Tag: Howard Jones (Page 6 of 6)

25 SONGS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SINGLES

19 February 2014 /

The concept of the single in the past has been to present an artist’s most immediate work for mass consumption and appreciation, often as a trailer for an album or compilation.
Like it or not, many acts’ best songs have been released as singles. They often reach an audience who would not normally be interested in the tribulations of a much longer journey.

Looking back throughout pop history, many pinnacles of a group’s career have been exclusively single releases; THE WALKER BROTHERS ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’, THE BEATLES ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ and THE JAM ‘Going Underground’ are a number of examples.

Today’s culture of individual track downloading now makes virtually every song in existence a single. However, a fair number of recordings which have become standards within live sets and have become a key part of a band’s history have never been accorded a single release. Such were some bands’ standings in their heyday that many were potential hits.

So here are 25 synth friendly songs which ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK felt should have been given singular status. Listing tracks not released as 45s or CD singles in the UK with a limit of one song per artist moniker, they are arranged in chronological and then alphabetical order.

GARY NUMAN Metal (1979)

With Minimoog riffage in abundance, ‘Metal’ would have made a perfect follow-up to ‘Cars’ and in hindsight, been less of a public anti-climax than the brave, but misguided release of ‘Complex’, as great a song as it is. Full of dystopian resignation with references to “liquid engineers” and chilling vox humana courtesy of the Polymoog, ‘Metal’ was Sci-Fi musicality at its best. Even NINE INCH NAILS covered it and nearly 35 years later, it is still part of the Gary Numan live set.

Available on the GARY NUMAN album ‘The Pleasure Principle’ via Beggars Banquet Records

http://www.numan.co.uk/

JOHN FOXX A New Kind Of Man (1980)

“I want to be a machine” cried JOHN FOXX as far back as 1977 on the first ‘Ultravox!’ album. Starting off side two of ‘Metamatic’, the former Dennis Leigh realised his mechanised JG Ballard inspired electro theories and went up to the next level with ‘A New Kind of Man’. Is it about genetically modified humans or homo superiors? Who knows? But the chilling Elka string machine and frightening detuned synthetics made it a distinctly new kind of song in a brave new world.

Available on the JOHN FOXX album ‘Metamatic’ via Edsel Records

http://www.metamatic.com/

JAPAN Swing (1980)

JAPAN found a refuge at Virgin Records who released their fourth album ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’. One of its best numbers was ‘Swing’ which combined David Sylvian’s muzak travelogue with Richard Barbieri’s Oriental synth textures. It was probably one of the last times JAPAN were fully as one. Guitarist Rob Dean made a full contribution before being forced out while the rhythm section of the late Mick Karn and Steve Jansen were amazingly fluid over the drum machine bossa nova.

Available on the JAPAN album ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ via Virgin Records

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

JOY DIVISION Isolation (1980)

OK, so JOY DIVISION never took singles from their albums but what if they had? This would have been a contender. Featuring an ARP Omni and an early version of the Simmons drum synthesizer, ‘Isolation’ was the most electronic track JOY DIVISION ever recorded although Hooky’s bass ensured there was a gritty punk rock edge. When NEW ORDER reformed for the first time in 1998, a drum ‘n’ bass flavoured rework of ‘Isolation’ was part of the live set.

Available on the JOY DIVISION album ‘Closer’ via WEA Records

http://joydivisionofficial.com/

THE HUMAN LEAGUE The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (1981)

Optimistic and aspirational, ‘The Things That Dreams Are Made Of’ is the key song from ‘Dare’ and was a metaphor for THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s then pop ambitions. Gloriously spacious and delightfully catchy, each synthesizer voicing has its place while Phil Oakey gives full justice to Adrian Wright’s shopping list of life’s pleasures to a perfect Linn Drum clap track. It certainly deserves to be played live more often… “New York – ice cream – TV – travel – good times”

Available on THE HUMAN LEAGUE album ‘Dare’ via Virgin Records

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

KRAFTWERK Computer World (1981)

Hooky, catchy and futuristic, ‘Computer World’ with its Speak & Spell voices and infectious four note theme was an ideal KRAFTWERK single if ever there was one. However, the perky and novelty laden ‘Pocket Calculator’ was chosen to trail the parent album. It is unlikely ‘Computer World’ could have hit the top of the charts like ‘The Model’ did, but such was the song’s popularity, the native variant got released as a limited run remixed maxi-single in Germany.

Available on the KRAFTWERK album ‘Computer World’ via Mute Records

http://www.kraftwerk.com/

OMD She’s Leaving (1981)

It was a tricky call between ‘She’s Leaving’ and ‘Radio Waves’, but the North-by-North West melancholy of the former won over the upfront Germany Calling salvo of the latter. A wonderful synthetic cross between JOY DIVISION and Paul McCartney, ‘She’s Leaving’ was pencilled in as the fourth single from OMD’s huge selling ‘Architecture & Morality’ but was vetoed by the band.  However, when ‘She’s Leaving’ did come out as a single in the Benelux region, it flopped.

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

http://www.omd-messages.co.uk/

SOFT CELL Secret Life (1981)

As proven by their covers of ‘Tainted Love’, ‘What?’ and later on during their 21st Century comeback ‘The Night’, SOFT CELL always had a love of the UK’s Northern Soul scene. Its influence would seep into their own compositions like ‘Secret Life’. Marc Almond’s narrative on a philanderer’s hypocrisy was an apt reflection of suburban life while Dave Ball’s solid use of keyboards provided a suitably accessible but gritty sub-Tamla soundtrack.

Available on the SOFT CELL album ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ via Universal Music

https://www.softcell.co.uk/

DURAN DURAN New Religion (1982)

The perfect balance between art and pop, ‘New Religion’ was a key highlight from DURAN DURAN’s ‘Rio’ album. “A dialogue between the ego and the alter-ego”, Simon Le Bon’s conflicting schizophrenic voices added tension in the bridges before a classic Duran chorus. With an ambient intro that JAPAN would be proud of, it then moved at breakneck speed through the quintet’s other influences like Bowie, Roxy, Moroder and Chic with speed being the operative word.

Available on the DURAN DURAN album ‘Rio’ via EMI Records

http://www.duranduran.com/

SIMPLE MINDS New Gold Dream (1982)

A huge song with two drummers drumming as well as lashings of Jupiter 8 and a marvellous bass engine, ‘New Gold Dream’ and its parent album highlighted an ambitious streak in SIMPLE MINDS akin to their Virgin label mates THE HUMAN LEAGUE when they released ‘Dare’ the year before. Already six minutes in length, an extended mix was released as a 12 inch single in Italy while as a sample on URSURA’s ‘Open Your Mind’, ‘New Gold Dream’ became a club hit in 1993.

Available on the SIMPLE MINDS album ‘New Gold Dream’ via Virgin Records

http://www.simpleminds.com/

VISAGE The Anvil (1982)

With its heavy metronomic beat sans hi-hats, ‘The Anvil’ was Steve Strange’s tale of a night out in New York’s notorious club of the same name. But that wasn’t all, Billy Currie’s screaming ARP Odyssey and Dave Formula’s brassy synth riff completed the excursion. Rusty Egan said: “For me, ‘The Anvil’ was the lead track, ‘The Anvil’ in German (‘Der Amboss’), the 12-inch remixes, all that which I did with John Luongo was for me, the single. But the record company didn’t support that!”

Available on the VISAGE album ‘The Anvil’ via Cherry Pop

http://www.visage.cc/

YAZOO Midnight (1982)

Showcasong one of the best Alison Moyet vocals, Vince Clarke’s minimal programmed backing gave her plenty of space to let rip with raw emotion on ‘Midnight’ . Back in those days, Mute Records usually only took two singles from an album so with ‘Only You’ and ‘Don’t Go’ already accorded singular status from ‘Upstairs at Eric’s’, a 45 was never likely. But it sort of belatedly became a single when it was sampled and manipulated by REX THE DOG for ‘Bubblicious’ in 2008.

Available on the YAZOO album ‘Upstairs At Eric’s’ via Mute Records

http://www.yazooinfo.com/

BLANCMANGE Game Above My Head (1983)

Originally the B-side to ‘Waves’, ‘Game Above My Head’ signalled the more disco based direction Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe later trod on ‘Blind Vision’ and ‘That’s Love, That It Is’ with American producer John Luongo. Merging the busy Linn Drum patterns that characterised BLANCMANGE’s debut ‘Happy Families’ with a funkier outlook, ‘Game Above My Head’ was included on their second LP ‘Mange Tout’. Today, the song remains a constant in the live set.

Available on the BLANCMANGE album ‘Mange Tout’ via Edsel Records

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

HEAVEN 17 Five Minutes To Midnight (1984)

HEAVEN 17’s most underrated track and referencing The Doomsday Clock, ‘Five Minutes To Midnight’ followed on from ‘Let’s All Make A Bomb’ to highlight the absurdity of Mutually Assured Destruction. Using and abusing the Fairlight CMI, the ‘Protect and Survive’ styled civil defence announcements, deathly whoops and a doomy orchestral crescendo bring a frightening finality as the song suddenly stops… “Hot as a furnace – wing to wing contact! AARGH!”

Available on the HEAVEN 17 album ‘How Men Are’ via Virgin Records

http://www.heaven17.com/

HOWARD JONES Equality (1984)

‘Equality’ exploited new MIDI technology like the Prophet T8 and Yamaha DX7, combining it with a Jupiter 8 and Pro-One; “it was one of those ones that really suited my live rig” said Howard Jones With its poignant human rights message, whether ‘Equality’ would have made a better single than ‘Pearl in the Shell’ is a moot point, but the song was released as a single in South Africa as a commentary about Apartheid.

Available on the HOWARD JONES album ‘Human’s Lib’ via Cherry Red Records

http://www.howardjones.com/

ULTRAVOX White China (1984)

Despite their use of synthesizers, it was rare that ULTRAVOX went the whole sequencer route. They did so with this song about the impending 1997 handover of the British Colony of Hong Kong to Red China. The lyrics captured a sense of pessimism over a bouncy electro disco soundtrack influenced by ‘Blue Monday’. Slated for release as a single in the UK, ‘White China’ had a special extended mix prepared but Chrysalis Records preferred the more obvious ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’.

Available on the ULTRAVOX album ‘Lament’ via EMI Records

http://www.ultravox.org.uk/

A-HA Scoundrel Days (1986)

A-HA were perceived as a teenybop group in their heyday, but their Nordic melancholic depth was apparent even on their only UK No1 ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’. “Cut my wrist on a bad thought” is a superb piece of second language expression that no native speaker could have come up with. Morten Harket veers from a semi-spoken growl to a full voice salvo for the terrific chorus while Pål Waaktaar’s twanginess adds some edge to Magne Furuholmen’s glacial synthetic atmospheres.

Available on the A-HA album ‘Scoundrel Days’ via WEA Records

http://a-ha.com/

PET SHOP BOYS Tonight Is Forever (1986)

Mistakenly announced as a new single on ‘The Tube’, ‘Tonight Is Forever’ is one of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s best early compositions. From its blipping intro with an odd starting snare drum to the magnificently euphoric chorus, it captured the excitement of a fleeting romance on a night out in clubland. With its sombre synth brass riff and a wonderful middle eight, it was later covered by Liza Minelli in an orchestral arrangement for her PET SHOP BOYS produced album ‘Results’.

Available on the PET SHOP BOYS album ‘Please’ via EMI Records

http://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

NEW ORDER Mr Disco (1989)

‘Your Silent Face’ may be one of NEW ORDER’s best songs, but it was unlikely to have got radio play as a single with its “why don’t you p*ss off?” quip! Meanwhile, ‘Mr Disco’ was the club friendly Mancunians in their Italo prime, complete with holiday romance lyrics and tongue-in-cheek syndrums. Some fans were dismayed by its resemblance to PET SHOP BOYS, but Bernard Sumner went and founded ELECTRONIC, aided and abetted by Messrs Tennant and Lowe!

Available on the NEW ORDER album ‘Technique’ via WEA Records

http://www.neworder.com/

DEPECHE MODE Halo (1990)

One of DEPECHE MODE’s greatest moments, Alan Wilder said: “From memory, the drums were sampled from LED ZEPPELIN’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’ (but secondhand from a rap record)… For the end choruses, there are some string samples which I think were derived from Elgar. One of my techniques is to find sections of classical strings and transpose / stretch these, then add my own samples, in order to formulate new and unusual arrangements”.

Available on the DEPECHE MODE album ‘Violator’ via Mute Records

http://www.depechemode.com/

ELEKTRIC MUSIC Kissing The Machine (1993)

Undoubtedly, ‘Kissing The Machine’ is Andy McCluskey’s finest song without Paul Humphreys as an OMD band mate. It also featured one of Karl Bartos’ greatest melodies. Recorded for his first project after leaving KRAFTWERK, Karl Bartos said “He suggested we do something together and I was up for it… We picked some cassettes and finally I found the opening notes of ‘Kissing The Machine’. A month later he sent me a demo…He wrote the whole song and the lyric and the robo voice” 

Available on the ELEKTRIC MUSIC album ‘Esperanto’ via SPV Records

http://www.karlbartos.com/

ERASURE Because You’re So Sweet (1994)

The closing track on the ‘I Say I Say I Say’ album produced by HEAVEN 17 and BEF’s Martyn Ware, ‘Because You’re So Sweet’ was a pretty ballad representative of the maturer approach taken by Andy Bell and Vince Clarke for their seventh long player. Featuring ERASURE’s trademark sequences, there was also the self-imposed restriction of no drum machines being used, so that all the album’s percussive templates were created using synths and driven by sequencers.

Available on the ERASURE album ‘I Say I Say I Say’ via Mute Records

http://www.erasureinfo.com/

MOBY First Cool Hive (1997)

There were eight singles from 1999’s ‘Play’ but for 1995’s ‘Everything Is Wrong’, Mute Records were more restrained with just five! Surprisingly, this vivid instrumental missed out on singular distribution. One of the highlights from the genre hopping MOBY long player, the looping bass sample of ‘First Cool Hive’ was like an update of ‘Empires & Dance’ era SIMPLE MINDS while female voice samples and beautiful synth strings gave it a mysterious ENIGMA-tic touch.

Available on the MOBY album ‘Everything Is Wrong’ via Mute Records

http://www.moby.com/

LADYTRON Discotraxx (2001)

‘Mu-tron’ may have opened the LADYTRON  debut album ‘604’ but the pulsating salvo at the start of ‘Discotraxx’ signalled the album’s intent… the return of the synthesizer as an instrument of value and integrity, not as a novelty to mock the past. From the moment Mira Aroyo deadpans in Bulgarian and Helen Marnie’s sweet but resigned voice kicks in about “the boy I know”, a new dawn is heralding for electronic pop.

Available on the LADYTRON album ‘604’ via Nettwerk Records

http://www.ladytron.com/

GOLDFRAPP Lovely 2 C U (2005)

The surreal concept was Kate Bush does THE HUMAN LEAGUE on this buzzy percussive extravaganza, one of the more under rated songs in Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory’s canon. The sub-TOM TOM CLUB meets PRINCE electrofunk is aided by Charlie Jones’ treated bass runs over the zooming synth hooks and chunky riffs. Interestingly despite its immediacy or maybe because of it, ‘Lovely 2 C U’ has rarely made it into the GOLDFRAPP live set.

Available on the GOLDFRAPP album ‘Supernature’ via Mute Records

http://goldfrapp.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
28th February 2014

25 SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS OF THE CLASSIC ERA

13 August 2013 /

1972’s ‘Popcorn’ could arguably be seen as Europe’s first electronic pop hit.

Made famous by HOT BUTTER, they were actually a combo of session players led by Stan Free who had been a member of FIRST MOOG QUARTET with ‘Popcorn’ composer Gershon Kingsley. It was largely considered a novelty record but it inspired many cover versions throughout the world including France where it was a No1.

There, one came courtesy of a young musician named Jean-Michel Jarre who recorded ‘Popcorn’ under the moniker of THE POPCORN ORCHESTRA. While working on his first proper full length electronic album in 1976, Jarre adapted a melodic phrase from ‘Popcorn’ as the main theme of what was to become the project’s lead single. That composition was ‘Oxygène IV’ and the rest is history.

After ‘Oxygène IV’ became a Top 5 hit in the Autumn of 1977, the synth instrumental became a popular medium, even spawning budget covers albums such as ‘Synthesizer Hits’ and ‘Synthesizer Gold’.

But coinciding with accessibility of affordable synthesizers, instrumentals were seen by some as a cop out for a B-side or album filler. A bridge between pop and experimentation, these tracks were actually an artform of their own and many would become cult favourites among enthusiasts who understood that music did not necessarily need words to convey an emotive atmosphere or make people dance.

However today, it does appear to be a dying art with some musicians not understanding that formless noodling, club racketfests or tracks in which the vocalist appears to have forgotten to sing don’t quite cut it. So here are twenty five other instrumentals from the classic era when the synth went mainstream and discerning listeners looked forward to an imaginative wordless wonder.

This chronological by year, then alphabetical list however has a restriction of one track per artist and features no tracks that use a repeated vocal phrase as a topline, thus excluding most recordings by KRAFTWERK! And if you’re wondering where GIORGIO MORODER is, his work was covered recently in his own Beginner’s Guide to him…

NEU! Isi (1975)

By 1975, NEU! had broken into two artistic factions with Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger unable to agree a direction for their new album. So they divided its space with the manic Dinger piloting his rambling proto-punk of side two and the more sedate and thoughtful Rother directing the less jarring first side. ‘Isi’ was a wonderful synthesizer and piano instrumental that was still driven by a motorik beat but less dominantly Apache.

Available on the album ‘Neu! 75’ via Gronland Records

http://www.neu2010.com/

KRAFTWERK Franz Schubert (1977)

TEE-7inchEffectively the closing track on KRAFTWERK’s iconic ‘Trans Europe Express’ album, this neo-classical piece was eerily emotive with its combination of Vako Orchestron string ensemble over some gentle Synthanorma Sequenzer pulsing. The haunting elegance of ‘Franz Schubert’ was like Ralf Hütter had been possessed by the ghost of the great German composer, reflecting the art of his melodic and harmonic intuition.

Available on the album ‘Trans Europe Express’ on EMI Records

http://www.kraftwerk.com/

SPACE Magic Fly (1977)

SPACE was the brainchild of Didier Marouani who went under the pseudonym Ecama and formed the collective with Roland Romanelli, and Jannick Top. With compatriot Jean-Michel Jarre and a certain Giorgio Moroder also in the charts, the space disco of the iconic ‘Magic Fly’ heralded the start of a new European electronic sound within the mainstream. With its catchy melody and lush, accessible futurism, ‘Magic Fly’ sold millions all over the world.

Available on the album ‘Magic Fly’ via Virgin France

http://fr.space.tm.fr/

JAPAN The Tenant (1978)

Inspired by the grim Roman Polanski film, ‘The Tenant’ signalled the Lewisham combo’s move away from funk rock into artier climes. A merging of the second side of David Bowie’s ‘Low’ with classical composer Erik Satie, it saw Richard Barbieri play more with synthesizer and piano textures to create atmosphere while Mick Karn dressed the piece with his fretless bass rather than driving it. Karn’s burst of self-taught sax at the conclusion is also quite unsettling.

Available on the album ‘Obscure Alternatives’ via Sony BMG Records

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

GARY NUMAN Airlane (1979)

For anyone who first became a fan of electronic pop during the Synth Britannia era, ‘Airlane’ was a key moment. As the opening track of ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and its subsequent concert tour, it was the calling card that literally announced “GARY NUMAN IS IN THE BUILDING”! Yes, Numan had done instrumentals before, but with its sparkling Polymoog riffs, ‘Airlane’ provoked excitement and anticipation.

Available on the album ‘The Pleasure Principle’ via Beggars Banquet

http://www.numan.co.uk/

YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA Rydeen (1979)

With their eponymous debut under their belt, YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA fully found their technopop sound on ‘Solid State Survivor’. Written by drummer Yukihiro Takahashi, ‘Rydeen’ was a percussively colourful pentatonic tune filled with optimism and flair. This was the trio at their best as the later ‘Technodelic’ was a quite doomy, while their swansong ‘Naughty Boys’ was overtly mainstream.

Available on the album ‘Solid State Survivor’ via Sony Music

http://www.ymo.org/

JOHN FOXX Mr No (1980)

Armed with an ARP Odyssey, Elka string machine and Roland Compurhythm, John Foxx’s ‘Mr No’ was like a futuristic Bond theme or a signature tune for some space gangster. The mechanical giro was menacingly snake-like while the swirling chill invaded the speakers to prompt some almost funky robot dancing. The ‘Metamatic’ era track originally surfaced on the ‘No-One Driving’ double single pack with aother instrumental, the more sedate ‘Gilmmer’.

Available on the album ‘Metamatic’ via Edsel Records

http://www.metamatic.com/

THE HUMAN LEAGUE Gordon’s Gin (1980)

Written by Jeff Wayne for a cinema advert, THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s cover of ‘Gordon’s Gin’ kicks in like an commercial for Moloko Plus being sold at the Korova Milk Bar. Glorious and euphoric with futuristic sounds that weighed more than Saturn, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh left the band shortly after to form a project named after an imaginary group from a scene in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ discussed by anti-hero Alex with a couple of devotchkas at the disc-bootick!

Available on the album ‘Travelogue’ via Virgin/EMI Records

http://martynwareblog.blogspot.co.uk/

ULTRAVOX Astradyne (1980)

Of ‘Astradyne’, Billy Currie said: “Midge started with that strong melody, Chris’ bass was also a very strong feature. I played a piano counter melody behind. The track was so strong that we felt at ease to lengthen it with a long textural piano bit that is sort of bell-like with the metronomic bass drum beats and the violin tremolo solo… Midge came up with that final section lift taking it out of the long ARP solo. I double it! It is a very good strong keyboard part. It is very celebratory at the end…”

Available on the album ‘Vienna’ via Chrysalis/EMI Records

http://www.ultravox.org.uk/

DEPECHE MODE Big Muff (1981)

One of two Martin Gore compositions on the Vince Clarke dominated DEPECHE MODE debut ‘Speak & Spell’, ‘Big Muff’ was a fabulous highlight on the album’s more superior second side. Highly danceable and enjoyably riff laden, this futuristic romp was named after an effects pedal made by Electro-Harmonix who later branched into portable synths. It allowed many a synth obsessed teenager to declare “I like big muff” without embarrassment!

Available on the album ‘Speak & Spell’ via Mute Records

http://www.depechemode.com/

SIMPLE MINDS Theme For Great Cities (1981)

Even with the advent of the free download era, ‘Theme for Great Cities’ is one of the greatest freebies of all time having initially been part of ‘Sister Feelings Call’, a 7-track EP given gratis to early purchasers of SIMPLE MINDS’ fourth album ‘Sons & Fascination’. Starting with some haunting vox humana before a combination of CAN and TANGERINE DREAM takes hold, the rhythm section covered in dub echo drives what is possibly one of the greatest instrumental signatures ever!

Available on the album ‘Sons & Fascination/Sister Feelings Call’ via Virgin/EMI Records

http://www.simpleminds.com

VISAGE Frequency 7 – Dance Mix (1981)

Not actually written as an instrumental, the original was the B-side of VISAGE’s first single ‘Tar’ and much faster paced, featuring Steve Strange rambling about not very much. For its dance mix, ‘Frequency 7’ was slowed down and Strange’s vocal removed. The result was a masterclass in Barry Adamson’s bass counterpointing with Billy Currie’s ARP Odyssey bursts of screaming aggression and Rusty Egan’s metronomic electronic beats for a creepy robotic aesthetic.

Available on the album ‘The Anvil’ via Cherry Red

http://www.visage.cc/

BLANCMANGE Sad Day (1982)

There are two versions of this cult classic; a mutant countrified ambient piece based around the bassline of Brian Eno’s ‘The Fat Lady Of Limbourg’ from the ‘Some Bizzare Album’ and the lively Mike Oldfield inspired album version from ‘Happy Families’. Each has its merits but the percussively jaunty re-recording just wins over with its synthesized wallows, chiming guitars and crashing Simmons drums.

Available on the album ‘Happy Families’ via Edsel Records

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

DRAMATIS Pomp & Stompandstamp (1982)

The hypnotic B-side to ‘Face on The Wall’ showcased the fusion of the classical, rock and prog elements that were the core talents of Chris Payne, RRussell Bell and CedSharpley who had been the mainstay of the first GARY NUMAN backing band. Not a cover of Edward Elgar’s near-namesake composition ‘Pomp & Circumstance’ , DRAMATIS‘ rousing number would however make a perfect closer for the Last Night Of The Proms in the 22nd Century!

Available on the album ‘For Future Reference’ via Cherry Red Records

http://www.numanme.co.uk/numanme/Dramatis.htm

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS DNA (1982)

Technically, ‘DNA’ is not a really synth instrumental with the hook line being far too guitar oriented. However, it had a key role breaking down barriers for music with a more futuristic bent in synthobic America and snatched a 1983 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. And for that, ‘DNA’ deserves kudos! A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS‘ cultural impact can be measured by leader Mike Score’s iconic hair style being lampooned in ‘The Wedding Singer’ and ‘Friends’.

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

https://www.facebook.com/MikeScoreOfficial/

SOFT CELL ….So (1982)

A solo Dave Ball composition that was on the B-side of ‘What?’, the tall, pensive synthesist created an electronic disco number while Marc Almond was off doing the first MARC & THE MAMBAS’ album that would have done GIORGIO MORODER proud. Reminiscent of the Italian producer’s ‘Chase’, ‘….So’ featured wonderful percolating synths over a fabulously danceable groove and a solid metronomic beat that required no additional vocal histrionics or energetics.

Available on the album ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ via Mercury Records

http://www.marcalmond.co.uk/

CARE On A White Cloud (1983)

CARE was a short lived project comprising of soon-to-be main man of THE LIGHTNING SEEDS Ian Broudie and THE WILD SWANS’ vocalist Paul Simpson. Combining acoustic strums with synthesizer melodies, CARE had promise but imploded due to musical differences. ‘On A With Cloud’ was an epic instrumental with thundering percussion, castenets, ringing guitar and heavenly synthetic layers that appeared the 12 inch B-side of the duo’s best 45 ‘Flaming Sword’.

Originally released on the 12 inch single ‘Flaming Sword’ via Arista Records, currently unavailable

http://stevomusicman.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/care/

CHINA CRISIS Dockland (1983)

CHINA CRISIS recorded a variety of instrumental sketches and the results were often superb. But as the duo of Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon only had a couple of hits, most of this material was little heard having been tucked away on B-sides. ‘Dockland’ is a prime example having been the flip of the flop single ‘Working With Fire & Steel’. The sublime nautical transience inspired by Liverpool’s once vibrant docks lying wasted in a period of high unemployment was captivating.

Available on the album ‘Collection: The Very Best of China Crisis’ 2CD edition via Virgin Records

https://www.facebook.com/pages/China-Crisis/295592467251068

DURAN DURAN Tiger Tiger (1983)

‘Tiger Tiger’ is the best JAPAN instrumental that Sylvian and Co never recorded plus some would consider any DURAN DURAN track without a Simon Le Bon vocal to be a bonus. That aside, John Taylor and Nick Rhodes had more artier aspirations so indulged on this musical tribute to the William Blake poem. Taylor does a superb Mick Karn impersonation on fretless bass while Rhodes adds a great synth melody to proceedings.

Available on the album ‘Seven & The Ragged Tiger’ via EMI Records

http://www.duranduran.com/

THE ASSEMBLY Stop/Start (1984)

Strangely enough, Vince Clarke is not really known for his instrumentals. Co-composed with  Eric Radcliffe, ‘Stop/Start’ was effectively Clarke’s first instrumental as DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Any Second Now’ had a ‘(Voices)’ variant while YAZOO’s ‘Chinese Detectives’ was only played live. A Casiotone infused ditty with Linn drums and a cute melody, ‘Stop/Start’ was the B-side to THE ASSEMBLY’s only single ‘Never Never’.

Available on the boxed set ‘Mute: Audio Documents’ via Mute Records

http://www.vinceclarkemusic.com/

HOWARD JONES Tao Te Ching (1984)

Throwing off his mental chains, Mr Jones took inspiration from his own Buddhist spirituality and the overtures of Vangelis’ 1979 album ‘China’ for this rather beautiful piece which used to open his early shows. Using pentatonic melodies and sweeping chords on ‘Tao Te Ching’ in the style of Tomita and Kitaro, it’s a shame that this aspect of Jones’ quite obvious musical capabilities has never really been explored.

Available on the album ‘The Very Best Of Howard Jones’ via Warner Music

http://www.howardjones.com/

OMD Junk Culture (1984)

Inspired by a ‘Blade Runner’ sample, ‘Junk Culture’ was a reggae-ish number set to a bizarre time signature and signalled OMD’s move away from Germanic electronica. Still experimenting, only this time with more World Music forms thanks to the advent of sampling technology, the detuned Tijuana brass, deep dub bass and schizo voice snippets recalled the work of Jah Wobble, Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit.

Available on the album ‘Junk Culture’ via Virgin Records

http://www.omd.uk.com

TEARS FOR FEARS Pharaohs (1985)

‘The Marauders’ and ‘Empire Building’ showed TEARS FOR FEARS were adept at instrumentals and their best was ‘Pharaohs’, the B-side of ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’. Launched with a crunchy 6/8 heartbeat, the sedate piano motif and drifting synths gave a distinctly nautical feel, enhanced by sound bites from the BBC shipping forecast. But out of nowhere, the middle eight Emulator voice theme from the A-side introduces its partnering chordial guitar solo!

Available on the album ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ 2CD deluxe edition

http://tearsforfears.com/

NEW ORDER Best & Marsh (1989)

This theme was composed in 1988 for the eight part Granada TV series hosted by Factory Records’ supremo Tony Wilson and featured two of Manchester’s most iconic club footballers, George Best and Rodney Marsh. With a great string synth melody, Hooky bass, clubby beats and Italo piano stabs, this prompted the FA to commision NEW ORDER to write ‘World In Motion’ for the 1990 World Cup, while the series allowed ‘Best & Marsh’ to embark on a popular speaking tour.

Available on the album ‘Technique’ 2CD Deluxe edition via London Records

http://www.neworder.com/

VANGELIS End Titles From Blade Runner (1989)

Dramatic, tense and melodic, Vangelis’ closing theme to the acclaimed 1982 Ridley Scott directed Sci-Fi movie ‘Blade Runner’ succeeded in orchestrating a score using just synths and samples to maintain the futuristic unsettlement of the story. However, the glorious track was not actually released until 1989 on the ‘Themes’ compilation, while an actual soundtrack album didn’t actually see the light of day until 1994.

Available on the album ‘Blade Runner’ via Warner Music

http://www.vangelisworld.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
13th August 2013, updated 29th December 2022

KID KASIO Interview

14 January 2012 /



KID KASIO is Nathan Cooper, once of THE MODERN who supported HEAVEN 17 at The Scala.

Signing to Universal via their Mercury subsidiary, brilliant songs produced by Stephen Hague such as ‘Jane Falls Down’ and ‘Sometimes’ showcased their electro potential. Indeed, ‘Jane Falls Down’ reached No32 in the UK charts in 2005.

However, a well-documented incident involving the next single ‘Industry’ led to a parting of ways with their label and necessitated the revised moniker of MATINEE CLUB. While the eventual album ‘Modern Industry’ was released in late 2007 on Planet Clique, the band’s promise was never quite fulfilled with only sporadic live performances during their twilight years.

But now in a much more sympathetic musical environment and with HOWARD JONES very much as the template, KID KASIO’s retro but contemporary flavoured pop sound on his debut album heralds a new era for one man and his synth. ‘The Reason’ is candy flossed danceathon, sort of like HJ’s ‘Life In One Day’ mashed-up with the soundtrack from Kevin Bacon film ‘Footloose’ while other previously previewed numbers ‘Not For Turning’ and ‘Living My Life’ are aspirational, riff laden ditties with catchy choruses reminiscent of DURAN DURAN.

Of the album’s other ditties, the wonderful ‘I Miss You’ resembles LA ROUX syncopating to ‘Forbidden Colours’ with an autotuned Nathan on lead while ‘One Heart’ is a terrific classic electro tune with pitch bent synths and clattering drum machine. And only some steel drums are missing from the bouncy holiday flavoured ‘Telephone Line’, its funky bassline recalling LES RYTHMES DIGITALES’ ‘Jacques Your Body’.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK had the pleasure of speaking to Nathan Cooper about the KID KASIO project in a break during preparations for his forthcoming ‘Kasiotone’ album launch party.

This is your first full album project since THE MODERN / MATINEE CLUB, how has the journey been to go solo?

There wasn’t really another option for me. I’d been in bands since I was 12 and although I’d had many great experiences that came from being part of a group, there was always a niggling doubt in my mind that the reason things hadn’t worked out was because I’d always done what other people wanted. I felt I had never voiced my opinions strongly enough and backed my own ideas with enough conviction.

I was always asking; “what if I had done it my way?” which is a bit unhealthy really.

I kind of had to try it for myself so I could stop blaming other people. Now if things go wrong it’s much easier because I just say; “ok, I only have myself to blame, I’ll learn from that and move on!” It’s much easier!

There are many things I miss too. Writing is far easier in a group. If you write something crap, everyone tells you and you move onto the next thing. As a solo artist I have absolutely no way of knowing something’s rubbish. I could literally be working on something that’s terrible for like weeks and not even realise it’s awful!

What would you feel was your proudest moment with THE MODERN / MATINEE CLUB?

Signing a deal with Universal felt like the end of years and years of struggle for me and Chi Tudor-Hart, the other founding member of THE MODERN.

I’d been in bands and writing music for 15 years previous to that; myself and Chi had been struggling in the pop wilderness for 10 years with various groups and acts. We’d literally tried everything!! We’d done techno, euro-pop, boy-bands, rap; we even dabbled in the Britpop thing when that was big.

We’d done massive tours of schools and under 18s! Finally, I guess in about 2001 we decided to stop trying to jump on every bandwagon and form THE MODERN and just start making the music we had always loved. Luckily, it kind of coincided with the Electroclash thing happening and people started paying attention. Signing the deal felt like we had finally paid our dues!

There were a few great gigs too. Playing Ibiza Rocks with KAISER CHIEFS and doing Reading and Leeds festivals was amazing. Working with Stephen Hague who produced PET SHOP BOYS, ERASURE and NEW ORDER was another highlight.

I think for me personally, my proudest moment was sitting in a house in Peckham and turning on the Radio1 Top 40 countdown on a Sunday and hearing our first single enter the charts. That was a childhood ambition fulfilled, even if we did only go in at No35!

Are you able to discuss any of your frustrations during that period and the attempts to regain momentum after the ‘Industry’ single?

Basically a couple of weeks after being signed, everyone who had played a part in signing us and believing in us was sacked! Universal and Mercury in particular suddenly underwent a massive overhaul and everything changed. We were promised so much exposure, TV, magazines, a big budget video and suddenly all the people that were working for us were gone, and all the exposure etc went to a new band they had just signed called THE BRAVERY.

The first single staggered into the Top 40 after literally no exposure whatsoever and we knew that if the next single failed, we’d be dropped. Because of that frustration, I think our management then kicked into overdrive and made some seriously bad decisions, which resulted in us eventually being disqualified from the charts.

We were all just completely shell shocked. Suddenly we were without a deal again and the whole situation became much harder. It’s much harder to operate in a group when things aren’t going well and we began to blame each other and bicker internally within the group. In hindsight, it was really sad because I think we were a good group and had some good songs. We’re all still great friends, which is the most important thing.

KID KASIO is more obviously synthpop than you’ve been before?

I’ve always loved the term synthpop! It just wasn’t a very popular term for many years; you had to whisper it in hushed tones between about 1990 and 2009! In every band I’ve been in, I’ve always been the one pulling in the pop direction.

So when I finally decided to do a solo project, it was free reign to be as pop as I wanted. You won’t find any instrumentals or dark experimental tracks on my album. I’m all about the songs.

Who have been your main influences on the album?

Being in bands for so many years, there were always certain influences I was allowed to play on when writing, and others I was most definitely not. So I could come to the table with a song that was influenced by NEW ORDER, DURAN DURAN, JAPAN or perhaps OMD and that was fine. HOWARD JONES, ERASURE, NIK KERSHAW were a definite no no! So I had all these ideas for songs in that style which never saw the light of day.

My influences are always rooted in 80s music because I play synths, and that’s the era when synths dominated popular music. So I go through different stages of being influenced by different bands from that era. In THE MODERN / MATINEE CLUB, all my influences were from 1979-1982. Now with the KID KASIO project, I’m onto about 1984 so it’s SCRITTI POLITTI, HOWARD JONES and THOMPSON TWINS! I’m just discovering FM synthesis and I really want a Fairlight.

The environment does appear to be much friendlier now to someone who wants to make this kind of music?

That’s the other reason I’ve been more honest about my influences with the KID KASIO stuff. Six or seven years ago pre-THE KILLERS, you were just about allowed to like JOY DIVISION and that was as close as you could get to liking anything with synths in it. Now kind of since LA ROUX, I guess it’s perfectly fine for bands like HURTS and MIRRORS to rate bands like OMD, HEAVEN 17 and YAZOO, I’m just taking it to the logical next step; I’m predicting the zeitgeist and its got HOWARD JONES and SCRITTI POLITTI all over it! Synthpop goes funk! It’s the logical next step; everything moves in cycles, you heard it here first.

You’ve acquired quite a few vintage instruments for the album, what ones have you been using?

I’ve really got into the big Simmons drum sound for this album. I actually bought a Simmons kit off the drummer from THE MODERN and sprayed it yellow! That’ll be coming out to gigs with me. My two staple synths which I use more than anything are the Roland Juno 60 which I’ve had since I was 14, and the Crumar Performer string synth which is on almost every chorus on the album. I think I used the SH101 for bass on two songs too. I bought a Prophet 5 this year which has been my most extravagant purchase; unfortunately for most of the album I had to use the Pro 52 plug-in because it kept going out of tune, so I’m getting it fixed.

My surprise find has been a Korg Poly 800 which a friend found in a skip years ago, I got it working this year and it’s actually surprisingly good for lead sounds. That makes two or three appearances on the album. Adrian Hall who mixed the album gave me a DX7 so I’m in mid 80s FM synth heaven now!

But it must be easier to use plug-in software now though?

There are some synths I don’t think I will ever be able to own like the ARP 2600 and the Yamaha CS80, so I use those plug-ins quite a bit. It really depends on what sound I have in my head when I’m recording. I’ll normally try the analogue synths first and then if I can’t find what I’m after, I’ll try a plug-in. The problem with plug-ins is rather than manipulating the sound as I do on an analogue synth, I will literally go through all 500 presets to make sure I have the best possible sound. For a perfectionist like me, that can be quite time consuming.

The videos you’ve made as an introduction to KID KASIO have been very much a tribute to past eras. Do you worry that some critics who might feel you are just being a revivalist?

I have loads of ideas for videos that don’t look 80s but unfortunately, they all require big budgets. When you have absolutely no budget, sometimes the best way to give it an air of quality is to make it look ‘retro’. Also I would hope that the fact that my videos have clearly been made on a shoestring lend them a kind of lo-fi DIY air that might ingratiate them to the ‘taste makers’ that would normally dismiss that type of music as un-cool or a guilty pleasure.

I think the majority of music now is a regurgitation of something that has come before. Luckily for me, the 80s is the fashionable era to mimic at the moment. I don’t think you can really be a revivalist unless you were there and I’m not that old! I just take elements just as JAMIROQUAI revived the 70s in the 90s, THE STROKES revived new wave in the early part of the last decade and HURTS etc are reviving the 80s now.

‘Not For Turning’, ‘Living My Life’ and ‘The Reason’ are lyrically very optimistic in the face of adversity?

‘Not For Turning’ was the first song I wrote for the KID KASIO project so it has that air of optimism lyrically. It represents a new journey, where I’m going to do things my way.

I guess ‘Living My Life’ has a similar sentiment, it’s saying “this is what I’m doing, I don’t care what anyone thinks”.

Weirdly, my main influence when writing that was a song called ‘Higher Love’ by Steve Winwood, it has this amazing air of optimism about it and I kind of wanted to capture that. I really couldn’t tell you what ‘The Reason’ was about!

Which of the newer tracks are your favourites on this album and why?

As a solo artist, it’s incredibly hard to work out which songs are good or not, it only takes one person to say to me “that song is crap” and I will instantly agree with them!

The songs that are my favourites are the ones that other people have said they mean something to them that is kind of what you strive for as a songwriter. I guess when I get them out live it will become even more apparent which ones work best.

At the moment there’s a song called ‘I Miss You’ which I like because it’s been working well live and one called ‘Over & Over’ which I wrote when I was 19 so it kind of means a lot to me.

Who do you think this album will appeal to?

I would like to think that if the songs were mixed by Max Martin and sung by KATY PERRY, they would appeal to everyone. But because I’ve produced them they way I have and I sing in a particular way, it limits my audience slightly. From the response I get on Twitter, I’d say it’ll appeal to anyone who likes synth music, anyone who likes good European pop, and probably anyone who like the 80s so hopefully that’ll cover half the population!

How is the live incarnation of KID KASIO coming along?

It’s so exciting, the whole band is excited, and it’s sounding huge. My set up is ridiculously elaborate but I’ve found a way of having an old sequencer trigger the backing tracks on a laptop and send MIDI notes to my hard tune voicebox and trigger visuals on a projector at the same time too. I’ve also got these huge fluorescent lights off a building site.

I also persuaded a drummer to play a yellow Simmons kit which is no easy task believe me. I’m going to take the Juno 60 out with me and I’ve purchased a Korg RK1 keytar to play some of the lead lines on. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

Which of the newer electronic pop acts do you feel a kinship towards?

I’m feeling a particular bond at the moment with the bands with male vocals. There’s so many electronic acts with female vocals that the market feels saturated. I’m with HURTS and MIRRORS all the way. I saw HURTS at Brixton and they were amazing.

What are your hopes and fears for the future?

My only hope is that I can one day make a living from music, it’s getting harder and harder for musicians. When I was younger, I decided to follow music and my brother decided to become an actor, he’s managed to make a living from pursuing what he’s good at. I would like to be able to do that too, I’m pretty sure 2012 is the year that that will become a reality.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Nathan Cooper

‘Kasiotone’ will be released on 30th January 2012 via the usual digital retail outlets such as iTunes and Amazon.

http://www.kidkasio.com

http://www.facebook.com/kidkasio

https://twitter.com/KidKasio

https://www.instagram.com/kidkasio/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
14th January 2012

HOWARD JONES Interview

11 December 2011 /
Howard Jones-2010-2

Photo by Simon Fowler

April 2012 will see Howard Jones perform his first two albums ‘Human’s Lib’ and ‘Dream Into Action’ in their entirety on a nationwide UK tour following a successful premiere at London’s IndigO2 in November 2010.

That event was captured for prosperity and is now available as a 2-disc DVD set via his website. Throughout the DVD, the sound reproduction is excellent while Howard engages with his audience and delivers a superlative performance while in charge of his Roland Fantom G8 and Jupiter 8.

One of the bonus features is the VIP soundcheck where Howard gives a fascinating synth masterclass in how the different audio aspects were put together. On this new tour, Howard will again be augmented by Robbie Bronnimann on keyboards/sequencing and Jonathan Atkinson on electronic percussion. As can be seen on the DVD, the show promises vintage synth sounds and cutting edge technology combined with thoughtfully crafted live visuals

It was in 1983 when Howard Jones first became known via his support slots with CHINA CRISIS and OMD. At the time, he had also recorded a warmly received BBC Radio1 session for David ‘Kid’ Jensen which featured prototype versions of ‘New Song’, ‘Human’s Lib’ and ‘Natural’ plus ‘Don’t Put These Curses On Me’, a track that didn’t see an official release until his 2003 Very Best Of collection.

A classically trained musician who spent two and a half years at the Royal Northern College Of Music in Manchester, he used sequencers live on stage whilst playing and singing simultaneously in a type of one man synth act that previously only Thomas Dolby had attempted.

His debut album ‘Human’s Lib’ was released in March 1984 and went straight in at No1 in the UK charts.

The follow-up ‘Dream Into Action’ came out a year later and although missed the UK top slot by one, its final single ‘No One Is To Blame’ became an American Adult Contemporary Chart No1 in re-recorded form with production assistance from Phil Collins.

This period could be described as Howard Jones’ imperial phase, a time when his singles ‘New Song’, ‘What Is Love?’, ‘Pearl In The Shell’, ‘Hide And Seek’, ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’, ‘Look Mama’, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ and ‘Life In One Day’ were charting in Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada and Australia.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK had the pleasure of chatting to Howard Jones about his upcoming tour and in particular, the years between 1983-85 when he became a household name and many people’s entry into the world of synthpop.

You have this live DVD out of when you debuted ‘Human’s Lib’ and ‘Dream Into Action’ at IndigO2 last year. What are your stand out memories from the night?

At the time, it was only going to be a one-off and it was two and a half hours of music *laughs*

So I was absolutely at the limit of my capacity to remember everything. Everyone pulled it off and it went really well. I was a little nervous whether I could get through the whole night but it was good. I was very pleased with the videos which we had on this huge LCD screen behind us. They worked really well in sync with the music.

Photo by Simon Fowler

It obviously went well enough for you to do this forthcoming tour in April. But one thing that intrigues me about these classic album shows is what goes through an artist’s mind with regards choosing the running order?

We’ve just done this show in America so I did ‘Human’s Lib’ first, then ‘Dream Into Action’ as ‘Dream Into Action’ was the biggest album for me in the States. But in the UK, it was ‘Dream Into Action’ first, then  ‘Human’s Lib’.

I chose the order of the songs based on what works live because if I stuck to the album order, you’d have all the hits like ‘What Is Love?’ and ‘Pearl In The Shell’ first and then the much more obscure tracks at the end of the show, I didn’t think that would work *laughs*

So I’ve just chosen the songs based on the forward momentum of the tracks.

What about musically, like whether you tinker with the sounds or the arrangements?

What I decided to do with all the big hits sound wise, we’ve recreated exactly what it was on the album but I’ve changed the structure a bit to allow for audience participation. But with all other tracks, we’ve stuck exactly to what it was on the albums. It’s strictly like it was because I think that’s what people want.

Is there anything technically that you’re changing now you’re going to take this show out on tour?

I’m using in-ear monitors because it’s always so difficult to hear things, so we’ve changed that.

I’m going to add some MIDI harmonies that I’m generating live and we’ve changed the drum kit now to a more portable electronic drum kit that fits into a case. That works much better. And I’m thinking about having my Yamaha KX5 chromed so it looks a bit more flashy! *laughs*

Are you taking any vintage gear with you?

No. At the IndigO2, I had my Jupiter 8 which for one gig is fine. But to take it on the road, it’s just too precious. And if it goes wrong, there’s nobody there to fix it. I’ve got to be practical so I’ve got a software version of the Jupiter which works really well and is very reliable. I’ve had my Jupiter next to the software version and I’ve tweaked the sounds so that it’s exactly what it should be.

What first inspired you to actually get a synthesizer?

I always wanted to get into synths because I saw ELP’s Keith Emerson with his big Modular Moog. Hearing that when I was fourteen at the Isle Of Wight Festival, it was so exciting to hear those sounds but there was no way I could afford anything like that until I had a job. By then, the Moog Prodigy was available so I went up to London and bought one.

By some bizarre mistake, they delivered another one to my house so I had two Moogs – I used one for bass and one for leadline. Somebody gave me a really old primitive drum machine, a Bentley Rhythm Ace which was made by Roland. I had a Fender Rhodes electric piano as well so I started to develop this idea of a proper one man electronic show. I kept upgrading, I got a CR78 and then a TR808. Then I got a Pro-One which had a sequencer in it. Gradually, it started to evolve into quite a big rig and made a hell of a racket!

Photo by Simon Fowler

Your first live breaks were supporting CHINA CRISIS and OMD in 1983 before ‘Human’s Lib’ came out. What was your live equipment set-up at this point?

At that stage, it was the two Moogs, a Juno 60 which did arpeggios and pads; I had the Pro-One which could only do eight notes which I had to programme in before every song! And I had the TR808. I was able to take the Prodigy off its stand and put it round my neck so it was like a primitive mobile keyboard, a bit heavy but it worked!

You did rather well on that CHINA CRISIS tour; I saw you at the London Lyceum gig and you’re still the only support act I’ve ever seen get an encore!

I have so much affection for that tour, it was the making of me. We were staying in the cheapest bed and breakfasts we could find, it was absolutely on a shoestring that tour. You got the feeling it was going to work and there was a future. It was just the timing. CHINA CRISIS are still one of my favourite bands, I absolutely adore their music.

But I was on a roll at the time, I was just at the point where I was going to be signed. In fact, at that Lyceum gig, there was a contract by Stiff Records on the table. I’d been waiting all my life to sign a record deal but I didn’t sign it because the guy who wanted me was going to Warners so I signed with them instead! That was a big night.

I did feel a bit sorry for CHINA CRISIS because I was a tough act to follow on that tour. It was just everything was going my way; I’d just done a Radio1 session and there was a huge momentum. I was so fired up because that was the first time I’d had a proper big audience to play to and it was very exciting. I’m still really good friends with CHINA CRISIS, I’m very close to them.

How was the OMD tour?

I didn’t do so many gigs with them, I seem to remember it was only two or three. It was great to be on the bill with them because I used to do a cover of ‘Enola Gay’ live, it was one of my favourite tracks. It was also one of the few covers I ever did so I have a lot of affection for OMD and it was great to be opening up for them.

I understand you introduced OMD to the Roland Jupiter 8?

Did I? I didn’t know that! That’s a bit of trivia I didn’t know! *laughs*

Yes, they bought one for ‘Junk Culture’ which was the album they were working on at the time of that tour…

I think I’d signed a deal by then so I could afford one, but they were so expensive! They were like £4000 and that was hell of a lot of money at that time for anybody!

It seems to be the synth most associated with you because of the ‘New Song’ sleeve. Is it your favourite?

It’s absolutely my favourite synth. Nothing sounds like it. And it’s so easy to programme, everything’s laid out in front of you and you can quickly get the sounds up. Although I’m using the Arturia synth software, you can’t recreate that stereo that the Jupiter has. I’ve been able to get the sounds close but not that wide stereo effect.

‘New Song’ as the first song released from ‘Human’s Lib’ and produced by the late Colin Thurston while the remainder of the album was produced by Rupert Hine. Why was that and how did their methods differ?

Warners wanted me in the studio as quick as possible to get something going and Colin was doing very well with DURAN DURAN and KAJAGOOGOO. So I started with him but it was quite convoluted, we did a first attempt at Chipping Norton Studio and the record company didn’t think it was quite right because the version I’d done for Radio1 was really great and quite simple. They wanted to get more of that feel into it and I think Ian Curnow (later of TALK TALK and PWL fame) helped out with some of the programming and tweaking.

So everyone thought it was right and it came out as a single. Max Hole who was A&R at Warners really thought the rest of the material I had would be much more suited to working with Rupert and Steven W Tayler. I think it was the right decision. And when I met Rupert, we got on so well and there was a kind of synergy there so I did both albums with him. There wasn’t any reason, I think Colin Thurston was just too busy working with other people, it was probably something like that!

So was ‘New Song’ inspired by Peter Gabriel’s ‘Solsbury Hill’?

No, there might have been a subconscious influence and I’ve always been a massive fan of Peter’s. It’s funny but sometimes when I do acoustic shows, I mash the two songs together! I never thought of it like that, but I can see what people mean… *sings first line of Solsbury Hill*

I mean there’s always something you can compare things to, but there was no conscious influence *laughs*

What were the main synth sounds on that?

The lead line of ‘New Song’ was on the Prodigy, but the organ sound came from the Juno 60.

Howard20Jones

‘Equality’ was one of the tracks that stood out. What’s the background behind that?

It was one of those that, like the other songs on ‘Human’s Lib’, was based on the limitations of the gear. So just to have a pumping eighth on the Pro-One was quite easy to do live, then to have a big riff and a simple chord change; it was one of those ones that really suited my live rig. Because it’s so empty, it was very powerful live.

Is that the slap bass from the Yamaha DX7?

Yes, I think we were one of the first people to get a DX7 and record it. The bassline of ‘What Is Love?’ is DX7. The DX7 featured a lot on the first two albums because it was so different with the FM sound compared to analogue. It was great to get your hands on another synth that sounded different.

How did you find going digital?

Really, it was like a kid in a toy shop, “WOW, this is great, let’s use it!” – One of the things we did, especially on ‘Dream Into Action’ was layer up things a lot because MIDI was just getting going so you could connect up a lot of synths together and get this big complex sound with these different attacks and timbres. I used to use a Prophet T8 as well which had after touch and things as well. That was one of the difficulties with the show…to recreate those complex sounds, you had to have all the elements and until I got the multi-tracks, I couldn’t work out exactly what I’’d done. So that was a big part of putting this show together, unzipping all the layers.

I understand you tried the first Emulator at the time but weren’t impressed?

I didn’t like the Emulator I but the Emulator II, I did like. It was great and I started sampling my voice and using string samples. That became part of the whole thing as well. The only thing with it was that it was so slow, so everything was behind when you played it live. You couldn’t shift it like you can now with technology.

But you use the limitations of the instrument and get some interesting things going. Rupert and Steve had been sampling for a good couple of years so they were really on top of all that and they’d been using the AMS to do sampling, they were some of the first people to do that so it was great to have their expertise.

The title track ‘Human’s Lib’ was the story of a love triangle but that wasn’t always apparent to listeners unless they saw you play it live or heard the Radio1 session version with the extended intro and monologue? Do you still do that bit?

No… Ruth, David and Dennis!! That was fun at the time, I don’t do it now… maybe I should think about it again! *laughs*


You released the interim single ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’ in between the two albums and dedicated it to the original spirit of the Olympic Games. Why was that not on ‘Dream Into Action’ and will it get played in the show?

It was on the American version of ‘Dream Into Action’ – I always think of it as part of that era but it was written separately. It was one the record company had heard and they thought it would be a great single.

‘Dream Into Action’ reinforced your reputation. How did you feel you had improved as a songwriter, musician and arranger for that album?

‘Dream Into Action’ by necessity was written on the road because I’d used all my songs up on ‘Human’s Lib’. I was writing in dressing rooms on an Akai 12 track recorder set up for me everywhere I went. The songs were written on the road and when we went to the studio using whatever keyboards turned up, we were experimenting a lot so it’s a much more complex record. We used real brass, cello and backing vocals. The palette was extended so it’s more eclectic and diverse. There’s so many different things going on.

Were you challenged as a lyric writer because a fair number on the ‘Human’s Lib’ album were written by William Bryant?

Yes, I had to really develop that and become more confident with lyrics.

‘Elegy’ captured a type of fragile beauty that perhaps hadn’t been apparent on ‘Human’s Lib’?

I suppose I was trying to extend the emotional range I’d had with ‘Human’s Lib’. I was trying to stretch things and do more epic tracks. It’s always something I’ve tried to do as well as the pop stuff. I suppose there’s the influence of my classical background… it all comes out somewhere!

Photo by Simon Fowler

Synth technology was developing at a ferocious rate at that point? 

I was just having a great time in the studio; all these amazing new synths turning up and it was like “what can I do with this?”. The way we used to work was that Steve Tayler would set up the desk so that I had all my keyboards coming through these huge wardrobe sized speakers.

So I would get in early at midday and they wouldn’t get in until much later, maybe 4 or 5pm. So I had most of the afternoon to experiment, but with it really loud. And when stuff is really loud, you simplify things because you don’t need so much. I think that was one of the reasons why some of the tracks sounded like they do.

The Prophet T8, DX7 and Emulator II were very much part of ‘Dream Into Action’ plus I was still using the Juno and Jupiter 8. They were often all MIDI-ed up together. I was using that Roland JSQ60 sequencer and when you overloaded it with too many notes, it would do weird things and I love it when stuff can’t cope with what you put in. *laughs*

Keyboards don’t tend to be like that anymore so a lot of weird sequence stuff came out of that like ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ and the middle eight of ‘Look Mama’ where it was all cascading.

How do you think ‘Human’s Lib’ and ‘Dream Into Action’ stand up today? And what are your own favourite tracks from your first two albums?

Since they’ve been remastered, they both sounding great. Obviously, they’re of their time and reflect where keyboards were then. My favourite track from ‘Human’s Lib’ is ‘Hide And Seek’, I think it’s become quite a classic for me and the most emotional, I’m really very proud of that. On ‘Dream Into Action’, ‘No One Is To Blame’ as a song and ‘Automaton’ as a piece of electronica of the time.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Howard Jones

Special thanks to Peter Noble at Noble PR

Howard Jones performs his albums ‘Human’s Lib’ and ‘Dream Into Action’ in the UK during April 2012, dates include:

Bristol O2 Academy (11 April), Sheffield O2 Academy (12 April), Liverpool O2 Academy (13 April), Birmingham O2 Academy (14 April), Newcastle O2 Academy (17 April), Glasgow O2 ABC (18 April), Bournemouth O2 Academy (20 April), London O2 Shepherds Bush Empire (21 April)

The new live DVD ‘Human’s Lib & Dream Into Action – Live at The IndigO2 ­ London’ can be ordered from http://www.howardjones.com/shop.html

http://www.howardjones.com

https://www.facebook.com/howardjones

https://twitter.com/howardjones

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
11th December 2011

Introducing KID KASIO

12 April 2011 /

 

KID KASIO is Nathan Cooper, one-time member of those once great white hopes THE MODERN aka MATINEE CLUB who in their time, supported HEAVEN 17.

Anyone who has ever heard their album ‘Modern Industry’ will only be too aware of Nathan’s vocal and songwriting talents on brilliant songs such as ‘Jane Falls Down’ and ‘Sometimes’, which incidentally were produced by the legendary Stephen Hague. With all this experience under his belt, Nathan now writes and produces all his music as KID KASIO from his South East London studio with guitarist Ben Todd and bassist Glenn Bridges occasionally helping out.

His most recent offering ‘The Reason’ is a superb slice of candy flossed synthpop with an edge. Coming over like a cross between THE CURE and ERASURE, it is accompanied by an affectionate Top Of The Pops homage video featuring Peter Powell and a few moves borrowed from TALKING HEADS’ Toni Basil choreographed promo for ‘Once In A Lifetime’.

Of KID KASIO’s other material so far, both ‘Not For Turning’ and ‘Living My Life’ are fine examples of bouncy riff laden ditties with catchy choruses reminiscent of imperial phase DURAN DURAN. Taking the route of acts such as LA ROUX, HURTS and MIRRORS in updating the ‘Synth Britannia’ template for the next electro generation, KID KASIO’s vintage but modern flavoured sound heralds a new era for one man and his synth.

‘The Reason’ is available as a download single via the usual platforms

http://www.kidkasio.com/

https://www.facebook.com/kidkasio

https://twitter.com/KidKasio

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th April 2011

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