Tag: Blancmange (Page 15 of 16)

25 SONGS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SINGLES

19 February 2014 /

The concept of the single in the past has been to present an artist’s most immediate work for mass consumption and appreciation, often as a trailer for an album or compilation.
Like it or not, many acts’ best songs have been released as singles. They often reach an audience who would not normally be interested in the tribulations of a much longer journey.

Looking back throughout pop history, many pinnacles of a group’s career have been exclusively single releases; THE WALKER BROTHERS ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’, THE BEATLES ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ and THE JAM ‘Going Underground’ are a number of examples.

Today’s culture of individual track downloading now makes virtually every song in existence a single. However, a fair number of recordings which have become standards within live sets and have become a key part of a band’s history have never been accorded a single release. Such were some bands’ standings in their heyday that many were potential hits.

So here are 25 synth friendly songs which ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK felt should have been given singular status. Listing tracks not released as 45s or CD singles in the UK with a limit of one song per artist moniker, they are arranged in chronological and then alphabetical order.

GARY NUMAN Metal (1979)

With Minimoog riffage in abundance, ‘Metal’ would have made a perfect follow-up to ‘Cars’ and in hindsight, been less of a public anti-climax than the brave, but misguided release of ‘Complex’, as great a song as it is. Full of dystopian resignation with references to “liquid engineers” and chilling vox humana courtesy of the Polymoog, ‘Metal’ was Sci-Fi musicality at its best. Even NINE INCH NAILS covered it and nearly 35 years later, it is still part of the Gary Numan live set.

Available on the GARY NUMAN album ‘The Pleasure Principle’ via Beggars Banquet Records

http://www.numan.co.uk/

JOHN FOXX A New Kind Of Man (1980)

“I want to be a machine” cried JOHN FOXX as far back as 1977 on the first ‘Ultravox!’ album. Starting off side two of ‘Metamatic’, the former Dennis Leigh realised his mechanised JG Ballard inspired electro theories and went up to the next level with ‘A New Kind of Man’. Is it about genetically modified humans or homo superiors? Who knows? But the chilling Elka string machine and frightening detuned synthetics made it a distinctly new kind of song in a brave new world.

Available on the JOHN FOXX album ‘Metamatic’ via Edsel Records

http://www.metamatic.com/

JAPAN Swing (1980)

JAPAN found a refuge at Virgin Records who released their fourth album ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’. One of its best numbers was ‘Swing’ which combined David Sylvian’s muzak travelogue with Richard Barbieri’s Oriental synth textures. It was probably one of the last times JAPAN were fully as one. Guitarist Rob Dean made a full contribution before being forced out while the rhythm section of the late Mick Karn and Steve Jansen were amazingly fluid over the drum machine bossa nova.

Available on the JAPAN album ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ via Virgin Records

http://www.nightporter.co.uk/

JOY DIVISION Isolation (1980)

OK, so JOY DIVISION never took singles from their albums but what if they had? This would have been a contender. Featuring an ARP Omni and an early version of the Simmons drum synthesizer, ‘Isolation’ was the most electronic track JOY DIVISION ever recorded although Hooky’s bass ensured there was a gritty punk rock edge. When NEW ORDER reformed for the first time in 1998, a drum ‘n’ bass flavoured rework of ‘Isolation’ was part of the live set.

Available on the JOY DIVISION album ‘Closer’ via WEA Records

http://joydivisionofficial.com/

THE HUMAN LEAGUE The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (1981)

Optimistic and aspirational, ‘The Things That Dreams Are Made Of’ is the key song from ‘Dare’ and was a metaphor for THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s then pop ambitions. Gloriously spacious and delightfully catchy, each synthesizer voicing has its place while Phil Oakey gives full justice to Adrian Wright’s shopping list of life’s pleasures to a perfect Linn Drum clap track. It certainly deserves to be played live more often… “New York – ice cream – TV – travel – good times”

Available on THE HUMAN LEAGUE album ‘Dare’ via Virgin Records

http://www.thehumanleague.co.uk/

KRAFTWERK Computer World (1981)

Hooky, catchy and futuristic, ‘Computer World’ with its Speak & Spell voices and infectious four note theme was an ideal KRAFTWERK single if ever there was one. However, the perky and novelty laden ‘Pocket Calculator’ was chosen to trail the parent album. It is unlikely ‘Computer World’ could have hit the top of the charts like ‘The Model’ did, but such was the song’s popularity, the native variant got released as a limited run remixed maxi-single in Germany.

Available on the KRAFTWERK album ‘Computer World’ via Mute Records

http://www.kraftwerk.com/

OMD She’s Leaving (1981)

It was a tricky call between ‘She’s Leaving’ and ‘Radio Waves’, but the North-by-North West melancholy of the former won over the upfront Germany Calling salvo of the latter. A wonderful synthetic cross between JOY DIVISION and Paul McCartney, ‘She’s Leaving’ was pencilled in as the fourth single from OMD’s huge selling ‘Architecture & Morality’ but was vetoed by the band.  However, when ‘She’s Leaving’ did come out as a single in the Benelux region, it flopped.

Available on the OMD album ‘Architecture & Morality’ via Virgin Records

http://www.omd-messages.co.uk/

SOFT CELL Secret Life (1981)

As proven by their covers of ‘Tainted Love’, ‘What?’ and later on during their 21st Century comeback ‘The Night’, SOFT CELL always had a love of the UK’s Northern Soul scene. Its influence would seep into their own compositions like ‘Secret Life’. Marc Almond’s narrative on a philanderer’s hypocrisy was an apt reflection of suburban life while Dave Ball’s solid use of keyboards provided a suitably accessible but gritty sub-Tamla soundtrack.

Available on the SOFT CELL album ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ via Universal Music

https://www.softcell.co.uk/

DURAN DURAN New Religion (1982)

The perfect balance between art and pop, ‘New Religion’ was a key highlight from DURAN DURAN’s ‘Rio’ album. “A dialogue between the ego and the alter-ego”, Simon Le Bon’s conflicting schizophrenic voices added tension in the bridges before a classic Duran chorus. With an ambient intro that JAPAN would be proud of, it then moved at breakneck speed through the quintet’s other influences like Bowie, Roxy, Moroder and Chic with speed being the operative word.

Available on the DURAN DURAN album ‘Rio’ via EMI Records

http://www.duranduran.com/

SIMPLE MINDS New Gold Dream (1982)

A huge song with two drummers drumming as well as lashings of Jupiter 8 and a marvellous bass engine, ‘New Gold Dream’ and its parent album highlighted an ambitious streak in SIMPLE MINDS akin to their Virgin label mates THE HUMAN LEAGUE when they released ‘Dare’ the year before. Already six minutes in length, an extended mix was released as a 12 inch single in Italy while as a sample on URSURA’s ‘Open Your Mind’, ‘New Gold Dream’ became a club hit in 1993.

Available on the SIMPLE MINDS album ‘New Gold Dream’ via Virgin Records

http://www.simpleminds.com/

VISAGE The Anvil (1982)

With its heavy metronomic beat sans hi-hats, ‘The Anvil’ was Steve Strange’s tale of a night out in New York’s notorious club of the same name. But that wasn’t all, Billy Currie’s screaming ARP Odyssey and Dave Formula’s brassy synth riff completed the excursion. Rusty Egan said: “For me, ‘The Anvil’ was the lead track, ‘The Anvil’ in German (‘Der Amboss’), the 12-inch remixes, all that which I did with John Luongo was for me, the single. But the record company didn’t support that!”

Available on the VISAGE album ‘The Anvil’ via Cherry Pop

http://www.visage.cc/

YAZOO Midnight (1982)

Showcasong one of the best Alison Moyet vocals, Vince Clarke’s minimal programmed backing gave her plenty of space to let rip with raw emotion on ‘Midnight’ . Back in those days, Mute Records usually only took two singles from an album so with ‘Only You’ and ‘Don’t Go’ already accorded singular status from ‘Upstairs at Eric’s’, a 45 was never likely. But it sort of belatedly became a single when it was sampled and manipulated by REX THE DOG for ‘Bubblicious’ in 2008.

Available on the YAZOO album ‘Upstairs At Eric’s’ via Mute Records

http://www.yazooinfo.com/

BLANCMANGE Game Above My Head (1983)

Originally the B-side to ‘Waves’, ‘Game Above My Head’ signalled the more disco based direction Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe later trod on ‘Blind Vision’ and ‘That’s Love, That It Is’ with American producer John Luongo. Merging the busy Linn Drum patterns that characterised BLANCMANGE’s debut ‘Happy Families’ with a funkier outlook, ‘Game Above My Head’ was included on their second LP ‘Mange Tout’. Today, the song remains a constant in the live set.

Available on the BLANCMANGE album ‘Mange Tout’ via Edsel Records

http://www.blancmange.co.uk/

HEAVEN 17 Five Minutes To Midnight (1984)

HEAVEN 17’s most underrated track and referencing The Doomsday Clock, ‘Five Minutes To Midnight’ followed on from ‘Let’s All Make A Bomb’ to highlight the absurdity of Mutually Assured Destruction. Using and abusing the Fairlight CMI, the ‘Protect and Survive’ styled civil defence announcements, deathly whoops and a doomy orchestral crescendo bring a frightening finality as the song suddenly stops… “Hot as a furnace – wing to wing contact! AARGH!”

Available on the HEAVEN 17 album ‘How Men Are’ via Virgin Records

http://www.heaven17.com/

HOWARD JONES Equality (1984)

‘Equality’ exploited new MIDI technology like the Prophet T8 and Yamaha DX7, combining it with a Jupiter 8 and Pro-One; “it was one of those ones that really suited my live rig” said Howard Jones With its poignant human rights message, whether ‘Equality’ would have made a better single than ‘Pearl in the Shell’ is a moot point, but the song was released as a single in South Africa as a commentary about Apartheid.

Available on the HOWARD JONES album ‘Human’s Lib’ via Cherry Red Records

http://www.howardjones.com/

ULTRAVOX White China (1984)

Despite their use of synthesizers, it was rare that ULTRAVOX went the whole sequencer route. They did so with this song about the impending 1997 handover of the British Colony of Hong Kong to Red China. The lyrics captured a sense of pessimism over a bouncy electro disco soundtrack influenced by ‘Blue Monday’. Slated for release as a single in the UK, ‘White China’ had a special extended mix prepared but Chrysalis Records preferred the more obvious ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’.

Available on the ULTRAVOX album ‘Lament’ via EMI Records

http://www.ultravox.org.uk/

A-HA Scoundrel Days (1986)

A-HA were perceived as a teenybop group in their heyday, but their Nordic melancholic depth was apparent even on their only UK No1 ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’. “Cut my wrist on a bad thought” is a superb piece of second language expression that no native speaker could have come up with. Morten Harket veers from a semi-spoken growl to a full voice salvo for the terrific chorus while Pål Waaktaar’s twanginess adds some edge to Magne Furuholmen’s glacial synthetic atmospheres.

Available on the A-HA album ‘Scoundrel Days’ via WEA Records

http://a-ha.com/

PET SHOP BOYS Tonight Is Forever (1986)

Mistakenly announced as a new single on ‘The Tube’, ‘Tonight Is Forever’ is one of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s best early compositions. From its blipping intro with an odd starting snare drum to the magnificently euphoric chorus, it captured the excitement of a fleeting romance on a night out in clubland. With its sombre synth brass riff and a wonderful middle eight, it was later covered by Liza Minelli in an orchestral arrangement for her PET SHOP BOYS produced album ‘Results’.

Available on the PET SHOP BOYS album ‘Please’ via EMI Records

http://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

NEW ORDER Mr Disco (1989)

‘Your Silent Face’ may be one of NEW ORDER’s best songs, but it was unlikely to have got radio play as a single with its “why don’t you p*ss off?” quip! Meanwhile, ‘Mr Disco’ was the club friendly Mancunians in their Italo prime, complete with holiday romance lyrics and tongue-in-cheek syndrums. Some fans were dismayed by its resemblance to PET SHOP BOYS, but Bernard Sumner went and founded ELECTRONIC, aided and abetted by Messrs Tennant and Lowe!

Available on the NEW ORDER album ‘Technique’ via WEA Records

http://www.neworder.com/

DEPECHE MODE Halo (1990)

One of DEPECHE MODE’s greatest moments, Alan Wilder said: “From memory, the drums were sampled from LED ZEPPELIN’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’ (but secondhand from a rap record)… For the end choruses, there are some string samples which I think were derived from Elgar. One of my techniques is to find sections of classical strings and transpose / stretch these, then add my own samples, in order to formulate new and unusual arrangements”.

Available on the DEPECHE MODE album ‘Violator’ via Mute Records

http://www.depechemode.com/

ELEKTRIC MUSIC Kissing The Machine (1993)

Undoubtedly, ‘Kissing The Machine’ is Andy McCluskey’s finest song without Paul Humphreys as an OMD band mate. It also featured one of Karl Bartos’ greatest melodies. Recorded for his first project after leaving KRAFTWERK, Karl Bartos said “He suggested we do something together and I was up for it… We picked some cassettes and finally I found the opening notes of ‘Kissing The Machine’. A month later he sent me a demo…He wrote the whole song and the lyric and the robo voice” 

Available on the ELEKTRIC MUSIC album ‘Esperanto’ via SPV Records

http://www.karlbartos.com/

ERASURE Because You’re So Sweet (1994)

The closing track on the ‘I Say I Say I Say’ album produced by HEAVEN 17 and BEF’s Martyn Ware, ‘Because You’re So Sweet’ was a pretty ballad representative of the maturer approach taken by Andy Bell and Vince Clarke for their seventh long player. Featuring ERASURE’s trademark sequences, there was also the self-imposed restriction of no drum machines being used, so that all the album’s percussive templates were created using synths and driven by sequencers.

Available on the ERASURE album ‘I Say I Say I Say’ via Mute Records

http://www.erasureinfo.com/

MOBY First Cool Hive (1997)

There were eight singles from 1999’s ‘Play’ but for 1995’s ‘Everything Is Wrong’, Mute Records were more restrained with just five! Surprisingly, this vivid instrumental missed out on singular distribution. One of the highlights from the genre hopping MOBY long player, the looping bass sample of ‘First Cool Hive’ was like an update of ‘Empires & Dance’ era SIMPLE MINDS while female voice samples and beautiful synth strings gave it a mysterious ENIGMA-tic touch.

Available on the MOBY album ‘Everything Is Wrong’ via Mute Records

http://www.moby.com/

LADYTRON Discotraxx (2001)

‘Mu-tron’ may have opened the LADYTRON  debut album ‘604’ but the pulsating salvo at the start of ‘Discotraxx’ signalled the album’s intent… the return of the synthesizer as an instrument of value and integrity, not as a novelty to mock the past. From the moment Mira Aroyo deadpans in Bulgarian and Helen Marnie’s sweet but resigned voice kicks in about “the boy I know”, a new dawn is heralding for electronic pop.

Available on the LADYTRON album ‘604’ via Nettwerk Records

http://www.ladytron.com/

GOLDFRAPP Lovely 2 C U (2005)

The surreal concept was Kate Bush does THE HUMAN LEAGUE on this buzzy percussive extravaganza, one of the more under rated songs in Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory’s canon. The sub-TOM TOM CLUB meets PRINCE electrofunk is aided by Charlie Jones’ treated bass runs over the zooming synth hooks and chunky riffs. Interestingly despite its immediacy or maybe because of it, ‘Lovely 2 C U’ has rarely made it into the GOLDFRAPP live set.

Available on the GOLDFRAPP album ‘Supernature’ via Mute Records

http://goldfrapp.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
28th February 2014

BLANCMANGE Happy Families Too Live in London

16 November 2013 /

The concept of an album being revisited and restyled for a live setting is now a regular staple of the professional circuit but can be controversial.

In 2008, GARY NUMAN gave an industrialised makeover to his classic ‘Replicas’ which delighted some but alienated many others, so much so that when Mr Numan undertook his 30th Anniversary tour of ‘The Pleasure Principle’ a year later, it was note-to-note faithful, right down to the absence of guitar as on the original.

Since their return in 2011, BLANCMANGE have been very much about looking forward with frontman Neil Arthur focussing on material from the comeback album ‘Blanc Burn’ during live shows and even daring to omit their much loved ABBA cover ‘The Day Before You Came’. But this year has seen a slight change of heart with Arthur now comfortable with BLANCMANGE’s legacy as shown by a willingness to play at the ‘Rewind Festival’ in Henley.

Tonight, BLANCMANGE journeyed back to their recorded beginnings by airing their highly regarded debut album ‘Happy Families’. But rather than go through the practice of recording the show via the Live Here Now process and issuing it on the night, warts ‘n’ all, Neil Arthur has gone through the unusual process of re-recording the album as a memento for fans attending the shows. Not surprisingly, it’s been retitled ‘Happy Families Too’

Much loved by people unless their name was Julian Cope, the original ‘Happy Families’ album was produced by Mike Howlett and featured then new kit such as the Linn Drum Computer and Roland Jupiter 8.

The Linn in particular was a star of the album with busy digital claps and congas manifesting themselves in a way that a trained percussionist would never have dreamed of attempting. But while ‘Happy Families’ is as a result, an album very much of its time, it also gives it a unique and sparkling charm.

Thus Neil Arthur’s concept for ‘Happy Families Too’ was to realise the starker vision that Arthur and his BLANCMANGE partner Stephen Luscombe had envisaged when writing the songs with more basic approaches. After all, the version of ‘Sad Day’ for the now iconic ‘Some Bizzare Album’, which also launched DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, THE THE and B-MOVIE, was just a Minipops rhythm unit, a borrowed Wasp synth, a battered string machine and Arthur’s countrified guitar.

While Arthur has used VSTs for the sounds to keep it very much in the present, it’s the more minimal approach that has been the key.

Bearded and in a floral shirt, Neil Arthur was as down-to-earth as ever but giving it his all. First up, there was ‘Lose Your Love’, the lost second single from 1985’s ‘Believe You Me’ album. On a mission to ensure the show was not just about nostalgia, highlights from BLANCMANGE’s comeback album ‘Blanc Burn’ formed the initial part of the set. Several of the audience were actually heckling for the more recent material such as ‘The Western’ and ‘Drive Me’, both of which are certainly on a par with the best of anything Neil Arthur and the sadly absent Stephen Luscombe have recorded.

But as well as the newer songs like ‘By The Bus Stop @ Woolies’ (accompanied by archive news reel of Arthur’s hometown of Darwen in Lancashire) and ‘Ultraviolent’, there were also the ‘Happy Families’ era B-sides ‘Game Above My Head’ and ‘Running Thin’. It was particularly nice to hear the latter, a number that has only ever been recorded as a John Peel Session but now to be properly recorded and included on the deluxe edition of ‘Happy Families Too’ slated for 2014.

Focussing on ‘Happy Families Too’ in tracklist order for the second half of the show, ‘I Can’t Explain’ was as enthrallingly ferocious as ever but with the added tension and bite of live guitar. Swapping positions as Neil Arthur’s on-stage straight man with regular percussionist Pandit Dinesh (who only actually played on one ‘Happy Families’ song), it was David Rhodes who was on virtually all of ‘Happy Families’ that returned to the BLANCMANGE fold.

A regular sideman of PETER GABRIEL and JAPAN’s live guitarist on their ‘Tin Drum’ tour, his virtuoso expertise varied from the E-bowed strings on ‘Waves’ to the Spiders/Ronson power chords replacing the Hawaiian zing of ‘Wasted’. Arthur himself took to lead six string for ‘Sad Day’ in a rework that almost returned to the ‘Some Bizzare album’ take, referencing ENO and his ‘Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)’ long player, in particular ‘The Fat Lady Of Limbourg’ and the beautiful title track.

‘Living On The Ceiling’ required no introduction and even featured an audience chant-along of its main Middle Eastern motif at the song’s conclusion as Arthur held the mic on its stand out into the crowd. ‘Feel Me’, ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ and ‘God’s Kitchen’ are already enjoyable regulars in the usual BLANCMANGE live set, so positive reaction to those was not to be unexpected.

But the premiere of ‘Kind’ as part of 21st Century BLANCMANGE was highly welcomed, its sub-JOY DIVISION tension and percussive ferocity providing a fitting companion to ‘I Can’t Explain’ played earlier. Returning to encore with the vocoder layered ‘Radio Therapy’ and a stomping ‘Blind Vision’, it was a wonderful evening of post-modern artistry and entertainment that celebrated history rather than pandered to nostalgia.

And as if to make that point further, ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘The Day Before You Came’ were bravely left out of the evening’s proceedings. No-one seemed to mind though as the throng around the merchandise stall to purchase CDs of ‘Happy Families Too’ and meet the big man at the end of the night proved. Yes, it was one big happy family 🙂

‘Happy Families Too’ is released on Blanc Check Records. A deluxe edition will be issued in 2014 featuring a new version of ‘Running Thin’, Vince Clarke’s remix of ‘Living On The Ceiling’ and much more.

http://www.blancmange.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic/

Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
16th November 2013

25 SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS OF THE CLASSIC ERA

13 August 2013 /

1972’s ‘Popcorn’ could arguably be seen as Europe’s first electronic pop hit.

Made famous by HOT BUTTER, they were actually a combo of session players led by Stan Free who had been a member of FIRST MOOG QUARTET with ‘Popcorn’ composer Gershon Kingsley. It was largely considered a novelty record but it inspired many cover versions throughout the world including France where it was a No1.

There, one came courtesy of a young musician named Jean-Michel Jarre who recorded ‘Popcorn’ under the moniker of THE POPCORN ORCHESTRA. While working on his first proper full length electronic album in 1976, Jarre adapted a melodic phrase from ‘Popcorn’ as the main theme of what was to become the project’s lead single. That composition was ‘Oxygène IV’ and the rest is history.

After ‘Oxygène IV’ became a Top 5 hit in the Autumn of 1977, the synth instrumental became a popular medium, even spawning budget covers albums such as ‘Synthesizer Hits’ and ‘Synthesizer Gold’.

But coinciding with accessibility of affordable synthesizers, instrumentals were seen by some as a cop out for a B-side or album filler. A bridge between pop and experimentation, these tracks were actually an artform of their own and many would become cult favourites among enthusiasts who understood that music did not necessarily need words to convey an emotive atmosphere or make people dance.

However today, it does appear to be a dying art with some musicians not understanding that formless noodling, club racketfests or tracks in which the vocalist appears to have forgotten to sing don’t quite cut it. So here are twenty five other instrumentals from the classic era when the synth went mainstream and discerning listeners looked forward to an imaginative wordless wonder.

This chronological by year, then alphabetical list however has a restriction of one track per artist and features no tracks that use a repeated vocal phrase as a topline, thus excluding most recordings by KRAFTWERK! And if you’re wondering where GIORGIO MORODER is, his work was covered recently in his own Beginner’s Guide to him…

NEU! Isi (1975)

By 1975, NEU! had broken into two artistic factions with Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger unable to agree a direction for their new album. So they divided its space with the manic Dinger piloting his rambling proto-punk of side two and the more sedate and thoughtful Rother directing the less jarring first side. ‘Isi’ was a wonderful synthesizer and piano instrumental that was still driven by a motorik beat but less dominantly Apache.

Available on the album ‘Neu! 75’ via Gronland Records

http://www.neu2010.com/

KRAFTWERK Franz Schubert (1977)

TEE-7inchEffectively the closing track on KRAFTWERK’s iconic ‘Trans Europe Express’ album, this neo-classical piece was eerily emotive with its combination of Vako Orchestron string ensemble over some gentle Synthanorma Sequenzer pulsing. The haunting elegance of ‘Franz Schubert’ was like Ralf Hütter had been possessed by the ghost of the great German composer, reflecting the art of his melodic and harmonic intuition.

Available on the album ‘Trans Europe Express’ on EMI Records

http://www.kraftwerk.com/

SPACE Magic Fly (1977)

SPACE was the brainchild of Didier Marouani who went under the pseudonym Ecama and formed the collective with Roland Romanelli, and Jannick Top. With compatriot Jean-Michel Jarre and a certain Giorgio Moroder also in the charts, the space disco of the iconic ‘Magic Fly’ heralded the start of a new European electronic sound within the mainstream. With its catchy melody and lush, accessible futurism, ‘Magic Fly’ sold millions all over the world.

Available on the album ‘Magic Fly’ via Virgin France

http://fr.space.tm.fr/

JAPAN The Tenant (1978)

Inspired by the grim Roman Polanski film, ‘The Tenant’ signalled the Lewisham combo’s move away from funk rock into artier climes. A merging of the second side of David Bowie’s ‘Low’ with classical composer Erik Satie, it saw Richard Barbieri play more with synthesizer and piano textures to create atmosphere while Mick Karn dressed the piece with his fretless bass rather than driving it. Karn’s burst of self-taught sax at the conclusion is also quite unsettling.

Available on the album ‘Obscure Alternatives’ via Sony BMG Records

http://www.nightporter.co.uk/

GARY NUMAN Airlane (1979)

For anyone who first became a fan of electronic pop during the Synth Britannia era, ‘Airlane’ was a key moment. As the opening track of ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and its subsequent concert tour, it was the calling card that literally announced “GARY NUMAN IS IN THE BUILDING”! Yes, Numan had done instrumentals before, but with its sparkling Polymoog riffs, ‘Airlane’ provoked excitement and anticipation.

Available on the album ‘The Pleasure Principle’ via Beggars Banquet

http://www.numan.co.uk/

YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA Rydeen (1979)

With their eponymous debut under their belt, YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA fully found their technopop sound on ‘Solid State Survivor’. Written by drummer Yukihiro Takahashi, ‘Rydeen’ was a percussively colourful pentatonic tune filled with optimism and flair. This was the trio at their best as the later ‘Technodelic’ was a quite doomy, while their swansong ‘Naughty Boys’ was overtly mainstream.

Available on the album ‘Solid State Survivor’ via Sony Music

http://www.ymo.org/

JOHN FOXX Mr No (1980)

Armed with an ARP Odyssey, Elka string machine and Roland Compurhythm, John Foxx’s ‘Mr No’ was like a futuristic Bond theme or a signature tune for some space gangster. The mechanical giro was menacingly snake-like while the swirling chill invaded the speakers to prompt some almost funky robot dancing. The ‘Metamatic’ era track originally surfaced on the ‘No-One Driving’ double single pack with aother instrumental, the more sedate ‘Gilmmer’.

Available on the album ‘Metamatic’ via Edsel Records

http://www.metamatic.com/

THE HUMAN LEAGUE Gordon’s Gin (1980)

Written by Jeff Wayne for a cinema advert, THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s cover of ‘Gordon’s Gin’ kicks in like an commercial for Moloko Plus being sold at the Korova Milk Bar. Glorious and euphoric with futuristic sounds that weighed more than Saturn, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh left the band shortly after to form a project named after an imaginary group from a scene in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ discussed by anti-hero Alex with a couple of devotchkas at the disc-bootick!

Available on the album ‘Travelogue’ via Virgin/EMI Records

http://martynwareblog.blogspot.co.uk/

ULTRAVOX Astradyne (1980)

Of ‘Astradyne’, Billy Currie said: “Midge started with that strong melody, Chris’ bass was also a very strong feature. I played a piano counter melody behind. The track was so strong that we felt at ease to lengthen it with a long textural piano bit that is sort of bell-like with the metronomic bass drum beats and the violin tremolo solo… Midge came up with that final section lift taking it out of the long ARP solo. I double it! It is a very good strong keyboard part. It is very celebratory at the end…”

Available on the album ‘Vienna’ via Chrysalis/EMI Records

http://www.ultravox.org.uk/

DEPECHE MODE Big Muff (1981)

One of two Martin Gore compositions on the Vince Clarke dominated DEPECHE MODE debut ‘Speak & Spell’, ‘Big Muff’ was a fabulous highlight on the album’s more superior second side. Highly danceable and enjoyably riff laden, this futuristic romp was named after an effects pedal made by Electro-Harmonix who later branched into portable synths. It allowed many a synth obsessed teenager to declare “I like big muff” without embarrassment!

Available on the album ‘Speak & Spell’ via Mute Records

http://www.depechemode.com/

SIMPLE MINDS Theme For Great Cities (1981)

Even with the advent of the free download era, ‘Theme for Great Cities’ is one of the greatest freebies of all time having initially been part of ‘Sister Feelings Call’, a 7-track EP given gratis to early purchasers of SIMPLE MINDS’ fourth album ‘Sons & Fascination’. Starting with some haunting vox humana before a combination of CAN and TANGERINE DREAM takes hold, the rhythm section covered in dub echo drives what is possibly one of the greatest instrumental signatures ever!

Available on the album ‘Sons & Fascination/Sister Feelings Call’ via Virgin/EMI Records

http://www.simpleminds.com

VISAGE Frequency 7 – Dance Mix (1981)

Not actually written as an instrumental, the original was the B-side of VISAGE’s first single ‘Tar’ and much faster paced, featuring Steve Strange rambling about not very much. For its dance mix, ‘Frequency 7’ was slowed down and Strange’s vocal removed. The result was a masterclass in Barry Adamson’s bass counterpointing with Billy Currie’s ARP Odyssey bursts of screaming aggression and Rusty Egan’s metronomic electronic beats for a creepy robotic aesthetic.

Available on the album ‘The Anvil’ via Cherry Red

http://www.visage.cc/

BLANCMANGE Sad Day (1982)

There are two versions of this cult classic; a mutant countrified ambient piece based around the bassline of Brian Eno’s ‘The Fat Lady Of Limbourg’ from the ‘Some Bizzare Album’ and the lively Mike Oldfield inspired album version from ‘Happy Families’. Each has its merits but the percussively jaunty re-recording just wins over with its synthesized wallows, chiming guitars and crashing Simmons drums.

Available on the album ‘Happy Families’ via Edsel Records

http://www.blancmange.co.uk/

DRAMATIS Pomp & Stompandstamp (1982)

The hypnotic B-side to ‘Face on The Wall’ showcased the fusion of the classical, rock and prog elements that were the core talents of Chris Payne, RRussell Bell and CedSharpley who had been the mainstay of the first GARY NUMAN backing band. Not a cover of Edward Elgar’s near-namesake composition ‘Pomp & Circumstance’ , DRAMATIS‘ rousing number would however make a perfect closer for the Last Night Of The Proms in the 22nd Century!

Available on the album ‘For Future Reference’ via Cherry Red Records

http://www.numanme.co.uk/numanme/Dramatis.htm

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS DNA (1982)

Technically, ‘DNA’ is not a really synth instrumental with the hook line being far too guitar oriented. However, it had a key role breaking down barriers for music with a more futuristic bent in synthobic America and snatched a 1983 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. And for that, ‘DNA’ deserves kudos! A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS‘ cultural impact can be measured by leader Mike Score’s iconic hair style being lampooned in ‘The Wedding Singer’ and ‘Friends’.

Available on the album ‘A Flock Of Seagulls’ via Cherry Pop

https://www.facebook.com/MikeScoreOfficial/

SOFT CELL ….So (1982)

A solo Dave Ball composition that was on the B-side of ‘What?’, the tall, pensive synthesist created an electronic disco number while Marc Almond was off doing the first MARC & THE MAMBAS’ album that would have done GIORGIO MORODER proud. Reminiscent of the Italian producer’s ‘Chase’, ‘….So’ featured wonderful percolating synths over a fabulously danceable groove and a solid metronomic beat that required no additional vocal histrionics or energetics.

Available on the album ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ via Mercury Records

http://www.marcalmond.co.uk/

CARE On A White Cloud (1983)

CARE was a short lived project comprising of soon-to-be main man of THE LIGHTNING SEEDS Ian Broudie and THE WILD SWANS’ vocalist Paul Simpson. Combining acoustic strums with synthesizer melodies, CARE had promise but imploded due to musical differences. ‘On A With Cloud’ was an epic instrumental with thundering percussion, castenets, ringing guitar and heavenly synthetic layers that appeared the 12 inch B-side of the duo’s best 45 ‘Flaming Sword’.

Originally released on the 12 inch single ‘Flaming Sword’ via Arista Records, currently unavailable

http://stevomusicman.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/care/

CHINA CRISIS Dockland (1983)

CHINA CRISIS recorded a variety of instrumental sketches and the results were often superb. But as the duo of Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon only had a couple of hits, most of this material was little heard having been tucked away on B-sides. ‘Dockland’ is a prime example having been the flip of the flop single ‘Working With Fire & Steel’. The sublime nautical transience inspired by Liverpool’s once vibrant docks lying wasted in a period of high unemployment was captivating.

Available on the album ‘Collection: The Very Best of China Crisis’ 2CD edition via Virgin Records

https://www.facebook.com/pages/China-Crisis/295592467251068

DURAN DURAN Tiger Tiger (1983)

‘Tiger Tiger’ is the best JAPAN instrumental that Sylvian and Co never recorded plus some would consider any DURAN DURAN track without a Simon Le Bon vocal to be a bonus. That aside, John Taylor and Nick Rhodes had more artier aspirations so indulged on this musical tribute to the William Blake poem. Taylor does a superb Mick Karn impersonation on fretless bass while Rhodes adds a great synth melody to proceedings.

Available on the album ‘Seven & The Ragged Tiger’ via EMI Records

http://www.duranduran.com/

THE ASSEMBLY Stop/Start (1984)

Strangely enough, Vince Clarke is not really known for his instrumentals. Co-composed with  Eric Radcliffe, ‘Stop/Start’ was effectively Clarke’s first instrumental as DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Any Second Now’ had a ‘(Voices)’ variant while YAZOO’s ‘Chinese Detectives’ was only played live. A Casiotone infused ditty with Linn drums and a cute melody, ‘Stop/Start’ was the B-side to THE ASSEMBLY’s only single ‘Never Never’.

Available on the boxed set ‘Mute: Audio Documents’ via Mute Records

http://www.vinceclarkemusic.com/

HOWARD JONES Tao Te Ching (1984)

Throwing off his mental chains, Mr Jones took inspiration from his own Buddhist spirituality and the overtures of Vangelis’ 1979 album ‘China’ for this rather beautiful piece which used to open his early shows. Using pentatonic melodies and sweeping chords on ‘Tao Te Ching’ in the style of Tomita and Kitaro, it’s a shame that this aspect of Jones’ quite obvious musical capabilities has never really been explored.

Available on the album ‘The Very Best Of Howard Jones’ via Warner Music

http://www.howardjones.com/

OMD Junk Culture (1984)

Inspired by a ‘Blade Runner’ sample, ‘Junk Culture’ was a reggae-ish number set to a bizarre time signature and signalled OMD’s move away from Germanic electronica. Still experimenting, only this time with more World Music forms thanks to the advent of sampling technology, the detuned Tijuana brass, deep dub bass and schizo voice snippets recalled the work of Jah Wobble, Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit.

Available on the album ‘Junk Culture’ via Virgin Records

http://www.omd.uk.com

TEARS FOR FEARS Pharaohs (1985)

‘The Marauders’ and ‘Empire Building’ showed TEARS FOR FEARS were adept at instrumentals and their best was ‘Pharaohs’, the B-side of ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’. Launched with a crunchy 6/8 heartbeat, the sedate piano motif and drifting synths gave a distinctly nautical feel, enhanced by sound bites from the BBC shipping forecast. But out of nowhere, the middle eight Emulator voice theme from the A-side introduces its partnering chordial guitar solo!

Available on the album ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ 2CD deluxe edition

http://tearsforfears.com/

NEW ORDER Best & Marsh (1989)

This theme was composed in 1988 for the eight part Granada TV series hosted by Factory Records’ supremo Tony Wilson and featured two of Manchester’s most iconic club footballers, George Best and Rodney Marsh. With a great string synth melody, Hooky bass, clubby beats and Italo piano stabs, this prompted the FA to commision NEW ORDER to write ‘World In Motion’ for the 1990 World Cup, while the series allowed ‘Best & Marsh’ to embark on a popular speaking tour.

Available on the album ‘Technique’ 2CD Deluxe edition via London Records

http://www.neworder.com/

VANGELIS End Titles From Blade Runner (1989)

Dramatic, tense and melodic, Vangelis’ closing theme to the acclaimed 1982 Ridley Scott directed Sci-Fi movie ‘Blade Runner’ succeeded in orchestrating a score using just synths and samples to maintain the futuristic unsettlement of the story. However, the glorious track was not actually released until 1989 on the ‘Themes’ compilation, while an actual soundtrack album didn’t actually see the light of day until 1994.

Available on the album ‘Blade Runner’ via Warner Music

http://www.vangelisworld.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
13th August 2013

The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE

16 July 2012 /

Back in 2008, reissue label Edsel licensed BLANCMANGE’s three albums ‘Happy Families’, ‘Mange Tout’ and ‘Believe You Me’ from Warners.

Although it was great to have these long players available on CD for the first time since their original release with turned up sound and bonus tracks, they were notable for their errors and omissions plus some unsympathetic liner notes by Alan Robinson.

For example, ‘Happy Families’ was missing the original album version of ‘Waves’ along with the notable B-sides ‘I Would’ and ‘Running Thin’ due to contractual issues with the BBC! Meanwhile ‘Mange Tout’ was missing the album cut of ABBA cover ‘The Day Before You Came’. There was also the much discussed absence of the 12 inch version of ‘What’s Your Problem?’ from the extra tracks on ‘Believe You Me’.

However, BLANCMANGE got off lightly compared with Edsel’s ALTERED IMAGES reissues which featured mixes of songs duplicated across their three albums despite being labelled otherwise, tracks mastered off flexi-discs, more muted sleeve notes from the same writer (who clearly disliked Claire Grogan & Co) and in the sad case of ‘Bite’, half of the album consisting of entirely the wrong versions! Thankfully, some of those missing tracks by The Maiden Aunts of Techno have surfaced on ‘The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE’, a timely new 2CD collection compiled by Music Club Deluxe with input from Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe themselves.

Music Club Deluxe, an arm of Edsel’s parent group Demon, have made a concerted effort to work with Warners to source masters and negotiate around any contractual issues with the BBC to plug the essential gaps in BLANCMANGE’s digital catalogue.

While all the singles like ‘God’s Kitchen’, ‘Feel Me’ ‘Living On The Ceiling’, ‘Blind Vision’, ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘That’s Love That it Is’ are included, it is the rarities and selected album highlights (including most of ‘Happy Families’ and songs such as ‘Murder’ and ‘All Things Are Nice’) which make this collection.

The original version of ‘Sad Day’ from the ‘Some Bizzare Album’ is all present and correct. In 1981, this futurist showcase launched the careers of DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, THE THE and B-MOVIE as well as that of BLANCMANGE. Here, Neil Arthur’s twangy guitar is augmented by a Minipops rhythm box and Stephen Luscombe’s Wasp synth bass reminiscent of ENO’s ‘The Fat Lady Of Limbourg’. Very different from the more familiar Oldfield-ish album version, ‘Sad Day’ was the start that eventually led to prestigious support slots with DEPECHE MODE, GRACE JONES and JAPAN as well as a deal with London Records.

Also from those fledgling years are the superb Peel Session tracks ‘Running Thin’ and ‘I Would’ which later cropped up on the flip of ‘Living On The Ceiling’. Both are stark and almost minimal but ‘I Would’ with its clattering rhythms is menacing while ‘Running Thin’ is more resigned in tone. Interestingly in retrospect, they hint at 2011’s ‘Blanc Burn’ album more than anything that featured on the original London LPs.

And as if to make the link, new track ‘Making Aeroplanes’, an outtake from the ‘Blanc Burn’ sessions follows this vintage pair on CD1. One notable inclusion on CD2 of ‘The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE’ is the album version of ‘Waves’. Without the strings, it is like SCOTT WALKER fronting OMD with the sombre detuned brass line allowed to breathe at the song’s conclusion. For those that want it, the single mix with the orchestra is there but this earlier version IS much better and strangely more emotive. Sometimes, less can mean more.

But best of all as far as the rarities go is ‘Hello Darling’ by Stephen Luscombe side-project BLUE WORLD which first appeared as a BLANCMANGE credited track in 1986 on Record Mirror’s free cassette ‘Spools Gold’. Available on CD for the first time, it is an early mash-up where Bollywood meets Giorgio Moroder.

The track is based around a sample of Indian comedian Kishore Kumar from a film called ‘Darling Darling’ which Luscombe saw as a teenager growing up in Southall. It ended up as part of the soundtrack for a BBC documentary ‘The Legend of Leigh Bowery’ about the fashion icon who designed the costumes for BLANCMANGE’s 1984 tour and despite being recorded nearly 30 years ago, it sounds amazingly contemporary.

Although the 12 inch version of ‘What’s Your Problem?’ and single mix of ‘I Can See It’ are still missing, thanks to the masters being lost within Warner Music’s vaults, ‘The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE’ is an essential artefact for the duo’s many fans. A lot of the important material tracing the quirky duo’s history is now thankfully restored, albeit not quite in its rightful place. But thanks to the efforts of Music Club Deluxe, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe, this collection is an informed start to at least softening past mistakes made by others.

As for Music Club Deluxe’s colleagues in the next office at Edsel… do a bit of research and ask! Attention to detail doesn’t hurt! There are plenty of people out there who are willing to give their time for the music they love, simply because they care!

‘The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE’ is released by Music Club on 23rd July 2012

http://www.blancmange.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

https://twitter.com/_blancmange_

Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th July 2012

NEIL ARTHUR Interview

16 March 2012 /

BLANCMANGE made their welcome return in 2011 after a recorded absence of nearly 25 years with the album ‘Blanc Burn’.

Featuring inventive and quirky tunes such as ‘Drive Me’, ‘I’m Having A Coffee’, ‘The Western’ and ‘Starf*cker’, the collection showed that the creative dynamic which influenced acts such as FAITHLESS, LA ROUX and HOT CHIP was as vital as ever.

A well received Spring tour plus other prestigious summer dates such as Coventry’s Godiva Festival with HEAVEN 17 and MIRRORS showed that audiences still had a taste for BLANCMANGE. However due to illness, Stephen Luscombe was unfortunately unable to join his erstwhile partner Neil Arthur for those live dates. Despite always looking forward, BLANCMANGE have been crossing paths with their past on several occasions since their comeback.

Godiva Festival saw Neil Arthur meeting up with HEAVEN 17’s Martyn Ware, who produced the demos which got them signed to London Records. Meanwhile, Friday 4th May 2012 will see BLANCMANGE headline a special weekend celebrating the legacy of DEPECHE MODE and the Basildon electronic music scene.

BLANCMANGE supported DEPECHE MODE on their early tours and became close friends particularly with Vince Clarke. Of course, BLANCMANGE themselves had their own imperial phase with hit singles such as ‘Living On The Ceiling’, ‘Blind Vision’, ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and the ABBA cover ‘The Day Before You Came’… so that’s where Vince Clarke got the idea for ERASURE’s ‘Abba-Esque’ EP from!!!

With a new tour for May just announced, Neil Arthur got a trifle excited and spoke about BLANCMANGE’s future plans.

How was it touring with DEPECHE MODE back in the day?

We did two tours with them. When we toured with DEPECHE MODE the first time, I hadn’t long left college and I was working so I took time off work to do that. We weren’t signed at that time. On the second tour, we knew Vince was leaving but everybody was keeping it quiet. After Vince left and Alan Wilder joined, we then did Jersey and Guernsey on the 10th and 12th April 1982 with them. We had a swimming competition after the last gig!

I bumped into Alan a few months ago at Sinners Festival in Belgium when RECOIL and BLANCMANGE were playing. We walked out of our dressing rooms and both of us gave out some ‘manly’ screams and went “BLOODY HELL”! We obviously knew we might bump into each other but not opposite dressing rooms… it’s a huge event! Bloody brilliant, me and Alan with KARL BARTOS next to us!! “Eh, who’s been in that toilet?”… the high life of electronic music! *laughs*

What are your key memories of those DM support tours?

It was all in black and white then! My biggest memory is never winning a game of chess with Andy Fletcher! And the amount of cuddly toys they used to get given! That was phenomenal! *laughs*

A very funny thing happened…

When we done those two dates in the Channel Islands with sell out audiences, we were at the entrance to the airport and there were a load of teenagers there with autograph books. DEPECHE MODE walked straight through and the teenagers didn’t bat an eyelid…they were dressed as DEPECHE MODE, they weren’t in disguise! Me and Stephen walked past, nobody battered an eyelid. My girlfriend walked past and they mobbed her! *laughs*

Those kids were Swiss tourists and they knew there were these bands there but they couldn’t figure out who and she looked the most glamourous. So she had to sign all the autographs! There were many funny moments and good times.

You and Stephen spent quite a lot of time with Vince Clarke when he was doing YAZOO. So what was this unreleased track BLANCMANGE did with YAZOO like?

It was awful!! That’s why it didn’t come out I suppose! *laughs*

Me, Stephen, Vince and Alison got together in Blackwing Studios and we started but never finished a version of ‘It Takes Two’…it was abandoned, we basically ended up laughing so much we couldn’t do it! With hindsight, it might have been a good idea to persevere and sort it out but we had a good laugh. I’ve got a copy in the studio but nobody will ever hear it as far as I’m concerned! *laughs*

The difference between my voice and Alison’s voice… Alison’s a singer; I was forced into a position to sing! I didn’t have to do it but one of us had to sing and I was just better at it than Stephen was! *laughs*

How is Stephen at the moment if I may ask?

I saw him the other week. He’s not well; it’s very difficult for him. He’s got to be very careful about activity. But he’s in great spirits and that’s a good thing, we have a good laugh. It’s obviously frustrating from his point of view. He knows BLANCMANGE is in very capable hands… with the other two even if it’s not with me. But he’s very happy for me to be getting on with it *laughs*

I’m sure we’ll do more stuff together; I know everyone wishes him well.

What about THE ASSEMBLY track it is rumoured you did?

We went in the studio and had a pfaff around with stuff… we started something, but it didn’t work out and just moved on. We were busy with our stuff at the time. What I do remember from that time is cracking those Extra Strong Mints in the dark to see if they let any light out!! Me and Vince in a cupboard, cracking mints! You’ve gotta try it! *laughs*

How did you feel about the reaction from fans and press to BLANCMANGE’s return and ‘Blanc Burn’ in particular?

I was very pleased with the way it was received… compared to reviews I can recall from years ago, the reaction has been very positive and that’s lovely. Having said that, when it came out, I didn’t read a review; it’s only recently that I’ve done that. At the time, I thought it was more important to get on with the work. Reviews are great if they’re good but after all these years, you just get on with it. We’ve made plenty of mistakes in public and just carried on…if people decide it’s a mistake, that’s their prerogative. If it’s something that people really like, they can have their opinion on it and I go “thank you every much indeed”.

The other thing is, we’re not with a big record company, it was only licensed and the whole thing was recorded in our studios and mixed at a friend’s place. It wasn’t done how like the old albums were put together…that’s what I thought was the interesting thing because the end product probably appears from the outside to be very similar. The actual process was very different. There were some excellent reviews, some good ones and I’ve read a few that don’t get it but that’s fine.

In terms of how the audience have reacted to us, it was humbling. I hadn’t been on a big stage for a long time and I didn’t know what it was going to be like. At Glasgow, it was like stepping into a void. But as soon as I put my foot on the stage, I knew exactly where I was and I knew what I wanted to do…things kind of trigger and come back. And it was made easier by the most partisan crowd I could just imagine. It was fantastic and meeting people afterwards, that was the humbling bit. It was absolutely brilliant hearing their stories and inspirational things I found out from people. Great!

I saw you at Koko and it has to be said you’ve aged much more gracefully compared with some of your contemporaries, what’s your secret?

It’s very kind of you to say so… how close did you get? *laughs*

Everything in moderation and some of it never in moderation! I love running and football, I play football regularly. I enjoy swimming too, my whole family was into that at a competitive level. It put me in good stead! I’ve actually been out cycling today with my old mate David Rhodes who used to play with us, JAPAN and Peter Gabriel! We did a great run though the Cotswolds. I don’t know, he’s older than me and he was beating me on every hill! And we weren’t racing either!!

You were doing a few of the old Tai Chi moves on stage…

I’ve been doing Origami as well, I can fold a piece of paper in half just like that! I’m a black belt in Origami! *laughs*

Pandit Dinesh must have the largest ever exotic percussion collection ever seen at a pop concert?

He’s a great man, great friend…sometimes he says he’s going to start off on one instrument and goes onto another one! He’s full of surprises and some of the songs were twice as long as they should have been! *laughs*

Your daughter and son came to some of the shows, what did they make of it all?

Obviously, they didn’t know dad did that…“oh, you get a bit intense up there don’t you dad?!” Better out than in! They told me they were proud… I’d like to think they were honest! *laughs*

Of course, my better half, who signed the autographs I mentioned earlier, had seen it all before!

You haven’t done ‘The Day Before You Came’ at any of these shows, was there any particular reason for that?

No, it was just that there were a lot of songs to do and I was really keen to do a mixture of new and old. I mean, we didn’t do ‘That’s Love, That Is’, ‘Lose Your Love’ or ‘What’s Your Problem?’. I just made a decision… funnily enough ‘The Day Before You Came’ may well appear and ‘Lose Your Love’ too, but I’m also keen on doing new stuff and moving it forward! I’m very interested in the future.

I do understand that we have some kind of a legacy and I realise people who do come to see us would expect to hear those old songs. We enjoy doing songs like ‘Feel Me’ and sneaking in ‘Running Thin’. It was great fun doing old stuff like that with the new ones.

So what’s the background of new track ‘Come On Now’?

‘Come On Now’ was done in the same period as ‘Blanc Burn’, but what we did first was to see how we would get on because me and Stephen hadn’t worked together for a long time. What was nice was that we had both been doing music during that time for films, TV and adverts. Funnily enough, the roles had changed because I do a massive amount of programming… that’s what I do but years ago, it was a different thing with synthesizers and sequencers. We ended up with a load of songs and of course, some went on the album, some didn’t. Whether this stuff will ever come out, I don’t know because we don’t have to release it. There’s a bizarre version of a CHIC song that might surface… we don’t often do covers but when we do! *laughs*

The version of ‘Come On Now’ that is now was one of the last tracks we mixed but it was one of the first songs we recorded together… I’d written this basic song with these lyrics and we started mucking around with it. We just decided not to put it on the album.

You are very much into the future, so how are you resisting offers to do things like Rewind Festival and Here & Now?

If people want to do that, then it’s fine. BLANCMANGE have been asked and I’ve even been asked on my own… I don’t really want to do it, it’s not my bag! You have a band playing in the background who you don’t know, and you go on and sing your hit… it’s not me! Last year, we did Godiva Festival with MIRRORS and HEAVEN 17. I’ve got a lot of time for MIRRORS… they look great, I love the sound and the way they do it. And then after us were HEAVEN 17.

So it was really nice that there were electronic acts all together but one was a new band, two of them weren’t. I thought it was a fantastic idea. Do they do that at Rewind? I don’t think so. And when we came back, most of the set was new songs! If you didn’t know us, you’d have been thinking “what are these old gits doing up there playing new songs?” It was really good fun, and nice meeting Martyn Ware and Glenn Gregory again, I hadn’t seen them for a while.

When we were doing festivals before, you’d go on stage, come off and Rory Gallagher would go on. It’s a bit different now and there’s a load of them!

Any DEPECHE MODE or YAZOO themed tribute planned?

You’ve just given me a great idea! I went round to Vince’s years ago, he got out one of those holographic records and we tried it with the headphones on. With me, it was like having your haircut with a swarm of bees round your head! Maybe I’ll recreate that moment *laughs*

We’re looking forward to it but we’ve got a heck of a drive! I looked at our tour schedule, we’ve got Newcastle-Glasgow-BASILDON!!! You’re asking me if I’ll do a tribute? You’ll be lucky if I’m standing up… I might have to sit down doing the whole bloody set!! I think that night, I’ll play keyboards and you can hear somebody else singing! *laughs*

What next for BLANCMANGE and yourself?

We’re thinking of putting out an EP, perhaps on a USB stick, but also we may do a limited edition of our first EP ‘Irene & Mavis’ which is not around anymore. We’ve had it digitised. We’ve got festivals coming up. We had some really good times at Sinners in Belgium last year. That was good fun, they really looked after us so I’m looking forward to all that. There’s talk of us going out to America.

I know we’ve talked about this retro thing but I think in the Autumn, we’re looking at doing a classic album in its entirety which might be ‘Happy Families’. They’re looking at doing a short tour of that and I think it would be good fun to do. I quite fancy doing ‘Mange Tout’ to be honest, but I have a feeling we’ll probably do the first one and see where it goes. We’ll certainly take that to Germany as well.

I’ve got a side project I’m working on with FFINCE & ODDGER. I was talking to the lads from KOMPUTER about doing something. I’m also looking at having a chat with CAGE & AVIARY who I love. You got to get their new album Migration, there’s some great dubby and four-to-the floor stuff going on there. I was speaking to John Luongo who we did ‘Blind Vision’ and the second album with the other day, he wants me to go and see him in America.

I’m sure they’ll be another BLANCMANGE album but I’d quite like to do some remixes. A really interesting thing happened, I came across a tape from 1980 and it’s got songs that nobody’s ever heard. The only one that ever came out was the original ‘Sad Day’ which went on the ‘Some Bizarre Album’. They’re recordings on a 4-track. We’ve had that digitised, it’s on the computer and it might get some attention.

There’s things like ‘I Would’ and the original versions of ‘Waves’, ‘I Can’t Explain’ and ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ minus a verse!! It’s got a verse missing while there’s no histrionics on ‘Waves’! There’s a bit of ‘Waves’ that I’ve always had difficulty with. I remember somebody said “why don’t you do that bit, you don’t sing it like you used to?” and I said “I don’t have to, it’s my bloody song!”… I said to Stephen the other day that I wished we’d never written it! *laughs*

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Neil Arthur

Special thanks to Stuart Kirkham at 9PR

BLANCMANGE’s 2012 tour includes:

Newcastle O2 Academy (2nd May), Glasgow ABC (3rd May), Blackburn Darwen Library Theatre (9th May), Liverpool O2 Academy (10th May), Leeds Brudenell Social (11th May), Leamington Spa Assembly Rooms (18th May), Birmingham O2 Academy (19th May), Wolverhampton Slade Rooms (20th May), Milton Keynes Wavendon The Stables (21st May), Oxford O2 Academy (24th May), London Islington Academy (25th May)

http://www.blancmange.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th March 2012

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2017 ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK | Email: theelectricityclub@googlemail.com
Privacy Policy

Up ↑