Island | UK | 7" | 1986 | ISG 266

Grace Jones: Nipple To The Bottle  US Promo 12″ [1982]

1. Nipple To The Bottle 12
2. Ja Guys

I was a Johnny-come-lately to the world of Grace Jones. I only first heard her when her killer “Nightclubbing” album was released in 1981. They played cuts on WPRK-FM and I was hooked. So I totally missed her “disco era.” Truth be told, I still have not heard any of her albums that were not cut at Compass Point studios with the aid of their “All-Stars” on backing. By the time that her next Island album, “Living My Life” was released, I quickly snapped these US promo 12″ers up when I saw them at Crunchy Armadillo, my fave rave used vinyl emporium.

“Nipple To The Bottle” is a ferocious number that never fails to make me think when I hear it. I love her delivery of the line “Don’t give me a line, put the lid on the bottle this time, I’m still a lady!” I always wonder; is she referring to cocaine or lies? Heroin or booze? The way she bites the line “I’m still a lady” is so vehement; it sounds as if she really has been pushed past her breaking point. Her performance here is magnificent.

The band here is nothing short of miraculous. The way the All-Stars synthesized dub reggae and new wave with funk is extremely tasty. These “dub mixes” wipe the floor with all of the UK 12″ ilk of the same time period. Some but not all of these tracks eventually made their way to the 2xCD “Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions” which is a must even if you have the albums from which its drawn. So many cuts there are full length edits that were previously cut down for general release.

After Ms. Jones’ album for ZTT, Island put together a good compilation of her material in 1986 called “Island Life.” The single from it was a remix of her 1980 single “Love Is The Drug.”  E.T. Thorngren has done a nice, jittery New Wave remix of the cut, but I think I need the 12″ which was a Groucho Smykle mix! Now there’s a master of dub! The single is a real basket of goodies though. Gatefold PVC sleeve with clear vinyl 7″ and poster included. And if that wasn’t enough, the non-LP cut “Living My Life” is on the B-side! I was always annoyed that the track was not on the album of the same name, even though there was a video made for the track that was on the infamous “One Man Show” video album.

The Hit Machine | UK | 7" | 1980 | HIT 001a

It’s Immaterial: Young Man [seeks interesting job] UK 7″ [1980]

1. Young Man [seeks interesting job]
2. Doosha [a success story]

Previously written about here.

Stiff | UK | 10 | 1981 | SBUY 110

Jona Lewie: Louise [we get it right] UK 10″ [1981]

1. Louise [we get it right] [ext. ver.]
2. It Never Will Go Wrong

I love Stiff’s keyboard troubadour Jona Lewie. I first heard his wondrous left-field synth-pop single “[You’ll Always Find Me] In The Kitchen At Parties” courtesy of my friend Charles and one of his tape letters. When I grabbed a Dutch copy of his first album for Stiff, “On The Other Hand There’s A Fist” I was struck by how the guy could do anything on a keyboard. The album ran the gamut from eccentric pop to synthpop, and even gut bucket blues; all performed masterfully. I then made it a policy to buy anything by the man. This 10″ surfaced about a year after it was released in the import cutout bins [swoon!] at Record City that were my close, personal friends. “Louise” is a peppy number from his still-not-in-my-collection 2nd Stiff album, “Heart Skips Beat.” The 10″ version is extended and remains a track that has not made the leap to CD. The B-side is on any number of Jona Lewie silvery plastic discs one can reasonably buy.

Factory | UK | 12 | 1987 | FAC 146

Stockholm Monsters: Party Line UK 12″ [1987]

1. Party Line
2. Militia
3. Party Live

Stockholm Monsters was a band that I ran across in the used bins in the early 90s at Murmur Records, a favorite Orlando haunt. I bought this 12″ and an album [“Alma Mater“] and filed them away for 20 years! Craziness! Well, this behavior is stopping now, hence these CD comps. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even though this record is from 1987, it is still full of the Post-Punk goodness that I had come to expect from our friends at Factory Records, even though by the end of the 80s, this was no longer cut and dried. This is a really fine single that has the “Factory Sound” but not to the extent that it is trying to sound like New Order. None of these cuts are on “Alma Mater” but the B-sides did appear on the CD RM of that title. Having finally heard this, I now am looking for that CD. You’d think that “Party Live” was a live version of the A-side, but you’d be wrong!

RCA | AUS | 7 | 1977 | 20629

David Bowie: Heroes AUS. 7″ [1977]

1. Heroes [7″ edit]
2. Heroes [French 7″ edit]
3. Heroes [German 7″ edit]
4. V-2 Schneider

Francophile Bowie fans should really look out for this single as it contains a French reading of his sublime “Heroes” single along with the standard English and German versions for a polyglot hat trick! To date, this track has not made the leap to the digital realm. There also exists a German 12″ version of this single with the cut, but Australia and Germany are the only territories that received this version of the track, apart from the French 7″ release, of course!

Tabata | SPN | 7" | 1983 | TB SP-9301

Black: Swingtime SPN 7″ [1993]

1. Swingtime
2. Quiet Side Of The Road

I have been collecting Black releases for over 25 years, but I only stumbled across this single for the sublime “Swingtime” just this year, as an apparent Spanish-only release. I will admit that when I was in Spain in 1999, record stores I frequented were all well stocked with Black CDs, so I guess that Colin Vearncombe’s career played out rather well there. I’d have bought it for the cover, honestly, but when I saw that it has a B-side that rang no bells whatsoever, it became a must-buy! One more reason to remaster that Black BSOG®, but at least it’s a good one!

Mercury | USP | 12 | 1986 | PRO 588-1

Swing Out Sister: Surrender USP  12″ [1986]

1. Surrender [pop stand mix]
2. Surrender [stuff gun mix]

I have been knuckling down on Swing Out Sister vinyl-only cuts. At the time I only opted for the CD singles or the supa-fine Japanese mix comps that their market is littered with, but as is often the case, the local territory issued this single in a home-grown remix courtesy of Justin Strauss and Murray Elias [a.k.a. Pop Stand]. I’m sort of ambivalent on their skills. They did some good work with Duran Duran and some seriously awful remixes that sucked the life out of Basia’s “Promises.” This is closer to the good side of that scale. One more piece for the inevitable Swing Out Sister BSOG®.

– 30 –