TEECEEBEE II - Chasing the Blues Away

This all began with a comment on a December 2015 posting of Fad Gadget & Frank Tovey. 

 

On November 26 this year, D commented:
     "Hi, I have all the Fad Gadget albums, trying to find the 6 studios as Frank Tovey.
Any chance you have them? Thanks. D.".

To which I replied:
     "As far as Frank Tovey, I have Civilian & Tyranny & the Hired Hand as well as Frank Tovey & the Pyros - Worried Men in Second-hand Suits (& Grand Union which I found while digging things out of my garbage file dump). If you're interested in any of those, let me know."

D responded:
     "Yes anything by Tovey I would appreciate. Wiki shows he had 6 studios, I'll find them all eventually. I have a large collection so if you have been looking for anything let me know. Would love to return the favor. Thanks, D."

Well, as they say, that was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. I sent D a list of Bill Nelson titles I was searching for & he came up with 15!!!  Twelve from my want list & three that I wasn't even familiar with.

I reciprocated by sennding him a few things he was wishing for & I forsee a bright future in our tune trading. Swapping music through the cloud is fantastic. But full circle, here are the Frank Tovey items I promised, for D & everyone else here. Brumalia is fast upon us. 

 

Frank Tovey - Civilian, Mute CD STUMM 56, 1988.
all decryption codes in comments

New Jerusalem    
Ultramarine    
From the City to the Isle of Dogs    
Limelight / Curtains    
Bridge St. Shuffle    
The Brotherhood    
Diana    
Unknown Civilian    
Desperate Dan 

 

 

 

Frank Tovey - Tyranny & the Hired Hand, Mute CD STUMM73, 1989.

'31 Depression Blues
Hard Times in the Cotton Mill
John Henry / Let Your Hammer Ring
The Blantyre Explosion
Money Cravin' Folks
All I Got's Gone
Midwife Song
Sam Hall
Dark as a Dungeon
Men of Good Fortune
Sixteen Tons
North Country Blues
Buffalo Skinners
Black Lung Song
Pastures of Plenty
Joe Hill

 

 

 

 

 

Frabk Tovey & the Pyros - Grand Union, Mute 61034-2, 1991.

Bad Day In Bow Creek
When the Victim Takes the Tyrants Place    
Passing Through
Bethnal Green Tube Disaster    
Cities of the Plains    
Fallen Angel    
IKB (RIP)
The Liberty Tree    
One November Morning    
The Great Attractor

 

 

 

 

 

Frank Tovey & the Pyros - Worried Men in Second-Hand Suits, Mute CDStumm107, 1992.

Chasing the Blues Away
All That is Mine    
Just like Other Men
Only Doing Your Job    
Hey Bailiff
Crow's Nest Blues
Opportunity's Knocking
The Hermit of Hermes Point
You Won't Get That from Me
Doing Time    
Worried Man

Enjoy,
NØ

Back to Alphabet City

Got both Fad Gadget & Frank Tovey under F, so let's go.

Francis John (Frank) Tovey is Fad Gadget.

He was an early practitioner in the melding of New Wave & Industrial into skewed pop songs filled with his black-humor lyrics regarding dehumanization in the modern Industrial age & the mass media's enslavement of modern society.

Fad Gadget's music was synth-driven but augmented by the sounds of electrical appliances such as electric drills or razors. The vocals were satirically deadpan.


Fad Gadget was the first artist to sign to Daniel Miller's Mute Records. "Back to Nature" was recorded as the second Mute Records release at RMS Studio in London.

Fad Gadget – Back to Nature/The Box 7", MUTE 002, 1979.

Side A –

Back to Nature

Side B –

The Box

"Back to Nature" was a great success for Mute Records so the follow-up record titled "Ricky's Hand" was recorded. The recording included Tovey's wife, Barbara, singing a vocal part near the end of the recording; the vocal part is then mixed with a synthesiser part into the outro of the song.

Fad Gadget – Ricky’s Hand/Handshake 7", MUTE 006, 1980.

Side A –

Ricky’s Hand

Side B –

Handshake

By the time Frank/Fad recorded the album Fireside Favourites at Blackwing Studios, he had decided to record the album without Daniel Miller's assistance. He wanted the final say to be his alone. Tovey recorded two more albums for Mute at Blackwing, Incontinent & Under the Flag. During the recording of Under the Flag Frank began using a Roland MC-4 Microcomposer. This made it easier for him to create a more controlled style of music. This style was carried on with the recording of the album Gag.


The recording of Gag was a change of direction for Tovey. It was the first time he used a band of musicians to record an album. Before he had recorded most of the musical parts himself. He also moved the recording from London to Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin. This recording included many acoustic instruments (like Joni Sackett – viola & David Simmonds – keyboards). Frank had utilized synthesisers before they were fashionable, now he moved away from electronic instrumentation which was the trend at the time. At this same time, Einstürzende Neubauten played a show with Fad Gadget at The Loft in Berlin & Tovey was moved by the use of heavy machinery for percussion. He had heard a large printing press nearby & got recording engineer Gareth Jones to record it. This was looped & would become the basis for "Collapsing New People".


Here Fad Gadget was assisted by: David Rodgers – guitar, double bass, & bass synthesizer; David Simmonds – piano, synthesizer, organ, celesta, bottles, & marimba; Joni Sackett – vocals & viola with additional vocal chores by Tovey’s wife Barbara Frost & daughter Morgan Tovey-Frost as well as guitars by Rowland S. Howard.

Fad Gadget – Gag, Mute STUMM 15, 1984.
all decryption code in comments

Side 1 –

Ideal World (featuring Rowland S Howard – guitar)

Collapsing New People

Sleep (featuring Morgan Tovey-Frost – baby vocals)

Stand Up

Speak to Me

Side 2 –

One Man’s Meat

The Ring

Jump

Ad Nauseam (featuring Rowland S Howard – guitar)

After recording Gag, Tovey began recording under his own name, Frank Tovey. In 1986 he released Snakes & Ladders. The dancefloor success of the Fad Gadget single "Collapsing New People" led to the song's inclusion on both the U.S. & Canadian versions of Snakes & Ladders as it was the first Frank Tovey or Fad Gadget album released in North America. This special edition French version includes a free limited issue 12" maxi EP with songs selected from all four previous Fad Gadget albums.

Frank Tovey – Snakes & Ladders w/bonus 4-song 12" 45, Mute STUMM 23, 1986.

Face A –

The Cutting Edge

Snakes & Ladders

The Cutting Edge (reprise)

Shot in the Dark

Concrete

Face B –

Luxury

Small World

Luddite Joe

Megalomaniac

Maxi Face A –

Coitus Interruptus

Innocent Bystander

Maxi Face B –

Sheep Look Up

Ideal World

In 2001, Tovey resurrected his old pseudonym to support his former colleagues & Mute label-mates, Depeche Mode on their Exciter tour. Tovey suffered from heart problems since his childhood & died of a heart attack on April 3, 2002 at the age of 45. He was working on a new album at the time of his death.

F-you,

NØ