Lene Lovich: Toy Box – The Stiff Years – UK – 4xCD [2023]
DISC 1 – STATELESS (Original Mix)
- Lucky Number
- Sleeping Beauty
- Home
- Too Tender (To Touch)
- Say When
- Tonight
- Writing On The Wall
- Telepathy
- Momentary Breakdown
- 1 in a 1,000,000
- I Think We’re Alone Now
- Lucky Number (Early Version)
- I Think We’re Alone Now (Japanese Version)
- Monkey Talk (Early Version)
- Be Stiff
- Be Stiff (The Entire Ensemble Recorded Live At Leeds University)
- Lene Lovich Speaks 1
- Lucky Number (Instrumental Version)
- One Lonely Heart
- Big Bird
- Lene Lovich Speaks 2
- Lucky Number (Slavic Dance Version)
DISC 2 – STATELESS (US/UK Remix)
- Home
- Sleeping Beauty
- Lucky Number
- Too Tender (To Touch)
- Say When
- Writing On The Wall
- Telepathy
- Momentary Breakdown
- I Think We’re Alone Now
- One in a 1,000,000
- Tonight
- Trixi
- The Fly
- The Fall
- Monkey Talk [Live At The Lyceum, London 03.02.80]
- The Night [Live At The Lyceum, London 03.02.80]
- Too Tender (To Touch) [Live At The Lyceum, London 03.02.80]
- You Can’t Kill Me [Live At The Lyceum, London 03.02.80]
- Angels [Live At Paradise Theater, Boston 15.03.80]
- Lucky Number [Live At Paradise Theater, Boston 15.03.80]
- Home [Live At Paradise Theater, Boston 15.03.80]
DISC 3 – FLEX
- Bird Song
- What Will I Do Without You
- Angels
- The Night
- You Can’t Kill Me
- Egghead
- Wonderful One
- Monkey Talk
- Joan
- The Freeze
- The Night (US Remix)
- What Will I Do Without You (Single Version)
- Bird Song (Edit)
- Details (Original Version)
- New Toy
- Cats Away
- New Toy (Extended Version)
- Cats Away [US EP version]
- Details [US EP version]
- Never Never Land
DISC 4 – NO MAN’S LAND
- It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)
- Blue Hotel
- Faces
- Walking Low
- Special Star
- Sister Video
- Maria
- Savages
- Rocky Road
- Savages [US EP version]
- Special Star [US EP version]
- Blue Hotel (Single Version)
- It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz) (Remixed Extended Version)
- Blue
- It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz) (Instrumental Version)
- It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz) (US Extended Dance Mix)
- Blue Hotel (US Dance Mix)
- O Seasons O Castles
Oh frabjous joy! The ultimate expression of Lene Lovich’s crucial Stiff Records career was announced late last week when I already had another post almost ready to post. Commenter Secretrivals emailed me the good news, but I used to be on the Cherry Red mailing list…wha ‘appened there? [memo to self: re-subscribe like, pronto]. In a nutshell the first three [actually four] Lene Lovich albums along with every possible rarity issued both abroad and in America for the period will be accounted for on the silver disc.
This includes such LL-fan catnip as the US promo-only “Global Assault” 10″ live EP. It was recorded half in London, half in Boston, but all of it is on the new boxed set that the tireless Cherry Red label is reissuing. To give us the fullest confidence that the results won’t be sonically mauled beyond recognition, the remastering is by Scott Davies of Rubellan Remasters, in one of his less-frequent outside jobs now that he’s started his own reissue niche label. So It will have plenty of dynamic range with only tasteful compression.
If you’ve been reading PPM for the last decade, you might know that this is not the first time that this period had been boxed up. We wrote about the FlexBox a full decade ago, but that was an in house effort by Lene Lovich central that was fraught with mishap. In 2013/4 Lene was licensing her masters to self-produce reissues that managed to hit purchaser’s mailboxes…randomly. And they also said they were issuing a double CD of both the original UK mix and the subsequent remixed version of her “Stateless” debut album. I ordered both of these directly from the Lovich webstore and received nothing for my £55 [plus shipping] tithing to the artist. Ouch.
Back then, the results were much more modest and compromised in that the “New Toy” single was conspicuous in its absence. No doubt due to the cost of licensing the Thomas Dolby written hit from Stiff. This time everything is accounted for. Even the UK promo interview LP has at least a few excerpts appearing in the track listing! Do you want all of the “It’s You Only You [Mein Schmerz]” remixes? They are here. All the “Blue Hotel” mixes? Yes! And every variation on the “New Toy” singles and the US EP thereof are all here; awaiting our eager ears.
While I do have the UK first pressing of “Stateless,” I haven’t had the chance to play it yet in the dozen years I’ve owned it! I’m very impressed that the twin versions of the album were afforded separate discs for them to reside on. The second one was partially re-recorded or remixed heavily following the chart breakthrough that “Lucky Number” gave Ms. Lovich, and while the masters for this version were lost to the mists of time, the careful vinyl restoration by Mr. Davies should be his usual peerless effort in that regard and I would expect nothing short of his usual perfectionism. The box is a pittance at £27.99 for the splendors held within! Pre-order at Cherry Red is live for a release date of November 24th, 2023. A day after the US Thanksgiving holiday, and I know what we will all be thankful for! DJ hit that button!
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Post-Punk Monk 
I was extremely excited when I saw the news about this set. So excited in fact, that I went straight to the tracks and skipped over the details, most importantly that Scott Davies of Rubellan Remasters was doing the remastering!! The joy then went through the roof when I saw Monk’s note about the Rubellan master remasterer being involved! My hopes are going to be too high I’m sure, but I’m thrilled at the prospect of “Stateless” gaining some crispness with sounds popping out, giving it a more modern feel, without it being changed. I also envision “Flex” soaring through the speakers. Thanks for illuminating the details Monk!
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sercretivals – I’m glad I was able to reciprocate a little!
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We already have had a sneak peek of Scott’s work, some tracks from his remastering were posted on YouTube, currently removed I think. Considering YouTube’s compression, even with the OPUS format, the result was sounding stunning. I remember following the story with the Flex box set over some forums, I don’t mind an artist selling such an item as a souvenir, however, this box set is a real deal. There is very few things that are missing, like a bit different third version of Say When, before the release of the complete remix, but this is no criticism, and these “omitted” tracks are not that essential. I already have the Stiff Years 3CD box set, March, Shadows And Dust and the recent CDr of Live in Frankfurt. Even though I am not into buying box sets, especially when I already have the CDs, this one here is different, 1. it’s Lene, 2. I am a fan of Scott’s work, and his remaster of Danielle Dax – Dark Adapted Eye, just rocks. I can’t wait to listen to the original Stateless mix in better quality, I have a decent vinyl rip, but still. There are tracks I was so happy to see here, like the original version of Monkey Talk, and the never released original version of “Details”. One thing that has always annoyed me was the omission of the first second of Special Star (New Toy version) on my CD. I really hope the first seconds of SS have been added.
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Hishten Hien – Recent CD-R of “Live In Frankfurt??” How did I miss that one? Easy…I live in a cave. I will be trading up from the fulsome but imperfect [and discontinuous] Great Expectations “Stiff Years” Vols. 1 and 2. I also have the US Rhino “Flex” for the “New Toy” EP material. Plus… it’s “Flex!” My favorite Lene Lovich album.
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I live in a cave as well so I can relate. Not on any social media.
The Live in Frankfurt CD-R was released in 2022, right before she began touring with Toyah at the Electric Ladies gigs and was also sold during the tour AFAIK. I remember the shipping costs were quite big, so I wrote to Lene’s team about it, shipping price was changed, and I also got a free autograph on the inner side of the paper sleeve. The printing quality of the front side is a low quality image of Lene, the sound quality is not the best, but it’s decent. I actually quite like this tiny, not-overpriced item from the band. Obviously a DIY CD but done absolutely nice.
Over the years, as you know, quite a few items appeared online on Lene’s site, in a very limited edition, and disappear quickly. It’s not just Lene, but a lot of artists rely on inexperienced hired hand to sell their merch. I remember when Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama/Shakespears Sister) started releasing music online, there were a lot of people complaining of low quality recordings, never-arrived CD-Rs, etc. Similarly to Lene, she trusted a guy called Anthony who did a bit of a mess.
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Hishten Hien – A familiar tale. I wasn’t aware of the Fahey drama, though I was a Shakespear’s Sister collector… buying every one of those double CD singles.
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By the way, Monk, my whole life I have been thinking that Lene Lovich is very iconic, yet nowhere mentioned. I think that her “rag doll” style was partially an influence of bands such as Strawberry Switchblade (their style is their own but the looks are similar). When I first heard the Shakespears Sister records, I was asking myself whether Lene is involved, but it was actually Marcy Levy, another voice, born in Detroit. The song “Heaven Is In Your Eyes” by Shakespears Sister musically reminded me particularly of Lene. In fact, those are just some vague examples, but I see Lene bits and pieces almost everywhere. Where is her iconic status? Kate Bush has it, she is fabulous, but so is Lene.
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Hishten Hein – Lene Lovich was the first Pop singer I’d heard who was influenced by Yma Sumac, whom I didn’t hear until decades after first hearing Lene Lovich. But let’s put it this way: “Bird Song” could not exist without the groundwork that Yma laid vocally the year after Lene was born. I can imagine a young Lene being exposed to the still vibrant Exotica of Yma, who was quite notable in 1950s America, when she grew up. To me, even after 44 years of fandom, Lene Lovich is my most cherished female artist. Kate Bush came and went. I used to have it all. Now I have nothing. She’s dust now to me, but Lene is my ideal of an exciting female artist. Danielle Dax also has that X-Factor that Lene has in spades. Kate Bush at her fearless best [“Get Out Of My House”] also hits the marks for me, but she hasn’t in decades. Hence my current antipathy. Meanwhile, on her last album after decades of recording and performance, We still had the wonder of “The Wicked Witch” to astonish our ears.
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I have nothing to say but to agree with you. I am a fan of Kate Bush, but nevertheless, artists like Lene or Dax are my top female alt pop artists. Danielle released a single last year called “Invictus Arduis” in a very limited edition of 100 Lathe cut vinyls. I got it quite accidentally, and I didn’t have a turntable back then, ordered one on the spot. A nice treat, although I was quite sad for the tons of fans who missed the release, it was only two minutes in which you could actually buy it.
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Hishten Hien – Danielle Dax released a new song? On a lathe cut record? That makes me sad. I embrace Pop Music as a populist affordable art form. I consider that it’s strength. Lathe cut records are costly and inferior products which are for an exclusive elite audience and antithetical to the whole idea of popular music for me.
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The single was sold by a label called Heaven’s Lathe and did actually a great job. The purchase came with a free digital download and the item itself was absolutely not overpriced. It contains a rework of Whistling Fir His Love and a “mashup” (as they call it these days) of the songs “Born To Be Bad” (the only track uniquely appearing on “Inky Bloaters”) and “Cutting The Last Sheaf”, the last track from”Pop Eyes”. The sound quality of the vinyl record… well… it didn’t sound that great but I owe this to my cheap equipment, I don’t think the item itself is low quality in any way.
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Hishten Hien – Lathe cuts have a very limited lifespan. Try to play it < 10 times.
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YAAAASSSSSS
(now somebody make a “March” SDE CD por favor)
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Was lucky enough to see Lene in a small venue in Bristol last night and was so glad I did. She was fantastic, voice intact and charisma in full effect. Massively impressive!
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