After discovering Gary Numan in 1979 and John Foxx and Ultravox in 1980, New Musik were also one of the earliest electronic bands I really liked, but while they had some initial hits, I always felt they got a raw deal and their arc of acclaim was cut all too short. Because sonically – and lyrically, as the world we inhabit pans out in ever more alarming ways – New Musik were well ahead of the curve and you can hear echoes of the sound that they were mining, particularly on the ‘Warp’ album, in the likes of the dusky, shimmering sonic heaven of the wonderful Ulrich Schnauss in more contemporary times, for example.
^ New Musik – ‘The Planet Doesn’t Mind’ UK 7” single (promo version)
Rarely has an album sleeve so poorly represented the mood and the message of the music inside than ‘The Fury’, I dare say. Musically, this was a hard-edged, tough, largely electronic sound filled that mined the technology of the day to keep up with the in your face sound of acts on ZTT, et al. To the extent that it left behind the earlier, more unique Numan sound, much to the alienation of a good chunk of existing Numan fans – even more so than ‘Berserker’ (which we looked at before) already had, as it had ushered in the move to digital synths, leaving behind the analogue warmth. Partly, that fan exodus may well have been because they never made it to the music, such was the antipathy to the image. Fair to say that both ‘Warriors’ and ‘Berserker’ had already been a tough sell, image wise – but this time round, beyond the pale for many a fan, I would wager. While the music may have been edgy and electronic, the image was – as Numan himself would later describe in his autobiographies – less the intended James Bond and more “the man who lost it all at Monte Carlo” casino wheel/cards table.
^ Gary Numan – ‘The Fury’ various formats/releases front cover designs – Numa LP, Numa CD (standard version), Numan cassette (standard version), Numa CD extended mixes.
The album itself as released on the Numa label though comes in two distinct versions – the ‘regular’ standard issue and the ‘extended mixes’ version – much like ‘Berserker’ had ushered in, but this time every track was longer on the extended mixes version. Continue reading “Gary Numan ‘The Fury’ – Numa variations”
Another example from the many releases on Strange Fruit from the late ’80s into the ’90s that delved back into the BBC Radio 1 session recording archives. This one is on the ‘Nighttracks’ imprint which was reserved for the sessions that were recorded for the BBC Radio 1 evening shows other than John Peel’s show – sadly, that sun-label only released a fraction of the possible sessions compared to the main label.
Slightly different titles on these two releases, but the same session. Dating from the period of the ‘Yummer Yummer Man’ single release, the tracks chosen range from the then current single back through the previous ‘Jesus Egg That Wept’ mini-album and ‘Pop Eyes’ album.
^ Danielle Dax – ‘The Janice Long Session’ UK 12″ EP / ‘The BBC Sessions’ US CD EP front cover designs
The Strange Fruit label series of John Peel Sessions was a real godsend… so much good stuff made available from a fate of home recorded cassettes taped from (at best) occasionally hissy FM or dull and crackly medium wave radio broadcasts. This particular release of Xmal Deutschland and their spring 1985 John Peel session is an interesting one in a number of respects.
^ Xmal Deutschland – ‘The Peel Sessions’ UK 12″ EP / US CD EP front covers
Released in early July 1986 (mostly?), 4AD issued all of the Cocteau Twins albums to date on CD format, in some cases compiling and enhancing or combining some of the releases along the way in the same way that some of the cassette editions had been released before.
CD: ‘Garlands’ (4AD, CAD 211 CD)
Released in early July 1986, this initial CD version ran with the enhanced track listing that the 1983 cassette release introduced, by way of including the band’s second John Peel session of January 1983 as bonus tracks – and then went a step beyond the cassette by also including a further two tracks. These were the tracks intended to be the band’s very first single release, ‘See No Evil’ and ‘Perhaps Some Other Aeon’, which until that point were only ever released on i) a giveaway flexidisc with ‘Vinyl’ magazine in Holland for ‘See No Evil’, and ii) the ‘An Hour Of Eloquent Sounds’ compilation cassette, respectively, although in a very different recording – the version of ‘Perhaps Some Other Aeon’ on this CD is quite different by comparison to that earlier cassette release version.
The main image on the front cover is retained from the vinyl version, but the rest of the design is different and incorporates the additional photographic image that was first used on the 1983 cassette edition.
^ Cocteau Twins ‘Garlands’ UK 1986 CD front insert design
