Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded September 1991.
My brother used to buy a lot of albums on cassette. Needs must: there was one family turntable in the lounge and both of us had cassette decks of varying quality in our bedrooms to soundtrack our teenage angst. My brother had gone to university, I'd just returned from a year in Australia, and this was a last opportunity to trawl through the boxes of tapes at our parents' house, before they were shipped off to join him or get stuck up in the loft for some undetermined period.
There was obviously some haste involved and/or a lack of blank cassettes as I didn't copy many albums in their entirety, but I did manage to pull together this compilation, a hybrid of my brother's tapes and the odd cassingle that I'd added to my collection. As with Side 2, posted last November, a varied and quite dark mix overall.
Laibach are, er, back with, er, Get Back. Clearly, they were were a big favourite at the time, with 3 out of the 21 songs in total. The previous selections were from Opus Dei, this one is the opener of their track-by-track cover of The Beatles' Let It Be. Both albums were available as a 'double play' cassette back in the day and I remember my brother blasting Laibach out of the car stereo, windows down, as we drove through the centre of Bristol, to the bemusement of most. Solid times.
It'll End In Tears by This Mortal Coil is also represented by 3 songs on this compilation. Fortunately, unlike Lisa Gerrard who was subject to a harsh edit on Side 2, both Howard Devoto and Elizabeth Fraser get to finish their songs. Covers of Big Star and Roy Harper, these were the first versions I heard and remain the definitive takes for me.
The The gets another excerpt from the unreleased album The Pornography Of Despair, one of 6 songs tacked on as a bonus side to the cassette version of the Soul Mining album. Like many of these songs, Waitin' For The Upturn was also released as a B-side.
In the mid-late 1980s, I had no idea really about Alison Statton, or her history with Young Marble Giants. To me, she was the voice of Weekend, who were kind of jazzy; they recorded an album with Keith Tippet live at Ronnie Scott's. Weekend were also capable of some really dark indie pop like Red Planes, featured here. I was inevitably drawn to the latter. Alison's voice still sends a shiver down my spine.
Troubling my sphincter was The Prisoner by Tears For Fears. The Hurting - which I still love - was a bleak, soul-searching debut that explored concepts that were completely over my head in 1983. The Prisoner was originally a B-side to second single Pale Shelter (a chart flop the first time around). Both were re-recorded for The Hurting to great effect, The Prisoner particularly benefiting from some screaming synth stabs.
Both Tears For Fears and The Icicle Works have covered Robert Wyatt's Sea Song. The latter is the better of the two, though neither really come close to the plaintive beauty of Wyatt's own version.
Lou Reed and John Cale reunited in 1990 for a tribute to departed friend Andy Warhol, a bit of a purple patch for both of them at the time. This is perhaps my favourite song from the Songs For Drella album.
Untitled by Marc & The Mambas is a real curio. The striking cover portrait of Marc Almond by Val Denham, the mix of original songs and covers, possibly my first introduction to Scott Walker and Jacques Brel. And then, on the cassette B-side, just three tracks: a Syd Barrett cover (Terrapin) and Twilights & Lowlifes in two eleven-and-a-half minute versions. I've gone for the first, vocal version here.
When I posted Side 2 last November, I mentioned that Side 1 could take a while due to the inclusion of a track from stalwarts of the 1980s Bristol live circuit, Renegade Flight. Your Cassette Pet! originally featured God Said, a track from one of their DIY cassettes that I picked up at a gig. As there's no immediate prospect of locating and digitising the tapes and God Said is currently unavailable online, I've opted for another song, Automation from roughly the same period. It's twice as long as God Said so the C90 running time is shot to pieces but I felt that Renegade Flight deserved a nod, sandwiched between Tears For Fears, Lou Reed and John Cale. Thanks, lads!
1) Get Back (Cover of The Beatles): Laibach (1988)
2) Holocaust (Cover of Big Star): This Mortal Coil ft. Howard Devoto (1984)
3) Red Planes (Album Version): Weekend (1982)
4) Sea Song (Cover of Robert Wyatt): The Icicle Works (1986)
5) The Prisoner (Album Version): Tears For Fears (1983)
6) Automation: Renegade Flight (1986)
7) It Wasn't Me: Lou Reed / John Cale (1990)
8) Waitin' For The Upturn: The The (1982)
9) Twilights & Lowlifes (Album Version): Marc & The Mambas (1982)
10) Another Day (Cover of Roy Harper): This Mortal Coil ft. Elizabeth Fraser (1984)
1982: La Varieté: 3
1982: Untitled: 9
1983: The Hurting: 5
1983: Uncertain Smile EP / Soul Mining (cassette): 8
1984: It'll End In Tears: 2, 10
1986 (?): Renegade Flight (gig-only cassette): 6
1986: Up Here In The North Of England EP: 4
1988: Let It Be: 1
1990: Songs For Drella: 7
Side Two here