Happy holidaze everyone.

I’ll (sadly) be out of town all week, which makes recording and posting music hard. My plan is to have two most posts this week though. One will be without music, focusing on my favorite (and least favorite) albums of the year. The other will have awesome dance tracks. Let’s hope that all pans out.

Tonight: 80s pop! What’s a better way to celebrate whatever holiday you pretend to care about in order to get gifts?

Art Of Noise
Moments In Love (Long Version)
Moments In Love (Short Version)
Beat Box
Love Beat
These are from a weird single. First of all, the artist is credited as “Trevor Horn, Paul Morley, With The Art Of Noise.”

That’s weird because Trevor Horn and Paul Morley were in The Art of Noise, not only that, they were kind of the driving forces behind the group. That would be like crediting Dark Side of The Moon to “David Gilmour and Roger Waters with Pink Floyd,” or crediting a Wham! song to “George Michael and Wham!” Oh wait, that actually happened.

Secondly, the year on the single is “1983,” however, it’s also credited as being in the soundtrack to Pumping Iron II, which did not come out until 1985. If this single did actually come out in 1983, that would make it The Art Of Noise’s first release, but I’m more willing to believe that the actual release date was closer to 1985.

The versions of the songs are not labeled either. I added the “Short Version” and “Long Version” qualifiers, both tracks are simply labeled “Moments In love” on the single. I do not know which versions of these tracks these mixes are. If you do, please inform me.

Regardless of all that confusion, all these songs are great 80s electro and worth your time and then some. The Art Of Noise kicks ass.

Tina Turner
What’s Love Got To Do With It? (Extended Mix)
When I was eight-years-old I thought Tina Turner was the shit. Okay, maybe I was a weird kid. But I was still right, Tina Turner is the shit. Did you know she covered Massive Attack’s “Unfinished Sympathy?” She knocked it out of the park too. Tina can knock any track out of the park though. I bet she could cover a Radiohead track and turn that shit into a diva anthem. She’s that awesome. I wish this mix was just two more minutes of her going “Woah Oh Oh!” but it’s still good.

Ultravox
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (Special remix)
When did I buy this single? I have no idea. But it was sitting in the back of my crate full of albums, languishing between some stupid soundtracks for who knows how long. I am so sorry that withheld this great mix from you all for so long. Word to the wise though, if you’re going to crydance, do it to a ballad. Sobmoshing looks dumber than shit.

Peter Gabriel
Soft Dog
This is a b-side to to the 12″ single of “Shock The Monkey.” I bought it months ago, recorded it, filed the record away, then discovered that my recording skipped. Once records reach my shelf (a feat in itself) I hate pulling them out, hence the massive delay in actually re-recording this right.

This is a quiet, but beautiful song, full of late-70s Peter Gabriel art-rock goodness. Most of it is instrumental, Peter only chimes in at the end with a brief chant of the title. Has this ever been issued on CD? I can’t believe it hasn’t. It’s quite good.

Siouxsie & The Banshees
Peek-A-Boo (Stockhausen & Waterphone Mix Instrumental)
I own two different “Peek-A-Boo” singles, one on CD and one on vinyl. The CD version tracks are on Amazon, and I suggest you pick them up. The “Silver Dollar Mix” is incredible. This instrumental is basically a modified version of that mix, and I believe it was exclusive to the vinyl version. Still a great track, even without Siouxsie’s voice.

Sometime this week, my best of/worst of lists! It’ll piss everyone off!