Needle Time

  The Beloved - Happiness [NEW 9239LP UK 2020 24-Bit FLAC] Last ripped a few years back, I wanted to revisit this release. It is cut 'very hot' and a combination of my initial naivety and the noisy vinyl affected the end results. The Hana Shibata cartridge handled things much better than my old Ortofon and with all the subsequent hardware upgrades, I have put things right at 176.4kHz. One of my most anticipated reissues of 2020, was the new vinyl remaster of The Beloved's Happiness . I only bought the compact disc back in 1990 and it has remained one of my favourite pop albums, delivered by band I had followed closely since their original indie-rock roots. This release is cut digitally by John Davis from the originally analogue tapes. The pressing plant seems to wish to remain anonymous. The band's debut album followed chart success with the Hello single and Jon Marsh's cash cow, The Sun Rising . The original indie-pop foursome where now just down to Marsh (sporti...

  The Beloved - A Hundred Words [HARP 2T UK 1986 24-Bit FLAC] The other day, I decided to pull out all my original Flam Flam singles by The Beloved. After a dash of surfactant and a good wash, here are the results..... early Beloved at 176.4kHz, anybody? The Beloved sounded like a Factory Records band, but The Beloved were from London, so went their own way. This debut single seemed to take an eternity to get released and we all had to make do with home made tapes of the two Peel Sessions for what seemed like years, before we could buy The Beloved product. Mix melancholy with melody and you get a delightful bass driven indie-rock much like early New Order, The Wake and The Cure (before they went silly). I always thought Jon Marsh's vocal style was very similar to Caesar from The Wake, and those gentle plucked guitar melodies are wonderfully alike. I know they went onto significant commercial success as the original line up disintegrated before Warner's steered them from indie-...

The Beloved - X [0630-13316-1 LP+12 UK 1996 24-Bit FLAC] If Sweet Harmony was John Marsh's Joy Of Sex , then the final Beloved album X , surely has to be his Kamasutra . When Steve Waddington became the final of the three from four original members of London indie-pop band The Beloved to move on, Marsh took the band well beyond their roots into  Adam & Eve territory, accompanied by his wife Helen, and aided by a few well placed fig leaves and considerate camera angles, The Beloved were suddenly a pseudo-erotic techno-dance act. The Marsh voice suits the genre incredibly well and his smooth production skills, with a good deal of help from Trevor Horn's mate Mike Higham, lift this album ecstatically high above the many more mundane dance records of the period. It has been twenty-five years since Marsh had to get his kit off and lay around in a room full of naked models, much has changed since then however the good news for all Beloved devotees is that there are hints of ...

  The Beloved - Happiness [NEW 9239LP UK 2020 24-Bit FLAC] One of my most anticipated reissues of 2020, was the new vinyl remaster of The Beloved's Happiness . I only bought the compact disc back in 1990 and it has remained one of my favourite pop albums, delivered by band I had followed closely since their original indie-rock roots. The band's debut album followed chart success with the Hello single and Jon Marsh's cash cow, The Sun Rising . The original indie-pop foursome where now just down to Marsh (sporting a new floppy fringe) and guitarist Waddington, marking a dramatic shift into pop and dance music. The first two singles Loving Feeling (oddly missed from the album) and Your Love Takes Me Higher failed to return hits, however it was the immortally catchy Hello and The Sun Rising which would lead to Happiness booming from in-car compact disc players all over the land. Indie-synthpop lovers will always love I Love You More which would have been a better follow-up ...

The Beloved - Time After Time [YZ 482T SAM UK Promo 1990 24-Bit FLAC] We haven't had much from The Beloved for a while. I won't be loitering too long with the band's repertoire as Jon Marsh has been laboriously working on new digital releases via Bandcamp after finally extracting his work from Warners' sweaty palms. I've had this promo copy since my days working in music and it cleaned up well for an enjoyable rip. Enjoy ...but make sure you but something from The Beloved's new website . A1 Time After Time (Ross & Demelza) B1 Time After Time (Muffin Mix) B2 Time After Time (Through The Round Window)

The Beloved - Your Love Takes Me Higher / Awoke [NEW 8101 UK RSD 2019 24-Bit FLAC] I am becoming less and less enamored with the concept of RSD as the major labels flood the stores with stuff you don't really want at greatly inflated prices. This white label 12" stuck out from mass of tush this year as it was a one off pressing of a mid-period Beloved rarity (a band well covered on ESWA before) and ignoring the squelchy aceed remix of their second major label single, it's all about Awoke . The track is an original Waddington and Marsh composition from the sessions for Happiness , but never actually completed and released until now ...and well worth the tenner to add it to my collection. A1 Your Love Takes Me Higher (Evil Mix) AA Awoke