It Goes Something Like This...

Zeus B. Held aka Bernd Held (see what he did there?) was born in 1950s, started as a musician in the 1970s and gained a reputation as a producer in the latter part of that decade, becoming a renowned remixer during the 1980s. Zeus is still going strong today, dividing time between Germany and England.

Today's selection is very firmly rooted in his 1980s remix work. I first discovered Zeus B. Held via his work with Fashion, producing and remixing their second album, Fabrique, in 1982. From there, Zeus popped up on albums and 12" singles by Alphaville, Dead Or Alive, Simple Minds, John Foxx, Men Without Hats and Spear Of Destiny.

Zeus' 1987 remix of Gary Numan's 1979 single Cars was a hit not once but twice. Whilst it couldn't match the original's #1 peak in the UK, it reached #16 in 1987 and #17 in 1996. The latter was relabeled the Premier Mix on the back of the song featuring in a lager commercial. 

Beggars Banquet, the label that re-released Cars in 1987 were obviously enamoured of Zeus B. Held's prodigious skills at the (re)mixing desk as, in a surprise move, he was also commissioned to produce three remixes of Hit The North by The Fall. Mark E. Smith's views at the time are lost in the mists of time and it likely divided fan opinion, then and now. Personally, I love them. 

Gina X aka Gina Kikoine proved to be a great foil for Zeus B. Held. No G.D.M. is an absolute classic which I've enthused about previously and present again in another version from the remixed and re-released single in 1985. Gina X makes a second appearance, providing guest vocals on Love Shadow by Fashion from 1982.

Whilst Sinful! by Pete Wylie is a deserved classic (and Zeus B. Held co-production), I've gone for the equally majestic Diamond Girl, featuring the fabulous Josie Jones. Sadly, the UK record buying public in 1986 disagreed. #57? Seriously?! Philistines!

From the last gasp of the 1980s, Win was formed by Davy Henderson, time-wise sitting roughly between his other bands The Fire Engines and The Nectarine No. 9. Unashamedly power pop, Win deserved greater commercial success than they had. Transvision Vamp achieved that success, albeit briefly, their first big hit in the UK being I Want Your Love, a #5 smash in June 1988. 

I had intended to pare the selection down to ten songs and one hour. I failed spectacularly. Instead, if you can spare just under ninety minutes, here are fourteen 12" bangers from the 1980s, remixed solely or collaboratively by Zeus B. Held. 

Enjoy!

 

1) Pop Goes The World (Dance Mix): Men Without Hats (1987)

2) What's Love If You Can Kill For Chocolate (12" Mix): Win (1989)

3) Sanity (The Roman Mix): Killing Joke (1986)

4) Ghostdancing (A Special Extended 12" Remix): Simple Minds (1986)

5) Never Take Me Alive (Extended Version): Spear Of Destiny (1987)

6) Big In Japan (Extended Remix): Alphaville (1984)

7) Diamond Girl (The Glorious Extended 7" Mix): Pete Wylie ft. The Fabulous Josie Jones (1986)

8) Cars (Extended 'E' Reg Model): Gary Numan (1987)

9) No G.D.M. (Extended): Gina X (1985)

10) What I Want (Dance Mix): Dead Or Alive (1984)

11) Hit The North (Part 4) (12" Remix): The Fall (1987)

12) Wings And A Wind (Extended Version): John Foxx (1983)

13) Love Shadow (Mutant Mix): Fashion ft. Gina X (1982)

14) I Want Your Love (I Don't Want Your Money Mix): Transvision Vamp (1988)

It Goes Something Like This... (1:29:29) (Box) (Mega)

Your Cassette Pet!

Side 2 of a cassette compilation, recorded September 1991. 

 

Essentially, this is a trawl through my brother's collection of albums on tape, cherry picking favourite songs to stick on two sides of a C90. The title is nod to 1980's cassette-only album by Bow Wow Wow, which my brother didn't own and therefore isn't featured here, but I had a copy of a copy which my friend had given me.

It's an eclectic mix albeit firmly in 'alternative' territory, with Flesh For Lulu, Marc Almond (here with The Mambas), Bauhaus and Howard Devoto. I was arguably the bigger Depeche Mode fan as a teen but I bought only the singles, whilst my brother had their first three albums, all on cassette. 

Part of the appeal of cassettes was the 'double play' format, where you'd either get two albums for the price of one or a slew of bonus tracks on Side 2. Quite a few examples here: Fashion's Fabrique contained a whole side of remixes, whist Laibach paired Opus Dei with their cover of The Beatles' Let It Be album. 

 

The The's Soul Mining was perhaps the strangest of the lot. The original album on Side 1, the flip side containing 6 songs purportedly planned for The The's aborted album The Pornography Of Despair. Things get off to a reasonably normal start with the re-recorded version of Perfect. And then Three Orange Kisses From Kazan, a real WTF? moment. Initially, I was both shit-scared and morbidly fascinated by the song, but it's long since become a highlight of The The's back catalogue for me. 

 

Many of the artists have 2 or 3 songs on this compilation. This Mortal Coil is no exception, though the late inclusion of a 1:30 edit of Waves Become Wings was clearly to pad out Side 2's running time. With apologies to Lisa Gerrard, who is just getting into her stride when she's unceremoniously faded out, I've retained the edit for this recreated selection.

 

Last but not least, a brace of cover versions by Laibach (a third from Let It be is on Side 1). In both cases, they take songs - by Queen and Opus - that I didn't particularly care for and create bruising, industrial marching songs that take the clichéd phrase "...and make it their own" to a whole other place. 

 

Side 1 may take a while to come, as it features a track from Bristol-band Renegade Flight, who I saw live several times in the late 1980s and picked up a couple of their DIY cassettes from their merch stall. I think I've still got them - and a tape deck - somewhere in a box in the attic, so hopefully I can find and convert to MP3 format in the next 12 months. Just don't hold your breath!

 

1) The Sun And The Rainfall (Album Version): Depeche Mode (1982)

2) Rainy Season (Album Version): Howard Devoto (1983)

3) Subterraneans (Album Version): Flesh For Lulu (1984)

4) Something In Your Picture (Alternative Playback) (Half Frame) (Remix By Zeus B. Held): Fashion (1982)

5) Shame (Album Version): Depeche Mode (1983)

6) Geburt Einer Nation (Album Version) (Cover of 'One Vision' by Queen): Laibach (1987)

7) Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?: Bauhaus (1983)

8) Three Orange Kisses From Kazan: The The (1982)

9) Caroline Says II (Cover of Lou Reed): Marc & The Mambas (1982)

10) Waves Become Wings (Edit): This Mortal Coil ft. Lisa Gerrard (1984)

11) Opus Dei (Album Version) (Cover of 'Live Is Life' by Opus): Laibach (1987)

1982: A Broken Frame: 1

1982: Something In Your Picture EP / Fabrique (Special Edition Double Play Cassette): 4

1982: Untitled: 9

1983: Burning From The Inside: 7

1983: Construction Time Again: 5

1983: Jerky Versions Of The Dream: 2

1983: Uncertain Smile EP / Soul Mining (Special Edition Double Play Cassette): 8

1984: Flesh For Lulu: 3

1984: It'll End In Tears: 10

1987: Geburt Einer Nation EP / Opus Dei: 6, 11

Side Two (45:55) (KF) (Mega)

After A Fashion

Dressed To Kill by Fashion popped up on my random music shuffle. My brother had their 1982 album Fabrique on "double play" cassette, with the album on Side A and a slew of remixes on Side B, all produced by German legend Zeus B. Held (Bernd Held to his friends). I was fascinated by the music and the images of the band on the tiny cassette sleeve.

When I started buying music in earnest, secondhand copies of the Fabrique-era 12" singles were added to my collection: Move On, Streetplayer - Mechanik, Something In Your Picture and the mighty Love Shadow, featuring Gina X.

 

I've found a live clip of Dressed To Kill, performed at Alabama Halle, Munich in 1982. The on-stage line-up appears to be missing bassist Martin Recchi, but it's a compelling performance, ironically underpinned by a none-more-80s bassline, and Dee Harris giving a strong vocal up front. The audience seem less enthused, which seems a bit unfair.

A passing mention here, as this warrants a separate post, but this was the third of five iterations of the band, from the band's birth in 1978 as post-punk Fàshiön Music through to Fashion's pop/funk rebirth in 1981 to their demise in 1984. There was a brief reformation in 2009, this sixth iteration of Fashion essentially a solo vehicle for original singer and multi-instrumentalist Luke Sky. 

 

Not long after the 1982 show and ahead of a planned world tour, Dee Harris left the band. I was aware from buying Fashion's 12" singles that Alan Darby replaced Harris as lead singer. I didn't know about the fourth iteration of the band until researching this piece. 

 

Troy Tate was previously in The Teardrop Explodes but I had no idea that he'd also auditioned and been recruited to Fashion as lead vocalist (with Alan Darby on guitar). Less than 3 weeks after Dee Harris quit the band, the new line-up performed on BBC2's The Old Grey Whistle Test and a performance of Move On is available on Troy's YouTube page. I prefer Harris' original vocals to Tate's performance, if I'm honest, but Darby's guitar solo is a thing to behold.

 

This incarnation of the band didn't record or release any material and, in the wake of Troy Tate's departure, Alan Darby stepped up as lead singer and songwriter. From there, my interest waned rapidly, but Fashion's story is a fascinating tale of musical differences and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory (if commercial success is victory).

 

Fabrique was re-released as boutique, ultra deluxe edition in 2021 in a limited run of 1000. If you want the low down on this, I point you to the ever-excellent Post Punk Monk, who dissected the box set and contents in an epic 11-part series of posts on it's release, starting here.

Modern Dance

Saturday's memories of cheap 'n' cheerful compilations reminded me of another K-Tel album that was an attempt to capture the New Romantic and electronic pop sounds that were capturing the imagination of the record buying public. Released in December 1981, Modern Dance is still a great listen, forty years on. As well as Top 10 hits from The Human League, Visage, O.M.D. and Landscape, the inclusion of Japan, Fashion and Heaven 17 is also bang on. The only misfire is the inclusion of The News, who seem to have released three singles, none of which came anywhere close to troubling the UK charts. The song feels like it belongs on a 1970s compilation and is strangely out of time. The rip on this collection also sounds like it's running too fast, but that might be my memory playing tricks.

 

In typical fashion (excuse the pun), the original album has 9 tracks squeezed on each side of vinyl, with early fades, edits and tight sequencing. For this post, I've slightly re-imagined Modern Dance as a double vinyl set, splitting the original Side Two in half and including some full length and extended versions, to allow the songs to breathe.

 

Side Three (22:24)

1) Fade To Grey (Dance Mix): Visage (1981)

2) Einstein A Go-Go (12" Mix): Landscape (1981)

3) Move On (Audio Extra) (Remix By Zeus B. Held): Fashion (1981)

4) Visions Of China (Album Version): Japan (1981)

 

Side Four (23:23)

5) A World Without Love (Single Version): The News (1981)

6) Love Song (Album Version): Simple Minds (1981)

7) Play To Win (B.E.F. Disco Mix): Heaven 17 (1981)

8) Enola Gay (Album Version): O.M.D. (1980)

9) Open Your Heart (Album Version): The Human League (1981)

Side Three (22:24)

Side Four (23:23)

 

The original TV commercial for the album is available on You Tube, with a voiceover from (I think) Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell.