Tag: Berlin (Page 2 of 3)

A Beginner’s Guide To MIKE HOWLETT

4 January 2016 /

Mike Howlett is undoubtedly one of the producers who helped define and shape the sound of Synth Britannia and Trans-Atlantic post-punk.

As the bassist in Sydney band THE AFFAIR, he relocated to London after the group travelled to England following winning the Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds competition. In 1973, he joined progressive rockers GONG who featured guitarist and future SYSTEM 7 co-founder Steve Hillage. After leaving GONG, Howlett formed STRONTIUM 90 which featured Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers who subsequently had success as THE POLICE.

His production career began in earnest at Dindisc Records, the Virgin Records subsidiary where his then-girlfriend Carol Wilson was Managing Director. There, he worked with fledgling acts such as THE REVILLOS, MARTHA & THE MUFFINS, MODERN EON and OMD.

While his first Top 20 UK chart entry was with MARTHA & THE MUFFINS, it was his three consecutive Top 15 hits with OMD, including the mighty ‘Enola Gay’, that were to make him an in-demand producer between 1981-1985.

Working with a number of synth friendly acts like BLANCMANGE and CHINA CRISIS, this lucrative period was to include a Grammy Award for ‘DNA’ with A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS in the ‘Best Rock Instrumental Performance’ category. His portfolio was not just restricted to electronic pop, with FISCHER Z, ANY TROUBLE, COMSAT ANGELS, THE ALARM and THE WARD BROTHERS among the artists he also worked with.

Compared with a number of his peers, Howlett’s output was small, but it was highly influential in a short period. Although he moved away from album production, he co-founded the Record Producers Guild in 1987 and launched a record label Mauve in 1993.

Today, he lectures in music technology at several universities throughout the world, having been awarded a PhD in record production in 2009, while he also performs with his psychedelic space funk combo HOUSE OF THANDOY and the occasional reunion of GONG.

Presented in calendar year order and then alphabetically, with a restriction of one song per album project to conceive an imaginary 18 song compilation CD, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK looks back at the impressive studio career of Mike Howlett…

MARTHA & THE MUFFINS Echo Beach (1980)

MARTHA & MUFFINS Echo BeachMARTHA & THE MUFFINS were six Canadian art students who confusingly had two members named Martha; Gane and Ladly. Combining the spirit of punk and North American styled new wave, ‘Echo Beach’ was a catchy slice of credible pop that featured sax, flute and organ alongside the usual guitars, bass and drums. Reaching No10 in the UK singles chart, it was Howlett’s first big hit and set him off on his successful production path.

Available on the album ‘Metro Music’ via Virgin Records

http://www.marthaandthemuffins.com/

OMD Messages (1980)

For its single release, OMD re-recorded ‘Messages’ from their self-titled debut. Utilising a pulsing ‘Repeat’ function on a Korg Micro-Preset shaped by hand twisting the octave knob, Howlett harnessed a template of basic primary chord structures and one fingered melodies to produce a No13 UK chart hit. As well including Mal Holmes’ separately recorded drums for a cleaner snap, Howlett added several melodic bass guitar lines onto the coda to enhance the warm sound.

Available on the album ‘Messages: OMD Greatest Hits’ via Virgin Records

http://www.omd.uk.com

OMD Stanlow (1980)

Just 9 months after OMD’s self-produced debut, the band entered Ridge Farm and Advision studios with Howlett for the more cohesive and gothic follow-up ‘Organisation’. The closer was ‘Stanlow’, a brooding 6 minute epic that conveyed the emotion of returning home after a long journey; the sight of that huge, brightly lit oil refinery from the M56 motorway was apt symbolism. The intellectual but cryptic lyrical themes of OMD set them apart from other acts.

Available on the album ‘Organisation’ via Virgin Records

https://www.facebook.com/omdofficial/

THE TEARDROP EXPLODES When I Dream (1980)

While THE TEARDROP EXPLODES were not a synthesizer group, their use of synths often confused some to dub them New Romantics as they straddled the line between psychedelic pop and Synth Britannia. The Howlett produced ‘When I Dream’ released in Summer 1980 launched Julian Cope and Co’s debut album ‘Kilimanjaro’. Dressed with detuned synths and low-end sweeps, it got them closer to the charts but it took a brass section to net that first hit in ‘Reward’.

Available on the album ‘The Greatest Hit’ via Mercury Records

https://www.headheritage.co.uk/

MARTHA LADLY & THE SCENERY CLUB Tasmania (1981)

MARTHA LADLY FinlandiaFollowing designing the cover to MARTHA & THE MUFFINS second album ‘Trance & Dance’, Martha Ladly won a scholarship to study graphic design and left the band. She also began working with Peter Saville. She continued a solo career with her first single ‘Finlandia’ produced by Mike Howlett. While this was akin to Nordic folk, the B-side ‘Tasmania’ was a brooding percussive piece reminiscent of JOY DIVISION with sombre chants from Ladly.

Originally released as the B-side to the single ‘Finlandia’ via Dindisc Records, currently unavailable

http://womenandtech.com/interview/martha-ladly/

MODERN EON Euthenics (1981)

MODERN EON EuthenicsMike Howlett was effectively house producer at Dindisc Records and worked with most of their artist roster. His production of MODERN EON’s ‘Euthenics’ was a re-recorded version of a single released by indie label Inevitable in 1980. With a sprightly but solemn sound like WAH! HEAT and HAMBI & THE DANCE, the band showed some promise. Led by Alix Plain, this version included Tim Lever and Cliff Hewitt who later respectively showed up in DEAD OR ALIVE and APOLLO 440.

Original version available on the boxed set ‘Birth Of A Nation – Inevitable Records: An Independent Liverpool 1979-1986’ via Cherry Red Records

http://www.soulsaw.com/modern-eon/

OMD Souvenir (1981)

OMD SouvenirMike Howlett’s work on ‘Souvenir’ had the nightmare scenario of spinning taped choir loops alongside early synthesizer technology while dealing with a disillusioned Andy McCluskey who was feeling left out of a song written by Paul Humphreys and Martin Cooper. Even after its recording, ‘Souvenir’ didn’t sound quite right, until Howlett varispeeded it to the point of Humphreys almost sounding like Alvin The Chipmunk. The end result? OMD’s biggest UK hit!

Available on the album ‘Architecture & Morality’ via Virgin Records

http://www.mikehowlett.co.uk

THOMPSON TWINS Perfect Game (1981)

THOMPSON TWINS Perfect GameBefore THOMPSON TWINS settled into being the Alex Sadkin produced electropop trio of Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway, they were a seven strong combo with a more conventionally driven musical outlook. Previous to that, they were a five-piece art squat collective and Mike Howlett produced their guitar driven third single ‘Perfect Game’. The band later signed to Arista Records and released the more synth friendly breakthrough single ‘In The Name Of Love’ in 1982.

Available on the album ‘A Product Of…’ / ‘Set’ via Edsel Records

http://thompsontwinstombailey.co.uk/

BLANCMANGE I Can’t Explain (1982)

With a blistering burst of Linn Drum and elastic synth bass, ‘I Can’t Explain’ set the scene for an impressive debut album from BLACMANGE. With a sub-Ian Curtis vocal from Neil Arthur, this  wasn’t far off an electronic take of JOY DIVISION’s ‘Interzone’, which was based on the Northern Soul fave ‘Keep On Keeping On’ by NF PORTER. This feeling was enhanced further once David Rhodes’ frantic guitar kicked in alongside the bizarre staccato gospel backing vocals.

Available on the album ‘Happy Families’ via Edsel Records

http://www.blancmange.co.uk/

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS Space Age Love Song (1982)

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS Space Age Love SongWith titles ‘like Modern Love Is Automatic’ and ‘Telecommunication’, the futuristic Sci-Fi vibe of A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS came to its zenith with ‘Space Age Love Song’. Howlett’s brilliantly punchy production integrated synths with guitars, which undoubtedly helped this often forgotten Liverpool band gain a foothold in the traditionally synthphobic territory of the USA. But the song was popular in Europe too.

Available on the album ‘A Flock Of Seagulls’ via Cherry Pop

http://www.mikescore.com/

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS Wishing (1982)

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS WishingWith a percussively clanky backbone and using just black keys for its infectious melody line, ‘Wishing’ was the big home hit that A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS has been waiting for, following their acceptance by the MTV audience across the Atlantic. Although much derided in the UK, it was in the US that A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS made a cultural impact, with send-ups of singer Mike Score’s outlandish hairdo appearing in ‘The Wedding Singer’ and ‘Friends’. Score later moved to America and lost his Scouse accent!

Available on the album ‘Listen’ via Cherry Pop

http://www.afosfanclub.com/

GANG OF FOUR I Love A Man In A Uniform (1982)

GANG OF FOUR I Love A Man In A UniformA cult single from the Leeds combo named after the Chinese Communist faction led by Madam Mao, ‘I Love A Man In A Uniform’ was a fine example of the scratchy post-punk funk that was prevalent with alternative acts such as A CERTAIN RATIO, PIGBAG and BAUHAUS. Exploring the public fascination with the military, it was also perhaps a passing dig at ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN who had perfected a camouflaged look that their fans copied.

Available on the album ‘A Brief History Of The 20th Century’ via EMI Music

http://gangoffour.co.uk/

TEARS FOR FEARS Pale Shelter (1982)

TEARS FOR FEARS Pale ShelterInspired by Henry Moore, Roland Orzabal described ‘Pale Shelter’ as “a kind of a love song, though more referring to one’s parents than to a girl” – the original single version was produced by Howlett and subtitled ‘You Don’t Give Me Love’ but failed to chart. It began with an unsettling, reverse spoken vocal from Orzabal. It was much darker and obviously synthetic than the familiar re-recording produced by Ross Cullum and Chris Hughes for the TEARS FOR FEARS debut album ‘The Hurting’.

Available on the deluxe album ‘The Hurting’ via Mercury Records

http://tearsforfears.com/

TV21 All Join Hands (1982)

TV21 All Join HandsNamed after the Gerry Anderson offshoot comic, TV21 primarily used conventional instrumentation, but their Howlett produced single ‘All Join Hands’ featured an OMD styled bass synth sequence and drum machine. Possibly the best known song in the Edinburgh band’s short career, ‘All Join Hands’ was filled with melodic drama, thanks to some classical augmentation by THE CANNIZARRO STRINGS and a fine lead vocal from singer Norman Rodger.

Available on the album ‘Snakes & Ladders – Almost Complete: 1980-82’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.facebook.com/TV21-63251111019/

CHINA CRISIS Wishful Thinking (1983)

China_Crisis_Wishful_ThinkingWith his OMD success, Mike Howlett was drafted in by Virgin Records to produce what turned out to be the most synth based CHINA CRISIS long player. Utilising Emulator strings and a pizzicato sample derived from plucking an acoustic guitar string close to the bridge, ‘Wishful Thinking’ was a sweetly textured, melodic pop single that deserved its Top 10 chart placing. One fan of the record was STEELY DAN’s Walter Becker who produced the follow-up ‘Flaunt The Imperfection’.

Available on the album ‘Working With Fire & Steel – Possible Pop Songs Volume 2’ via Virgin Records

https://www.facebook.com/chinacrisisofficial/

JOHN FOXX Twilight’s Last Gleaming (1983)

JOHN FOXX The Golden SectionWhile Zeus B Held provided his arty pop energy for most of ‘The Golden Section’, the sessions had actually began with Mike Howlett but scrapped. One track was released, the serene ‘Twilight’s Last Gleaming’.  With an epic gothic aesthetic, it recalled ‘Statues’ from OMD’s ‘Organisation’ and had more of a connection to its predecessor ‘The Garden’ thanks to the choir boy vocal of James Risborough and John Foxx’s own forlorn whistling.

Available on the album ‘The Golden Section’ via Edsel Records

http://www.metamatic.com

TIN TIN Hold It (1983)

TIN TIN Hold ItAfter leaving DURAN DURAN prior to the band signing to EMI, Stephen Duffy formed TIN TIN, an electronic oriented project. Their first single ‘Kiss Me’ released in 1982 became a cult dancefloor hit and for its follow-up ‘Hold It’, Mike Howlett was drafted in on production duties. Less immediate than ‘Kiss Me’, ‘Hold It’ nevertheless gained club traction thanks to a remix by Francois Kevorkian. Duffy eventually went solo and it was a Fairlighted remake of ‘Kiss Me’ that got finally got him a hit.

Originally released a single on WEA Records, currently unavailable

http://thelilactime.com/

BERLIN Now It’s My Turn (1984)

Although the two songs produced by Giorgio Moroder grabbed the attention on BERLIN’s first album proper, the rest of ‘Love Life’ was produced by Howlett. Having achieved success with A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS, Howlett was a natural choice for the LA based band and their Eurocentric aspirations. Combining electronics with a dash of AOR, BERLIN sounded like ULTRAVOX fronted by HEART. With a defiantly feisty vocal from Terri Nunn, ‘Now It’s My Turn’ was absorbingly anthemic.

Available on the album ‘Love Life’ via Rubellan Remasters

http://www.berlinpage.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
4th January 2016

MAD WORLD BOOK

2 September 2014 /

The book ‘Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s’ is to be formally made available in the UK.

In the book’s foreword by DURAN DURAN’s Nick Rhodes, the flamboyant synth player says: “It was a culture where the predilection was standing out from the crowd rather than fitting in. Artists were musically adventurous, less driven by commerce… While those in their teens and early 20s have a limited musical vocabulary, they remain the key source for change in music”. Concluding in the afterword, Moby states: “New Wave was its own world. With its own influences, its own codes, its own bailiwick(s), its own aesthetics, its own sonic landscape…”

Launched in North America to great acclaim last April, it discusses many of the artists who formed the British Invasion of the US with the advent of MTV; the Americans referred to these types of acts as New Wave.

While not definitive, ‘Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s’ delves into the spirit, the politics and the heartache behind some of the best songs ever recorded, regardless of genre. The book does bias towards a Stateside viewpoint courtesy of self-confessed Anglophile and Duranie Lori Majewski, but the content is balanced by the critical input of LA based Glaswegian Jonathan Bernstein.

The two met at Spin Magazine during the height of Grunge and found themselves to be kindred spirits as they quietly bonded over Synth Britannia and New Romantics, much to the chagrin of their scruffy, plaid shirted colleagues.

Photo by Paul Natkin

The dynamic between the “sour by nature” and “staunch supporter of the sheer oddball” Scotsman and the “obsessed past the point of sanity” American ensures that ‘Mad World’ celebrates the triumph and innovation of the era while simultaneously pulling no punches. For example, while accepting their places in the book, Bernstein lobs a few hand grenades in the direction of KAJAGOOGOO and THOMPSON TWINS! The pair’s differing viewpoints on the two phases of OMD are another enjoyable discussion point.

‘Mad World’ is ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s kind of book… it is affectionate and respectful, but also objective and discerning; this more than makes up for previously feeble attempts by other writers to capture the era by combining acts as disparate as SIMPLE MINDS and JASON DONOVAN into a single volume!

While the Adam ‘n’ Moz laden front cover might indicate otherwise, many of the artists who impacted on the Post-Punk synthesizer boom figure prominently in ‘Mad World’. As well as OMD, DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, ULTRAVOX, NEW ORDER, JOY DIVISION, YAZOO, HEAVEN 17, TEARS FOR FEARS, DURAN DURAN, A-HA, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS, SIMPLE MINDS, there’s Gary Numan, Thomas Dolby and Howard Jones, there’s also THE NORMAL and the early HUMAN LEAGUE to represent the trailblazers from 1978 who helped define the era.

Daniel Miller describes electronic music like ‘Warm Leatherette’ as “pure punk music” as opposed to “punk rock”, due to it adopting that true punk ideal of do-it-yourself. Meanwhile, Martyn Ware waxes lyrical about the realisation of ‘Being Boiled’… the chapter was to have been about ‘Don’t You Want Me?’ but with Phil Oakey’s continued refusal to give interviews about the past has ensured its omission. At the end of the day, Oakey misses an opportunity to reflect and give his story of the era.

However, Oakey’s contemporaries don’t disappoint; as usual, Andy McCluskey gives great copy and his interview nicely sums up the rise and fall and rise and fall and rise of OMD to highlight the pressures of achieving and maintaining success. And while ‘If You Leave’ from the film ‘Pretty In Pink’ may not be the greatest song he and Paul Humphreys have ever written, it is certainly not their worst and its success in America is a handy pension pot for the duo.

The joy of this book is that even if an act is of no interest musically, the back stories are fascinating and a number have not been widely known. Like did you know that the true origin of the name SPANDAU BALLET is even more unpleasant than JOY DIVISION? Or that ‘True’ was inspired by Gary Kemp’s unrequited relationship with ALTERED IMAGES’ Clare Grogan? Or that DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS’ Kevin Rowland is a right miserable sod, but he always has been and always will be!

Meanwhile, the entertaining KAJAGOOGOO chapter proves that like in much of today’s music scene, ego can often exceed inherent talent and actual artistic success. The diva-ish spats between Limahl and Nick Beggs in ‘Mad World’ are almost worth the purchase price alone.

While ‘Mad World’ is full of tales of excess and hedonism, one very interesting chapter is about the clean living and philosophical Howard Jones. While quietly making his fortune in the US, the happily married vegetarian readily admitted to having a wandering eye that inspired his biggest American hit ‘No-One Is To Blame’: “It’s about being attracted to other people and admitting that. You are attracted to maybe half the people you meet, and that isn’t a bad thing. You shouldn’t blame yourself for that… but if you want to consummate that attraction to other people, then you have to be prepared to take what comes with it”.

‘Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s’ is a terrific read, but there are the odd date errors and what some might consider irritating translations of distinctly British terms for the primarily American audience.

And while the book covers most bases, one important song that is missing is VISAGE’s ‘Fade To Grey’. A complex story in itself, that probably would have made up a book on its own! But overall, these minor aberrations do not spoil what ‘Mad World’ is… the best book so far capturing that MTV era which many like to refer to as ‘The 8*s’ 😉

Following her highly informative interview earlier in the year, co-author Lori Majewski reflected on the Americanisation of New Wave and why certain UK acts came to become more highly regarded in the US than back home…

Why did it seem the only US acts that seemed to ride on that UK synth wave were BERLIN and ANIMOTION?

LA had a very big New Wave scene with MISSING PERSONS, THE GO GOS, THE MOTELS, BERLIN and ANIMOTION but what you have to remember is that it kinda got watered down by the time it got to America. As we say in the book, you had Brits trying to be Germans wanting to be robots, and then Americans who wanted to be British!

So the Americans were already two steps removed from the conception of New Wave. You look at something like BERLIN, so they’re named after the city that inspired New Wave and 6,000 miles away singing about ‘The Metro’ in Paris where they had never even been!

But I think what LA New Wave brought was glamour. First of all, there weren’t a lot of women in New Wave full stop although in the UK, you had Annie Lennox, Alison Moyet and BANANARAMA. So in LA, we had BERLIN’s Terri Nunn who was a model and tried out to be Princess Leia in ‘Star Wars’, there was THE MOTELS’ Martha Davis who was very old school Hollywood glam and THE GO GOS; plus you had MISSING PERSONS’ Dale Bozzio, who was the first woman I ever saw and thought “oh, that’s what a breast implant is” *laughs*

I think in general, Americans put their own spin on New Wave but as Jonathan likes to point out in the book several times, it wasn’t something we exported back to Britain; it was something that we kept here that Brits didn’t really go for.

What did you think about bands like TEARS FOR FEARS, SIMPLE MINDS and THE PSYCHEDLIC FURS tailoring their sound for the American market when their initial charm was sounding British in the first place?

It’s something we talk about in the TEARS FOR FEARS chapter. We forget that TEARS FOR FEARS had the biggest album of the era in ‘Songs From The Big Chair’. Curt Smith talks in the book about how they did consciously move to appeal to a wider audience but also to make a different record to ‘The Hurting’.

They were listening to more American things like Frank Zappa. So they didn’t make a conscious decision to be American, they made a conscious decision NOT to make the first record again… and as you point out, that record was very British. I don’t know if ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ is American sounding, it just not as New Wave sounding.

The Americans really loved THOMPSON TWINS and Howard Jones? What was it about them that appealed Stateside?

Howard Jones did well here but I think he would have made it no matter what decade it was because he wrote classic songs… but he happened to use synthesizers and he had the haircut! When you look at a song like ‘No-One Is To Blame’, it’s a good pop song, period!

As for THOMPSON TWINS, Jonathan knew of their previous incarnation while I did not, so he was suspicious of how they were this art conglomerate that suddenly wanted to be pop stars and on the cover of Smash Hits! I have to say, they were visually arresting and those songs are built to last. You hear ‘Hold Me Now’ today and what an incredible song!

And I always remember that was the first time I thought about couples fighting because the idea that a man will placate a woman and say “you ask if I love you, well what can I say? You know that I do and if this is just one of those games that we play”, and I thought “Oh my God, that’s right… that’s what women do!” *laughs*

So I felt Tom Bailey was a pop star with a romantic side that really appealed to me, especially with the song ‘If You Were Here’ at the end of the John Hughes film ‘Sixteen Candles’, that’s one of my favourite songs from the entire era.

Why do you think acts like A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS, THOMAS DOLBY, WANG CHUNG and NAKED EYES were perhaps more popular in America than Britain?

I think this IS the advent of MTV, you guys in the UK didn’t have it and we did. ‘I Ran’ by A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS was a huge MTV hit, but it only started going up the US charts and being played on radio after people were requesting it because they saw the video on MTV. So they rode a wave that was not available in their own country.

It was the same with NAKED EYES and I love their version of ‘Always Something There To Remind Me’. MTV helped a lot of bands that were using the medium of video to get to an audience.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Lori Majewski

‘Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s’ is available in the UK from all good bookshops and online retailers

Meanwhile in Brooklyn at Rough Trade NYC on Saturday 14th September 2014, ‘A Mad World Conversation with Midge Ure’ takes place at 5.00pm – details can be found at the Mad World website

http://madworldbook.com

https://www.facebook.com/madworldthebook

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
2nd September 2014

ELEVEN:ELEVEN Through The Veil

19 November 2013 /

After almost a year’s delay, Texan duo ELEVEN:ELEVEN have finally released their debut album ‘Through The Veil’.

Combining elements of Italo Disco, Hi-NRG and Electroclash with the feisty template of Terri Nunn’s BERLIN and the Mittel Europa romanticism of VISAGE, ELEVEN:ELEVEN deliver a melodic but edgy style of electronic dance music which doesn’t cause death by four-to-the-floor!

Fronted by the feline demure of Sicca and powered by the crisp electronic backing of Jake Childs, ELEVEN:ELEVEN have been described as the musical love child of GIORGIO MORODER and ADULT. The duo’s debut EP ‘Infection’, with exquisite songs like ‘Infection’, showcased the subtle dynamics of their futuristic disco friendly sound influenced by the likes of producers such as Bobby Orlando as well as the man named Giorgio.

The original promotional concept of ‘Through The Veil’ had been to the release a track one-at-a-time before culminating in a finished ten track album but after six were premiered, things went quiet while the duo were signed to Canadian label Cliché Musique, part of Universal Music.

It comes as a big surprise though after all the delays that the whole album has been given away as a free download… but what a freebie! The songs are uncluttered, and allowed space to breathe rather than just having the kitchen sink thrown in. Punching forth at the start is ‘Escape’ which combines atmosphere, danceability and emotion for a superb opener.

Taking on a more Eurocentric countenance with a hint of A-HA’s ‘Take On Me’ is ‘Essence’ although Sicca doesn’t try to attempt falsetto. With a moodier percussive outlook, creepier synths hook-in at a steadier pace on ‘Mesmerize’ with Sicca all haunted and exclaiming “You’re toxic, mesmerise me… I waste away”; it all gives ‘Through The Veil’ a kind of sexy gothic allure.

‘The Play’ explores bondage chic, a theme often referenced in ELEVEN:ELEVEN’s artwork. Feeling the need for speed, it is more frantic than the other numbers running through the core of ‘Through The Veil’. There’s plenty of highs and lows in its two minutes. The exploration continues on ‘The Chains’ and at four plus minutes, is the longest song on the album. Strangely, it does sound a little too long…

The synthetic seediness of ‘No Words’ is reminiscent of MISS KITTIN & THE HACKER but whereas Ms Herve would just speak, Sicca coos with a sultry allure… it actually makes a change to hear a singer on an electronic backing track like this rather than the expected deadpan monologue. Driven by an arpeggiated bassline and analogue drum machine clatter, ‘Little White Lies’ is rather divine with Sicca sounding quite seductively resigned over some great syncopation, club friendly without being overbearing.

‘Isolate’ and ‘Justified’ maintain the quality of the album and don’t veer too much away from the ‘Through The Veil’ template. But the best number comes last with the brilliantly sparkling title track which put quite simply, is just great angelic synthpop.

An impressive debut, the main noticeable trait of ‘Through The Veil’ other than its quality dance stance is that the songs are all short and sweet. There’s no unnecessary 20 inch dance mixes needed as the point can be made in less than three minutes… so DJs and dance acts, PLEASE LEARN!

At thirty-two minutes, ‘Through The Veil’ does not outstay its welcome and with its enjoyable ten variations of a theme, it showcases how there is subtle, crafted thinking within EDM from this promising electronic duo.

‘Through The Veil’ is available via the usual digital platforms

http://www.facebook.com/the.eleveneleven

https://twitter.com/weare1211

Text by Chi Ming Lai
19th November 2013

A Beginner’s Guide To GIORGIO MORODER

23 July 2013 /

Everybody Calls Me Giorgio

There has been a resurgent interest in the work of Giorgio Moroder thanks to his own life story being appropriately set to music by DAFT PUNK for the song ‘Giorgio By Moroder’ on the helmeted duo’s new album ‘Random Access Memories’. But it was Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ that brought the legendary producer to the world’s attention.

Born Hansjörg Giovanni  Moroder in 1940, the Italian began his career as a solo artist in Germany before immersing himself in production with musical partner Pete Bellotte at Musicland Studios in Munich. In 1973, they came across an American singer who had been touring in a theatre production of ‘Hair’.

That singer was Donna Summer and together they went on to record the unforgettably orgasmic ‘Love To Love You Baby’. It was submitted to Casablanca Records boss Neil Bogart who loved it so much, he kept playing it continuously at a party he was hosting. Bogart later contacted Moroder to make it longer.

 

The final album version clocked in at over 17 minutes, but the edited single became Moroder and Summer’s breakthrough international hit in 1975. Sometime later while recording a historical concept album with Donna Summer which showcased various musical styles through the ages called ‘I Remember Yesterday’, Moroder wanted to feature a track that represented “the sound of the future”.

Most of Moroder’s previous work had utilised conventional instrumentation and orchestration, save the odd texturing using string machines or Minimoog. But employing the Moog Modular system with an 8-step analogue sequencer plus a triplet delay to create the pulsing synthesizer lines and metronomic beat, the resultant song ‘I Feel Love’ changed the course of music when it hit No1 around the world in 1977.

It was dance music without the funk, which at the time was quite unusual as it had been one of the main constituents of disco. Incidentally, Summer’s hypnotic, almost Arabic falsetto was an accident as inadvertently, ‘I Feel Love’ had been recorded in a key outside of Summer’s usual range.

It was a year which also saw electronic hits in the UK by Jean-Michel Jarre, David Bowie and SPACE. Bowie was at this time resident in Berlin recording ‘Heroes’ with Brian Eno and remembered: “Eno came running in and said ‘I have heard the sound of the future’. He puts on ‘I Feel Love’ by Donna Summer and said ‘this is it, look no further, this single is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years’, which was more or less right.”

1977 also saw the release of KRAFTWERK’s ‘Trans Europe Express’ album which had a big effect on the New York dance scene. Although KRAFTWERK had a big international hit single with ‘Autobahn’ in 1975 and there had been HOT BUTTER’s ‘Popcorn’ before it, both were considered novelty records at the time and did not indicate the start of any burgeoning movement. For that reason, 1977 can effectively be considered as Year Zero in modern electronic pop. So for ‘I Feel Love’ alone, Giorgio Moroder’s place in music history is assured.

Relocating to Hollywood after his music for ‘Midnight Express’ won him an Oscar, the huge success of ‘Flashdance…What A Feeling’ for Irene Cara in 1983 led Moroder to lucrative commissions such as the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. This resulted in the massive, but totally dreadful AOR hit ‘Reach Out’. He was then asked to contribute the love theme for an aviation action film called ‘Top Gun’.

Moroder has recorded many significant pieces of work; so here are twenty pieces of interest that tell the story of the pioneer’s creative journey in electronics with a nomination restriction of one track per project, but also omitting some of his more obvious hits which the world already knows and loves such as ‘I Feel Love’, ‘Call Me’, ‘Flashdance…What A Feeling’, ‘The Never Ending Story’ and the inevitable ‘Together In Electric Dreams’…

GIORGIO Son Of My Father (1971)

Featuring a distinctive Minimoog line and solo, Moroder’s first widely known composition with Pete Bellotte was actually his fourth German solo hit. With catchy but bizarre lyrics, ‘Son Of My Father’ was a schaffel stomper coated with assorted effects such as phased drums. The prototype of the electro glam template later popularised by GOLDFRAPP, CHICORY TIP’s copycat cover with future SEX PISTOLS’ producer Chris Thomas playing the Minimoog part was a UK No1 in 1972.

Available on the GIORGIO album ‘Son Of My Father’ via Repertoire Records

https://www.discogs.com/artist/4205-Giorgio-Moroder

GIORGIO From Here To Eternity (1977)

On a roll from his pioneering work with Donna Summer, his first solo album for Casablanca Records centred around this throbbing electronic disco number. Almost trance-like, ‘From Here To Eternity’ featured vocodered and conventional voices. Often mistaken for being KRAFTWERK, it actually prompted the Kling Klang quartet to move towards a more computerised sound for their 1978 album ‘The Man Machine’… Moroder’s influence can be clearly heard on ‘Spacelab’ and ‘Metropolis’.

Available on the GIORGIO album ‘From Here To Eternity’ via Repertoire Records

https://soundcloud.com/giorgiomoroder/

DONNA SUMMER Working The Midnight Shift (1977)

From an ambitious double album called ‘Once Upon A Time’ consisting of four distinct approaches, ‘Working The Midnight Shift’ formed part of an all-electronic three song segued suite entitled ‘Act2’ that took up one side of vinyl. Developing ‘I Feel Love’ to the next level, Summer’s wispy falsetto was supplemented by raspier gospel-like harmonies and a grander cavernous setting within which the rhythmical electronics and descending synth riffs took a heavenly hold.

Available on the DONNA SUMMER album ‘Once Upon a Time’ via Casablanca / Universal Records

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialDonnaSummer/

GIORGIO MORODER Chase (1978)

Driven by an intense slamming and syncopated by popping pulses, ‘Chase’ was commissioned by director Alan Parker for the graphic prison drama ‘Midnight Express’ who wanted some electronic accompaniment to the crucial chase scene of the film in the style of ‘I Feel Love’. Working with Harold Faltermeyer who was later to find fame with ‘Axel F’ and as producer of PET SHOP BOYS’ ‘Behaviour’ album, the bassline from Moroder’s own 1976 cover of ‘Knights In White Satin’ was reappropriated.

Available on the soundtrack album ‘Midnight Express’ via Casablanca Records / Universal Records or the compilation ‘The Best Of Giorgio Moroder’ via Repertoire Records

http://www.moroder.net/

GIORGIO MORODER Evolution (1978)

Moroder’s composition for the original ‘Battlestar Galactica’ film was a prolonged battle between man and machine, rather like the film itself. Wobbly treated bass, symphonic synths, and heavy rock guitar were augmented by the simple percussive style of Keith Forsey who was noted for being able to play a kick drum for up to 15 minutes at a time without fluctuating his beat… that skill was quite handy for this lengthy instrumental that took up an entire side of the album.

Originally on the GIORGIO MORODER album ‘Music From Battlestar Galactica & Other Original Compositions’ via Casablanca Records. Now available on the GIORGIO album ‘E=MC2’ as a bonus track via Repertoire Records

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002380/

MUNICH MACHINE Introducing CHRIS BENNETT It’s For You (1978)

Rumoured to be using songs written for Donna Summer but rejected by Casablanca label boss Neil Boggart, MUNICH MACHINE was one of the many outlets for the extremely prolific Moroder. Fronted on the second album by jazz singer Chris Bennett ‘It’s For You’ was the standout song on an album that combined electronics, flutes and orchestrations with a coy playfulness. The album was noted for its depiction of a naked Bennett posing with two pre-‘Transformers’ robots on the back cover.

Available on the MUNICH MACHINE album ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ via Casablanca Records

http://chrisbennett.com/

GIORGIO What A Night (1979)

Having acquired Roland’s new System 700 modular and MC8 Micro-composer, work started on ‘E=MC2’ which was touted as the first “electronic live-to-digital” album with “music programmed as bursts of energy”. This concept allowed for an uptempo funkiness previously unheard on sequencer based music to come into play. And with the electronically treated vocals and euphoric energy of the marvellous ‘What A Night’, the sound of DAFT PUNK was inadvertently being invented!

Available on the GIORGIO album ‘E=MC2’ via Repertoire Records

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Giorgio-Moroder/108533245891626

JAPAN Life In Tokyo (1979)

The bridge between growly funk-rock JAPAN and the more familiar artier and mannered version of the group, David Sylvian submitted ‘European Son’ for the session in Los Angeles but it was rejected by Moroder. Instead, the Italian offered several of his demos, of which, Sylvian picked the one he considered to be the worst so that he could stamp more of his own vision for JAPAN’s developing synthesized sound. Ahead of its time, Moroder and Sylvian had just conceived DURAN DURAN!

Available on the JAPAN album ‘The Very Best Of Japan’ via Virgin / EMI Records

http://www.nightporter.co.uk/

SPARKS No1 Song In Heaven (1979)

In a creative rut following their massive UK success in the glam-era, SPARKS had found ‘I Feel Love’ awe inspiring. A journalist friend put them in contact with Moroder who had aspirations to work with a band and set to work with them immediately. The first result was the tremendous ‘No1 Song In Heaven’ where Russell Mael’s flamboyant falsetto fitted well with the electro-disco sound, while the programmed backing meant Ron Mael could maintain his image of doing nothing.

Available on the SPARKS album ‘No1 in Heaven’ via Repertoire Records

http://allsparks.com/

DONNA SUMMER Our Love (1979)

Every wondered where NEW ORDER got that iconic rapid-fire drum machine intro for ‘Blue Monday’? Then look no further than the brilliant ‘Our Love’. Not content with inventing Hi-NRG, Moroder thought he’d formulate Italo disco as well! Working closely with Harald Faltermeyer and Peter Bellotte, there was a distinct edge to the synthesizers too with the tight sequences synonymous with the Moroder sound considerably beefed up for a harder club impact.

Available on the DONNA SUMMER album ‘Bad Girls’ via Casablanca Records

http://donnasummer.com/

GIORGIO MORODER Night Drive (1980)

Essentially a funky instrumental version of BLONDIE’s ‘Call Me’ in 4/4 time but without the chorus, the cool dramatics blended with slithering synth sweeps on ‘Night Drive’ could be seen as the forerunner of tracks such as KAVINSKY’s ‘Nightcall’ which coincidentally was co-produced by DAFT PUNK’s Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo. Incidentally, both ‘Night Drive’ and ‘Call Me’ from the Richard Gere film ‘American Gigolo’ were variations of a Moroder demo entitled ‘Man Machine’.

Available on the soundtrack album ‘American Gigolo’ via Polydor / Universal Records

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080365/

DAVID BOWIE Cat People (1982)

With a moody introduction, Bowie croons over his only collaboration with Moroder before some gothic rock elements and female gospel backing singers take hold, before a powerful burst of tribal drumming from Keith Forsey. Fittingly as the song was for an arthouse horror movie, this now sounds like a blueprint for ‘More’ by THE SISTERS OF MERCY! Incidentally, ‘Cat People’ was one of Forsey’s last recordings with Moroder before notably producing Billy Idol.

Available on the soundtrack album ‘Cat People’ via MCA Records and the DAVID BOWIE album ‘The Best Of 1980/1987’ via EMI Records

http://davidbowie.com/

DEBBIE HARRY Rush Rush (1983)

With Forsey and Faltermeyer flying the nest, Moroder employed new sidemen Richie Zito on guitar and Arthur Barrow who could handle anything thrown at him from slap bass and synths to Linn Drum programming! Having worked with Moroder on ‘Call Me’, Debbie Harry returned for the soundtrack of the Al Pacino gangster flick ‘Scarface’. ‘Rush Rush’ premiered a new style that pushed a rockier energy, Moroder avoided using the Fairlight CMI to keep his productions distinct.

Available on the soundtrack album ‘Scarface’ via Geffen Records

http://www.blondie.net/

BERLIN No More Words (1984)

BERLIN were one of the first American new wave bands inspired by European acts like KRAFTWERK and ULTRAVOX, so it was natural that they aspired to work with Moroder. By 1984, both were keen on a more FM friendly sound following their synthpop beginnings. The Linn driven synth rock fusion resulted in BERLIN’s first Top30 US hit ‘No More Words’. It was the start of a relationship that would ultimately end the band.

Available on the BERLIN albums ‘Love Life’ or ‘Best Of Berlin 1979-1988’ via Geffen Records

http://www.berlinpage.com/band

FREDDIE MERCURY Love Kills (1984)

Moroder acquired the rights to the cult Fritz Lang film ‘Metropolis’ and colourised the film with a modern MTV friendly soundtrack. The launch single ‘Love Kills’ featured all of QUEEN and inluded a Brian May guitar solo despite being credited to Freddie Mercury in a starkly percussive electronic track with an operatic rock fusion and neo-baroque interludes. The title became sadly poignant when Mercury passed away in 1991.

Available on the soundtrack album ‘Metropolis’ via Columbia Records

http://www.queenonline.com/en/the-band/members/freddie-mercury/

GIORGIO MORODER Ivory Tower (1984)

The B-side of Limahl’s international hit ‘The Never Ending Story’ was a wondrous solo Moroder offering set at 6/8 called ‘Ivory Tower’. Also from the same film based on a German fantasy novel by Michael Ende, this rousing instrumental was also used as incidental music for the grid positions summary at the start of each race during the BBC’s ‘Grand Prix’ programme… now Moroder and racing, that’s an interesting concept!!

Available on the soundtrack album ‘The Never Ending Story’ via EMI Records

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088323/

PHILIP OAKEY & GIORGIO MORODER Now (1985)

Despite the worldwide success of ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ in late 1984, the ever morose Philip Oakey considered the music to be slightly old fashioned. However, it did better than anything from THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s lukewarm ‘Hysteria’ album. Virgin Records swiftly despatched Oakey to record an album with Moroder. ‘Now’ was an epically stabbing song with Oakey’s heartfelt commentary on economic corruption with mighty backing from Moroder sidekicks Barrow and Zito.

Available on the album ‘Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder’ via Virgin / EMI Records

http://www.thehumanleague.co.uk/

BERLIN Take My Breath Away (1986)

Moroder and Terri Nunn got on very well during BERLIN’s ‘Love Life’ sessions so he asked her to sing on a ballad he had written with his Ferrari mechanic Tom Whitlock entitled ‘Take My Breath Away’. With its distinctive fretless bass line played on a DX7, heartfelt lyrics and unforgettable key change, it was a No1 around the world but the success was bittersweet. Unrepresentative of BERLIN’s previous work, the band fell apart. Meanwhile Moroder won his third Oscar!

Available on the soundtrack album ‘Top Gun’ via Columbia Records and the BERLIN album ‘Best Of Berlin 1979-1988’ via Geffen Records

https://berlinpage.com/

SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK 21st Century Boy (1986)

The hype surrounding SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK and an alleged £1 million advance from EMI caused much resentment in the press. Developing the Cyberpunk sound which crossed frantic rockabilly with modern technology like SUICIDE on speed, Moroder threw in the kitchen sink on the quintet’s debut album ‘Flaunt It’. ’21st Century Boy’ was superior to the slightly formless ‘Love Missile F1-11’, even if to the untrained ear, the two songs sounded virtually identical!

Available on the SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK album ‘Flaunt It’ via EMI Records

http://www.sputnik2.com/

DAFT PUNK Giorgio By Moroder (2013)

An unusual collaboration, Moroder recorded an autobiographical monologue for DAFT PUNK to build a musical homage around. Influenced more by the conventional disco of his ‘I Wanna Funk With You Tonight’ and ‘Love To Love You Baby’ period rather than his pioneering electronic phase, ‘Giorgio By Moroder’ possesses a wonderful groove assisted by all manner of machines, freeform drumming, guitar solos and jazz improvisation.

Available on the DAFT PUNK album ‘Random Access Memories’ via Columbia Records

https://www.daftpunk.com/

GIORGIO MORODER Racer (2013)

With his story being told to a brand audience courtesy of DAFT PUNK and his DJ services being sought after around the world, Moroder returned with a new solo recording. Commissioned by Google Chrome for their online game ‘Racer’, the piano line is like ULTRAVOX gone disco while the whirring synths, octave shifts, robot voices and trancey gates are like a history of electronic dance music.  Moroder is making club music today that is as vital as any young pretender.

Available via https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Giorgio_Moroder_Racer

https://twitter.com/GIORGIOMORODER_

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s ‘MORODERED…’ playlist can be heard on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/05D4jefsqlqNpDXs31gW1u

Text by Chi Ming Lai
23rd July 2013

Lost Albums: BERLIN Love Life

7 July 2012 /

In their prime, BERLIN only actually recorded one mini-LP and two albums with the nucleus of Terri Nunn and John Crawford. Although not the original vocalist, Nunn joined multi-instrumentalist Crawford to become partners in life and music with BERLIN.

Although DEVO and OUR DAUGHTER’S WEDDING had featured electronics in a more artful fashion, BERLIN’s 1982 independent mini-LP ‘Pleasure Victim’ was one of the first occasions of an American pop act embracing the synthesizer which had changed the face of music in Europe. It led to a deal with Geffen Records and notoriety with the deviantly fuelled breakthrough single ‘Sex (I’m A…)’. At this point, mainstream USA was still getting excited about macho rock posturing like JOURNEY, TOTO or John Cougar (as the man born Mellencamp was then known)!

BERLIN’s brilliant songs such as ‘The Metro’ and ‘Masquerade’ with their motorik drum machines and Teutonic pulses were a far cry from the way instruments made by Sequential Circuits, Moog and their sisters were being used Stateside. “We were first inspired to create our sound from a couple of European bands ULTRAVOX and KRAFTWERK that were using these new kinds of keyboards that created very different sounds than those of a standard keyboard or piano.” said Nunn, “It created a whole new dynamic that we fell in love with”. Meanwhile, the title track with its pretty synth melody showed how emotive such instrumentation could be, even in songs that were perceived to be AOR ballads.

Featuring an expanded line-up including David Diamond (keyboards and guitar), Ric Olsen (guitar), Matt Reid (keyboards) and Rob Brill (drums) plus an array of devices such as the ARP Quadra, Memory Moog, Prophet 5, Pro-One, TR808, OBX-a, DX7 and Fairlight, Nunn and Crawford delivered their first full-length album together in 1984 called ‘Love Life’.

With this, BERLIN enhanced their reputation and planted the seeds that led to them becoming household names for a short while. Produced mostly by Mike Howlett who had worked with OMD, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS, BLANCMANGE and MARTHA & THE MUFFINS, he brought his interest in German experimental music and experience as a seasoned musician with GONG to combine Eurocentric electronics with a Trans-Atlantic flavour that was perfect for the MTV generation. The revenge themed ‘Now It’s My Turn’ was the ultimate culmination of that, a mysterious monochrome verse counterpointed by a belting chorus that sounded like HEART’s Ann Wilson fronting ULTRAVOX.

Opening number ‘When We Make Love’ soared vocally and accompanied by some rousing modern backing, provided the cinematic mood for the rest of the album which was dressed in a sleeve picturing Nunn as a vintage film starlet. ‘Touch’ had a similar feel but was slightly more frenetic with synths and guitars blending to produce a unique sound for the time. However, despite starting side two, ‘Pictures Of You’ was really just a pedestrian rock retread of ‘The Metro’.

Taking the pace down, ‘Beg Steal or Borrow’ was BERLIN having fun in the vein of ALTERED IMAGES gone electro while ‘In My Dreams’ was melancholic but dreamy pop. With its atmospheric sweeps and chiming guitar lines, ‘For All Tomorrow’s Lies’ recalled A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS’ ‘Transfer Affection’ before the album closed with the lovely John Hughes’ movie romance of ‘Fall’. The end product resulted in BERLIN sounding neither entirely European or American, walking an enjoyable fine line between FM rawk and New Romantic. Despite the US Top 30 success of ‘Love Life’, the band fragmented, leaving only Nunn and Crawford plus Brill to continue…

By way of a musical prophecy, the album’s Top 30 US hit single ‘No More Words’ was to be the undoing of the close if tempestuous bond between Nunn and Crawford. That song and another album highlight ‘Dancing In Berlin’ were produced by Giorgio Moroder and the blueprint of the Linn driven synth / rock fusion later developed further on his album with THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s Philip Oakey.

Moroder and Nunn got on very well during the sessions so he asked her to sing on a song he had written with his Ferrari mechanic Tom Whitlock entitled ‘Take My Breath Away’. It had already been demoed by Martha Davis of cult new wavers THE MOTELS who had a couple of US Top 10 hits including ‘Only The Lonely’. The Oscar winning ’Take My Breath Away’ became a No1 around the world in 1986 having been featured in the film ‘Top Gun’ but the success was bittersweet. While it was the ultimate guilty pleasure, the song was unrepresentative of BERLIN’s previous work, especially as it only featured Nunn with no input from Crawford who had been the band’s main songwriter.

Despite an extensive tour supporting FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD, the accompanying rock oriented album ‘County Three & Pray’ (produced largely by Bob Ezrin) did not sell well despite the inclusion of ‘Take My Breath Away’ and another great single ‘You Don’t Know’. With confusion over their musical direction and deteriorating personal relationships, BERLIN fell apart, ironically three years before the actual city’s wall did!

The majority of the ‘Love Life’ line-up including John Crawford were persuaded to reform for VH1’s ‘Bands Reunited’ programme in 2004 but today, only Terri Nunn remains, touring regularly under the BERLIN name having bought the name from Crawford and occasionally recording. Sadly, their original Geffen back catalogue is difficult to obtain outside of North America and inferior re-recordings appear on various ‘Greatest Hits’ and ‘Live’ CDs.

It’s a shame because although they were plagued by the legacy of a massive hit song they didn’t write, BERLIN are worthy of recognition as American electronic pop pioneers for a sound that had been alien to most of their countrymen pre-MTV. For this reason alone, their work from this imperial period deserves to be heard.

‘Love Life’ is available as a CD via Rubellan Remasters at https://www.rubellanremasters.com/online-store/Berlin-Love-Life-Expanded-Edition-p179552492

http://www.berlinpage.com/

https://www.facebook.com/berlinofficialband/

https://twitter.com/realterrinunn

Text by Chi Ming Lai
7th July 2012, updated 21st March 2020

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