Highlights of Pet Shop Boys, in Alphabetical Order (Day 2)

April 9th, 2014

My unexpected productivity streak continues! Although don’t expect the final installment of Pet Shop Boys mania until next week. Although now that I’ve said that watch me get it up and on the site by tomorrow evening.

In the meantime please check out my review of the new re-release of Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual. It’s a real shitshow of bullshit.

Pet Shop Boys
I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (Club Mix)
I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (Extended Nude Mix)
I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (Grand Ballroom Dub)
It’s A Sin (Disco Mix)
It’s A Sin (Remix)
Left To My Own Devices (The Disco Mix)
Love Comes Quickly (Shep Pettibone Mastermix)
Love Comes Quickly (Dub Mix)
Love Comes Quickly (Dance Mix)
A Man Could Get Arrested (12″ Version)
Miserabilism (Electro Mix)
Want a vinyl ripping pro-tip? Pick up a copy of the “It’s A Sin (Disco Remix)” 12″ single. It is the end-all be-all of test tracks. If you can hear the high-hats, the bass, and the subtle nuances of the thunder crash at the beginning of the tune, then congrats, your turntable is setup correctly. If not, don’t fret, it took me three years and probably a $1,000 in trial and error to get my shit sounding decent.

If you can’t already tell, my personal favorite of tonight’s tracks is the disco mix of “It’s A Sin,” a monster seven minute and forty-one second take on the already epic dance tune that really opens it up and exposes it for the dramatic, bombastic, ode to self-loathing (and disco dancing) that it is. I’m a fan.

One more post of Pet Shop Boys soon, so check back!

Posted in Pet Shop Boys, remixes | 3 Comments »

Highlights of Pet Shop Boys, in Alphabetical Order (Day 1)

April 8th, 2014

When I embarked on my re-recording marathon before I left the country, the goal was twofold. One was to have high-quality rips of many of my favorite tracks. That mission was accomplished. The second was that, in having high-quality rips of many of my favorite tracks, I would have something to write about and post during my first few months in Tokyo, before I got my turntable and computer set up.

Well, some mental health/physical health/overall busyness of moving to an entirely different country and starting a new job sure put a cramp in that plan. Here it is, four months into my transcontinential move, and I’m only averaging about two posts a month! That’s some bullshit right there.

This changes now! And I mean it this time! I have all these songs that I re-recorded, all these rare and amazing cuts that sound better then ever, so I’m going to get off my ass and start posting them!

Up first, three days of Pet Shop Boys! Now, these posts won’t cover all the Pet Shop Boys I ever posted, I wasn’t able to re-record them all. But it’s still a hefty chunk, I hope you all enjoy.

And in case you’re wondering, up next will be Madonna, followed by Depeche Mode. After that, I plan on a smorgasbord of everything I wanted to repost over the past few months that I didn’t get a chance to. Then finally…new music! As my computer is en route and I should have everything hooked up and ready to go by the end of the month!

Woot!

Pet Shop Boys
Always On My Mind (12″ Version Phil Harding Mix)
Always On my Mind (Julian Mendelsohn 12″ Dance Version)
Domino Dancing (Alternative Mix)
Domino Dancing (Base Mix)
Domino Dancing (Demo)
Domino Dancing (Disco Mix)
Don Juan (Demo)
Don Juan (Disco Mix)
Heart (Disco Mix)
Heart (Dance Mix)
How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously (Extended Mix)
A through H tonight. Highlights include an amazing remix (and a shockingly good demo version) of “Don Juan” and 16 minutes of “Always On My Mind” spread across two fabulous takes on the track. Of course, the rest is all good too, ‘Domino Dancing” is a hella dope tune after all.

Posted in Pet Shop Boys, remixes | 6 Comments »

Random Selection of Japanese Music

April 7th, 2014

I wrote a thing about how I was sick for a fucking month. Read that then listen to these rad tunes that I picked up at some local record stores. Or don’t read it and listen to the music. Or read  it and don’t listen to the music. Or don’t read it and don’t listen to the music, turn off your computer and go experience the “real world.”

Fuck it, it’s your life. I can’t tell you what to do.

Hajime Tachibana
Chicken Consommé
One day I’m  just going to cave and post a whole Tachibana album. Until then, here’s another standout track from the manically eclectic artist, this one from his 1985 album Taiyo Sun, which is probably my favorite record of his after Mister Techie & Miss Kipple (although, let’s be honest, that album has a much better name).

Yukihiro Takahashi
My Bright Tomorrow
As I mentioned before, Yukihiro Takahashi is the lead singer of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and one of my favorite musicians on the planet. His 1983 release, Tomorrow’s Just Another Day, isn’t one of my favorites by him (a bit too slow for my tastes) but this song from that album might be one of my favorites. It’s such a wonderfully, beautifully sad song. An amazing ode to wanting for things to be better, hoping for a change while slowly and sadly realizing that it may never come. It’s a heartbreaking but gorgeous tune.

Towa Tei
Sometimes Samurai
Japanese electronic pop + Kylie Minogue = my jam.

Towa Tei was in Deee-Lite in case you’re a fan of gay club music from the 1990s and you’re wondering where you’ve heard that name before.

Posted in Hajime Tachibana, Towa Tei, Yukihiro Takahashi | 1 Comment »

Mega Drive Jams

March 27th, 2014

Where have I been for the past few weeks, you ask?

Well, pretty much alternating between my bed and the hospital, thanks to a recurring case of strep throat followed by an allergic reaction to anti-biotics.

But I’m feeling much better now, so here’s some video game music! I plan on putting up some more game tunes in the coming weeks too, so take notice!

Mega Drive Special
Super Thunder Blade
Altered Beast
Space Harrier II
This is one of the stranger game soundtrack titles I’ve bought since moving to Japan, and that’s saying something trust me.

20140327_192045

This is pretty much an EP with three audio tracks, each titled after the game whom which the music came from. The tracks aren’t individual songs, however, they’re just collections of music, complete with multiple fade-in and fade-outs to break up each song. Why weren’t they split into individual tracks? I have no idea. I just know the music is great. Especially the Space Harrier stuff. I never played part two, but I remember playing the shit out of part one for the original Sega Master System and that shit was my jam.

But the bizarre track configuration isn’t the weirdest thing about this release. No, the weirdest thing about it is that it’s a CDV.

20140327_191910

As you can probably figure out, CDV stands for CD-Video. However, it has nothing in common with the far more successful/practical Video-CD format that was widely used throughout Asia up until the 2000s. In fact, it has far more in common with Laserdisc technology than any other CD format.

That’s because while the audio on a CDV is standard CD digital audio, the video is analog (with digital audio), just like laserdiscs. So that means its not compatible with 99% of the home media players that are currently on the  market, as none of them are equipped to play analog video off of a disc. I can’t even rip it off the disc to my PC, that would be like trying to rip a VHS tape. The only way I could ever get the video content off this disc and onto my computer would be to hook up a laserdisc player to my PC via an external video card and record as it played. And hey, I already have two near-useless laserdisc players back in the states, and I have no plans to add a third one to my collection here in Japan. Sorry.

But hey like I said, the music is great, so enjoy!

Posted in Game Music | 1 Comment »

Life is too short to be with someone who doesn’t like Gremlins.

March 9th, 2014

See headline.

Cyndi Lauper
The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough (Dance Re-Mix)
The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough (Dub Version)
If you’re reading this blog today, it’s probably because of this song. When I first started this blog eons ago I was just one in a long line of countless MP3 blogs, fighting for attention and not getting any. Turned out the world wasn’t ready for subpar vinyl rips of orchestral renditions of obscure David Bowie tracks.

But that began to change in 2007 when I posted this track, as a fan of it was apparently a contributor to the once-relevant now wh0-the-fuck-cares Best Week Ever blog at VH1. They posted a short thing about it (long since deleted) and my hits more than quadrupled. It was pretty rad. That got the ball rolling on this site, making it…one of many in a sea of Mp3 blogs fighting for attention.

Eh.

Eddy Grant
Electric Avenue (12” Version)
Oy!

This is  straight-up repost and not a re-recording. I couldn’t get to it in time before I moved. Sorry! It was either this or a Breakin’ soundtrack, okay? And we all know I made the right choice. But someone requested this, so here you go.

Human League
Don’t You Want Me (Snap 12″ Extended Remix)
Don’t You Want Me (Red Jerry 12″ Remix)
These were requests as well. I think these are re-recordings. To be honest I really can’t tell. My ability to judge audio quality is still a bit compromised. I’m still working with my laptop and its crappy laptop speakers, so I just can’t pick up any decent fidelity at the moment. However, these mixes were pretty recent additions to my collection, so I’m sure they sound acceptable regardless.

 

And yes, it’s that Snap.

 

Posted in Cyndi Lauper, remixes, The Human League | 2 Comments »

Breakathaon

February 27th, 2014

As I’ve mentioned numerous times over, before I packed up my shit and headed for Japan, I made sure that I had high-quality recordings of as many vinyl-only releases as possible. Because I needed to be ready to listen to an obscure Depeche Mode remix at a moment’s notice no matter what continent I happened to be on! To me this was as high a priority task as “selling my house” and “getting my work visa in order.”

The first step of this process was to manually go through all of my records and make two piles. One was “I hope I can record this again if I have time” pile, while the other was the “I NEED HIGH QUALITY VERSIONS OF THESE SONGS NOW” pile.

On top of that pile where the soundracks to both Breakin‘ films. Because…look, if I need to explain to you WHY I need high-quality vinyl rips of the soundtracks to both Breakin‘ films then I don’t know why the fuck you’re reading my blog.

The following tracks are all the tracks from both Breakin‘ films that AREN’T available on CD or digitally. So sorry, no “Ain’t Nobody.” Plenty of choice cuts though!

Ollie & Jerry
Breakin’…There’s No Stopping Us
Showdown
Electric Boogaloo
When I.C.U
Ollie & Jerry are Ollie E. Brown and Jerry Knight. In addition to performing several tracks on the soundtracks to each Breakin‘ film (including the title tracks), they also produced and wrote many of the other songs on both albums. Jerry released a few solo albums in the 80s, and was also in Raydio with Ray Parker Jr., but both he and Ollie found much of their success as producers and songwriters, working with artists such as The Jets, Gloria Gaynor and Howard Johnson. These tracks are all pretty fantastic, but my fav of the bunch has to be “Showdown,” which is pure old-school electro at its finest.

Hot Streak
Body Work
I can’t find much on Hot Streak. From what I can tell, the group never released a proper album. In fact, I’m fairly certain that this was the only song they ever released. It’s a fun tune, but  forgettable, and I’m sure no one in the group ever did anything of note, but let me check to be sure…

Holy shit. Hot Streak wrote “Holiday.”

Yeah, “Holiday.” As in Madonna’s first hit single “Holiday.”

Okay, that was random.

Carol Lynn Thomas
99 1/2
Believe In The Beat
Carol Lynn Thomas found her first success thanks to the Breakin‘ soundtrack with “99 1/2,” which was a hit dance and R&B single when it came out. Makes sense too – because the song is fucking DOPE. It’s a great combination of pop and electro , complete with a Stacy Q “Two Of Hearts” vocals-turning-into-synth-track bit that’s totally rad. And if that wasn’t enough, it features a completely metal Van Halenesque guitar solo that’s seemingly thrown in for no reason other than that “Beat It” did it first.

DOPE.

“Believe In The Beat” is good too, although it kind of sounds like something the Pointer Sisters would have rejected.

3-V
Heart Of The Beat
The second mind-blowing revelation of the Breakin’ soundtracks – 3-V is Charlie Midnight and Dan Hartman – two people whose names you may not recognize but music you surely do. Charlie Midnight is a songwriter and producer who worked with acts like Joe Cocker and James Brown. His biggest hit is probably Brown’s tune from Rocky IV, “Living In America.” He also worked on the one song that you probably know Dan Hartman for,  “I Can Dream About You”  from the Streets Of Fire soundtrack.

Relevant side-note: Streets Of Fire is the third-greatest movie about music ever made.

Firefox
Street People
Radiotron
Stylin’ Profilin’
Okay, I take back what I said about “Believe In The Beat”- these tracks sound like Pointer Sisters rejects. Firefox was a soul/pop duo who only released one album – which was produced by Ollie of Ollie & Jerry. They really didn’t take off and it’s pretty obvious why. The songs are catchy enough and fun, but their forgettable nature really isn’t helped by the completely flat vocals by the two lead singers, neither of which did much after the group called it quits.

Re-Flex
Cut It
Synth-pop also-ran whose one hit, “The Politics Of Dancing” has sadly fallen through the cracks of time. I thought they were a one-and-done group but apparently there is a six CD Re-Flex box set out there. Pretty impressive for a band that only released one album.

“Cut It” is no “The Politics Of Dancing” but it’s okay.

Chris “The Glove” Taylor and David Storrs (Featuring Ice-T)
Reckless
Wikipedia calls Chris “The Glove” Taylor a “West Coast DJ pioneer” and I don’t see a reason to argue with that. David Storrs was apparently a semi-prolific name in the early rap/electro scene, and contributed to a few albums and singles under the alias The Alien Wizard, which is a totally awesome stage name.

And, oh yeah, Ice-T, you probably heard of him. He’s on Law & Order. He apparently loves cops.

Steve Donn
Gotta Have The Money
This is a bad song. Very bad. Not good. Steve Donn can’t sing. Sorry Steve.

Midway
Set It Out
Above-average electro by session guitarist Bruce Nazarian and DJ Duane Bradley. Nazarian played guitar on Was (Not Was)’s debut LP, so he’s all right with me.

Mark Scott
I Don’t Wanna Come Down
This is the best not Michael Jackson song of 1984! Seriously, I don’t know who Mark Scott is, but he really wants to be MJ with this track, complete with a pseudo MJ falsetto and faux MJ ‘oohs!’ It’s a blatant rip-off.

And I totally love it! This song is great! If they would have actually gotten Michael Jackson to record this it would have been a hit single, no question. Great track.

Rags & Riches
Oye Mamacita
Spanish-flavored electro? Sure, why not. I have no idea who Rags & Riches are though. According to Discogs they only released a handful of singles, one of which was a 22-minute medley based on “Land Of 1,000 Dances.”

I can’t decide if I never ever want to hear that or if I want to hear that right now.

Posted in soundtrack | 5 Comments »

Japan In Vogue

February 12th, 2014

I have a ton of Japanese music that I want to blog about, but I think I’d mix things up a bit with some Madonna. Besides, I went through the hassle of re-recording almost all of my Madonna singles before I left the states, so it would be silly not to share at least some of them now.

Before I do that though, I want to remind all of you, once again, of my other site, Mostly-Retro. If you want to read my ramblings about living in Tokyo (and buying records/occasional descents into OCD insanity) I’d bookmark it.

Enough talk, now let’s get up on the dance floor.

Madonna
Vogue [12″ Version]
Vogue [Bette Davis Dub]
Vogue [Strike-A-Pose Dub]
Frozen (Stereo MC’s Mix)
Frozen (Meltdown Mix – Long Version)
Frozen (Extended Club Mix)
Frozen (Widescreen Mix)
I own both of these singles on vinyl. In fact, they’re two of my most prized 12″ records. However, they sound like total garbage. The “Vogue” single is scratched to high heaven, and the “Frozen” single just sounds like shit, like someone mastered it underwater. I spent probably two hours total trying to fix my rips so they’d sound better before I just said fuck it and bought he damn CD maxi-singles online. Because my sanity is worth more than the $10 I ended up paying for both of these combined. 

So yeah, these sound great. CD quality…as they are both from CDs. Look, sometimes the Turntable in “Lost Turntable” is metaphorical. In fact, it’s probably going to be for a while, as my turntable hasn’t even been shipped to Japan yet.

Posted in Madonna, remixes | 3 Comments »

My irresponsible spending, your gain.

February 6th, 2014

Japanese synth-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra were a pretty big deal in Japan throughout much of the 80s. They were such a big deal that they were able to form their own vanity label called Yen records in the early 80s, one they kept going well into the 90s (I actually talk about Yen a bit on the episode of Retronauts that I guested on last year, if you’re interested).

Many of the best albums that Yen put out remain out of print, making them sought after collectibles on both sides of the Pacific. Of those, none are more in demand than the Yen Boxes, two massive CD box sets that collected many of the rarest and hardest-to-find albums in the Yen catalog, as well as several tracks that were never released commercially at all. When one shows up in a used record store, it can go for insane prices.

I would know. I bought one last week.

Sigh, okay…I’m not going to tell you all how much I paid for it. Let’s just say I paid a lot, okay?

Look, don’t you fucking judge me.

Besides, if I hand’t have bought it, then you wouldn’t get a chance to hear these awesome and awesomely-rare Japanese synthpop cuts tonight, now would you?

Hajime Tachibana
Theme From Barricade (Another Version)
Replicant J.B. (Remix Edit Version)
Hajime Tachibana was the guitarist for a Japanese new wave act called The Plastics. They only put out three records during their short lifespan in the late-70s/early-80s, but they were pretty interesting. I might do something on them some other time. Right now though I want to focus on Tachibana though, because this motherfucker is goddamn crazy.

Even before The Plastics broke up, Tachibana was branching out. In 1980 he guested on YMO vocalist Yukihiro Takahashi’s excellent 1980 album Murdered By The Music, playing guitar on one track. I assume its from there that he got in with the YMO crew, who signed him to Yen Records in 1982 for the release of his first album, H.

H…is a jazz record. I mean, yeah, it’s a jazz record with some interesting electronic elements and some experimental diversions here and there, but from what I can tell it’s a jazz record. And as I don’t like jazz, I’m not a fan.

The following year Tachibana followed up H with Hm, which largely abandons jazz for insane avant-garde minimalist experimentalism ala Philip Glass. It’s CRAZY, but damn if it isn’t some complicated listening. This is not one I take with me for my morning commute.

The year after that Tachibana returned with yet another solo record, the amazingly titled Mr. Techie and Miss Kipple.

THIS. SHIT. IS. DOPE.

My guess is that sometime in 1983 someone gave Tachibana an Art of Noise album, because that’s exactly what this LP sounds like. It’s crazy. It’s insane. It’s awesome.

The Art of Noise’s largely instrumental new wave/post-punk/ambient/industrial sound was very rarely imitated during the 80s, so to hear anyone give it a go  shocks the hell out of me. And to hear anyone do it as great as Tachibana pulled it off is blowing my fucking mind. This is literally all I’m listening to right now. It’s kicking my ass in so many ways. This is my new shit.

These remixes are taken from the “Male” bonus disc of the Yen Box. I’ll be posting more of his stuff in the future though, don’t worry.

Sandii
Idol Era
Drip Dry Eyes
Alive
Sandii is a Japanese/American singer who released a couple of albums in the 70s to little fanfare in both the states and Japan. But apparently YMO were fans, as they recruited her for the Yen label in the early 80s. Her 1980 record Eating Pleasure is pretty much a YMO record. She sings on it, but more than half the songs were written by either Hosono or Takahashi from YMO, and almost all of the lyrics were written by YMO’s English songwriter Chris Mosdell. And all three members of YMO, including Sakamoto, play on every song on the album. She even covers Takahashi’s hit “Drip Dry Eyes.” Great shit. Once again, I’ll be posting more of her stuff in the future.

I only have two of her albums, but they’re both fucking fantastic and I desperately want more. Goddamn, Japan is going to be expensive.

 

Posted in Hajime Tachibana, Sandii, YMO | 4 Comments »

Excellent Dance Songs By Bands You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

January 17th, 2014

In today’s adventures in Japanese television, I’m watching what I think is a Behind The Music type program about some horrible trauma that a celebrity Japanese fitness instructor went through. I think. It’s just cut together scenes of this woman dancing, then answering the phone, and then crying uncontrollably. But yo, her abs look great.

Tokyo life has been treating me very well for those who are wondering. I have decided to re-work my other site, Mostly-Retro, into a more personal blog that will focus on my life in Japan, so if you’re interested in that part of my life/Japan in general, I would suggest you bookmark that site.

If you like really rad dance tunes, then I suggest you keep reading this site right now.

Dinosaur
Kiss Me Again (Edit)
Kiss Me Again
Dinosaur was one of the many aliases of Arthur Russell, a prolific musician who was involved with the new wave/punk/minimalist/classical/disco scenes in NYC during the late 70s and early 80s. And in case you couldn’t tell from that exceptionally-hyphenated description, he was one multi-talented mofo.

While he didn’t release much during his life (Russell sadly died from AIDS-related compilations in the early 90s) he’s amassed quite the cult following in the years following his death, with several posthumous albums seeing release in the early 2000s.

Strangely enough, however, none of them seem to have either versions of this song, one of the first tracks that Russell commercially released. If they do, they’re long out of print, because I can’t find it anywhere outside of the 12″ single I bought a few years back. Damn shame too, because it’s a magnificent disco tune, a funky upbeat groovy jam that incorporates the best of leftfield disco and the late-70s dance sound that would eventually evolve into 80s house music. It even has a few elements of minimalism and new wave with its repetitive and hypnotic rhythms. I really dig it, a lot more than some of the other stuff by him I’ve sought out. You might want to check out the “Edit” version first though, as the 13-minute extended cut is a lot to take in.

The Fever
Ladyfingers (Krushed Glass Remix)
Glamorous Life
Glamorous Life (Fake Fur Remix)
Glamorous Life (Deepwood Remix)
Also ran NYC post-punk revival act who tried to re-invent themselves with an ambitious second album and failed. Not a bad group though, and they have a few decent songs. Of all the tracks of theirs I’ve heard, however, I love their cover of “Glamorous Life” the most because Shelia E. is the bomb. Expect a repost of remixes of the original version in a few days/weeks.

Kinky Go
Gimme The Love (Vocal Version)
Gimme The Love (Radio Version)
Gimme The Love (Instrumental)
You probably have no idea who Kinky Go is, and yo I’m right there with you. I love his falsetto on this track though. This is totally the best Erasure track Erasure never recorded. Italian disco at its finest (I think he’s Italian, even if he’s not I stand by that claim).

Posted in Arthur Russell, B-sides, Kinky Go, remixes, The Fever | 1 Comment »

Writing About Big Country While In A Small Country

January 9th, 2014

This Japanese medical drama I’m watching is hella intense. I think the star dude has to make a decision about which patient to save with the limited time and resources he has available. Of course, with the amount of time the dude is being all emo about it he could probably save them both ten times over, but hey where’s the drama in that?

Oh yeah, by the way I’m totally in Japan now! Woot! It’s crazy! I got my apartment and my immigration papers in order. Tomorrow I start processing at my new job! So much change in so little time! It’s like woah.

As I said before, I’m going to be way too busy to rip and write about newly discovered music, so here’s the first in what will probably be a long series of “best of” posts. In many cases the songs will be re-recorded and will sound better than the original versions I put up months or even years ago. So if even if you have downloaded the songs in these posts, I suggest downloading them again because they might sound better!

That being said, I’m pretty sure almost all of these tracks are just re-uploads of original rips that sounded fine in the first place.

Big Country
East Of Eden (Extended Version)
Fields Of Fire (Alternate Mix)
Giant
Wonderland (Extended Version)
In a Big Country (Live)
In A Big Country (Pure Mix)
Look Away (Outlaw Mix)
Look Away (12″ Mix)
One Great Thing (Big Baad Country Mix)
One Great Thing (Boston Mix)
Teacher (Mystery Mix)
Seriously, this Japanese medical show is intense. Dude did a tracheotomy on someone with a pair of diaper pins. That shit was hardcore.

These aren’t all the Big Country tracks I’ve posted over the years but they are A: my favorites and B: the ones that didn’t’ sound like total garbage. My plan was to re-record all of my Big Country tracks, but I just go so swamped with bullshit in the last few weeks before I headed out that I got swamped and couldn’t get it done. Sad, but not as sad as the fact that I couldn’t re-record ANY of my Erasure tracks – a real tragedy since most of those sound like steaming shit.

Okay, now  I just saw a commercial where a woman made a bento box of a walrus.

Japanese TV is really distracting.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who has wished me luck in this crazy journey! It really meant a lot to me. Enjoy the tunes, and expect more greatest hits from my archives sometime soon.

I also haven’t forgotten about Mostly-Retro, expect a new post there sometime next week as well.

Posted in Big Country, remixes | 1 Comment »

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