Eight-X (32)

Hello, Eight-X time again, this time all female..First up, a landmark release in the New York art scene of the '80s, and quite possibly the best art rock album of the decade...Big Science. Seriously Laurie Anderson has become a remarkable artist whose drive has kept her in the frontline of the avant garde whilst never forgetting that her activities need to be more than just peer pleasing navel staring......My second lady today didn't achieve that level of success, she's written and recorded many songs, but her biggest hit which initially launched her was a cover. Not sure what happened, her active website doesn't really comment on why things didn't happen for her. However, she said: i may not have sold big numbers but i'm doing my thing and im not in a routine 9 to 5 or as a house wife..well she sure has a point there, Annabel Lamb.....Last up an all female group..with some serious lookers( in my view) that tried , but didnt get ahead with their own work, so they released a number of covers that did get them noticed, and which cleared the path for their self penned biggest hit, Sign Of The Times. Unfortunately not much chart success afterwards and so after 6 years playing together they had enough..no more Belle Stars..

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Laurie Anderson - Big Science ( 82 ^ 235mb)

Anderson was born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where she graduated from Glenbard West High School. She attended Mills College in California, and eventually graduated from Barnard College magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, studying art history. In 1972, she obtained an MFA in sculpture from Columbia University. Her first performance art piece – a symphony played on automobile horns – was performed in 1969. In the early 1970s, she worked as an art instructor, as an art critic for magazines such as Artforum, and illustrated children's books.

Laurie performed in New York through the 1970s. One of her most-cited performances, Duets on Ice, which she conducted in New York and other cities around the world, involved her playing violin along with a recording while wearing ice skates with the blades frozen into a block of ice; the performance ended only when the ice had melted away. During the late 1970s, Anderson made a number of recordings which were released either privately or included on compilations of avant garde music. She claimed to base all of her projects on the power of words and language, her work also emphasized visual imagery and cutting-edge technology, with pieces like 1980's "Born, Never Asked" written for both orchestra and electronics.

Anderson became widely known outside the art world in 1981 with the single "O Superman," originally released in a limited quantity by B. George's One Ten Records. "O Superman" reached number two on UK charts, prompted by British DJ John Peel playing the record, it led to Anderson's signing with the Warner Bros. label, which re-released the single. "O Superman" was part of a larger stage work entitled United States and was included on her following album, Big Science Prior to the release of Big Science, Anderson returned to Giorno Poetry Systems to record the album, You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With. This was followed by the back-to-back releases of her album Mister Heartbreak, her most overtly pop-oriented work, teaming with artists including Peter Gabriel and Adrian Belew, it even reached the American Top 100, and United States Live, a five-LP (and, later, 4-CD) recording of her two-evening stage show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

She next starred in and directed the 1986 concert film, Home of the Brave, and also composed the soundtracks for the Spalding Gray films Swimming to Cambodia and Monster in a Box. She also hosted the PBS series Alive from Off-Center during this time, for which she produced the short film, What You Mean We?. Next she released Strange Angels in 1989. The next several years were devoted to performance tours, including 1990's "Empty Places," 1991's "Voices from the Beyond" and 1993's "Stories from the Nerve Bible." In 1994, Anderson teamed with producer Brian Eno for Bright Red. An interval of more than half a decade followed before her next album release. During this time, she wrote a supplemental article on the cultural character of New York City for the Encyclopædia Britannica.and created a number of multimedia presentations, most notably one inspired by Moby-Dick (Songs and Stories From Moby Dick, 1999–2000). One of the central themes in Anderson's work is exploring the effects of technology on human relationships and communication.

In 2003, Anderson became NASA's first and so far only artist-in-residence, which inspired her most recent performance piece, The End of the Moon. Anderson mounted a succession of themed shows and composed a piece for Expo 2005 in Japan. Anderson was part of the team that created the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In 2005, her exhibition The Waters Reglitterized, a diary of dreams and their literal recreation as works of art. This work, created in the process of re-experiencing or re-working her dreams while awake, uses the language of dreams to investigate the dream itself. The resulting pieces include drawings, prints and high definition video. She narrated Ric Burns's Andy Warhol: The Documentary Film, which was first televised in September 2006 as part of the PBS American Masters series. Anderson also performed in Came So Far For Beauty the Leonard Cohen tribute event. Big Science, has been remastered and rereleased on Nonesuch Records last year, aswell as a DVD box set containing her short films and the concert movie Home of the Brave, a book of drawings titled Night Life, and her new album, Homeland is to be released in 2008. .



01 - From The Air (4:29)
02 - Big Science (6:17)
03 - Sweathers (2:21)
04 - Walking & Falling (2:09)
05 - Born, Never Asked (4:51)

06 - O Superman (For Massenet) (8:21)
07 - Example #22 (2:56)
08 - Let X=X - It Tango (6:46)

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Annabel Lamb - Once Bitten (83 ^ 99mb)

Annabel was exposed to all the music of that era are a very early afe: "I knew everything about the sixties and was very annoyed that when I got old enough to participate the scene was all over." From an early age she knew she wanted to be a musician. She learnt the piano, religiously copying her favourite songs note for note from the radio and her big sister's records. Since then she's been a session singer and musician for the likes of Toni Basil and Tina Charles but it's only since her marriage failed that she's been able to have the adventure she's always wanted.

Her highly acclaimed debut album, Once Bitten, behind her she assumed she was on the right road for success. However after the chart success of her cover of the Doors classic Riders on the Storm, her follow-up album , the Flame didnt score aswell. The years that followed saw her releasing 6 more albums for A&M Records, BMG/RCA, Polygram and, most recently, BMG label Red Rooster where she released her currently last album "Flow". During the writing and recording of "Flow", Annabel began a close association with cowriter and producer Dave Dix (producer of Black, Alison Moyet and Melanie Garside), and under his influence and guidance, "Flow" was produced. As well as her recording and touring career, Annabel has co-written songs with many other artists and songwriters, she also writes short stories and is working on her first novel, and performs regularly at London's prime singer songwriter venue The Kashmir Klub.



01 - Riders On The Storm (5:52)
02 - Once Bitten (3:16)
03 - Take Me In Your Arms (3:24)
04 - Heartland (3:21)
05 - Backwards Through The Looking Glass (4:21)

06 - Dividing The Spoils Of Love (5:10)
07 - Hold Fast (3:40)
08 - Snake Pliskin (2:19)
09 - Missing (4:05)
10 - No Cure (4:41)

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Belle Stars, The - The Belle Stars ( 83 ^ 93mb)

After the Bodysnatchers broke up, guitarists Stella Barker and Sarah-Jane Owen, saxophonist Miranda Joyce, keyboardist Penny Leyton, and drummer Judy Parsons decided to form a new band, recruiting bass player Lesley Shone and lead vocalist Jennie Matthias (also known as Jenny McKeown). Their first performance was on Christmas Day, 1980, before they had chosen a name. Within a short time, the group became well known around London, notably appearing on the front cover of Sounds magazine early in 1981. Shortly thereafter, they were signed by Stiff Records, then highly successful due to its star act, Madness. The band's debut single, "Hiawatha"/"Big Blonde" was released in the late spring of 1981, produced by Madness producers Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley. The band promoted the single by playing support for ska acts The Beat and Madness. However, the single failed to chart, despite continuing media attention.

The second single failed to chart aswell, keyboard player Penny Leyton left the band for The Deltones, to be replaced by Clare Hirst. When the third single, the radio friendly "Another Latin Love Song" again failed to break into the charts, the band tried cover versions instead, with some success. "Iko Iko", a cover of The Dixie Cups' 1965 hit (later featured in the 1988 movie Rain Man), was The Belle Stars' long-hoped-for UK Singles Chart debut. The Belle Stars's next singles were remakes aswell "The Clapping Song", and then "Mockingbird".

In January 1983 the Belle Stars released what would be their signature single, "Sign Of The Times", peaking at number three, and a chart success throughout Europe. The song's music video, showing the Belle Stars in tuxedos, was also played frequently by MTV in the United States. It was followed a month later by the band's eponymous debut album, which reached number 15 on the UK Albums Chart. As with the band's singles, it was a mix of original songs and cover versions. However, "Sign Of The Times" proved to be the peak of the band's success. Each follow-up single was less successful than its predecessor: Despite this, the band continued to tour throughout Europe. However, the lack of success took its toll, and McKeown left the band, followed by others, until the band was down to Owen, Joyce, and Shone.

By 1984, Stiff Records was ailing, and it merged with Island Records; in July 1985 it was liquidated and bought by ZTT, the label owned by the husband and wife team of producer Trevor Horn and Jill Sinclair. Under Horn's supervision, the three remaining members recorded a new Belle Stars album with the 4th & Broadway production team in New York City. However, the only tracks to be released were the single "World Domination"/"Just A Minute", a flop in Britain but a Top 5 Billboard Dancefloor chart hit in the U.S. Following this, the band broke up. However, in 1989, the Belle Stars finally had a big U.S. chart hit, when "Iko Iko" reached number 14 on the Billboard Top 100 in March, after it was included on the soundtrack of the film Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. The song had been a favourite of Hoffman's. Jennie Matthias toured the U.S. to promote the song.



01 - Sign Of The Times ( 2:52)
02 - Ci Ya Ya ( 2:40)
03 - The Clapping Song ( 3:11)
04 - Indian Summer ( 3:43)
05 - Harlem Shuffle ( 3:17)
06 - The Reason ( 3:57)

07 - Iko Iko ( 3:00)
08 - Baby I'm Yours ( 3:36)
09 - Mockingbird ( 3:22)
10 - The Snake ( 3:16)
11 - Burning ( 3:21)
12 - Needle In A Haystack (2:38)

***** ***** ***** ***** *****
All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !