Category: Lost gems

Posted on

Dif Juz – ‘Who Says So?’ UK Mini-Album (Red Flame, RFM 24, 1983)

Dif Juz are one of these acts who I have a few works by, but never really got to know too much about. Being on 4AD and hailing from the early ‘80s, they pretty much had my name written on it in their appeal, but for whatever reason they never quite got the recognition they were deserving of and that lack of profile tended to hamper my following of their work. I saw them live once, in support of the Cocteau Twins, late 1984 and they were quite something on the night. Although aware of their two earlier 4AD EP releases, the one that is the subject of this post had passed me by, so despite being a 1983 release, it was the start of 1985 before I came across it.

Dif Juz - 'Who Says So?' mini-album front cover design
^ Dif Juz – ‘Who Says So?’ mini-album front cover design

Continue reading “Dif Juz – ‘Who Says So?’ UK Mini-Album (Red Flame, RFM 24, 1983)”

Posted on

A Certain Ratio – ‘Waterline’ UK 12″ single (Factory, FAC 52, 1981)

What a brilliant single this was – an absolutely killer bassline, thumping and skittering around and anchoring this along with Donald Johnson’s crisp, precise drums and percussion workout. Atop was some seriously haunted horns and tape echo/electronic manipulations, with the dual vocals of the short-lived Martha Tilson bringing an ‘almost there’ presence and (presumably) Simon Topping in vocodered form. Something of a lost gem though – it hails from the same sessions as the ‘Sextet’ album, recorded late 1981 and released early 1982, but in somewhat typical Factory fashion of the time, it did not appear on that LP. Curiously, it has proved elusive in later reissues too – it can be found on 2002’s ‘Early’ CD compilation, but oddly was neglected from the ‘Old and the New’ compilation and various re-issues of ‘Sextet’.

A Certain Ratio - 'Waterline' 12 inch single, front design
^ A Certain Ratio – ‘Waterline’ 12 inch single, front design

Continue reading “A Certain Ratio – ‘Waterline’ UK 12″ single (Factory, FAC 52, 1981)”

Posted on

Hard Corps ‘To Breathe’ unreleased UK 7″ (Sonoscope/Polydor, HARD 2, 1985)

Hard Corps 'To Breathe' UK 7
^ Hard Corps ‘To Breathe’ UK 7″ sleeve design – front

Some while back I posted about the West German 12″ single of ‘To Breathe‘, with a promise to blog on the UK edition too sometime. This time round the focus is the UK 7″ single. To recap, ‘To Breathe’ (a re-recording of the track ‘Respirer’ which was one side of their first, self-released single along with ‘Dirty’ in 1984) should have been the second single from Hard Corps and their tenure with Polydor (via the band’s own ‘Sonoscope’ imprint), the first being ‘Je Suis Passée’. But something clearly went wrong with the band/label relationship, as the single never made it to the shops. Clearly some copies did leak out though, this UK 7″ edition amongst them. I came by it at a record fair many years back – it cost a fair bit really, but it was good to finally see a copy as up till then I had only come by a 12″ pre-release promo copy (which never came with a picture sleeve). There is also a UK 12″ of the ‘standard’ release, but I have never come across one of those on my travels as yet. Continue reading “Hard Corps ‘To Breathe’ unreleased UK 7″ (Sonoscope/Polydor, HARD 2, 1985)”