Hello, as announced the coming weeks i will post some dusty gems from the daysmaking music became a lifestyle, im a bit pressed for time this week so i will keep it short, The Reds still sound remarkbly freash these days and Interpolfans should not pass on them. A commenter last week talked about John foxx well as it happened i already ripped Metamatic, at the time btw i wasnt aware he's still at it. Polystyrene delivers a very folksy answer to her previous hi energy punk, well summerime coming up...
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
The Reds - The Reds ( 79 )
John Foxx - Metamatic ( 80 )
Positive Noise - Heart Of Darkness (81 )
Positive Noise - Change Of Heart (82 )
Poly Styrene - Translucence (80 )
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
The Reds - The Reds ( 79 * 80mb)
The Reds. – The name spells, emotion, intensity and a hint of danger (commie shit if you're a redneck). Philadelphia's The Reds debuted in 1979 on A&M records. They released a self-titled LP and a 10" vinyl EP (remember those?) both produced by David Kershenbaum. It is impossible to escape the influences of The Doors and Iggy Pop on The Reds (Cohen cites the former as the more influential of the two), if only because the band does a cover of the classic Break on Through or has taken the album title, Shake Appeal from Iggy's 1972 Raw Power album. However, the influence of groups such as The Cure and Joy Division is equally inescapable, as Cohen readily admits. The difference, he says, lies in the feeling behind the music. Where Joy Division had been characterized by an almost unmitigated sense of depression, Cohen chuckles at critics who say The Reds' music is depressing, negative and pessimistic.The response to their music, their first four albums (The Reds, Stronger Silence, Fatal Slide and an A&M EP) received much critical acclaim. On the concert tour, The Reds gathered an enthusiastic following, opening for such diverse acts as The Police, Joe Jackson, and The Psychedelic Furs.
1984 found them as a duo after the drummer and bassist left. Mike Thorne produced "Shake Appeal" , it led the band to work with film /TV director/producer, Michael Mann. Mann hired them to score the film "Manhunter" as well as using their music in "Band Of The Hand" and episodes of "Miami Vice". The 90's saw the release of "Cry Tomorrow (1992, Tarock Music) once again produced by Mike Thorne. The CD was remastered and rereleased in 1999.
01 - Victims (2:38)
02 - Luxury (4:55)
03 - Joey (4:09)
04 - Lookout (6:55)
05 - Whatcha' doin' to me (3:22)
06 - Not You (2:37)
07 - Talking (3:18)
08 - Over & Over (3:08)
09 - Self Reduction (5:26)
Xs - EP
11 - Break On Through (2:38)
12 - Self Reduction (5:26)
13 - Whatcha' Doin' To Me (3:22)
14 - Destination (4:32)
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
John Foxx - Metamatic ( 80 flac 254mb)
John Foxx aka Dennis Leigh, first began experimenting with tape recorders and synthesizers whilst on a scholarship at the Royal College of Art. In 1973 he formed a glam rockband that would initually be called Tiger Lily, later (77)it transformed into Ultravox ! . After the record company dropped them (79) Foxx left and was replaced by Midge Ure, after which 'Ultravienna ' took off.
Foxx signing to Virgin Records, and released " Metamatic" on his 'Metal Beat' record label . He played most of the synthesizers and "rhythm machines", as they were listed on the jacket. "Metal Beat" was also the name of one of the songs from the album and was inspired by an odd metallic clunk sound on an early Roland drum machine, the CR-78. Metal Beat Records lasted from 1980 to 1985 with Foxx as its only artist. Foxx's next LP was The Garden, released 25 September 1981. This recording was a departure from the stark electronic sound of Metamatic, bearing a greater resemblance to Foxx’s swansong with Ultravox, Systems of Romance. In 1982 he set up his own recording studio, also called The Garden, housed in an artists' collective in Shoreditch East London. Fall 83, his third solo LP The Golden Section was release, Foxx described this album as a "roots check" of his earliest influences such as The Beatles, psychedelia, and other pre-punk sources.The album In Mysterious Ways was issued in October 1985. Musically it was not considered a significant progression beyond the sound of his two previous releases, nor was it a commercial success.
After In Mysterious Ways, Foxx gave up a public career in pop music. He sold his recording studio and returned to his earlier career as a graphic artist, working under his original name of Dennis Leigh
Spring, 1997, John Foxx made a return to the music scene with the simultaneous release of two albums, Shifting City and Cathedral Oceans. Shifting City was a collaboration with Manchester's Louis Gordon, categorised by many commentators as an updated stylistic return to Foxx's Metamatic synth pop sound. However it also displayed the influence of 1990s underground dance music and the 'triphop' style, along with the psychedelic Beatles-esque pop first apparent on Ultravox’s "When You Walk Through Me". Cathedral Oceans was a solo John Foxx record, an ambient return to his Catholic youth and his love of the cathedrals of England and Europe. Its roots included traditional evensong, Gregorian Chant, Brian Eno, Harold Budd, and German band Cluster. Cathedral Oceans began as a project during the sessions for "The Garden" and has been a work in progress for 20 years before this release, described by Foxx himself as one of the proudest moments of his career. The accompanying DVD was made commercially available for the first time during an installation in Hoxton Square, London in January 2003.
01 - Plaza (3:52)
02 - He's A Liquid (2:59)
03 - Underpass (3:54)
04 - Metal Beat (3:00)
05 - No-One Driving (3:45)
06 - A New Kind Of Man (3:39)
07 - Blurred Girl (4:17)
08 - 030 (3:15)
09 - Tidal Wave (4:14)
10 - Touch And Go (5:33)
Foxx @ Base
Foxx @ Ama zone
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Positive Noise - Heart of Darkness (82 * 79mb)
From Glasgow, Scotland. Led by Ross Middleton (vocals/guitar) with brothers Fraser Middleton (bass) and Graham Middleton (keyboards) with Les Galf (drums). After one album the band of brothers broke up Ross quit in mid-1981 to form Leisure Process with saxophonist Gary Barnacle. He was replaced by Russell Blackstock. Their sound was a soaring guitar based dance rock on Heart of Darkness, was unfortunately not to well produced mishmash of art-funk, think Magazine some Skids-like cheering and noise. Just what you might expect from an enthousastic pennyless act throwing all their live energy into their first recording..as a consequence it suffers from indecisive direction.
The title of Positive Noise's second album signifies the drastic change that took place after the group's debut LP as a result of the departure of Ross Middleton, the band's singer/leader/lyricist who left his two other Middleton brothers who stuck it out to the end) and in late 1980 recorded " Change of Heart", guitarist Russell Blackstock also assumed the vocal chores, and Positive Noise transmuted into a slick electronic dance machine(early eighties style think Human League), churning out precise rhythms with anxious, semi-melodic vocals. Left behind the uncertain footing of the first LP. Positive Noise's niche in club music. it didnt last long one more album produced by Dave Allen, "Distant Fires".
I hadnt planned to offer you 2 Positive Noise albums, they are however as noted above rather different and a testament of what was going on at the 2nd tier of the new wave movement of the early eighties, finding a
01 - Feel The Fear (3:45)
02 - Get Up And Go! (4:04)
03 - Inhibitions (4:06)
04 - Obsession (3:13)
05 - Hanging On (3:26)
06 - Positive Negative (2:43)
07 - Waiting For The 7th Man (3:05)
08 - Out Of Reach (3:34)
09 - Tension (2:46)
10 - Change Of Heart (4:20)
Positive Noise - Change of Heart (81 * 57mb)
01 - Darkness Visible (6:16)
02 - Hypnosis (4:00)
03 - No More Blood And Soil (5:18)
04 - ... And Yet Again (5:09)
05 - Down There (4:53)
06 - Treachery! (5:31)
07 - Warlords (4:45)
08 - Love Is A Many-Splintered Thing (3:23)
09 - Refugees (5:21)
10 - Ghosts (4:44)
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Polystyrene - Translucence (80 flac 228mb)
The band featured singer Poly Styrene (born Marian Joan Elliott) two solo cult classics Translucence (1980) and Gods and Goddesses (1986).
Poly Styrene and the X-ray Spex have only made two albums to date. In the mid-nineties X-ray Spex would briefly reform for their second and, so far, final album, ‘Conscious Consumer’.Their first, Germfree Adolescents, released in 1978, would be the only album ,they would produce for almost two decades. This album saw X-ray Spex emerge as a commercially viable punk band. They had cute catchy songs and enough wild edge to earn them respect from the scene.
Poly Styrene especially found herself at the centre of much media attention and speculation. In a short time span Poly Styrene went from tearaway teen to pop-sensation, the journey may have been exciting yet overwhelming. Perhaps this may help explain why in a space of just three years Poly Styrene dropped out and created a new alter ego for herself, one of eastern spirituality and seclusion. It didn't take her away from music completely, she recorded a solo album during this period the nu jazz ‘Translucence’, and the eastern inspired EP ‘Gods and Goddesses’.
PS
In February 2011, in an interview which largely focused on her past and present relationship with her daughter Celeste, Styrene revealed that she had been treated for breast cancer, and that it had spread to her spine and lungs. She died of metastatic breast cancer on 25 April 2011, at the age of 53.
01 - Dreaming (3:48)
02 - Toytown (3:21)
03 - Sky Diver (4:08)
04 - Day That Time Forgot (3:30)
05 - Shades (3:19)
06 - Essence (3:27)
07 - Hip City (3:01)
08 - Bicycle Song (2:32)
09 - Sub Tropical (3:03)
10 - Translucent (3:10)
11 - Age (3:09)
12 - Good Bye (3:40)
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
The Reds - The Reds ( 79 )
John Foxx - Metamatic ( 80 )
Positive Noise - Heart Of Darkness (81 )
Positive Noise - Change Of Heart (82 )
Poly Styrene - Translucence (80 )
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
The Reds - The Reds ( 79 * 80mb)
The Reds. – The name spells, emotion, intensity and a hint of danger (commie shit if you're a redneck). Philadelphia's The Reds debuted in 1979 on A&M records. They released a self-titled LP and a 10" vinyl EP (remember those?) both produced by David Kershenbaum. It is impossible to escape the influences of The Doors and Iggy Pop on The Reds (Cohen cites the former as the more influential of the two), if only because the band does a cover of the classic Break on Through or has taken the album title, Shake Appeal from Iggy's 1972 Raw Power album. However, the influence of groups such as The Cure and Joy Division is equally inescapable, as Cohen readily admits. The difference, he says, lies in the feeling behind the music. Where Joy Division had been characterized by an almost unmitigated sense of depression, Cohen chuckles at critics who say The Reds' music is depressing, negative and pessimistic.The response to their music, their first four albums (The Reds, Stronger Silence, Fatal Slide and an A&M EP) received much critical acclaim. On the concert tour, The Reds gathered an enthusiastic following, opening for such diverse acts as The Police, Joe Jackson, and The Psychedelic Furs.
1984 found them as a duo after the drummer and bassist left. Mike Thorne produced "Shake Appeal" , it led the band to work with film /TV director/producer, Michael Mann. Mann hired them to score the film "Manhunter" as well as using their music in "Band Of The Hand" and episodes of "Miami Vice". The 90's saw the release of "Cry Tomorrow (1992, Tarock Music) once again produced by Mike Thorne. The CD was remastered and rereleased in 1999.
01 - Victims (2:38)
02 - Luxury (4:55)
03 - Joey (4:09)
04 - Lookout (6:55)
05 - Whatcha' doin' to me (3:22)
06 - Not You (2:37)
07 - Talking (3:18)
08 - Over & Over (3:08)
09 - Self Reduction (5:26)
Xs - EP
11 - Break On Through (2:38)
12 - Self Reduction (5:26)
13 - Whatcha' Doin' To Me (3:22)
14 - Destination (4:32)
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
John Foxx - Metamatic ( 80 flac 254mb)
John Foxx aka Dennis Leigh, first began experimenting with tape recorders and synthesizers whilst on a scholarship at the Royal College of Art. In 1973 he formed a glam rockband that would initually be called Tiger Lily, later (77)it transformed into Ultravox ! . After the record company dropped them (79) Foxx left and was replaced by Midge Ure, after which 'Ultravienna ' took off.
Foxx signing to Virgin Records, and released " Metamatic" on his 'Metal Beat' record label . He played most of the synthesizers and "rhythm machines", as they were listed on the jacket. "Metal Beat" was also the name of one of the songs from the album and was inspired by an odd metallic clunk sound on an early Roland drum machine, the CR-78. Metal Beat Records lasted from 1980 to 1985 with Foxx as its only artist. Foxx's next LP was The Garden, released 25 September 1981. This recording was a departure from the stark electronic sound of Metamatic, bearing a greater resemblance to Foxx’s swansong with Ultravox, Systems of Romance. In 1982 he set up his own recording studio, also called The Garden, housed in an artists' collective in Shoreditch East London. Fall 83, his third solo LP The Golden Section was release, Foxx described this album as a "roots check" of his earliest influences such as The Beatles, psychedelia, and other pre-punk sources.The album In Mysterious Ways was issued in October 1985. Musically it was not considered a significant progression beyond the sound of his two previous releases, nor was it a commercial success.
After In Mysterious Ways, Foxx gave up a public career in pop music. He sold his recording studio and returned to his earlier career as a graphic artist, working under his original name of Dennis Leigh
Spring, 1997, John Foxx made a return to the music scene with the simultaneous release of two albums, Shifting City and Cathedral Oceans. Shifting City was a collaboration with Manchester's Louis Gordon, categorised by many commentators as an updated stylistic return to Foxx's Metamatic synth pop sound. However it also displayed the influence of 1990s underground dance music and the 'triphop' style, along with the psychedelic Beatles-esque pop first apparent on Ultravox’s "When You Walk Through Me". Cathedral Oceans was a solo John Foxx record, an ambient return to his Catholic youth and his love of the cathedrals of England and Europe. Its roots included traditional evensong, Gregorian Chant, Brian Eno, Harold Budd, and German band Cluster. Cathedral Oceans began as a project during the sessions for "The Garden" and has been a work in progress for 20 years before this release, described by Foxx himself as one of the proudest moments of his career. The accompanying DVD was made commercially available for the first time during an installation in Hoxton Square, London in January 2003.
01 - Plaza (3:52)
02 - He's A Liquid (2:59)
03 - Underpass (3:54)
04 - Metal Beat (3:00)
05 - No-One Driving (3:45)
06 - A New Kind Of Man (3:39)
07 - Blurred Girl (4:17)
08 - 030 (3:15)
09 - Tidal Wave (4:14)
10 - Touch And Go (5:33)
Foxx @ Base
Foxx @ Ama zone
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Positive Noise - Heart of Darkness (82 * 79mb)
From Glasgow, Scotland. Led by Ross Middleton (vocals/guitar) with brothers Fraser Middleton (bass) and Graham Middleton (keyboards) with Les Galf (drums). After one album the band of brothers broke up Ross quit in mid-1981 to form Leisure Process with saxophonist Gary Barnacle. He was replaced by Russell Blackstock. Their sound was a soaring guitar based dance rock on Heart of Darkness, was unfortunately not to well produced mishmash of art-funk, think Magazine some Skids-like cheering and noise. Just what you might expect from an enthousastic pennyless act throwing all their live energy into their first recording..as a consequence it suffers from indecisive direction.
The title of Positive Noise's second album signifies the drastic change that took place after the group's debut LP as a result of the departure of Ross Middleton, the band's singer/leader/lyricist who left his two other Middleton brothers who stuck it out to the end) and in late 1980 recorded " Change of Heart", guitarist Russell Blackstock also assumed the vocal chores, and Positive Noise transmuted into a slick electronic dance machine(early eighties style think Human League), churning out precise rhythms with anxious, semi-melodic vocals. Left behind the uncertain footing of the first LP. Positive Noise's niche in club music. it didnt last long one more album produced by Dave Allen, "Distant Fires".
I hadnt planned to offer you 2 Positive Noise albums, they are however as noted above rather different and a testament of what was going on at the 2nd tier of the new wave movement of the early eighties, finding a
01 - Feel The Fear (3:45)
02 - Get Up And Go! (4:04)
03 - Inhibitions (4:06)
04 - Obsession (3:13)
05 - Hanging On (3:26)
06 - Positive Negative (2:43)
07 - Waiting For The 7th Man (3:05)
08 - Out Of Reach (3:34)
09 - Tension (2:46)
10 - Change Of Heart (4:20)
Positive Noise - Change of Heart (81 * 57mb)
01 - Darkness Visible (6:16)
02 - Hypnosis (4:00)
03 - No More Blood And Soil (5:18)
04 - ... And Yet Again (5:09)
05 - Down There (4:53)
06 - Treachery! (5:31)
07 - Warlords (4:45)
08 - Love Is A Many-Splintered Thing (3:23)
09 - Refugees (5:21)
10 - Ghosts (4:44)
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Polystyrene - Translucence (80 flac 228mb)
The band featured singer Poly Styrene (born Marian Joan Elliott) two solo cult classics Translucence (1980) and Gods and Goddesses (1986).
Poly Styrene and the X-ray Spex have only made two albums to date. In the mid-nineties X-ray Spex would briefly reform for their second and, so far, final album, ‘Conscious Consumer’.Their first, Germfree Adolescents, released in 1978, would be the only album ,they would produce for almost two decades. This album saw X-ray Spex emerge as a commercially viable punk band. They had cute catchy songs and enough wild edge to earn them respect from the scene.
Poly Styrene especially found herself at the centre of much media attention and speculation. In a short time span Poly Styrene went from tearaway teen to pop-sensation, the journey may have been exciting yet overwhelming. Perhaps this may help explain why in a space of just three years Poly Styrene dropped out and created a new alter ego for herself, one of eastern spirituality and seclusion. It didn't take her away from music completely, she recorded a solo album during this period the nu jazz ‘Translucence’, and the eastern inspired EP ‘Gods and Goddesses’.
PS
In February 2011, in an interview which largely focused on her past and present relationship with her daughter Celeste, Styrene revealed that she had been treated for breast cancer, and that it had spread to her spine and lungs. She died of metastatic breast cancer on 25 April 2011, at the age of 53.
01 - Dreaming (3:48)
02 - Toytown (3:21)
03 - Sky Diver (4:08)
04 - Day That Time Forgot (3:30)
05 - Shades (3:19)
06 - Essence (3:27)
07 - Hip City (3:01)
08 - Bicycle Song (2:32)
09 - Sub Tropical (3:03)
10 - Translucent (3:10)
11 - Age (3:09)
12 - Good Bye (3:40)
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !
Thank you so much for this post ! I wanted to buy this album when I read a review on Rockerilla 25 years ago. Still a good stuff! It reminds me a bit of Raincoats' "Moving".
ReplyDeleteThanx a lot! Rare music.
ReplyDeleteI'm stunned by the tremendous meticulousness you 'blog' with - the concept, the design, the stories, the cover art, the broad variety (and quality) of the music are outstanding. I salute you!
ReplyDeleteI was suprides and happy to see that you are hip to The Reds!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was playing them on the radio in Boston in 1979 and got to see them on their debut tour.
Great band.
I have been enjoying your blog in a big way - your library, taste and teachings are all top-notch.
I have linked you to Radio Free Wohlman - please do the same if I am worthy! Please visit and check out a show - we are on the same wave-length!
Rock on,
David
RFW
Thanks so much for the Positive Noise albums m8. I bought Heart of Darkness when it was first released but lost it at a party a few years later and had never been able to find it to buy again. Since then it has sat as a dusty memory with bits of the occasional song coming into my head only to flicker out moments later leaving behind nothing more than a few great memories of days gone by.
ReplyDeleteTo hear it again is something i'm really looking forward to.
Cheers m8 :-D
Any chance of uploading the Positive Noise albums again?
ReplyDeleteOne of those groups I've read about, but never heard.
Just discovered your blog, and it's amazing. Can't believe I never discovered The Scars before now. Many thanks for that gem alone.
hi...any chance you can post in mp3? i can't play ogg files and have been dying to DL the poly strene LP for years. PLEASE!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog.
JAM
Hello JAM , sorry i wont post mp3, that said i wonder what softwware you use most playyers play ogg.. most mp3 players do too, even its it often not advertised as such. Anyway converting OGG isn't that much of an issue..just google it-in case you are on Mac try Audacity its available-for free.
ReplyDeleteIf you really want this Polystyrene it shouldnt be too much of an effort.
best of luck,
Rho
thanks Rho, will try again. my default is itunes and when i DLed the album and tried to play the tracks before, a window popped up saying it didn't recognize the file. i use pc, saw some ogg-mp3 converters but they cost $$. know of any free converters for pc?
ReplyDeletejust curious why you coose to post ogg instead of mp3?
-- JAM
Hello JAm , what can i say..dump that closed shop Apple gizmo its empoverishing this world..that said So many free players do play ogg and most will decode aswell..think Jet Audio..you dont need the proversion...anyway at this page here you find the nifty little portable(=needn't be installed)program Oggdrop it codes Ogg and decodes to wave if you want it in AAC you'll have to search a litle but really theres plenty of free alternatives....much to the annoyance of business moguls like Steve Jobs...who personally decided against the free OGG format the best quality at the time for an own(ed) Appleformat..
ReplyDeletebest of luck,
Rho
PS in 12 days its Xmas..and there will be such goodies here..wink
ReplyDeletedear rho...thanks!! great blog, appreciate you comments. i'm not much of a techie, so i don't always understand all these things. :-)
ReplyDeletejam
I'm the kind of hombre who passions to try unprecedented things. Currently I am fabricating my own solar panels. I am managing it all by myself without the help of my staff. I'm using the net as the only way to acheive this. I saw a very amazing site that explains how to create solar panels and so on. The internet site explains all the steps required to solar panel building.
ReplyDeleteI am not exactly sure bout how precise the info given there iz. If some people over here who had experience with these works can have a look and give your feedback in the site it would be awesome and I would extremely value it, cauze I extremely take an interest in solar panel construction.
Tnx for reading this. You guys are great.
I have to say that www.blogger.com is really a good website
ReplyDeleteCould you re-uo John Foxx? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat site - any chance of putting up Positive Noise first album again pretty please?
ReplyDeleteHi Rho,
ReplyDeleteDid you re-up Positive Noise in July? If not, can you post both albums?
Thanks
ReplyDeleteAnother jewel of a record just waiting for a re-up: Polystyrene - Translucence
We bet you love this one too...
Thanks a lot!
Hi Rho, magnificent post as always but John Foxx zip has a problem. Downloaded it several times and with different computers to be certain but after CRC Failed track 03 Underpass, there are no more tracks and the unzipped folder size is 71.1Mb compared to 254 MB zipped.
ReplyDeleteHello Anons, as it happens i still had the zip i posted and bizarrely it failed to unzip correctly, what can i say- freak computing- anyway i re zipped the file, tested it and re-upped again. N-Joy
ReplyDeleteCan you Re-Up Poly Styrene?
ReplyDelete