Needle Time

  Sven Wunder - Eastern Flowers [PP1001 SWE 2020 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released as  Doğu Çiçekleri in 2019, Eastern Flowers was the debut album by Swedish composer/multi-instrumentalist Sven Wunder who takes us on a journey across the Bosphorus and all points east.  Best described as Turkish inspired lounge exotica blended with funky jazz, Wunder lays down 13 instrumental works inspired by his travels, all self-composed, self-produced and self-performed. The Swede ensures all his albums are available in strict limited numbers, this version was just a run of 300 for the US market - expect to pay around $200US for originals and upwards from $75 for this edition. If you are lucky you may find an online retailer who has not  yet discovered how collectable these records have become. Chili sauce, salad? A1 Black Iris A2 Tulip A3 Magnolia A4 Lotus A5 Lily A6 Red Rose B1 Hibiscus B2 Magnolia (reprise) B3 Morning Glory B4 Chamomile B5 Hyacinth B6 D...

  Poppi UK - Poppi UK [ELP 198538 NLD 1985 24-Bit FLAC] The second release from Poppi UK was this raucous five track mini-album, harder and darker than their debut, we encounter front man Ger Laning in full Mick Lynch does early Nick Cave territory. Actually, on first listen, you could be forgiven for thinking that these five tracks of grunge-garage noise were in fact some lost pre- Junkyard Melbourne band recordings or some unreleased work by Shock Headed Peters.  For Rob.... again! A1 Evil Mind Catcher A2 Dog Called Loneliness A3 G.M.A. 2 B1 Riot B2 Walk Man Walk

  Poppi UK - Walk On The Water [RCS 568 NLD 984 24-Bit FLAC] From a bizarre world where Gang Of Four did Beefheart with a bit of The Cravats thrown in for good luck, came Nijmegen's twisty & jerky new-wave band Poppi UK. It would be a few years before Poppi UK broke into the UK indie market courtesy of a John Peel session and re-imagined debut album on the Dead Man's Curve label.  Walk On The Water was their original Dutch debut album, thankfully sung in English for those who struggle with their Dutch language. Poppi UK were never going to set the world alight, whoever they did prove that folks in the low countries possessed a sense of humour after all those gloomy Belgian coldwave bands. Poppi UK will eventually go down in history as the band who pre-stumped Stump! For Rob! A1 Poppi UK A2 Disco Soweto A3 The Fire Consuming Your Heart A4 Happy People A5 Great Man's Apes B1 Ramadan B2 Crusaders B3 Dig A Hole B4 Ghosts B5 Multi-Purpose Coffin

  Yellow Magic Orchestra - Public Pressure [ALR-6033 JPN 1980 24-Bit FLAC] Recorded at London's The Venue, LA's Greek Theatre and New York's Bottom Line, Public Pressure was a live album marking Yellow Magic Orchestra's first tour outside of Japan. This a rip of my pristine Japanese original pressing, released on Alfa Records in 1980. YMO's live line-up at the time was the six piece of Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yukihiro Takahashi, Hideki Matsutake, Akiko Yano and Kazumi Watanabe. Guitarist Watanabe had fallen out with Alfa Records, so insisted that all the live guitar parts were disappointingly mixed out of the final release. A1 Rydeen A2 Solid State Survivor A3 Tong Poo A4 The End Of Asia B1 Cosmic Surfin' B2 Day Tripper B3 Radio Junk B4 La Femme Chinoise B5 Back In Tokio

  Takeru Muraoka & His New Group - Soft Landing [NAS-2073 JPN RSD 2020 24-Bit FLAC] I occasionally reserve the Sunday evening slot for something from the expansive Japanese jazz archives and tonight is no different. Originally released (and never repressed) on the Seven Seas label in 1978, saxophonist Takeru Muraoka's Soft Landing was another of those extremely rare albums of cutting edge Japanese funky jazz groove. It was finally repressed as part of the HMV Japan Jazz Reality Series for RSD2020. Prepare to be blown away by the magnificent  Hot Wing . A1 Ode To Naska A2 Hot Wing A3 May Storm A4 Lady Boogie B1 Snappin' B2 Ami B3 Quaser B4 Bon Voyage

  Cabaret Voltaire - Crackdown • Just Fascination [CVS 1-12 UK 1983 24-Bit FLAC] We lost Richard H. Kirk this week. As a small tribute, here - in my mind - is Cabaret Voltaire's finest moment ever on vinyl. Co-produced by John Luongo, these two eight minute tracks marked a significant shift in the duo's sound; clean and stripped back, broody and dark, yet funky and tight. A1 Crackdown B1 Just Fascination Someone somewhere...... ...cracks down ....and then also publishes a full spectrum 32-bit 176.4 kHz version.

  David Bowie - Heroes [DB 77822 UK 2018 24-Bit FLAC] Torn between my original (quite flimsy & crackly) 1977 UK RCA pressing and this 2018 remaster pressed onto 180gm by Parlophone, I have decided to give the modern day mastering of Heroes an outing. The high quality thick card sleeves and reproduction ephemera make these new pressings an attractive proposition for Bowie-heads. More regular readers may know of the issues that I originally had with the Low re-press, I've learnt from my mistakes, therefore I now feel confident to present Heroes . A1 Beauty And The Beast A2 Joe The Lion A3 Heroes A4 Sons Of The Silent Age A5 Blackout B1 V-2 Schneider B2 Sense Of Doubt B3 Moss Garden B4 Neuköln B5 The Secret Life Of Arabia Click on the above for more detail (If you like this sort of thing)

  Neon - Rituals [SPITTLE 15LP ITA 2010 24-Bit FLAC] Marcello Michelotti's Neon came from Firenze in Tuscany, Italy and released ten singles & one album between 1980 and 1988. Here is a 2010 rerelease their splendid 1985 darkness-tinged synth-ital-wave album Rituals  re-ripped this week to 24-bits of high resolution FLAC.  Revered as an Italian-wave classic, Neon harks back to a time when goth bands were beginning to peek out from behind the shadows learning to embrace the synthesizer and a wider audience. The roots of Neon combine British post-punk and European darkwave, building in sequencer rhythms and synthetic strings, with a shift to more and more electronics as the years progressed. Rituals hits the middle ground and Last Chance especially is one of the three wonderful opening tracks which go a long way to hook in any fan of the genre.  This re-rip certainly brings this great album to life. Some of you out there will really like this, enjoy! A1  Ru...

  Thundercat - Drunk [BF064 UK 2017 24-Bit FLAC] Time for one more mean bassist - Stephen Bruner was once bass player in LA skate-metal-punks Suicidal Tendencies, these days he now goes my the name Thundercat and wants to turn the listener's perception of soul/funk/jazz on it's head. This album will make you dizzy with its complexities, twists & turns and blends of style.  Thundercat could well be the bastard son of Frank Zappa and George Clinton.  Pressed onto four individual red vinyl 45rpm ten inch records, each in its own sleeve, this is the album which brought Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins out of retirement and proves how good vocalists can actually be without the need for auto-tune. Thundercat also has a pretty decent voice. I don't care much for Kendrick Lamar who appears alongside modern soul voice-for-hire Pharrell Williams. Don't worry too much, this is not strictly a soul record, it challenges and deceives, it then does more than just enough...

  Stanley Clarke - School Days [P-10239A JPN 1976 24-Bit FLAC] Whilst I despise the sight (& sound) of guitarists screeching and stretching their top strings with curled upper lips in rock poses, I do love the sound of a mean bass player and Stan is as good as they come. Clarke chose to pluck rather than slap in a unique style which comes to the fore on the excellent title track and the very funky Hot Fun . This is my copy of an immaculate & original 1976 Japanese pressing ripped here to gorgeous 24-bits of FLAC with virtually no audible noise floor or residual crackle.  A1 School Days A2 Quiet Afternoon A3 The Dancer B1 Desert Song B2 Hot Fun B3 Life Is Just A Game

  A Certain Ratio - I'd Like To See You Again [WSTUMM 409 UK 2020 24-Bit FLAC] I know that I said that I would avoid the coloured vinyl Mute remasters of the ACR back catelogue when I posted my rip of my well worn 1982 Factory Records pressing back in December 2020, but I relented and sent the band £20 for this white vinyl black & white edition ...purely for research purposes of course! The problem is that Mute don't seem to care about the quality of vinyl used these days and this experiment was a test of how the SBooster power supply would give enough 'umph' so that I could drop down a step on the phono amp decibels and hence, possibly, lower the noise floor. To a degree it worked and this remaster certainly punches around the right areas but the vinyl rumble is still noticeable, mostly around Hot Knights for some bizarre reason.  My next post will reveal how well this method works on a far superior 1976 Japanese pressing of an album by another artist. I'd Lik...

  Days Of Sorrow - Whatever Happens [DW 019 ESP 2018 24-Bit FLAC] Released in late 2018 on a small Spanish label then almost immediately deleted (I strangely have two copies of 215 pressed), Whatever Happens is a compilation of the limited recordings by Anglo-German synthwavers Days Of Sorrow. Best known for the single, Wild World ...which never sold at the time, however is now revered as a classic of the genre by smart young things who have been digging up lost gems.  Wild World is a good song with a great hook, however despite two attempts with two line-ups over two labels in 1984 and 1986, it failed to set the world alight and quickly disappeared into obscurity. These days original copies fetch large sums, hence I suppose this limited edition of about 200 pressings will do just the same. Days Of Sorrow were very 1982, sounding very British and perhaps a little behind the times, however they did good things and across the piece this album is an enjoyable listen, especial...

  Joy Division - An Ideal For Living [JDPM 11 UK RSD2014 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released as a 7" EP on Enigma Records in 1978. Rushed out from a newly cut master for RSD 2014, I though this record needed to be revisited in search of an improved rip. Most of us weren't lucky enough to buy the original genuine release back in 1978, or the band's 12" repress from later that same year, so were grateful for this. These were the self-financed tracks laid down at Pennine Studios in December 1977, so were never going to be sonically spectacular, however this is a marked improvement on my first rip a few years back. It is all about No Love Lost for me, though I do personally prefer the more polished May 1978 version recorded at Arrow Studios, bootlegged regularly as The RCA Sessions . A1  Warsaw A2  No Love Lost B1  Leaders Of Men B2  Failures

  Keith LeBlanc - Major Malfunction [WR 005 UK 1986 24-Bit FLAC] Sugarhill session drummer Keith LeBlanc met producer Adrian Sherwood in New York in the early-mid eighties, forming a musical partnership along with fellow Sugarhillers Doug Wimbish and Skip MacDonald to become the musical backbone of Mark Stewart & The Maffia, Tackhead and Fats Comet. They also created the famous Malcolm X single which disappointingly was their only commercial success.  Sherwood's heavy dub and sampling production skills manipulated the funk/hip-hop creations from the New York threesome into the most explosive and grinding music ever recorded, well beyond those original LeBlanc/Wimbish/MacDonald performances on White Lines , The Message and  Rapper's Delight. Major Malfunction is not a Keith LeBlanc solo record, it is another product of the quartet's unique sound, it is also a Tackhead and a Fats Comet album. I want you to get this! A1 Get This A2 Major Malfunction A3 Heaven O...

  Cocteau Twins - Victorialand [CAD 602 UK 1986 24-Bit FLAC] Recorded without Simon Raymonde, Victorialand was the fourth Cocteau Twins album, released in the UK as a 45rpm pressing. My copy is an original and after a bout of deep groove cleaning, I now feel confident enough to produce a rip. This is the Scottish couple's most stripped back record, with very little percussion, drum machine or otherwise. I recall Rough Trade initially selling this in to dealers as an acoustic 'unplugged' album, it is actually far from acoustically unplugged, however Robin Guthrie's sonic constructions are amongst the band's very best, especially on delightful moments like Little Spacey . Enjoy! A1 Lazy Calm A2 Fluffy Tufts A3 Throughout The Dark Months Of April And May A4 Whales Tails B1 Oomingmak B2 Little Spacey B3 Feet-Like Fins B4 How To Bring A Blush To The Snow B5 The Thinner The Air

 David Bowie - Low [DB 77821 UK 2018 24-Bit FLAC] I am shortly about to disappear for about ten days, but before I go I thought I should put something right, which I totally screwed up back in June 2020. Like all shoddy workmen, I blamed my tools and the quality of the source material. I was still getting used to a moving coil cartridge and relied on the basic MC switch on a Cambridge phono amp - how foolish! Roll on just over a year, add a more knowledgeable ripper, a very nice Japanese diamond, a decent tube phono amp which can be adjusted and a SBooster kick in the voltage ....and here are the new results. I always feel cautious about ripping a classic album and letting a wide audience hear the results. You expose yourself to the vultures who trawl the web looking to make a living with threats over legal actions ...or overly critical audiophiles who raise their badly trimmed eyebrows when you post in anything less than 24/192 (you know who you are). This is the 2018 repress on ...

  The Jam - This Is The Modern World [2383 475 UK 1977 24-Bit FLAC] Two albums in one year, two Jam albums in two days... These days it is rare for a band to release two albums in one year (current London soul band Sault have recently broken that mold), The Jam achieved this in May & November 1977, and whilst  This Is The Modern World was never considered classic Jam at their best, it is an album scattered with occasional classics. Any album which includes the title track/opening single The Modern World , Standards and two much over-looked Weller greats (well in my opinion anyway), Life From A Window which nods with respect towards The Kinks & Small Faces, and then the power-pop energy of Here Comes The Weekend needs to be enjoyed. Then of course there is  I Need You (For Someone)  which was possibly the first genuine Weller sentimental love song. The sleeve suggests that this is a much more casual album than it's sharp-suited predecessor and The Jam were ...

  The Jam - In The City [2383 447 UK 1977 24-Bit FLAC] Now we come to an album that I grew up with - I wasn't buying much vinyl in '77 (I was ten years old) but by the time of Sound Affects and Going Underground, I was a solid Jam fan. I was never a mod as defined by the genre, however there was something in the young Paul Weller's teen frustration vibe that struck home with me. I bought everything ....and I mean everything, however my collection has slimmed down a bit over the years, much like my attitude and unlike my waistline. Put aside the, at times, dubious R&B elements of early Jam and the threesome clearly pick up the mantle where Pete Townsend and The Who left off nearly ten years previously. Whereas The Who were growing their hair and exposing their chests, The Jam were smartly presented, well drilled and turned out high velocity pop-punk-new wave-soul like no other band of their generation ...and very probably any since. This is my precious copy of their deb...

  Makoto Kubota & The Sunset Gang - Hawaii Champroo [WWSLP57 FRA 2021 24-Bit FLAC] Makoto Kabota was once the guitarist in the Japanese take on The Velvet Underground turned noise terroroists, Les Rallizes Denudes. In between times he also recorded and released Japan only albums of his unique interpretations of psychedelic ragtime, Dixie and Hawaiian music. His chief partner in crime and joint-protagonist was Haroumi Hosono who played drums and also produced. Hawaii Champroo was recorded in Honolulu (a popular destination for the Japanese over the years) and originally released on the Showboat label in 1975. Let's just say, you have probably never heard anything quite like this before! Enjoy folks!! A1 Steel Guitar Rag A2 Moonlight Hula A3 Walk Right In A4 Shoka No Kaori A5 Hai-sai Ojisan A6 Itsu No Hi Omae Wa (I Love You So) B1 San Francisco Bay Blues B2 Shanghai Gaerl B3 Kokkyo No Minami (South Of The Border) B4 Bye Bye Baby B5 Oh Senor...

  Clock DVA - Thirst [DVR 19 UK 1985 24-Bit FLAC] Whilst the world waits for Adi & Mute to sort out a reissue campaign, and as promised a while back, here is the second pressing of Clock DVA's classic Thirst album, released in 1985 on Cabaret Voltaire's Doublevision label. This pressing is significantly better than my 1981 original on Fetish Records, further enhanced of course by my recent hardware upgrades. I have also invested in a SBooster BOTW MkII PCU - which is a serious upgrade to the very basic unit supplied with my Pro-Ject deck.  Every time that I rip this record, I hope that somebody out there discovers Thirst for the first time. This album is a unique listening experience and there is nothing else quite like what Adi Newton and his band of co-conspirators created. After their early more experimental works, Thirst was a significant landmark in the development of Clock DVA - the sequence of Blue Tone , North Loop and 4 Hours is, in my opinion, one of the fines...

  Psychic TV  & The Temple Ov Psychick Youth - Roman P. [SS 33009 FRA 1984 24-Bit FLAC] Here is the second of two singles sent over from a blog follower in Germany. Thank you again! From the famous Sordide Sentimental label comes the original version of Psychic TV's "tribute" to film director Roman Polanski. This version is much more restrained than the eventual single released a few years later in the UK, although the subject matter is still as terse, no matter how gentle the GPO voice. The flipside comprises a double grooved track comprising a statement on religion by a TOPY spokesman and/or a Charlie Manson - Jim Jones cut-up. All neatly packaged inside a large card sleeve with booklet etc. A1 Roman P. (Short Version) 6:24 B1 Neurology (TOPY Spokesman) B2 Neurology (Charles Manson & Jim Jones)

  Ski Patrol - Agent Orange [MD2.45 UK 1980 24-Bit FLAC] Just the one post today and it's a goodie. Courtesy of a generous benefactor in Germany comes the classic post-punk single Agent Orange from Ski Patrol.  The single is quite literally a grower - the volume gently builds throughout to a crescendo of brooding post-punk before coming to a very sudden stop. You could be forgiven for thinking this was an early single by The Sound, lead singer Ian Lowery (a future Folk Devil) does sound much like Adrian Borland. For those who prefer things at a higher velocity, you should check out Driving on the flipside. A1 Agent Orange B1 Driving

  I have been clearing back some old files from my Mega account to make way for future rips. Apologies to those who have requested re-posts of old rips but time and space are both somewhat tight right now. The majority of albums will be re-ripped (a few already have been), so please stick around. At the moment all links from January 2020 to date remain live, so if you need anything, now would be a good time to get digging as some of these will be cleared back in a week or so. I hope to have a rush of posts up until the end of this week, then I'll be taking a brief hiatus before we get into the Autumn (that's the Fall to our American friends) ripping season. 

  Various Artists - Windham Hill Records Sampler '88 [371065-1 UK 1988 24-Bit FLAC] Morning! Here is something to induce a gentle start to the week. I've regularly praised the work of Dutch ambient label Music From Memory in these pages but here is a sampler from the label which championed ambient music back in the seventies and eighties. They called it 'new age' back then and to be honest, I thought most of the stuff generated coma-inducing dullness, however hey did make some great low-priced samplers which did just enough to hold your attention. This one features a chunk of their standard repertoire and any album which includes the Soft Verdict/Wim Wenders classic Close Cover needs attention. Windham Hill artists were ideal for the then new compact disc format, however the DMM mastering by the great Bernie Grundman works a treat on a less binary format like vinyl ...especially when it is clean ;-) A1 Schönherz And Scott - Wishing Well A2 W.A. Mathieu - Unseen Ra...

  Kimiko Kasai with Herbie Hancock - Butterfly [BEWITH028LP UK 2018 24-Bit FLAC] Sultry Japanese jazz voice Kimiko Kasai has released countless albums between 1970 & 1990, most of which never saw the light of day outside Japan. Her most famous recordings were with Herbie Hancock & Friends, released on Sony Japan in 1979. The Kyoto chanteuse and the Chicago ivory-tinkler combined for this album of seven Hancock standards, however for me, her belting cover of Stevie Wonder's As stands head and shoulders above the rest. British reissue/archive label Be With Records released this wonderfully mastered repress a few years back and this rip with my Hana Shibata SL is one of my finest rips. Just perfect for any lazy Sunday evening. Enjoy! A1 I Thought It Was You A2 Tell Me A Bedtime Story A3 Head In The Clouds A4 Maiden Voyage B1 Harvest Time B2 Sunlight B3 Butterfly B4 As

  Moonpie - Moonpie [PLP-6799 JPN 2021 24-Bit FLAC] Japanese reissue label P-Vine Records has been digging deep into the archives for its Groove-Diggers series and pulled out a real obscurity which is highly worthy of a rip. The only album by Alabama funk seven-piece Moonpie was originally released on the Lanark Records label in 1977 and original copies are as rare as rocking' horse poop. Expect eight funk/soul standard workouts, mostly cover versions of stuff by Tower Of Power, Stevie Wonder, Brothers Johnson, Creative Source, The Commodores and a couple of the band's own compositions, plus a bizarre out-of-place cover of Steely Dan's My Old School . I noticed a few sections of secondary crackle during my preparation of this rip, which likely suggests that some of the original master tapes may be lost forever. A1 Ebony Jam A2 Do You Wanna A3 Sunshine Of My Life A4 My Old School B1 Funny Feeling B2 Cold Duck Time B3 I'll Be Good To You B4 Can't Hide...

  Was (Not Was) - Wheel Me Out b/w Where Did Your Heart Go? [12 WIP 6716 UK 1981 24-Bit FLAC] So what really 'Was' the a-side?  Where Did Your Heart Go was the seven inch single taken from the Was (Not Was) debut album whereas Wheel Me Out is the full disco length version of a track from the important Mutant Disco compilation album. I know which track I prefer, and that happens to be the lead track according to the sleeve. Thanks as always for penguinflight for his generously donated platters from which this brand new rip is taken. A1 Wheel Me Out (Long Version) AA Where Did Your Heart Go?

  Public Image Limited - Seattle [VS 988-12 UK 1987 24-Bit FLAC] More rebel pop-rocking from Johnny and the boys, Bill Laswell had moved on therefore former Art Of Noiser Gary Langan assumed production duties. Seattle was the lead single from Happy -era PiL who also featured the late guitar journeyman John McGeoch. A1 Seattle B1 The Suit B2 Selfish Rubbish

  Wire - Pink Flag [PF11LP UK 2018 24-Bit FLAC] Alright, here it is... again. And it's called... Only one band on the planet have consistently and continually (okay ...with the odd hiatus) developed then turned out great music true to their original roots. Wire have full control of their back catalogue and this is where it all began, ripped from the repress edition on their own Pink Flag label. A1 Reuters A2 Field Day For The Sundays A3 Three Girl Rhumba A4 Ex Lion Tamer A5 Lowdown A6 Start To Move A7 Brazil A8 It's So Obvious A9 Surgeon's Girl A10 Pink Flag B1 The Commercial B2 Straight Line B3 106 Beats That B4 Mr. Suit B5 Strange B6 Fragile B7 Mannequin B8 Different To Me B9 Champs B10 Feeling Called Love B11 1 2 X U

  Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technodelic [MHJL-80 JPN 2019 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released on Alfa Records around the world in 1981, Yellow Magic Orchestra's most experimental album Technodelic  was remastered to vinyl by Bob Ludwig and Bernie Grundman as part of the Great Tracks vinyl reissue campaign in Japan.  Here for your pleasure is that record, on which YMO strip back to the basic three piece aided by Hideki Matsutake on technical duties. Many consider Technodelic to be the first use of samplers ever committed to a vinyl album - technically innovative, the album set the bar which many others followed with its consistent use of loops & samples performed on a Toshiba LMD-649 sampler. alongside Roland TR-808 and a Prophet-5 synthesizer. The results are very stripped back & minimal, verging at times on the avant-garde, making Technodelic an intriguing listen, even more so these days when you consider its place in the timeline of electronic music. A1 Pure...