story goes that Kurt
walked up to the counter of the Rough Trade shop in Talbot
Road in London, asking for a copy of 'The Raincoats' LP. The
assistant sent him round the corner to see Ana Da
Silva who was working in her cousin's antique shop.
Cobain wrote passionately about this
meeting in the liner notes of Nirvana’s
'Incesticide' album, by the way. In late 1993, Rough Trade
re-released the three Raincoats albums,
with bonus material and new liner notes by Kurt
Cobain and Sonic Youth's
Kim Gordon, another big fan. Old
Raincoats manager
Shirley O'Loughlin persuaded Ana
and Gina to play a show at The
Garage in London in March 1994 to celebrate these re-releases and they
went on to record a session for John Peel,
which was released as an EP on the Blast First label.
Cobain also invited them to play on
Nirvana's upcoming UK tour that April,
but he committed suicide a week before. Ana Da
Silva and Gina Birch had
written new material which resulted in a new album, 'Looking In The
Shadows', released in 1996 and produced by
Ed Buller (who'd previously worked with
Suede and Pulp). 'Don't
Be Mean' was released as a single to promote the album and it's
quite kooky... but totally recognisable as a
Raincoats recording.
"Hi
Eugene - It's eight o'clock in the morning, that means it's almost time for
bed. I'm on this ridiculous sleeping schedule where I retire in the wee
hours of the morning and successfully avoid any hint of daylight. My skin is
goth rock pale. I don't know if you have these in Scotland but I'm
considering joining a tanning bed salon, they are coffins/beds with haloid
or fluorescent light bulbs built in to the sides and lid. You lye down
inside to fry away turning a crisp golden brown. We call them nuclear tans.
Lately my nipples have been really sore, can males lactate? How have you
been?
As you probably know, we recorded 'Mollys Lips' & 'Son Of A Gun'
for a Peel session and we were wondering
if we could use the recordings for a promotional EP hopefully to be released
in a few months. We don't expect to make a profit off of it because we're
keeping the price down. It's mainly a feature for our supposedly
hip-alternative debut single 'In Bloom', the EP will have (if
consented by bands) 'In Bloom', 'Silver', 'D-7' by
The Wipers, 'Turnaround' by
Devo, 'Mollys Lips' and maybe
'Son Of A Gun'. If we do make any money off of this we'll surely divide
it amongst the bands or we could talk about upfront advance for the use of
the songs or whatever, it's legit!
We're not on Sub Pop anymore, our new label is DGC (Geffen).
We are label mates with Nelson!
I know this is starting to sound too business like but I want you to have
something for giving us this great honour to play your songs, they mean a
lot to me. Without trying to be too embarrassingly sappy I want to say the
songs you and Frances have written are some of the most beautiful songs ever
and I just feel like everyone should hear them. Here's what the cover may
look like (doodle).
I had a really fine time at the show we played together. The video turned
out good. You want a copy? Oh yeah, European video tape format, forget it.
Geez I don't know what else to say. Please write me (if you want) and let me
know how your new band is coming along and anything else on your mind.
Love your pal - Kurdt" (Letter from
Kurt Cobain to Eugene Kelley
of The Vaselines, taken from 'Kurt
Cobain - Journals', published by Penguin/Viking, 2002).
R.E.M.
were formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by Michael
Stipe (lead vocals), Peter Buck
(guitar), Mike Mills (bass guitar), and
Bill Berry (drums and percussion). They
released their first single, 'Radio Free Europe', in 1981 on
the independent record label Hib-Tone. The single was followed by the
'Chronic Town' EP in 1982, the band's first release on
I.R.S. Records. In 1983, the band released it's critically acclaimed
debut album, 'Murmur', and built it's reputation over the next
few years through subsequent releases, constant touring and the support of
US college radio. Following years of underground success,
R.E.M. entered the mainstream in 1987
with the hit song 'The One I Love'. The group signed to
Warner Bros. Records in 1988, releasing the album 'Green',
and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing
large arenas worldwide. By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to
experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M.
was viewed as a pioneer of the genre and released it's two most commercially
successful albums, 'Out Of Time' (1991) and 'Automatic
For The People' (1992), which veered from the band's established
sound. Many of the group's best know hits were released during this period,
including 'Losing My Religion' (19), 'Shiny Happy
People' (6,
I
killed Laura Palmer. Not really, but that's what the sticker in my bedroom
window once said. The bumper sticker came free with the 7" of
'Falling', the 'Twin Peaks' theme sung by
Julee Cruise.
Julee initially worked exclusively with acclaimed composer
Angelo Badalamenti and film director,
David Lynch, who produced and wrote most
of the lyrics to her songs. In 1985, Badalamenti
was composing the score for David Lynch's
'Blue Velvet' and a key scene was intended to feature 4AD
act, This Mortal Coil's version of
'Song To The Siren' by Tim Buckley.
The rights to the song proved to be too expensive and it was suggested that
Badalamenti compose an original song in
the same style instead, with Lynch
providing the lyrics. Badalamenti
recommended Julee Cruise record the song
after he remembered her performance from a New York theatre workshop that he
had produced. The result of their initial collaboration was the track
'Mysteries Of Love' (recently covered by Mercury Award
winners, Antony & The Johnsons), which
figures prominently in 'Blue Velvet's closing scenes. Due to
the success of the collaboration, Badalamenti
and Lynch wrote and produced most of
Cruise's debut album, 'Floating
Into the Night', released on Warner Bros. Records in 1989. A
second, more significant project was the soundtrack to
Lynch's 'Twin Peaks', for which
Badalamenti composed the original score.
The song 'Falling', which became the theme for the television
series, caused a minor sensation, winning a Grammy for Best Pop
Instrumental, while the 'Twin Peaks' soundtrack, featuring
Cruise on three songs ('Into The
Night', 'The Nightingale', 'Falling'),
eventually became the best-selling TV soundtrack of all time.
Cruise made a number of appearances in
'Twin Peaks' as a singer at a local bar, and was prominently
featured in the show's pilot episode. 'Rockin' Back Inside My Heart'
(
Cindy
Wilson and Kate Pierson
formed The B52's with drummer
Keith Strickland, guitarist
Ricky Wilson (Cindy's
older brother) and vocalist Fred Schneider
after a drunken night at a Chinese restaurant. They took their name
from the wrap around beehive hairdo, with an open 'hole' in the top,
resembling the nose cone of the airplane of the same name. During their
early years, wigs of that style were often worn by
Cindy and Kate. They played
their first gig in 1977 and their legendary first single, 'Rock
Lobster', was an underground success that led to gigs at CBGB's
and Max's Kansas City in New York. Their debut album, 'The
B-52's', was eventually certified platinum and the follow-up,
'Wild Planet', was certified gold. 'Party Mix!' was
released next, a remix album that lifted tracks from the first two LPs,
whilst they worked on third proper album. Recording sessions with
Talking Heads'
David Byrne were aborted before a full album had been produced,
but the recordings were released anyway as 'Mesopotamia' in
1982. The 'Whammy!' album appeared in 1983 and one track,
'Don't Worry', gave a writing credit to
Yoko Ono (there's only one lyric - 'Don't worry'!). This
led to copyright issues and the song being pulled, replaced on future
pressings of the album with a new track called 'Moon 83' (a
new recording of 'There's A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)'),
from their debut. 1984 brought about an eponymous solo album from
Fred Schneider (Fred
Schneider & The Shake Society) but The
B-52's regrouped to record 'Bouncing Off The Satellites',
released in 1985. On October 12, 1985, Ricky Wilson
died at age 32 of what was originally reported as cancer but was later
revealed to be an AIDS-related illness. Devastated, the band went into
immediate seclusion and the album sank without any tour or promotion behind
it. During the two year hiatus that followed Wilson's
death, Strickland switched from drums to
guitar, and The B-52's re-emerged in
1988. A new song, 'Cosmic Thing', appeared on the soundtrack
to the movie 'Earth Girls Are Easy' and in 1989 the band
released the album 'Cosmic Thing', which became their
long-anticipated mainstream breakthrough. 'Channel Z' was a
hit with the MTV generation in the states and 'Love Shack',
with it's party vibe and colourful music video, became their first song to
hit the US top 40, and it went on to peak at number 3. That peak was matched
in early 1990 when 'Roam' also hit number 3. The band enjoyed
further chart success in the UK and in Australia, where 'Love Shack'
stayed at number 1 for eight weeks. A fourth single, 'Deadbeat Club',
which reminisced about the band's early days in Athens and whose
In
1979, childhood pals David Weiss (AKA,
David Was, instrumentalist and lyricist)
and Don Fagenson (AKA
Don Was, composer, instrumentalist and
producer) formed eccentric pop group, Was (Not Was).
The group also included vocalists Sweet Pea
Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowens
and their name was derived from Don's
son Zane, who would habitually contradict words with the prefix 'not'. Their
original plan was to sound like Motown on acid, with their first release
being 'Wheel Me Out', a 12" single on the Ze Records
label. It was followed by a full length release, 'Was (Not Was)',
in 1981. The album perfectly showcased their unique mix of leftfield rock,
disco, beat poetry, jokey lyrics, political commentary and avant garde jazz.
Two years later, 'Born To Laugh At Tornadoes' was issued by
Geffen Records and began a tradition of featuring unlikely guest
vocalists (Marshall Crenshaw,
Ozzy Osbourne,
Mel Tormé).
Mel
Tormé appears on 'Zaz
Turned Blue', a tender, if slightly odd, torch song which recounts
the asphyxiation of a friend (you can have this as a bonus, right-click
Alan
Vega (vocals) and Martin Rev
(synthesizers and drum machines) are Suicide,
a hugely influential early American synthesizer/vocal duo. They have been in
a permanent state of on/off since 1971, not releasing a debut album until
1977. Suicide emerged from the early
punk scene in New York City, quickly establishing a reputation for
incendiary and unpredictable live shows. Baiting the audience,
Vega and Rev
would perform dressed in arty, pre-cyberpunk garb, brandishing a length of
motorcycle drive chain, inspired by The Stooges
whom Rev was a fan of. The duo were
often booed as they took the stage and gigs would regularly deteriorate into
a riot (see '23 Minutes Over Brussels', a live recording of a
1978 Suicide concert). Musically,
Rev's keyboard riffs were simplistic and
primitive, initially played on a battered Farfisa organ before he could
afford a synthesizer, accompanied by a basic drum machine.
Vega owed an obvious debt to
Elvis Presley vocally and his muttering,
shrieking, nervy delivery was uniquely mesmerising, sounding at once both
fragile and threatening. Their first album, 'Suicide' (Red
Star Records, 1977), is often regarded as a classic and comes highly
recommended - buy the 2CD re-issue on Mute/Blast First label
X's
Exene Cervenka did both a book of poetry ('Adulterer's Anonymous') and an
experimental spoken word album ('Rude Hieroglyphics') with New York, No
Wave
art terrorist, Lydia Lunch, so I thought we'd pay her a visit next. It's the
second appearance here for Ms Lunch, last time I plundered 1980's
'Queen Of
Siam' LP on Ze Records (easily one of my favourite albums of all time). This
time, I thought we'd visit the latter end of her extensive repertoire.
Lydia once said, "I would be humiliated if I found out that anything I did
actually became a commercial success". Thankfully, she has remained a rather
illusive, aloof, underground, cult-like figure, enjoying a level of
infamy that has allowed her to operate on the fringes of art, be it spoken
word, poetry, photography, acting, sculpting or musical performance. She is
a self-confessed confrontationalist, constantly expressing herself and
promoting her own agenda, theories and life experiences. Her discography is
endlessly exhaustive but a few recommended starting points include the
aforementioned 'Queen Of
Siam' (jazzy, late night cabaret, from 1980); '13.13' (Banshees/Cure-like
alternative rock, from 1981); 'Hysterie 1976-1986' (a good overview of her
early punk/new wave recordings); 'Some Velvet Morning' (her psychedelic
Nancy And Lee
cover with Rowland S. Howard from
The Bad Seeds, from 1982); 'Matrikamantra' (eerie,
ambient soundtrack-like double album, from 1997) and 'Widowspeak' (a 2CD 'best of'
compilation bursting with singles, album tracks and collaborations from
throughout her entire career). But this track isn't on any of those. In
2002, Lydia collaborated with
The Anubian Lights (Adele Bertei,
Tommy Grenas,
Len Del Rio) on an exquisite EP of
down-tempo, avant garde, jazz-dance.
'Champagne, Cocaine & Nicotine Stains' was released by Crippled Dick Hot
Wax! on 10" and CD and the 5 song EP does much to loosen
Lunch's occasionally
droning, sour vocal into a new realm of kooky beauty. Perhaps one
of her most accessible pieces of work to date, the EP could almost be
described as fun. The EP is out of print now which is a shame as the artwork
is gorgeous... As a bonus,
I'm also giving you 'On The Prowl' (right-click
Formed
in Los Angeles in 1977, X is a noted punk rock band.
The original members were Exene Cervenka (vocals),
John Doe (bass and vocals),
Billy Zoom (guitar) and
DJ Bonebrake (drums). While they only achieved limited mainstream success,
they are widely considered one of the most accessible and tuneful punk bands
to emerge from Los Angeles. Their landmark 1980 record, 'Los Angeles',
resonated so loudly with the artisans of the city it is named after, that
the band received an official certificate of recognition from the city of
Los Angeles in acknowledgment of their important contributions to the
cities' music and culture. Their sound over the years grew to incorporate
flirtations with country rock and blues, with Doe and
Cervenka's slightly
off-kilter, discordant harmony vocals remaining the group's most distinctive
element. X's first record deal was with pioneering independent label
Dangerhouse, for which the band produced two singles, 'Los Angeles' and
'Adult Books'. Their debut album was issued by larger independent label,
Slash Records, in 1980 and it was produced by
The Doors' keyboard player,
Ray Manzarek. The LP was a minor hit and well received by the underground
press and mainstream media. Like much of X's early material, it had a
slight rockabilly edge to it. 'I'm Coming Over' is an early demo, available on the
CD re-issue of the album as a bonus track. Their follow-up effort, 1981's
'Wild Gift', broadened the band's profile when it was named 'Record Of The
Year' by 'Rolling Stone', 'The Los Angeles Times',
'The New York Times' and
'The Village Voice'. X signed to
Elektra in 1982 to release 'Under The Big
Black Sun'. The album was heavily influenced by the tragic, premature death
of Exene Cervenka's elder sister,
Mirielle (Mary) in an car accident in 1980.
Three songs on the album, 'Riding With Mary', 'Come Back To Me' and the
title track all directly relate to the tragedy. This album remains
Exene's
favorite X album. 1983 saw the release of the
'More Fun In The New World'
album. X redefined their sound with this release, making it more polished
and radio-friendly than on previous albums. Many of the band's loyal fan
base from their early LA gigging days were disappointed, feeling the band
had sold out. The overall sound of the album, particularly the vocals,
however, had excelled and the record received critical praise from 'Rolling
Stone' and 'Playboy' (!), who had both been stalwart supporters of
X. 'Ain't
Love Grand' was their next album release and
Zoom left the group shortly
thereafter in 1986, the same year a feature-length documentary, 'X:
The Unheard Music', was released (DVD issued in 2005). After touring the
album, X went on an extended hiatus.
They regrouped in the early 1990s to
record, though the band has not released an album of new material since
1993. They continue to perform live, with Zoom
once again on guitar and a
live DVD, 'X: Live In Los Angeles', which commemorates the 25th anniversary
of the band’s landmark debut album, is available to buy.
L7
were the most well-known all-female band to emerge from the 1990s grunge
revolution. Although they would eventually be eclipsed by
Courtney Love's
media circus, L7 produced some of the most assured heavy rock of the era.
Formed by Donita Sparks and
Suzi Gardner both on guitar/vocals, the punk
rock duo were soon joined by Jennifer Finch
on bass guitar and Roy Koutsky on drums.
Koutsky left shortly after and
Demetra 'Dee' Plakas became their
permanent drummer. Taking their name from a 1950's slang phrase meaning
'square', L7 were the enigmatic poster-girls for the
Women In Rock movement
and founded the abortion rights organization, Rock For Choice, in 1991, but
they looked to such testosterone-fuelled bands as Kiss and
AC/DC for their musical
inspiration. Early album releases such as 'L7' and 'Smell The Magic'
appeared on Epitaph and Sup Pop Records respectfully, before they signed
a deal with Slash Records in the early 1990s. Their third album, 1992's 'Bricks Are
Heavy', (produced by Butch Vig) was featured in
'Rolling Stone''s May 1999
list of essential recordings of the 1990s, and is widely considered their
classic release. You can find 'Shitlist' on there. They scored a big hit in with
'Pretend We're Dead' (
Shonen
Knife ('boy knife') are one of the most famous all-female Japanese pop/rock
bands. Sounding not unlike The Ramones meets
The Beatles, their brand of
sticky sweet, fizzy punk-pop has earned them a worldwide cult following.
They were particularly popular during the 1990s over in the USA due to constant
name-checking by various elite alternative music stars who were major fans
of the band (Sonic Youth,
Nirvana, Redd Kross, etc.). They
were formed in
December 1981 by sisters Naoko Yamano (vocals and guitar) and
Atsuko Yamano (drums), plus their friend,
Michie Nakatani (vocals and bass). They
made their live debut in 1982 in Osaka and the resulting word-of-mouth from
their gigs slowly gained momentum for the band. They began issuing albums in
their native land, including 1982's cassette-only release, 'Minna Tanoshiku'
(translation - 'Everybody Happy?'), 1983's 'Burning Farm', 1984's
'Yama No
Attchan' and 1986's 'Pretty Little Baka Guy'. Although their records were
only available in the US via import, Shonen Knife were a hit with the
underground scenesters, a track of theirs appearing on the popular 'Sub Pop
100' compilation in 1986. In 1989, Gasatanka Records released a double
album, 'Every Band Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves Them', a tribute album which
featured bands like Redd Kross, Sonic Youth,
L7 and Babes In Toyland
covering their favourite Shonen Knife tracks. The album's underground
success led to Shonen Knife's first American tour in 1990 where they played
712 dates (!) and the band were championed by Kurt Cobain after they opened
for Nirvana at nine concerts in 1991 (and later another six in December
1993). The group signed with Virgin Records in the states in 1992, releasing
'Let's Knife!' (their best album), whilst in the UK, they signed to the
short-lived Creation Records offshoot, August Records, releasing
'Get The
Wow' as their debut UK single. 1994 saw the trio perform as part of
Lollapalooza festival and Shonen Knife covered
The Carpenters' hit, 'Top Of
The World', for the 1994 'I Wish I Was A Carpenter' covers album.
Virgin
then issued an 18 track collection of rarities, 'Birds & The B-Sides', in
1996, featuring their cover of Martha & The Vandellas'
'(Love Is Like A) Heatwave', which we
brought you on this very page about four years ago! Despite their swelling
US fan base, the group never really obtained the breakthrough success that
was expected by many, and they returned to independent labels for later
releases like 1997's 'Brand New Knife', 1998's 'Happy Hour' and the 2000
Japan-only release, 'Strawberry Sound' (which featured the
band's new line-up with Mana Nishiura, who joined after
Nakatani left in 1999, on drums). They made another notable compilation
appearance on 'The Powerpuff Girls - Heroes & Villains' soundtrack album
with a track called 'Buttercup (I'm A Super Girl)' in 2000.
Now reduced to a duo, Shonen Knife's
last album, 'Fun! Fun! Fun!', was released in Japan in July 2007 to coincide
with the band's 25th anniversary. Trivia! The Vines mention
Shonen Knife in
their song 'Evil Town', from their 'Winning Days' album.
Easy
Listening sibling duo The Carpenters
formed in the late 1960s in Downey, CA. Richard
had played piano with a jazz trio in a handful of local cocktail bars and
nightclubs and he also studied piano, supporting his sister
Karen in a trio with
Wes Jacobs.
Karen was signed to a local Californian record label, Magic
Lamp, who released two unsuccessful solo singles by the singer, with
Richard and Wes as her
backing band. The trio won a 'Battle Of The Bands'-style contest at the
Hollywood Bowl in 1966, which earned them a record contract with RCA.
As The Richard Carpenter Trio, the group
recorded four songs that were never released.
Jacobs left the band at the beginning of 1968 and the siblings
formed Spectrum with
Richard's college friend,
John Bettis.
Spectrum fell apart within a year, but
The Carpenters continued as a duo. The pair recorded some demos
and a tape eventually found it's way to Herb Alpert,
the head of A&M Records, who signed the duo to his record label in
early 1969. 'Offering', The
Carpenters' first album, was released in November 1969 but
neither it nor the accompanying single, an airy cover of
The Beatles' 'Ticket To Ride',
made a big impression. However, The Carpenters'
fortunes changed with their second single, a version of
Burt Bacharach and
Hal David's '(They Long To Be) Close
To You' (
JC
Chasez (real name Joshua Scott Chasez),
is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor,
best known for being a member of USA boyband N Sync.
Joshua was adopted by Roy and Karen
Chasez at age five and he attended Bowie High School (sadly not a
finishing school for glam rock rebel rebels). His mother apparently saw an
article in the 'Washington Post' announcing auditions for
Disney's TV show, 'The Mickey Mouse Club', and encouraged
Chasez to audition.
Chasez was cast in the third season and
stayed until the show's cancellation in 1994. As a Mouseketeer,
Chasez befriended his future band mate,
Justin Timberlake, along with a host of
future American entertainment stars, including
Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
JC next auditioned successfully for
N Sync, formed by manager
Lou Pearlman in Orlando, Florida in 1995.
The group consisted of Lance Bass,
Joey Fatone,
Chris Kirkpatrick, Justin Timberlake
and JC. They became widely regarded as
one of the most successful pop acts of the late '90s and early 2000s,
selling over 56 million records worldwide. In addition to a host of
Grammy nominations, N Sync has
performed at the Academy Awards, the Super Bowl and The
Olympics, and sang duets with the likes of
Michael Jackson, The Jackson Five,
Celine Dion,
Gloria Estefan and Stevie Wonder.
The group also appeared as themselves on 'The Simpsons', in
the episode 'New Kids On The Blecch', which originally aired
on February 25, 2001. Chasez wrote and
produced many of N Sync's songs,
including 'No Strings Attached', 'Bringin' Da Noise',
'Digital Get Down' and 'Space Cowboy', as well
as later writing and producing material for other artists, such as
Girls Aloud. N
Sync announced an 'extended hiatus' in spring 2002 but
Lance Bass has since stated that the
group has split up for good. Next, Chasez
collaborated with DJ/composer BT on the
2003 album, 'Emotional Technology', where he provided vocals
on the tracks 'Somnambulist' and 'The Force Of Gravity'.
Brian Wayne Transeau (BT)
had previously produced the N Sync hit,
'Pop'. Chasez also
collaborated with Basement Jaxx on their
'Plug It In' single, taken from their 2003 album, 'Kish
Kash'. In return, they produced a track called 'Shake It'
for his own album. JC Chasez released
his debut solo album, 'Schizophrenic', in 2004, featuring the
singles 'Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)'/'Some Girls
(Dance With Women)' (a AA-side in the UK reaching 13) and 'All
Day Long I Dream About Sex' (
UK Latin/Balearic dance
music duo, Basement Jaxx, are
Felix Buxton and
Simon Ratcliffe. They started
out in Brixton, South London in 1994, where they held a regular club night
called Rooty, later the namesake of their second album. In 1999,
Basement Jaxx released their first full length album,
'Remedy', to wide acclaim. It
includes their hit singles 'Red Alert' (featured in the film,
'Bend It Like
Beckham', and TV ads for Nickelodeon and Coca-Cola),
'Jump N' Shout', 'Bingo Bango' and 'Rendez Vu', which is their highest UK chart entry to date,
reaching number 4. Their follow-up album, 2001's finger-on-the-pulse monster
'Rooty', includes the singles 'Romeo' (
Shaznay Lewis is generally
regarded as the talented one from All Saints. She had been singing in talent
contests since the age of thirteen and a chance meeting with
Ben from
Curiosity Killed The Cat got her through the doors of
a recording studio on All Saints Road in London, where she worked as a
backing singer. It was here she met Melanie Blatt in 1993 and the pair
proceeded to develop the All Saints group.
Shaznay was to be the most active
songwriter of the band and was responsible for writing most of their songs,
including many of their hit singles. In 2001, Shaznay won the
Ivor Novello
Award for Best Songwriting and after the group broke up,
Shaznay's solo
material was the most anticipated. She released her debut solo single,
'Never Felt Like This Before', in July 2004 and it reached a disappointing
number 8. It was a surprisingly bland offering, truth be told, and her album,
'Open', wasn't particularly inspired either, despite contributions from
K-Gee, Rick Nowels,
Absolute and Basement Jaxx.
'Radio' is produced by Basement Jaxx. Guest vocals
on the album also came from Biz Markie,
Niki Haris and old band mate,
Melanie Blatt. Of note is an early CD album
sampler which features two 'rough' demos of album tracks 'Mr Dawg'
and
'You', both of which are different vocally and musically, and the track
'Crying', which did actually turn up on the album, renamed
'Now
You're Gone'. The next single
release was 'You', which failed to break into the top 40, charting at 56.
Lewis was involved in the
Band Aid 20 re-recording of 'Do They Know It's
Christmas?' in 2004 and has also appeared in a few films, most notably,
'Bend It Like Beckham', from 2002. 2008 see's
Shaznay team up with
Wideboys on their new single,
'Daddy O', which you can hear
Sisters
Natalie (married to
Liam Howlett of
The Prodigy) and Nicole (fiancé of
Liam Gallagher of
Oasis)
Appleton were students at The Sylvia Young Theatre School in North London,
famous for it's long list of celebrity graduates such as
Emma Bunton, Denise
Van Outen and Samantha Janus. Another student,
Melanie Blatt, went on to
become Nicole's friend and of course fellow band mate in
All Saints. After
All Saints split in 2001,
Nat and Nic launched themselves onto the music
scene as pop duo Appleton, signed to Polydor Records. Their first single,
'Fantasy', reached number
2 in the UK singles chart. Their controversial autobiography, 'Together',
was published in October 2002 and in the style of 'Heat'
magazine, disclosed details
of the backstage bitching that had apparently gone on whilst they were
members of All Saints (no, really?). It also alleged that during a
relationship with Robbie Williams,
Nicole had became pregnant, and although
Williams was keen to become a father, London Records had bullied her into
having an abortion. This statement has since been denied by the label. In
2003, Appleton returned to the charts with two more hits;
'Don't Worry' (5)
and 'Everything Eventually' (38), both taken from their debut album,
'Everything's Eventual', which reached number 9 on the album chart and
achieved gold status in the UK. In 2004, they decided to sign a new deal with
Concept Music due to disagreements with Polydor and each tried their hand at
TV work. Nicole presented 'Hell's Kitchen' on
ITV, whilst Natalie appeared
on 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' in 2004 (but only for one week).
This B-side is taken from CD1 of the 'Don't Worry' single package. Trivia!
Natalie made a brief appearance in BBC1's
'Grange Hill' in 1986.
'Curfew' was the first and
only single by pop group Drive.
Drive were Julianne Davis,
Woodie Taylor,
Jay Strongman and some girl called
Melanie Guillaume ...who turned out to be
one Melanie Blatt, later of
All Saints. The
track 'Curfew' was released on the Ninja Tune label in 1993 and didn't chart.
Briefly, in the late '90s, copies of the single were highly collectable as
All Saints met with worldwide success, but you can easily pick up a CD copy quite cheap these days.
Melanie Blatt's next appearance outside of
All Saints was on 'TwentyFourSeven',
a garage single credited to The Artful Dodger Featuring Melanie Blatt,
released in September 2001. It peaked in the UK charts at number 6 and it
was recorded just before All Saints split up. As
All Saints hadn't had
enough singles to quite fill a greatest hits album at the time, it was decided to
include this song on their 'All Hits' 2001 release. Another collaboration appeared
in 2002, 'I'm Leavin'', by Outsidaz Featuring Rah Digga And Melanie Blatt.
Kelis was actually featured on the album version, but the single was re-done
with Melanie for some reason, although it just missed the top 40, reaching
number 42. It was to be more than a year before Melanie's next release with
her first proper solo outing, 'Do Me Wrong', in 2003. The track was written by the
Xenomania team and the accompanying B-sides were produced by
Mel's boyfriend of seven years,
Stuart Zendar (ex-Jamiroquai bassist).
Stuart had previously worked on
All Saints material
and is the father of Mel's daughter,
Lilyella. The record reached number 18
in the singles chart and there was no hint of a subsequent album release,
although rumour has it more material had been recorded for a tentative full
length release. Had the single been a massive hit, I expect we would have
got an album release soon thereafter. Two years later,
Mel had started
writing and recording material with Matt Hales from
Aqualung. One of the
tracks, 'See Me' (
Recently on the reunion
trail, let's pop back to 1994 when All Saints were three girls called
All
Saints 1.9.7.5 and signed to ZTT Records.
Melanie Blatt and
Shaznay Lewis met each other while singing backing vocals at Sarm West Studios, the
ZTT recording studios near All Saints Road, London. They were joined by pal
Simone Rainford and all three began singing
Lewis’ songs together, adopting
the name All Saints (after the nearby road)
1.9.7.5 (the year they were
all born). It is rumoured that they had already considered and rejected the name
Spice... They quickly laid
down a few demos and got signed with the ZTT label, releasing their first
single, 'Silver Shadow', in 1994. Tensions arose between Rainford, and
Blatt
and Lewis when they had conflicting ideas about the musical direction of the
group. Rainford left in 1995 and a recently released promo single,
'Let's
Get Started', was renamed 'If You Wanna Party (I Found Lovin')' and
re-released with the group now just a duo (although
Rainford's vocals remain
in tact). ZTT decided to drop them soon after it's failure, but things were
to take a turn for the better. Blatt bumped into
Natalie and Nicole
Appleton, her former mates from stage school, whilst seeking a replacement
for Rainford and introduced them to
Lewis. The four became simply
All Saints (now not all born in 1975) and they set about writing and building up a showcase together.
London
Records were quick to sign the band after hearing a demo of 'I Know Where
It's At', but not before Blatt and the
Appletons tried to cut
Lewis out,
apparently meeting with a label executive behind her back. They played him
their demo, which included an early recording of Lewis
singing 'Never Ever',
and they were told to hold onto Lewis or loose
out on the deal... Their recording
deal was finalised in November 1996. In early 1997, 'I Know Where It's At',
their debut single, went to number 4 on the UK single charts. The next
single, 'Never Ever', went to number 1 and sold a million copies in the UK.
The song also won them two Brit Awards in 1998, for Best Single and Best
Video. Their debut album hit number 2 on the album chart in 1997 and
contained further top 10 hits 'Under The Bridge' (an effective pop re-reading of
the Red Hot Chili Peppers track),
'Lady Marmalade' (another cover), 'Bootie
Call' (
After the demise of
Frankie
Goes To Hollywood in 1987, lead singer Holly Johnson signed a solo deal with
MCA Records. However, former label ZTT promptly sued
Johnson in an attempt
to hold him to his original, multi-album contract with the label. After two
weeks, the High Court found in Johnson's favour, holding that the highly
restrictive terms of the contract constituted an unreasonable restraint of
trade. The result of the court case, which also effectively freed the
remaining members of Frankie Goes To Hollywood from their
ZTT contract,
became famous as an unprecedented victory for the artist over their
corporate employers. Johnson's solo career at
MCA commenced in 1989, with a
succession of high charting synth-pop singles including 'Love Train'
(4), 'Americanos'
(4,