Hello, so it was a 22 year old nutter who blew himself up to let us all rejoice in Allah, he could have walked into a sportsbar wednesday night and score more victims, but hey these religious nutters are sexually repressed so killing young women makes much more sense. In the aftermath i'm getting irritated by all those channels repeating, it could have happened at an event near you. Disgusting nitwits projecting terror.....
Meanwhile Britain lost his stylish alpha male, the man that used to beat the bad guys usually with some tongue in cheek. I was a fan of him in Ivanhoe, the Saint and it was self evident he would become 007 a role he played 7 times until at 58 he was retired, but he remained one of the best dressed British men until his death by skin cancer today age 89, Roger Moore, R.I.P.
Today's artists are one of the legendary 4AD label's earliest and most under-recognized acts, that has had their biggest succces in the US ....N'Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Formed in Colchester, Essex, England, in 1979 by Robbie Grey (vocals), Gary McDowell (guitar, vocals), and Michael Conroy (bass, vocals) originally known as the Lepers. The group expanded to "Modern English" when Richard Brown (drums) and Stephen Walker (keyboards) A debut single, "Drowning Man" was released in 1980 on the Limp Records label. The band's full-length Mesh & Lace, released by 4AD Records a year later, was inspired by the stylish gloom of Bauhaus and Joy Division, Modern English released the singles "Swans on Glass" and "Gathering Dust" before recording their 1981 debut LP Mesh & Lace. Boiling with raw anger, dissonant rhythms, and weird noises, Mesh & Lace confused and mesmerized.
The follow-up album After The Snow (1982), recorded by the same line-up, was a minor revelation, as they introduced warmth and strong guitar harmonies (most notably on the hit "I Melt With You"), rejecting the tinny bleakness of the debut. It was well received in the USA, selling 500,000 units, and the band relocated to New York to consolidate a popularity encouraged by college radio. Their album Ricochet Days had a crisper production with hits such as "Ricochet Days" and "Hands Across the Sea". However sales turned out dissapointing, as the label had expected another Melt with you hit. Exhausted from touring, Modern English began falling apart, by the time of Stop Start, released in the US by Sire Records in 1986, Walker and Brown had left (been fired) and Aaron Davidson (keyboards, guitar) had joined.
The band had tried too hard for commercial success, pushed by their label and subsequent producers. Grey returned to England to form a new outfit, but reconvened Modern English in 1990 with Davidson and Conroy. They released Pillow Lips on the TVT label, selling 300,000 units. Robie Grey and band member Ted Mason co-wrote and produced a second release for TVT recording with live strings and multiple harmonies. It received very little enthusiasm from TVT. Locked into contractual obligations with TVT, Grey subsequently put the band on hold to study and travel, and Mason handled the legal issues of getting out of the TVT deal.
Robbie Grey toured the US with a new Modern English lineup from 1998 to 2002 and travelled coast to coast across the US and recorded a new album with Hugh Jones (producer of earlier Modern English records). The songs written with guitarist Steven Walker (not to be confused with the band's original keyboardist) and including Matthew Shipley came together on the road and back home in London between tours. The owner of the masters died, the recordings were lost for a while and the band kind of fizzled out. After a few years on the shelf, this collection of songs, entitled Soundtrack, was released on 24 May 2010 on Darla, with Jon Solomon on drums.
Also in 2010, the original lineup of the band reformed (minus drummer Richard Brown) and toured the US in July and September 2010 and the UK and Paris in June 2011. They were invited by film director Mark Pellington to re-record "I Melt with You" for his movie of the same name. The current reformed line-up of the band includes original members Robbie Grey, Mick Conroy, Gary McDowell and Stephen Walker, augmented by Roy Martin on drums. They also toured the Mesh & Lace album in the U.S. in 2016. They recorded a new album which was funded via Pledge, Take Me to the Trees was recorded, produced and mixed by Martyn Young from Colourbox, who also adds additional keyboards, released late 2016. An excellent comeback..
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
The debut album by this overlooked 4AD outfit from Colchester in Essex. In many ways, Modern English helped to define the sound and image of that pioneering label; while admittedly pretentious at times, they were also sharp-edged, intellectual, and obsessed with aestheticism. The standouts here are the title track, "Smiles and Laughter," and "Gathering Dust," an epic post-punk exercise in aural dynamics. The keyboard rush that they employ is one of the punkiest uses of Stephen Walker's synthesizer imaginable -- at least prior to the development of the industrial movement.
Modern English - Mesh & Lace (flac 421mb)
01 Gathering Dust 4:20
02 16 Days 4:33
03 Just A Thought 4:08
04 Move In Light 4:45
05 Grief 6:28
06 The Token Man 6:32
07 A Viable Commercial 4:24
08 Black Houses 5:44
09 Dance Of Devotion (A Love Song) 5:51
Bonus
10 Smiles And Laughter 3:12
11 Mesh And Lace 4:19
12 Tranquility Of A Summer Moment (Vice Versa) 7:02
13 Home 3:50
14 Swans On Glass 4:35
15 Incident 2:38
Modern English - Mesh & Lace (ogg 140mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
"I Melt with You" will forever be the one specific moment that's Modern English's place in pop history, but the album it came from, After the Snow, isn't anything to sneeze at either. Indeed, in transforming from the quite fine but dour young miserabilists on Mesh & Lace to a brighter incarnation who still had a melancholy side, the quintet found exactly the right combination best-suited for their abilities. Like contemporaries B-Movie and the Sound, Modern English used punk and post-punk roots as a chance to introduce a haunting, beautiful take on romance and emotion, while the contributions of Stephen Walker on keyboard helped make the album both of its time and timeless. That said, the secret weapon on the album is the rhythm section of Michael Conroy and Richard Brown, able to shift from the polite but relentless tribal beat clatter on the excellent "Life in the Gladhouse" to the ever more intense punch of the title track, the album's unheralded masterpiece. None of this is to denigrate the contributions of singer Robbie Grey and guitarist Gary McDowell. The former's seemingly mannered singing actually shows a remarkable fluidity at points -- "After the Snow" again is a good reference point, as is the fraught, slow-burn epic "Dawn Chorus" -- while McDowell works around the band's various arrangements instead of trying to dominate them. Some songs, like "Face of Wood," even find Modern English -- often dogged with Joy Division comparisons early on -- predicting where New Order would go before that band got there itself. Still, "I Melt with You" is the main reason most will want to investigate further. A perfect pop moment that didn't have to strain for it, its balance of giddy sentiment and heartfelt passion matched with a rush of acoustic and electric guitar overdubs just can't be beat. After the Snow was re-released with six bonus tracks.
Modern English - After The Snow (flac 435mb)
01 Someone's Calling (4:01)
02 Life In The Gladhouse (4:22)
03 Face Of Wood (5:49)
04 Dawn Chorus (4:40)
05 I Melt With You (4:05)
06 After The Snow (3:45)
07 Carry Me Down (5:21)
08 Tables Turning (4:31)
Bonus Tracks
09 Someone's Calling (Remix) 3:46
10 Life In The Gladhouse (Remix) 5:00
11 I Melt With You (7" Mix) 3:50
12 The Prize 3:32
13 Life In The Gladhouse (12" Mix) 5:56
14 The Choicest View 11:40
Modern English - After The Snow (ogg 167mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Modern English relocated to New York City and worked on a third album, Ricochet Days. Leaving behind the artistic adventures of their first two albums (particularly impressive was 1982's After the Snow), Ricochet Days begins Modern English's slow decline toward the status of just another synth band. The material, though beautifully produced by the reliable Hugh Jones and boasting some pliable hooks, it was packed with great tunes such as "Rainbow's End", "Spinning Me Round", and "Hands Across the Sea". The overall tone of the album was brighter than Snow, and it fit the band's sound well. Even so, i'd still consider this much more 'gothic' than much of the music people call gothic these days - gothic isn't always all about darkness, and the basic feel certainly makes itself known from time to time on this album. Anyone into the whole 4.A.D. sound should enjoy this album, and for those who think this was a one-song band, give this one a listen before you put the period at the end of that sentence.
Modern English - Ricochet Days (flac 317mb)
01 Rainbow's End 3:07
02 Machines 5:49
03 Spinning Me Round 4:51
04 Ricochet Days 5:13
05 Hands Across The Sea 4:54
06 Blue Waves 4:00
07 Heart 6:58
08 Chapter 12 3:57
Bonus
09 Chapter 12 (Twelve Inch Mix) 4:37
10 Ringing In The Change 4:09
11 Reflection 4:19
12 Breaking Away (Demo) 2:52
Modern English - Ricochet Days (ogg 122mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
This was the group's first album after re-forming around original members Robbie Grey (vocals), Mick Conroy (bass), and ex-March Violets member Aaron Davidson (guitar/keyboards), who had joined in 1986 only to see the current lineup at that time disintegrate. The trio moved to the U.S. and conjured a minor hit single with a remixed version of the portentous "I Melt With You." The diverse record contains some easy-to-like bounce-pop ("Beauty," "Care About You") but other tracks either drift along or sag under clichéd lyrics. Older fans of the band despaired of their new, slicker variant. Despite their modest breakthrough, the group broke up again in 1991.
Modern English - Pillow Lips (flac 212mb)
01 I Melt With You 3:55
02 Llife's Rich Tapestry 4:05
03 Beauty 2:24
04 You're Too Much 2:29
05 Beautiful People 3:10
06 Care About You 2:56
07 Let's All Dream 2:35
08 Coming Up For Air 3:46
09 Pillow Lips 3:30
10 Take Me Away 3:42
Modern English - Pillow Lips (ogg 86mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Meanwhile Britain lost his stylish alpha male, the man that used to beat the bad guys usually with some tongue in cheek. I was a fan of him in Ivanhoe, the Saint and it was self evident he would become 007 a role he played 7 times until at 58 he was retired, but he remained one of the best dressed British men until his death by skin cancer today age 89, Roger Moore, R.I.P.
Today's artists are one of the legendary 4AD label's earliest and most under-recognized acts, that has had their biggest succces in the US ....N'Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Formed in Colchester, Essex, England, in 1979 by Robbie Grey (vocals), Gary McDowell (guitar, vocals), and Michael Conroy (bass, vocals) originally known as the Lepers. The group expanded to "Modern English" when Richard Brown (drums) and Stephen Walker (keyboards) A debut single, "Drowning Man" was released in 1980 on the Limp Records label. The band's full-length Mesh & Lace, released by 4AD Records a year later, was inspired by the stylish gloom of Bauhaus and Joy Division, Modern English released the singles "Swans on Glass" and "Gathering Dust" before recording their 1981 debut LP Mesh & Lace. Boiling with raw anger, dissonant rhythms, and weird noises, Mesh & Lace confused and mesmerized.
The follow-up album After The Snow (1982), recorded by the same line-up, was a minor revelation, as they introduced warmth and strong guitar harmonies (most notably on the hit "I Melt With You"), rejecting the tinny bleakness of the debut. It was well received in the USA, selling 500,000 units, and the band relocated to New York to consolidate a popularity encouraged by college radio. Their album Ricochet Days had a crisper production with hits such as "Ricochet Days" and "Hands Across the Sea". However sales turned out dissapointing, as the label had expected another Melt with you hit. Exhausted from touring, Modern English began falling apart, by the time of Stop Start, released in the US by Sire Records in 1986, Walker and Brown had left (been fired) and Aaron Davidson (keyboards, guitar) had joined.
The band had tried too hard for commercial success, pushed by their label and subsequent producers. Grey returned to England to form a new outfit, but reconvened Modern English in 1990 with Davidson and Conroy. They released Pillow Lips on the TVT label, selling 300,000 units. Robie Grey and band member Ted Mason co-wrote and produced a second release for TVT recording with live strings and multiple harmonies. It received very little enthusiasm from TVT. Locked into contractual obligations with TVT, Grey subsequently put the band on hold to study and travel, and Mason handled the legal issues of getting out of the TVT deal.
Robbie Grey toured the US with a new Modern English lineup from 1998 to 2002 and travelled coast to coast across the US and recorded a new album with Hugh Jones (producer of earlier Modern English records). The songs written with guitarist Steven Walker (not to be confused with the band's original keyboardist) and including Matthew Shipley came together on the road and back home in London between tours. The owner of the masters died, the recordings were lost for a while and the band kind of fizzled out. After a few years on the shelf, this collection of songs, entitled Soundtrack, was released on 24 May 2010 on Darla, with Jon Solomon on drums.
Also in 2010, the original lineup of the band reformed (minus drummer Richard Brown) and toured the US in July and September 2010 and the UK and Paris in June 2011. They were invited by film director Mark Pellington to re-record "I Melt with You" for his movie of the same name. The current reformed line-up of the band includes original members Robbie Grey, Mick Conroy, Gary McDowell and Stephen Walker, augmented by Roy Martin on drums. They also toured the Mesh & Lace album in the U.S. in 2016. They recorded a new album which was funded via Pledge, Take Me to the Trees was recorded, produced and mixed by Martyn Young from Colourbox, who also adds additional keyboards, released late 2016. An excellent comeback..
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
The debut album by this overlooked 4AD outfit from Colchester in Essex. In many ways, Modern English helped to define the sound and image of that pioneering label; while admittedly pretentious at times, they were also sharp-edged, intellectual, and obsessed with aestheticism. The standouts here are the title track, "Smiles and Laughter," and "Gathering Dust," an epic post-punk exercise in aural dynamics. The keyboard rush that they employ is one of the punkiest uses of Stephen Walker's synthesizer imaginable -- at least prior to the development of the industrial movement.
Modern English - Mesh & Lace (flac 421mb)
01 Gathering Dust 4:20
02 16 Days 4:33
03 Just A Thought 4:08
04 Move In Light 4:45
05 Grief 6:28
06 The Token Man 6:32
07 A Viable Commercial 4:24
08 Black Houses 5:44
09 Dance Of Devotion (A Love Song) 5:51
Bonus
10 Smiles And Laughter 3:12
11 Mesh And Lace 4:19
12 Tranquility Of A Summer Moment (Vice Versa) 7:02
13 Home 3:50
14 Swans On Glass 4:35
15 Incident 2:38
Modern English - Mesh & Lace (ogg 140mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
"I Melt with You" will forever be the one specific moment that's Modern English's place in pop history, but the album it came from, After the Snow, isn't anything to sneeze at either. Indeed, in transforming from the quite fine but dour young miserabilists on Mesh & Lace to a brighter incarnation who still had a melancholy side, the quintet found exactly the right combination best-suited for their abilities. Like contemporaries B-Movie and the Sound, Modern English used punk and post-punk roots as a chance to introduce a haunting, beautiful take on romance and emotion, while the contributions of Stephen Walker on keyboard helped make the album both of its time and timeless. That said, the secret weapon on the album is the rhythm section of Michael Conroy and Richard Brown, able to shift from the polite but relentless tribal beat clatter on the excellent "Life in the Gladhouse" to the ever more intense punch of the title track, the album's unheralded masterpiece. None of this is to denigrate the contributions of singer Robbie Grey and guitarist Gary McDowell. The former's seemingly mannered singing actually shows a remarkable fluidity at points -- "After the Snow" again is a good reference point, as is the fraught, slow-burn epic "Dawn Chorus" -- while McDowell works around the band's various arrangements instead of trying to dominate them. Some songs, like "Face of Wood," even find Modern English -- often dogged with Joy Division comparisons early on -- predicting where New Order would go before that band got there itself. Still, "I Melt with You" is the main reason most will want to investigate further. A perfect pop moment that didn't have to strain for it, its balance of giddy sentiment and heartfelt passion matched with a rush of acoustic and electric guitar overdubs just can't be beat. After the Snow was re-released with six bonus tracks.
Modern English - After The Snow (flac 435mb)
01 Someone's Calling (4:01)
02 Life In The Gladhouse (4:22)
03 Face Of Wood (5:49)
04 Dawn Chorus (4:40)
05 I Melt With You (4:05)
06 After The Snow (3:45)
07 Carry Me Down (5:21)
08 Tables Turning (4:31)
Bonus Tracks
09 Someone's Calling (Remix) 3:46
10 Life In The Gladhouse (Remix) 5:00
11 I Melt With You (7" Mix) 3:50
12 The Prize 3:32
13 Life In The Gladhouse (12" Mix) 5:56
14 The Choicest View 11:40
Modern English - After The Snow (ogg 167mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Modern English relocated to New York City and worked on a third album, Ricochet Days. Leaving behind the artistic adventures of their first two albums (particularly impressive was 1982's After the Snow), Ricochet Days begins Modern English's slow decline toward the status of just another synth band. The material, though beautifully produced by the reliable Hugh Jones and boasting some pliable hooks, it was packed with great tunes such as "Rainbow's End", "Spinning Me Round", and "Hands Across the Sea". The overall tone of the album was brighter than Snow, and it fit the band's sound well. Even so, i'd still consider this much more 'gothic' than much of the music people call gothic these days - gothic isn't always all about darkness, and the basic feel certainly makes itself known from time to time on this album. Anyone into the whole 4.A.D. sound should enjoy this album, and for those who think this was a one-song band, give this one a listen before you put the period at the end of that sentence.
Modern English - Ricochet Days (flac 317mb)
01 Rainbow's End 3:07
02 Machines 5:49
03 Spinning Me Round 4:51
04 Ricochet Days 5:13
05 Hands Across The Sea 4:54
06 Blue Waves 4:00
07 Heart 6:58
08 Chapter 12 3:57
Bonus
09 Chapter 12 (Twelve Inch Mix) 4:37
10 Ringing In The Change 4:09
11 Reflection 4:19
12 Breaking Away (Demo) 2:52
Modern English - Ricochet Days (ogg 122mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
This was the group's first album after re-forming around original members Robbie Grey (vocals), Mick Conroy (bass), and ex-March Violets member Aaron Davidson (guitar/keyboards), who had joined in 1986 only to see the current lineup at that time disintegrate. The trio moved to the U.S. and conjured a minor hit single with a remixed version of the portentous "I Melt With You." The diverse record contains some easy-to-like bounce-pop ("Beauty," "Care About You") but other tracks either drift along or sag under clichéd lyrics. Older fans of the band despaired of their new, slicker variant. Despite their modest breakthrough, the group broke up again in 1991.
Modern English - Pillow Lips (flac 212mb)
01 I Melt With You 3:55
02 Llife's Rich Tapestry 4:05
03 Beauty 2:24
04 You're Too Much 2:29
05 Beautiful People 3:10
06 Care About You 2:56
07 Let's All Dream 2:35
08 Coming Up For Air 3:46
09 Pillow Lips 3:30
10 Take Me Away 3:42
Modern English - Pillow Lips (ogg 86mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
2 comments:
great intro to your post
OMG (squealing like a little girl) I have scoured the internet looking for Mesh and Lace for YEARS. You've made my day. Thanks so much Rho.
Post a Comment