Archive for October, 2013

Rare Lou Reed and Lou Reed Covers

Monday, October 28th, 2013

Lou Reed passed away this weekend, and I’m not going to say much about it.  I am incredibly bad at eulogizing, especially so when the person in question is someone I have mixed feelings about.

Lou Reed was a genius. Lou Reed was an asshole. Lou Reed was a revolutionary songwriter. Lou Reed was a hack. Lou Reed was a legendary performer. Lou Reed was lazy and hated his audiences. I feel that all those things are true, and I don’t know how to compose my contradictory viewpoints into anything that would do either him or my own thoughts justice.

So I’ll just say that Lou Reed will be missed by a lot of people, including me. Everyone should listen to his work with the Velvet Underground. If you can tolerate shoddy audio quality, then you also must listen to The Quine Tapes, an amazing 3CD collection of VU bootlegs that feature some of the greatest live performances I’ve ever heard. And listen to Transformer. Because damn.

This is all the Lou Reed-related material I have, enjoy.

Lou Reed
My Red Joystick (Remixed Version)
My Red Joystick (Instrumental Version)
The Original Wrapper (Extended Version)
The Original Wrapper (Dub Version)
The Original Wrapper (Remix Single Version)
Video Violence (Remix)
Satellite Of Love ’04 (Dab Hands Retouch)
Satellite Of Love ’04 (Dab Hands Radio Edit)
Satellite Of Love ’04 (Groovefinder Remix)
This is literally all the rare Lou Reed I have (that was recorded under his actual name…keep reading and you’ll see what I mean). These are all taken from various 12″ singles and I’ve posted them all before. However, I re-recorded everything save for the “Satellite of Love” remixes, so even if you downloaded them from me before, be sure to grab them again – these versions sound so much better than my original rips.

If you’ve never had the joy of hearing Lou Reed “rap” then you’ll be in for a treat with some of these tracks.

New Order
Sister Ray (Live)
From the disgustingly-titled-but-vaguely-interesting compilation Like A Girl, I Want You To Keep Coming, which includes rarities by David Byrne, Debbie Harry and Henry Rollins as well. As far as I know, this live VU cover has never been released on any other album.

Billy Idol
Heroin (Nosebleed Mix)
Heroin (Ionizer mix)
Heroin (A Drug Called Horse Mix)
Heroin (Overlords Mix).mp3″>Heroin (Overlords Mix)
Heroin (VR Mix)
Heroin (Needle Park Mix)
Billy Idol covered “Heroin” for his 1993 alubm Cyberpunk, an album that literally everyone on Earth hates except for me and Billy Idol. I re-recorded these tracks too, so if you downloaded them from my site once before and want better copies, download these too.

The Beachnuts - Cycle Annie
The J Brothers- Don’t Turn My World Upside Down
The Liberty Men -Wonderful World of Love
The Hi-Lites -Soul City
I wrote about these tracks before , they’re all from a mid-60s budget compilation album called Out Of Sight. This is how Lou Reed paid the bills before forming VU. He only performs on “Cylce Annie,” but he wrote all of these tunes.

David Bowie & Lou Reed
Queen Bitch
I’m Waiting For The Man
Dirty Boulevard
White Light/White Heat
All taken from Bowie’s 50th birthday bash in 1997. A great show you can find on YouTube I think.

David Bowie
White Light/White Heat (Rehearsal with Stevie Ray Vaughn)
White Light/White Heat (Studio Outtake)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Radio Appearance)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Live) (Another Radio Appearance)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Studio Recording)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Live Bootleg)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Live In Budapest)
These are all taken from various bootlegs, radio rips and other odds and sods I’ve accumulated over the years. In case you’re wondering how the Stevie Ray Vaughn thing happened, Stevie played guitar on Bowie’s Let’s Dance album. He was supposed to joing Bowie on the Serious Moonlight tour, but that didn’t work out. That recording is from the rehearsals for that tour.

I think we can say without question that David Bowie really liked “I’m Waiting For The Man,” I assume he could identify with that song on multiple levels.

Nirvana
Here She Comes Now (Electric Punk Version)
Here She Comes Now (Radio Appearance)
One version of Nirvana’s cover of this VU song has seen official release, the “Smart Studios” version was included on both the With The Lights Out compilation and the Super Deluxe edition of Nevermind. However, Nirvana performed and recorded this song a lot over the years. The “Electric Punk” version is, like the title suggests, more of a punk rock arrangement of the tune, while the radio appearance versions is more in tune with the Smart Studios version – all are great. You can really hear the emotion in Kurt’s voice in all these versions. This cover is how I got into VU in the first place.

Posted in B-sides, David Bowie, live, Lou Reed, New Order, Nirvana, remixes | 10 Comments »

Song About Serial Killers and Nuclear War

Sunday, October 27th, 2013

I wrote a thing about soundtracks (again) at Mostly-Retro if you’re interested. And I also did a quick write-up about an awesome arcade in San Francisco that you should check out.

Now for awesome songs by bands you’ve probably never heard of.

The Hitmen
Bates Motel
After exhausting the rarities collections of just about every well-known new wave artist worth my time, I think I’m finally going to have to start crate digging for the forgotten side-notes of the era. I’m sure there were a ton of great new wave acts out there that got lost in the shuffle, and I intend on finding them. I’ve already done this a bit in the past. I’ve written numerous times on the brilliance of Polyrock, and about half of Urgh! is a who’s who of “who’s that?” from the 80s post-punk and new wave scenes, but I really have to start digging deeper. So if anyone has any suggestions, please shoot them my way. And yes, I am aware of Lost Bands of the New Wave Era, and am currently combing their archives. I’m also on the lookout for every band that’s tangentially related to my favorite unsung new wave act, The Wild Swans, so I’m already on the aware of Care, Teardrop Express, Lotus Eaters, The Woodentops and The Lightning Seeds.

And of course there are The Hitmen, a band I already kind of knew thanks to their appearance on one of the 101 Records compilations I found a few years back (which I’ll be re-uploading as well as a third compilation in the coming months). From the comments that post got, I know that The Hitmen put out two albums, and that at one point Depeche Mode’s Alan Wilder was in the group, but I don’t think he recorded anything with them either than a single. Their track on the 101 album is “She’s All Mine,” and while it’s a pretty good tune, it’s also pretty generic. It sounds like a pub rock reject from a Dave Edmunds jam session, or like I said back when I wrote about I the first time, an Elvis Costello b-side.

“Bates Motel,” on the other hand, is pretty great. It was a single off of the band’s second (and last) LP and even had a video that made it to MTV at some point.

There aren’t a lot of horror-themed new wave tracks, in fact I can’t think of any at the moment (although I’m sure I’ll be corrected on that shortly), so “Bates Motel” is a pretty unique track that’s worth a listen. It definitely makes me want to track down a copy of the album from which it came to see if there’s anything else on it worth hearing.

Fay Ray
Heatwave
Modern Lovers
Fay Ray are another band who should have made it big but didn’t. They only released one album, Contact You, in 1982 and that was it. Like The Hitmen, I discovered them on a 101 Live compilation, but unlike The Hitmen, I can tell I’m not the only person on the Internet to become someone obsessed with them. They were showcased on Lost Bands of the New Wave era, and they continue to pop up on other blogs dedicated to lesser-known acts (this one included). I routinely read rumors that Contact You is going to get a CD re-release with bonus cuts, but after reading that for six years, I’m starting to have doubt that will ever happen. Still, I don’t want to post the entire album in case it does, so I thought I would post these album highlights instead.

“Heatwave” is the clear standout track on the LP, and was the closest thing the group had to a hit, probably in part to their awesome video for the tune. As new wave tracks about nuclear war go, it’s pretty great. Not as great, but still killer is “Modern Lovers.” It’s the most upbeat track on the album, and it also has a video, one that is also sublimely 80s in all the best ways.

Posted in Fay Ray, The Hit Men | 6 Comments »

The extra “E” still annoys me.

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013

As I start planning out my move to Japan, it’s becoming apparent to me that I won’t be able to update the blog consistently with new music for probably at least a month. This is partly due to the fact that I just won’t have time when I first get to Japan, between my job, finding a place to live and all the other stuff that comes with a major move. But honestly, a much bigger reason for the impending lack of updates will be because I’ll be without a turntable for at least a month – I’m not having mine shipped out to me until I get firmly settled.

(And before any of you ask, I’m not just going to buy another turntable in Japan because my turntable is a rare custom-modded black Technics SL-1210Mk2 and it is DOPE.)

I do, however, want to keep some sort of regular content going on this site in the meantime, so I think the best solution will be for me to temporarily take this blog into a “greatest hits” mode – highlighting some of the best tracks that I’ve posted over the years.

I already got a good line-up of tunes planned for this, but if you want to browse my archives (all seven years worth, holy shit) for some tracks you may have missed over the years, now is the time. Leave a comment in this post with your requests, and if I also enjoy the track in question/have the MP3 still/want to re-record it because the old file sounds like dogshit, I’ll be sure to include it in the month long Lost Turntable retrospective. And don’t bother mentioning Depeche Mode, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys or Madonna. I’m already planning on reposting any still hard-to-find cuts by all of them. You might as well throw in Big Country and Big Audio Dynamite into that mix as well.

Until then, here are some tunes by two bands who I thought were the same band when I was 10 years old. Because 10-year-old me was kind of dumb.

The B-52’s
Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland (Extended Mix)
Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland (12″ Mix)
Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland (Dub)
Seems like an odd vacation choice.

This is…not a very good song. I love the beat and the vocal hook would be fine too if it wasn’t, k’now, half of the damn song. This is definitely one that works better as a brief single. However, since I’ve posted every rare B-52’s remix I own, it would be silly to stop now.

Deee-Lite
Groove Is In The Heart (Meeting Of The Minds Mix)
Groove Is In The Heart (Peanut Butter Radio Mix)
Groove Is In The Heart (Jelly Jam Beats)
What Is Love (Holographic Goatee Mix)
What Is Love (Frenchappella)
What Is Love (Rainbow Beard Mix)
I used to hate “Groove Is In The Heart.” In fact, I think the only song young me hated more than that was probably R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People” (which featured Kate Pierson from The B-52’s). And while I continue to hate “Shiny Happy People” with a fiery hatred of a thousand suns, “Groove Is In The Heart” has finally started to grow on me. I think it took me discovering good disco and 80s house for me to finally appreciate the song and what it’s trying to do. I still hate that slide whistle though.

“What Is Love” still kind of annoys me though, but the Rainbow Beard Mix is pretty great.

Posted in B-52s, Deee-Lite, remixes | 9 Comments »

KRAUTROCK-POWERED MOTORCYCLES

Thursday, October 17th, 2013

The Tigers won. America won’t default. I’m functioning on very little sleep. This post is silly. I apologize.

Yes
Rhythm Of Love (Dance To The Rhythm Mix)
Rhythm Of Love (Move To The Rhythm Mix)
Rhythm Of Love (The Rhythm Of Dub)
City Of Love (Live Edit)
Fuck yeah, Yes remixes! Is synthpop Yes the best Yes? Probably not. But it is the “best” Yes.

I have a strange fascination with Yes that I still can’t really explain. I don’t know why. I only own a handful of Yes records, and I don’t even think I’ve listened to all of them. I actually know very little about the band, a fact that I’ve been wanting to remedy in recent months. Actually, I’ve toyed with the idea of buying all of Yes’ records and reviewing them all, in chronological order, simply as a writing exercise and as a personal quest to find out for myself what the hell they’re all about. I might still do it someday. Prog rock is hella big in Japan after all. This despite the fact that drugs of any kind are nearly impossible to find there. The wonders never cease.

Anyways, these remixes really aren’t prog rock. As I said before, this is synthpop Yes. Like all synthpop Yes, this song was co-written and produced by Trevor Horn, so sometimes I like to close my eyes and imagine Frankie Goes To Hollywood covering it.

Can you imagine a Frankie Goes To Hollywood/Yes collaboration!?! Oh man, why didn’t that happen? That’s the greatest tragedy of the 1980s.

Tangerine Dream
Streethawk (Radio Remix)
There was a TV show in 1985 called Street Hawk. It was about an ex-cop who fought crime with the help of a super-powered motorcycle. The theme song was by Tangerine Dream.

So…yeah. So…okay…so…I don’t even know where to begin with that entire statement. I need to let that sink in. Y’know what? Let me watch the opening credits to the Street Hawk TV show, maybe that will help me figure out how to put my thoughts to words.

HOLY SHIT HOW COME MORE PEOPLE DIDN’T WATCH THAT SHIT IT’S LIKE KNIGHT RIDER BUT WITH A MOTORCYCLE AND A SOUNDTRACK BY TANGERINE DREAM OH MY GOD.

Ahem.

Yeah, okay. I can’t comment on that. It speaks for itself. I got noting – maybe if I watch that opening again.

AND THE DUDE’S NAME IS JESSE MACH!? WHY? WAS “JOHNNY FAST” TAKEN?!

Wow. Okay, seriously, all of you need to read the Street Hawk wiki, because someone put a lot of effort into making sure everyone knows that Street Hawk is currently available on DVD (ORDERING NOW) and that at one point there were Street Hawk toys and even freakin’ Street Hawk novelizations.  And then check this incredible Street Hawk fansite. Because if you don’t, who will? Aside from the apparently millions of dedicated Street Hawk fans out there.

Wait a second, this site even has Street Hawk fan-fiction.

I have to go. I have reading to do.

Fuck your Breaking Bad nonsense, Street Hawk for life.

 

Posted in B-sides, live, remixes, Tangerine Dream, Yes | 3 Comments »

If Congress Doesn’t Get Its Shit Together I’m Gonna Make Them Listen To That Korn Dubstep Album

Monday, October 14th, 2013

Yo, if the government defaults and the world descends into a Mad Max-style apocalypse before I move to Japan I’m going to be really pissed off.

Depeche Mode
Strangelove (Strangemix)
Photographic (Photogenic Remix)
I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead (Deathwish Remix)
These are bootleg mixes taken from an untitled LP, but I thought that were good enough to share here. Although the first is labeled as a remix of “Strangelove,” it’s actually a medley/megamix composed of what feels like nearly a dozen different Depeche Mode tracks. While I think megamixes are typically pretty bland, this one does some interesting things, including modifying the “pain” refrain of “Strangelove” to fit the melody of “Just Can’t Get Enough,” although to be honest I do feel that I’ve heard at least one other remix do that trick before, so maybe I’m giving this release too much credit. I also like the “Photographic” and how it transforms the tune into a more dance-friendly track with an upped tempo and an added synth-melody. The inclusion of a remix of “I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead” is a bit surprising, since that track wasn’t even on the original US release of Speak & Spell (I don’t even have that track, since my copy of Speak & Spell is a first-printing). However, since that track was never released as a single and has no official remixes at all, it’s kind of cool to hear another take on it, even if it is pretty simple.

Korn
A.D.I.D.A.S. (Synchro Dub)
A.D.I.D.A.S. (Under Pressure Mix)
A.D.I.D.A.S. (The Wet Dream Mix)
Yeah, so…I like this song. Always have. In fact, I like most of Korn’s sophomore album Life Is Peachy. Speaking as someone who has admittedly not absorbed the entire Korn oeuvre, I think it’s their best album. I sure as hell liked it when I was in high school. Sure, it stupid, sophomoric aggro-metal meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but it’s really good sophomoric aggro-metal meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator! “No Place To Hide” is a good song! “Good God” is a downright great song! “A.D.I.D.A.S” is…um…well…

I like this song. Don’t you judge me.

Posted in Depeche Mode, Korn, remixes | 4 Comments »

Don’t Leave Me This Way 2x

Thursday, October 10th, 2013

Apparently, if you do a Google search for my site right now, it says that I might have been hacked. However, EVERYTHING IS FINE. Apparently some dickweed was using my site to put up spam pages selling viagra, but the page has been removed and all traces of the hack have been scrubbed from my site, thanks to my hosting provider. None of this was ever a security threat to any of you, I just wanted to let you know in case you were searching for my site and came across the warning. I submitted a review to Google, and hopefully they’ll remove the warning once they realize my shit is clean. Of course, knowing Google’s track record with giving a shit about the small guy, I expect this to happen sometime around 2019.

Anyways, some new stuff up at Mostly-Retro. First, a review of a shit release by Mondo Tees, followed by a weird thing about finding undeveloped disposable cameras. And football.

I told you it was weird.

The Communards
Don’t Leave Me This Way (Mega Mix)
Don’t Leave Me This Way (The Gotham City Mix)
The Communards were Jimmy Sommeville’s second band, formed after he left The Bronski Beat in 1986. They, surprise, sounded a lot like The Bronski Beat, but it would be hard not to with Sommerville’s overpowering falsetto. This was the third single from their debut album, and for it they were joined by Sarah Jane Morris, a jazz singer whose voice is about two octaves lower than Sommerville’s. However, both their voices are booming as all hell, making a duet between them a pretty intense experience.

Making things more intense is the fact that both of these remixes are each 11 freaking minutes long. That’s insane. INSANE. Bu that’s nothing, they also released a remix that was a “what the fuck” inducing 22 minutes long.

Now, I’ve long gone on the record as saying that if a song is great then the best thing a remix can do is just make it even longer, I cite the 9-minute remix of George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” as concrete evidence of this. But let’s not get crazy. Shit, even these 11-minute remixes try my patience a bit. But I’m not going to hate on any decent version of “Don’t Leave Me This Way” and Sommerville’s vocals carry both these versions just fine, even if they do drag on for just a smidge too long. The keyboard solo in Gotham City mix is pretty great too.

Jeanie Tracy
Don’t Leave Me This Way
Don’t Leave Me This Way (Mixed by Sylvester)
Hey, look it’s more “Don’t Leave Me This Way!” It’s almost like I planned this shit.

I found the original mix of this a while ago and have been loving it ever since, but my goal was always to find the Sylvester Mix, because, well, Sylvester is dope. I actually bought a 12″ single with that mix on it when I was in San Francisco, but it turned out the record was way too warped to play. Total buzzkill.

However, I somewhat serendipitously found a copy of the same single at my local record store just two weeks later, and it was in mint condition! There was much rejoicing.

There was so much rejoicing that I started to research Megatone, the label that released the single, and discovered that three 2CD collections of Megatone 12″ singles were released a few years back. So I just went ahead and bought all three of those. The version of the Sylvester mix that I’m sharing tonight is from one of those collections, it sounded better than my vinyl rip.

I mean, I’m moving to another freaking country in a few months, I need to…stock up on my….predominately gay-themed disco compilations.

Shut up. Don’t judge me.

Both of these versions are FUCKING AMAZING. By the way. Jeanie Tracy for President.

 

Posted in Jeanie Tracy, remixes, The Communards | 2 Comments »

Harold and Frankie

Monday, October 7th, 2013

Caring about baseball for the first time in 16 years (when the Indians were in the World Series, for those wondering) has really taken a hit into my productivity. Games every day? Jesus, how the hell do baseball fans get anything done? I’m used to wasting just one day a week to sports, I don’t know if even I have enough lack of motivation to subject myself to this much longer.

And besides, I have a shitload of stuff to do! Operation: Get Crap Out Of My House is well into effect, but I still got a few “big ticket” items I need to unload.

In fact, can I interest any of you in the following?

Super Famicom (Boxed!)

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A complete Super Famicom system, complete with both controllers, A/V cable and original AC adapter (so you might want a power converter). Comes in its original box too! Looks great and I can verify that it plays games perfectly as well. I’m asking $100 for this (shipping not included). That’s about $20-$40 cheaper than most Super Famicoms you see on eBay when you factor in the high international shipping you typically have to pay.

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I occasionally help out in my friend’s used games store, so believe me when I tell you that coming across one of these in as nice shape as this one is doesn’t happen everyday!

Sharp Front Loading Stereo Turntable RP-117

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Okay, this thing is crazy. It’s a turntable that takes LPs like CDs, and then it can play both sides with no flipping required! It doesn’t sound amazing, but it certainly sounds as good as most mid-range turntables, and it’s a great talking piece to have as an auxiliary deck.  I haven’t played it in about a year, so I’ll test it before I ship it out, but last I checked it played fine. These can be a bit finicky too, so finding one in working condition is a real rarity.

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I’m asking $300 for it, which is $100 cheaper than what they tend to go for on eBay. Don’t ask me about replacement styluses or needles for this sucker though, because I have no idea.

If either of these items interest you, leave a comment with your email (I won’t approve it, I’ll just use it to get a hold of you).

 

Okay, sorry for that brief QVC moment. If you read all that, I appreciate your patience and reward you with silly music from the 80s.

Harold Faltermeyer
Fletch Theme (Extended Version)
Fletch Theme (Radio Edit)
Fletch Theme (Fletch Rap)
Fletch Theme Bonus Beats (Hip Hop Version)
So I’m going to be real and just put this out there: I’ve never seen Fletch.

Okay, yeah, I know. Yeah, I’m sure its great. But by the time I was old enough to really appreciate it, Chevy Chase was well on his path of sucking, so I immediately associated the film with the long line of sucking pieces of suck he’s sadly known for today. I know I should watch it! I know it’s a good movie! But there are a lot of good movies I haven’t seen that I need to watch, and when I start looking at that list, I feel that movies like Godfather II, The African Queen and Manhattan probably take precedence over Fletch. Of course, you’re talking to the guy who decided it was of the utmost importance to mainline the first five Fast & Furious films in a 48 hour period, so what do I know.

Well, I do know that Harold Faltermeyer’s theme to Fletch is pretty fucking rad, and like some commenters have told me in the past, it’s actually even better than his theme to Beverly Hills Cop, something that’s no small feat. All four of these versions of the theme sound pretty similar to me, but whatever, it’s four similar versions of a completely bitchin’ tune, so I’m not going to complain.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Rage Hard (++) [Broad]
Sometimes I feel the need to just write about an album. No reason. Just because I want to. If I ever do this, I think I’d have to write about Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome To The Pleasuredome. Not just because it’s a fantastic record and one of my favorites, but because I feel that I’m in the extreme minority in saying as much.  That album is a fucking masterpiece. Not only that, I feel that it perfectly encapsulates every single thing about the early 80s, from rampant casual sex to the constant threat of nuclear war. It’s an awesome record.

Liverpool, the group’s 1986 sophomore album, and their last release, is significantly less awesome. I’ve listened to it several times since finding it a few months ago, and aside from “Warriors Of The Wasteland” and “Rage Hard” it’s an entirely forgettable album. It also tries far too hard to recapture the magic of the original album in tone and structure too, right down to the random oddball cross-genre cover (a weak rendition of “Roadhouse Blues” filling in for Pleasuredome’s amazing take on “Born To Run.”)

But like I said, “Rage Hard” is a pretty great track, and thanks to Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s shameless(ly wonderful) practice of remixing and re-releasing singles ad nauseam, there are more than a few remixes of it floating out there. I currently have four: The Bob K Remix, an extended version, one simply titled “Vocal/Remix” that I got off of the Japanese version of the Frankie Said compilation, and the one I’m sharing tonight. Of those, I think this one is the best. It’s not the longest, but it’s still a hefty eight minutes, and unlike the other remixes, it never delves off into sample-heavy wankery or excessive non-musical segues or interludes. It just uses its eight minutes to take its time and really stretch the tune out. As I’ve said time and time again, the best remixes are the ones that just let a song’s natural awesomeness shine while not trying to change it too much.

Posted in Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Harold Faltermeyer, remixes | 9 Comments »

Blisters On My Blog

Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

My life has been pretty video game music centric this week, so I felt a change of pace was in order. I hope I don’t alienate my new readers, but I figure the sooner you get used to the random nature of this blog the better. Tonight it’s mid-90s techno. Next week I might post the soundtrack to an obscure 80s horror flick followed by remixes of the “Fletch” theme.

Okay, one of those is totally going to happen.

Lo-Fidelity Allstars
Blisters On My Brain (Many Tentacles Pimping On My Keys)
Blisters On My Brain (JDE’s Millennium Vocal Mix)
Blisters On My Brain (Sisters On My Mind Mix)
Blisters On My Brain (Tim Rex Lunar Dust Vocal)
Blisters On My Brain (Tim Rex Lunar Dust Dub)
I’ve been doing this for seven years and I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve ever posted a Lo-Fidelity Allstars track proper. I was totally obsessed with their first album for a good chunk of 1998, with “Battleflag” pretty much being my jam for most of my sophomore year of college. I haven’t really followed them since though, are their later albums worth picking up? Their first record is amazing, but it’s also really a product of its time, I wonder if they kept with the times that much. Electronic music is fucking fickle.

“Blisters On My Brain” is probably my second favorite track from their first album, with “Battleflag” being my obvious first choice. I just love the lyrics to this tune, especially the hook. “Never mind your fingers I got blisters on my brain” is such a great line, and while I don’t know what the hell a “disco machine gun” is, I totally want one.

All these remixes are great. “Many Tentacles…” is a excellent instrumental version, while the “JDE” mix really cranks up the samples and transforms the track in a classic big beat tune straight out of a Fatboy Slim mix. The “Sisters” mix is just fantastic and cranks the track into a rock tune thanks to a wall of guitar effects, while both Tim Rex mixes take the tune into trance territory to great effect. I love how five mixes can rework one song into so many different places and genres.

Traci Lords
Control (Overlords House Mix)
Control (San Frandisco Mix)
Control (DJ FX Frandisco Dub)
I’ve talked about Traci Lords a few times here, and I always say the same thing; she is tragically underrated as a singer/musician. Her sole album, 10,000 Fires, is really good! I mean it! Listen to it! It’s out of print physically, but you can get it on iTunes and Amazon now, so there’s no excuse.

These are great remixes of a great song. I wanted to also post the definitive Traci Lords track, “Fallen Angel (Perfecto Mix)” but my copy has a skip in it. I’m going to try and re-record it sometime soon. It’s one of the greatest techno tracks of all time, I need a good copy of it on my computer. I mean, if not then that $20 I paid for the Virtuosity soundtrack was just a complete waste.

 

Posted in Lo Fidelity Allstars, remixes, Traci Lords | 8 Comments »

Angelus: Great Game Music From A Game You Never Played

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013

In case you missed it, and I don’t know how that could happen since I’ve been talking about it all damn week, I was recently a guest on Retronauts, the best damn retro gaming podcast on Earth. Now, I don’t want to make it like they called me out to be a co-host because of my awesome knowledge on video games, truth be told, I got to co-host because I donated a lot of money to their Kickstarter. However, I think I held my own pretty well on the podcast, and most comments I’ve read about the episode seem to be of the “that guy was surprisingly decent” variety (and one asshole talking smack about my speech problem. Fuck that dude). So check out the episode if you haven’t already, and leave a nice comment if you feel so inclined!

And once you do that, check out this sick video game music!

Angelus – Original Soundtrack Album (Complete Album Download)

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When I went to Japan earlier this year, I was on a quest to pick up as many video game soundtracks as possible, preferably on vinyl. However, that task proved harder than I thought it would be.

Turns out that game music on vinyl is pretty damn rare, even in Japan. I went to countless game, music and other collectible stores throughout Tokyo and came up nearly empty-handed in every single one. While I was able to pick up some soundtracks on CD in stores like Disk Union and Tower Records, no one seemed to have any game music releases on vinyl. It was only near the tail end of my trip that I was able to find two game soundtracks on LP, and this was one of them.

Angelus was a game released by Square Enix in 1988, but don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of it; the game was only released in Japan, and only for systems that never came out in the states, such as the PC88 and the MSX2. And unless you can read Japanese, don’t bother tracking down an emulated version, as it’s a text-heavy adventure game/visual novel. I know very little about it. In fact, when I bought it, I didn’t even think it was a game soundtrack. I thought the clerk had misheard what I asked for and that he was actually giving me an anime soundtrack, but it was so cheap (and weird looking) that I bought it anyway.

And it was a good thing I did! Because it’s a pretty great soundtrack. In fact, the music is by Koichi Sugiyama, the critically-acclaimed composer who also did the music for the Dragon’s Quest series. From what I’ve read about the game (mostly from this site), it’s about some occult conspiracy/devil worship that causes random people to become hideously deformed, and that dark subject matter really shows in the soundtrack. It has a real menacing vibe to it, like an 8-bit Omen soundtrack. It terms of game music, it’s nothing revolutionary or a lost classic, but it’s certainly worth a listen and pretty unique. It’s also probably one of the few times that a PC88 game’s soundtrack has been made available, making it a rare chance to listen to what that system’s sound chip was capable of.

In addition to the original game audio, the Angelus soundtrack also features an arranged version made using the Fairlight synthesizer.  In case you aren’t aware, the Fairlight was the go to synthesizer in the 1980s, and was so ingrained with pop music in the decade that it actually changed the way music sounded for a good number of years. That awesome synth-riff in a-ha’s “Take On Me?” That’s the Fairlight. Same with awesome end noise in the “Miami Vice Theme.” Duran Duran, the Pet Shop Boys, Prince, The Cars and countless other acts from the decade also used the synthesizer on some of their biggest hits.  Seriously, it helped to define the decade. Well, that and hairspray.

While I do enjoy the Fairlight version, I actually prefer the original game audio. While the two versions sound very similar, I think Sugiyama was trying too much to add “depth” or layers to the Fairlight version. It has a lot of echo, and a few tracks even have some tacked on beats. The original version, on the other hand, is very sparse and minimal, which I think adds to its creepiness. Also, since the sound of the Fairlight is so ingrained with the 1980s, whenever I hear instrumental music composed entirely on it, I picture bad late-night cable movies. But that’s my own baggage.

I hope you all enjoy it, and to all my new readers, I hope you stick around. I post a lot of random stuff here, so if you ever see one post and just hate everything about it, just wait a week, I’ll have something entirely different.

Except for my next post, that’ll probably be more Sugiyama. Although I don’t think most people will complain when they see what I’ll be posting.

A quick technical note about this recording: This is a vinyl rip, which I did using the best equipment I had at the time. However, it is a very quiet record, so you may hear some hiss/surface noise. It’s not that bad, but I found it to be worth pointing out.

 

 

Posted in Complete Albums, video game music | 5 Comments »