Marion - Sparkle Ep

Marion - Sparkle EP

And so, it begins. Mother! I want to go back....to the 90's...

1998, to be exact. This was the final release from Manchester's Marion. A Japan only EP with a track from the second album and six other tracks. It's a perfect example of the Britpop era b-side. Acoustic version. Cover version and utterly beyond terrible remix. Couple of other non-album tracks on here that weren't anywhere else so it's worth a look if you're a fan (which I was, back in the day)

Vitor Hublot - La P'tite Gayole

Vitor Hublot - La P'tite Gayole

A drastic cover of the Jules Beaucarne Walloon anthem, this Belgian band travel into the realms of the batshit insane (the video is well worth tracking down on Youtube). 80's surreal new wave pop japes for all. Also features a stunning bass line. Stunning I tells you.

I should warn you now, another shit Britpop singles bonanza is on the horizon. Duck and cover dear readers, duck and cover....

Force Dimension - Tension

Force Dimension - Tension

Maxi single from 1989 from this Belgian group. Softer than EBM, harder than synth pop. They even had two versions of their first album, each of which adhering to one style more than the other. This is one of their early singles, features an extended version of Tension and a couple of decent b-sides. It all sounds like Amiga demo scene music which, of course, equals pure fecking genius. Enjoy!

Paul Haig - Running Away

Paul Haig - Running Away

One of the first Paul Haig solo singles, I've never known quite what to make of this cover of the Sly and the Family Stone classic. I think it just about works, there's a certain wistfulness about it all and it's not overproduced to a painful extent like the following album. B-side (Time) is very interesting...a post punk hangover from the brief experimental period between Josef K and his solo career. I'd have like to have seen him develop that further, but then I've always liked the mad contrast between Josef K and his solo stuff. I've got a real liking for his (admittedly, rather variable) 80's output, and by the time he released Chain in '89, he'd finally released something almost meeting the (admittedly, rather lofty) expectations of him.

Echo and the Bunnymen - Rescue

Echo and the Bunnymen - Rescue

Early Echo and the Bunnymen single (their second I think), Rescue is an anthem and a half and for my money one of their strongest songs, b-side Simple Stuff is a sneering dirge of a song and all the better for it.

Anyway, it's the Bunnymen. Can't go wrong. Well, anything before and including Ocean Rain at least. Then you can. Very much so.

Howard Devoto - Rainy Season

Howard Devoto - Rainy Season

From 1983, one of the singles (the other being Cold Imagination) from Howard Devoto's post Magazine solo album. Featuring members of Magazine, it's somewhat softer and melodic than their earlier work but still feels like a continuation. The album itself is a bit of a mixed bag, but this single deserved to chart far higher than it did. B-side is a remixed instrumental version of the flip side.

Defuser - World Suicide

Defuser - World Suicide

San Francisco Art Punk from 1982, synth rock/pop hysteria that bounces along like a out of control shopping trolley down a very steep hill. "WE WANT...WORLD SUICIDE" they shout at the chorus before a cheery fade out of "It's going to happen. It's going to happen". If you're gonna go, go with a smile....

This is *ace*. B-side isn't too shabby either.

Miaow - Break The Code

Miaow - Break The Code

The final single from Miaow, released on Factory in 1987. Very different from their earlier indie/twee days, this is far more sophisticated stuff. Excellent lounge/synth/indie/post-punk/thingy. When you're having to resort to "thingy" to describe something, you know you're onto a winner.

Miaow would sadly dissolve after this (before recording a full length album), but lead singer Cath Caroll would release the rather excellent England Made Me in '88.

Aztec Camera - Mattress Of Wire

Aztec Camera - Mattress Of Wire

I posted the first Postcard single a couple of posts ago and now I'm posting the last. This one always seems to get overlooked a bit, but this is nothing less than majestic and makes for a fine swan song.

"How can you sleep on a mattress of wire
Oh, how can you tire
Aspiring for sure to all that is pure

Of that I am sure"

Y'know, as much as I've got time for High Land, Hard Rain, I don't think Roddy Frame ever really recaptured the *something* he had with his first two singles. Lovely stuff.

Always - Metroland

Always - Metroland

12" Single on El Records, Always was pretty much just Kevin Wright, who would record another album under the name Always, post El before going under the name Mr. Wright thereafter. A step away from the usual El whimsy, bit more melancholy and probably one of the finest things they released.

Short post as I'm horribly busy at the moment, updates from myself might be slightly sparser this month than usual.

Ooh yes, if anyone has a rip of 'The Balloon Club' Mr Wright 12" single, I'd be very interested in hearing it...on Suburbs of Hell from 1991 I think....