RhoDeo 1207 Aetix

Hello, as announced at Aetix 1148 part 2 of Frank Tovey's discography today. Here he's shed his alter ego Fad Gadget and appears as himself, a man with a social conscience, a man aware of the shenanigans of the powers that be, a man that tried to empower the 99% with his music. A man that got largely ignored and a man who now, 10 years after his untimely death, finally gets some recognition for his politically engaged work.

I've embedded 4 video's from the respective albums to enjoy.

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As Fad Gadget, Tovey and his revolving door of conspirators released several singles and four full-length albums that stretched the boundaries of pop music during the late '70s and early '80s. And after Tovey started making records under his own name in the mid-'80s, he continued to remain as unpredictable as ever, working within the realms of Cajun, blues, and folk, in addition to furthering his journey into experimental electronics.

Humorous, dark, strange, puzzling, wild, honest, confrontational -- these adjectives exemplify Tovey's lengthy body of work and his legacy of daringly physical performances. Regardless of the level of recognition, Tovey's unique contribution to electronic music is undeniable, and so is his influence upon it. As the years go on, the recognition continues to gather steam.

After Gag, Tovey decided to start recording under his own name and released six albums on Mute between 1985 and 1992. Just prior to that phase, he also paired up with Non's Boyd Rice for 1984's Easy Listening for the Hard of Hearing. These records were frequently more challenging the ones released as Fad Gadget, and Tovey's switch in names allowed him to expand his creativity. He decided to learn how to play instruments properly, a move that was prompted by his daughter. Asked by his daughter to play one of her songs, Tovey realized he couldn't really play anything, so he took up the guitar and made a conscious decision to write and record with more traditional instrumentation. 1989's Tyranny & the Hired Hand witnessed Tovey at his most organic. The labor-inspired album featured covers of modern and traditional protest songs. And for his following two albums, 1991's Grand Union and 1992's Worried Men in Second Hand Suits, Tovey continued his folk streak with a trio of Irish musicians dubbed the Pyros.

In 2001, Tovey dusted off Fad Gadget and began performing again under the name. In addition to an appearance at London's Elektrofest, Tovey opened for Depeche Mode on his labelmates' Exciter tour. Mute released The Best of Fad Gadget, a two-disc set of ace material, B-sides, and remixes. New material had been written and plans for new recordings were laid, but Tovey suffered from heart problems since his childhood, and died of a heart attack on 3 April 2002 at the age of 45. He left a wife, a daughter (Morgan) and a son (Joseph).

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Luxury video



But one year later Frank Tovey came back as …Frank Tovey. Snakes and Ladders is his fifth studio album released in 1985. The original vinyl release of this album featured a largely acoustic version of his hit "Collapsing New People" which was subsequently removed from the CD re-issue. The first solo-single was “Luxury” and everybody was surprised why he ever disbanded the band cuz this song was typical Fad Gadget. Today I still think “Luxury” is one of the best songs Frank penned down. But it was soon clear Frank wanted something else and on the albums that followed this would take shape. Some versions of the original album came with an additional EP that came with extra tracks, recorded under Frank Tovey's pseudonym Fad Gadget, which were retained for the CD re-issue.

Frank Tovey – Snakes and Ladders (flac 411mb)

01 The Cutting Edge 3:54
02 Snakes And Ladders 3:12
03 The Cutting Edge (Reprise) 1:00
04 Shot In The Dark 5:51
05 Concrete 4:38
06 Luxury 4:03
07 Small World 5:19
08 Luddite Joe 3:34
09 Megalomaniac 4:22
10 Bed Of Nails 4:44
11 Clean This Act Up 6:30
Fad Gadget bonus tracks
12 Coitus Interuptus 4:40
13 Innocent Bystander 6:29
14 Sheep Look Up 3:40
15 Ideal World 5:40

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Bridge St. Shuffle video


And many of you think all the interest lately in Illuminati/Freemasonry/Mind Control stuff is some new creation by disturbed conspiracy theorists with nothing better to do....clearly Frank Tovey was on to them 25 years ago.

Golden handshakes, secret signs
Walls have ears and telephone lines
Judge and defendant, sacred brothers
Drop the charge and accuse the others

They make history, they make the law
(The brotherhood)
They make money, they make war
(The brotherhood)
Power corrupts and power succeeds
(The brotherhood)
And you take the whip right down on your knees
(The brotherhood)

Frank Tovey - Civilian ( flac 256mb)

01 New Jerusalem 4:07
02 Ultramarine 3:20
03 From The City To The Isle Of Dogs 3:43
04 Limelight / Curtains 4:09
05 Bridge St. Shuffle 5:46
06 The Brotherhood 4:53
07 Diana 6:03
08 Unknown Civilian 5:55
09 Desperate Dan 4:48

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Sam Hall video

See all music videos Frank Tovey

His fully-fledged folk album came with the 1989 release Tyranny & the Hired Hand. A collection of 16, mostly traditional folk songs, the LP was the widest swerveball in his career to that date. . Greeks and basicly everyone pay attention

Frank Tovey - Tyranny And The Hired Hand ( flac 364mb)

01 '31 Depression Blues 3:20
02 Hard Times In The Cotton Mill 3:13
03 John Henry / Let Your Hammer Ring 5:03
04 The Blantyre Explosion 3:43
05 Money Cravin' Folks 2:12
06 All I Got's Gone 2:24
07 Midwife Song 2:26
08 Sam Hall 4:36
09 Dark As A Dungeon 3:59
10 Men Of Good Fortune 4:50
11 Sixteen Tons 2:57
12 North Country Blues 4:34
13 Buffalo Skinners 4:57
14 Black Lung Song 4:27
15 Pastures Of Plenty 2:33
16 Joe Hill 3:18

Frank Tovey - Tyranny And The Hired Hand ( ogg 143mb)

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Liberty Tree Video



Grand Union was written by Frank Tovey as an autobiographical album based on a set of coincidences that happened within his life. Frank described the album as a ‘metaphoric vehicle’. He found that people and places involved in his music were located around the Grand Union Canal in London; including Mute Records, whose premises back on to the Grand Union Canal in the Harrow Road. All the songs were written by Frank on acoustic guitar becoming rockier when recorded with additional bass and drums. Pressure was taken off of Frank through working with other musicians. Frank would turn up at rehearsals with an acoustic guitar and completed songs. The other musicians would then just join in; Frank never had to tell them what to play. He found this way of working really refreshing.

Originally from Ireland the Pyros had moved to London they began working with Frank after meeting up at Hermes Point (near the Harrow Road), where the Pyros were then living, they used to sit down and play some songs from Frank’s Tyranny and the Hired Hand album. After getting on well they worked with Frank for the next couple of years. This was the beginning of what became Frank Tovey and the Pyros. The songs included stories and ideas from the area around the Grand Union canal including ‘Bad day in Bow Creek’ which runs adjacent to the River Thames; and ‘Passing Through’ about the building of a motorway through an area where Frank lived whilst growing up. The main single released from the album was ‘The Liberty Tree’. The video of ‘The Liberty Tree’ was filmed at Mudchute Farm on the Isle of Dogs. This is the same location where the cover artwork was shot of Frank riding a horse in front of Canary Wharf.

Frank Tovey and The Pyros - Grand Union (flac 318mb)

01 Bad Day In Bow Creek 5:16
02 When The Victim Takes The Tyrants Place 3:42
03 Passing Through 4:49
04 Bethnal Green Tube Disaster 4:53
05 Cities Of The Plains 6:36
06 Fallen Angel 2:31
07 IKB (RIP) 7:31
08 The Liberty Tree 4:53
09 One November Morning 6:20
10 The Great Attractor 4:58

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elsewhere
Fad Gadget - Fireside Favourites
Fad Gadget - Incontinent
Fad Gadget - Under The Flag
Fad Gadget - CoCo (Coitus Compilation) 1

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