Needle Time

The Durutti Column - Lips That Would Kiss [FACBN 2-005 BEL 1980 24-Bit FLAC] Vini Reilly on guitars, Martin Hannett on beatbox & production present to you the gorgeous sounds of early Durutti Column. Raise your glasses please to pure godlike genius. A1  Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone) B1  Madeleine

The (Hypothetical) Prophets - Around The World With The Prophets [ZUG LP 1 UK 1982 24-Bit FLAC] Historic Anglo-French synth-pomp weirdness from Bernard Szajner and Karel Beer which was resuscitated for reissue in 2016, but here is a rip from the original 1982 vinyl album.  A1  I Like Lead A2  Person To Person A3  Fast Food A4  The Fisherman's Friend B1  Around The World With The Prophets B2  The White Zone B3  On The Edge B4  Wallenberg B5  Back To The Burner B6  Terminal New York

Placebo - Placebo [MOVLP 1093 2018 24-Bit FLAC] Something else from Belgium ....however quite different. Originally released an a very rare vinyl album in 1974 on Harvest Records. Placebo was formed by Marc Moulin (out of Bruxelles francophone commune, Ixelles) in 1971 and has no connection with nineties cross-dressing alt.rock combo of the same name. Moulin went on to become a pillar of the Belgian music scene with Placebo, later as part of jazz-art-rockers Aksak Maboul (with Marc Hollander of The Honeymoon Killers) and then eighties synthwavers Telex. Placebo's third album was self-titled and strikes a solid jazz groove with heavy funk elements, so much so that its hard to believe this came out of Belgium and not New York, Chicago or Washington. File under essential. A1 N.W. A2 Plotseling A3 Bosso A4 Dag Madam Merci B1 Hop Hop B2 Tanga B3 Stomp B4 S.U.S.

Dole - The Speed Of Hope [LP BIAS 27 BEL 1986 24-Bit FLAC] Belgium's Dole had a little more longevity than many of the other bands to have featured here. Here is their excellent and only long player, produced by Adrian Borland of The Sound. If you didn't know, you would expect Dole to have been an English band because their sounds, their melodies and their sentiments are very British. In fact, if you could possibly imagine an album by The Chameleons produced by Adrian Borland ...then that should be enough to interest the majority of you.  Almost faultless. Enjoy. A1   Slumberland A2   The Dream A3   Maybe Tomorrow A4   I Say B1   Rumroad B2   A Day B3   Third Man B4   Satellite

After This - Fields [12 OPA 012 UK 1986 24-Bit FLAC] I can't say that I know much about After This, the sleeve says very little and internet research reveals nothing. This gentle and cheery synthpop single was produced by former Associate and Paul Haig collaborator Alan Rankine, and released on Les Disques du Crepescule's British subsidiary Operation Afterglow.  Fields evokes good memories of decent Scouse synth acts such as OMD or China Crisis, whereas the more mundane Hollow Hills on the flip-side does lack the sparkle of the A-side. Some may be interested to know that the runout groove is etched with a Crepescule catelogue number TWI 707. A1   Fields B1   Hollow Hills This is a new 2019 rip of a single originally featured on ESWA in October 2014.

The Wake - Talk About The Past [FAC 88 UK 1984 24-Bit FLAC] It is scandalous that Talk About The Past was never a hit .....blame praxis! A1 Talk About The Past B1 Everybody Works So Hard This is a cleaned up and re-balanced post of my December 2016 post on the ESWA blog.

The Wake - Something Outside [FBN 24 BEL 1983 24-Bit FLAC] There was a time when I proudly stated that this was my favourite single of all time. Now, approaching my mid-50's, I no longer make such brave statements, nor do I have any faves of all-time. Something Outside still, for me, ranks as one of the most wonderful records I have ever heard as those sublime guitar plucks with wide lush, washover keys and Caesar's sad but melodic voice still get the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. The dubby & spacious production by Oz McCormick is truly sublime. It is hard to believe he only ever produced three singles (all of them by The Wake). This is my July 2017 rip for the ESWA 2.0 forum which has now been re-balanced and cleaned up. A1 Something Outside B1 Host

The Wake - Harmony [FACT 60 UK 1982 24-Bit FLAC] The melancholic debut album by The Wake will always be a personal favourite as it evokes great memories of my youth discovering new and different music, plus I always preferred the sad songs. I am certainly not a down type of person however Caesar McNulty's voice seems to be such a gentile and unique fit to these sombre yet tender moments. Testament and An Immaculate Conception remain two of the finest tracks recorded on to a Factory Record.  Recorded at Strawberry Studios with Martin Hannett's right hand man, Chris Nagle assuming desk duties. A new rip from an original pressing for 2019 in 24-bits of FLAC. A1   Judas A2   Testament A3   Patrol A4   The Old Men B1   Favour B2   Heartburn B3   An Immaculate Conception

Minimal Compact - One By One [CRAM 021LP 1982 24-Bit FLAC] The story goes that Crammed Discs found a few boxes of unsold original pressings and let them slip out slowly into the retail market a few years back. Therefore this is an original pressing of this cold classic and if you believe the story, it is in mint condition. I used the cd reissue for my ESWA blog post back in June 2016, so please consider this a serious upgrade. The One By One sleeve does deceive with its re-enactment of what could be a seventies prog/folk sleeve. The first few seconds of music almost have the listener convinced of that too, but soon enough we are into some fine Belgian wave. They wavered from this their core sound in the coming the years, so for me as a fan of all things melancholic this was probably their finest moment. A1  Invocation (For Things To Come) A2  Cold Life A3  Take Me Away A4  It Takes A Lifetime A5  Disguise B1  Babylonian Tower B2  O...

Fold - Fold [FOLDFM 106A UK 2015 24-Bit FLAC] A few years back I set-up a very short lived pop-up blog covering my favourite releases at the time. I suppose I wanted to prove that I wasn't stuck in the seventies and eighties when it comes to my listening and purchasing preferences. One of those LP rips was this unique and limited distribution album from Yorkshire quartet, Fold. This album is funky, thought-provoking and sample heavy. Fold find a groove and hit home with topical lyrics, mixing rap and samples with real instruments. Imagine if Public Service Broadcasting packed away their synths and learnt how to play music in analogue. This is really rather good, enjoy! A1 A Reflection of Us All A2 A Victim's Mentality A3 Detroit Red A4 Mr President, We're In Trouble A5 The White Man B1 She B2 So It Goes B3 Oil-Powered Machine B4 Be Water My Friend B5 Two Past Midnight

C Cat Trance - Khamu (She Sleep Walks) [INK 6 UK 1985 24-Bit FLAC] It is interesting to acknowledge the current interest in C Cat Trance from those who may not have been around when the band were active. Some albums are now being re-released on compact disc, so to continue where we left off and as a comparison to the modern remasters, here is their second long-player ripped from an original vinyl.  Khamu is much more art-rock than ethnic-funk, a bit as if David Sylvian had gotten off the plane in Istanbul rather than Tokyo, if you get my drift. It is not their best work, I think the debut and the third album do more to challenge and entertain, however this record details a significant shift in influence and culture. No more so than on the important single,  (Screaming) To Be With You. A1   Puritaines A2   Barefoot Doctor A3   The New Hassan A4   (Screaming) To Be With You B1   Rattling Ghosts B2  ...

Chow-Chow - Hide [ANTLER 027 BEL 1984 24-Bit FLAC] The unusually named Chow-Chow were a post-punk band from Belgium who managed just one album before splitting and then reforming as the more prolific Won Ton Ton. There is much more here to appreciate than your usual low countries darkwave as these seven tracks reflect obvious musical connections to The Au Pairs, Siouxsie & The Banshees, New Order, The Cure and a whole cast of others from this side of the channel. Lead singer Bea Van Der Maat went on to be a TV personality and actress in her home country, however don't let that put you off, this is a great album and your host highly recommends the excellent Still as the stand-out track. Enjoy. A1   Mekka A2   Hide And Smile A3   Heaven Knows A4   Girl B1   Enemy Gods B2   The Best B3   Still

The Brian Marshall Orchestra - The Spy With The Platinum Heart [DN 2001 UK 1987 24-Bit FLAC] Slowly easing myself back in ....with something a little off piste! Some may remember the plethora of releases on the Bam Caruso label which appeared on my old blog many moons ago. This would have featured back then however issues with a dirty record held it back. I have finally gotten around to cleaning up the platter and can now present in 24-bit audio, the kitsch pseudo-soundtrack to a non-existent spy thriller movie, recreated in the style of John Barry by Bam Caruso in-house producer and multi-instrumentalist Brian Marshall. You will notice that The Silencers are mentioned in the credits, however I doubt these were the  well known Scottish twang-pop specialists from the eighties and more a reference to pistol mufflers. The album itself was planned for Bam Caruso Records, however eventually appeared on off-shoot label Disques Noir. Wheelpsin and Masquerade did appear as ...

Clock DVA - White Souls In Black Suits [EX 24 ITA 1982 24-Bit FLAC] A brand new rip for 2019. Whilst the pressing isn't great, this is the original 1982 Italian album with untampered audio and it really sounds a whole lot better than any CD, although the evident hiss suggests they used an Industrial Records cassette as the source. Most of you will already have this, but I'd say it is a huge upgrade from my previous attempts. If you haven't already heard this, then you are in for a treat. Seminal. A1 Consent A2 Discontentment (1&2) A3 Still / Silent A4 Non B1 Relentless B2 Contradict B3 Anti-Chance (Soundtrack; Keyboards Assemble Themselves At Dawn) More from me towards the end of February as I am taking a short break. That should give you all enough time to listen to my rips ....or perhaps you just collect them in a download folder?