In May 1985 Zang Tuum Tumb occupied the Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End for two weeks with a showcase of their current roster (minus Frankie and some of Art of Noise) entitled ‘The Value of Entertainment’. In October they released their first label roster compilation which largely mirrored the show’s line up but, thankfully, reinstated Frankie into the mix, cleverly word-playing on the bit of studio kit they’d become associated with due to Trevor Horn‘s production techniques.
‘Sampled’ was an odd duck but then the label was never going to do the obvious best of so far was it? “So what happens now?” intones a voice early on in Art of Noise’s ‘Closing’, which strategically opened rather than closed the album, posing the question, setting the scene, having the last laugh first. None of the hits from the past two years were included, not in their original form anyway, the closest you got was Propaganda‘s ‘P-Machinery’, a track not even 6 months old, and snippets and snatches from the Art of Noise’s debut LP, ‘Who’s Afraid…’ Instead of celebrating the previous 24 months with ‘Relax’, ‘Two Tribes’, ‘Dr Mabuse’, ‘Close (To The Edit)’, ‘Moments In Love’, ‘Duel’ or ‘The Power of Love’ we got cover versions by Frankie and Propaganda, interludes by Art of Noise and a host of new artists who were making their debuts on the label with this release. And quite right too.
The one exception was ‘Disneyland’, the previously mooted double A side of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ single which, if included, may have got them that fourth No.1 after all. It was held over to help sell this compilation (“a bait, comrades” as Paul Morley‘s sleeve notes confirmed) and is still one of the highlights of the set. ‘Don’t be bland in Disneyland, it’s very good in Hollywood’ being the standout line in a short burst of energy that would have bolstered the sagging third side of their debut LP no end.
ZTT did the unexpected, which is what we expected and wanted them to do and why we love them so much for it. They also knew what we didn’t, that there were tensions in the camps of their main three artists and that the wheels were coming off the wagon. Indeed three members of Art of Noise had already flown the coop and were about to release their debut single for China records, having pulled out of the Ambassadors Theatre shows at the 11th hour. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.
The compilation acted as a crossover from the first round of signings to the second, introducing Andrew Poppy, Anne Pigalle and Instinct to Zang and cleverly bought the label some more time in the spotlight whilst everyone else was trying to catch up (again). Instinct were the most conventional of the new artists but one that I felt never matched up to the excitement or daring of Frankie or Propaganda, a good support band maybe but never a headline act. Until recently their contribution, ‘Swamp Out’, was their only release on the label outside of their short performance on the rare ‘The Value of Entertainment’ video or even rarer Japanese laser disc. Without wanting to sound unkind, that was probably for the best as it’s not a great calling card.
Anne Pigalle, a visually stunning model and singer of the Edith Piaf persuasion who’d been seen in all the right places in London for some time, had the look and just about managed to pull off the voice for her two contributions, of which ‘Intermission’ was probably the best track from her debut LP for ZTT, released around the same time. Her inclusion certainly wrong-footed a few but fitted into the label’s European-leanings like a glove. Unfortunately the pop world was just taking a turn for the commercial in ’85, the post punk, new wave, Futurists and synth brigade were about to be steamrollered by the Stock, Aitken & Waterman juggernaut and the fist pumping stadium rock of U2, Simple Minds and Springsteen. There would be little place for Anne in such a world, despite the fact that she was on one of the most forward thinking labels of the time, but the times they were a-changing.
Andrew Poppy, the third newcomer to the roster was a genuine head-turner, a British avant grade composer with previous form as a member of The Lost Jockey, forward thinking and influenced by industrial music as much by his contemporaries. His pieces (or extracts from) were and are things of beauty that were both out of place with the company on the LP but fitted perfectly into the ZTT ethos. He also had an ace up his sleeve; he didn’t need Trevor Horn to produce him, something that every other act up until then had a connection with and one that was rapidly becoming an albatross around both his and the label’s neck. Not a man exactly known for his fast work rate, it was unrealistic to expect Horn to produce every band on the label and Poppy was the first to completely break the mould.
This new version of ‘Sampled’ has never sounded so good with an excellent transfer from a new master source instantly noticeable. The album was originally released on a single piece of vinyl and cassette, never on CD and it’s great to hear such a clean, crisp version. It’s been bumped up to 75 minutes with two more ‘sides’, the first of different mixes of earlier tracks subtitled ‘Director’s Cuts’. Art of Noise’s ‘Closing’ gets a 21 second extension but it’s so full of jump cuts the difference is hard to tell. There’s a new mix of Instinct’s ‘Swamp Out’ that was found in the vaults although I didn’t notice until I read the sleeve notes. A new version that did stand out was Frankie’s take on ‘Born To Run’ which sounds like an early attempt to get a live sound of the studio recording. Unfortunately it’s an inferior mix to the original release, drenched in reverb with Mark O’Toole‘s intricate bass lines half buried in the mix. The fourth ‘side’ has edits from ‘The Value of Entertainment’ shows themselves and provides the only genuinely exciting new unreleased recording in a live version of Andrew Poppy’s ‘The Amusement’.
Hearing how close the players come to nailing the recorded version’s sound and arrangement is something to behold and this is only a six minute extract from the original 45 minute performance. 30 years later it sounds extraordinary that such a piece was presented at what was, at the time, a pop label showcase, let’s hope the full performance surfaces one day too. The other extras are sadly unremarkable in that they sound like literal room recordings of playbacks of the Art of Noise ‘performance’ complete with faulty mic introduction for the last track. I consider myself a hardcore ZTT fan but this is scraping the barrel by most people’s standards – for diehards only.
In a calculated move to avoid the obvious and tame the critics who were, predictably, beginning a backlash after Frankie’s winning streak the previous year, ‘The Value of Entertainment’ live show struck out boldly and promised something new. The paired down Art of Noise performance, little more than a playback with dancers, despite Morley’s self-deprecating asides, ended up falling short of expectations. Original compere John Sessions quit after one show to be replaced by a new MC, now disgraced comedian Chris Langham* who failed to ignite the crowds at the time and you can see some awkward exchanges backstage in the second half of the DVD that comes with this reissue package.
*Sources differ on this, see Ambient Sheep’s recollections in the comments below.
Of the performances in Time Capsule One – a version of the original VHS release in all it’s grainy 80’s glory – only Propaganda ignite any interest, looking and sounding like a pop band in charge of their material. Pigalle is a rabbit in the headlights and Instinct are breathtakingly ordinary, any art house pretence hinted at in the recordings dashed by a spectre of a tight Brit funk band with average material. Mercifully, Morley vox pops are scattered throughout their performance and a visibly nervous Paul wonders whether he’ll be lynched or booed off once he takes the stage. The second half of the DVD – Time Capsule Two – has further excerpts of songs and backstage banter excised from the original film, taken from the Japanese laser disc from 1986, ending with an excellent photo gallery from the original nights set to part of Andrew Poppy’s score.
Poppy is sadly absent from the whole film, his only appearance in the photo gallery and as backing music for the menu, a real shame, and a missing ingredient that would have added to the *ahem* value of the package. Knowing how thoroughly Ian Peel goes about compiling these reissues I suspect the footage either no longer exists (if it ever did) or wasn’t high quality enough to include. Philip Marshall‘s minimalist design pays homage to the original release with a new take on the Kenneth Martin cover image and the inclusion of unseen photos from the shows by Andrew Catlin. As it stands, in terms of value and entertainment this set definitely fulfills the former admirably, taking care above and beyond the usual call for an oddity such as this but falls a little short on the latter. As a ‘Time Capsule’ it’s perfect, a delight to see mid-80s Soho on film in all its scaffolded, dingy hustle & bustle in contrast with ZTT’s avant pop, its pristine, slick exterior radiating ideas and bucking trends they couldn’t hope to replicate in the everyday gig or performance setting.
At one point in a backstage tour of the theatre Morley chances upon Instinct sound checking and apologies that, “it’s come to this”, a sentiment echoed by his on stage dialogue concerning the Art of Noise’s non-appearance. ‘A Radiant Obstacle in the Path of the Obvious’ was an early ZTT mission statement and you get a sense that he knows that that mission is starting to fail. The label’s acts worked best in the controlled isolation of the recording studio or video edit where the fantasy could be molded, re-mixed and perfected. Once the live element was introduced the illusions created were torn away and, no matter which context you set them in, the theatre or the concert hall, the fallible human side shattered the utopian vision.
‘Sampled’ saw the beginning of a new phase for the label but it was the end of their first two glorious years where they were at their most experimental and daring. ‘The Value of Entertainment’ was largely savaged in reviews although many conceded that it WAS something different at least. Instinct failed to release another record, Pigalle tanked and Propaganda split into a different version of the group soon after, signing to Virgin with only Claudia staying at the label. Frankie, as we know, returned a year later with the lacklustre ‘Liverpool’ before imploding themselves. Only Andrew Poppy really made a mark from the compilation, going on to release two albums and singles of exciting, forward-thinking material before he too was cast adrift, the third promised LP emerging years later as part of a box set. The label would have one last shining moment in Grace Jones‘ ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ before the changing pop landscape rendered their first incarnation yesterday’s news and they began their second phase, cannily reborn and re-aligned to the emerging dance music scene at the end of the decade.
‘The Value of Entertainment’ is out now from ZTT/Union Square Music – CD+DVD+16 page booklet in card digipak that lines up with all the previous reissues beautifully. The Art of Noise ‘at the end of the century’ 2xCD+DVD is also out, review coming soon…
Trawling through the Retro Synth Ads site, looking for info on the Arp Omni flexi disc I posted in the Flexibition, I found all manner of great adverts from the 70’s, a time when designers played with the format a bit more. Here are my pick of the ones I came across although there’s over 5 years worth of posts to go through so I probably missed some. The Arp poster above is my favourite, would love one of those framed, there’s also some beautiful typefaces on display too.
Looks like it could go either way from this trailer, hoping they play it 100% for laughs.
We continue the technology theme this month with another classic synth, the Arp Omni. Billed as ‘The first symphonic electronic keyboard’ this was the best-selling keyboard that Arp Instruments ever made, debuting in 1976 (information varies, depending what you read) with the Omni 1 which was followed two years later by the Omni 2. Check out Tom Piggot demonstrating all the versatile sounds it can make and suddenly breaking into the melody of Chicago’s ‘If You Leave Me Now’ to illustrate the brass setting.
This dates from 1976 (November 4th ’76 to be exact – Eva-Tone cat. no.s start with the date) and was probably given away with either the keyboard itself or Contemporary Keyboard magazine in early ’77. The excellent Retro Synth Ads blog has an amazing array of printed material for all manner of Arp models as well as many other makes and the ads here are taken from that blog. Below is the double page spread that I believe had the above flexi stapled into it from the Jan ’77 issue of Contemporary Keyboard plus a follow up ad from a month later with a photo of the disc.
Prepare to spend hours of your life picking through the minutiae of synth memorabilia on Retro Synth Ads (there’s even an Arp belt buckle in there), there are also plenty of sound files to listen to as well. Next week… Drums!
Just a selection of 142 photos taken at the model workshop during the pre-production for Blade Runner, an absolute treasure trove of unseen images that show the incredible level of craft and detail that went into the set and props for the film. View the whole set here.
Above: ‘Ascension’ by Larry Carlson, do not watch if out of your mind.
Few artists manage to capture the enhanced state of the psychedelic trip in the way that Larry Carlson can in the final three images below. That deepened perspective where the inherent detail in every object before you is magnified a thousandfold until your sense of space is distorted and images become present in everyday surroundings.
Whilst some of his images play into the clichés of the genre, there are enough interesting things happening in his work for me to keep an eye on it for the flashes of brilliance he does throw up. The mix of the surreal, the cosmic and his ability to occasionally nail a two dimensional representation of a lysergic experience puts him in similar standing to visionaries like Ernst Fuchs, Robert Venosa or Mati Klarwein. His work is more playful than theirs, I realise, containing ad hoc elements more akin to Terry Gilliam‘s collages than the seriousness of the greats but I feel he can sometimes capture the absurdness of scale or dimensional distortion that occurs on such trips.
Whilst out visiting friends in East London yesterday I chanced upon this excellent piece of art next to the old pie & mash shop in All Saints. An appeal for the name of the artist turned up the name Paola Delfin from Mexico, her work is mainly based on the female form, check out more of her fantastic art at the link above.
News update from the Allen family in Australia: “Daevid Allen has passed on. He left today, this Friday the Thirteenth, at 1:05pm.”
The RIP list for 2015 is already stacking up (Terry Pratchett passed away yesterday) and it’s only March. Sad to see so many innovators leaving this mortal coil, breaking out the Camembert and making a pot of tea in his memory. RIP Daevid.
My second guest curator at the Flexibition is Jon Brooks, he of The Advisory Circle, The Pattern Forms and several other aliases, recording for Ghost Box, Clay Pipe Music and his own Café Kaput imprint. I knew about this flexi for a while but never managed to find a copy for myself so, when I was casting around for contributors to the cause Jon was one of the first I thought of who might have a copy. An enquiring tweet was sent out into the ether which was shortly answered with, “actually, yep! I do. One of my favourites of all time.” Bingo! Here’s Jon to tell you more…
“Electronic Music Studios are of course the legendary UK synthesizer company, still active under the management of one of the original employees, Robin Wood. Founded in the late 1960s by the trio of engineer / entrepreneur Peter Zinovieff, electro-acoustic genius Tristram Cary and (still vastly underrated) electronics visionary David Cockerell (the person behind the classic Electro Harmonix Small Stone phaser and Akai S900 sampler), EMS created the most celebrated UK-designed synth of all time – the VCS3. These powerful but relatively diminutive instruments were sold by EMS, primarily to fund their research studio; in particular the development of their evolving computer system, which was capable of vastly complex and advanced resynthesis methods.
This promotional flexi, “Sounds From EMS” was produced in the early 1970s to showcase the capabilities of their Synthis and given free to prospective clients. Tristram Cary conducts the proceedings in a very charming way, but cuts a fairly unlikely figure as a salesman, it has to be said… which just adds to the charm. He tempts everyone from rock musicians, avant-garde composers to kids experimenting in classrooms (probably) into buying VCS3s, by playing selections from David Vorhaus, various Radiophonic Workshop composers (yes, Delia is included, also Malcolm Clarke and Brian Hodgson) and the EMS composers’ own work – extracts from both Tristram Cary and Peter Zinovieff are both present here. Even their famed resynthesis computer makes an appearance at the end of side two.
I feel really lucky to have a copy. It was given to me some years ago by my friend (and multi-discipline artist) Wayne Burrows. Wayne has a real knack for finding these kinds of gems and occasionally he sends over a random package of curiosities, which is always a delight – a few of my most treasured records have come from Wayne.
It’s an extremely evocative record for me. It somehow gives me an insight into what the EMS studio at Deodar Rd may have been like to visit. Through this and a few historical photos floating around the web, I can imagine how the studio looked, sounded and perhaps smelled – the warm electronic components heating up every day as the sessions took place. I think it’s a really important little slice of electronic music history.”
For those without a copy, the audio is thankfully available here:
– Jon Brooks.
Scott ‘Boca 45’ Hendy has a new LP out at the end of March, a collection of old school beats, breaks, raps plus a trio of the highest caliber soul/funk joints I’ve heard in a while featuring Stephanie McKay on vocals. The Good People also feature on one track, ‘People Are You Ready’ which I saw tear up the room when Scott dropped it in Bristol late last year. ‘Dig, Eat, Beats, Repeat’ is out on March 23rd and a very limited run of 300 LPs is available exclusively upfront from the Digga Please? Bandcamp page right now. Here’s a 5 minute taster of the album below…
Being one of the men behind the new 45Live collective Scott also has a brand new, all 7″ mix bursting with the Funk as well as Hip hop classics and a few left turns like Pierre Henry‘s ‘Psyche Rock’.
Long Distance Dan releases a new EP today, ‘The Other Side Of The Sky’, seven tracks of raw, funky, psychedelic beats on Dusted Industries. Dan has previous form, compiling the ‘Twisting The Frame’ and ‘Cosmic Dust Agenda’ compilations. It’s a digital only release via Bandcamp available as a Name Your Price with an exclusive 45 minute DJ mix to download for buyers who do pay for it.
Here’s a sampler of the EP or you can listen in full on the site.
I provided the artwork for this release because I liked it so much.
Great news last week that Black Devil (Disco Club) aka Bernard Fevre is reissuing three of his 70s electronic records on May 11th. Two library LPs under his own name: Bernard Fevre ‘Suspense’ (1975) and ‘Cosmos’ 2043 (1977) plus the original six track Black Devil ‘Disco Club’ (1978), restored to its original track quota instead of the bastardised version that RePhlex reissued and remixed over several formats back in 2004.
‘Suspense’ and ‘Cosmos 2043’ are new to me, featuring 11 and 13 tracks respectively of synth-driven library cues with my favourite of the two being the later ‘Cosmos 2043’. ‘Suspense’ is a slightly misleading title being that the first half of the record is made up of tracks of the jaunty synthetic funk variety underpinned by a primitive drum machine. ‘Mister Green’ reminds me of Jake Slazenger in places and things get moodier in the second half. The disco backbeat of the Black Devil release is absent but that’s no surprise with the ‘Suspense’ album being that it’s from the mid 70s.
‘Cosmos 2043’ is the stronger of the two library releases for me and the cover shows a golden C3-PO-esque droid that screams ‘Star Wars cash-in’. The music is way more developed and a lot looser than the slightly stiff compositions on ‘Suspense’. The drum machine is absent from half the tracks giving it that floaty, space feel like many of the futuristic releases of the time (I’m thinking, Space’s ‘Magic Fly’, Sarah Brightman‘s ‘I Lost My Heart to A Starship Trooper’ and their ilk). It sounds of its time but has aged well and several tracks would fit snugly into the Hauntological set’s playlists, I’d be surprised if The Advisory Circle’s Jon Brooks doesn’t know this record.
The killer release here though is Black Devil‘s ‘Disco Club’ with six tracks of flanged percussive disco electronica and those unique vocal harmonies. It’s nice to see and hear ‘We Never Fly Away Again’ – only available on the CD release from RePhlex – restored into the line up, a faster take than the rest with a definite debt to ‘I Feel Love’s bass line present. All three are released via Lo Recordings and Sound Obsession in the UK, Anthology Recordings in the US and Alter-K in France on CD, LP and Digital formats.
Not long to go now until the March 16th release of the next in the Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble mix series from The Amorphous Androgynous – a 2xCD antipodean odyssey called ‘The Wizards of Oz’. If this ad doesn’t convince you to buy it then nothing will – pre-order direct from here.
Going through the archive recently for something else I chanced upon these lesser seen early Simon Bisley artworks from the late 80’s. After Simon exploded onto the comic scene with his work for 2000ad on ABC Warriors and Slaine it seemed everyone wanted a piece of him and his work inevitably started appearing outside the comic world too.
His love of Heavy Metal music is well known so it was no surprise when I spotted a cover and advert he’d done for the short-lived Kerrang! rival, RAW (Rock Action Worldwide, not the New York underground Raw publication). I’m pretty sure this is one of the first instances of The Biz drawing Batman, the Joker, Spiderman and Marshall Law, even Judge Dredd too.
Possibly from the same magazine a couple of years later is a full page painting of Slayer complete with horned devil and Giger-esque creature. Below that is a flyer for a Rock club night I picked up in the late 80’s in London which I’m 99% certain is a Biz doodle.
Last here are a couple of Bisley cameos from anthology books I’ve collected over the years, sadly I’ve forgotten the actual titles of the books but one was some sort of horror anthology and also featured one-off illustrations by other comic artists of the day.
One of my albums of 2014 was Z aka Bernard Szajner‘s ‘Visions of Dune’ reissue on Infiné, a 1979 electronic LP based on Frank Herbert‘s ‘Dune’ series. Now Infiné release ‘Rethinking Z’ a remix mini album that includes reworks from Scanner, Ghosting Season and more as well as Bernard himself. As with many remix albums, the results vary but there are several gems here including new collaborations by Szajner and remixes by label mates Clara Moto & Tyler Pope and Siavesh Amini.
You can listen and buy the album here (digital only) and there’s an offer on for a CD version of the remix plus a vinyl version of the original ‘Visions of Dune’ LP for just €20 + postage via Bandcamp.
There’s a documentary just previewed over on The Quietus about Szajner and he’s playing a handful of live dates in France over the next month as well as appearing in conversation with White Noise‘s David Vorhaus at Rough Trade East on Friday 13th at 6pm.
A new The The album is always a cause for celebration and today is such a day. As usual with Matt Johnson, you think he’s disappeared and then there’s a flurry of activity that confirms that he’s been very busy indeed. His brother, Gerard’s new film, ‘Hyena’, is out on general release in cinemas today after showings at selected film festivals and already winning a couple of European awards. The Brothers Johnson, as they are fast becoming known (call the lawyers!), are appearing at the Watershed in Bristol on Sunday March 8th for a Q&A with Mark Cosgrove about ‘Hyena’ and the power of the score in cinema.
Matt’s own Cineola label is releasing the soundtrack on CD in the usual hardback book format which is slowly forming a beautiful series of releases. The 20 track album comes with an 84 page photo book and is available now from the The The shop. A vinyl version will follow shortly on Death Waltz Recordings.
Last summer I interviewed Matt at Rough Trade East about his classic album, ‘Soul Mining’, and today you can get a free download of ‘Soul Food’, our one hour chat, newly edited by myself with added instrumental accompaniment. Also check out the previous installments of Matt’s Radio Cineola series which contain all sorts of rare and unreleased moments from The The‘s back catalogue as well as interviews with his collaborators.
The photos above and below were taken by Gerald Jenkins, during the interview and on Brick Lane shortly after.
March is tech month at the Flexibition and I’ll be featuring discs relating to music-making hardware over the next four weeks along with a special guest post. This week’s entry was a precursor to Joe Mansfield‘s beautiful book about drum machines, ‘Beat Box: A Drum Machine Obsession’, released for Record Store Day in 2013. The small 7″-sized, 20 page booklet comes with two flexi discs that feature Schoolly D tracks, ‘Gucci Time’ (Demo) and the classic, ‘PSK’, both remade on the Roland TR-909 by Mansfield.
Schoolly also narrates and highlights the various sounds of the machine in what comes across as the ultimate nerd-out instructional demo. The booklet is packed with photos, schematics and history relating to the famous drum machine in the same style as the book it accompanies and it’s one of the best designed flexis I own. The cover states that it’s volume.1 but as yet there don’t appear to be any more forthcoming aside from the 808 7″ featured with the deluxe edition of the book, let’s hope Joe at least manages to produce flexi’s of the DMX and the Linn at some stage too. You can still find copies of this beautiful item, try Rarekind Records in the UK or Turntablelab in the States.
Whilst perusing the web for decent cover images to use for the Leonard Nimoy post featuring ‘The Illustrated Man’ story (in the end I scanned my own copy), I found a whole heap of great images that er… illustrated the book in question.
