6 Responses to Want List: Full Series of Carmel DLX RMs

1. jt says:

   May 10, 2012 at 11:18 am

   By “world music”, do you actually mean “afropop”?

   World music to me is Tibetan singing bowls, Japanese taiko drums, Peruvian ocarinas, Indian sitars, African talking drums, central European accordions, and Indonesian gemelans. Anyone who experiments with this stuff is doing well in my book. See the band Japan’s “Tin Drum”, for starters [oh, I know you have already!].

   “Afropop”, on the other hand is that annoying bullshit that followed in the wake of Paul Simon’s Graceland and a lot of Peter Gabriel’s weakest moments. As much as I enjoy Ladysmith Back Mombazo and some other African acts, that afropop movement was heinous!

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   • postpunkmonk says:

     August 17, 2015 at 10:02 am

     jt – Yeah! I meant Afropop. Not my favorite thing either. I do think that Malcolm McLaren mined that vein first and best among the White Devils who exploited the Dark Continent. All other Township Jive albums paled [no pun intended] next to the majesty of “Soweto!”

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2. Echorich says:

   May 11, 2012 at 9:16 am

   I’m a great fan of the London Records era Carmel. Her brash jazzy vocals lent some real authenticity to the Jazz/Pop scene of the early 80’s. As much as I was a Sade fan a the time I would always end up in arguments with friends that Carmel was the real deal. The Drum Is Everything is high on my list of favorite albums.

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   • postpunkmonk says:

     May 11, 2012 at 9:55 am

     Echorich – Yeah, Sade is singular for being something I should have loved, but couldn’t*. There was something so bloodless about her. Once I finally heard her, I was strictly nonplussed, even though by 1984 I was diving headfirst into the New Wave Of British Jazz Pop and loving it! Carmel McCourt, you could never accuse of being bloodless! “The Drum Is Everything” is indeed a stunner. Jazz Punk in a vastly different way than James Chance, but ultra compelling. I first heard “More, More, More” on London Calling [MTV] and noted it, but never saw the records. I then saw the CD of “The Falling” when it came out and bought it straight away and was literally floored by it. I acquired the CD of the first album when I saw it after that.

     * Apart from the smoking “Sweetest Taboo.”

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3. Richard Anvil says:

   January 27, 2018 at 11:51 am

   Absolutely amazed that someone else who is a major early electronica fan is also a big fan of Carmel. I also first got into Carmel’s music when I heard More. More, More on Top of the Pops. Amazing voice and amazing sound. My favourite album is The Falling because of the eclectic mix of sounds and styles with strong emotionally charged singles (I’m Not Afraid Of You, Sally and Mercy). But The Drum Is Everything is also such a singular album, edgy and unique. It was produced by Mike Thorn more well known for producing the electronic Soft Cell. He enjoyed the experience so much he came back to produce ‘Everybody’s Got….’ (though this time with a much more slick lounge style with backing orchestra). If you want to hear early Carmel then I really urge you to buy the recent CD reissue of their first 1982 Single and mini-lp. It raw 80’s jazz at its most impressive and you soon forget that its only a voice, a double bass and drums on each track.

   I was so pleased by these reissues, especially The Drum Is Everything as they also included the B sides which are as crucial as the album. Lament is a shorter pre-curser to The Prayer, That’s Good That’s Neat could easily have been an A side and Hot Dog is a masterpiece. The inclusion of the Extended (in reality the complete unedited) version of Willow Weep For Me is all important as is the Dance Mix (in reality completely different recorded version) of Rue St. Denis. Its just a shame that they didn’t complete the tracks by also including Bad Day (7″ single version) which is in fact the Mike Thorn produced recording as the album version is the 12″ ‘live in the studio’ version which is a completely different recording. It can be found on Carmel Collected along with the 7″ edit of More More More.

   The Falling reissue also has some high quality B sides included, some with a style more like the ‘live’ sound of The Drum Is Everything, What a Story and All Day Long I shouted plus Energise My Soul and the absolutely gorgeous Hymn Of Love (both of which were recorded live). The omissions on The Falling are more disapointing as they don’t include either of the 12″ versions of Sally (The glorious extended version, which is available on a rare French CD single, or the totally reworked ‘version’ which is not available on CD) but it does include a track titled I’m Not Afraid Of You (Extended 12″ Remix) which is identical to the album version (because the album released version is the 12″ version). It forever continues to annoy me how these re-issue compilers continue to make such glaringly obvious mistakes and in doing so rob us of other tracks which could have been included in their place. Also missing is the 7″ version of I’m Not Afraid of You (which is again on Carmel Collected) and the 7″ remixed version of Mercy (which isn’t available on CD anywhere). But even worse is missing off the track ‘How Long?’ from the soundtrack of ‘Letter to Brezhnev’ recorded at the same time which again has never been made available on CD.

   The smooth sounding Everybody’s Got A Little…Soul includes all the B sides and the 12″ versions but still misses of Nothing Good piano version.

   Set Me Free has so many extra tracks that it is the only reissue on 2 CD’s and pretty much covers everything from this era, except two additional different versions of And I Take It For Granted, the first a second recorded version by Brian Eno, which was included as an extra track on Carmel Collected, and the remixed 7″ version, which is on the CD single.

   I also didn’t bother with buying the reissues of Good News or World Gone Crazy as I already have all the tracks on CD and these albums aren’t as crucial as the first four.

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   • postpunkmonk says:

     January 27, 2018 at 4:53 pm

     Richard Anvil – Sometimes, I’m amazed myself! Many thanks for re-activating the comment thread on a post that’s six years old! Carmel was like nothing I listened to at the time, but they were crucial in the NWOBJP movement for me. Over the years since this post, I have finally obtained the first three, critical Carmel reissues. But I had no idea that the Red Flame era EP and 7″ [both of which I have] made it to precious CD format last year! I am allegedly registered with Carmel and Jim Parris’ mailing lists and neither have alerted me to this, but thankfully, you have!

     I have an extensive Carmel collection. I have the “Brezhnev” OST with “How Long” as well as the “Giant” West German CD with “Nothing Good [piano mix].” I got the Canadian CD single [I can see no French edition on Discogs] that was issued in 1988 during my first trip to the Great White North. Thank goodness! Yes, that was the only place to get the extended “Sally.” What I need now are the many Carmel McCourt guest appearances on other records! As well as her pre-Carmel efforts with Thinderboys. Most of which are cripplingly expensive…except for this one!

     https://www.discogs.com/Various-Household-Shocks/release/8402822 – I had no idea this had been reissued in an affordable copy recently!

     https://www.discogs.com/Thunderboys-Fashion/release/2215136 – The 7″ has different tracks

     https://www.discogs.com/Soundtracks-Head-Rain-Rain-Rain/release/402910 – She has several guest vocals with Jowe Head

     https://www.discogs.com/Jowe-Head-Strawberry-Deutsche-Mark/release/1293195

     https://www.discogs.com/Jo-Lemaire-Liverpool/release/3382649 – She produced and sang a duet on this Jo Lemaire album! Jo was someone my friend Ron always rated highly.

     https://www.discogs.com/Homelife-Cho-Cho/release/217860

     https://www.discogs.com/Cherif-MBaw-Kham-Kham/release/5663476 – She sang on an actual African album here

     https://www.discogs.com/Kraak-Smaak-Thats-Our-Word-EP/release/1255394 – She also co-wrote one song on this 12″

     https://www.discogs.com/Jowe-Head-Pincer-Movement/release/2893102 – finally, more Jowe Head involvement

     And I still need that 2015 Carmel single: https://www.discogs.com/Carmel-Second-Wife-Blues-Sad-Situation/release/8616150

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