A fine example of the mid-’80s trend to load up the cassette version – and increasingly the CD too, with its rise to format dominance – of albums with extra tracks and/or extended mixes. Win’s wonderful high-tech pop debut, ‘Uh! Tears Baby (A Trash Icon)’, got the treatment good and proper.
So, what’s the difference, you may wonder? In comparison to the standard LP version, there is a longer, extended mix of the re-recorded ‘Un-American Broadcasting’ and two extra bonus 12″ remixes from single releases by way of;
- Shampoo Tears (Remix) – this is the 12″ remix by Michael Brauer.
- You’ve Got The Power (Remix) – this is the Mark Berry extended remix from the re-issue 12″ single.
This latter remix was made famous in Scotland by way of its use in much edited form as the soundtrack to the McEwans lager ‘Escher’ advert (YouTube link). Sadly, not popular enough to launch the single high enough into the charts though to give it the recognition and success it deserved.
The album has never been re-issued, which is mind-boggling really, especially as their follow-up, ‘Freaky Trigger’ was re-issued on CD format back in 2010 now.
Hmm. Odd that I’ve not ever heard if this band before. Should I have? Yow! That first CD goes for serious three figures! But both versions of the sophomore CD are low priced.
Win were the much slicker, hyper-pop re-tooling of the Fire Engines, very much tuned in to the same kind of knowing, tongue-very-much-in-cheek game-playing of the ‘80s nothing-to-be-ashamed-of-pure-pop-business-trip-or-is-it? let’s sing and dance before the Cold War gets us vibe that Heaven 17 had been through. Musically, that first album is wonderful, with a similar kind of over the top high-tech pop grandeur to its sound that Propaganda were mining on ‘A Secret Wish’… but with a giddy voiced high kitsch on board for the ride. Produced by David Motion who had done a similar high-tech machine pulse job on Strawberry Switchblade’s album. They perhaps really belonged on ZTT, but instead were on Swamplands (Alan Horne’s post-Postcard label) via London Records and just never cracked the charts enough – despite re-releasing ‘You’ve Got The Power’ a few times – which was fairly clearly on the agenda. In Scotland though, much more popular, since that track graced one of the with-it McEwans lager TV adverts of the time. From the album, check out ‘Shampoo Tears’ and ‘Empty Holsters’ and the singles. My goodness though, David Morion brought much to the party, it seems, when you contrast the low-tech original versions found on singles of tracks such as ‘Un-American Broadcasting’ and ‘Empty Holsters’.