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)”

Win: ‘Unamerican Broadcasting’ custom sleeve promo 12″ single (Swamplands, SWX 5, 1985)

Sometime after Davey Henderson had ceased on his mission to lubricate your living room and the Fire Engines had stalled, he ponied up with new outfit, ‘Win’, which I rank in my top three Scandalously Neglected Acts Of The ’80s and who also hold the dubious accolade of being The Band I Spent The Most Money On A Single CD On for when I simply, positively, definitely, absolutely had to scratch that materialistic itch and possess the shiny, silvery disc of ‘Uh! Tears Baby’. If you are unfamiliar with Win (and it would not be difficult, regardless of their swagger, given the lack of commercial success they enjoyed despite the music machinery’s best efforts to Re-issue Till We Got The Message And Bought The Damn Thing with ‘You’ve Got The Power’), their confections of delicious, sugar-thrill, polished to perfection ramshackle pop, wrapped in the then relatively fresh packaging garb of über-corporate irony, certainly appealed to yours truly, if not the greater populace. But before producer David Motion had brought the same gleaming machine-finish that he had squeezed and primped Strawberry Switchblade into for Win’s ‘Shampoo Tears’, ‘Super Popoid Groove’, et al, their first release was the rougher-cut ‘Unamerican Broadcasting’. And this short but sugary sweet post shines a light on the curious custom sleeve promo copy I came by back in the day in the second-hand bins and which, until this last weekend, I had never seen another copy of knocking around.

Win 'Unamerican Broadcasting' custom promo 12 inch single front sleeve design
^ Win \’Unamerican Broadcasting\’ custom promo 12 inch single front sleeve design

Continue reading “Win: ‘Unamerican Broadcasting’ custom sleeve promo 12″ single (Swamplands, SWX 5, 1985)”

More Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark press photos

Following on from a previous post with OMitD press photos, a couple more snaps of a mean ‘n’ moody Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark from their ‘serious young men’ heyday, which I unearthed at a record fair a while back for a decent sum.

The first is a promo photo for the ‘Urgh! A Music War’ film, where a live version of ‘Enola Gay’ was featured. The photo pictures the four piece line up with left to right: Dave Hughes, Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Malcolm Holmes.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Urgh! A Music War promo photo (front)
^ Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – ‘Urgh! A Music War era promo photo

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Urgh! A Music War promo photo (rear)

Winding on a few years, the second photo is from the ‘Dazzle Ships’ era of 1983… Continue reading “More Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark press photos”

Gary Numan ‘White Boys and Heroes’ USA 12″ Promo Single (Atco, PR468, 1982)

Issued in 1982 by Gary Numan’s then US label, Atco, this 12″ promo single features a unique remix of ‘White Boys and Heroes’ which has still never been released on CD to date, despite the numerous re-issue campaigns that Beggars Banquet have had for Numan’s back catalogue.

'White Boys and Heroes' USA Promo 12 inch single
^ ‘White Boys and Heroes’ USA Promo 12 inch single

The remix of ‘White Boys and Heroes’ is by Chris Nelson and clocks in at 8 minutes and 20 seconds. ‘We Take Mystery’ on side two of the promo 12″ (which is referred to as a ‘Promotional 12″ EP’ despite only having two songs) is the 7 minutes 42 seconds version as per the standard 12″. It comes in a plain white card sleeve with a large sticker on the front cover only. Continue reading “Gary Numan ‘White Boys and Heroes’ USA 12″ Promo Single (Atco, PR468, 1982)”

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 1980 Dindisc press photos

Found while rummaging at a record fair in London last year, some nice glossy black and white Dindisc press photos from 1980 of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark… or OMitD – i.e. before they lost ‘it’ and became just OMD…

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark press photo

^ Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark press photo – four piece line up with left to right: Dave Hughes, Paul Humphreys, Malcolm Holmes, Andy McCluskey

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark press photo

^ Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark press photo – Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey

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