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30 January, 201211 February, 2022

‘From Brussels With Love’ compilation cassette (Les Disques Du Crépuscule, TWI 007)

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.

'From Brussels With Love' cassette package front cover design — *^ ‘From Brussels With Love’ cassette package front cover design*

'From Brussels With Love' cassette package back cover design and cassette — *^ ‘From Brussels With Love’ cassette package back cover design and cassette*

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29 January, 201229 December, 2019

‘Machines’ UK compilation LP (Virgin, V2177, 1980)

‘Machines’ was a compilation album from late 1980 that showcased a few of the Virgin records/DinDisc roster, while also including a smattering of established names (Gary Numan/Tubeway Army, John Foxx, Human League, Fad Gadget, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) and up-‘n’-coming names too (Henry Badowski/Karel Fialka/Silicon Teens/Thomas Leer). The Virgin records contingent was a mite biased perhaps, with two names in particular seemingly odd bedfellows for such an obviously ‘synth’ themed compilation, namely XTC and PiL.

'Machines' compilation album front cover design — *^ ‘Machines’ compilation album front cover design*

‘The Somnambulist’ by XTC first appeared on the double-pack 7″ single for their ‘Generals and Majors’ single from earlier in 1980. It drifts along nicely and is in stark contrast to the abrasively jangly guitar-packed and drum-propelled stuff that the rest of the ‘Black Sea’ album was hewn from. At the time, the main point of interest for the compilation was the previously unreleased ‘Pied Piper’ by Public Image Limited (PiL) – a short, fairly noisy piece that probably fits closer to the ‘The Flowers of Romance’ style (which was of the compilation’s period, though not released until the Spring of 1981), the one and only piece recorded with the late Steve New as part of a short-lived dalliance with PiL. (See the Flowers of Romance Wikipedia entry.) This track eventually resurfaced in the late ’90s on PiL’s ‘Plastic Box’ compilation of CDs. Continue reading “‘Machines’ UK compilation LP (Virgin, V2177, 1980)”

28 December, 201129 December, 2019

Button badge goodness: Siouxsie and the Banshees

A few more helpings of new wave button badge goodness to tide over the festive season… this time around some vintage goodies from Siouxsie and the Banshees. All of these are from the period, not later reprints (which I always find a massive disappointment when I come across them on eBay – or is that just me?) The rectangular oblong one has seen better days and the plastic encasing the image has started to discolour now – it has seen a lot of service on my jacket lapels in the past though! A couple of the others are printed on foil instead of plain paper and naturally catch the light and the eye that bit better.

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29 November, 201129 December, 2019

Button badge goodness: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)

There have been some great posts over at the PostPunkMonk and The Never Ending Search for the Perfect Beat blogs recently focusing on new wave era badges. Coming somewhat late to the party but keen to get in on the act, I present here a selection of OMitD badges from my collection – thought I’d do them justice and add something of a Peter Saville / Ben Kelly vibe to the backdrops!

Probably my favourite one because it is so unusual – clearly modelled after the original limited edition first album sleeve, this is grey plastic with the the ‘lozenge’ holes. Came across it on The World’s Biggest Online Junk Cupboard – ie, eBay! Continue reading “Button badge goodness: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)”