Cherry Red | UK | CD | 2015 | WCDMRED 663
Kissing The Pink: Naked DLX RM UK CD [2015]
- The Last Film
- Frightened In France
- Watching Their Eyes
- Love Lasts Forever
- All For You
- The Last Film (Hymn Version)
- Big Man Restless
- Desert Song
- Broken Body
- Maybe This Day
- In Awe Of Industry
- Mr. Blunt
- Mr. Blunt (Mixed For Feet)
- Watching Their Eyes (Club Mix)
- The Last Film (Extended Version)
- Love Lasts Forever (12″ Version)
- We Are Your Family (Special Club Version)
- Middleton Row
- Big Man Restless (Club Mix)
This one was out for a bit but I am writing about it to remind myself that I still need a copy! For whatever reason, I totally missed out on Kissing The Pink’s debut album from 1983, for reasons probably owing to MTV. There may have been videos available for singles from “Naked.” I managed to own several US promos on Atlantic Records, but in 1983, almost all of my apple-seeding for new bands to love came via the form of music videos, and MTV was the 800 lb. gorilla of music video, and for whatever reason, they deemed Kissing The Pink off limits, so I never heard the band until they had shortened their name to the less inflammatory‡ “KTP.”
Now, KTP did get videos played, and I bought all of the singles and the CD of “Certain Things Are Likely.” It remains an acme of the PWL/Phil Harding sound. Relentless house club beats in the service of rather good songs, full of hooks and interest. By 2000, I had begun buying their singles whenever I saw them and I had both 12″ers from their second album “What Noise” courtesy of my last trip to Toronto and their fine record stores in 2001, but crucially, I had not yet listened to them. Typical, and I only had the occasion to finally hear “Kissing The Pink” some years later, when the “Naked” album made the domestic CD scene a decade ago. I bought the CD in 2006 during a bought of gratification and was rewarded with a fantastic album that I should have been all over like white on rice back in 1983! Demerits to Wounded Bird Records for including the entire six cut US EP that merely reused five tracks from the album with a single non-LP B-side providing worth. Thats’ right. Five of the six bonus tracks on that CD are the same LP tracks twice on the same disc!
Barring that poor judgement, I’ve enjoyed that album for a decade now, and my program to complete my collection of Kissing The Pink rarities for the inevitable BSOG® has not gotten very far, so I might as well buy this new CD to have [hopefully] nice masters of seven tracks that are lined up for that. Besides, if I buy a copy, it makes the likelihood of Cherry Red also issuing the “What Noise” album on CD [crosses fingers]. I don’t even have that one on LP as it’s fairly scarce. So what about those bonus tracks? What’s there? What isn’t?
Don’t Hide In The Shadows
1981 | UK 7″
- Don’t Hide In The Shadows
- Hand-Held Cameras
Yow! Indie Martin Hannett produced debut single. Need this!
Mr. Blunt
1982 | UK 12″
- Mr. Blunt [mixed for feet]
- Water In My Eye [ext. ver.]
I have the 7″ of this, which has the shorter B-side. Need the 12.”
Watching Their Eyes
1983 | UK 12″
- Watching Their Eyes [club mix]
- In Awe Of Industry [ext. ver.]
This 12″ has an extended B-side needed.
The Last Film
1983 | UK 12″
- The Last Film [ext. ver.]
- Shine
- The Last Film [hymn ver.] This 12″ had a non-LP B-side
The Last Film
1983 | UK 2×7″
- The Last Film
- Shine
- Water In My Eye [inst.]
- Garden Parties This double 7″ pack had two unique tracks
Love Lasts Forever
1983 | UK 12″
- Love Lasts Forever [ext. ver.]
- Underage [ext. inst. ver.]
The 12″ here had an extended B-side.
Love Lasts Forever
1983 | UK 7″
- Love Lasts Forever
- Underage [inst. ver.]
The 7″ here had the short B-side. BSOGs have both.
Maybe This Day
1983 | UK 12″
- Maybe This Day
- We Are Your Family [special club ver.]
- Middleton Row
I have the extended B-side on the earlier US “Naked” and the other B-side of on the DLX “Naked,” so this is one of the few that I don’t have t0 still buy.
Big Man Restless
1983 | USP 12″
- Big Man Restless [club mix]
-
- Big Man Restless [club mix]
Finally, this US promo already resides in the Record Cell, but its content is on the new CD so it becomes superfluous.
So even after buying this CD, there is a lot of vinyl still needed for the planned BSOG® of rarities. It seems a Monk’s work is never done!
– 30 –
‡ It bears repeating that two years later on MTV, they had no problem playing an AC/DC video with the equally inflammatory title “Sink The Pink!” So apparently gratifying a woman orally was taboo compared to the old in-out… draw your own conclusions.
![Chris Cross: 1952-2024 [part 2]](https://postpunkmonk.files.wordpress.com/2024/04/ultravox-cross.jpg?w=200&h=200&crop=1)
![Forty Years Ago Today, Simple Minds Changed Everything with "New Gold Dream [81,82,83,84]"](https://postpunkmonk.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/new-gold-dream-in-spotlights.jpg?w=200&h=200&crop=1)
Post-Punk Monk 
Hey Monk;
Naked is indeed a great album, stuffed with interesting tunes. I had the vinyl and Wounded Bird CD, but the Cherry Red edition is definitely the one to own. Meanwhile, regarding the redundancies on the Wounded Bird CD…from what I understood, the reason the EP was reproduced in full (despite five songs appearing twice) is that to have the album and EP on a disc was to do a straight reissue. To just add the one non-repeat track from the EP would be like adding any “bonus” tracks and would turn the reissue into a new compilation, which would cost much more in licensing fees than a mere reissue. Actually, it might be a legal issue in addition to a financial one, I’m not entirely sure. Another of your readers might correct/expand on this, but I think what I say is correct.
LikeLike
Taffy – “Interesting” isn’t the half of it! to this day playing “Desert Song” gives me goosebumps. You are most likely correct with your theories. The two Atlantic releases were the EP and the album followed. Readers may remember that culling tracks from an import album to test the domestic waters with an EP was how many US labels rolled back in the day. Often releasing the full album afterward. As such, Wounded Bird only had to license the tracks that Atlantic had the rights for, as the indicia on the CD reveal. Still, I wouldn’t have minded leaving off the repeat cuts and just having the B-side represented. That makes more sense to me.
LikeLike
I could have sworn that I used to have a 12” by them called something like “Can’t You See Me”
It had a rather nice picture sleeve. Looking on discogs I see nothing like what I had
LikeLike
er, it was my bad that. Got my pinks mixed up. It was Vicious Pink. Don’t remember the song at all but yup that cover still has some redeeming qualities.
LikeLike
Tim – Kissing The Vicious Pink Phenomena…! On the next Geraldo!
LikeLike
I was just reading up on them on the interwebs, had no idea that they started off as Soft Cells backing vox! You learn something new every day. Not much of actual vids of them on YouTube but there is an interesting clip of people dancing to them at a club in Leeds circa 1982. Utter 80’s flashback.
LikeLike
Tim – That’s where I first heard of them, on “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.” I was disappointed [but not surprised] that their first two singles were m.i.a. on the recent Cherry Red CD.
LikeLike
Love Kissing The Pink and like the extra info. Shame you only got them into when they were KTP. I got the album when it came out in the UK and amazingly it had 12 quality tracks on it (you normally got 10 tracks including some filler) My favourite has got to be the disturbing “Broken Body” They certainly had a dark side to them.
New on here but loving the blog! Jon
LikeLike
djjedredy – Welcome to the comments! Yeah, the album is almost like a fantastic compilation what with the revolving vocalists – which I love, but the more vocalists a band has the less likely they are to click with the unwashed masses. I was dimly aware of “Kissing The Pink” but never heard a note, not even on college radio. Therefore, I didn’t purchase. Can’t recall running to any imports in the bins, either. Good taste on your blog, by the way!
LikeLike
I know what you mean, they didn’t really have an image in the early days, in fact they did look a bit unwashed! I have a load of stuff I might shove up on my blog from back in the day. Only got “Mr. Blunt” at the moment. I’ll let you know when it’s there along with some thoughts about it all.
LikeLike
Glad I’m not the only person to buy stuff and take ages to listen….always feel bad but time is short!
Love this album.
LikeLike
SimonH – Alas, waiting decades to listen to records gets less viable with age! I need sufficient “needle time” to actual play records I own, but it’s hard to eke it out of my day. That, for me is the massive fail for vinyl; even more than fragility and sound quality issues. Once I get a CD it gets listened to within a day at worst. My long commute, six days a week, is my prime listening time.
LikeLike
I’m buying too much! Never seem to run out of vital purchases, I guess plenty to play when I’m in retirement and CDs are only made in Japan:)
LikeLike
There are some truly delicious songs on “What Noise?” also! Totally underrated band.
LikeLike
telefrank – Alas, I only have the 12″ singles for the album, which I found during my last trip to Toronto, 16 years ago. I need to source the LP!
LikeLike