Where does one start on ‘From Brussels With Love’? Something of a who’s who of low-key, left-field acts, mostly contributing original, unreleased material, from the minimal synth jingles of John Foxx that bookend proceedings through a demo version of Thomas Dolby’s lush ‘Airwaves’, a healthy outing for Factory acts including A Certain Ratio, Kevin Hewick (with New Order backing him on this outing), Durutti Column and even Factory’s resident producer, Martin Hannett, contributing a piece. Harold Budd, Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman feature too, along with an interview with Brian Eno himself, whose ‘Obscure Records’ label unite all three in some form.
There have also been numerous re-issues over the years on LP and CD, with variations in tracklisting and sleeve designs – further info on those on the discogs.com website entry. The most recent re-issue, a CD from 2007 on LTM Publishing (Les Temps Modernes) LTMCD 2479, is the most faithful to the original cassette release.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking on the cassette packaging. This is my own copy, I believe there were variations to the original cassette release, such as including a badge.
Another classique! I got the 2nd edition cassette back in the day [jewel box and no booklet] and the late 80s German CD release, but what I really want is the Japanese 2xLP! As a John Foxx collector those extra “jingles” on that 1983 LP are driving me insane! Eight tracks by Foxx instead of 2/3! All versions are great; but some are better than others. That’s where I first heard Der Plan. Les Disques Du Crepuscule were forever after a label that I would buy anything they put out that I ran across. The only thing I ever heard from them and didn’t like was Divine & Statton covering “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” on “Mmmmmh! Ah! Oh!” a Crepuscule compilation from the early 90s. But I liked Weekend a lot. I guess it came down to a song no interpretation could save.