Eight-X (24)

Hello, it's Eight-X vinyls time again, and today we have two acts with multiple identities. Fingerpritz, apparently the name Fingerprince was too " no sex please we're british", and so they left it too track two here (wink). Well, they released three albums with limited commercial success, before reinventing themselves-at least the two prime artists- as the Silencers that in the cause of the decade to come had considerable success. But here's how it started....Up next, Modern English, i had saved this one for spring as i think its a wonderfull spring album, it surprised their first fans as it was so upbeat and far from the doom their debut album displayed. Sadly they havent been able to overcome "After The Snow" and kept melting afterwards, a pity. Lastly today..After the break up of The Beat (UK) two new bands formed from the ashes, both were to become as successful in their own right. Fine Young Cannibals..(more on them next week) and General Public, which started off as a bit of a supergroup with members aboard from Dexy's Midnight Runners and Mick Jones (Clash). As these supergroups tend to do-they fall apart- and so it was after General Public's second album, but here at their debut thinks were all hunky dory....


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Fingerprintz - The Very Dab (79 ^ 84mb)

Before forming The Silencers, vocalist Jimme O'Neill and guitarist Cha Burns were active in London's new wave music scene. O'Neill wrote songs for Paul Young and Lene Lovich, while Burns played guitar in Adam & The Ants. In 1979 they met and formed a post-punk/new wave project called Fingerprintz, and released three albums under that moniker: The Very Dab, Distinguishing Marks, and Beat Noir. They earned some critical recognition and notable appearances on John Peel's radio show and the BBC's In Concert radio series. On all their albums, you can find a sound that reminds the post-punk era, and when you listen to the songs, you will undoubtedly feel an evolution, noticing however obvious links between the tracks of the album. In the second album, Bob Shilling became Bogdan Wiczling (but it seems this is the same person anyway!!), and the music also became much more accessible, with tracks such as Houdini Love, Jabs and the famous Bulletproof Heart .Tracks were not anylonger composed by Jimme alone, since he was now helped by Cha. On the third album (recorded in Paris and London) the same musicians were present, plus Sadie "The Cat" (Jimme's wife). Beat Noir is actually the beginning of the "Silencers" sound.

Fingerprintz split in 1985, subsequently O' Neill formed a duo with electropop singer Jacqui Brookes and they released two singles in 1983: "Haunted Cocktails" and "Lost Without Your Love." When Brookes released a solo album "Sob Stories", O' Neill wrote or co-wrote a majority of the tracks and played guitar and other instruments on the album. However, soon after
O' Neill and Burns were playing music together again, this time joined by drummer Martin Hanlin and bass player Joseph Donnelly, a cousin of Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr. After considering a number of oddball band names they settled on "The Silencers." More on them later, meanwhile i finish here with the sad fact that Charles Burns has died, on March 26th 2007 age 50 , following a battle with lung cancer.



01 - Close Circuit Connection (2:59)
02 - Fingerprince (3:07)
03 - Wet Job (3:54)
04 - Punchy Judy (1:42)
05 - Temperamental (2:08)
06 - 2AT (3:40)

07 - Hey Mr. Smith (2:45)
08 - Tough Luck (2:48)
09 - Invisible Seams (4:32)
10 - On The Hop (1:43)
11 - Beam Me Up Scotty (5:15)

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Modern English - After The Snow (82 flac 435mb)

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.

In 1995, Modern English with Matthew Shipley (keyboards), Ted Mason (guitar, vocals, production) and John Solomon (drums), recorded Everything's Mad for the Imago label. Robbie Grey continues to tour extensively on the US club circuit, and in 2001 signed a new recording contract with A.P.G. Music. 2007 saw the repackaged/remastered re-release of "Everything's Mad" for the Mi5 Recordings label distributed by Caroline/EMI. .



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

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General Public - All The Rage (84 flac  248mb)

The band General Public formed after the 1983 break-up of The Beat (known as The English Beat in North America). Ex-Beat vocalists Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger joined up with keyboardist Mickey Billingham (Dexys Midnight Runners), bassist Horace Panter (The Specials) and drummer Stoker (Dexys Midnight Runners/The Bureau) to form the new band. Guitarist Mick Jones of The Clash was also originally announced as a band member. General Public signed to I.R.S. Records and released All the Rage (1984). However, by the time the album was released, Jones was no longer a member of General Public, although he did play guitar on the majority of the album's tracks. Kevin White (who also played on the album) was now the group's official guitarist and sixth member. In Britain, General Public had a minor hit with the eponymous track called "General Public" The band fared better in North America, where their second single "Tenderness" was a top 40 hit in the US and Canada. "Tenderness" was featured in the film Clueless (1995) and is used over the final credits.

For the follow-up album, White and Stoker were replaced by brothers Gianni and Mario Minardi on guitar and drums, respectively. Despite featuring a track from the soundtrack to Weird Science, Hand to Mouth (1986) was significantly less successful than the debut album, and the band soon split up. Roger and Wakeling worked on various solo projects for the next few years, before reuniting in 1994 to perform a cover of The Staple Singers hit "I'll Take You There" for the Threesome soundtrack. The song, credited to General Public, was a surprise top 40 hit in the US and Canada, and a minor hit in the UK.

The duo (now the only members of General Public) stayed together to release the album Rub It Better in 1995, recorded with the aid of producer Jerry Harrison. But sales were dismal, and Roger was tired of the grind of touring, so they soon broke up again. Beginning in 2000, Dave Wakeling began calling his backing band alternately either General Public or The English Beat. He then toured (mostly in North America) as either "The English Beat featuring Dave Wakeling" or "Dave Wakeling & General Public". Aside from Wakeling, this new backing band featured no original members of The (English) Beat or General Public, although reportedly Ranking Roger and other Beat members turned up as guest performers at a handful of shows.
Wakeling and Roger reunited again in 2005 when The Beat officially reformed.



01 - Hot You're Cool (3:45)
02 - Tenderness (3:35)
03 - Anxious (4:18)
04 - Never You Done That (4:08)
05 - Burning Bright (4:22)

06 - As A Matter Of Fact (5:14)
07 - Are You Leading Me On? (3:08)
08 - Day-To-Day (3:27)
09 - Where's The Line? (4:03)
10 - General Public (4:22)

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