One of my own personal favourite mixes of a track from the meisterwerk that is ‘A Secret Wish’, this second release of ‘P: Machinery’ appeared at the tail of 1985, Propaganda (in their live incarnation) having toured with their ‘Outside World’ live shows. Sadly, it fared no better with chart success than had the first release. For me, this 7″ mix had a darker feel, perhaps due to the more ominous intro, the easiest to spot change from the original version, while the end brass work out repeats to fade rather than slamming to a dead halt, another easy recognition.
As a fan of long standing, I find it puzzling that plenty of Talking Heads versions which only ever appeared on singles have never appeared on CD to this day. Puzzling because they were a pretty heavyweight band and were on major labels, not some obscure little indie with no budget to properly archive and store their back catalogue. I’ll no doubt visit a few of the others at some point, but to kick-off with, amongst these as yet unissued on CD versions is the ‘Special Re-Mixed Version’ of ‘Houses in Motion’ which appeared as the A side of the second single to be lifted from the ‘Remain in Light’ album in the UK in May 1981.
^ Talking Heads ‘Houses In Motion’ UK 12 inch single sleeve (front)
Now, at the time, I always thought it seemed a rather ambitious follow-up to the unexpected hit that was ‘Once In A Lifetime’, and sure enough its sly, subliminal funk didn’t really trouble the charts at all. On first listen, the single remix doesn’t seem all that radically different from the album version. The souped-up bass guitar thumps during the chorus the most ear-grabbing alteration to me, along with Brian Eno’s chorus vocals turned down in the mix and some editing scissors taken to Jon Hassell’s trumpet to rein in its pyrotechnics somewhat, while clocking in around the 3 minute 45 secs mark it is somewhat shorter than the album version. But, most differently of all, there is an extra verse added! “Turn myself around, I’m sinking backwards and forwards, I’m moving twice as much, as I was before, I will be digging, at the centre of the Earth, I’ll be down in there, moving in a room”. Oddly enough, the lyrics are to be found on the lyric sheet for ‘Remain In Light’, even though they don’t appear on the album recording. As far as I’m aware, this remix has never appeared on CD format to date. (Though please feel free to get in touch if I’m off the mark here, I’d love to be wrong about this!) Continue reading “Talking Heads – ‘Houses in Motion’ UK 12″ single (Sire, SIR4050T, 1981)”
This is the original issue of Xmal Deutschland’s single, ‘Incubus Succubus’, released in 1982 on 12″ only in West Germany. By mid-1983 Xmal were flavour of the month in the UK music press and by the autumn their then record label, the inimitable 4AD, had issued a re-recorded version in the UK, titled ‘Incubus Succubus II’ on both 7″ and 12″, with a new track, ‘Vito’, on the b-side and of course a beautiful new sleeve design.
This original 12″ however was only issued in West Germany. This original arrangement is not radically different from the more widely distributed 4AD version really, though not the same by any means – but it also has two unique b-sides, ‘Zu Zung Zu Alt’ and ‘Blut Ist Liebe’.
An unarguable release of merit, The Human League’s debut single ‘Being Boiled/’Circus of Death’, issued to the world via Bob Last’s ‘Fast Product‘ label in 1978 and which had the likes of David Bowie proclaiming them as the future (hehehe). If you were there in the day you’d have the original issue, but being that bit behind the curve, I came across this original recording of the song (as opposed to the ‘Travelogue’ era reprogramming by the Boys of Buddah…) when it was first re-issued in 1980.
^ The Human League ‘Being Boiled’ Fast Product release sleeve design.
If you are a fan of the Associates then ‘Sulk’ needs no introduction, being easily a high water mark for them and their particularly unique take on pop – but the variations on this release cause some confusion and probably you have a different idea of what exactly constitutes this album depending on when or where you bought it…
^ Side by side: Outer and inner sleeves of the original UK (left-hand side) and later European issues of ‘Sulk’ (right-hand side) on vinyl
For me, the definitive version is the one I bought just after it came out in Britain;
‘Sulk’ (Associates/Beggars Banquet, ASCL1, vinyl LP)
Side One:
