Thompson Twins – “Love On Your Side” (Rap Boy Rap 12″)…

Artist: Thompson Twins
Title: Love On Your Side (Rap Boy Rap 12″)
Year: 1983
Label: Arista

Thompson Twins – “Love On Your Side” (Rap Boy Rap 12″) (mp3)

Music Video: Thompson Twins – “Love On Your Side”…

This is such a beautiful song composed by British artist Steve Strange in December 1980. Fade To Grey has that French emotional melody and elegant groove, with English vocals accompanied with French spoken words by a female. Good old 1980 sustained eighth-note octave synth bassline, Roland CR-78 drum-machine, and synth drum slams & hits. The track is like an uplifting passion of the French food with the deepness of French wine that screams falling in love and having sex with a French mistress, covered in French chocolat (sho-ko-la).

Visage – “Fade To Grey” (12″)…

Artist: Visage
Title: Fade To Grey (12″ Version)
Year: 1980
Label: Polydor

Visage – “Fade To Grey” (12″) (mp3)

Music Video: Visage – “Fade To Grey”…

Trio – “Da Da Da” (I Don’t Love You You Don’t Love Me Aha Aha Aha) (12″ Version)…

Artist: Trio
Title: Da Da Da (I Don’t Love You You Don’t Love Me Aha Aha Aha) (12″ Version)
Year: 1982
Label: Mercury Records

Trio – “Da Da Da” (I Don’t Love You You Don’t Love Me Aha Aha Aha) (12″ Version) (mp3)

Tears For Fears – “Change” (Extended Version)…

Artist: Tears For Fears
Title: Change (Extended Version)
Year: 1983
Label: Mercury Records

Tears For Fears – “Change” (Extended Version) (mp3)

Tears For Fears – “Pale Shelter” (Extended Version)…

Artist: Tears For Fears
Title: Pale Shelter (Extended Version)
Year: 1982, 1983
Label: Mercury Records, Phonogram Records

Tears For Fears – “Pale Shelter” (Extended Version) (mp3)

Front Line Assembly is a Canadian industrial/EBM band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy (another Canadian industrial/EBM band).

In 1990, I was in Chicago buying records and CD’s. I was looking for industrial music. With the help of one of the store’s staff who was exposing me to a lot of industrial music artists, he placed this particular CD single in my hand (the very same one pictured above). He was kind enough to unwrap and put it inside a CD player. And then he handed me the heaphones and made me listen to Provision. I was immediately blown away from the very first beat/note. After few measures, the pulsating & punchy basslines kicked in. Knocked me off my feet. I just had to have it. So I bought it.

Front Line Assembly – “Provision”…

Artist: Front Line Assembly
Title: Provision
Year: 1990
Label: Wax Trax! Records

Front Line Assembly – “Provision” (mp3)

Happy New Year!
I bless 2011 to be a great year for music and music-bloggers everywhere.

I bought this CDi single from Chicago back in 1989, when I was a freshman in college. The disc itself had a gold surface. The tracks on this CDi were exactly the same as the standard release but with the video of Headhunter included in it.

I still love all three tracks on this Front 242 CDi-single release because of their industrial-sounding stabbing basslines. All the basslines are programmed tightly with a midi sequencer. The sounds of the rolling bassline in Headhunter (at least to my ears) are processed heavily through a reverb effect. Headhunter became the band’s first club hit.  Welcome To Paradise also has industrial rolling/stabbing basslines but without vocals. Instead, the band uses make heavy-use of many voice clips and sound-bytes sampled from various American evangelists (possibly sampled from television and/or video recordings).

According to Wikipedia…
Front 242 was created in 1981 in Aarschot, near Brussels, Belgium, by Daniel Bressanutti and Dirk Bergen, who wanted to create music and graphic design using emerging electronic tools.  [Perhaps Daft Punk were influenced by such approach of Front 242's.]

Front 242 – “Headhunter” (V2.0)…

Artist: Front 242
Title: Headhunter (V2.0)
Year: 1988
Label: Wax Trax! Records

Front 242 – “Headhunter” (V2.0) (mp3)

Front 242 – “Welcome To Paradise” (V1.0)…

Artist: Front 242
Title: Welcome To Paradise (V1.0)
Year: 1988
Label: Wax Trax! Records

Front 242 – “Welcome To Paradise” (V1.0) (mp3)

Front 242 – “Headhunter” (V1.0)…

Artist: Front 242
Title: Headhunter (V1.0)
Year: 1988
Label: Wax Trax! Records

Front 242 – “Headhunter” (V1.0) (mp3)

Eurythmics are known mainly for a lot of their mainstream releases but not so much for what was supposed to be their first motion-picture soundtrack release –titled 1984– for a movie also with the same title.  Ok, that was a long sentence.  I’ll simplify my point: Eurythmic’s 1984 was the soundtrack for the 1984 movie which was based on George Orwell’s novel:  1984/Nineteen Eight Four. Phew!

Back in 1984, I bought the LP vinyl & cassette of Eurythmics’ 1984, as well as the 7″ and 12″ singles of Sexcrime.  This entire album is actually my very favorite of any Eurythmics’ release.  It has all the synth-pop, electronic elements with Moroder-esque basslines, drum machine polyrhythms, stuttering vocal samples, layers of synth pads, lush sound engineering & mixing, seas of processed reverb and cutting-edge dark-noir feel to it all (with a touch of pop sparkles on top).  It’s pop and SERIOUS at the same time.  Timeless.  Emotional.  Deep.  All in all, 1984 is different in style & sound from Eurythmics’ previous forte, falling somewhere between Peter Gabriel’s Birdy soundtrack and The Art Of Noise.

Play Eurythmics “1984″ LP/Soundtrack…

Eurythmics 1984 Tracks…

Review of ’1984′ by DjProject…

Review by DjProject…

When Michael Redford set out to make a film adaptation of George Orwell’s well-known dystopia Nineteen Eighty-Four, Sir Richard Branson (Virgin was producing the film) wanted to have a pop act to contribute to the soundtrack. And so he brought onboard Eurythmics (still signed to RCA at the time). Although only a few of the cues were actually use in the theatrical cut and subsequently for laserdisc and DVD they were all but absent from the film (Eurythmics have become “unpersons” =] ), this is a fine alternative soundtrack to the work, both the novel and the film.

If Eurythmics were known solely for their pop sensibilities, this album would demonstrate their creative talents. The thing that makes this album stand out is the way it’s able to capture the mood and spirit of the world of Oceania. The sound is very modern and accessible to today but there’s a unsettling trait running through the album that compliments a future run by the principles of Ingsoc. Perhaps the best example in this album is “Greetings from a Dead Man.” The percussion makes it very dance-like yet the organ/synth sounds and Anne Lennox’s vocalizing give it a dark quality. This could very well be the first cyberpunk soundtrack =].

This is perhaps why Michael Redford disliked it so much. He was much in favor with Dominic Muldowney’s orchestral score. While Muldowney’s score is a good traditional film score and points to Orwell’s inspiration (the music is very “social realist” and would fit well with a socialist/communist band’s repertoire), it does very little to really explore and solidify the dark mood of the film. For an example, “I Did It Just the Same” was used (albeit in a slightly different form on the film) when Winston was recounting his encounter with prole prostitute. The rhythm track, the striptease-like synth bass and the other electronic oddities (Anne’s vocalizations were not on the film cue) help to amplify the sexuality in the scene, a verboten idea in the world of “1984.” Muldowney’s score just doesn’t cut it (pun intended).

While most Eurythmics fans would consider this a curiosity, I think it helps them to be seen as artists in their own right rather than just a pop group who happened to be at the right place at the right time. As for its failed use in the film, all I can say that I’m sorry that Michael Redford failed to see what this soundtrack could have done for the film.

This track was released in 1989 — the year when CD singles exploded into the market. Being a fan of Man 2 Man’s 1986 Male Stripper track, Action simply succeeded Male Stripper in some ways. The bassline alone is New York’s best, kicking you hard in the chest with a heavy thud. It pounds you in repeated-steps. Watch out, baby!

Man 2 Man were two brothers: Paul Zone and Miki Zone. After Miki’s death, Paul changed the name of Man To Man. The following information is taken from Paul Zone’s MySpace page…

Brothers Paul Zone, Miki Zone & Armand Zone formed The Fast in the mid 70s somewhere between glam & punk and soon became an integral part of the Max’s/CBGB scene along side Blondie & The Ramones with their blend of power pop & garage punk. As Man 2 Man, Paul & Miki went on to composed, produced & perform songs that would come to define an era in 80s Euro dance/pop and their club sensation “Male Stripper” became a 1 pop hit throughout Europe, Austalia, South America & Mexico.

In 1983 they recorded a few tracks with the first Fast producer Bobby Orlando (one being an early version of Male Stripper) and got bookings in bigger dance clubs like The Fun House, Limelight & The Saint in New York City and at Heaven in London. At this time they started calling themselves Man 2 Man, recorded self produced 12inch dance singles and would have popular chart topping club hits world wide by 1985. They continued as a live act, touring alongside Sylvester & Divine in clubs and venues holding up to 5000 people in the UK, South America & Mexico. A self produced, re-recording of Male Stripper was released as a b-side in 1986 and DJ’s around the world fliped the record over and it shot to number 1 on the dance charts. In March of 1987 Male Stripper went on to become a break out, cross over number 1 pop hit and landed them on the most important music TV show in Europe, “Top Of The Pops” in England. Man 2 Man singles “Male Stripper”, “I Need A Man”, “Energy Is Eurobeat”, “Who Knows What Evil?” & “These Boots Are Made For Walkin” all hit the pop charts in the UK and “At The Gym” became a hit in France with help from Village People producer Jaques Morali. Man 2 Man toured the World for the remainder of the 80s and retired in 1990 and haven’t released new recordings or performed live since.

Man 2 Man – “Action” (Dance Floor Action)…

Artist: Man 2 Man
Title: Action (Dance Floor Action)
Year: 1989
Label: ZYX Records

Man 2 Man – “Action” (Dance Floor Action) (mp3)

Wuf Ticket – “The Key” (Dub 12-inch)

Artist: Wuf Ticket
Title: The Key (Dub 12-inch)
Year: 1983
Genre: Super Bad-Ass Electric Dance Funk Bassline, Vocoder, Synth & bassline Stabbin’

Wuf Ticket – “The Key” (Dub 12-inch) (mp3)