An incarnation of Propaganda recently reactivated and performed ‘A Secret Wish’ in full at a couple of sold out shows at ‘The Garage’ in London, under the monicker of xPropaganda. I never thought I would get a chance to hear this album performed live, so it was quite the event, one that simply had to be attended if at all possible. Many highlights, inevitably, ‘Dr Mabuse’ chief amongst them. What better way to celebrate the re-emergence than to take a look back at the ‘singlette’ edition (as ZTT were wont to call their cassettes) of their debut single…
^ Propaganda – The Nine Lives of Dr Mabuse – cassette single inlay and case – front
The previous post focussed on Peter’s debut LP and the many versions of the tracks that exist – a similar story in this post, but somewhat less in the way of numbers. Still a fair few to round up, however.
All Night Long
The first single to be released from the album, it is a reasonably straightforward story here – originally the main variants being 7″ mix and 12″/album mix. However, note that the UK and US 7″ mixes are different lengths. The UK 7″ (Beggars Banquet, BEG207) saw a longer edit, at approx. 4’30”. The 2011 CD re-issue of ‘Love Hysteria’ saw the release of a ‘demo’ mix of the song as well though. In the UK, standard 7″ (the A side a 4’30” edit) and 12″ (same version as the LP) singles featured a non-LP B side in the shape of ‘I’ve Got a Miniature Secret Camera’, while the 12″ came with an extra non-LP track, ‘Funtime (In Cabaret)’, Peter’s lounge lizard take on the more frenetic ‘Funtime’, which would surface on the ‘Love Hysteria’ LP. Both of the B sides would be added to the ‘Love Hysteria’ CD (the latter with a slightly different title in ‘Funtime (Cabaret Mix)’) in the UK.
Having walked away from the stalled Dalis Car, Peter Murphy would release his debut solo album, ‘Should The World Fail To Fall Apart’ in the middle of 1986 and as this post will document, it would spawn a large number of version-craziness for most of the album tracks. From late 1985’s first single, ‘Final Solution’, into 1987 and the release of the title track as a 12″ remix, along the way, a unique Canadian release of the LP would see a totally different album cover design and selection of tracks for good measure, all pointing to quite a bit of mixing and re-mixing going on around this release.
^ UK Should The World Fail To Fall Apart LP front cover
Side A: Feigned Hearing [Edit] 3.30
Side B: I Can Hear Your… [Remix] 3.07
This delightful little single took two tracks from Colin Newman’s ‘Commercial Suicide’ album in some feint hope of contradicting the album’s title perhaps. The A side is certainly a cheery, light, keyboard constructed piece, beat-less through a complete absence of any percussion – you can’t help but feel its chances of success as a 45 were always likely to be limited given that lack of backbeat. But who knows what the reasoning was. It’s well documented in the mighty fine Wire tome, ‘Everybody Loves a History’, that the mid-’80s period saw Colin Newman opting out of the music industry rat-race by way of an extended trip to India. On returning, re-investigating some keyboard-based demos made prior to the trip, pairing up with new partners in both John/Sean Bonnar (musically) and Malka Spigel (musically and by way of marriage), the subsequent album, ‘Commercial Suicide’, was a strong, original work and cheerfully raised two fingers to any notions of commercial success by throwing away any attempts at tracing from the Wire template the previous albums ‘Not To’ and ‘A-Z’ had both clearly drawn upon. The resulting album was still clearly the work of Newman but shot through with a subtler, minimal method and instrumentally a fair remove from the more recognisably Wire-like guitar/bass/drums of ‘Not To’ in particular.
^ Colin Newman ‘Feigned Hearing’ 7 inch single front cover design
‘Berserker’ was the first album released on Gary Numan’s own label after he decided to up sticks and move on from his previous long established Beggars Banquet/WEA home. Numan mentioned in his ‘Praying to the Aliens’ autobiography how he felt that he had outstayed his welcome there, with the attitude that his success had plateaued at an acceptably comfortable level of sales, as evinced by the lack of promotional support, particularly for 1983’s ‘Warriors’ album. Intended as a fresh start, this new home, ‘Numa’ records, would see three Numan album releases in its original incarnation from 1984-1987, before Numan inked a new deal with IRS records for 1988’s ‘Metal Rhythm’ – though Numa would be reactivated again in the 1990s for further new album releases (and reissues).
^ Gary Numan – Berserker – Numa editions vinyl LP, cassette and (re-issue) CD – front cover designs
