Rubellan Remasters ‎| US | CD | 2019 | RUBY08CD

The Passions: Sanctuary DLX RM US CD [2019]

1. Jump For Joy
2. The Letter
3. Into Night
4. Small Talk
5. White Lies
6. Cars Driven Fast
7. Love Is Essential
8. Your Friend
9. Hold On Don’t Go
10. Sanctuary
11. Africa Mine
12. I Feel Cheap
13. The Story
14. Tempting Fate
15. Stop that Man
16. The Square [live]
17. Why Me [live]
18. Snow [live]
19. I’m In Love With A German Film Star [live]

I really wish I had been exposed to The Passions more than I had been in the realtime of 1980-1982.  This band were exactly the sort of high-finesse New Wave act that I loved back then who kept developing over their too-brief three album arc of a career. How I got through 1981 [and the next 30 years, for that matter] without hearing “I’m In Love With A German Film Star” even once must constitute some sort of musical crime! As it stood, I was fortunate that my local college radio station of choice [WPRK-FM] played their 1982 non-LP single “Africa Mine” enough to obsess on it for decades. I think I only ever bought it mail order when I finally saw the 2×7″ in the 90s in Goldmine or some catalog. From then on, I bought every Passions record I came across, which is to say… two.

I managed to find the “Skin Deep” 12″ somewhere and in 2008, I bought an LP of their debut album, “Michael + Miranda” in the bins of Portland during Ron-Kon I. That was also the year that their second album, featuring their hit “I’m In Love With A German Film Star” finally made it to CD format, and it’s been on my want list ever since. I bought “Michael + Miranda” with a nod towards digitizing my own CD from it since it seemed unlikely that there was much interests from real labels, but Cherry Red once more stepped up and released a CD in 2015. Which was great, because my LP sounded terrible. In fact, every UK Polydor Passions record that I owned [three, if you’re counting] sounded just terrible. Was it just bad luck or conspiracy?

Since then, I felt that the likelihood of the third Passions album ever meriting a reissue on the silver disc was close to nil. After all, the first album at least had cult cachet; being a Chris Parry production on Fiction Records. The second album had their sole UK hit on it. Meanwhile, their third album only succeeded in getting the band dropped from Polydor Records. Who in their right mind would make the effort? Who indeed, but the best minds of Rubellan Remasters. After all, anyone who would valiantly release the best reissue of last year against all odds, obviously had taste and pasion in excess. Alas, I’m out of time for today so I’ll have to dig into this CD tomorrow.

Next: …Where Have You Been All Of My Life?