LIEBE are the Greek electro disco duo comprising of George Begas and Dimos Zachariadis.
Hailing from Thessaloniki, they released their 2010 debut album ‘Club Royal’ on Planetworks; their second long player ‘Somewhere In Time’ came out on Undo Records in 2012.
Sitting on that difficult bridge between pastiche and post-modern, their romantic disco friendly sound mines Italo and synthpop. But whatever retrospective tendencies LIEBE may have, they do it with panache and style.
The sexy video for ‘I Believe In You’ from LIEBE’s third album ‘Airport’ is a good example of this and gained traction on MTV Europe in 2014.Their fourth album ‘Revolution Of Love’ develops on the sunny, synth assisted holiday vibe of ‘Airport’.
While it generally has a dance friendly momentum, it opens steadily with a very authentic, Jarvis Cocker afflicted droll from Begas on ‘Meet The Stars’. The groovy dance template of ‘Reasons’ ups the tempo and comes over like a collaboration between PET SHOP BOYS and PULP, while things head slightly Trans-Atlantic with the Moroder-esque rock disco of the title track; it’s a path that ’This Way’ also follows.
The more house laden ‘Sound of The Moments’ amusingly and enjoyably imagines Jarvis Cocker guesting for THE GRID and even adds a trumpet solo from Kostas Katsaros to authentic things further. The classic European synth melodies on ‘Vienna’s Dreams’ give the song some widescreen drama while unsurprisingly, ‘Riviera’ conjures up images open top cars along the Mediterranean coast.
’Orlando’ brings some soppiness and flautist textures to proceedings, but this comparative lull is countered by the magnificent JEAN-MICHEL JARRE goes Italo disco of ’The Box’. Then there’s a total surprise with ’Skyline’, an incongruous but fun clashing of CHINA CRISIS with SOUL II SOUL, before the electric Latin bounce of instrumental ’Date3’.
With the presence of a deep Italiano voice sample, it acts as a Hellenic answer to NEW ORDER’s ‘Tutti Frutti’ to close proceedings.
A good and optimistic pop album, ‘Revolution Of Love’ is wonderfully escapist, something everyone needs at this moment in our turbulent times. LIEBE may not have strayed from their sound too much, but why should they? They are very good at what they do… ΥΓΕΙΑ!
With thanks to Thanos Avratoglou
‘Revolution Of Love’ is released by Emerald & Doreen Recordings, available from the usual digital retailers
Mark Reeder has carved out an impressive reputation for his catalogue of fine remixes.
When Mark Reeder spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in 2011 about his remixing style, he said: “I’m old school. I like to still be able to hear the song, but give it my own signature and atmosphere, while at the same time use as many of the original elements as possible”.
He had moved to West-Berlin from Manchester in 1978, having become fascinated by the artistic diversity of the city and was Factory Records representative in Germany between 1978 to 1982. He is credited with introducing Bernard Sumner to the world of electronically propelled dance music, thus being instrumental in the development of NEW ORDER’s influential hybrid sound.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Reeder had great success with his electronic dance music record label Masterminded For Success (MFS). For the last few years, Reeder has been heavily involved in a documentary film about his adopted home city:
“’B-Movie (Lust & Sound in West-Berlin)’ is about the forgotten city of West-Berlin during the 80s. When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, not only did communist East Germany cease to exist, but the walled-in island of West-Berlin did too. Most people have forgotten, or have no idea how the city was back then. In ‘B-Movie’, I guide the viewer through this decade, but as the film is also about my life in this city too, I show you some of the things I saw and experienced during the 1980s, while participating in what has now become, the legendary subkultur of West Berlin.”
In a break from his hectic worldwide schedule promoting ‘B-Movie (Lust & Sound in West-Berlin)’, Mark Reeder kindly gave an insightful commentary into the tracks that shaped his own musical career.
DIE UNBEKANNTEN Radio War (1981)
Reeder formed DIE UNBEKANNTEN with Alistair Gray when he settled in West-Berlin.
We were actually given the name DIE UNBEKANNTEN by a journalist, who saw our feeble first gig at the SO36. That gig was supposed to have been just a one-off, but he was surprisingly impressed and thought we were very avant-garde and apparently enjoyed our miserable performance.
In his magazine review of the event, he just called us two unknown Englishmen and from then on, people just called us DIE UNBEKANNTEN (“The Unknown”). A few weeks later, we played at the Genial Dilletanten Festival and were inadvertently presented as ‘Necropolis’, which was actually the title of our intro track.
A while later, after Elisabeth Recker of Monogam Records witnessed what was probably our most chaotic performance – we were on acid – she believed we would fit perfectly with the abstract style of the rest of the artists on her record label.
Our Swiss friend Thomas Wydler became our drummer and we recorded a three track EP featuring ‘Radio War’, ‘Poseidon’ and ‘Casualties’. The record not only sounded nothing like any of Monogam’s previous releases, but it also caused a lot of controversy because of my design for its front cover image (a photo depicting three East German border guards) and the striking Germanic style of type face which I had chosen.
Our second, and final DIE UNBEKANNTEN record, was much more electronic. By this time, Thomas had left us and joined DIE HAUT and we had gone back to using a drum machine and had also acquired some more electronic instruments. Our friend, Adrian Wright from THE HUMAN LEAGUE gave us a brand new drum computer to test for him.
He had actually been asked to try out a very early prototype Roland TR606, but couldn’t be bothered and so he gave it to us to trial for him, so along with the Transcendent 2000 (the very same one which Bernard Sumner had played in JOY DIVISION with) and a Moog that Klaus Schulze had also given us, we immediately went into the studio and recorded ‘Don’t Tell Me Stories’ for our ‘Dangerous Moonlight’ EP. This became the first record to feature a Roland TR606.
One of the bands who grabbed Reeder’s attention in West-Berlin were the uncompromising all-female combo MALARIA!
I already knew Bettina Koester and Gudrun Gut from their first band MANIA-D. Musically, their approach was so different from anything I had ever heard before, as the conventional rules of male dominated rock and roll didn’t apply to the way these girls made music at all and that was what made them so exciting.
They were no virtuosos, but that didn’t matter one bit, because it was exactly that ingredient which made their music so interesting. After Beate Bartel left MANIA-D to form LIAISONS DANGEREUSES, Gudrun and Bettina formed MALARIA! a five piece all-girl band and quite an international one too, being a mixture of German, American and Dutch.
Their striking, on-stage image, all dressed in black with bright red lips, is considered a Goth image nowadays; but back in the 80s, MALARIA! did it first, and after their debut appearance in London with THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, this image was obviously hi-jacked from them for the Robert Palmer video ‘Addicted To Love’, even to the point of making the emphasis that the girls in his video also couldn’t play their instruments.
At some point very early on, I became their manager.
At that time, I was the only man allowed into their sphere, and because I knew what the band wanted to sound like live, I also became their sound engineer too and naturally, as I also had my own band, DIE UNBEKANNTEN, we became their support band.
The girls trusted me, they knew I understood their ideology and I liked their music and most importantly, I didn’t interfere.
Reeder’s own musical journey has to an extent, mirrored that of Bernard Sumner’s. DIE UNBEKANNTEN morphed into SHARK VEGAS to become a more electronic and disco friendly proposition.
After performing for nearly four years as DIE UNBEKANNTEN, we were asked by NEW ORDER if we would like to accompany them on their European tour after the success of ‘Blue Monday’.
We decided this would be a good moment to change our name and musical style, especially after adding two new members to our band. Besides, after our first disastrous London performance in the Barracuda Club, I thought DIE UNBEKANNTEN was much too difficult to pronounce outside of Germany, as people thought we were called DIE UNBEKANNTEN as in “Death Unbekannten” and so we urgently needed a new name and image.
Me and my partner-in-crime, Alistair Gray just threw a few ideas together one night and SHARK VEGAS became our name. I wanted something obscure sounding that didn’t actually mean anything apart from it being our band name.
Al and I were huge fans of pulsating electronic dance music – most probably since ‘I Feel Love’ – and the small Berlin underground gay-disco scene, which ran parallel to the abstract avant-garde scene, was the place to go and always a great way to spend a late Friday and Saturday night, before finally crashing and burning in the Risiko club.
Besides, musically, DIE UNBEKANNTEN had already been moving away from being depressive and miserable and had become much more electronic high energy disco too, so this tour proposal presented itself as a welcome opportunity to literally, regroup.
During a short break in the NEW ORDER tour, we went into Conny Plank’s studio with Bernard Sumner and recorded our first single ‘You Hurt Me’, but the session was a bit of a disaster, as the studio engineer had a slipped disc and was in terrible pain. He had to lie on a camp bed in front of the mixing desk and shout instructions up to us, while Conny Plank spent all his time playing table tennis in the yard outside. That single became FAC111.
‘Love Habit’ was one of the tracks we initially recorded during the session for the FacUS ‘Young, Popular & Sexy’ compilation. We were asked to perform ‘Love Habit’ for a video, for a special Berlin edition of ‘Music Box’, Britain’s first cable TV music show and using my US Army AFN contacts, I managed to get permission to make our video on the divided Glienickebrücke (the so-called ‘Bridge of Spies’). In the video, we appear as beaten up and tortured spies in raincoats, as if we had just been let out of an East German prison.
Unfortunately, the US army forgot to inform the Soviet Army that we were making a video on the bridge and so, on the East side there was a right flap on. They sent out East German patrol boats to find out what we were doing on the bridge. I guess they thought we were trying to provoke World War III. ‘Love Habit’ was intended to be an album track, but it became one of the last songs we recorded as SHARK VEGAS and it was never released, at least not until we included it on the recent ‘B-Movie’ soundtrack.
Released on East German state label AMIGA, DIE VISION’s ‘Torture’ was the last album to be recorded in communist East Berlin in 1989 and featured Reeder as producer.
I was invited by the band to be the producer for their debut album. At first it seemed incredible that they had actually managed to get the AMIGA to agree, as no-one from the West had ever been allowed in their state-run recording studio.
It transpired that because the band were allowed officially to sing in English(ese), they agreed to let them have an English-speaking producer too. In reality, I later discovered, the STASI wanted to know what kind of subversive activity I was involved in, especially after helping to arrange two illegal and meanwhile legendary secret gigs with West German punk band DIE TOTEN HOSEN in East Berlin. So I guess this was their brilliant plan to keep a close watch on me.
DIE VISION’s singer Uwe, was studying English at the Humbolt University – to be able to do that, you had to speak fluent Russian too – and he was so very insistent that I come over and produce their album. So I did. What an opportunity. Now, forming a band in communist East Germany was very, very difficult. It was nothing like forming a band in the West.
You couldn’t just go into a shop and buy a guitar, bass and drums and bash away. Everything was controlled by the Communist state, especially music. Before you could play to the public, your ability was first considered, then your song lyrics scrutinised to see if there were any subversive hidden anti-state messages and even getting electric instruments was difficult, you needed permits to first buy and then one to play, an electric guitar in public.
Then as a band, you performed before a group of people, who would assess your proficiency. This determined if, when, or where you might be able to play, eg youth clubs and how much you would get paid. DIE VISION had quite a sudden rise in popularity in the East and rather than ban them, the Authorities decided to sign them, that way everything would be under control. That is, until I came along…
As we were making this album, the GDR was literally falling apart. It was very difficult making this album with a feeling of imminent doom hanging over the studio and with constant power fluctuations, people fleeing to the West and general grumbling unrest. I called the album ‘Torture’ because it was exactly that to make!
Available on the DIE VISION album ‘Torture’ via AMIGA / Zong & Vulture Records
PAUL VAN DYK Words – Original Version radio edit by Paul van Dyk, Wolfgang Ragwitz + Mark Reeder (1996)
In 1990, Reeder established MFS and discovered Trance DJ Paul van Dyk…
One of my first artists on MFS, COSMIC BABY made some great records, but DJs kept complaining that they couldn’t play them because he always had DJ-unfriendly intros. I suggested he find a DJ who could help him to construct DJ friendly intros to his tracks.
One night, Cosmic was performing live in the Turbine club. One of the warm up DJs was a young lad called Paul van Dyk. The two hit it off almost immediately and I suggested that Paul come to the office the following Monday to discuss working with Cosmic. Paul told me he was from Hamburg, but it later turned out he was originally from Eisenhuettenstadt in deepest East Germany, but had moved to East Berlin before applying to leave East Germany for Hamburg shortly before the wall came down.
I was actually very happy to hear he was from East Germany, because that was my initial intention with MFS to create a platform for young Eastie kids; he was my first.
One night, he came to me while I was working in my bar and begged me to help him to become a professional DJ.
He was working as an apprentice carpenter at that time and absolutely hated it. I told him, if he would promise me that he would work hard to be the best DJ in the world, then I would help him to achieve his goal. I told him there were no prizes for second best.
I put him in the studio with Cosmic and they recorded two amazing singles together as THE VISIONS OF SHIVA.
Then I let him remix HUMATES’s track ‘Love Stimulation’ and that remix attracted a lot of attention. I knew from the start that he could do it simply because he was ambitious enough. He didn’t know it at that time of course, because his talent had to be coaxed out of him. By giving him a platform and motivation and the help of Johnny Klimek’s studio, he was able to discover his own music making talent.
Of course, I believed absolutely in Paul and invested everything, love, creativity, all my time and effort and all I had in propelling him onto an international stage. I guided and advised him, compiled and mastered his records, designed his covers and basically created the legend of Paul Van Dyk.
I used my contacts and credibility to get him high profile remixes, such as ‘Spooky’ by NEW ORDER and even answered his interviews, anything which would enhance his credibility, profile and status. Sadly, once he had reached the brink of DJ superstardom, he decided he no longer needed me and ditched me without a word of thanks.
SAM TAYLOR-WOOD & PET SHOP BOYS I’m In Love With A German Filmstar – Stuck In The 80s remix (2008)
The ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ film director recorded a number of covers with her favourite pop duo like ‘J T’aime… Moi Non Plus’, ‘Love To Love You Baby’ and this new wave classic…
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe asked me to do this remix after hearing the mix I had made of ‘Miracle Cure’ featuring Bernard Sumner for BLANK & JONES. It was quite thrilling being asked to do this song, as I’ve always loved the original.
The PET SHOP BOYS / SAM TAYLOR-WOOD version was more minimalistic and techno sounding though, so I thought I would make mine more retro-modern-disco sounding. I thought, as its going to be released on Kompakt, they are probably going to have banging techno remixes done anyway.
I know they were completely surprized at the label to hear it, because they really expected me to make some sort of cheesy trance mix. It is such an iconic and mystical song though, and I was worried I would be able to do it justice as a dance track. I made three different versions, a long mix and two shorter mixes and all in 5.1 surround sound, which I put on ‘Five Point One’.
I was very pleased when Sam said she thought it was “wicked” and totally relieved that the Boys also liked it too. But when THE PASSIONS contacted me themselves, to tell me that they really loved it, well, that was like a stone being lifted from my heart.
Available on the MARK REEDER remix album ‘Five Point One’ via Kennan Limited
BLANK & JONES, MARK REEDER Manifesto – Save Yourself Mix (2009)
Reeder collaborated with popular German dance duo BLANK & JONES on a restyling project entitled ‘ReOrdered’ which featured Bernard Sumner, Robert Smith and Claudia Brücken. But one of the album’s highlights was ‘Manifesto’ featuring Vanessa Daou.
‘Manifesto’ was actually the third track of Vanessa’s that I reworked for ‘ReOrdered’. The first was ‘Consequences’.
I really liked her voice and her lyrics though and I asked BLANK & JONES if I could rework another track, that was ‘Heart Of Wax’. After that, the idea for ‘ReOrdered’ was born and I would go on to rework all BLANK & JONES’ vocal-dance tracks into songs, it was a bit like back engineering a remix. The first two tracks were quite soft, so I wanted ‘Manifesto’ to be a little tougher and sound more like a nu-beat track with trippy elements.
Available on the BLANK & JONES, MARK REEDER album ‘ReOrdered’ via Soundcolours
BAD LIEUTENANT Sink Or Swim – Rettungstring Radio remix (2010)
Prior to the recent return of NEW ORDER sans Hooky, Bernard Sumner had an interim, guitar led project BAD LIEUTENANT. However, many followers of NEW ORDER missed the sound Sumner had become synonymous for.
After Hooky decided to leave NEW ORDER, I think Bernard needed some distance and formed BAD LIEUTENANT, together with Jake Evans and the remaining members of NEW ORDER.
Jake is such a talented person and a brilliant guitarist – he’s definitely one to watch in the future. I really liked the parent album ‘Never Cry Another Tear’, it’s a wonderful summer album and I think it is very underrated. I was given the opportunity to do some remixes for them and decided to rework their guitar tracks into electronic dance versions.
‘Sink Or Swim’ was the first and I think I made about six different versions of this track, Bernard took the piss out of me for the amount of mixes we made. The song had been performed live and so the tempo varied within the song from the start to finish, which made it a bloody nightmare to mix into a 4/4 dance track.
To make it sound organic, we had to take all the instruments and slice them up and then carefully put them back together again by hand. It was a mammoth task and at the time, I thought “I never want to have to do that again”.
After ‘Sink Or Swim’, we mixed ‘Twist Of Fate’, which I also made about four or so mixes. The same time consuming slice and move ritual applied as with ‘Sink Or Swim’. As the remixes were only released digitally, I decided to include some of them on my ‘Five Point One’ album, and later, ‘Collaborator’.
Available on the MARK REEDER remix album ‘Collaborator’ via Factory Benelux
JOHN FOXX Underpass – Sinister Subway remix (2010)
Reeder’s reworking of John Foxx’s calling card was mighty and he relished the challenge.
John Foxx was putting together the ‘Metatronic’ compilation album and I was in contact with his manager about something different entirely. During our conversation, he told me about the compilation and I said jokingly that I could do a remix perhaps, as a bonus track.
Well, after they had listened to a few of my remixes, he called and asked me if I would like to remix ‘Underpass’. My studio partner Micha Adam and I couldn’t believe it. It was a dream come true. No-one had ever been allowed to remix this legendary song before and so it was such an honour. Then the reality set in. If I balls this up, the fans will lynch me.
Being a huge fan of the song myself, I decided I could only do it as I would want it to sound myself. Yet I didn’t want to drive too far away from the original though either and wanted to keep as many elements in there as possible.
I was sent the parts, eight tracks in all… but that iconic massive synth riff was missing. All I had been given was the riff, played by a small tinny sounding synth. Well, that was it. I realised, the huge reverb sound was added live, during the mix-down and so we had to reconstruct it.
I recalled what kind of instrumentation and effects they might have used back then and dug out my old Space Echo. Once we had reconstructed the original version, we made a 5.1 mix of it (it is a hidden Easter Egg on ‘Five Point One’). Then, I remixed it. I made three versions, a short radio mix in stereo and 5.1 plus a longer Sinister Subway mix for the ‘Metatronic’ compilation album.
Available on the JOHN FOXX album ‘Metatronic’ via Metamatic Records
Cult goth icon ANNE CLARK is an English poet, who sets her poems to music and is probably more well-known outside of the UK.
Anne is truly a great artist. I first met her when she played in Berlin after recording ‘Sleeper In Metropolis’ with David Harrow, who lived in Berlin at that time. This timeless track is one of my all-time favourite 80s songs and it became almost like an anthem to the divided city, especially so to the kids in the East.
She was (and still is) absolutely adored in the East, mainly because her dark and descriptive poetry set to music, clearly struck a chord with them and it was something they all could identify with. Side two of her first album was recorded with Vini Reilly of THE DURUTTI COLUMN. She kept with the electronic side and made her second album with JOHN FOXX. Over the years, she has cultivated her poetry with a wide variety of musical sounds from Synthetic to Rock to Classical.
After a chance meeting a few years ago, when she performed in the Russian embassy in Berlin, I reworked the track ‘The Hardest Heart’ she had made for BLANK & JONES for our ‘ReOrdered’ album and then I remixed two of her tracks ‘Full Moon’ and ‘If…’ in 5.1 surround sound for my ‘Five Point One’ album,
Available on the MARK REEDER remix album ‘Five Point One’ via Kennan Limited
DEPECHE MODE Sweetest Perfection – Sweetest Conception remix (2011)
Reeder was given the opportunity to rework a track from the ‘Violator’ album by Daniel Miller.
Like ‘Underpass’, this was almost reverential territory. Depeche were putting together the ‘Remixes 2 81-11’ compilation and Daniel asked me if I would like to do a remix for it. By the time I had received the list of possible tracks to remix, all the most popular songs had been taken and so I was left with songs no-one dared to touch.
‘Sweetest Perfection’ was always one of my favourite tracks though and I thought it would be a real challenge to remix. Not only in terms of actually attempting to remix it, but with the thought that as a fan, how would I want it to sound and if I f*cked up, I would probably have to leave the planet.
We already had a really short deadline to finish the remix on and only three days into the mix, I got a call from my mother telling me that my dad had been rushed to hospital with a broken hip after being pushed over. The situation looked very serious, he was a very old man and the doctors didn’t give him much chance of survival. I had to down tools and fly over and consequently, I missed the deadline for submitting my remix for the DM album.
Photo by Anton Corbijn
Fortunately, I was in the process of putting ‘Five Point One’ together and decided to finish the remix anyway and asked Daniel if I could license it for my album. He spoke with the band and they said I could (I was told it was the first time a previously unreleased DM song had ever appeared on another album) and as we were looking for images to accompany the 5.1 mixes, Anton Corbijn kindly gave me one of his old, unseen photos of the band for me to use.
I wanted my remix to retain as many of the original elements as possible, but I added extra strings, more swirling synths and a real bass guitar, as well as my own little riff with a broken piano which I hoped would make it sound a bit more Eastern European.
Available on the MARK REEDER remix album ‘Five Point One’ via Kennan Limited
Reeder took a liking to stop / start Midlands duo ELECTROBELLE and delivered an edgier reimagining of ‘Falling’ before they belatedly released it themselves in 2012!
I heard ‘Mirrorball’ by ELECTROBELLE on the 2009 ‘Electronically Yours’ compilation released by Undo Records. I really liked Charlotte’s vocal style and so I asked them if they would like to contribute a track to my ‘Five Point One’ album.
They sent me the parts of a demo track they had made and this became ‘Falling’. The idea for the ‘Five Point One’ album was to include remixes I had made for famous artists, coupled with lesser known ones and mix them all in 5.1 Dolby surround sound.
Available on the MARK REEDER remix album ‘Five Point One’ via Kennan Limited
While busy remixing legends in synthesized pop, Reeder also kept an eye on newer acts that were emerging from Europe…
I had been a fan of Undo records, FOTONOVELA and MARSHEAUX for a while and after ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK posted a link to one of their tracks, I asked Chi if he could hook us up, as I thought that ‘So Close’ would fit in well on my ‘Five Point One’ album and asked them if I could remix it.
‘So Close’ had a melancholic element, but I wanted to give the song a more filmic feeling and make it even more melancholic, with sweeping strings and added bass guitar. Filmmaker Paul Morgens heard the track and immediately loved it. He made a great video for it made up of old footage he had found in his aunties archive.
Available on the MARSHEAUX deluxe album ‘Inhale’ via Undo Records
Düsseldorf punk veterans DIE TOTEN HOSEN have maintained a long standing kinship with Mark Reeder.
I first met Campino in Bochum. MALARIA! were playing a gig there and he was allocated as my driver. He told me about his new band DIE TOTEN HOSEN and about their hideous, but hilarious high-waisted flared trousers, which they bought by the kilo.
A couple of months later, I became their live sound engineer, and together with my rebelliously minded Eastie friends, I managed to help organise a very secret gig with them in an East-Berlin Church. It was disguised as a religious church service, a so-called Blues Mass. Although heavily monitored, the East German clergy was seen as a passive resistance movement against the communist government and although not officially acknowledged, they were tolerated and thus had a certain amount of flexibility within the system. That way we could arrange our secret gig there using this loophole.
DIE UNBEKANNTEN went on tour with DIE TOTEN HOSEN and one of the highlights was performing in the Kogasz club, in the Karl-Marx-University in Budapest. It was supposed to have been a top secret gig in the Young Artists club to a few music lovers, organised by photographer Janos Veto, but so many people eventually wanted to see the gig, that it was moved to the University.
During this tour we had many problems with our car. DIE TOTEN HOSEN were so sceptical our car would even survive the trip, they bet us a crate of beer, that we wouldn’t make it to Budapest.
We did, but had such a horror trip just trying to get there, as our car kept breaking down. Upon our arrival in the University, Janos told us we couldn’t play! The authorities had decided the gig was illegal and it had officially been pulled, but we thought we have come all this way so f*ck them and we did the gig anyway.
After we had performed, someone stole our drum computer. We were paid in beer vouchers (Hungarian Forints) and had so much of it, we invited everyone in the YAC for drinks, as we couldn’t take the cash out of the country… I don’t remember much about that night after that.
‘Disco’ was a track off the DIE TOTEN HOSEN album ‘In Alle Stille’ and I thought it would be fun to make an Italo disco sounding mix of this track. The original is a fast paced, rock song and when we received the parts, we discovered there were about 40 guitar tracks. We had to apply the same procedure as with BAD LIEUTENANT in slicing and moving all the elements so that they would fit into the new tempo and yet still sound organic.
Available on the MARK REEDER remix album ‘Five Point One’ via Kennan Limited
KOISHII & HUSH featuring JOHN TAYLOR C’est Tout Est Noir – Black Night Remix (2013)
‘C’est Tout Est Noir’ was the DURAN DURAN bassist’s best lead vocal since his solo single ‘I Do What I Do’ in 1986.
KOISHII & HUSH had made a remix for BAD LIEUTENANT’s ‘Twist of Fate’ and after telling me how much they liked my version, they asked me if I would like to remix their track ‘C’est Tout Est Noir’ which they had made together with DURAN DURAN bassist John Taylor.
At first, I thought he would be playing bass guitar on the track, but then to my surprise he was the vocalist. He has a great voice and I really liked the track. The original is quite trancey, so I wanted to make it more cinematic and add some guitar and extra bass. John loved it and immediately used my rough demo as his soundtrack to a vlog he’d made flying from Austria to LA.
Available on the MARK REEDER remix album ‘Collaborator’ via Factory Benelux
A stomping electro disco number produced by Reeder, Elizabeth Morphew’s cooing Bush-like howls and breathy euphoria were a total delight to the ears while the mighty cavernous sound provided the heat!
I saw an ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK piece posted about QUEEN OF HEARTS and I was immediately curious. I really liked Elizabeth’s voice from the moment I heard the first couple of tracks.
Chi thought we might make a nice collaboration and so I got in touch with her to compliment her and she asked me to remix ‘Neon’ which eventually ended up on ‘Collaborator’. We then made a cover version together of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’. I then wrote two songs ‘Suicide’ and ‘United’ for her debut album ‘Cocoon’.
Available on the QUEEN OF HEARTS deluxe album ‘Cocoon’ via Night Moves
WESTBAM featuring BERNARD SUMNER She Wants – Old School remix (2013)
Techno legend WESTBAM made his return with the impressive ‘Götterstrasse’ which featured Iggy Pop, Hugh Cornwell, Brian Molko and Lil Wayne. Naturally, Reeder reworked an excellent track featuring the vocals of Bernard Sumner.
My relationship with WESTBAM goes back to the early days when he was trying to establish himself as a DJ in Berlin. He played in the Metropol disco and towards the end of the 80s in the UFO club.
His involvement in the evolution of the Berlin Techno scene is reluctantly accepted, but arguably without his engagement, many things probably wouldn’t have happened. He was a vital participant in parties and events and was the first Berlin DJ to play in the Soviet Union.
While we were putting ideas for songs for ‘B-Movie’ together, he gave us a demo of ‘You Need The Drugs’ featuring Richard Butler of THE PSYCHEDLIC FURS. It was a great track and we all immediately loved it.
He said he was making a songs album and would love to make a track with Bernard Sumner on vocals. He sent Bernard the demo and he really liked the track and agreed to do it. As thanks, I was given the opportunity to remix it which was perfect timing, as I was in the process of putting together my ‘Collaborator’ compilation for Factory Benelux and we could therefore give it a physical release on CD.
Available on the MARK REEDER remix album ‘Collaborator’ via Factory Benelux
MODERN FAMILY UNIT Mmh Mmh Aahh – Eyy & Aarrgghh remix (2015)
Reeder went back to Manchester to rework the local electro wave duo MFU and added some Berlin Burlesque groove.
Dave Haslam told me about MFU and that they would like a remix. They sent me ‘Mmh Mmh Aahh’ and I loved it. I don’t know why, but it reminded me somehow of early ROXY MUSIC. I wanted to make it a bit dancier, but retain its overall atmosphere and add a little bit of Berlin mystique with the zither.
Available on the single ‘Mmh Mmh Aahh’ via GaS Records
From the soundtrack to Reeder’s film ‘B-Movie’, it enabled him to soundtrack his memories of the divided city with a 21st century outlook.
During the ‘B-Movie’ editing process, we wanted to use the DAF track ‘Kebab Träume’ for the burning of the Berlin Wall birthday sequence, but after long and rather unproductive negotiations, they wouldn’t let us have it.
So I decided I would write a track myself, using only a couple of analogue sequencers and synths to accompany this great piece of footage by the incredible Knut Hoffmeister.
When NEW ORDER made their recorded return with ‘Music Complete’, Reeder was given the opportunity to rework some tracks and indirectly became part of their new live show.
I was asked if I would like to remix a track from the latest NEW ORDER album so I chose one of my favourite songs ‘Academic’, as it seemed like it was up for the challenge, being mainly a traditional style guitar track.
But while I was in Bucharest with ‘B-Movie’ and hanging out with CROWD CONTROL, I got an urgent call asking if I would be able to make a quick remix of ‘Singularity’. I raced back home and immediately started work on it.
It’s a great track and I really enjoyed remixing it. Which is fitting, Bernard was also so impressed with my ‘B-Movie’, that he asked me if NEW ORDER could use some footage for their backdrop video in their live shows.
This was so well received, that it then became the promo video clip for the ‘Singularity’ single. The even faster-cut images and theme of the song work really well together with the music. When NEW ORDER performed recently in Berlin, I was very pleased to have the honour of introducing the band.
Available on the single ‘Singularity’ via Mute Artists
Trevor Horn is a producer who can be said to have shaped modern pop music.
He began his professional music career as a session bassist, most notably for UK disco starlet Tina Charles and her producer Biddu.
Another member of her backing band was keyboard player Geoff Downes; together they would go on to form BUGGLES and score a No1 in 1979 with ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’.
But Horn’s pop stardom was to be short-lived. Despite their musical virtuosity, BUGGLES were an unusual looking pair… so with his best interests at heart, his wife and business partner Jill Sinclair advised that while he wasn’t going to be the greatest frontman in the world, there was a chance he could make it as a top record producer.
In 1981, Horn started a run of producing and co-writing four singles for pop duo DOLLAR; this attracted the attention of NME journalist Paul Morley and they would later establish the ZTT label through Island Records.
Also listening were Sheffield band ABC who asked him to produce their debut album ‘The Lexicon Of Love’. It was during these 1982 sessions that Horn brought together his classic studio team of arranger Anne Dudley, engineer Gary Langan and Fairlight specialist JJ Jeczalik for the first time; the three would later become THE ART OF NOISE.
During this early phase of his production career, Horn favoured the Fairlight CMI as his tool of choice; it had been demonstrated to him electronic music pioneer and Simmons SDS-V co-designer Richard James Burgess, who had worked with him on the first BUGGLES album ‘The Age Of Plastic’.
The Fairlight also allowed for many arrangement possibilities and not just one, but two, three or four different remixes of a single track, a promotional tactic that was employed heavily at ZTT with FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD, THE ART OF NOISE, PROPAGANDA and ACT.
Horn had first become interested in more mechanised musical templates after hearing ‘Warm Leatherette’ by THE NORMAL in 1978. So when the Linn Drum Computer came along, it was like manna from heaven for the forward thinking Horn. He told The Guardian in 2004: “You could tell the Linn what to do, which was unbelievable because before then you had to tell the drummer what to do and he was generally a pain in the a*se”. However, Horn did use accomplished session musicians when needed to compliment his carefully controlled direction.
Horn would go on to win BRIT Awards for ‘Best British Producer’ in 1983, 1985 and 1992. In 2010, he received an Ivor Novello Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to British Music’. His production portfolio is vast, taking in Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, Cher, Rod Stewart, Malcolm McLaren, Robbie Williams, Leann Rimes, Lisa Stansfield and Charlotte Church among many, plus lesser known acts such as INTERPLAY and THE MINT JULEPS.
Not necessarily collecting his best known or mainstream work, but certainly listing some of his more interesting adventures in modern recording, here are eighteen works from Trevor Horn that fit closest to the electro ethos of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, presented in chronological order…
ABC Poison Arrow (1982)
ABC’s first single ‘Tears Are Not Enough’ produced by Steve Brown was loose, scratchy funk that fitted in with the times, but the Sheffield combo wanted to be a far more polished and approached Horn to hone their sound. The first fruit of labours was ‘Poison Arrow’ was held together with a drum machine backbone and augmented by some dramatic piano passages from Anne Dudley in her first session with Horn. The chemistry of all involved led to a musical masterpiece of the era, ‘The Lexicon Of Love’.
Available on the ABC album ‘The Lexicon Of Love’ via Mercury Records
Horn reworked Richard James Burgess’ production of ‘Instinction’ and threw in reworked synths from Anne Dudley and extra bombastic percussion; it saved SPANDAU BALLET’s career. However, further sessions were abandoned when, according to songwriter Gary Kemp in his autobiography ‘I Know This Much: From Soho to Spandau’, Horn wanted drummer John Keeble replaced with a drum machine. Kemp stuck by his bandmate and went with IMAGINATION producers Swain and Jolley for the ‘True’ album.
Available on the SPANDAU BALLET album ‘Gold : The Best Of’ via EMI Records
In 1981, Horn had partly abandoned work on the second BUGGLES album to join Geoff Downes in YES; the press dubbed the new line-up YUGGLES! But Horn amicably left a few months later to finish what became ‘Adventures In Modern Recording’ and kickstart his production career. With Gary Langan and JJ Jeczalik on board, ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’, could be considered as the birth of THE ART OF NOISE; the stabbing samples of a jazz orchestra and tight programmed drums provided a distinctive counterpoint.
Available on the YES album ‘90125’ via Atlantic Records
THE ART OF NOISE “happened because of a happy accident” said Gary Langan. But Trevor Horn was not their producer – “Well, he wasn’t the producer!!” Langan clarified,“we were the producers! If I’m being really honest, we were a little naive. Anne, JJ and myself really had no intention of forming a band… so when we signed to ZTT, we needed somebody to do all the artwork and how it was going to portrayed which was really down to Paul and Trevor”. It was an indicator of how powerful Horn’s name had become.
Available on THE ART OF NOISE album ‘Who’s Afraid Of…?’ via Union Square / Salvo
Düsseldorf’s PROPAGANDA were the proto-LADYTRON or ABBA in Hell, depending on your point of view! They boasted within their ranks Ralf Dörper and Michael Mertens, plus two mini-Marlenes in Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag. The magnificent Fritz Lang film noir of ‘Dr Mabuse’ was their opening salvo. Produced by Horn, the success of FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD however meant the producer’s helm was handed over to his engineer Stephen J Lipson, although Horn was later involved in the final mix.
Available on the PROPAGANDA album ‘A Secret Wish’ via Union Square / Salvo
FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD The Power Of Love (1984)
A key signing to ZTT, regardless of who was actually playing and what the band would have achieved without Trevor Horn, in their short life FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD were a thrilling adventure that wouldn’t have worked without the songs, which were largely written by Holly Johnson, Peter Gill and Mark O’Toole. ‘Relax’ and ‘Two Tribes’ got the ball rolling, but the classical grandeur of ‘The Power Of Love’ was an outstanding piece of work in anyone’s book.
Available on the album ‘Bang!: The Greatest Hits’ via Warner Music
After they left 10CC, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme’s appetite for experimentation with tracks like ‘Babies’ led them to be called “the older generation’s Depeche Mode” by Smash Hits. They also branched out into directing promo videos for VISAGE and DURAN DURAN. It was while doing videos for FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD that they ended up working with Trevor Horn. Almost sparse by Horn’s standards with a metronomic tension alongside minimal guitar, ‘Cry’ was a terrific pop statement.
Available on the album ‘Cry: The Very Best Of’ via Polydor / Universal Music
Trevor Horn took his multiple remix approach to its zenith with Grace Jones’ seventh album; rather than actually do a collection of songs, why not do an album that was effectively multiple remixes and interpretations of one song? While the familiar single version of ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ was wonderful, sun-kissed funky pop, the album’s fifth track take was far more aggressive, with a punchy synth brass riff taking centre stage to make the most out of Miss Jones’ enigmatically frightening demeanour.
Available on the album ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ via Culture Factory
Following her departure from PROPAGANDA, Claudia Brücken teamed up with early electro trailblazer Thomas Leer in ACT. The Trevor Horn produced ‘Chance’ was released as their third single, but withdrawn due to the 12″ mix containing an unauthorised varispeeded sample of ABBA’s ‘Take A Chance On Me’. Far more theatrical and spielerisch than PROPAGANDA, ACT were however, less well received with the eventual Stephen J Lipson produced ‘Laughter, Tears & Rage’ not making quite the impact that was hoped for.
Available on the album ‘Love & Hate’ via Union Square / Salvo
“Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat” was a concept coined by Horn while he was working in the studio with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. Taking in the then ubiquitous form of acid house, ‘Left To My Own Devices’ incorporated a dramatic string arrangement by Richard Niles and the opera stylings of soprano Sally Bradshaw. One of PET SHOP BOYS’ most striking recordings it had been intended to programme the synthesizers and record the orchestra in one day… six months later, the song was finished.
Available on the album ‘Introspective’ via EMI Records
The bombastic tendencies of the now stadium friendly SIMPLE MINDS were well-suited to the Trevor Horn treatment, although paradoxically by the time they got into the studio together in 1988, the Glaswegians were favouring a more restrained follow-up to the rock monster that was ‘Once Upon A Time’. Time has not been kind to ‘Street Fighting Years’ album, which now comes across as self-indulgent and over-politicised. But one track with a vibrant energy despite the soapbox was the more classic sounding ‘Wall Of Love’.
Available on the boxed set ‘Street Fighting Years’ via Virgin Records
SEAL found fame as the voice of ADAMSKI’s ‘Killer’ which reached No1 in 1990. Possessing a soulful voice that suited both dance and rock, Horn couldn’t believe his luck when he discovered he was a free agent. A deal with ZTT was sealed and their first single together was the mighty techno rock of ‘Crazy’. It was the perfect platform for SEAL’s crossover potential and the Paddington-born singer found fame in America with ‘Kiss From A Rose’, which was also produced by Horn and netted a 1995 Grammy Award.
If it wasn’t for Marc Almond, then the path for FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD and PET SHOP BOYS might not have been so smooth. Signing with Warners, this cover of Jacques Brel’s ‘Les Chanson De Jacky’, made famous in an English version by Scott Walker, was a compromise reached by Almond to regain both his pop and artistic high ground. While basically a technologically enhanced remake of Walker’s cover, Horn’s production was mighty and cute, in a stupid arse way 😉
Available on the album ‘Tenement Symphony’ via Warner Music
Virgin Records had always been pushing Mike Oldfiels for a ‘Tubular Bells II’ since the original in 1973. But ironically, when Oldfield departed the label for Warners, he did just that. Horn was a natural choice as producer for this long awaited follow-up. The first ‘Tubular Bells’ featured no synthesizers at all; with the titled inspired by an Arthur C. Clarke short story, not only did ‘Sentinel’ exploit the use of modern studio technology, but beautiful female vocals were also part of this more obviously melodic reprise.
Available on the album ‘Tubular Bells II’ via Warner Music
Written by Arthur Baker, Taylor Dayne and Fred Zarr, ‘Whatever You Want’ for Tina Turner was an archetypical production from Horn. Using the most up-to-date technology yet retaining a vital musicality, there was always space for the lead vocalist to perform to their maximum. However, it always was a time consuming process. Legend has it that when ROBBIE WILLIAMS handed over his demos for the 2009 album ‘Reality Killed The Video Star’, he apparently said to Horn “I’ll see you in six months!”
Available on the album ‘Wildest Dreams’ via EMI Music
Faux lesbian duo Julia Volkova and Lena Katina caused a stir with the Horn produced No1 single ‘All The Things She Said’ and its accompanying video that broke many broadcast taboos. Much more interesting musically though was another Horn produced track ‘Not Gonna Get Us’. Sounding like THE PRODIGY fronted by fleas on helium, ‘Нас Не Догонят’ (as it was originally titled in Russian) was heavier than usual Europop, with a rebellious teenage angst message.
Available on the album ‘200 km/h In The Wrong Lane’ via Interscope Records
In 2003, Horn worked with Glaswegians BELLE & SEBASTIAN for the first time. And after the hangover of Britpop, indie bands were starting to embrace synths again. Southampton band DELAYS almost went the full hog with the brilliant ‘Valentine’, a Horn-assisted disco number. The pulsing sequences and syncopated rhythm section were pure DURAN DURAN, although Greg Gilbert’s raspy falsetto in the soaring chorus and some choppy guitar ensured the band weren’t totally detached from their roots.
Available on the album ‘You See Colours’ via Rough Trade
PET SHOP BOYS reunited with Trevor Horn, ‘I’m With Stupid’ was a perfect politically charged jape at the special relationship between George W Bush and Tony Blair. The satirical lyrical content was enhanced further with an amusing promo video featuring ‘Little Britain’ stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams. However, other than the brilliantly hypnotic opener ‘Psychological’, the remainder of the ‘Fundamental’ album was lacklustre, with the dreary Diane Warren penned ballad ‘Numb’ being a low point.
Available on the album ‘Fundamental’ via EMI Music
“Sometimes you never knew what you were getting when you bought the 12 inch mix” says Rob Grillo, author of the same titled book tracing the history of the extended format, “Sometimes you got the 7 inch version and a bonus track, sometimes it was just the longer album mix, and sometimes you got the normal mix when the sleeve promised a ‘brand new mix’, occasionally there would be a gargantuan explosion of noise that heralded a completely new take on the song that would blow you mind away…”
ELECTRICITY CLUB.CO.UK itself has never been particularly big on remixes or 12 inch versions. They were on occasions, an unnecessary evil. Just because a song can be extended and reworked to submission doesn’t mean it has to be… FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD’s bassist Mark O’Toole snorted to International Musician & Recording World in 1986: “A punter walks into the shop, wants to buy a single – and there’s half a dozen mixes of it! It’s a pain in the ar*e!”
Comedian Lenny Henry summed things up best in a sketch where he entered a record shop to buy a single and was then offered a plethora of versions by the assistant… “I JUST WANT THE VERSION THEY GOT RIGHT!” he exclaimed.
In another stand-up routine, he commented that a 12 inch single could last longer than a marriage. But they could be tremendously passionate affairs as Rob Grillo remembers: “In essence, buying the 12 inch was more exciting than buying the 7 inch…”
With the restriction of tape, a razor blade and the mixing desk, the era often conspired to make more interesting, structured reworkings than the meaningless dance work-outs of today. When done well, the 12 inch extended version could totally surpass the original.
Each track on this list of classic variations was released as a 12 inch single with a corresponding original 7 inch release that was shorter (which thus excludes ‘Blue Monday’ by NEW ORDER); full length album versions that subsequently got issued as 12 inch singles are not included.
With a restriction one track per artist moniker going up to the period before remixes got a bit daft with the advent of rave culture, here are ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 25 choices in chronological and then alphabetical order…
SPARKS Beat The Clock – Long Version (1979)
The shorter album take of ‘Beat The Clock’ was more basic and less epic. But in this longer, more powerful and percussive 12 inch version, the star of this ace collaboration with Giorgio Moroder was the ever dependable Keith Forsey with his rumbling drumming syncopating off the precisely sequenced electronic production. Russell Mael was at his best in fully fledged falsetto mode, while Ron stood more motionless, safe in the knowledge than he didn’t even have to play anymore.
At the start of their career, rather than just simply extend a song by joining together sections of tape, DURAN DURAN actually took time to rearrange and re-record their 12 inch singles. This they did on ‘Planet Earth’ and ‘My Own Way’. From its opening Compurhythm beat and first instrumental chorus set to Nick Rhodes’ swimmy Crumar Performer to Simon Le Bon’s closing verse ad-lib, the best of the early ‘Night Version’ trilogy was ‘Girls On Film’.
THE HUMAN LEAGUE Don’t You Want Me – Ext Dance Mix (1981)
Effectively an instrumental of the closing track on ‘Dare’, the quality of Martin Rushent’s production was fully showcased on this ‘Ext Dance Mix’. Each synth had its own voice and placed inside a precise lattice that formed a fabulous pop tapestry. It was also notable for featuring a guitar, albeit used obliquely by Jo Callis to trigger a Roland System 700. Even without its lead vocals, ‘Don’t You Want Me’ was a fine example of well-crafted, melodic electronic music.
SIMPLE MINDS The American – 12 inch Version (1981)
With the futuristic ‘Changeling’ and ‘I Travel’, SIMPLE MINDS had been heavily rotated in clubs. ‘The American’ was the Glaswegians’ first single for Virgin and sounded like Moroder merged with NEU! Metallic motorik drumming from Brian McGee sans hi-hats provided an interesting rhythm construction and challenged the band into finding inventive ways of making people dance. With Mick McNeil’s pulsing synths coupled with Derek Forbes’ bass engine, this was prime art disco.
Available on the boxed set ‘X5’ via Virgin Records
SOFT CELL Bedsitter – Early Morning Dance Side (1981)
SOFT CELL were quite unique in their 12 inch extended formats by often incorporating extra vocal sections like on ‘Torch’, ‘Facility Girls’ and ‘Insecure Me’. So ‘Bedsitter’ added a marvellous rap from Marc Almond where he asked “do you look a mess, do have a hangover?” before taking a little blusher, pushing tea leaves down the drain and starting the night life over again. This literal kitchen sink drama to song concept won SOFT CELL many ardent followers.
While the single version of ‘The Freeze’ was a polite slice of guitar driven disco, the 12 inch ‘Special Mix’ of SPANDAU BALLET’s second single utilised their Yamaha CS10 with a pulsing octave barrage that could have been borrowed from VISAGE. A closing cacophony of electronically processed percussion came over like a funkier KRAFTWERK but with the overblown vocal histrionics of Tony ‘Foghorn’ Hadley, this could only have been the Islington quintet.
B-MOVIE were the band that Phonogram pursued to take on SPANDAU BALLET and DURAN DURAN. Managed by Some Bizzare’s Stevo Pearce, he stipulated that an unknown duo called SOFT CELL be part of any deal. Possibly the best single featuring the original line-up, the 12 inch version of ‘Nowhere Girl’ featured an extended intro with just a solid beat along with tinkling ivories that came over like ULTRAVOX in full flight before the pulsing bass and harp-like synths kicked in.
CLASSIX NOUVEAUX Is It A Dream? – 12 inch Version (1982)
The best classic 12 inch versions often retained the musical structure of the song but cleverly used the technique of breakdown to achieve the dynamic highs and lows. The 12 inch version of ‘Is It A Dream?’ effectively tagged the instrumental version of the song onto the beginning which provided a build towards the main act as the recognisable elements of the tune steadily kicked it. A final coda of thumping Simmonds drums and brassy synth provided the piece de resistance.
A different version altogether from the 7 inch, however the 12 inch version was actually recorded in one massive 14 minute jam session with the shorter version preceding it. The recording itself was marvellously flawed, with Stephen Morris’ overdriven Simmons snare panned too far to the right while band members can also be heard calling instructions and tutting. The final closing refrains and the iconic “oooh-oo-ooh” vocal hook to the drum breakdown made ‘Temptation’ magical.
Available on the boxed set ‘Retro’ via Warner Music
GARY NUMAN Music for Chameleons – Extended Version (1982)
In 7 inch form, GARY NUMAN’s ‘Music For Chameleons’ sounded incomplete. Lasting almost eight minutes, with the fluid fretless bass runs of Pino Palladino and the stuttering distorted clap of a Linn Drum providing the backbone to some classic vox humana Polymoogs, the 12 inch version’s highlight was the windy synth run in the long middle section. The effect of this was ruined on the ‘I Assassin’ album version which clumsily edited this section out!
Inspired by the burgeoning New York club scene, Rusty Egan brought in John Luongo to remix ‘Night Train’ much to Midge Ure’s dismay, leading him to end his tenure with VISAGE. But Luongo’s rework was sharper, pushing forward the female backing vocals to soulful effect in particular and replacing the clumpier snare sounds of the original album version with cleaner AMS samples. However, on this longer dance mix, Luongo isolated Rusty Egan’s drum break!
Available on the boxed set ’12″/80s/2′ (V/A) via UMTV
Possibly BLANCMANGE’s most overt disco number, under the production supervision of New York club specialist John Luongo who had remixed ‘Feel Me’ to great rhythmical effect, ‘Blind Vision’ was punctuated by brass, extra percussion and slap bass as well as the trademark BLANCMANGE Linn Drum claps also thrown in. A steady build-up, vocal ad-libs from Neil Arthur and a prolonged coda extended the track to a hypnotic nine and a half minutes.
Available on the album ‘Mange Tout’ via Edsel Records
With an edgy production from Zeus B Held, ‘What I Want’ was a rewrite of ‘Blue Monday’ or even ‘Shake It Up’ by DIVINE, depending on your outlook. This HI-NRG / Goth hybrid was the last track Wayne Hussey would play on as a member of DEAD OF ALIVE before departing for THE SISTERS OF MERCY. “Listen blue eyes, shut up!” scowled Pete Burns showing that he was a top rather than a bottom in this salaciously pounding affair.
After the mechanised dystopia of ‘Metamatic’ and the romantic thawing with ‘The Garden’, John Foxx started experimenting in psychedelic pop. With nods to ‘Sgt Pepper’, the original Linn Drum driven version of ‘Endlessy’ from 1982 had the makings of a good song, but was laboured in its arrangement. Reworked with Simmons drums, metronomic sequencers and grand vocal majestics, the Zeus B Held produced 1983 version was even more glorious in an extended 12 inch format.
Available on the boxed set ‘Metadelic’ via Edsel Records
HEAVEN 17 Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry – Extended Dance Version (1983)
Taking a leaf out of their old sparring partners THE HUMAN LEAGUE, HEAVEN 17 took off most of the vocals and played up the instrumental elements of ‘Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry’ with a restructured rhythmical backbone. With a punchy retuned bass drum attack and Roland Bassline programming pushed out to the front, sequences and guitar synth solos were phased in and out. The chanty chorus remained while John Wilson’s funky freeform bass solo closed.
FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD Two Tribes – Annihilation (1984)
Sounding like SIMPLE MINDS, ‘Two Tribes’ was influenced by ‘I Travel’, itself inspired by European right wing terrorism. While Holly Johnson’s original lyric referenced the dystopian drama ‘Mad Max’, it sat well within the Cold War tensions of the period. With Fairlight orchestra stabs and masterful PPG programming for the iconic synth bass, the first ‘Annihilation’ 12 inch featured the poignant authoritative voice of Patrick Allen, reprising his real life ‘Protect & Survive’ commentary…
Available on the album ‘Frankie Said’ via Union Square Music Ltd
The original ‘Tour De France’ single in 1983 signalled the launch of a new KRAFTWERK album ‘Technopop’. Despite being given an EMI catalogue number, it was never released. However, ‘Tour De France’ took on a life of its own. This masterful remix by New York DJ Francois Kevorkian backed a key scene in the film ‘Breakdance’ which lead to a release of this rework. Much more percussive and less song based than the first version, it reinforced KRAFTWERK’s standing in US Hip-Hop.
GIORGIO MORODER & PHILIP OAKEY Together In Electric Dreams – Extended (1984)
One of the best 12 inch versions ever, it not only retained the essence of the original song but added enough extra elements to make it quite different too. There was more rock guitar from Richie Zito and the false end after the guitar solo leading to a superb percussive breakdown that made the most of Arthur Barrow’s frantic Linn Drum programming. Of course, ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ wouldn’t have been any good without Moroder’s songcraft and Oakey’s deadpan lyricism.
The UK 12 inch extended version was a rather formless, dub excursion. However, taking a leaf out of DURAN DURAN’s specifically taylored remixes of songs from the ‘Rio’ album for America, EMI / Capitol commissioned Steve Thompson to construct a toughened up version of ‘It’s My Life’ to make it more MTV friendly. The song became an unexpected favourite in US clubs. One impressionable teenager who was no doubt listening was Gwen Stefani who covered the song in 2003.
Available on the boxed set ‘’12″/80s’ (V/A) via UMTV
ULTRAVOX One Small Day – Special Remix Extra (1984)
One of ULTRAVOX’s more guitar driven numbers, there were eventually three different extended versions of ‘One Small Day’, the best of which was the ‘Special Remix Extra’ (also known as the ‘Extended Mix’) that was issued on the second of the 12 inch releases. With chopped up vocal phrases replacing a conventional vocal on this neo-dub mix, it allowed the instrumentation to come to the fore without Midge Ure’s shrill chorus acting as a distraction.
Available as the ‘Extended Mix’ on the album ‘Lament’ via EMI Gold
A-HA The Sun Always Shines On TV – Extended Version (1985)
Despite being labelled a teenybop group, from the beginning A-HA were always so much more than just the catchy pop of ‘Take On Me’. ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’ revealed a lyrical darkness while the combination of synths and edgy guitar put them in the same league as ULTRAVOX and ASSOCIATES. This rarer first ‘Extended Version’ made the most of the powerful instrumentation and added more drama with a slow solemn piano intro. And just listen to that emotive string synth solo…
While ‘Dr. Mabuse’ was a Trevor Horn production, PROPAGANDA’s second single ‘Duel’ produced by Steve Lipson was based around the Synclavier, PPG and Roland Super Jupiter. To add some syncopation, Stewart Copeland from THE POLICE rhythmitised alongside the Linn Drum while the ‘Bitter Sweet’ extended mix broke down the instrumentation to reveal a highly intricate arrangement. The programmed piano solo is still one of the maddest bursts of music ever!
Available on the album ‘Outside World’ via Repertoire Records
Not the better known but less fulfilled ‘Extended Remix’ by Tom Lord-Alge, John Potoker’s reworking did away with its daft skips and enhanced the song’s enjoyable instrumental elements. The wonderful end section with its wild rhythm guitar from Kamil Rastam and Malcolm Holmes’ reverbed drums also revealed that despite the song’s palatable Trans-Atlantic sound, OMD’s classic synthetic choirs reminiscent of KRAFTWERK’s ‘Radio-Activity’ still lingered.
‘Suburbia’ was a good if slightly underwhelming album track from ‘Please’ that got transformed into a more fully realised sub-nine minute epic. Produced in this new longer version by Sarm West graduate Julian Mendelson, it was effectively a two-parter. Complete with barking dogs, widescreen synths and thundering rhythms, the intro and middle sections saw a pitch shifted Neil Tennant monologuing about the evils of ‘Suburbia’ in a devilish ‘Meninblack’ tone.
DEPECHE MODE Never Let Me Down Again – Split Mix (1987)
A merging of the album version with the Wasp driven bass heavy ‘Aggro Mix’ (hence the ‘Split Mix’ title), this sub-ten minute take on one of DEPECHE MODE’s classic songs was perfection. Other DM 12 inch versions were tiresome like the ‘Slavery Whip Mix’ of ‘Master & Servant’, but ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ took into account that the best 12 inch mixes usually had the actual song and an instrumental middle section before a reprise of the main chorus hook.
“So, what’s so special about Sweden then?” one clueless onlooker once asked ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK… just use your ears mate!
That Svenske sense of melody and melancholy is second to none, running from ABBA right through to the present day with ROBYN, IAMAMIWHOAMI and KITE.
And those qualities come in abundance with DAYBEHAVIOR, a veteran trio who released their first album ‘:Adored’ back in 1996. A second long player ‘Have You Ever Touched A Dream?’ was issued in 2003, but the band went into hiatus until their return in 2012 with ‘Follow That Car!’, an album with quality songs such as ‘City Lights’, ‘Silent Dawn’ and ‘It’s A Game’.
And now with the shortest gap between albums in their history, Paulinda Crescentini, Carl Hammar and Tommy Arell have been preparing their fourth opus ‘Based on a true story’. As a precursor to the album, the happy synthpop of ‘Change’ was unleashed as single in May. But the single’s B-side ‘Cambiare’ has now been presented as a lyric video. Linguaphone was never this much fun 😉
An authentic Italian language version of ‘Change’ thanks to the heritage of Paulinda Crescentini, ‘Cambiare’ oozes with a special, seductive allure while attached to a more danceable electronic backbone. The elegiac yet joyous quality of a female fronted PET SHOP BOYS permeates throughout this wonderful slice of continental disco.
Describing their upcoming album, DAYBEHAVIOR say they “will keep all the thrills, all the chills and the beauty and the sorrow and happiness from the last album. Still keeping eyes on the sound of today, with one or two nods to the past”
The single ‘Change’ b/w ‘Cambiare’ is released as a download by Graplur, available via the usual digital outlets
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LIEBE are the Greek electro disco duo comprising of George Begas and Dimos Zachariadis.
With the presence of a deep Italiano voice sample, it acts as a Hellenic answer to NEW ORDER’s ‘Tutti Frutti’ to close proceedings.
, Mark Reeder kindly gave an insightful commentary into the tracks that shaped his own musical career.
(V/A) via DEF Media
(V/A) via DEF Media
via AMIGA / Zong & Vulture Records
via MFS
featuring Bernard Sumner for BLANK & JONES. It was quite thrilling being asked to do this song, as I’ve always loved the original.
via Kennan Limited
via Soundcolours
via Factory Benelux
via Metamatic Records
via Mute Artists
is available now on DVD, Bluray and download
via Repertoire Records
via EMI Records
via Virgin Records
via Virgin Records
via UMC
via Chrysalis Records
(V/A) via UMTV
via EMI Gold
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