Once again, time to focus on the ever wonderful and enduring work of Danielle Dax. A relatively straightforward playing-catch-up release, ‘Up Amongst The Golden Spires’ is a Japan-only compilation album that pooled together all of the tracks originally released on the ‘Pop-Eyes’ album (1983) and the ‘Jesus Egg That Wept’ mini-album (1984), released on vinyl format late 1986 and on CD format in February 1987 on the Japanese VAP label. 1987 would be a pivotal year for Dax, with the release of the ‘Inky Bloaters’ album and ever increased media profile. The VAP label would go on to release the exclusive album ‘The Chemical Wedding’, covered in detail in an earlier post, in November 1987 which as well as mingling some previously released material also included versions unreleased elsewhere to this day, as well as the initial release of material that would surface in other territories until later.
I just have the CD version and it is without its OBI, but as you can see straight off the bat, this release also benefits from a sleeve design in keeping with much of Dax’s other releases of the 1980s by featuring the unique work of Holly Warburton. The jewel case insert is minimal, with a live shot on the reverse, but it comes with an additional black and white fold-out insert with extensive Japanese biographical text and lyrics in both Japanese and English as well.
Tracklist:
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- Bed Caves (3:06)
- Pariah (3:43)
- The Shamemen (3:38)
- Evil Honky Stomp (4:21)
- Here Come The Harvest Buns (2:55)
- The Wheeled-Wagon (5:42)
- Hammerheads (3:11)
- The Stone Guest (1:57)
- Ostrich (3:57)
- Everyone Squeaks Gently (3:28)
- Kernow (4:11)
- Fortune Cheats (3:54)
- Numb Companions (3:53)
- Tower Of Lies (2:45)
- The Spoil Factor (3:47)
- Cutting The Last Sheaf (3:09)
The tracks are fairly jumbled up – they are not in any sort of order that matches the running order of either of the original vinyl releases. Nevertheless, this was a welcome release if you wanted to obtain the complete album tracks on CD format, as neither album would receive a CD release until into the 1990s, although a very small handful of tracks would surface on the compilation release ‘Dark Adapted Eye’ released in the US, Canada, and some European territories in 1988/1989.
For the most part then this is a straightforward release with nothing unreleased or otherwise unavailable on it to be found – however, it is worth noting that the version of ‘Fortune Cheats’ is the full length version as found on the original vinyl of ‘Jesus Egg That Wept’, because as noted in the previous post about that mini-album on CD format, it included a slightly edited version of the track.
A nice little release if you can come by it for an agreeable price, the material included is a mix of the earliest, primitively produced but no less rewarding work of Danielle Dax.
