REVO | CD-R | 2012 | PM015

Various: REVO Premaster 15 CD-R [2012]

1. Shake: Culture Shock
2. Shake: Glasshouse
3. Shake: Dream On
4. Shake: [But] Not Mine
5. Shake: Invasion Of The Gamma Men
6. Shake: Night By Night
7. Jo Callis: Woah Yeah
8. Jo Callis: Sinistrale
9. Jo Callis: Dodo Boys
10. Stephen Duffy: Icing On The Cake [remix]
11. Paul Haig: Big Blue World 12
12. Paul Haig: Ghost Rider
13. Paul Haig: Endless Song
14. Paul Haig: Running Away 12
15. Paul Haig: Time 12
16. Paul Haig: Never Give Up [Party Party] 12
17. Paul Haig: Heartache [Party Mix] 12

Well, well. That Ultravox Rock GPA sure got me blown off course! It’s been almost two months since the last “CD A Week” posting. Let’s get down to it!

Sire | UK | 10″ | 1979 | SIR 4016

Shake: Shake UK 10″ [1979]

1. Culture Shock
2. Glass House
3. Dream On
4. [But] Not Mine

Sire Records | UK | 7″ | 1980 | SIR 4035

S.H.A.K.E.: Invasion Of The Gamma Men UK 7″ [1980]

1. Invasion Of The Gamma Men
2. Night By Night

This was the kitschy followup to the Shake 10″ the the previous year. The A-side is complete with sound effects and a BBC announcer giving tense narration that somehow meshes with the song proper to be exactly the nutty kick the cover was clearly aiming for. The B-side is a more restrained song about hitting the rock clubs after a day’s work. The Monk certainly remembers those years with fondness, but has moved on somewhat. The Ex-Rezillos [Jo Callis, Angel Paterson, Simon Templar] together with Troy Tate have made exactly the sort of record that Philip Adrian Wright of The Human League should have; though Callis would eventually join The League a year later.

Pop Aural | UK | 7″ | 1981 | POP 012

The S.H.A.K.E. Project/Jo Callis: Woah Yeah! UK 7″ [1981]

1. Woah Yeah
2. Sinistrale
3. Dodo Boys

This single sports a great Communist Youth-cum-Thunderbirds sleeve photo [by the aforementioned Philip Adrian Wright] and can be seen as the final act of the Shake trilogy of releases. The A-side has more than a touch of glam rock in it. Fans of Gary Glitter will definitely approve. The B-sides are more consistent with the Shake sound of the 10″ EP in particular. The branding on this single is somewhat confusing. Is it a record by Jo Callis or the S.H.A.K.E. Project? I’ll let you be the judge.

Ten Records | UK | 12″ | 1985 | TIN 3-13

Stephen Duffy: Icing On The Cake [remix] UK 12″ [1985]

1. Icing On The Cake [remix]
2. Icing On The Cake
3. Broken Home

This is the second remix 12″ of poultry toothed scarcity for Stephen Duffy’s “Icing On The Cake” single. The remix has a nice extended buildup that takes the arrangement in a somewhat different direction. Sadly, this pressing is as noisy as all get out. I’ll need to buy a cleaner copy of this record, but since it took me a decade to track this one copy down, I’m not optimistic that I’ll have a good sounding copy anytime soon. Duffy is a pop genius, but this is one tough record to track down. Maybe Ten Records pressed up a few hundred copies and that was that.

Les Disques Du Crépuscule | BEL | 12″ | 1984 | TWI 231

Paul Haig: Big Blue World BENELUX 12″ [1984]

1. Big Blue World 12
2. Ghost Rider
3. Endless Song

I only ever heard of Josef K after hearing Propaganda’s “A Secret Wish,” if you can believe that. I couldn’t just sit there after hearing a track like “Sorry For Laughing!” I still haven’t heard Josef K [!] but I began buying Paul Haig solo records when I chanced across them afterward. “Big Blue World” is an elegant bit of dance rock with a typically rich Alan Rankine production. You can certainly hear his distinctive synth that was all over the “Affectionate Punch” remix in evidence here. “Ghost Rider” is a cover of the Suicide song that veers far away from the relentless electro of the original towards more of an electrobilly sound redolent of Alan Vega’s solo career. The original still can’t be touched.

Crepuscule America | US | 12″ | 1982 | TWA 82501

Paul Haig: Running Away US 12″ [1982]

1. Running Away 12
2. Time 12

When I bought this, I wondered if it was a cover of the Sly Stone classic and it certainly was! Crépuscule crossover alert: Isabelle Powaga and Pascale Moiroud of Antena sing backing vocals on the breezy A-side.

Les Disques Du Crépuscule | BEL | 12″ | 1983 | TWI 185

Paul Haig: Never Give Up [Party, Party] BENELUX 12″ [1983]

1. Never Give Up [Party, Party] 12
2. Heartache [party mix] 12

This 12″ is an Alex Sadkin produced with a Groucho Smykle produced dub on the B-side! Still, it’s way slicker than the Grace Jones records that drove all of those UK bands to record with Sadkin. This effort ends up not a million miles away from the Thompson Twins sound that Sadkin achieved. But Haig’s arrangement is far jazzier than anything that ever came from Tom Bailey’s pen, and as a result, this has a verve that leaves a not dissimilar sounding track [at least in terms of production] like “We Are Detective” very much in the shade. Bonus added irony alert: Tom Bailey played percussion on this track! The Smykle dub is excellent value for money – it sounds nothing like the A-side!

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