Archive for the ‘Eurythmics’ Category

This Post Is Straight Edge

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

Quick self-serving news: new post over at Mostly-Retro, a look at the “soundtrack” LP to Atari’s Asteroids. It’s pretty ridiculous. If you like it, please share it with your friends.

Now for a brief public service announcement for everyone who I turned onto Boom Boom Satellites, you should know that they’re doing a live “360 degree” webcast of their Budokan show this Friday! Check out this link to see the countdown timer. Should be pretty awesome.

Finally, if anyone thought last night’s post was excessively stupid. Don’t worry, so do I. Don’t blog drunk kids. If you’re going to write something stupid, write it sober. Own it.

Chumbawamba
Hear No Bullshit (On Fire Mix)
The Day The Nazi Died (1993 Mix)
There’s a lot to say about Chumbawamba, but for a Cliff Notes version of their crazy history check out this great video by critic Todd In The Shadows. He tackles their crazy career pretty well.

As for these songs specifically, “Hear No Bullshit” features lead vocals by the UK rap group Credit To The Nation, and it’s a great radical left-wing hip-hop jam that attacks mainstream sell outs, and the fact that too many rappers can’t seem to get past their sexist bullshit when it comes to lyrical inspiration. This song was written over 20 years ago, and judging from disgusting wastes of humanity like Odd Future, it’s sadly just as relevant now as ever.

Same goes for “The Day The Nazi Died.” It’s an attack on Nazi sympathizer politicians, and if you’ve been paying attention to the current clusterfuck that is Greece as of late, you’ll know that this song has once again become topical as well.

Sigh and ugh.

Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These) (’91 Remix)
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These (Nightmare Mix)
I Need A Man (Macho Mix)
I Need A Man (Edit)
Beethoven (I Love To Listen To) (Dance Mix)
Beethoven (I Love To Listen To) (7″ Edit)
Most of these are reposts, I put up the “I Need a Man” and “Beethoven” mixes a few years back. But I wasn’t happy with those rips and recently re-recorded them. So if you have those old rips and like those songs at all (and you fucking should) then you ought to download these new rips and replace your old ones.

The “Sweet Dreams’ mixes are new to this site though. I grabbed them off of a very odd DJ bootleg 12” called “Disco Ballroom.” However, they were both official remixes and were first released on legitimate 12″ and CD singles. If you’re listening to the ’91 remix and thinking “oh wow, this is the most amazing dance beat ever” well that’s because that remix is by Giorgio fucking Moroder. He may have done the “Nightmare” mix too, but I don’t think so, it really doesn’t sound like his kind of work.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Brides Of Frankenstein (Mix)
Brides Of Frankenstein (Dub)
Another pair of reposts. Put these up several years (and turntables) back so grab them again even if you have them already.

I also said this back when I first posted this track (which is really a megamix), but it’s worth repeating; this cut has one of the greatest basslines ever.

Posted in B-sides, Chumbawamba, Eurythmics, remixes | No Comments »

Song Sequels, A-Ha is Awesome and a Eurythmics Remix

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Musics below.

Peter Schilling
Major Tom (Coming Home) (Special Extended Version)
Major Tom (Coming Home) (Instrumental Version)
In the 70s and 80s Italian exploitation filmmakers had a habit of making unofficial sequels to established, popular films. Dawn Of The Dead (known as Zombi in Europe) begat Zombi 2. The Australian film Patrick, inspired a completely unrelated piece of crap called Patrick Still Lives. The Italians also made rip-off wanna-be sequels to Evil Dead II (La Casa 3), The Exorcist (The Naked Exorcism) and about 8 billion movies that claimed to be somehow connected to The Last House On The Left.

I bring this up because I believe that “Major Tom (Coming Home)” may be one of the only unofficial song sequels, it being a continuation of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” chronicling the further adventures of everyone’s spaced out spaceman Major Tom. Of course, it’s not really a sequel, just like those infamous Italian hack jobs, “Major Tom (Coming Home)” has almost nothing in common with its source of inspiration. Although that didn’t stop the song from becoming a huge hit, Schilling’s only international success.

Which leads me to question, why didn’t Schilling continue his hackery and release “sequels” to other Bowie tunes? This one worked out well for him. Why not “The Man Who Bought The World,” “Five More Years,” or even more appropriate, “Life On [Insert Planet Here].” Maybe even he had some shame.

Regardless of its origins, it’s hard to deny the charm of “Major Tom (Coming Home).” That chorus sure is catchy. Here it is in both its extended 12″ version (which combines the English language and German versions) as well as the instrumental B-side.

A-Ha
The Sun Always Shines On TV (Extended Version)
The Sun Always Shines On TV (Instrumental)
 Driftwood
 I originally posted the extended take of “The Sun Always Shines on TV” and “Driftwood” back in 2009, but I felt like re-sharing them now that I re-recorded them on decent equipment. So if you have those old rips, set them on fire and throw them away! Or just send them to recycle bin, whatever. After you do that, download them again, because these new rips sound so much better.

And if you didn’t download them back in 2009, download them now anyway! “The Sun Always Shines on TV” is A-ha’s best song. I am proclaiming that as a fact even though the only A-Ha record I own is a greatest hits and I’m fairly certain I never listened to it all the way through.

Eurythmics
Revival (Extended Dance Mix)
Once again, I spent so much time writing about other songs for a post that by the time I get to the last one I am too tired to think of anything interesting to say. But hey, it’s a good song. Don’t let my blogging limitations prevent you from enjoying it.

Posted in A-ha, Eurythmics, instrumentals, Peter Schilling, remixes | 1 Comment »

Pink Floyd, Duran Duran and Eurythmics. Because Why Not?

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

I wanted to write something kind of awesome tonight but technology stopped that from happening. Instead, here’s something I cobbled together in five minutes. Whatever, I’m sure more people will enjoy this than the incredibly bizarre stuff I have planned for later in the week.

I hope that didn’t sound bitter.

Pink Floyd
Not Now John (Single Version)
The Heros’ Return – Parts I and II
Every few years I re-visit The Final Cut to see if my opinion of the record will change, but it never does. I think that album is aggressively horrible. It’s not just bad for a Pink Floyd record, it’s bad for a rock record. Shit, it’s bad for a rock record released in 1983, and that’s saying something.

That being said, it has a couple of tunes that I consider to be…okay if I’m in the right mood (that mood being “I’m too depressed to feel hate”).

One is “Fletcher Memorial Home,” which is a lyrical dirge, but at least it has some pretty good guitar work by Gilmour.

The other is “The Hero’s Return.” I think it’s the only track on the album that gets Roger’s political viewpoints across without him coming off like a self-important prick. It’s probably the only song on The Final Cut that I wish was longer, good for me then that a longer version exists!

I don’t know why, but the version of “The Hero’s Return” that serves as the B-side to “Not Now John” is twice as long as the album version, with an additional verse that adds onto the song’s anti-Thatcher themes. It’s good stuff, very angry. I love how Gilmour delivers the line “Jesus Christ I might as well be dead!” although he’s singing Roger’s lyrics, he really sounds like he believes it. Of course, given the state of Floyd at the time of the song’s recording, maybe he was wishing death upon himself.

I’m including the single edit of “Not Now John” only for completionist purposes. I like it more than the album cut, but mostly because its shorter, therefore it ends sooner.

Duran Duran
Save A Prayer (The Thunder In Our Hearts Remix)
Some of the weirdest records I buy are records made strictly for DJs that are sold as part of a subscription service. These are usually legit releases that feature official remixes, but the remixes are often exclusive to the subscription service, so they’re super rare and weird. That’s where this AMAZING remix of “Save A Prayer” came from. If you’re like me and ever thought “I sure would love a seven-minute version of that sad Duran Duran ballad about one night stands” then you’re totally in luck. You’re also probably my old editor. Hi Dave.

Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams (Bootleg House Mix)
And if you’ve ever thought “I sure would love a seven-minute version of ‘Sweet Dreams,’ but only if its a house version released as a bootleg white label” then you too are also in luck. And we should totally hang out sometime because we have similar tastes in ridiculousness.

Posted in Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Pink Floyd, remixes | 8 Comments »

This Post Is An Accurate Microcosm Of My Record Collection

Friday, December 16th, 2011

My 80s dance party continues. Seems like the best way to get in the holiday spirit if you ask me.

Eurythmics
Right By Your Side (Extended Mix)
This song is adorable. I want to hug it. So cute, so lovey-dovey, I should hate it…but it’s just so nice!

What’s not nice, however, is my recording of it. The distortion you hear on the track is caused by the record itself, not my recording equipment; my encoding equipment; your speakers; or an evil space monkey. Okay, maybe an evil space monkey is to blame. If anyone has a version of the song that has not been tainted by an evil space monkey that destroys record grooves, let me know. I’ll repay your kindness handsomely.

Thomas Dolby
Airheads’ Revenge
Revenge Rap
Airhead (Def Ears Mix) 
Airhead (Rusty’s Mix)
The subject of “Airhead” is a woman who Thomas Dolby believes to be of sub-par intelligence. It’s a funny song that manages to lay out a few funny insults while avoiding sexist tropes. Even better though, is the “Airhead’s Revenge” track, in which the subject of Dolby’s derision gets back at him…via a dope rap diss track! Oh snap! She’s there to tell him that HE is the airhead, and that he better shut his mouth before she shuts it for him. Kind of awesome, but entirely bizarre at the same time.

The “Revenge Rap” mix is just her diss track, with none of Dolby’s vocals, while the final two remixes are just alternate versions of the original song, with no rapping to be found. So if you like your rap and new wave synthpop segregated (you racist) then you’ll probably like those more.

Enjoy the new wave/rap/wtf hybrid. And just remember that the man who created it is the same man who helped to create the technology that made polyphonic ringtones possible.

Adam Ant
Room At the Top (7″ Radio Mix)
Room At The Top (Extended Version)
Room At The Top (House Vocal)
A song from the 20th century about a person with an 18th century brain in a 21st century head that was written by a man who liked to dress like he was from the 19th century. Fuckin’…80s man…I don’t know. It’s a good song though.

 

Posted in Adam Ant, Eurythmics, Thomas Dolby | 5 Comments »

His Mustache Gives Him The Power of Disco

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

A couple months ago I ranted about what I thought were some major problems with new vinyl releases. You can read that post here. My main points of contention were either vinyl records that didn’t include a digital copy, or records that did include digital copies, but they were of poor quality with lousy ID3 tags. Some “Hall of Shame” examples I cited were El-P’s Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 and Kanye West’s latest.

Now I want to tell you about a positive example: the Foo Fighters’ latest release, Wasting Light.

This may be the greatest new vinyl purchase I have ever made.

Much has been made of how the Foos recorded Wasting Light. No digital equipment was used. They laid it down on analog tape in Dave Grohl’s garage.  Since it was made on analog I wanted to hear it on analog, vinyl was obviously the way to go with this one.

I ordered one from Amazon last week and it finally arrived. From the second I opened the box I was ecstatic. On the cover of the album was a sticker that said the following:

45 RPM Edition – Full Length Vinyl
Recorded entirely on analog tape in Dave’s Garage.
Includes a HI-RES DIGITAL COPY (320 kbs MP3S) of the album specially cut from the original vinyl recording!
PLEASE PLAY AT MAXIMUM VOLUME.

Fuck. Yes.

They got it right. All of it. They nailed it completely. Not only did they deliver a reference quality analog recording on 45 RPM vinyl (45 RPM tends to sound better than 33 1/3 RPM), but they included an exact, better than CD-quality digital copy. And to top it all off, the album itself is actually damn good, one of their best.

Thanks Dave!

But enough about grunge, let’s talk about disco!

Every track on tonight’s post is from a bootleg vinyl compilation called Electronic Dancefloor Classics 2, which consists of nothing but songs that Giorgio Moroder produced, performed, or remixed. I just bought it last week, but I’m pretty much convinced it’s one of the best dance records in my collection. Behold its awesome.

Giorgio Moroder
Knights In White Satin
From Here To Eternity (Extended Mix)
Tears
Battle Star Galactica (Disco Version)
A lot of my friends are younger than me, and most don’t really follow “classic” dance music, so they don’t know who Giorgio Moroder is. Whenever I bring him up and someone asks who he is, I usually say, “you know electronic pop music? He did that.”

That may be an exaggeration, but it’s a slight one. In 1977 he brought electronic dance music to the mainstream with Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” but as these tracks show, he was refining his electronic pop sound well before that.  His 1976 cover of “Knights In White Satin,” while remarkably goofy, is remarkably good as well, and light years above most of the disco drivel that was polluting clubs at the time. “From Here To Eternity,” taken from the album of the same name, is the perfect blend of instrumental disco fluff and electronic experimentation done right; no doubt it was an influence on countless electronic producers and musicians to follow. His version of the Battlestar Galactica theme is mind-numbingly stupid, but it’s stupid in all the best ways – embracing the horns and other cheesetastic elements of disco and laying over even cheesier electronic bleeps and bloops over it.

But the real highlight here is “Tears,” although it’s a stretch to even call it a disco tune. It’s from Moroder’s 1972 sophomore record Son of My Father, and it has more in common with the work of Ennio Morricone and Italian prog-rockers Goblin than anything that you might hear on the dance floor at the time. But that’s what makes it so utterly brilliant. I mean, the track is nearly 40 years old at this point, and I still haven’t heard anything remotely like it – unless you want to count DJ Shadow’s “Organ Donor,” which liberally samples from the tune.

And it’s so bloody simple! That’s why it’s so goddamn amazing. It’s just a loop that is slowly built upon. It starts out quiet with a woman’s voice and a simple organ melody, but soon they are overpowered by an ever-building army of drums, guitars and keyboards until the whole thing just…climaxes in a glorious electronic orgasm. I have never, ever heard anything build as perfectly as this track does. If I heard this on a dance floor I would lose my shit. People would have to carry me away. How the hell is this song out of print? It should be in the Smithsonian, in the section marked “Fucking Awesome.”

Munich Machine
Space Warrior
Moroder released a few albums as Munich Machine. The first, while featuring an incredible cover, it is dated and seems restrained compared to most of his other work. A Whiter Shade Of Pale, his sophomore release as Munich Machine from 1978, is spotty as well, but it also includes some tracks that are batshit nuts. “La Nuit Blanche” is a disco reworking of “Also sprach Zarathustra” AKA the song from 2001, and “In Love With Love” features some of the best vocoder work this side of a Peter Framptom solo. Both albums are in print and work picking up despite their troubles.

This track comes from Munich Machine’s third album, 1979’s Body Shine, which is out of print. I don’t have that record, so I can’t testify to its overall quality. I can safely say, however, that this track is one of the best I’ve heard under the Munich Machine name. It’s groovy beyond compare, matching slick guitar licks with a pulsing electronic sound in a way that many synthpop bands would in the coming years.

Sparks
Beat The Clock (Giorgio Moroder Remix)
Sparks’ one-of-a-kind insanity fits well with Moroder’s non-stop pulse-pounding tempo in this remix. The original version was on the 1979 album No. 1 In Heaven, which Moroder produced. A lot of rock bands tried disco in the late-70s, but Sparks were one of the only ones to do it right, no doubt because of the help they received from Moroder. They were already manic and kind of nuts, so the fast tempos and odd sounds of Moroder’s production was a perfect match (made in heaven).

Japan
Life In Tokyo (Extended Disco Mix)
Japan is a band that I am just now getting into. So I can’t say that much about them. I do know that they started out as a glam-rock band in the mid-70s, but as the decade progressed they embraced their electronic side more and more, eventually becoming one of the founding fathers of the New Romantic movement that spawned Duran Duran. Moroder produced the original version of “Life In Tokyo,” which was first released as a non-album single in 1979. That version doesn’t have the drum and synth overdubs that this one has, and is actually more of a low-key tune. Both versions are excellent, this one is just a little funkier.

Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams (Giorgio Moroder Version)
Eurythmics + Giorgio Moroder = too much awesome for one mind to stand. Stand back, this track may cause your brain to explode.

Posted in Eurythmics, Giorgio Moroder, Japan, remixes, Sparks | 15 Comments »

Displaced rage and 80s dance music

Friday, September 25th, 2009

To all the shitty stupid pseudo-anarchists, bullshit socialists and various other fucking assholes who are trashing my city.

Get fucked.

Windows all over parts of the the city are getting trashed by God knows who. I’m sure some protesters are going to blame the cops, sayings that undercover units are infiltrating the groups to start shit and give the police a reason to run in. Some already have. One “socialist” blog I saw said “rocks in BMW and Boston Chicken stores were the frustrated outcome of a crowd whose right to assemble had been forcefully revoked.”

You know what dude? Go fuck yourself. Really? First of all, none of you shits were legally protesting. You were gathering in large numbers and causing a disruption just by being there, shouting shit and blocking traffic. That’s not part of your fucking right to assemble shitheads. Secondly, what does breaking shit solve? Sure, it feels good, but that’s not a real good way to endear the people to your fucking cause. You ever read about Martin Luther King Jr., or Ghandi breaking fucking windows or picking fights? No. Because they weren’t fucking retarded. You are.

What the fuck are these protests for anyways? And what the fuck are you little shits accomplishing other than alienating left-wing progressives (i.e. ME) who might be sympathetic to your cause otherwise? The second you start destroying the property of LOCALLY owned businesses you loose all credibility. Get fucked. I hope the police beat the shit out of you when the cameras aren’t on. You get what you fucking deserve.

Except this guy. He’s awesome.

Now who wants some synthpop?

Eurthymics
The Ministry Of Love (Extended Version)
This is from the soundtrack to 1984. The film based on the book about a real totalitarian regime. Not the fake one the G20 protesters are whining about. This is extended version is from the 12” single to “Julia,” another track from the soundtrack. Fun bit of trivia about this tune, it’s not very good.

Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark
Tesla Girls (Specially Remixed Version)
Tesla Girls (Video Version)
This is an odd song. I’m learning more about OMD all the time, maybe one day I’ll actually buy one of their albums. These are also from a 12” single.

Berlin
No More Words (Dance Remix)
Dancing In Berlin (Remix)
Yay! Berlin! They can cheer me up in this time of unnecessary social unrest and political douchebaggery! Terri Nunn I love you (always filled my eyes). These are from a very strange 12” that is actually two separate 12” singles packaged together.

Posted in Berlin, Eurythmics, OMD, remixes | 11 Comments »

Fuck Chilling Effects

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Before I rant, thank you to the many people who offered me copies of Peter Gabriel’s German records, I have them now so your work here is done…until I beg for something else.

Now, to the hate.

A few months ago I got my first DMCA notice for copyright violation. (you can read my initial response to that here). At first it wasn’t that big a deal to me, after all I know a blog like mine kind of skirts the edge of the law, and a copyright owner has every right to complain to me about the hosting of their music, they do own it after all.

But it’s not that simple. When I said that “I” got a DMCA notice that’s a bit inaccurate. Actually Blogger got the notice. They then removed the blog post in its entirety and let me know about it with the following message, dated March 17th, 2009:

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.

The notice that we received from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the record companies it represents, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org

. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Please note that it may take Chilling Effects up to several weeks to post the notice online at the link provided.

The IFPI is a trade association that represents over 1,400 major and independent record companies in the US and internationally who create, manufacture and distribute sound recordings (the “IFPI Represented Companies”).

The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing from our servers the links that allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=254 for more information about the DMCA, and see http://www.google.com/dmca.html for the process that Blogger requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.

Blogger can reinstate these posts upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and 3) of the DMCA. For more information about the requirements of a counter notification and a link to a sample counter notification, see http://www.google.com/dmca.html#counter.

Please note that repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please let us know.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

Affected URLs:

http://lostturntable.blogspot.com/2009/03/they-call-it-winwood-weird-soundtrack.html

Okay a few passages to note there.

1. They have the DMCA notice, they recieved it. However, they won’t give it to me. Instead they handed it off to a site called Chilling Effects, which is an independent site dedicated to provided help regarding DMCA notices and copyright law. Why they are more justified to recieve a legal notice regarding ME than I am I fail to see.

2. Blogger does not challenge any DMCA notice, so the notice could be entirely without merit but they’ll remove it anyway.

3. At not point do they mention WHAT I put up that violated the DMCA. The post in question had several songs from several different artists, who did I piss off? Why? I have no idea.

As I said before, this was originally sent to me on March 17, at which point I was told that Chilling Effects would post the notice on their site in “several weeks.” Well, fuck all that never happened. It’s been three full months now and I have yet to see my DMCA notice on their shitty joke of a goddamn site. I emailed the people at blogger and Chilling Effects four times to find out why and I didn’t even get a response.

Chilling Effects claims to be a resource to help people fight copyright abuse. That’s fucking bullshit. They’re a fucking joke. The site was founded by lawyers and legal experts (so they claim) so they should know that an important aspect in any legal matter is timeliness, and waiting more than three months to post a legal file ISN’T FUCKING TIMELY.

It’s bullshit. A complete crock. A joke of a site run by a piss stain of a group that doesn’t know what the fuck it’s doing. And the fact that they somehow have more of a right to a legal document related to MY blog is bullshit.

Now I understand that techincally this isn’t MY blog. It’s on Blogger’s servers and they are legally responsible. However, since I am in control of the content that is put on their servers, you think they’d want me to know what I did wrong so I might not do it again. Why does Chilling Effects get this information and not me? That’s fucked up. Who the fuck made Chlling Effects the guardians of all DMCA notices and legal resources?

The thing that pisses me off the most about all this bullshit is that no one, not a single person from Google, Blogger or Chilling Effects ever bothered to respond to the multiple emails I sent asking for more information. I emailed every support, question, news and help email address at Chilling Effects and I got nothing. I even emailed Wendy Seltzer, the woman “in charge” of the organization, and I got nothing.

How do I even know I got a DMCA notice if I’m not even allowed to fucking read it!

Fuck Chilling Effects.

Big Audio Dynamite
Free (Club Mix)
Free (Film Version)
The Bottom Line (Film & Club Version)
Punk ass bitches….anyways, “Free” is another great track by B.A.D. and the last one to feature the group’s original line-up. This song originally appeared on the soundtrack to the film “Flashback” and many of the odd movie samples in the song are from that movie. The Club Mix has one of those annoying false fade-out endings, that’s not my fault. “The Bottom Line” originally appeared on This Is Big Audio Dnyamite, but not in this extended form. These are all from a 12” single.

Iggy Pop
Motor Inn (Felix Da Housecat’s High Octane Mix)
Okay, this song is…um…something. I think I like it, I kind of go back and forth on it. Iggy Pop’s rambling about his “brown girl’s” titties is just embarrassing and the occasional yelping by Peaches is a bit unneccesary, but then again so is this entire electro remix which I got from a 12” single.

Eurythmics
Love Is a Stranger (Obsession Mix)

Another quick disclaimer; this is an odd mix that puts Lennox’s vocals in the back, instead focusing on the beat and electronic effects. This is not a fault of mine, if you wanna hear Annie’s beautiful voice more then buy Sweet Dreams, which is where the original version of this song is from. This remix is from a 12” single.

Howard Jones
Things Can Only Get Better (Extended Version)
I mentioned that I wanted this remix a while ago and two people offered it to me. I never took them up on the offer and bought the 12” single myself. I’m like that.

Posted in Big Audio Dynamite, Eurythmics, Howard Jones, Iggy Pop, rant, remixes | 9 Comments »