10 Years Of Being Lost: The 12″ Single Remix

March 4th, 2016

I thought long and hard about what I would do for the 10th anniversary of this blog. While I’ve never been a big fan of self-congratulatory retrospectives, I am unabashedly proud that I’ve managed to keep this site going for 10 damn years. As I mentioned a few weeks back, nearly every single MP3 blog that inspired me to create this site no longer exist. A few of them, like Lost Bands Of the New Wave Era are still up in some sort of archival form so you can at least read about the bands in question, but most have been scrubbed entirely from the Internet. I can’t even remember the names of most of them.

But it’s not just the Internet that’s changed in 10 years, my life has been crazy. When I started this site I was working for a crummy online DVD retailer and living in a junk apartment in Pittsburgh. Since then I went back to college to get a second degree, went through about a billion other jobs (freelance and permanent), saw myself printed in a major international music magazine, bought a house, sold a house, MOVED TO FUCKING JAPAN, begin a new career as a teacher (which I love) and meet a wonderful man who I am so happy to call my boyfriend. Life’s been crazy.

Makes me wonder what the hell I’ll be doing ten years from now! But no matter what that is, I suspect I’ll still keep this blog going. I like writing it too much to quit.

Maybe one day I’ll even update the layout.

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Anyways, tonight I thought I’d kick off the celebratory flashbacks by looking at what I’ve probably dedicated more time to on this site than anything else, the obscure 12″ remix. It’s safe to say that Lost Turntable would not exist if it was not for the 12″ single. Actually, a more accurate statement would be that it’s fair to say that Lost Turntable would not exist if it wasn’t for the continued neglect of songs that were exclusive to 12″ singles. In the late 70s and up to the 90s, many great acts saved their best B-sides and remixes for the 12 incher. But in the 2000s, when many artists had their catalogs re-issued for inclusion on iTunes and other digital music storefronts, a lot of those remixes, B-sides and other tracks got lost in the shuffle.

I first started this blog, you could barely find any vintage New Order, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys or Erasure remixes on CD, let alone digitally. Those oversights gave me plenty of content in the early years of Lost Turntable, which nearly became a purely 80s-focused blog because of it. Things are better now, and you can at least find most of the best remixes and such by these artists on CD and digitally, thanks to box sets and deluxe re-issue campaigns.

But not every band can be New Order or Depeche Mode, and aren’t even lucky enough to get their entire album discography remastered and put up for sale online, let alone their non-album cuts. And others just don’t seem to care. So here are some of my favorite 12″ remixes that have yet to be re-released.

XC-NN
Lifted (Industrial Mix)
Lifted (Industrial Mix Instrumental)
Lifted (Alternalift Mix)
Lifted (Alternalift Mix Instrumental)
Lifted (Funk Mix)
Early in my collecting days, I basically bought any 12″ single I could find that had any name on it that I found the lest bit recognizable. That name in question was rarely the artist, more often than not it was the remixer or producer associated with the track. That was certainly the case with this single, which I bought only because it featured remixes by The Dust Brothers.

The Dust Brothers aren’t very prolific as performers, but they’re studio gods, working behind the scenes as remixers, producers and engineers with some of the greatest acts of the 80s, 90s and 2000s. They produced Paul’s Boutique, Odelay and the soundtrack to Spawn (underrated). They also produced Hanson’s breaktrhough record which, say what you will about, certainly sounds quite good from a technical and production standpoint.

They’ve toned down their output as of late, I don’t see many new credits by them on Discogs, but I’m still a fan and will buy any remix I see them credited on. They really have a knack for layering effects and instruments, almost like a modern-day Wall Of Sound. I’ve always been impressed with how they can stack so many samples, effects, vocals and instruments together without making it all sound like indecipherable garbage. I think more modern-day producers could learn from their work.

Their remixes of “Lifted” serve as a good example of their remix work that I’ve discovered, mixing together the big beats and crisp production of mid-90s electronic music (think Fatboy Slim) with the dirty, scuzzy guitars of the then dying alt-rock scene. They know how to mix a sequencer and a distrotion pedal better than anyone.

But who are XC-NN?

Yeah. that’s a good question. I guess.

I knew nothing about them when I bought this record nearly a decade ago, and still don’t know much about them now. I know they formed in the mid-90s as CNN but had to change their name when the network CNN was like “yo dudes that’s not going to fly.” They released an album no one cared about, followed that up with a sophomore effort even less people cared about, and then broke up. After that, Tim Bricheno, formerly of Sisters of Mercy, then formed Tin Star with fellow XC-NN member David Tomlinson. They apparently had one hit single in the states by the name of “Head.” I’ve never heard of it, let me check YouTube. I’m usually good with my forgotten 90s acts. I’m sure I’ve probably heard this tune.

Nope. I got nothing.

Anyway, they couldn’t follow up that track’s limited success I guess, they broke up again and that was it for that. No idea what they’re up to now, although Tim got together with another old group of his, All About Eve, for a reunion stint in the mid-2000s.

I tried to get into other XC-NN tracks after listening to “Lifted,” but I couldn’t do it. Sadly, they’re entirely deserving of their (lack of) reputation. Their blend of industrial electronica and rock music sounded fresh for about 10 minutes in the mid-90s, but that sound has not aged well, and became saturated not soon after. The people may had developed a taste of industrial rock in the wake of Ministry’s and Nine Inch Nail’s success, but that taste didn’t last long. And if there wasn’t enough of an appetite for angry electro-rock to keep acts like Filter and Stabbing Westward (underrated!) on the charts, there sure as hell wasn’t enough to sustain XC-NN. That being said, I’m going to stand by “Lifted.” Dust Brothers remix or not, this should’ve at least been a minor hit single. If the pop charts had room for Gravity Kill’s “Guilty” then I don’t see why they couldn’t have fit “Lifted” in there as well, at least for a short time.

If I would’ve heard “Lifted” when it first came out in 1995 I would’ve certainly loved it, and not just for it’s of-the-moment electronic/rock style. its vague angry lyrics would’ve fit my particular brand of teen angst perfectly.

You didn’t raise him
He just grew
You should have known him back then
Before he knew you

Those four lines are the best lines of the song, even better than the chorus, which works more on attitude than anything else. As a whole, the song is pretty obtuse, but I think these lines in particular read them as an attack on an absentee dad. My own father was certainly not absentee, and I think he’s usually tried his best. But in the mid-90s I sure as fuck had plenty to be angry about with him, so when I hear songs touching on that topic I sometimes find myself transplanted back to my pseduo-negelected teenage self and really identify with the track more than I actually have any right too.

“Lifted” isn’t a lost classic. But it’s certainly a lost also-ran, and a prime example of why I started Lost Turntable.

Now for some lost 12″ single remixes from bands you’ve actually heard of. Sorry if the audio is a little hit and miss, I recorded some of these years ago on old equipment.

Dan Hartman
I Can Dream About You (Extended Remix)
Dan Hartman’s lone hit came from the soundtrack to an absolute bomb of a flick, Walter Hill’s epic rock ‘n’ roll fable Streets Of Fire. I fucking love that movie. I love it’s insane alternate reality that combines a post-apocalyptic cityscape with the greatest stylistic hits of the 50s and 80s. I love its over-the-top performances by everyone from Michael Pare to Rick Moranis. I love the fact that it ends with a fucking steel sledgehammer fight. But most of all I love its epic soundtrack.

Strangely, Dan Hartman’s version isn’t in the movie proper. Instead it features a version by a made-up Motwon-style vocals group (which features Robert Townshend and the dude who played Bubba in Forrest Gump). This extended version isn’t as good as that one (damn I wish they’d release that somewhere) but it’s a pretty great version of a pretty great piece of 80s pop.

Don Henley
All She Wants To Do Is Dance (Extended Dance Remix)
I hate The Eagles but I love a lot of solo work by Eagles members, from Joe Walsh’s lovely “Life’s Been Good” to Glenn Fry’s “Smuggler’s Blues” to a hell of a lot of Don Henley’s solo work. You say you don’t like “Boys Of Summer?” I say you’re better at denying utterly catchy pop tunes than I ever hope to be. This track is no “Boys Of Summer,” an honest-to-goodness classic, but it’s great in its own right. Again, I’m shocked this remix hasn’t been re-issued anywhere recently.

Madness
Yesterday’s Men (Demo)
I usually hate it when demos are included as B-sides, it always feels like filler to me, and I’m rarely curious as to how an unfinished version of a song sounded. A rare exception to this rule would be this beautiful version of one of Madness’ best tunes, which strips what was already a pretty sparse song until it sounds less like a demo and more like a purposely lo-fi home recording that was recorded in someone’s closet with a cheap microphone and a store bought Casio. It’s like if Lou Barlow went ska. It’s almost intimate, and it really makes the lyrics hit even harder. Just beautiful.

Ready For The World
Oh Shelia (Extended Remix)
You can go to iTunes right now, do a search for the 12″ remix of this song and something comes up. But don’t believe the lies. That version is not the real 12″ remix. It’s a re-recorded version.

Re-recorded versions are blights on digital storefronts, and need to be wiped from this planet. They usually exist as a means for the artist to get royalties without having to pay the original record companies. And I get that, but they really do the fans a disservice, as they never ever sound as good as the originals. And even if they are technically better in some way or another, it doesn’t really matter, because people don’t want a technically better version of the song they know and love, they want the version they know and love! At least the original album version is on there.

Elect me for president and I will make it my first executive action to strip all re-recorded versions off digital storefronts and replace them with the originals. First on the plate, Def Leppard.

Yeah, it’s a stupid political platform, but it is any stupider than Trump?

Sade
Smooth Operator (12″ Version)
There’s this weird mall in Tokyo called Nakano Broadway that mostly focuses on geek culture stuff like figures, manga and old video games. Tucked away in a far off corner on the third or fourth floor of the mall is a really tiny movie store that focuses on weird cult flicks and art-house films. If you want to score Criterion blu-rays in Japan, that store is your best bet.

Whenever I go in there that dude is rocking out to a Sade blu-ray. So he knows what’s up.

Expect a few more posts like this for the rest of the month, with some regular posts with new rips interspersed. Thanks again to everyone who’s kept up with me over the years.

Posted in 10 Years Of Being Lost, B-sides, Dan Hartman, Don Henley, Madness, Ready For The World, remixes, Sade, XC-NN | No Comments »

Pop Floyd and Garage Rock Disco Covers

February 27th, 2016

The 10th anniversary of Lost Turntable is about a week away, and I do have something special planned. Not only that, but in a rare example of me planning out this blog in advance, most of it is already written and ready to go. I’m trying to go for something that focuses a lot on what I feel makes this blog great (in my humble opinion) and will really run the gamut in terms of content and tone. I think there will be something for everyone. I hope you all enjoy it, because I’ve really put a lot of time into it.

David Gilmour
Blue Light (Vocal Remix)
Blue Light (Instrumental Remix)
Is there a name for the genre of music that most 70s rock stars saw themselves falling into during the early 80s? You know what I’m talking about. Steve Winwood, Phil Collins, Pete Townshend, Robert Plant, just to name a few, at the dawn of the Reagan-era they all stripped away damn near everything that made each of them unique and all drifted towards the same incredibly generic, synthesizer-based dance/pop/rock sound. Nebulous-yet-catchy, and utterly dated not five years after the fact. Does anyone still listen to Robert Plant’s “Tall Cool One” in 2016?

That song is better than this track, however, a failed single off of Gilmour’s 1984 album About Face, which was not a good record in 1984; not a good record when I discovered it in the late-90s, and remains not a good record to this day. This is probably one of the better songs off of it, and I can say that it at least works moderately well as an upbeat rock track. Gilmour’s vocals are decent, and he manages to work in his trademark echoey guitar effects into what would be a rather bland pop track otherwise. It’s still strange to hear Gilmour perform music like this though. His more recent solo efforts, while also far from perfect, are much improved, and I think play more to his strengths, those being spacey guitar solos and much looser song structures.

While I’m not a fan of Gilmour’s solo work, I would still say that his solo output is better than his bandmate Roger Waters’, which has served to prove that Waters is a lyricist first, bass player second, and a musician eighth (positions three through seven are “professional asshole” if anyone was wondering). Gilmour’s solo records are boring, but at least the guitar solos are good. Waters couldn’t catch a melody if his life depended on it. He is tone deaf after all.

If you’re interested in checking out good 80s Gilmour that doesn’t involve Pink Floyd, I strongly recommend you give a listen to Berlin’s “Pink And Velvet,” a lost masterpiece that probably features Gilmour’s second-best guitar solo behind the one for “Comfortably Numb.” A jaw-droppingly stunning lost classic.

Thelma Houston
96 Tears (12″ Remix)
File under “Covers I Never Thought I’d Hear,” right next to KMFDM’s take on “These Boots Are Made For Walking” and Eagles Of Death Metal’s “Save A Prayer.”

The album version of this cover can be found on Thelma’s 1981 album Never Gonna Be Another One, however, this epic seven and a half minute version is 12″ exclusive and out-of-print entirely. It’s not as epic as I hoped it would be, but I’m still enjoying it.

Posted in David Gilmour, remixes, Thelma Houston | 2 Comments »

Let’s Get Ill With Rappin’

February 16th, 2016

rappin

Rappin’ is the poor man’s Breakin’. No, strike that – it’s the poor man’s Breakin’ 2: Electric Bugaloo.

An all-but-forgotten 1985 hip-hop musical drama, it’s mostly known today for featuring an early starring role for Mario Van Peebles, as well as an early vehicle for Ice-T, whose featured more prominently in the film’s amazing trailer than the film itself. I’ve never seen the movie, but from what I’ve skimmed on YouTube I don’t think I’m worse for it. The soundtrack certainly is…something else.

I’ll be honest…this is one of those nights where I’m not sharing music that I would call good. I’m more…exposing you all to some musical history, artifacts if you will, from a bygone era that time has largely forgotten, rap’s first foray into the pop landscape.

It has not aged well. But let’s take a listen!

Lovebug Starski
Rappin’
The Fight Rap
A honest-to-goodness old-school hip-hop pioneer, Lovebug Starski started as a DJ in the late-70s before moving to rapping in the early 80s. He released several singles and one album, but he apparently went to prison sometime in the mid-80s, which put a serious dent in his music career. Dude still seems to be kicking it though, I found a video of him performing in 2008. I wonder how many other old-school pioneers have been lost to the ages?

Starski has two tracks on Rappin’. The first is the title track. It’s okay, although like most of the tracks on the album, his delivery seems rather stilted and simplistic when compared to what followed. I much prefer “The Rap Fight,” which is a dope electro tune with a sick beat and some totally ill synth lines. I would totally pop-and-lock to this one if my bones didn’t already pop-and-lock on their own throughout the day.

Melvin Plowden, Mario Van Peebles, Eriq La Salle, Kadeem Hardison & Richie Abanes
Snack Attack
This is a rap by the stars of the film, Mario Van Peebles, Dwayne Wayne from A Different World, the asshole doctor from ER and…two other dudes (more on the them in a minute).

In case you were wondering. Neither Mario Van Peebles, Dwayne Wayne nor Dr. Peter Benton from ER can rap. Not only can they not rap, they really can’t rap. And don’t forget, the standards for “good rapping” were pretty low in the early 80s. That’s not to say that the rappers of the era were bad, on the contrary, many are some of the best who ever lived, but the artform was new at the time. People were still figuring it out, the rules were still being made, so a lot of rap from the era is pretty simple.

With those limitations and expectations established, this is some bad rap that sounds horrible. Firstly, it’s a rap song about snacking. And, like I said before, this was the early-80s, but rapping about how much you like food? That was already well-trodden ground by The Fat Boys (who were amazing rappers FYI), so in addition to being a stupid topic for a rap track, it’s an unoriginal topic that’s been done better. I don’t know who’s rapping what line, but they’re all doing a horrible job. They got no flow, no rhythm, no meter. They’re just spouting out lines about food that rhyme. Well, they usually rhyme, at one point they do try to rhyme sardines with cheese and beans.

It’s even bad musically. Most great rap of the era was built off of solid samples or original electronic beats. This has neither, and is instead built off of a generic guitar lick and what sounds like a preset drum beat. Not to mention the piano outro that tries to give the track a jazzy feel, for some reason.

Peebles, Hardison and La Salle were all wise for not pursuing rapping further, but what of the other two on the track? Well, Richard Abanes is an experienced actor and singer, but he’s mostly known for his books. You may have seen them in the religious section, with titles like Harry Potter and The Bible, The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code and What Every Parent Needs To Know About Video Games. I really wish he would take up rapping again, but only about these topics. Who would want to see a middle-aged Mormon rap about the evils of pop culture, “Yo now listen to what I have to say, Harry Potter is evil and he’ll make you gay!”

I couldn’t find anything as humorous about the mysterious Melvin Plowden, aside from the fact that he produced some forgotten rap tracks, including one called “You Ain’t Right Eddie Murphy.” If he was referring to Murphy’s then incredibly homophobic stand-up routine, yo Melvin, I agree with you.

Mario Van Peebles
Neighborhood Walk
“Rock Box” but bad.

The Force M.D.’s
Itchin’ For a Scratch
Now here’s an example of an old-school rap song that’s obviously dated but still great. A simple but catchy beat, some great synthesizer and, of course, some totally over-the-top scratching effects. The Force M.D.’s were a legit rap outfit with a long carer that produced a few minor hits, and it shows here. These guys got the rhythm down, and their lines are simple-yet-clever. The Force M.D.’s were mostly known for their ballads and love songs, but this track shows they had some solid old-school hip-hop skills too. An album highlight and a lot of fun.

Warren Mills
Flame In The Fire
The first of two pre-teen performers on this album. Mills is by far the better of the two because he can actually sing, but that’s faint praise. The production is about as generically 80s as you can get, it sounds like the bastard love-child of “Rhythm Of the Night” and a Pretty Poison song. And while Mills has pretty good vocal chops for a kid, he still sounds like a little kid. And there’s nothing I want to hear less than a little kid try to serenade someone.

The sax solo is pretty ill though.

D. Terrell
Call Me
Who is D. Terrell?

No, seriously, who is he? I can’t find anything on this dude. Can’t find anything on him online, I think this is the only song he ever wrote that made it to any release at all. It’s not all that bad. Not all that memorable either.  I feel like it belongs on the soundtrack to D.C. Cab for some reason.

Lajuan Carter
If You Want To (FU12)
I could be mistaken, I’m a little drunk and it’s been a long week. But I’m fairly certain that this is a song about wanting to fuck a robot. Literally. She says “I don’t need nothing but robot love.” Someone call Brent Spiner.

Lajuan Carter never released a full album proper but she’s had a decent career as a backup singer, appearing on the Set It Off soundtrack and on albums by Vanessa Williams and Darryl Hall. I don’t feel like this song really takes advantage of her voice, she kind of has a Vanity thing going on with a trying-to-be-sexy whisper voice. But she occasionally does let that soprano of hers rip and it’s pretty impressive.

Tuff, Inc.
Golly Gee
This album has too many shitty love songs by little boys who are all too fucking young to know what love is. This is the third one, and it is by far the fucking worst. Abysmal garbage. I don’t want to hear the lovelorn woes of little shits whose balls haven’t even dropped yet. You fucks. You don’t know what love is. You think love is holding hands after homeroom.

“What didn’t you know why he claimed to be true. He’s running around making a fool of you.”

What the fuck is that? What is this song suggesting? That the girl this kid is falling for has a boyfriend who is fooling around with other girls? What the fuck? YOU’RE TWELVE! When I was that age I didn’t know any kids who were prowling homeroom for pussy. Ick.

Eugene Wilde and Joanna Garnder
First Love Never Dies
The soundrack to the film Rappin’ ends with a quiet storm love duet, because…fuck if I know. This song is pretty awful, but I think that largely has to do with it being incredibly dated than anything else. In an alternate reality I could totally see this song being a top ten hit single and making an appearance on Solid Gold.

Joanna Garnder never really had much of a career, but Eugene seemed to have a few hit singles in the 80s. A quick search on YouTube turns up quite a few tracks, including the incredibly dope “Gotta Get You Home Tonight” which I can only assume was the early-8os equivalent of Boyz II Men’s “I’ll Make Love To You.” I totally bet that song would work on my boyfriend.

Posted in Complete Albums, soundtrack | No Comments »

Dungeons & Dragons on Vinyl

February 8th, 2016

I’ve never been into Dungeons & Dragons and I’m never going to be into Dungeons & Dragons, or any form of table-top gaming for that matter. Video games got me at a young age, and the idea of setting up a board and rolling dice while some dude tells me a story about wizards just never appealed to me in the least. I guess I just don’t get the appeal. I’ve tried several times too. I had friends in junior high, college and in my adult life who were way into D&D. Many of them tried to suck me in, all to no avail. But if they would’ve came at me with their 20-sided dice in one hand, and this rad 2LP set of instrumental electronic music in the other, they might have fared a little bit better.

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First Quest (Complete Album Download)
I didn’t know what I was expecting when I first dropped the needle on this record after finding it in a record store on the outskirts of Tokyo last week, but it certainly wasn’t a surprisingly above-average collection of minimal, John Carpenter-inspired instrumental electronic music. Considering the inspiration material, I guess I imagined something a little more classically-minded. Perhaps I was expecting a full-on symphonic score or some sort of symphonic metal. Although I guess the latter would’ve been impossible, as this album came out in 1985 and symphonic metal didn’t really exist as a genre at that time.

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Save for the final track, First Quest is entirely electronic, and while it features original music by a variety of musicians (of whom I’ll get to in a bit), the album has a fairly consistent creepy, vaguely dark, vibe that carries itself across all of the songs, regardless of composer. The previously mentioned Carpenter influence is strong with this one, echoes of Halloween are all over this record. But while the Carpenter comparison is the obvious one, when I listen to this I much more pick up the ambient stylings of Tangerine Dream, with a menacing hint reminiscent of Goblin’s work with Dario Argento.

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With pedigree like that I’m probably overselling it a bit. No, this album isn’t a lost classic that’s ripe for recognition, but it’s certainly worth a listen, and way better than you’d probably expect a cheap collection of instrumental electronica inspired by a table-top board game to be. It’s catchy, fits the inspiration material damn near perfectly, and it’s a lot of fun. If some asshole in a jean jacket and retro-style shades put this out in 2016 ironically, it would probably be an indie-hit. Pitchfork would give it a 7.6.

A total of seven different artists are credited as composers on First Quest. Of them, the most prominent is probably Denis Haines, who was a member of Gary Numan’s backing band for the recording of Telekon. That group went onto form Dramatis, who released one album in the mid-80s before breaking up. He also played on albums by Fischer-Z, The Skids and, strangely enough, Marianne Faithfull. Haines’ work on the record runs the gamut, with some being rather upbeat, and others a tad more dreary and ambient. A standout of his selections is “Gnomes,” an poppy yet dark number that I could easily imagine Gary Numan singing over.

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Click for hi-res.

Two other names that pop up a lot on First Quest are Phil Thornton and Dave Miller, who compose about half of the record. Together they were part of an early-80s synth-pop group called Expandis, who continue to release new music, and Thornton has a fairly prolific career as a solo musician putting out new age and ambient music (much of it sci-fi or fantasy themed). Based on their work here and from what I could find of Expandis online, Thornton and Miller probably dug the darker edge of early-80s synthpop and post-punk quite a bit. I bet they totally saw Echo & The Bunnymen live at least once. Their stuff here is good mood music that sets the tone for the album, but sometimes it falls a bit too far into new age territory for my tastes. “The Return Of Light” is a damn fine closer though.

Then there’s Steve Parsons, in addition to the handful of tracks he donated to this record, he also worked a bit as a film composer in the 80s, contributing songs to the superb Empire State soundtrack, and composing the horrifically bad score the the hideously awful Howling II. His tracks here aren’t that great, but I’ve read that the solo stuff he released under the name Snips is much better.

There’s also Barrie Guard, whose one contribution to First Quest, “The Heroes Ride Out” is an easy highlight. If his Discogs is any indication, Guard got a lot of work in the 70s and 80s, working for musicians as diverse as Bonnie Tyler, Dusty Springfield and Cliff Richard. He was also the orchestra conductor for the score to one of my boyfriend’s favorite films, A Room With A View, so the next time you want to connect Merchant And Ivory to D&D in just one step, there you go. Too bad he never stuck with the minimal electronic score thing, he was pretty good at it.

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The only group credited on First Quest is a band called The Device, who only show up for one track. Their tune isn’t bad, and is definitely one of the more Carpenter-inspired joints on the album. They didn’t seem to do anything outside of the album though, and I can’t find much about them. Finally, there’s guitarist G.P. Hall, who concludes the album with an entirely out-of-place guitar track. He has a fairly expansive Wiki entry that he probably wrote and should probably be deleted.

The album also features some brief snippets of narration by Valentine Dyall, who geeks will probably recognize as The Black Guardian from Doctor Who. He also starred in a shitload of British movies throughout the 40s and into the 80s before he passed away in 1985, shortly before the release of this album, hence his credit as “The Late Valentine Dyall.”

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The packaging for First Quest is rather elaborate, featuring a gatefold sleeve and two custom inner sleeves which feature printed instructions for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that follows the (rather loose) story outlined in the album’s music. Not knowing much about D&D, I couldn’t tell you if the campaign is well thought-out or worthwhile in anyway, I’d love to hear insight from anyone who might know.

Not a great album, but definitely a fascinating one, and a wonderfully dated product of its time that I think is ripe for rediscovery by a more accepting audience. I hope you find it as fun as I do.

Posted in Complete Albums | 2 Comments »

Seductive poses with synthesizers and Japanese covers of classic tunes

January 26th, 2016

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A few months ago I posted some tracks from  イエローマジック歌謡曲 (Yellow Magic Popular Music), a collection showcasing tracks from Yellow Magic Orchestra associates. That album proved to be a revelation to me, and it served as a means for me to discover several other great Japanese electronic artists that I would’ve never known of otherwise, such as the wonderful Cosmic Intervention and the amazing Susan.

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This week I made an even bigger score that I suspect will lead me down an even more comprehensive (and no doubt, expensive) rabbit hole of Japanese electronic music when I stumbled upon four compilations of late-70s/early-80s dance music. Each one focuses on a different record label, and there are apparently nine in total, with the ultimate chapter dedicated to Alfa Records, the home of YMO.

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I was elated to find these CDs because up until now the overwhelming majority of 80s Japanese electronic albums I’ve discovered has been, in one way or another, related to YMO. Many were released by YMO’s own vanity label Yen Records, and even the ones that weren’t often featured various members of YMO performing on the albums. Sometimes YMO’s involvement was so strong that the albums were basically YMO albums in all but name, with the group serving as the backing band, producers and songwriters for various singers and idols of the era.

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While YMO’s influence can be found on these records, with even individual members Sakamoto and Hosono getting a few tracks on a couple of the compilations, I was happy to discover that most of the music on them is from outside their influence. Don’t get me wrong, I am utterly obsessed with everything even remotely associated with YMO, but it was nice to finally branch out and discover some new stuff.

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As you can probably expect, a lot of this stuff is lesser-known for a reason, and since I’m not interested in sharing tracks that are mediocre or bad without being interesting, I’m not going to share these records in full. However, I do suspect I’ll dip them from time to time to showcase any highlights I find from them, especially as I branch out and hunt down the other albums in the collection.

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Anyways, I know that Japanese electronic music from the 80s is kind of a niche interest, so I thought I’d start out by sharing some remixes/covers of tracks you’ll no doubt recognize. I hope that you can enjoy them and that you stick around and give the more obscure and unknown tracks a chance when I share them as well.

Paul Hardcastle
Nineteen (Japanese Version Extended Remix)
So, some 400 words talking about obscure Japanese remixes and I start things off with a track by a Western artist. I know, I don’t always think these posts through.

Regardless, this is a hell of a thing, and something that I had no idea even existed until this Monday. In case you haven’t heard the original version of “19,” (which I suggest you do) the track is an odd hybrid of early-80s dance music and anti-war protest song, combining a catchy dance beat with a sampled news program detailing the effects of post traumatic stress disorder suffered by Vietnam vets. It was a big hit in Europe, but it didn’t catch on so much in the states outside of the dance charts.

The original version’s narration is comprised of samples from an American news program, but for this version, those samples are removed and replaced with original Japanese narration by newscaster Kango Kobayashi. Apparently Hardcastle did this for several countries in Europe, but Japan was the only Asian country to get a unique version.

Aside from the new narration, this mix is a little different than the original version (or the equally known “Destruction Mix”) and features some additional sound effects in the beginning.

Kenji Haga
The Neverending Story
I don’t know if The Neverending Story was a hit film in Japan. I would imagine it must’ve been though in order for this to happen, a completely translated version of the film’s hit theme song. Haga is no Limahl and the production pales to Moroder’s original, but it’s still a catchy tune nonetheless.

Far more interesting than this cover is the life of Kenji Haga, a half-Japanese/half-American entertainer who worked as a voice actor in the 90s and 2000s, even voicing Ken in the Street Fighter II: V animated series. Apparently he fell on hard times after that though, and in 2007 he was arrested for blackmail and is currently behind bars.

Limahl would’ve never done such things.

The Targets
E.T. Theme
Yes, a cover of the theme to E.T., because why not?

There are countless disco covers of John Williams themes thanks to Meco, but I think this might be the only synth-pop interpretations of one of this compositions. It features original lyrics, but they’re in Japanese and sung over a vocoder-effect, so don’t ask me.

The Targets are a rather mysterious band. They released just one album in the 1980s (this song is not on it) and apparently that was it. I’d love to find out more about them so if anyone has any info, pass it along please. They seemed pretty good.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

I’m Still An Alligator

January 24th, 2016

Turns out I have a lot of David Bowie on my hard drive(s) and digging it all out/organizing it is proving to be a task better suited for some sort of digital archaeologist. Just counting songs that are properly tagged as David Bowie/Tine Machine I have about 1,300 tracks in my iTunes library. I know I have more buried somewhere though. And I’m fairly certain that I have some singles back in the states that I never got around the properly recording. That’s a real shame because there are a few gems there, including a weird 10+ minute remix of “Fame ’90.”

I continue to be amazed at how much David Bowie is in print now. If you want the 12″ remix of “Magic Dance” then you can go on Amazon and fucking buy it right now. AND YOU SHOULD BECAUSE IT’S AWESOME. You can even go online and get remixes to “Loving The Alien” if you so desired.

So basically I’m repeating what I said in my previous all Bowie post, if you like David Bowie’s music then you should really be buying his music.

Of course, this blog exists because that’s not always possible. So here’s some shit that’s worthwhile yet unavailable.

David Bowie
Fun (Dillinja Mix)
Dead Man Walking (This One’s Not Dead Yet Mix)
Under Pressure (Live)
Moonage Daydream (Live)
Some real oddities tonight.

First up is a remix of “Fun,” which is doubly weird because the non-remixed version of “Fun” was never commercially released as far as I can tell. I have no idea when it was recorded, the story behind it, or if any other remixes were ever made available in any way shape or form. I got this remix off of the Davidbowie.com exclusive Live And Well 2CD compilation. Most of the remixes from that set were made available when Bowie’s mid/90s output was re-released in 2CD sets, but it didn’t make the cut.

After that we have a unique remix of “Dead Man Walking” which I found off of a CD single to the song. Another mix that didn’t make the cut when Bowie’s 90s records were re-released. A real shame too because it’s one of the better ones. While most of the song’s remixes play the dance angle and crank it up to be a club banger, this one puts Bowie on the forefront and tones it down a bit, all while keeping its beat. It’s a cool take on a great track.

Finally, there are two live tracks, both taken from the CD-single to “Hallo Spaceboy.” The live version of “Under Pressure” is relatively faithful to the original save for the fact that the vocals are shared by Bowie’s amazing bass player Gail Ann Dorsey.  However, the live rendition of “Moonage Daydream” is an interesting departure from the original, stripping away a lot of what made it a glam rock tune and replacing it with some industrial/90s’-rock overtones. Bowie would do this a lot when he toured in the 90s, sometimes to more drastic degrees than others. The changes he made to this track are tame compared to how he totally re-worked “Andy Warhol” into batshit crazy drum and bass track during his “Outside” tour.

By the way, does anyone have high-quality MP3s of this 90s tours that they’d feel like sharing?

Posted in David Bowie, live, remixes | 7 Comments »

Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom…..Boom

January 17th, 2016

Oi what a shitball week last week was.

Still not entirely over Bowie’s passing. A few days ago my boyfriend came over and we watched highlights from the Best of Bowie DVD set. I was doing okay until I played “Life On Mars” and, just like I thought I would, I lost it for a bit. Never actually got emotional over a celebrity’s death before. It felt weird. I’m glad I never besmirched anyone for mourning the loss of a celebrity before. At least, I don’t think I ever did. Shit, I used to be right prick, so I won’t rule it out.

I’ll probably post some more Bowie this week or the next. But I’ve been pretty much drowning myself in Bowie since his passing, so I thought I’d mix things up tonight.

Boom Boom Satellites
Dub Me Crazy (Ver.02)
Bike Ride To The Moon
Low Blow (Instrumental)
Here you go, obscure remixes of songs you don’t know by a Japanese band you’ve never heard of. And I wonder why more people don’t read this blog anymore.

One thing about Bowie’s passing that struck me was how in line I was with the feelings of those I knew. We were all fucked up by the news. I feel that rarely happens this day and age. I almost never feel like I’m connecting on a pop culture level with the masses, let alone anyone I know. And I’m not saying that as a “boy people sure do like dumb shit these days” kind of thing (although sometimes I do feel that way), I’m more saying it in regards to the fact that media is more fragmented than ever before. In addition, my tastes these days tend to skew to hyper-obscure shit that doesn’t even score me cool kid hipster points.

Well, if anyone out there does dig on Boom Boom Satellites, I hope they enjoy these remixes. BBM is easily one of my top five favorite groups who are currently making music. Their insane blend of hyperactive rock music, pulse-pounding electronica, and the occasional foray into acid jazz (not that often, just enough to make it interesting) is still unlike anything I’ve heard in recent memory. If you enjoy these tunes, check out To The Loveless or On. Both are wonderful records.

Trans-X
Living On Video (’85 Big Mix)
Living On Video (Dub Mix)
There are approximately 8,504,321,459 remixes of this song, give or take a million. So I may have posted these before. Or they may be available legally under different names. It’s so hard to tell with b-grade dance acts like this, who seem to lease, sell or rent their back catalog to the highest bidder on a moment’s notice.

I first posted a remix to this track nine years ago. Which is another reminder to you all that I’ve been doing this blog for 10 years come this March. I’d like to do something to celebrate. Haven’t figured out what that might be though. So if anyone out there wants to drop a suggestion it would be appreciated. Be reminded that while I would enjoy reposting some old material, some of it is lost and/or of such bad quality that doing so might be impossible.

I also plan on purging my sidebar of dead links soon. So that’s something.

Posted in Boom Boom Satellites, remixes, Trans-X | 6 Comments »

If I listened to Life On Mars right now I’d probably cry

January 11th, 2016

I share rare and out-of-print songs. So it’s what I’m going to do tonight. I don’t know what else to do. I’m not going to eulogize David Bowie. Others, those who knew him, will do a better job at at that. Writing about his music, and sharing the tunes that people can’t easily get, is my own way of dealing with his death.

David Bowie’s discography was massive, and throughout the years many of his recordings fell through the cracks. In fact, my very first post on Lost Turntable was one such song, his theme to the largely forgotten animated nuclear war drama When The Wind Blows. Thankfully, that song is in print now, as are the remixes for it. You can buy them all on Amazon and I suggest you do. It’s a tremendous track.

In fact, in recent years many of Bowie’s rarer tracks have been re-issued in one way or another. His “greatest hits” compilation from last year featured rare and hard-to-find mixes of even his most popular tunes,  and even Sound + Vision was recently re-released, meaning you can find rarities such as the awesome U.S. single mix of “Rebel Rebel,” the radio edit of “Nite Flights” and the saxophone version of “John, I’m Only Dancing.” Bowie completists would do well to check them out. I also recommend picking up the David Bowie box set from 2007, which collects his albums from Outside to Reality, most of which were excellent (I still dig Earthling a lot).

So much work has been done to restore Bowie’s discography that there isn’t much for me to share here tonight. And make no mistake, that’s a good thing. David Bowie was a genius, and you should buy his music.

These are the only tracks I have that are out of print, not crummy sounding bootlegs, and worth sharing. I don’t feel that sharing a track like “Too Dizzy” a song that was so bad it was deleted from later pressings of Never Let Me Down (Bowie’s worst outing by many accounts, including his) would be a proper tribute to the man. I want to celebrate his legacy by showcasing the songs you might not know about, not dredge up stuff best left forgotten.

That being said, let’s start with a Tin Machine song.

Baby Universal
Baby Universal (7″ Remix)
Baby Universal (Extended Version)
I briefly mentioned Never Let Me Down a bit ago. Make no mistake, that is an incredibly bad record. Critics thought so, his fans though so, and in the years after its release Bowie thought so as well. Bowie took such a drubbing from the album’s release that he retreated from releasing albums as Bowie altogether, and instead formed a band called Tin Machine. They released two records, and although neither were particularly well-received by the public, perception on the Tin Machine material has improved over the years. I wholeheartedly recommend the band’s self-titled debut, and I even have fondness for their follow-up, Tin Machine II. It’s a bit uneven, but it does have the best song that Tin Machine released, the fast-paced punk/art-rock/dance hybrid Baby Universal, which I’m presenting here in all its forms. Be sure to listen to the lyrics, which include the classic Bowie line “Hello humans can you feel me thinking.”

Jump The Say (Rock Mix)
Tin Machine wasn’t that much of a critical or popular success, but it sure as hell served to revitalize Bowie creatively. After the group disbanded he went back to being a solo artist and went on a hell of a creative tear through the 90s, starting with Black Tie White Noise. A fantastic if somewhat dated record, much of the album dealt with Bowie’s then-recent marriage to Iman, but not this track. It was inspired largely by Bowie’s half-brother Terry, who lost his battle with mental illness and took his own life some years before.

Lyrically, its one of my favorite tracks on the record, but I always felt the funky production kind of beguiled the song’s dark message and somewhat angry tone, which is why I much prefer this rock remix. It’s still an early-90s dance-rock tune, so it’s pumped-up and overproduced, but the funky wah-wah guitars and more manic elements are removed and replaced with some hard guitar riffs. It gives it just enough edge for the lyrics to resonate a little more, just a bit more bite.

This remix first appeared on a few different singles. I got it from the two-disc edition of Black Tie White Noise. While that version of the album is out of print (for now) the single-disc release is easily available. It is very much an album of its time, for good and bad, but it has an upbeat vibe that’s hard to dislike. If you like this tune, check it out.

Cat People [Putting Out Fire] (Australian Promo Extended Version)
If I had to make a list of my top ten favorite David Bowie songs, I’d go insane – but I think this song would probably make the cut. A collaboration between Bowie and Giorgio Moroder (holy shit!) for an exceptionally bad movie, many consider it to be his creative swan song for the 80s. I wouldn’t go that far, I actually like a lot of Bowie’s 80s output, but this track is a motherfucking masterpiece, largely due to Bowie’s freakishly powerful vocals. He’s downright operatic here, with a bellow that rivals what he delivered on “Heroes.”

If this track sounds familiar to you, that’s probably because it was featured prominently in Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. The version featured in the movie is the one from the soundtrack to Cat People. You can find that on the Sound + Vision box set. It is distinctively different than the version on Let’s Dance, which is also good but far too over-produced (this was a common problem with music from the era, not just Bowie). The version I’m sharing tonight was only included on the original Australian 12″ single, and most likely by mistake. It’s over nine minutes long and features a fucking rad as hell sax solo.

Disclaimer: This is not my rip, I found it on another (defunct) MP3 blog.

Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (With Nine Inch Nails)
Okay, one bootleg.

This might be my favorite Bowie song. And this version with Nine Inch Nails (from the Outside tour) is just a (scary) monster. A powerful and intense burst of glorious thunder. This is how I choose to remember David Bowie.

As a motherfucking rock star.

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Posted in David Bowie, live, remixes | 7 Comments »

フォースと ともに あらん ことを。(May The Force Be With You)

January 5th, 2016

Star Wars is, of course, an international phenomenon, and during my time in Japan I’ve come to realize that the franchise might be even more popular here than it is in the west. Sure, in America you have much the mocked Star Wars fruits, but do you have a Star Wars vacuum cleaner? What about Star Wars chopsticks (that light up)? Can you buy a X-Wing inspired Star Wars pen and pen stand (for a combined price of over $2,000)? Star Wars dishes, high-end Star Wars doormats, Star Wars kimonos. You name it, Japan has it. It’s pretty dope.

In fact, Japan getting exclusive Star Wars goodies is not a new phenomenon, just check this out.

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The Story Of Star Wars (Japanese Edition)
Side 1
Side 2

This is the Japanese edition of the Story of Star Wars LP, a 1978 record that summarizes the…story of Star Wars (duh) by combining audio and dialog from the film alongside original narration that helps to cut down the running time to something that would fit on an LP (and work without the aide of visuals).

Now, a lot of countries got this record, it was released all across North America, and also in several European countries. However, all those countries, no matter what their native language, got the album in English, even if the movie came out in their country dubbed.

This was not the case with Japan.

When the time came for the album to come out in Japan, Fox actually went out of their way to release a Japanese language version of the record, complete with all new Japanese narration, as well as the original Japanese dub of the film.

I don’t know what made Japan so special that they got a uniquely localized version of this record, but I think it probably had more to do with the LP buying habits of the Japanese people than the runaway success of Star Wars in the country. During the late 70s and early 80s, these “audio drama” types of records were oddly popular in Japan. In my time browsing the used LP bins here, I’ve seen audio drama LPs for countless TV shows, feature-length anime, sporting events and even wrestling matches. The releases dry up sometime in the mid-80s, I assume home video killed it.

I’m going to be real for a second. Even though I’ve lived in this country for two years now, my Japanese is still dogshit. In fact, calling it dogshit might be an insult to dogshit. So don’t ask me how loyal to the source material this translation is or anything like that.

So yeah, when I listen to this I can probably only pick up every 10th sentence, if that. But despite my ultra-limited understanding of the language, I still find this record an interesting listen. Not only am I using it to help with my Japanese, it’s also fun to listen to hear the dubbed voices and the stylistic choices they went with for each of them. Han Solo and Obi Wan sound like rough samurais (not surprising) while Luke still comes off like a whiny idiot. Most interesting, to me at least, is that C-3P0 still speaks with a British accent.

In case you’re wondering, R2-D2 remains unchanged. Bleeps and bloops are international.

Special thanks to the boyfriend for translating “may the force be with you” into Japanese. In case you’re wondering, you pronounce that “o-su to tomoni arankoto.”

Posted in Complete Albums, soundtrack | 2 Comments »

Happy New Year with Madonna and White Zombie

January 3rd, 2016

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I hope no one’s cell phone was stolen in a hipster coffee house. I hope no one’s laptop was smashed by a wheelchair. Those would not be fun things to happen during one’s holiday break. Trust me.

Moving onto more upbeat news, this year will mark the 10th anniversary of Lost Turntable. This fact BLOWS MY FUCKING MIND.

I want to plan something special for the anniversary month, which is this March. Although I really haven’t figured out what that would be. So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

This has to be one of the longest running MP3 blogs at this point, right? I mean, who the fuck is left? Every blog that inspired me to create this blog is either completely offline at this point or hasn’t been updated in years. Quitters.

White Zombie
Thunder Kiss ’65 (Finger On The Trigger Remix)
Thunder Kiss ’65 (The Remix That Wouldn’t Die Remix)
Thunder Kiss ’65 (The Diabolical Ramrodder Remix)
Thunder Kiss ’65 (Swinging Lovers Remix)
White Zombie reminds me of Ridge Racer.

Okay, so here’s the thing.

When the Playstation came out there weren’t that many good games for it. One of the best was the original Ridge Racer. Now, I don’t know if this was an advertised feature of the game or something I just read in a magazine, but since the game loaded entirely to the system’s RAM, once it booted up you could take out the PS1 game disc and put in any old CD you wanted, which would then serve as the game’s soundtrack. For some reason, my go to CD was Astro-Creep: 2000.

I have incredibly vivid memories of racing along to “Electric Head” and using the track as an audio checkpoint – if I could get to one corner of the track before the chorus kicked in, I knew I was doing good. Why the fuck this memory sticks in my head and not, y’know, my boyfriend’s birthday, I have no idea.

Anyways, these remixes are by KMFDM and they hella sound like remixes of White Zombie songs by KMFDM. So your enjoyment of them will probably depend on how appealing that sounds to you. They just make me want to play Ridge Racer.

 

Madonna
GHV2 (Tracy Young’s Shake & Stir Club Mix)
Madonna does not make me think of any video game in particular save for this obscure Japanese arcade game that features a brief chiptune cover of “Like A Virgin.” I guess I could also associate her with the Turbografx-16 game Vigilante, as the protagonist’s kidnapped girlfriend’s name is Madonna for some reason. I doubt she endorsed that cameo.

This track is a megamix of tracks taken from her 2001 greatest hits album GHV2. There were several versions of this mix released, albeit none commercially – all were promo and DJ releases only. This one is one of the rarest, and is only on a handful of 12″ promo singles and CDrs. If I ever get around to finishing that mega Madonna singles guide, I’ll be sure to go into more detail there.

Posted in KMFDM, Madonna, remixes, White Zombie | 6 Comments »

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