V2 | UK | 2xCD | 2000 | VVR1012032

Associates: Double Hipness UK 2xCD [2000]
Disc 1

1. The Shadow Of My Lung
2. Do The Call Girl
3. Not Tonight Josephine
4. 2000 Years Of Mental Torture
5. 18 Carat Love Affair
6. Boys Keep Swinging
7. Green For Grief
8. Janice
9. Saline Drips
10. Galaxy Of Memories
11. Mortice Lock
12. The Affectionate Punch
13. Big Waltz
14. Geese
15. Window Shopping
16. Double Hipness

Disc 2

1. Gloomy Sunday (Live – ICA 1980)
2. I Never Will
3. Club Country
4. Waiting For The Loveboat (Instrumental)
5. International Loner
6. Mama Used To Say
7. Gun Talk
8. Fear Is My Bride
9. Stephen, You’re Really Something
10. Edge Of The World
11. The End

This is a two disc set of unreleased demos and a live cut with the continuity provided by the presence of original Associate Alan Rankine together with vocalist Billy MacKenzie. They were golden together and consensus is generally correct that Billy never produced such transcendent music with any of his other collaborators. At least to these heights. Billy’s later collaborators worked under a handicap in that Mr. MacKenzie had quite the diva reputation by the time they were writing with him. Alan Rankine began, like Billy, as a nobody whose reputation was made by the records they released; some included here in their larval forms.

“The Shadow Of My Lung” starts out with an absolutely wild take on mid-period Sparks featuring lyrics, while not as witty as Ron Mael’s, were no less surrealistic. Halfway through the frantic tune the middle 8 drops to 1/4 tempo and becomes a distinct parody of “The Shadow Of Your Smile.” Only to speed up again to finish the song. Some of these cuts turn up in dramatically different forms as b-sides or bonus tracks on the other Associates reissues on V2. Others, are brief demos of classic material in their embryonic form. “18 Carat Love Affair” here is in full form and sounding like a Grease Soundtrack excerpt! “Not Tonight Josephine” has the Ronsonesque crackle [with sax!] of “Alladin Sane” period Bowie. Their original take of “Boys Keep Swinging” that was their first [illegal] release turns up here as well, but not its b-side “Mona Property Girl.” It’s not as dramatically alien as one would assume having heard other material released around this era. Disc one is comprised of material that is of similar vintage to their debut album, “The Affectionate Punch.” [1978-80]

Disc two features material from the “Sulk” era and the 1993 reunion demos that MacKenzie and Rankine cut after an 11 year working hiatus. “I Never Will” is the demo of their biggest hit, “Party Fears Two” complete with its infectious lilting piano riff intact. But the lyrics are completely different. This track could be called “What The Atheists Do” due to the chorus with no problem but the verses are the same as PF2 – weird! “Club Country” is also in demo form – retaining much of its dense, enervated allure. The lyrics are fully cured here and don’t differ from the finished product. The only cut not from the ’78-’82, or ’93 era is the original instrumental demo of “Waiting For The Loveboat,” which originally surfaced in ’84 without Rankine involvement on the “Perhaps” album. The arrangement here is similar to the vocal Janice Long session treatment of the BBC Sessions album, sans vocals.

The most interesting and fully developed cuts [at least sonically] are the Auchterhouse demos from ’93. Portastudios sounded much better by this time! “International Loner” has Billy in diva mode with a suave cut that wouldn’t be out of place on the unreleased “Glamour Chase” album of 1988. Likewise for “Mama Used To Say” though Billy was not in diva mode here. “Gun Talk” could have been on 1990’s “Wild + Lonely” with a more bloodless arrangement. That album had good songs but lifeless production. “Fear Is My Bride” has a cinematic feel like the best of “The Glamour Chase.” “Stephen, You’re Really Something” is the only of these cuts that are guitar driven. Propulsive guitar like from “4th Drawer Down” speeds the cut along but this song has more musical sensibilities than the wigged-out cuts on that album. Legend has it the song is an answer song to Morrissey’s “William, It Was Really Nothing;” allegedly a song about MacKenzie.

“Edge Of The World” shows up in yet another form here. This song kicked about a lot in the last few years of MacKenzie’s life. He cut it in 1996 with German techno outfit Loom as “Anacostia Bay” and it appears on his posthumous 1997 “Beyond The Sun” album in another form. Very reminiscent of his best work with Boris Blank, Rankine set the cinematic tone of what was undoubtedly the first version cut. Amazingly enough, Michael Dempsey, the former Associates drummer from their band days who mastered the V2 releases said there was more where this came from so the raft of posthumous MacKenzie releases continued throughout much of the last decade. Much to my continued pleasure. The last tidbit to filter out was this 7″ only release, and scuttlebutt has it there is still more.

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