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Archive 23
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551 - 575
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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...
Laura
Branigan began her musical career after she graduated from the
American Academy Of Dramatic Arts in New York City in the mid-'70s. Her
first job was as a backing vocalist for Leonard
Cohen, with whom she toured the world, resulting in a recording
contract of her own with Atlantic Records. Her debut album,
'Branigan', was issued in 1982 and spawned one of the year's biggest
pop hits, 'Gloria' (
Cosmetique
were Justin Anderson (ex-Freaky
Realistic, instruments) and Sarah
Churchill (vocals). They seem to have began life with the
wonderfully bad taste 'Lady Di, Why Did You Have To Die?' 7"
single on PPQ Records in 1999 (we featured that back in post 190!).
Their next release didn't arrive until 2002, the single 'Jackson',
which introduced a little folk/country/rockabilly tinge to their brand of
lo-fi novelty glam rock. 'I Was Born In a Disco Fun Pub....But Now I'm
Choking On The Dust Left Behind By The Bandwagon', their only full
length release to date, arrived shortly after. It's title is taken from the
lyrics of an earlier B-Side recording, 'B Side Baby'.
Stand-out track, 'Straight To Video', with it's
Iggy Pop-pilfering backing track and
it's deadpan, hypnotic vocal delivery, was wisely lifted as the next single.
Think Moloko meets
Sisters Of Mercy. A postcard came with the single, promoting a
competition which offered a limited edition picture disc of their album as a
prize. I wonder who won that? Anyway, little else was heard from the pair
until a 7" single, 'Horror Attack', appeared in 2004 on the
1-2-3-4 Records label (also home to Whitey).
Apparently, after recording a second album, titled 'The Lace And The
Longing', Julie left her record
shop job and Hoxton DJ spot in London and headed for Dorset and had a child
called Oliver. Sarah released an
'interesting' album as The Avant Gardeners
on Rim Records in 2004, too... more on that
London
- Peckham - Tokyo! Stereo MCs/Pizzicato
Five/Oui 3-sounding hybrid
trio Freaky Realistic were
Justin Anderson (vocals, guitar),
Aki Omori (vocals) and
MPL (Michael Peter Lord - rapping). They
were formed in Peckham, South London, in 1991 and released four freaky
singles and one realistic album between 1992-93. Their debut release,
'Something New/Cosmic Love Vibes' arrived in 1992, originally
planned to precede their debut album, 'Frealism', which had
been recorded at Momentum Sound studios in Parson's Green, West
London, engineered by Gerard Johnson
(producer and keyboard player with Saint Etienne).
When the single stiffed, record label Polydor decided to sit on the
album for a while instead of releasing it. A second single, 'Koochi
Ryder', appeared in early 1993 but similarly failed to make an
impression on the record buying public.
A
band that are never far from my heart or ears, it's time to pay
Saint Etienne another visit.
Bob, Pete
and Sarah have just celebrated the event
of their debut album, 1991's 'Foxbase Alpha', buy releasing a
deluxe 2CD edition and playing a series of live dates where they performed
the album in full. I went to the final London date, in fact. However, I've
decided that 1998's 'Good Humor' album, is almost certainly my
favourite Saint Etienne album. The album
was something of a departure for the group and despite being demoed in the
UK using synths and drum machines, the band decamped to Sweden under the
guidance of Tore Johansson (The
Cardigans). Augmented by a full band and with a horn section,
'Good Humor' was recorded in two weeks at Tambourine Studios,
Malmo and the resulting album was much more acoustic in sound. Although
Saint Etienne's usual label, Heavenly
Records, had always been affiliated with Creation Records,
'Good Humor' was their first release for the label proper. It's
original release date was slated for Summer 1997 but this was delayed by
Creation because they were committed to promoting
Oasis's album, 'Be Here Now' (yawn). 'Good
Humor' charted at number 18 on the UK album chart, preceded by the
lead single 'Sylvie' (
Oval were an indie synth-pop trio existing between 1992-93 who
were signed to Saint Etienne’s own
Icerink Records label. The line-up included
Dylan (singing, guitar, cheeky), Jane
(singing, bass, sauce) and Robin
(keyboards, inspired guess, trouser murmur). Robin
was actually the A&R/press officer at Heavenly, the label
Saint Etienne were signed to themselves.
He was also involved in Heavenly's club
night, The Social, and the 'Socialism' magazine.
Oval released two singles;
‘Photograph’ in 1992, which is an inspired re-reading of the
Def Leopard hit, and 'Fantastique'/'Love
Rush', a double AA-Side released in 1993. Between releases,
the band changed their name slightly to Oval.
- probably for copyright reasons. The band can be seen dancing in the
wedding reception scene of Saint Etienne's
'I Was Born On Christmas Day' promo video (it's not on
Youtube anymore, sadly), where many of the extras seen are connected
with Heavenly and/or Icerink Records in some way. When
Icerink Records went tits up, Oval.
disappeared... This 'Radio Edit' is almost certainly mis-titled
as the other version featured on the 4 track CD single is a minute shorter,
suggesting it is actually the radio edit of the two.
Golden
were Canny Golden,
Celina Golden (AKA Celina Nash)
and Lucy Golden, a three-piece indie-pop
group that released just two singles between 1992-93. They were signed to
Bob Stanley and
Pete Wiggs' label, Icerink Records. Their debut AA-Side
single, 'Anglo American'/'Don't Destroy Me', was
actually the label's first release and was issued only on 12" vinyl
(DAVO1) in 1992. Their sound was not a million miles away from that of
Saint Etienne; a melancholic, yet
uplifting, early '90s house-pop vibe, with just a dash of retro styling.
Their second and final effort appeared in October 1993, the 'Wishful
Thinking' single (DAVO9). It was written by
Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and
produced by Stanley and
Wiggs. You'd be forgiven for mistaking
it for a genuine Saint Etienne demo!
Even one of it's B-Sides, 'Starlust', is terribly reminiscent
of the flute section of 'Mario's Cafe', from
Saint Etienne's 'So Tough'
album. But that was to be Golden's
swansong. Icerink Records issued just ten singles and one compilation
album in it's two year existence. With the exception of
Shampoo and
Earl Brutus, all the acts were never heard of again. As a bonus,
Nick
Banks, Jarvis Cocker,
Candida Doyle,
Steve Mackey and Mark Webber
were Pulp. We covered them some time ago
but it's time to re-visit, I think. Undisputedly,
Pulp were never better than between the years 1992-94, just prior
to their mainstream breakthrough and top 10 chart success. 1992-93 was
summed up perfectly on 'Intro', my favourite
Pulp album if I'm honest, although it's
basically three CD singles tacked together. 1993's Mercury Music Prize-nominated
'His 'n' Hers' would be my next favourite and the accompanying
single releases all featured B-Sides that are of a stupidly high standard.
With this in mind, not only have I chosen to post 'Street Lites'
(from the 'Do You Remember The First Time?' single) but I also
decided to compile the three CD singles into a 10 track compilation, as a
sort've 'Intro II', if you like, which covers 1993-94. It
features 'Lipgloss', 'Deep Fried In Kelvin',
'You're A Nightmare', 'Do You Remember The First Time?',
'Street Lites', 'The Babysitter', 'Babies',
'Your Sister's Clothes', 'Seconds' and
'His 'n' Hers'. Click
Electronic
dance music producer, songwriter, remixer and sound engineer,
Steve Rodway is also known as
Motiv8 (or
Motiv 8 - but Last.fm keeps telling me that spelling is
wrong). He started his musical career as a vocalist and drummer, as well
as writing material for comedian Russ Abbot's
'I Love A Party' album in 1985, before settling as a
keyboardist for Billy Ocean in the late
1980s. An early licensing deal with Go! Beat Records saw the debut
release for his Motiv8 moniker,
'Mission', in 1992. This was followed by
Rodway setting up his own independent label, 'Nuff Respect
Records, to facilitate the release of the next
Motiv8 single, 'Rockin' For Myself' (Featuring
Angie Brown) in 1993. While the success
of these early releases was limited to club play,
Rodway's subsequent contract with Warner Bros. Records saw
a re-release of 'Rockin' For Myself' in 1994, taking the
single to number 18 in the UK Singles Chart. It was then that
Rodway began his remixing career, with an early remix of
'Listen To The Music' by The Doobie
Brothers, peaking at number 37 in the UK and opening up further
opportunities. Rodway's distinctive
style of remixes soon became in demand and his talents came to the attention
of Jarvis Cocker of the group
Pulp. Cocker
and bassist Steve Mackey personally met
with Rodway requesting a complete
overhaul of hit 'Common People' in the
Motiv8 style. The resulting classic remix went on to replace
the original version on BBC Radio 1's playlist. Following the success
of 'Common People', Rodway
also remixed Pulp's 'Disco 2000'.
Motiv8 remixes have a reputation for
being focused on songwriting and composition, generally keeping the full
vocal track. Rodway attributes this approach to him coming from a
songwriting background, as opposed to DJing. Often all the backing tracks
are discarded in favour of an entirely new set built from the vocals alone.
Musical characteristics of Motiv8 remixes include arpeggios playing during
verses, and loops overlaid on programmed drum samples. A 1995 production for
Saint Etienne, 'He's On The Phone',
was a much more involved project. Rodway
created the mix through a considerable re-work of the song 'Accident'
from the Saint Etienne Daho
collaboration EP, 'Resurrection'. In 1995,
Rodway was also asked to remix
'Wannabe' by Spice Girls. At
this stage little was known about the group but when 'Wannabe'
was eventually released in 1996, the 'Motiv8 Vocal Slam Mix'
became a huge hit on club and radio play around the world helping to
establish the girls' own brand of Girl Power. In December of 1995,
Rodway was introduced to Australian
singer Gina G, and a demo of the song
'Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit'. Rodway
produced a brand new version which went on to be selected as the United
Kingdom's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1996. The track was
released as a single in March 1996, hitting number 1 in the UK in May and
receiving BPI platinum certification, It reached number 12 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and sold 2 million copies worldwide. It was also
performed six times on 'Top Of The Pops' from March to May,
and yet again on the Christmas day episode. The track's stateside success
even brought Rodway a Grammy
nomination and an ASCAP award. In 1997,
Rodway took on the task of remixing 'Addicted To Love'
by Robert Palmer, the best known song he
had worked on to date. Unfortunately, the remix was only released on a
limited run of promo vinyl 12"s. Motiv8
was also responsible for additional production work on the single remix of
'A Red Letter Day' by Pet Shop Boys,
released in 1997. In 2000, a Motiv8
remix for Kylie's 'On A Night Like
This' proved so popular that a video was also dubbed with an edited
version of the mix. Click
Bizarre
Inc. was a dance/house/club band from Stafford, England that was
formed in 1989 by two DJs, Dean Meredith
and Mark Archer. Everything began when
the duo started as a acid-house/techno project signed to Blue Chip
Records. Their first releases were (and still are) only available on
12'' vinyl: 'It's Time To Get Funky', later renamed to just
'Time To Get Funky' and the 6 track debut album,
'Technological', solely written and produced by
Meredith and
Archer. In 1990, Mark Archer
left to work as a producer and writer of several different house and
techno projects, many of which were for Network Records. He was also
known as DJ Nex for a long time, later
releasing material under handles like Mr. Nex,
O.P.D., Xen
Mantra, Nexus 21 and
Altern 8 with co-producer
Chris Peat.
Bizarre Inc. meanwhile, resurfaced later the same year, with the
addition of two new DJs; Andrew Meecham
and Carl Turner. The new trio's
first 12'' release was 'Bizarre Theme'/'X-Static',
on the now-defunct Vinyl Solution label. The track was moderately
successful in club land but their next effort in 1991, 'Such A
Feeling' (
The
original Disco Diva and one of the most sampled female voices in the
business, Jocelyn Brown started out in
the late 1970s adding her gospel-influenced vocals to records by studio
bands like Musique,
Inner Life, Bad
Girls, Salsoul Orchestra,
Disco Tex And
The Sex-O-Lettes, Cerrone,
Chic and Change.
She was often credited as Jocelyn Shaw,
her then-married name. Brown later
released a number of singles in her own name, including her 1984
break-through hit 'Somebody Else's Guy', which made it to
number 2 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. Her solo career never
really took off however and she continued to sing on other people's records,
including material by Bette Midler,
Steve Winwood,
Lou Reed, Mick Jagger and
Diana Ross. She also worked as a backing
vocalist for Culture Club, touring
worldwide in 1985 and also appearing on their 1986 album, 'From Luxury
To Heartache'. In 1987, she co-wrote 'Keep Me In Mind'
with Boy George, which was a top 30
hit in the UK. In 1990, Brown became a
victim of the sampling craze when the line "I've got the power!" was
sampled from her 1986 dance hit, 'Love's Gonna Get You', by
dance group Snap! for their worldwide
hit, 'The Power' (
Her
name is Barbra. She is an American
singer and film/theatre actress. She has also achieved note as a composer,
political activist, film producer and director. She has won Academy
Awards for Best Actress and Best Original Song as well as multiple
Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards and Golden Globe Awards. She is
one of the most commercially and critically successful female entertainers
in modern entertainment history and one of the best selling solo recording
artists in the US, with Recording Industry Association Of America-certified
shipments of over 71 million albums. She is the highest ranking female
artist on the RIAA Top Selling Artists list.
Streisand has recorded more than 60 albums, almost all with
the Columbia Records label. Her early works in the 1960s (her debut,
'The Second Barbra Streisand Album', 'The Third Album',
'My Name Is Barbra', etc.) are all considered classic
renditions of theatre and cabaret standards. Beginning with 'My Name
Is Barbra', her early albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of
her television specials. Starting in 1969, she began attempting more
contemporary material, but like many talented singers of the day, she found
herself out of her element with rock. Her vocal talents prevailed and she
gained newfound success with the pop and ballad-oriented,
Richard Perry-produced album, 'Stoney
End' in 1971. The title track, written by
Laura Nyro, being a major hit for
Streisand. During the 1970s, she was also highly prominent on the
pop charts, with top 10 recordings such as 'The Way We Were' (US #1),
'Evergreen' (US #1), 'No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)' (with Donna Summer -
US #1), 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' (with Neil Diamond - US #1) and
'The Main Event' (US number 3), some of which came from soundtrack
recordings of her films. As the 1970s ended,
Streisand was named the most successful female singer in the US -
only Elvis Presley and
The Beatles had sold more albums. In
1982, 'New York Times' music critic
Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand
was "the most influential mainstream American pop singer since
Frank Sinatra". In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date,
the Barry Gibb-produced 'Guilty'.
The album contained the hits 'Woman In Love' (which spent
several weeks at the top of the pop charts in late 1980), 'Guilty'
and 'What Kind Of Fool'. After years of largely ignoring
Broadway and traditional pop music in favour of more contemporary material,
Streisand returned to her
musical-theatre roots with 1985's 'The Broadway Album', which
was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted number 1 Billboard
position for three straight weeks, being certified quadruple platinum. After
releasing the live album, 'One Voice' in 1986,
Streisand recorded several cuts for a
new album, which she scrapped, with a few tracks making it onto her 1988
effort, 'Till I Loved You'. The beginning of the 1990s found
Streisand focusing on her directorial
efforts and largely inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a box set,
'Just for the Record', was released. A recommended compilation
spanning Streisand's entire career to
date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits,
rarities and previously-unreleased material.
Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released
'Back To Broadway' in June 1993. The album was not as
universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at number 1 on the
pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's
age, especially given that it relegated Janet
Jackson's 'Janet' to the number 2 spot). In
September 1993, Streisand made global
news, announcing her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What
began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las
Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to
the tour were sold out in under one hour. Ticket prices ranged from $50 to
$1,500 - making Streisand the highest
paid concert performer in history. 'Barbra Streisand: The
Concert' went on to be the top grossing concert of the year, earned
five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award and the taped broadcast
on HBO is, to date, the highest rated concert special in HBO's
30 year history. Following the tour's conclusion,
Streisand's musical profile has remained relatively low but new
albums appeared, with varying degrees of success, in 1997 ('Higher
Ground'), 1998 ('A Love Like Ours'), 2001 ('Christmas
Memories') and 2005 ('Guilty Too' - 'Guilty
Pleasures' in the US). On New Year's Eve 1999,
Streisand returned to the concert stage, giving the highest
grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the
millennium, she was the number one female singer in the US. In advance of
four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000,
Streisand announced she was retiring
from public concerts... yet in 2006, she came out of retirement and
announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and
awareness for multiple issues. 'Streisand: The Tour', a
20-concert show, set record box office numbers. At the age of 64, well past
the prime of most performers, she grossed $92,457,062 and set house gross
records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. In February 2008,
'Forbes' magazine listed Streisand
as the number 2 top-earning female musician, between June 2006 and June
2007, with earnings of about $60 million. In November 2008,
Streisand returned to the studio to
begin recording what will be her 63rd (!) album... This track here only
appears on one Steisand album,
'Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Vol. 2' from 1978, and it was
recorded for the Faye Dunaway film,
'The Eyes Of Laura Mars', also released in 1978. Trivia! This is
the only film theme song performed by Barbra
Streisand where she does not actually appear in the film itself
as well. Feast your eyes on some classic Barbra
clips courtesy of Youtube over
'No
More Tears (Enough Is Enough)' is a duet from 1979 by
Donna Summer and
Barbra Streisand. While Summer
was famous for her disco material and Streisand
for her easy listening and soundtrack work (though both had crossed over into
other genres before), this song fused both sounds with a slow beginning
(lasting almost two minutes!) which then evolved into a disco song. The song
then becomes something of a feminist anthem, with the two empowered women
taking action against their ungrateful men and throwing them out, as well you
know. The song was recorded for Streisand's
'Wet' album and also as a new track for
Summer's 'On the Radio: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2'.
This 12 minute version appeared on the original 12" single. Unusually, the
single was released on both Casablanca Records (Summer's
label) and Columbia Records (Streisand's
label) and sales of the two were amalgamated. The versions on the two 7"
singles differed slightly however, with different mixes and formats between
nations - in the UK for example, only the Casablanca version was
released as a 7", whilst Columbia released the 12". Both the 7" and the
12" formats were certified Gold by the RIAA in early 1980. The single
was eventually certified Platinum and spent two weeks at number 1 on the US
singles chart (making it both singers' 4th chart-topping single in the US). It
was also a big international hit and made the top 3 here in the UK. During the
recording of the song, Summer is said to
have passed out after a heavy partying session the night before.
Streisand supposedly carried on singing
her long note and waited until she had finished it before stopping and asking
Summer if she was okay! I love that
rumour. Another story regarding the song is that
Streisand's son, Jason Gould,
apparently talked his mother into recording the duet as he was a huge fan of
Summer's work (alarm bells!). It has also
been said that 'No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)' almost never
made it on to the 'Wet' album. The song was originally just
entitled, 'Enough Is Enough', and it didn't feature the now
infamous ballad introduction. When the final song selections were being made,
the producers decided that 'Enough Is Enough' didn't fit on the
album as it had nothing in common with the other songs, which were all
water-themed, as that was the over-all theme of 'Wet'.
Barbra Streisand really wanted the song on
the album and thus changed the title to 'No More Tears (Enough Is
Enough)', and the ballad introduction was written so as to incorporate
more water-based lyrics within the track... "It's raining, it's pouring, my
love life is boring me to tears...", etc. File under 'Stand Back! It's
A Camp Classic'. Trivia! Old King Edward potato look-a-like
Jimmy Somerville openly nicked the
"enough is enough" refrain for his 1991 hit single 'Read My Lips
(Enough Is Enough)'.
We've
covered Donna before, when we dipped into
her 1984 Geffen album, 'Cats Without Claws' (for the icy
'Eyes') a few years back. Well, here we are again. 'Stop,
Look & Listen' (not a children's road safety commercial soundtrack to
my knowledge) was a single lifted from her album, 'She Works Hard For
The Money', from 1983. This is the longer 6 minute album version,
rather than the 4 minute single edit, fact fans. My favourite
Donna Summer album is actually 'The
Summer Collection - Greatest Hits', which is a 10 track best of set
released by Mercury Records in 1985. Bearing in mind her first hits
compilation, 'On The Radio - Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2', had
twice as many tracks, there's a few criminal omissions on this LP (no 'I
Feel Love'?!). That's possibly due to licensing issues after she
switched from Casablanca to Mercury, or maybe (and more likely)
they were trying to re-establish Summer
and brush the whole disco-diva tag under the carpet, what with disco being
very passé by 1985. Anyway, the track selection is still very strong despite
the pick'n'mix approach. One of the main reasons I have affections for this
album is the artwork. It features the most wonderfully 80s-stylised fashion
designer-esque sketched sleeve art (check it out
Get
comfortable, this lady just did not stop. An early starter,
Irene Cara was one of five finalists for
the Little Miss America pageant at just 3 years of age. Aged 5 she
began to play the piano by ear and she soon took to studying music, drama
and dance. She later performed on Spanish-language television,
professionally singing and dancing, and she made appearances on 'The
Original Amateur Hour' and Johnny Carson's
'The Tonight Show'. She was a regular on PBS’s
educational program, 'The Electric Company', which starred
Bill Cosby,
Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman,
and she even recorded a couple of albums before hitting her teens; a
Latin-market Spanish-language album and an English-language Christmas album.
She also appeared in a major concert tribute to
Duke Ellington alongside Stevie Wonder,
Sammy Davis Jr. and
Roberta Flack.
Cara appeared in on-and-off-Broadway theatrical shows and
musicals ('Ain't Misbehavin', 'The Me Nobody Knows',
'Maggie Flynn', 'Via Galactica') and landed the
part of the original Daisy Allen on the 1970’s daytime soap 'Love Of
Life'. Next came her role as Angela in romance/thriller 'Aaron
Loves Angela', followed by her portrayal of the title character in
'Sparkle'. Television brought Cara
international acclaim for serious dramatic roles in two outstanding mini
series, 'Roots: The Next Generations', and 'Guyana
Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones'. Irene
was named one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1976" and that same
year, a readers' poll in 'Right On!' magazine named her Top
Actress. Cara graduated from The
Professional Children's School in Manhattan and walked straight into
the role that would make her an international star. The 1980 box office
smash movie 'Fame' catapulted Irene
to stardom as Coco Hernandez. She sang both the title song,
'Fame', and the film’s second hit single, 'Out Here On My
Own'. These songs helped make the movie soundtrack a chart-topping,
multi-platinum album. Further history was made when at The Academy Awards
that year; for the first time two songs from one film were nominated in the
same category: 'Fame' and 'Out Here On My Own'.
Cara had the opportunity to be one of
the few singers to perform more than one song at the Oscar ceremony.
'Fame' won the award that year. 'Fame' earned
Cara Grammy nominations in 1980
for Best New Female Artist and Best New Pop Artist, as well as a Golden
Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actress In A Musical.
'Billboard' magazine named her Top New Single Artist, while
'Cashbox' magazine awarded her both Most Promising Female Vocalist
and Top Female Vocalist. She was asked by the 'Fame' TV
series' producers to reprise her role as Coco Hernandez, but declined so as
to focus her attention on her recording career and thus she was replaced by
another actress. However, Cara did make
a special guest appearance on the series in 1983. In 1982,
Cara earned the Image Award for
Best Actress when she co-starred in the NBC movie of the week,
'Maya Angelou's Sister, Sister'. Cara
portrayed Myrlie Evers-Williams in the PBS TV movie 'For
Us The Living: The Medgar Evers Story' and earned an NAACP Image
Award nomination for Best Actress. She also appeared in 1982's
'Killing 'em Softly'. Cara was
also to star in her very own sitcom, entitled 'Irene', on
NBC in 1981 but it never went further than a pilot episode. In 1983,
Cara appeared as herself in the film
'D.C. Cab', about a group of cabbies, starring
Mr. T. As an in-joke, one of the characters, an obsessed
Cara fan, decorated his taxi cab as a
shrine to her. In addition to her music and film work,
Cara also continued to perform in live theatres during this
period, briefly playing the role of Dorothy in 'The Wiz On Tour'.
In 1983, Irene reached the apex of her
music career with the title song for the movie 'Flashdance',
'Flashdance... What A Feeling', which she co-wrote with
Giorgio Moroder and
Keith Forsey. It topped the charts
around the world and won numerous accolades for
Cara. She won the 1983 Academy Award for Best Song; the
1984 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, 1984
Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Song, Top Female Vocalist-Pop
Singles, Black Contemporary Female Vocalist-Pop Singles, Top Pop Crossover
Artist-Black Contemporary Singles and Pop Single Of The Year, as well
as American Music Awards for Best R&B Female Artist and Best Pop
Single Of The Year. Phew! She released her second adult album, the follow-up
to her 1982 R&B-heavy debut 'Anyone Can See', entitled
'What A Feelin'', on Casablanca Records in 1983. It was her
most successful album to date and is dominated by dance-pop and Euro disco
songs produced by the legendary Giorgio Moroder.
Many of the songs were also co-written by Cara
herself. 'Romance '83' is from this album. In 1984, she
starred with Clint Eastwood and
Burt Reynolds in comedic thriller
'City Heat', in which she sang the standards 'Embraceable You'
and 'Get Happy', as well as co-writing the theme song. In
1985, Cara co-starred with
Tatum O'Neal in 'Certain Fury',
a notorious box office and critical flop about women escaping prison. In
1986, she appeared in the film 'Busted Up'.
Cara provided the voice of Snow White in
the unofficial sequel to Disney's 'Snow White And The Seven
Dwarfs', Filmation's 'Happily Ever After', in
1993. That same year, she appeared as Mary Magdalene in the record-breaking
anniversary tour of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. Also in the
1990s, Cara won a bitter lawsuit against
her old record company over unpaid royalties and other career issues.
Cara has also worked as a backing
vocalist for the likes of Lou Reed,
Oleta Adams and
Evelyn 'Champagne' King.
ABBA
tribute band Björn Again has been
performing since 1988. Its 20 year existence exceeds that of the original
ABBA. As of 2007, there are five
versions of Björn Again performing in
various parts of the world. Björn Again
originated in Australia, created in 1988 by Melbournians
Rod Leissle and
John Tyrrell. As well as overseeing all of
Björn Again's global touring activities
they occasionally play in band themselves (Rod
on bass, John on drums).
Björn Again's early shows throughout
Melbourne earned them a solid reputation and by 1989, they were so popular,
they undertook an Australia-wide tour, which then took them overseas to
international acclaim. The band is now regarded as the most successful
tribute band ever and one of Australia's most successful musical exports.
Björn Again takes a very light-hearted
approach to their portrayal of their heroes ABBA.
While keeping pretty faithful to the songs themselves, the rest of the
performance is something of a send-up. The band members chat among
themselves and to the audience in a faux-Swedish accent and they have stage
names that resemble the original group member's names in a comical way:
Agnetha Falstart,
Benny Anderwear, Frida Longstokin
and Björn Volvo-us. The band is
supported live by the bass guitarist Rutger
Sonofagunn and the drummer Ola Drumkitt
(from long-time ABBA session
musicians Rutger Gunnarsson and
Ola Brunkert).
Björn Again has performed at many popular music festivals
worldwide, including Reading and Glastonbury, plus sold out
shows at The Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Arena in London,
The State Theatre in Sydney, The SECC in Glasgow, Scotland
and Irving Plaza in New York. The band is also in high demand for
private shows - having played at parties for top UK golfer
Colin Montgomerie, Microsoft's
Bill Gates, comedian Rowan Atkinson
and at Russell Crowe's Wedding in
Australia in 2003. To date, the various franchises of
Björn Again have performed around 4,000 shows in more than 50
countries and there seems to be little sign that the band's popularity is
diminishing. Björn Again has also
occasionally covered songs by other artists. Their infamous response to the
Erasure EP of
ABBA covers, 'ABBA-esque', was an EP of
Erasure covers done in the style of
ABBA, called 'Erasure-ish'.
The EP included the song 'A Little Respect' (
We
all know ABBA, so I'll avoid the obvious
10 minute biography. Instead, did you know that
ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and
Benny Andersson were already stars in
Sweden by the time the group took part in Eurovision?
Andersson had played in the band
The Hep Stars since he was 18, while
Ulvaeus was the frontman in the skiffle
group The Hootenanny Singers, one of
Sweden's most popular folk groups. Their 1970 song 'Omkring Tiggarn
Från Luossa', a cover of an old folk standard, stayed in the Swedish
charts for 52 weeks, a record that wouldn't be broken for another 20 years.
When ABBA got together, they took their
name from the first letter of the names of all four members –
Agnetha, Benny,
Björn and
Anni-Frid (yes, yes, everyone knows that!). But it also happened
to be the name of a fish processing company in seafood-loving Sweden. The
quartet had already released a single under the name
Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid called 'People Need
Love' when they decided to shorten the name. As
ABBA (the fish-canners) were unknown
outside of Sweden, the company allowed the group to use the name for their
Eurovision entry in 1973. 'Waterloo' won the contest,
and the company allowed them to keep their poptastic moniker.
ABBA's last album with new material was
the 1982 compilation 'The Singles: The First Ten Years', which
included the new songs 'Under Attack' and 'The Day
Before You Came'. Ulvaeus and
Andersson then took a break from the
group to write a musical, while Fältskog
and Lyngstad decided to record solo
material. The boys' musical, 'Chess', became a worldwide hit
after the concept album was released in 1984 and a stage version followed in
1986. Much like The Police, whose break
turned into a long hiatus, ABBA have
never officially split up, but they have not recorded music or sung together
for over 26 years. To date, ABBA have
resisted the temptation to jump on the tour reunion bandwagon. Reports
surfaced in 2000 that the quartet had allegedly turned down a billion dollar
offer to play live together in 100 cities worldwide.
Benny Andersson was quoted in a Swedish newspaper remarking,
"It was a hell of a lot of money to say no to, but we decided it wasn't
for us". Meanwhile, there's serious brass to be made on the
ABBA tribute circuit. Australia's
Björn Again began performing in 1989,
and their career has long-since outlasted the Swedish originals. It's also
proved incredibly successful – the group have so far played more than 4,000
shows and now have five versions of the group touring around the world. In
London, there's a tribute band called Gabba
performing ABBA's hits in the
style of punk legends The Ramones, while
in 1995 New Zealand indie label Flying Nun Records brought it's
roster together to record the ABBA
tribute album 'Abbasalutely'. 'The Visitors',
the title track to their 1980 album, is posted here because it's one of my
favourites, along with 'Angel Eyes' and 'The Day Before
You Came'. Enjoy... P.S. Is there a font available that reverses
letters, like the backwards 'B' in the ABBA
logo?
Blancmange
is a sweet dessert commonly made with milk or cream and sugar. It is usually
set in a mould and... Oh, sorry, Blancmange
was also a band! Blancmange was formed
in Harrow, London in 1979 by vocalist Neil Arthur
and instrumentalist Stephen Luscombe.
The duo released their first EP, 'Irene And Mavis', the
following year, but had their first real exposure via a track included on
the seminal Some Bizzare compilation, alongside fellow synth pop acts
Soft Cell and
Depeche Mode. This led to them signing a recording contract with
London Records. Their first success was the 1982 single, 'Feel
Me', which was a minor hit. Later that year, they broke through with
'Living On The Ceiling' (
After
disbanding Soft Cell, vocalist
Marc Almond pursued a solo career that
followed the same vaguely sleazy, electronic dance-pop his former group had
made popular. Almond harked back to the
days of cabaret singers, updating that sound for the dance clubs of the '80s
and creating atmospherics with synths and drum machines. His voice isn't
particularly strong, tending to waver around the notes rather than hitting
them, but it sounds perfectly at home underneath all the electronics and
disco rhythms. Before he started a totally solo career,
Almond formed
Marc & The Mambas, a loose congregation that featured
Matt Johnson of
The The and Annie Hogan.
'Untitled', the group's first album in 1982, featuring covers of
Lou Reed, Syd
Barrett and Jacques Brel.
Throughout his career, Almond would
return to the heavily orchestrated songs of Brel
for inspiration, always adding a self-conscious element of camp with his
Euro Disco and occasionally sleazy lyrics. 'Torment & Toreros',
Marc & The Mambas' second album, arrived
in 1983 and after it's release, the group broke up.
Almond formed the backing group The
Willing Sinners in 1984, releasing 'Vermin In Ermine'
in 1984. Almond began to hit his stride
with this album, which fulfilled most of his campy cabaret fantasies.
'Stories Of Johnny', released the following year, was more cohesive,
spawning a UK hit with the title song. Even though he maintained a cult
following in England and various parts of Europe, his records were
unreleased in the USA. In 1987, Almond
released 'Mother Fist And Her Five Daughters', his first
proper solo album and his bleakest work to date. A compilation,
'Singles: 1984-1987', appeared the same year. 'Stars We Are',
released the following year, was a brighter, more welcoming album that
revived his commercial career. Almond dueted with
Gene Pitney on Pitney's own
'Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart', which became a
number one single. 'Stars We Are' also became his first album
released in the USA since his work with Soft Cell.
Almond followed this success in 1990
with the pet project 'Jacques', a collection of
Brel songs. That same year, he released
'Enchanted', featuring the hit 'A Lover Spurned'
(
Art
students Marc Almond and
Dave Ball formed Soft Cell, a synth-pop duo famed
for it's sleazy electronic sound, in Leeds in 1980. Originally, the pair
teamed up to compose music for theatrical productions, and as
Soft Cell,
their live performances would draw heavily on the pair's background in drama
and the visual arts. A self-financed EP, 'Mutant Moments', brought the duo
to the attention of Some Bizarre label head Stevo, who enlisted
Daniel
Miller to produce their underground hit single, 'Memorabilia' in 1981. It was
the next Soft Cell effort, 1981's cover of
Gloria Jones' cult Northern Soul
favourite, 'Tainted Love', that brought the duo to international prominence
and fast and furious success. The song was reworked as an O.T.T. electronic
dirge, now emblematic of all things '80s, which became 1981's best-selling
British single, as well as a major hit abroad. The group's debut album,
'Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret', was also enormously successful, and was followed
the next year by a string of hit singles ('Bed Sitter', 'Say Hello Wave
Goodbye', 'Torch' (
Minty already appeared here a very long time ago. They were
formed in 1993 by club scene celebrity and walking work of art
Leigh Bowery and cohort
Richard Torry.
Bowery had already been involved in two musical outfits in the
early 1990s; The Quality Street Wrappers
and Raw Sewage (both essentially
the same band), but Minty was a much
more serious attempt to be taken seriously. Soon the duo morphed into a
group, including amongst others, Matthew Glamorre
and Nicola Bowery, wife of
Leigh. Minty
quickly gained notoriety for their confrontational art performances, the
highlight of which was Leigh "giving
birth" to Nicola on stage - she would be
concealed upside down underneath his costume and would emerge when
Leigh went "into labour". Such was their
notoriety a Minty club residency in Soho
was deemed indecent by Westminster Council and shut down. In this
initial incarnation, Minty recorded just
one single, the lesbian-anthem 'Useless Man', which was
remixed by The Grid (ex-Soft
Cell man Dave Ball's
project), before Leigh's tragic death on
31 December 1994. It was a chart hit in the Netherlands! The remaining
members of Minty chose to continue the
group following Leigh's death and
released a further three singles; 'Plastic Bag'; 'That's
Nice' (the video for which was shown was shown on 'Top Of The
Pops'!); 'Nothing', and an album called 'Open
Wide' in 1997, containing leftover material
Leigh had recorded. Contributions on the album came from
Zeus B. Held (Gina
X, Divine,
Dead Or Alive, Transvision Vamp),
Dave Ball
and Felix. They promoted the album with
a support slot on Pulp's sold out 'Different Class' tour.
Minty
also decided to form a creative collective in tribute to
Leigh Bowery, known as
The Offset. Members included DJ/producer
Kinky Roland, porn star
Aiden Shaw, poet
Donald Urquart, tranny artist Sexton
Ming and moog revivalists Add N To (x).
They released a single as The Offset Presents Minty,
'It's A Game (Part 1)', and then for a while it seemed like
we'd heard the last from Minty... until
summer 2006. Taking inspiration from 'Big Brother 7' contestants
Nikki and
Pete, Richard
Torry put together a track based around samples of their dialogue
and called it 'Its A Game (Part 2)'. The track was made
available as a digital download in a variety of remixes and promoted with
live PAs around the London club scene. Matthew Glamorre
and Richard Torry still
collaborate on a number of music and club projects in London, including
The Soundstorm, Siren Suite and Kash Point. I recommend
anyone with a passing interest in Leigh Bowery
pick up
It's
Sweden's first female rap star, Leila K.!
You might remember
Felix
was the alias of Essex DJ/producer Francis Wright
but it could also be considered a group of which producers
Rollo and Red Jerry were
members. His 1992 track on Deconstruction Records, 'Don't You
Want Me' (
These
files are on Sharebee.com so a single click on
Download above will
take you to the tracks! Techno
dance act N-Joi (or
N'joi, N:Joi
or even NJoi sometimes)
formed back in 1990 when production duo Nigel
Champion and Mark Franklin
(AKA Marc Kulak) were both 20 years old.
Initially, they played underground warehouse raves and parties, which were
still illegal in those days. At this stage, not a single instrumental dance
track had ever entered the UK charts, but N-Joi's
brand of hard-hitting, instrumental techno tunes brought underground dance
music to the forefront of the public consciousness. Their second single,
'Adrenalin' entered the national charts at number 19 which they also
performed (without lyrics - a first) on 'Top Of The Pops' (
90s
dance act JX was the work of
Jake Williams, a DJ and remixer who
remains actively involved in the dance music scene to this day. Aged just
16, Williams found chart success in 1994
following a deal struck with UK dance label Hooj Choons, founded by
trance DJ/producer/remixer Red Jerry.
His debut single 'Son Of A Gun' (
This
is our third visit to Planet Deuce and
possibly our final one... : ( Kelly O'Keefe,
Craig Young,
Lisa Armstrong and Paul Holmes,
under the guidance of everyone's favourite pop svengali
Tom Watkins, brightened up the pop
charts back in 1995 with hits like 'Call It Love' (hunt down the lovely
7" picture disc which has jellybeans all over it!), 'I Need You'
and 'On The Bible'. These were all taken from
Deuce's debut album, 'On The
Loose!', which also featured 'Let's Call It A
Day', a track that was almost released as their fourth single. They even performed it
on CITV's '50 Years Of TV' celebration in late 1995 but
it was cancelled after founding member Kelly decided to leave the group
at short notice. She was quickly replaced by one
Mandy Perkins for an East 17
Christmas support tour and the revamped line-up released a new single,
'No Surrender', in June 1996. After spending the rest of 1996 and
early 1997 doing club PAs and promoting down under, things went pear-shaped
and the group imploded... In
2007, some kind soul leaked an otherwise unreleased demo by
Craig and Kelly
of a track called 'Rock The Disco', rumoured to have been
earmarked as a potential Deuce single
before Kelly quit. Download that