‘The “Sweetest Girl”’ never provided Scritti Politti with the full-on pop chart hit that might have ambitiously been hoped for, but the impact it made with its sea-change in style ensured its high profile all the same. What I had not quite appreciated until more recent years was just how many versions of the song there are and it’s curiously stop/start release history.
Continue reading “Scritti Politti – ‘The “Sweetest Girl”’ version craziness”
1988 saw the band return from what, to the outside world, probably looked like some kind of extended break, but had witnessed the band finesse their studio in Acton and record the album ‘Blue Bell Knoll’. Along the way, it also saw the band make changes in their relationship with 4AD records, including signing a new deal for five further albums for the label and their American releases made via Capitol records, as well as further worldwide territories.
The original release of the vinyl album came packaged in a tri-fold sleeve and, unlike previous releases, it was not the work of 4AD’s in-house designers 23 Envelope, but by designer Paul West and Jeremy Tilston, with photography by Juergen Teller.
Another post of mine that holds a torch for Xmal Deutschland, who I was seriously into in the 1980s and was fortunate to see play live a few times. This time around, the final single release by the five-piece version of the band, ‘Sickle Moon’, the second single from the ‘Viva’ album of 1987.
Released in 7″ and 12″ formats in the UK, it managed to contain two versions of the A side, ‘Sickle’ Moon’, and two versions of the shared B-side, ‘Illusion’, as well as 12″-only track, ‘In Onyx’. Continue reading “Side by side: Xmal Deutschland ‘Sickle Moon’ UK singles (Xile/Phonogram XMAL2 / XMAL212, 1987)”
The fourth, and to date last, of the main David Sylvian related compilations featured in this series – two versions, side-by-side, of the ‘Sleepwalkers’ CD, which compiles collaborations with other artists from the early 2000s onwards.
First released in 2010, there was a re-mastered version in 2022 and on this occasion a micro-site to promote the 2022 release (an updated variant of the page for the original September 2010 release) presents some very useful detail spanning both versions. The notes from the site nicely encapsulates the spirit behind the compilation with the following summary;
in the 00s, DAVID SYLVIAN produced two of his strongest and most solitary statements, BLEMISH and MANAFON. but those records don’t tell the whole story. during that the same period, SYLVIAN created an alternate body of work: a series of collaborations and side projects with leading talents of pop and improv, electronic and contemporary classical music. the best of these recordings are gathered here on SLEEPWALKERS, meticulously sequenced and remixed: the fruits of one-off meetings and lifelong partnerships, they jump from bliss to intrigue, romance to sensuality, as arch experiments lead into the lushest pop.
The compilation isn’t a be all and end all – David Sylvian has collaborated on many other occasions not compiled here and in some cases the tracks selected provides a taster of further work that can be sought out (e.g. the Nine Horses and Tweaker works).
Nevertheless, let’s take a look at the compilation to hand and the variants between the two editions. Continue reading “David Sylvian compilations across the years – Part 3”
Cocteau Twins stepped off of the production line in 1987 and their only release of the year was one previously unissued track which was included on a 4AD label compilation LP, ‘Lonely Is An Eyesore’, released in June 1987. The track in question was ‘Crushed’. The band were far from idle however, just that their efforts were in other directions, not least in the direction of creating their first permanent recording base from which to work, based in Acton, where they enlisted the aid of members of 4AD label-mates Colourbox and Dif Juz in the fit-out and construction of the space.
‘Lonely Is An Eyesore’ was very much a project of the label founder, Ivo – and consequently, it was lavished with some degree of effort in its presentation and formatting. The ultimate edition is a wooden box-cased version which gathers together all formats of the release (4AD, CADX 703), but that is up there in the stratospheric level of 4AD collectables due to the extremely limited numbers it was produced in (apparently 100, most of which were allocated to members of the acts involved. More on that below…
Next on the list however is this Deluxe Edition of the LP format…
According to what looks to be an informed source via a comment of the discogs.com entry for this release, this Deluxe Edition appears to have been pressed up in an edition of 10,000 copies. Lavish it certainly is compared to the standard vinyl LP (4AD, CAD 703), since it comes packaged in an outer slipcase which houses a three-way fold-out insert/sleeve as well as an inner sleeve for the record plus a large size (12”x12”) 24 page booklet. Continue reading “Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1987”
