Colin Newman – ‘Feigned Hearing’ Belgian 7″ (Crammed Discs, CRAM 13457, 1986)

This obscure little gem was a single peeled from Colin Newman’s 1986 solo album, ‘Commercial Suicide’ (which I feel likely will be covered here at a later date) and acted as wonderful summary of the pastoral synthesized pop that I’d likely describe the album as. Well, to be fair, Colin Newman himself used the word pastoral to describe the music on the album, in the accompanying ‘Interview’ 12″ that also appeared in the promotional orbit of this album. But there can be no denying that the sweetly toned synths, absence of familiar drums and percussion does lend this single – and most if not all of the parent album – a particular sound that is quite unlike anything else that Newman had done up to that time (though would revisit to some degree on the following ‘It Seems’ album, arguably).

It is not obvious from the single’s cover design or labels, but both tracks featured – ‘Feigned Hearing’ on side A and ‘I Can Hear Your…’ on side B – are different from the album versions. ‘Feigned Hearing’ is more of an edit, evident right from the start by comparison with the album version, the familiar laugh that opens proceedings missing and a much shorter intro of the ‘pastoral car alarm’ synth, as I might happen to describe it, that sets the track’s rhythmic timekeeping clock. It’s a wonderful little track. Wire were always having to grapple with the duality of being seen as both sharp-tooled noisemakers but equally capable of the occasional gorgeous melodied pop gem. This duality could arguably be witnessed in Colin Newman’s solo albums of the ‘80s too. That melodic touch is front and centre on this track, but shorn of any kind of heavy backbeat rhythmic assault.

‘I Can Hear Your…’ is more evidently the remix – it starts off with vocals from the outset, compared with the album’s slowly rising in, instrumental ‘heartbeat’ drum motif (which joins the party later on this outing). This track has much on common with Wire, not least the fact that it may well be some form of lost relation to Wire’s own ‘Heartbeat’ from 1978’s ‘Chairs Missing’ album, though it also features Newman’s partner, Malka Spigel, prominently too. Mesmerising and hypnotic, a little goes a long way on a track like this.

Sadly, I don’t think that either of these versions have ever resurfaced on later releases since the single’s appearance in 1986. A pity for ‘I Can Hear Your…’ in particular as it is the more noticeably different take of the two songs featured.