Needle Time

The Misunderstood - Golden Glass [TSS LP1 UK 1984 24-Bit FLAC] This will be my last post for a few weeks as I am off doing other stuff, so here is an old rip from my ESWA days which has always been one of my personal favourites... Out of Riverside, California came The Misunderstood, who had a big hand up from John Ravenscroft (as he originally was known). Under Peel's mentoring they came to the UK in 1966, where they became part of the London psychedelia scene rubbing shoulders with The Pink Floyd and The Move. The original Cherry Red Records started a small reissue campaign in the early eighties, with the appearance of I Unseen on the Pillows And Prayers compilation. Their greatest contribution to popular music can be found on side A track two. Play loud! See you back here around mid-July, in the meantime, have a delve into these pages - there over 750 high quality rips so far, chat among yourselves, dig out something here that you've never heard before - you may well enjoy...

Lou Reed - Transformer [INTS-5061 NLD 1982 24-Bit FLAC] You will pay good money for a pre-1980 pressing of Transformer , this isn't one, this is a 1982 Benelux pressing as part of RCA's Rock Originals campaign and it is allegedly sourced from the label's original master recordings. Closer investigation shows that this is actually a re-labelled 1979 pressing as the catelogue number NL-14807 and original matrices are etched in the dead wax. It worries me what modern day mastering has done to Transformer , it is one of those albums which has a very unique feel with an almost subdued production, any tinkering or compression around the higher frequencies would likely ruin the listening experience. I'm pleased with the results of this rip and am also glad that I resisted any need for amplification. A1 Vicious A2 Andy's Chest A3 Perfect Day A4 Hangin' Round A5 Walk On The Wild Side B1 Make Up B2 Satellite Of Love B3 Wagon Wheel B4 New York Telephone ...

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico [V6-5008 USA 2000 24-Bit FLAC] The first of two albums I once owned earlier pressings and offloaded those for eighties mid-price compact discs. I am not too sure which pressing of this iconic record is the best - I'm sure there are many opinions - almost as many late seventies and eighties alternative rock bands were influenced by the contents. I'm also not sure if any digital remasters would sound too good. Warhol's rough and ready production is almost the perfect fit for Verve's Y2K dodgy repress! A1 Sunday Morning A2 I'm Waiting For The Man A3 Femme Fatale A4 Venus In Furs A5 Run, Run, Run A6 All Tomorrow's Parties B1 Heroin B2 There She Goes Again B3 I'll Be Your Mirror B4 Black Angel's Death Song B5 European Son

Love - Forever Changes [8122797115 USA 2012 24-Bit FLAC] As summer breaks out across the northern hemisphere, here is a little psychedelic Los Angeles sunshine for your listening pleasure. I was late to the party with love, my first purchase of this album was a 1987 mid-price compact disc reissue made with old fashioned AAD technology. I was attracted to this 2012 pressing on vinyl as Rhino claim to have used the analog master rather than any of the digital remasters which have been used before (and after).  Whilst the 2015 remaster used for high resolution download websites sparkles, it does sound very different as the space and separation from the original is mostly lost. This pressing stays closer to the original, it is quiet, wide and spacious with a good deal of independence between the channels, thus maintaining most of stereo separation of the original. Normalisation is not an option when working with this type of production. I always feel nervous posting my rips of classic...

Pere Ubu - Datapanik In The Year Zero [RDR 1 UK 1978 24-Bit FLAC] Cleveland's finest were introduced to the British listener with this five track EP compiling those early American singles and b-sides in excellent quality. I've used my original files, from penguinflight 's vinyl, for the January 2017 post on ESWA and cleaned them up considerably. Enjoy! A1 Heart Of Darkness A2 30 Seconds Over Tokyo B1 Cloud 149 B2 Untitled B3 Heaven

Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance [ROUGH 22 UK 1981 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released on Blank Records (001) in 1978 and then Mercury Records in Europe and the UK that same year, this is the second UK release on Rough Trade Records in 1981. The continual line-up changes in Pere Ubu over the years tell us that David Thomas could well be a difficult man to work with. Ripping this record turned out to be one hell of a job too, I began several years ago weeding out much of the background crackle caused by a flaw covering about a fifth of side two. I kept walking away from the wav files and at one stage literally gave up and almost deleted my rips - some of you may recall I did promise this rip back in the old ESWA blog days and eventually was able to share this on ESWA 2.0 in November 2017. My work is complete and here are the results of my restoration, to say I am quite pleased with it is quite an understatement. I have the reissue cd from 2005 as well but don't think the modern remastering...

The Blow Monkeys - Limping For A Generation [PL 70395 UK 1984 24-Bit FLAC] I've been planning a new rip on a decent deck of one of my favourite pop albums from the eighties for quite a while. Limping For A Generation is actually more mod-psychedelic-jazz-soul pop than the usual mainstream snackage, aided and abetted by a splendid RCA pressing and a slick Pete Wilson production. Here it is and I think it is one of my best rips. I don't read much music press these days, but I have strong memories from when The Blow Monkeys first caught press attention. The NME in particular were notorious for building up an artist to a blaze of praise, then suddenly shooting them down as fallen stars just as they broke the mass market. Of those, Weller has righteously found his god-like status, but others like Kirk Brandon were never to recover. Robert Howard was also to suffer a similar fate, yet he and his Blow Monkeys were eventually to find fame, by which time the NME had discarded him as po...

Lunch - Let Us Have Madness Openly [MMR 32 USA 2015 24-Bit FLAC] Lunch hail from Portland, Oregon and led by the curiously named vocalist, Prometheus Wolf, they were at the forefront of the new American wave of retro-post-punk bands. This album has the feel of an early eighties release, even the distressed appearance of the cover art points to that era as well. Young Americans who chose to listen to early Cure, Joy Divsion, PIL and The Chameleons ....surely there can be nothing wrong with that? The decision to use raw, stripped-back production techniques with no modern trickery, helps this album stand out from a busy crowd and make it a big favourite on my turntable. The noisy clear vinyl pressing hinders during the random quieter moments...however this is good stuff and most of you should enjoy what Lunch did! A1 Marble Foyer A2 Flat Circles A3 Brand New Shirt A4 For Someone Else A5 Madness Openly B1 Not An Ocean B2 Pouring Light B3 The Witch's Apartment B4 Bad C...

Dead Kennedys ‎- Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables [BRED 10 / RR 9988 BEL 1981 24-Bit FLAC] This is my January 2017 rip as featured on the old ESWA blog. Back then I had it down as the UK pressing, however it seems that a sleeve mix-up has now revealed a copy of the Roadrunner pressing for the Benelux market with the extra track. From penguinflight 's boxes of delights. How ironic that the world is seeing similar scenes on its streets again.... As we are briefly loitering with intent in the punk arena and as recent TV news images seem to reflect the cover, here are some rotting veggies. Whilst working in a certain UK music chain store during the mid-late eighties, we were banned from stocking any records by Jello and the boys, even though this album achieved gold status through sales. Thankfully such random censorship has been stamped out these days, regrettably the sentiments and topics echoed in Jello's lyrics may well be just around the corner once more. A1 Kill The Poo...

Flux Of Pink Indians - The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks [SDL 13 UK 1984 24-Bit FLAC] These Indians were an anarcho-punk band and came from Bishop's Stortford, a quiet and pleasant market town on the Hertfordshire / Essex border - an affluent area of the UK and hardly a bastion of hardship and despair. During the late seventies and early eighties, the UK was a troubled country, inequality and poverty, fueled by the confrontational policies of the government led to strikes and riots. The country was also at war in the South Atlantic with Argentina. Whilst the original punk ethos was dead by 1978, the genuine second-wave of punk was anarcho-punk, led by bands such as Crass and a polar opposite to the far right-wing tendencies of other bands who adopted the "punk" genre. In the mid-eighties, then chief of Manchester Police, James Anderton (god's cop) ordered that his officers raid record stores and seize records by Crass and others under the Obscene Publications Ac...

Fools - Fools' Harp Vol.1 [MFM 047 NLD 2020 24-Bit FLAC] Fools is Californian multi-instrumentalist Chris Bear, whose day job is as part of eclectic American indie band, Grizzly Bear. Fools' Harp Vol.1 marks his first proper solo outing into ambient electronics for Dutch label Music From Memory. You can also find Bear's work contributing to the 4AD compilation EP,  Terrapin Station (Suite) . Fools' Harp blends ambient sonics, percussion, moody drone and distant spacey synths into forty-two minutes of improvised dreamy space. Each piece is very different - enough to keep your interest,  the titles are much like those mid-eighties Japanese albums of the same genre, or maybe even our own Dif Juz - the overall feel is current and modern. This work was a joy to rip from a delightfully packaged album. A1 Rintocco A2 Source A3 Aeg Old A4 Deefyfe A5 Snodae B1 Metaqua B2 Nnuunn B3 Terz B4 Dolpherde

Mark Springer - Piano [JAMS 46 UK 1984 24-Bit FLAC] Mark Springer was once part of Rip, Rig & Panic. When they split to form the more commercial Float Up CP, he rekindled his love for classical piano, in which he trained, and recorded this album of free-form jazz and modern classical compositions for the piano on Illuminated Records.  I promised this rip a while ago on another forum, this is my third attempt at a clean rip, aided by modern audio software, I think I may have achieved it. Despite the dodgy thirty-six year old Illuminated Records pressing, these fifteen self-composed works for the piano sound really good and are a fine testament to a man who remained true to his training and avoided the attractions of the hit parade. Springer has now gone on to to become a renowned composer and has worked on many film and television scores, establishing him as one of Britain's major piano talents. A1 Krix A2 Live Embers Disperse A3 The Kiss A4 A Stroke Of The Bow ...

Shriekback - Fish Below The Ice (Dance Mix) [SHRK 224 DJ UK 1985 24-Bit FLAC] My final Shriekback (for now) is this 24-bit rip of the single sided promo version of Fish Below The Ice single, again from penguinflight's boxes of singles. Set aside the meaningless catchy chorus, this track is saved by another huge Dave Allen bass line - everything else seems to get lost amongst all the remix fiddling. A1 Fish Below The Ice (Dance Mix)

Shriekback - Nemesis (Arch-Deviantmix) [SHRK 223 UK 1985 24-Bit FLAC] Another of penguinflight's Shriekback twelves coaxed from vinyl into 24-bit FLAC. So what can you get to rhyme with parthenogenesis...? I've always felt Shriekback began to get a bit silly from the Oil & Gold years as the other members took a back seat and allowed Barry Andrews more control. Anybody who has seen the XTC documentary This Is Pop will know what Andy Partridge thought about the keyboard player. For all you great big fishes out there. A1 Nemesis (Arch-Deviant Mix) B1 Nemesis (7" Version) B2 Suck (Live)

Shriekback - Working On The Ground [YT 104 UK 1983 24-Bit FLAC] Before I move on, here is the first of a few original Shriekback twelves from the old ESWA days, kicking off with the pounding Working On The Ground in its full five minute and seventeen seconds, ripped from penguinflight 's mint original pressing. A1 Working On The Ground B1 Nightwork

Ministry - Cold Life [WAX 003 USA 1985 24-Bit FLAC] As a blogger, I've regularly poked fun at Al Jourgensen and his post- Twitch incarnations of Ministry. This is a man who's career owes a great deal to Adrian Sherwood, Luc Van Acker and Richard '23' Jonckheere. This is the second generation pressing of his debut single, I'm Falling and Cold Life where he plucks away at the funkier edges of new wave, released on Wax Trax Records. The originals were also on Wax Trax and I have previously ripped the UK version, released in 1982 on Situation 2 Records. What went between was a brief career on Arista where he recorded new wave dance music with little success. Penguinflight 's copy of the Work For Love album is in the queue for the turntable, once I work out how to resolve a nasty warp. A1 Cold Life A2 I'm Falling B1 Primental B2 Cold Life Dub

Shriekback - Care [YLP 502 UK 1983 24-Bit FLAC] Some more highly acceptable business from Shriekback, Care was essentially their debut full length album. The band became masters of dark-funk whilst never setting the world alight, they were responsible for the superb Lined Up single which is well represented here. Clear Trails , Petulant , Into Method and Sway also made us pay attention. Evaporation was a hint at future soundtrack work to come.  Oochie Coochie Coochie Coochie ....Oochie Coochie Coo! A1 Lined Up A2 Clear Trails A3 Hapax Legomena A4 Petulant A5 Lines From The Library B1 Brink Of Collapse B2 Sway B3 Into Method B4 Evaporation B5 In: Amongst

Dislocation Dance - Midnight Shift [ROUGH 63 UK 1983 24-Bit FLAC] Staying in Manchester..... Dislocation Dance have featured here before when I covered their first two albums. Midnight Shift was their third and final long player, trusted to the Rough Trade label for release in 1983. This record is expansive, covering a variety of styles and genres, cramming twelve tracks over two sides, each one interesting in its own little way. From a band with post-punk roots, Dislocation Dance explore pop-tinged soul, indie-pop, dub, punk-funk, Bacharach and then take you on a cycle ride through the French countryside listening to Traffaut soundtracks. The title track is a dramatisation of the Donna Summer track Working The Midnight Shift , which differs greatly from the original, seemingly reflecting the subject matter of street prostitution better than the Moroder disco original. Show Me was the single and despite the best efforts of Dennis Bovell, failed to gather interest. I'm Doing Fine ...

Kalima - The Smiling Hour [FAC 87 UK 1984 24-Bit FLAC] Factory Records missed the chance to make The Smiling Hour a deserved hit single (sounds familiar) when they failed to capitalise on the mid-eighties growth of jazz-tinged soul by not releasing the track as a seven inch single. Artists such as Sade were breaking through and this track is just as good as her best work, possibly even better. Kalima were born out of The Swamp Children with help from Jezz Kerr, Andy Connell and Martin Moscrop from A Certain Ratio. Barrington Wilks and Salts (who portrays the male love interest in the video) from The Jazz Defektors provided the backing vocals. Lead singer, Ann Quigley was also a local artist, who designed sleeves for A Certain Ratio. The video for the single portrayed a dreary, black & white Manchester - Piccadilly Bus Station, Deansgate and Market Street by the Arndale, a city which comes to life at night. The band are seen to gather for the evening in the city's cramped Corbi...

Chakk - You / They Say [FON-T001 UK 1985 24-Bit FLAC] Once upon a time, Sheffield's Chakk were the great new indie hope, after a Peel Session and a debut single on the Cab's Doublevision label, they formed their own Fon Records label and released the powerful hybrid-funk of You . Driven by Mark Brydon's sharp slap bass, elaborate electronics and the soulful voice of second singer John Stuart, their second single won praise from most quarters and secured a deal with MCA Records. The rest was history! I bought this single on release at Rough Trade Records in Ladbroke Grove, London and it has seen a lot of play. After a great deal of cleaning, I am pleased to present an almost flawless rip. The chosen sacrificial virgin dances herself to death.... A1  You (Mix 1) A2  You (Mix 2) B1  They Say (Mix 1) B2  They Say (Mix 2)

S.P.K. - Auto-Da-Fé [WULP 002 DEU 1983 24-Bit FLAC] The A-side of Auto-Da-Fé is essentially a compilation from the first three S.P.K. singles, although the punk rock track No More is overlooked. There was incredible power and intensity in the early singles, especially were distorted guitars mix it with power drills and pounding industrial percussion. There are disturbing moments like on Mekano and Slogun where the wall of noise is interrupted with Germanic distortions, much akin to a dalek rehearsing Hitler speeches. It is easy to forget S.P.K. were an Australian band. The B-side features three more up to date tracks, where Metall Field is in my opinion the band's best work. The use of sequencers induce a hypnotic early techno beat but fear not there is still plenty of metal percussion. This was very much a pre-cursor to the band's later work when they were signed to Elektra/Warners in search of a disco hit. Walking On Dead Steps , much like a techno equivalent of They W...

Shriekback - Tench [Y21 UK 1982 24-Bit FLAC] The original line up of  Barry Andrews, Carl Marsh and Dave Allen, augmented by their first drummer Brian Nevill were responsible for some damn fine work between 1982 and 1984. Shriekback blended post-punk funk and complicated experimentation into two albums (this was their first) and four singles for Disc O'Dell's Y Records label before getting a major deal with Arista Records.  The Y Records pressings tended to be cheap and fuzzy, not helped by the band's awkwards first attempts at self-production. This is evident in parts of this mini-album, however this just adds to the feel of the record. Thankfully they were to improve their studio craft further for the full length follow-up Care . Sexthinkone was their debut single and does feature but it is the splendid Accerations which easily stands out. The click track throughout Here Comes My Hand-Clap added to the challenges in mastering from my original UK vinyl pressing....

Savant - The Neo-Realist (At Risk) [POL 15/2000 USA 1983 24-Bit FLAC] I remain grateful to blog-follower Rob for introducing me to the works of Canadian instrumentalist Kerry Leimer, in particular his Seattle based ensemble Savant, who recorded in the Pacific Northwestern city at Tactical Studios between 1981 and 1983. A few years back, Rob sent over a compilation compact disc of Savant recordings, I vowed at the time to track down the original vinyl releases, which as I mentioned yesterday, this was eventually a successful trawl. A collector in Belgium held duplicate copies of both records and I negotiated them for a very reasonable price - nearly half the going rate on Discogs. These are very limited pressings on Leimer's own Palace Of Lights label and after some deep cleaning, I was able to coax these tunes from vinyl for your enjoyment. This album represents seven works of electronic loops and manipulations molded by a variety of Seattle musicians, led my master creator Leimer....

Kiem - Keam [TORSO 40003 NLD 1987 24-Bit FLAC] It is worrying sometimes when a band is labelled as jazz when clearly there is much more to their repertoire. Hence Kiem, which translates as 'germ' but really stands for Klank Improvisatie Elektronische Muziek, defy genrefication . Their term Klank Improvisatie Elektronische Muziek should give you a better idea of what you are about to hear. This is not jazz - think Blurt with melody, sequencers, and whole load of other bells and whistles - think Moroder meets DAF doing Charlie Parker playing ska.  Keam was their brilliant second album (first released in 1985) which was ripped as part of a crowd funded series of rips for blog follower Dutch Rob in 2016.  Just plug these eight pieces into your audio payer, sit back ....and let it all unfurl. There is a new genre here I am sure, somebody will come up with a name for it, but for now just enjoy.  A1 Moneyman A2 The Real It A3 Bahami A4 Short Memories B1 Clear It Up B...

Ghostwriters - Objects In Mirrors Are Closer Than They Appear [ZERO 1 NLD 1981 24-Bit FLAC] A much requested re-post of a rip of mine which has featured on a few other sites. I've cleaned it up a little, re-balanced the channels and recreated the files as 24/48 for those who like to preserve disc space. The sleeve of this obscure 1981 Dutch release just gives the wrong impression. You would be easily mistaken if you judged the contents by the cover – this is not a collection of eighties MOR pop. Followers of fine American experimental synthesized music will likely have heard of Philadelphia’s Charles Cohen – most of the rest of us will have not. Cohen alongside long time collaborator Jeff Cain were, for a very short period of time, Ghostwriters. This album is very European in feel, Ghostwriters are more Kraftwerk than Suicide, more Throbbing Gristle than The Residents, more Vice Versa than John Bender. Cohen and Cain take us on multi-layered minimalist synth journey through a vari...

Savant - Stationary Dance [POL. 09/2000 USA 1981 24-Bit FLAC] I was delighted recently to happen upon original copies of the only single and album by Kerry Leimer's Savant on vinyl for fair prices, helped by your donations. Stationary Dance is a frozen-funk work out taking its cue from post-punk-funk, much in the same vein as Eno/Byrne's The Jezebel Spirit . For me, I can only think of how A Certain Ratio or 23 Skidoo would have sounded if produced by Adrian Sherwood. Sensible Music demonstrates Savant's early experimentation which would be taken much further on their ground-breaking The Neo-Realist (At Risk) album in 1983. A1  Stationary Dance B1  Sensible Music

The Bushmen - Sweat It Out [UPT 11 UK 1985 24-Bit FLAC] I have been revisiting a few records from old ESWA blog posts which I think needed a re-rip, this is one of them. The enclosed press pack with this single says The Bushmen have supported Gary Glitter and Tina Turner on tour - well that should have be the nail in their coffin, Perhaps it was, as they were never seen of or heard from again, except for a couple of compilation obscurities. This is actually a really good record which will appeal to all my fellow indie-funkster fans. It's clear The Bushmen were stable mates in the Chakk or Slab! camp from 1985, and whilst Sweat It Out has a bit of a Chakk ring to it's title, they may have ruined it slightly with Youth's over-zealously mixed remix - perhaps in an attempt to harden their sound. The original untampered version on the b-side is considerably better. If you like hard throbbing funky bass lines, then the sample crazy Red Necks, White Socks  will be just up y...

The Wild Swans - Bringing Home The Ashes [925 697-1 USA 1988 24-Bit FLAC] Let's make up for that last dodgy Zoo Records rip with a new super clean 24-bit image taken from the US vinyl pressing of Bringing Home The Ashes on Sire Records, released to launch the second coming of The Wild Swans in 1988.  The band's original recordings were from the early eighties before Simpson formed Care with Ian Broudie and were much more post-punk than the late eighties lush indie-pop version of the band on Sire Records. Indie purists will likely struggle with Simpson's more commercial sound, but I really like this record and listening to it after all these years is like finding an old friend again. Young Manhood and Bible Dreams were singles, but it is the latter which is clearly the stand out track. Think of the catchy hooks of New Order's Regret recorded five years before the argumentative Manc pioneers and you'll be in the right kind of place. It's highly...

The Wild Swans - Revolutionary Spirit [12 CAGE 009 UK 1982 24-Bit FLAC] Following on from my recent Care post, here is the only single from the first coming of The Wild Swans. They managed a Peel Session before splitting shortly afterwards and lead singer Paul Simpson became the voice of Care before reforming The Wild Swans with a reduced line up when he fell out with Ian Broudie.  Here is a crackly (just at the beginning) Revolutionary Spirit . Both tracks are bloody wonderful, even if they sound as if they were recorded in one take on a tape deck in a rehearsal room. A1 Revolutionary Spirit B1 God Forbid

The Sugarcubes - Cold Sweat [12 TP 9 UK 1988 24-Bit FLAC] Icelandic indie darlings who were turning out the hits long before Sigur Rós were twinkles in their parents eyes. Put aside the more famous tracks like Birthday (for now), Deus and Motorcrash , Cold Sweat finds The Sugarcubes in full rock mode. Ripped from another penguinflight twelve, likely purchased in Covent Gardens Runaway Records! A1 Cold Sweat B1 Dragon B2 Traitor (Icelandic)

Two People - This Is The Shirt [12" POSPX 741 UK 1985 24-Bit FLAC] Here is a band who knocked on the lower echelons of the hit parade with that popular brand of grown up sentimental guitar pop. Unlike contemporaries The Blue Nile, Black, The Bible and perhaps even Talk Talk, they failed to find success and vanished after just three or four singles. Here is my favourite, This Is The Shirt . An album would have been quite special but it never happened. A1 This Is The Shirt A2 This Is The Day (Part 1) B1 Sister Sister B2 This Is The Day (Part 2)