
Great news. Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings label has given new life to the three A+M solo albums by Rupert Hine that preceded his run of the [also amazing] Thinkman albums. The last time these came in print was in 2001 UK pressings via Voiceprint, 21 years ago. Each of those discs had several bonus tracks on them, but these newest remasterings have those and more. “The Wildest Wish To Fly” adds the B-side to “Living In Sin” [“An Eagle’s Teaching”] as well as the single remix of “Picture Phone.” The news gets better since Hine’s right hand man, engineer and co-producer Stephen W. Tayler has remastered these recordings which is as right and proper as it can get.

DISC 1 – Immunity+
- I Hang On To My Vertigo
- Misplaced Love
- Samsara
- Surface Tension
- I Think A Man Will Hang Soon
- Immunity
- Another Stranger
- Psycho Surrender
- Make A Wish
- Scratching At Success
- Introduction To The Menace

DISC 2 – Waving Not Drowning+
- Eleven Faces
- The Curious Kind
- The Set Up
- Dark Windows
- The Sniper
- Innocents In Paradise
- House Arrest
- The Outsider
- One Man’s Poison
- Kwok’s Quease

DISC 3 – The Wildest Wish To Fly +
- Living in Sin
- No Yellow Heart
- The Saturation of the Video Rat
- Firefly in the Night
- A Golden Age
- Picture Phone
- The Victim of Wanderlust
- The Most Dangerous of Men
- The Wildest Wish to Fly
- Blue Flame [Melt the Ice]
- An Eagle’s Teaching [new to disc]
- Picture Phone [remix] [new to disc]
- No Yellow Heart [later version]
The “Living In Sin” single also featured Robert Palmer on duet vocals with Rupert on this track as well as “Picture Phone.” The two performed on each other’s albums in the 80s and it seems surprising that Hine never actually produced Palmer’s work, but Palmer was self-producing and that was obviously his preference.
These albums have drifted in and out of print for the last 41 years, and are currently expensive OOP releases, making their return all the more welcome. “Immunity,” in particular, is demanding three figures for the privilege from third parties right now. Ouch! If you are a fan of the sort of high tech Rock music that the likes of peter gabriel, Rush, or Ultravox made in the early eighties where the lines between Pop, Prog, and New Wave were blurred beyond recognition, then this box would be calling your name as well. Cherry Red has the box in pre-order status now for a modest £22.99/$27.80 and the box will now ship on January 13th, 2023. D.J. hit that button, as usual!
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Wonderful news, and the Cherry Red folks have a history of doing this sort of thing right. I was never as fond of Waving Not Drowning, but Immunity and Wildest Wish To Fly are essential listening — particularly Wildest Wish To Fly.
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Big Mark – The unresolved question for this box might be, which cover for “Wildest Wish To Fly” will prevail?


Original Cover
North American/Japanese Cover
The UK/Euro cover is the one for me! The fiery colors next to the metallic blues is catnip for my eyes. The sculpture is nice but it’s better to see Rupert!
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THIS is exciting.. ‘Immunity’ was a huge influence
on our early Spoons days…Gord and I listened
to this non stop!! : )
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rObPReusS – Is it possible to love Spoons even more than I already do? I’d read that Spoons came out of a Prog fan background steeped in fandom of early Genesis [not unlike Split Enz…now that I think of it] but maybe it’s a little unfair referring to Mr. Hine as Prog when I think that Art Rock [which crosses over somewhat with Prog on a Venn Diagram of genre distinctions] might be a better fit for his approach.
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i never know (and don’t need to) what to call some of the music from that era- i always thought of people like Rupert Hine, and even Peter Gabriel’s first 3 albums, as sort of non-genre specific- just amazingly cool music….that’s all we ever wanted to do- take all the sounds we love, and synthesize them into something new and possibly undefineable.. of course THAT was 1981. The music we were all making WAS undefineable, even though everyone needed something to compare to. : )
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rObPReusS – All of the most enchanting music, for my money, exists on a razor’s edge of disparate genres messily intruding on each other in a show of hybrid vigor. The period in the late 40s-early 50s when Gospel, Country, and Blues mingled to form Rock And Roll was a very exciting time. The next time that something that exciting happened for me was in the Post-Punk period where new genes and sub genres of Rock were forming almost monthly. What we referred to as New Wave was a pretty huge stylistic umbrella!
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Exactly!!
i’ve started to really
like the term
‘post punk’. monk. ; )
and sometimes
i see something called
‘art rock’…which has
some music i loved
before it had to be defined…
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Exciting news! I know at one point I had a copy of Waving Not Drowning, but I don’t think I ever owned any other Hine solo releases, just the Thinkman stuff. I plan on grabbing this catch-all SDLX-type release, and hoping it does well enough for Esoteric or someone to consider a similar box for the Thinkman albums …
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chasinvictoria – Prepare to be amazed. Especially with “Immunity!” Rob Preuss wouldn’t steer you wrong!
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Then, prepare to be even more amazed by “The Wildest Wish To Fly”!
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