For his next trick, Hunter reached back into his bag of tricks, but shook up the paradigm at the same time. I always thought that the whole idea the Guy Stevens had for Mott The Hoople was to wed Dylan’s lyricism with the Rock punch of The Rolling Stones; the two biggest musical forces in the sixties apart from…you know. I thought that Ian Hunter had the talent to span that range; investing cheap thrills with something deeper once you looked past the obvious. And vice versa. Plus, as a Late Blooming Rocker® [see also: Messrs. Ferry, Foxx] he brought a more seasoned and mature point of view to the lyrics beyond the scope of typical greenhorn youth. With “Rain” he seemed to be juxtaposing richly developed characters into a shimmering soul music milieu; delivered with his best arid, Dylanesque, sprechgesang vocal.
There was Biddy and Glover and Facer and Taylor and Barry yeah, Barry I remember what he said about that town He said “I went to London once, came back… Wiped the tears from my eyes, looked out the window, couldn’t make it And it was still pouring down More of that rain, rain, rain
“Rain”
The heartbreaking portraits of losers, the narrator included, were anointed with delicate glissandos drifting down as the rondo of the song was touched by heavenly backing vocals. The balm of the music bestowing grace upon the broken subjects of the lyric. Hunter sagely played against the meter of the song with his delivery. Imbuing the delivery of “I went to London once…came back…” with every ounce of empathy and pathos that he could muster. It’s an emotional gut punch every time I hear it. With the benediction of Ronson’s gently picked guitar entering the song’s coda to create the final healing raindrops. Mixmaster David Tickle’s sensitive work here [elsewhere he was one of the album’s engineers] came as no surprise to those who had been following his career for the last two years.
Then the album served up another volte face with the down + dirty rocker “Gun Control;” perhaps the second track here that can be attributed to John Lennon’s murder, though Hunter aimed the sharp lyrics at the incipient “2nd Amendment” commandos spilling out of America’s hinterlands. The backing band here was a castabout power trio of players [Mick Barakan, John Holbrook, Wells Kelly] with no clearcut ties to Hunter but even so, they managed to switch the vibe from straightforward Rock on the powerful chorus to Rocksteady on the alternating verses, to give a leftfield slant to the most [potentially] conservative track vibe on what was an eclectic album. Admirable, and even without Mick Jones directly involved with the track his presence was felt here.
Jones’ influence returned with a vengeance on the next track. “Theatre Of The Absurd” was a Dub infused Reggae track that could have been on side 5 of “Sandininsta!” It sure seemed to be inspired by the Brixton riots that happened five months before the release of the album in August. With the track giving the album a bit of “ripped from the headlines” quality. The heavy percussion from Topper Headon and the dubbed out synth injections swooping into the song gave it an eerie alien vibe for this album. I love how the backing track dropped out in the extended coda with the vocals taking it home.
Next, an old dog learned new tricks on “Leave Me Alone.” It’s worth remembering that on his last album, 1980’s “Welcome To The Club,” he included a new song, “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.” Which was a cut with a distinct anti-Disco sentiment. Here he was joining the dancefloor commandos with this slight, if unique song in the Hunter canon. With a cheerful dancefloor vibe, rife with smooth as silk glissandos as Hunter trotted out his heretofore unheard baritone crooning [watch out, Iggy!] before returning to his natural register for the chorus. The lyrical intent of the track was hardly typical song fodder as Hunter admonished a woman to stop trying to flirt with him in the club. Knowing that the woman in question was unserious about anything.
Then the album proper ended with yet another stylistic side track as “Keep On Burning” gave us slow tempos and burning Hammond organ riffs lending this one a Gospel air as Hunter and the backing vocalists played their part in fanning the flames of that vibe for nearly four minutes before ticking over into furious gospel triple time as the song’s coda let the album go out with a bang.
LONG ODDS N’OUTTAKES
Disc two offered an equal mixture of alternate takes and mixes with material that didn’t make the cut on the 1981 album. They reveal that we didn’t know the half of how eclectic this album could have been! The potential could have easily left even the most outré peripheries of “Short Back n’Sides” very much int he shade. As we learned immediately with the chaotic proto-Industrial noise “Detroit [Rough Mix – instrumental]. It opened with nearly 45 seconds of clattering sheet metal noise and sirens ramping up the level of anxiety in the atonal intro before the tone shifted dramatically away from early Die Krupps [who had just emerged from Düsseldorf the previous year] to a more straightforward, even bouncy pop/Rock tune what still managed to re-incorporate noise effects in its still mechanical rhythm section. Though the middle eight was elegant 60s Baroque Pop injected into what was a raging hybrid of a song that surely would have strained the credulity of Ian’s fanbase back then.
Ian Hunter: Short Back n’ Sides – CR – 2xCD [2024]
Disc 1 [Short Back n’ Sides]
Central Park n’ West
Lisa Likes Rock n’ Roll
I Need Your Love
Old Records Never Die
Noises
Rain
Gun Control
Theatre Of The Absurd
Leave Me Alone
Keep On Burnin’
Disc 2 [Long Odds n’ Outtakes]
Detroit [rough mix – instrumental]
Na Na Na [extended mix]
I Need Your Love [rough mix]
Rain [alternative mix]
Listen To The Eight track
China [Ronson vocal]
You Stepped Into My Dreams
Venus In The Bathtub
Theatre Of The Absurd [Wessex mix]
Detroit [outtake 5 – vocal]
I Believe In You
Old Records Never Die [version 1]
Ian sure looked like a spiv on the Lynn Goldsmith cover shot, which seemed to prep the listener for some retro Rock n’ Roll which was here, sort of, but not in any large amounts. Hunter always had a thread back to the music of his teenage years if one bothered to look past the packaging. But the operative word for this album was eclectic. It would venture down many stylistic corridors that Hunter never subsequently visited again. Perhaps a logical function of having Mick Jones of The Clash co-producing after the point where that band had left the Punk Rock chrysalis far behind them to embrace the technicolor chaos of the previous year’s “Sandinista!”
Having feted the city of Cleveland on his prior album, this time the closer-to-home allure of New York City, warts and all, was the subject of “Central Park n’ West.” Topper Headon’s cheerful, clanky percussion marked this as being slightly askew from the start; as if the garish Syndrum hook throughout the song didn’t make readily apparent. This was not the sound of slickness. Even with Mick Ronson’s gregarious and friendly guitar leads adding even more warmth to the number. There’s almost a touch of zydeco lobbed into the mix with the terse touches of accordion wheezing gently throughout the song. It’s a fun, if slightly disarming, opener that set a friendly tone for the listener. It already sounded quite different to the vibe of “You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic” which preceded it, but just how different would be soon apparent.
While the Netherlands [always a hotbed of Hunter fandom!] as well as the US and Spain picked “Central Park n’ West” as a single, the UK tipped “Lisa Likes Rock n’ Roll” as the lead single. With Spain sagely choosing both tracks for single release. It began abruptly, with what sounded like a simple beat being maintained on a metal water main pipe with the reverb jacked all the way up. Then the acoustic guitars began chugging away; creating a vibe that sounded like Bo Diddley in dub as the maracas framed the minimal riffs.
Ian sang the first verse of the cheerful paean to Mick Ronson’s then four year old daughter, Lisa. Eentually the whole band joined on on the second verse. Tymon Dogg was only credited for violin on the album, but I’d swear that it was him alone on the dubbed out expression vocals at the subsequent middle eight as anyone who knew and loved “Lose This Skin” could ID the man’s voice at 200 yards. Through it all Ian kept things simple, as befitted a song inspired by a four year old girl. Only blurring the primary colors of the song with the slightly dissonant minor chords in the song’s climax.
The second American single made a lot of sense. “I Need Your Love” was a big, brassy Motownish number as recorded and mixed by Hunter’s pal Todd Rundgren, with whom he had toured in the US the previous year, fund-raising for Independent Presidential candidate John Anderson. Following the more left-field tracks that opened the album, it felt like it had been flown in from a completely different record, with Ian’s baritone crooning for the first verse before eventually leaping up to his normal register. Gary Windo contributed a really MOR sax solo that was ripped screaming from the late 70s which was maybe the one sonic aspect of this album that didn’t sit well with me. Strangely enough,, one of the most distinct features of this song were the prominent backing vocals from co-producer Jones. He’s really prominent singing counterpoint to Hunter’s leads. But I could see the commercial value of having Windo on this song. If this song didn’t make hit status, nothing would.
What would an Ian Hunter album be without a heart-rending balled? He’s got an enviable record with the form. “Old Records Never Die” slotted into the harbor where an “Irene Wilde” or “Ships” had docked of late. The song was surely inspired by the killing of John Lennon the months prior and painted a poignant picture of how another artist could process that trauma. The peals of seagull guitar from Ronson gave this song a plaintive elegance that deftly avoided any bathos.
Next came the most radical shift the album would lob at its listeners. “Noises” was the last thing anyone would have expected from Ian Hunter. It began with jolting, gated pulse bursts of a power chord played on several instruments at once echoing in dub as Ian recited Beat poetry in a space several rooms away. Power drills whirred in the distance and then at the 45 second mark the track suddenly coalesced into a synth-funk whomper driven by piano and Bernie Worrellesque synth bass.
Meanwhile Mr. Hunter speed rapped stream of consciousness lyrics sounding rather Cockney, and really, the whole enterprise by the time it was cooking [and it did cook], resembled nothing so much as the work of another Ian…Mr. Dury and his Blockheads. Not a complete shock considering the proximity of Jones to the Blockheads at the time, but was it an Ian Hunter record? Not exactly at a time when Ian Hunter songs never ever featured another 90 seconds of clattery Dub coda appended to them after their fadeout for nearly six minutes of dancedubfunk attack.
Ian Hunter in the studio with the Two Micks: Jones and Ronson
I was mildly conversant with Mott The Hoople as a kid by the late 70s. Everyone and their pet ferret knew and loved “All The Young Dudes,” their career resuscitating, Bowie-penned hit from 1972 that brought the band from the brink of collapse to give them a successful second wind. But it was 1979’s “You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic” that was my call to arms to become a dyed-in-the-wool Ian Hunter fan. By then I was 16 and and while almost fully in the pull of New Wave, one could not fault Ian Hunter one iota for being twice the age of most of the musicians I was listening to at that time. He and his cohort Mick Ronson brought impeccable songwriting and taste to their game so that he managed to easily surmount the Classic Rock tarpits that sucked down most of his peers in the late 70s.
I treasure the Chrysalis Records era of Hunter to the max. “Schizophrenic” was followed in 1980 by “Welcome To The Club;” a 3-sides live album that to this day is probably my top ranked live album for sheer breadth of vibe and excitement. I loved how the lady recorded in the audience lost her composure when he started into “Irene Wilde;” his myth of creation ballad that was a killer deep cut on his second solo album. I would have too. Nevertheless, as awesome as Ian Hunter was, to me he represented the acme of the Rock mainstream. Not really diving into the New Wave and Post-Punk waters I was mostly swimming in. Not that I cared, but that all changed in 1981. His final album for Chrysalis was something very different, since it was produced not by Ian and Mick Ronson but by Ronson and another Mick. Mick Jones of The Clash.
Jones had grown up as a Mott The Hoople fan in the 70s and had followed the band as fans do. Going to multiple tour dates in different cities to see his heroes. While Mott The Hoople were not musically proto-Punk, when viewed socially, they stood apart from their 70s Rock Star peers for being open and available to their fans. Deconstructing the walls that had been built up between Rock musicians and their audience in ways that absolutely anticipated the values of Punk to come. Much of it courtesy of The Clash who carried on in the same manner as Mick had learned from Mott on how to avoid the ivory towers that are unhealthy for both musicians and fans.
As The Clash had recorded the sprawling magnificence of their “Sandinista!” album just prior, it was tempting to think view “Short Back ‘n Sides” as an unofficial sequel of sorts back in the day. That’s a pretty fair assessment even as there were some Hunter fans who found the album a divisive bridge too far for their Ian. I felt that there was a lot to appeal here to fans of both Hunter and The Clash, as we’ll see the album also featured several of Jones’ Clash cohorts like Topper Headon, Ellen Foley, and even Tymon Dogg; all fresh from their “Sandinista!” turns to muddy the waters delightfully. Though Ellen Foley, it must be said was no new recruit since she shared management with Hunter/Ronson who had producer her [excellent] debut album at the same time that she had been singing on “Schizophrenic.” With the expanded CD of “Short Back n’Sides” back in print last year, let’s take a closer look at this eclectic lost classic.
Well, not only are ace New Wave band The Vapors signed up to tour with the Lost 80s Live festival in America next year, but they apparently had crowdsourced a fourth album last summer while I was completely oblivious??! I thought that my Monk-Sense™ would have undoubtedly started tingling under such circumstances! Or my social circle would have offered up the factoid in our chats. So if you wanted to pony up to get the album recorded and duplicated for release, the chance is gone. I’m chagrined that I was not telling anyone who visited this as of last July [the crowdfunder ran for two months from August through September].
I wouldn’t have minded getting the £20.oo album thanks you credit but that ship has sailed. The band were aiming for a £14K budget but healthy response that saw each one of their buy-in levels bought into [sometimes those uppermo$t tiers go unloved – not everyone has £1K laying around even to support their favorite band] to ultimately take the budget from $14K to a little over £18K. Leaving a fair amount for promotional purposes.
The band were touring America last summer and ended their tour by stopping in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania where Michael [The Split Squad] Giblin recorded and produced the disc. He’s a new name to me but his last credit was for the new Fleshtones album, so he’s obviously good people! Mastering is by Greg Reierson and now we can see what the contents will be.
Red Chuck Records | US | LP | 2025
The Vapors: Wasp In A Jar – US – CD [2025]
Hit The Ground Running
The Human Race
Forever & Ever
Miss You Girl
Decompression
Carry On
Nonstop Radio
Nothing Can Stop Us Now
The Words
Look Away Now
Idiot Creature
It Gets Better
Proud
Together Again
Yow! We can tell that The Vapors have a distinct penchant for black and yellow artwork. One hopes that they used a WASP synth on the album as well! And the running order features an abundant set of 14 songs. Hopefully these are all 2-3 minutes long and we can have a fast moving album that avoids “Cure Album Syndrome.” Somehow, I don’t think the band are preparing a 63 minute opus.
Presales are open and the group are selling through Music Glue worldwide with North American fans getting local sales [and shipping] thorough Giblin’s label, Red Chuck Records on Bandcamp. So yay for low shipping costs. The album is in the three formats, priced to move. No VIP packages here – that was all in the crowdfunder. UK fans can get DL for £7.99, CD for £11.99, and LP [black wax, of course!] for £25.99. US/Canadian fans will pay $12 for DL, $15 for CD and $30 for LP. And then after release the band is touring the UK and America. Some headline date in the UK followed by opening for Big Country. In The States we also get both acts on the Lost 80s Live tour.
THE VAPORS: 2025 TOUR DATES
UK
7 Mar | The Albert, Brighton 8 Mar | Thunderbolt, Bristol 14 Mar | 33 Oldham Street, Manchester 15 Mar | Record Junkee, Sheffield 23 Mar | Hope & Anchor, London 29-30 Mar | Scarborough Punk Festival, Scarborough 17 Apr | Junction, Cambridge w/ Big Country 18 Apr | Assembly, Leamington Spa w/ Big Country 19 Apr | 1865, Southampton w/ Big Country 25 Apr | Roadmender, Northampton w/ Big Country 26 Apr | Chalk, Brighton w/ Big Country 2 May | Patti Pavilion, Swansea w/ Big Country 3 May | Crossing, Birmingham w/ Big Country 4 May | Trinity Arts Centre, Bristol w/ Big Country
USA
31 Jul | Lost 80s Live – Westville Music Bowl | New Haven, CT 1 Aug | Lost 80s Live – Boch Centre Wang Theatre | Boston, MA 2 Aug | Lost 80s Live – Rooftop at Pier 17 | New York, NY 3 Aug | Lost 80s Live – Koka Booth Amphitheater | Cary, NC 14 Aug | Lost 80s Live – Saenger Theatre | New Orleans, LA 15 Aug | Lost 80s Live – Smart Financial Centre | Sugar Land, TX 16 Aug | Lost 80s Live – The Espee | San Antonio, TX 17 Aug | Lost 80s Live – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory | Irving, TX 20 Aug | Lost 80s Live – The Arizona Financial Theater | Phoenix, AZ 21 Aug | Lost 80s Live – Cal Cost Credit Union Ampitheater | San Diego, CA 24 Aug | Lost 80s Live – Greek Theatre | Los Angeles, CA 29 Aug | Lost 80s Live – Vina Robles Ampitheatre | Paso Robles, CA
The UK tour starts right after the album comes out, so fans there should get ahead of the curve on the pre-order. In America I can wait a little longer, but why should I? The last Vapors album was a corker and melted the decades away as if by magic. If you’ve ever like The Vapors, I’m not expecting them to put out a duff album this late into the game so DJs hit those buttons!
The amount of singles that appear on our beloved CD format in 2024 are easily countable on the fingers of one careless wood shop teacher’s hand! So when one of this Monk’s crucial core collection bands still active manage to issue a single on the silver disc, we’re obviously going to jump that train and ride it to the end of the line. OMD had stated up front that there would be three singles from their last album, “Bauhaus Staircase.” So with this one out late November, the drama is all played out. Let’s find out to what end.
100% Records | UK | CD-5 | 2024 | 100CD 154,
OMD: Look At You Now – UK – CD-5 [2024]
Look At You Now 3:20
Tomorrow Is Today 3:33
Look At You Now (Andy’s Amarone Afternoon Extended Mix) 5:32
Look At You Now (Walt Disco Remix)4:51
Look At You Now (Live In Edinburgh) 3:23
Look At You Now (Instrumental) 3:20
I’ve gone on the record that the putative A-side was not one of the finer moments of Modern OMD. And the fact that personally, I’d be hard-pressed to find three worthy singles on the album said it all. Still, “Aphrodite’s Favourite Child” would have been preferred over this track, which sounded like one of the better chapters of the solo-Andy-in-the-90s’s bits of the OMD canon.
I can’t say that about the excellent B-side, “Tomorrow Is Today!” It was the best song from this period since “Kleptocracy.” With a modern, clean production that nonetheless called back to classic OMD with the sampled string sounds with choral patches and the telltale actual bass guitar from Andy McCluskey! I’ve long stated that the best OMD songs are the ones he bothers to actually play bass guitar on. It’s a blatant give away, as echoed by his excellent vocal performance on this song as well. It actually has a thread of passion and commitment lacking in much of the last album. Making this another of OMD’s classic B-sides.
The remix of the A-side by Andy himself, is another one of his sturdy attempts, that are usually the best in the room. And the embellishment of the slightly soppy song manage to make the 12″ have a bit more staying power, with the delicate buildup adding chocolate box filigrees of countermelody that managed to stick with me more than the perfunctory in comparison original album mix. Though I would have maybe re-sung the track for the remix. Andy’s breathy, overproduced vocal is still an Achilles heel to this track.
The vibe differed greatly on the Walt Disco remix of the track. As if the syncopated, funky bass, hi-hats and handclaps didn’t make it readily apparent. The new countermelody here was appreciated as it made the track less cloying. Too bad Andy’s vocal had even more effects troweled on with a heavy hand. What’s up with producers these days? Do they hate the human voice? I liked the new middle eight inserted in this mix; anything to liven up this nearly dead-on-arrival song! Making the Walt Disco remix of this one almost great.
The live track recorded at the encore to the band’s March 6, 2024 Edinburgh appearance was fairly perfunctory. Adding only a better vocal by Andy to the song’s credit. I find it surprising that this was the song they chose to begun their encore as its fondant icing vibe is far too empty in calories for a band like OMD. And finally, to add one more track and value for money to the CD single format for this release, they added the instrumental version. So we don’t have Andy’s goopy vocal to complain about. Leaving a laser-like focus this time purely on the treacly sheen of the cavity-inducing music bed. Showing that Paul had added his own burden to this song as well. Hear the full CD below.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
I mention again that OMD have mooted “Bauhaus Staircase” as possibly their final album. With this potentially as the final single from their reputed final album. Inasmuch as I had hoped that this was the case when reviewing the album in 2023, after this largely uninspired single, I am hoping that OMD don’t close the book on this relatively flat note. The fans deserve better than this for OMD to go cruising into the sunset with. We’ll adopt a wait-and-see-posture on the band’s future.
I can’t say why 2024 was suddenly a hotbed of Visage release activity. I’m simply glad that it happened! The 10th anniversary of Steve Strange’s death isn’t until Februrary 12th of 2025; still six weeks out. But October/November of 2024 has seen a new live album from the 2013 tour and the 2014 Synthosymphonic show on the silver disc. At the time of those album being announced, we also heard rumors of the lead off single that was planned for the “Demons To Diamonds” album prior to Steve’s death finally getting a release. But facts were hiding in the shadows and life being what it is, I moved on. Happy that I ordered the two CDs so the third leg of the 2024 Visage tripod passed me by. Until Sunday night when chatting with my friend Todd, who casually asked me if I’d heard the new “Before You Win” EP from Visage. He salted my wounds [in the nicest way possible] by calling it “over the top amazing.”
Within seconds I had bought and was downloading that digital EP onto my personal device and was passing the happy news on to my other friends. Who followed suit! The EP featured the “John Bryan Widescreen Version” of the A-side as well as other B-sides, and mixes. Having heard the “Never Enough” [John Bryan Widescreen Version]” back in 2013, I completely understood the nature of “over the top amazing” and Visage remixes. “Never Enough” is my top remix of the 2010-2019 decade. How would the latest salvo from team Visage shape up?
Steve Strange Collective | UK | DL | 2024
Visage: Before You Win EP – UK – DL [2024]
Before You Win (John Bryan Widescreen Version) 8:34
Before You Win (John Bryan Widescreen Instrumental) 8:34
The New Age Of Electronic Music 2:12
The New Age Of Electronic Music (Instrumental) 2:12
Before You Win (Paragon Cause Remix) 4:03
On the last John Bryan Widescreen Version for Visage, the secret weapon was sheer orchestral power united with the band’s usual fiery dance rock. This was something else entirely. It began with a cavernous, tribal drum pattern new to the song. Truth be told, it bore a resemblance to the big beat in Toto Coelo’s “I Eat Cannibals!” Just placed into a much better song. Then Robin Simon’s phased guitar lick gave us a hint of familiarity in the all-new, all-exciting intro buildup. Steve Barnacle’s bass line also got the spotlight in this taut extended intro, with drum fills crashing around the guitars as the rhythm guitar riff rose in the mix like a cobra.
The synths didn’t begin to creep into the mix until after the one minute mark. You want widescreen? You’ve got it! It was nearly 90 seconds in before the familiarity of the song began to coalesce into the more familiar melody of “Before You Win.” And then came the subtle orchestral enhancement this round with strings buttressing the melody. Then, after a synth howl, there was a drop where the hi-hat and Barnacle’s bass got a spotlight dance for a few bars as Steve Strange began singing the song over the now minimal music bed as a drum fill pulled the synths finally into the mix as the song was now in full flower as the various musical threads converged.
Then at the 5:30 point we got served a completely new third movement of the track as a rushing synthesizer wind heralded a Moroderesque Europulse reverberating in a hall of sonic mirrors. With strings! Then came unexpected soundbites of Strange breaking down about what the implications of Visage name ultimately stood for. Then the sequencers dropped out, leaving the strings to carry the song’s climax. And then we were swept back into the familiar coda of the song. At the point that Strange sang the title the final time, then we had echoes of the syncopated intro with the rhythm guitar and that tribal drum pattern receding into the horizon.
The conceit of the mix was sufficient for the instrumental version to immediately follow to no complaints from this quarter. Next came the non-LP-B-side, “The New Age Of Electronic Music.” As it turned out, this was an extraction of the third movement to the A-side of the single! I suppose 10 years after Steve Strange had died, that this was as much as one could hope for in a B-side.
Shorn of the coda that followed on the long mix it was a tad abrupt as a stand alone piece, but when I listen to it I now am now imagining a widescreen version of this excerpt carried into a brand new single. Stranger things have happened. Since the Steve Strange sound bits were the entirety of the vocal, the instrumental version is overkill, unless bedroom remixers out there were straining at the bit to do exactly what I just suggested.
Finally, we ended up with the Paragon Cause Remix of “Before You Win.” I’d not previously heard of the Canadian electronic duo but I’m paying attention now! The brief 4:03 mix was altogether rockier and more urgent than any other mixes of “Before You Win” with pulsating square wave synths and serrated guitar riffs impressively holding court. I was loving this mix with its fearlessly treading into riff rocker territory. This was Dance Rock with the emphasis on the Rock.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
So what we had here was another gift that no-one expected from Team Visage. I’m guessing that the mixes are new since the song was reportedly finished after Steve’s death and the notion of releasing any singles was tabled up front all those years ago. How lucky we are that the Steve Strange Collective has seen fit to manifest the notion ten years later. Sure, I was hoping for yet one more Visage CD single, but the DL is still appreciated. It was a modest $2.99 in iTunes and worth way more. Once more John Bryan has staked a claim on the remix of the decade award. There’s five more years left for someone to try to better him if they want to win the Monastic loving cup!
I’ve been a huge Visage fan for 43 years now and as usual, the final flowering of the band still astounds me with its vitality. The canon of 21st century Visage releases are second to none in my eyes. All of the hands on deck gave fantastic efforts to the cause and have contributed to what’s a high-water mark for contemporary music managing to call back to the traditional values at their roots and honor them with growth and maturity.
Total titles purchased: 185 [↑78% 2023] Total expenditures: $1201.55 [↑87% 2023] Average cost: $6.25/title [↑3.6% 2023]
CD: 87
Downloads: 59
Vinyl: 32
– LP: 9
– 12″: 14
– 7″: 9
Blu-Ray 5.1: 1
DVD:4 [1x 5.1 DVD-A, 1x bonus DVD bundled in packages]
I spent a lot of money on music this year. More than I have in a while and more than I care to. But the trip to the UK/Europe was only a surprisingly small outlay of cash for music. That wasn’t the culprit as half of what I got there were “dollar discs.” This was down to almost everything I bought being full price and new instead of used. And there were lots of buy-it-now-or-else-not-ever releases that were full price items that I either bought in pre-order [with costly shipping from the UK] or would have to resign myself to never having at all. For the record, we do not add shipping costs to the spending totals! if I did I would get depressed very quickly!
Another factor is that ultraboxes don’t come cheaply. Over 10% of my spending was down to the full Ultravox “Lament” campaign across eleven discs and four release formats to get it all. But it was worth it as Steven Wilson had really kicked up the scattershot album a notch or two in my esteem!
THE RISE OF DOWNLOADS
After 15 years of writing this blog, there has been a subtle sea change in how much contemporary music I absorb. At any time in the past year-end roundups of this blog, I would have widened my eyes in shock at the notion of hearing as many as 22 contemporary albums as are listed below. A caveat: some of these have not been played. The OMD album was purchased six weeks ago but it’s a record. Playing records is always on the losing end of the free time equation.
12″ singles and 7″ singles are at typically low numbers. They are scarce in stores these days. But downloads are now seriously gaining on the CD count! This is down to most of the promo items coming across my transom being DL format, naturally. But also the vibrancy of the Bandcamp market! I am continually impressed with how people releasing music they’ve made on their own through Bandcamp basically aces what I hear from the “majors” these days. I’ve said it elsewhere that if all I could hear were Bandcamp releases, I would have no complaints. Finally, if I want to hear a single there is virtually no physical format. It’s a DL or nothing, and I’m happy with that! It could be worse. it could be a streaming-only scenario!
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
And I have thrown out the rule book this year and named two albums as my 2024 album[s] of the year. I knew right off the bat when these two titles entered my world in early 2024, that they were the ones to beat in the long haul to my year-end list in the top position. As I’ve played each of them countless times this year, I cannot in good conscience pick a favorite from these two. Chopper Franklin was occupying two slots in the top ten; one more with his primary gig, The Heathen Apostles. They were new to my ears but have been around for a while and are doing it right.
Italy and Hungary have contributed greatly to my enjoyment of contemporary Post-Punk music this year with both Les Longs Adieux and Ductape. Like Yama Uba and Chopper Franklin, they went on my personal device and have stayed on all year throughout many plays. We just got the 2024 John Cale album recently but I still need to review it as the elder statesman of Art Rock is still doing his usual sterling job. I also haven’t managed to review the excellent new Blow Monkeys disc, but that needs to be an amendment to the Blow Monkeys Rock G.P.A.
We did review the first new Pet Shop Boys album in decades and I’m happy to see that the duo still have what it takes to make this Monk happy. And last year’s top ranked Metamorph managed two placings in the top 20 this year. I am once more shamed that I had not reviewed the borderline compulsive listening of the “Tecton” album! What you must think of me!
I had planned for an early October review of the new A Certain Ratio opus but Hurricane Helene’s Great Reset, put the brakes on all blogging for a few weeks. Messing with my head and free time for about a month. And the Al Stewart title is owing to a very late in the game investigation of the Scot songsmith. I enjoyed the 70s radio hits I heard on the wireless but never looked further.
Finally, Greg Lisher of Camper Van Beethoven made surprising inroads into the Post-Punk instro style with his “Underwater Detection Method” which was also planned for an early October review before … you know. Resulting in it falling through the cracks. And The Office Of Personal Development came highly recommended by Martyn Ware of Heaven 17/B.E.F. but a cursory listen failed utterly to stick with me; hence its final placement. I should give it another “spin” as it seems to have the right postmodern slant on things.
Office For Personal Development: Doing. Is. Thinking.
NOT HEARD YET
Savage Republic: Live in Wrocław January 7, 2023
Andrios Costas: My Memories
OMD: Bauhaus Staircase Instrumentals
SINGLES OF THE YEAR
The singles of the year were mostly downloads, with only OMD really working that physical unit action. Their last three singles had CD/12″/7″ versions for many times more that the cost of everything I bought as downloads…and I tip big on Bandcamp! A CD single is therefore worth a dozen downloads, with a 7″ maybe 15 and a 12″at least 25! Just saying!
And OMD had two singles on the list this year. “Kleptocracy” was the clear single of the year! It nailed the zeitgeist, bloody, to the wall and was the clear winner also from their surprisingly lackluster “Bauhaus Staircase” album of last year. Fluid Japan got bumped to number two this year with the compulsive “Don’t Dry Your Eyes” which has been mental flypaper to me this year, and they had two more singles tied for number six with both mixes of “When Your Heart Is A Suicide. I can’t pick a favorite!
Autumn were a new band to me this year but “Catacombs” had plenty of the right stuff we yearn for here at PPM. Jan Linton’s second Scott Walker cover had us yearning for a full EP of Mr. Engel’s tunes. Logan Sky had a very different side project with RIS-707 that was highly unique. And Jemaur [Shelleyan Orphan] Tayle and Boris [The Cure] Williams’ new project Vamberator burst from nowhere to command both our attention and two slots in the top ten singles of the year.
Once more Logan Sky with his usual cohort Steven Jones had a non-LP single that hit the spot. As did perennial PPM faves Simple Minds. A non-LP single also arrived from The Countess Of Fife [though it’s a bonus track on the 2nd pressing of her debut LP]. Elsewhere on the Scot front The Twistettes grabbed my lapels with their two-fisted guitar drums attack; heavy on the Scot brogue!
Last year newcomer to my ears René scored a bit hit with “The Siren [Aye Aye]” and this year his “Nothing New [Under The Sun]” hit the spot. He also re-recorded a single from last year that had passed me by [“Timeless”] in a much better version for these ears. Fluid Japan also squeaked into the list one more time with an atypical taster from their upcoming conceptual project with a track so subtle, when I first played it in my car, I couldn’t hear it. Headphones are suggested here! And finally, CVP issued a retro-Italo-Disco single that really did sound like 1987…I just wasn’t moved by it. Sometimes Italo-Disco can work for me. This was not one of those times.
The humble EP format was extremely healthy this year which makes me happy. There’s something to be said for more than a single but less than an album. The big EP news was the dramatic reappearance of Tim Benton in his guise of Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot. While he was here for several years in nooks and crannies that evaded my view under that name [since purchased], I fortunately noticed the “Raptor” EP and it hit like a ton of bricks. Getting heavy earplay with this Monk.
The Nits released a six track EP; their first since “Hats” in 1987?! The EP was all dealing with their traumatic loss of their studio, which burned down in 2023, and we made the great effort to order it before seeing them live the next month. Good thing too, as they performed the entire EP at the opening position in their live set we saw.
I just found out yesterday that along with the two CDs I got last month, Visage also issued the “single” that had been earmarked or release from the ultimately posthumous “Demons To Diamonds” album of 2015. “Before You Win” now was getting the widescreen treatment that rocked my world on the earlier modern Visage singles; this time on DL only, instead of CD-5, but I’ll take what I can get when it sounds this great!
Fluid Japan issued a fantastic Ryuichi Sakamoto cover EP; their first excursion into cover version territory and a successful one. Jones + Sky revisited an older track from their “Electric Eye” album enhanced with Jan Linton guitar this time out. And I wasn’t previously aware of Emily Kinski’s Dead, but I responded very positively to their modern take on a classic EBM sound.
Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot: The Raptor E.P.
Nits: Tree House Fire
Visage: Before You Win
Fluid Japan: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence EP
Chameleons: Tomorrow Remember Yesterday EP
Emily Kinski’s Dead: Dancing On The Battlefield EP
Steven Jones + Logan Sky: Voltage [2024v]
Fractured Wrist: Initial Sketches 1
Dove Blood: Delirious
REISSUES OF THE YEAR
Finally, since I’m the Post-Punk Monk, reissues occupy a big amount of head space with me. The Ultravox “Lament” campaign is possibly the biggest such effort and will certainly mark the jumping off point for me on any Ultravox SDLX boxes going forward. I can’t imagine dropping coin on expanded versions of albums I’m actually selling off in spite of decades of Ultravox collecting at this point.
But as transformative as the Steven Wilson mixes of “Lament” were [taking a 2.5/4 album up to 3.5/4 status] they were eclipsed by my fave rave reissue of the year from Nöel [and Sparks] with the DLX RM of “Is There More To Life Than Dancing?” The bonus tracks were even better than the very late to the game but still fantastic album tracks! And The Metamorph showed that one doesn’t need to be on a big label to show reissue care to their back catalog.
China Crisis took a page out of the Ultravox playbook by remixing old material with new performances of the music for a hybrid approach. And I was thrilled to see that someone besides myself appreciated ScotFunk outlier Jesse Rae to issue a new EP of classic, underheard material. I’d not followed David J’s solo career but a three disc collection of unreleased demos showed that I was wrong to do so. Finally, Jon Savage’s “Do You Have The Force? vol 2” disc was a head-scratching mix of material for what was touted as an Alternative History Of Electronica. The one great track here, “John Foxx’s “Burning Car,” was probably too obvious for such a collection, yet much else there was by turns too obscure, or off-topic for my take.
Finally, there are four titles I’ve not managed to hear yet! Three of them being on records and not yet played! I can’t believe that I’ve not managed to spin the Howard Devoto title in over half a year, and the amazing, actually stunning, DEVO package was a late arrival that’s taunting me with even more tracks than on the Rhino Handmade 2xCD of Y2K that I can’t afford. And the Ultravox Blu-Ray audio disc with Dolby Atmos® mix of “Lament” that differs from the5.1 DVD-A in the “Lament” box, [both by Steven Wilson] is another thing I have to play at one location only in my home. Which could take years.
Various: Jon Savage’s Do You Have The Force Vol. 2 [Alternative History of Electronica]
NOT HEARD YET
DEVO: RecomboDNA DLM RM
Buzzkunst/Howard Devoto: Special Sauce/Designoid
Various: Postcards Vol. 3 D.I.Y. And Indie Post-Punk From England 1979-1981
Ultravox: Lament [Steven Wilson Dolby Atmos®] Blu-Ray
Yachts: Missing In Action [The Lost Tapes 1980/1981]
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
As in many past years, I would like to spend about 40% of what I actually did. That I coughed up so much was down to bands continually releasing much heavy monk-bait. And in today’s market you buy it right now at the asking price or you can never afford it. I don’t like twitch capitalism but here we are.
The preponderence of actual records are still a disturbing trend to me. I have less time than ever to actually play records in the way that I do. My entire life, I’ve played my records as few times as possible. In the late 70s you recorded them to quality cassette tape. Things are more complicated now that we have computers!
MONASTIC RECORD DIGITIZING PROCESS
clean the disc with a Discwasher
set levels in my 2-track editor
digitize the record, getting a clean recording [how ever many times it takes] from each side.
open file and process click/noise removal
edit side-long files down into discrete single tracks
tag files with track/album data and images
if not making a CD, load tracks onto personal device for listening in car
If making a CD – scan/retouch/design cover art
If making a CD – write liner notes and design booklet
If making a CD – design CD label art
If making a CD – burn and print label art onto disc
If making a CD – assemble finished CD
An LP if not making a CD takes at least 4 hours to process Monastically for digital, in-car enjoyment. A CD? Between 12-20 hours! I’m a married person closing in on senior citizenship who works full-time and maintains a house in addition to any civic duties and social interaction. Play records??! When?!!
And this year I still need to liquidate 25-30% of my collection to have it all accessible on the rack space that I can have. There’s no room for more of it! I’m maxed out in a 9′ x 12′ room that can hold 1200 12″ discs, 1000 7″ discs, and 3000 CDs. I still need to take the time to get medieval on my collection. I want to sell it off and use any funds to buy what I want going forward. I have a lot of “dollar discs” among some collector’s items. I’m fine with getting dimes on the dollar for manythings, but I want something, capish? I need to make 2025 the year I hit my Discogs store and ebay to move as much as I can. But I’ve said this before. I’m not sure where the time is to do this. But until I get rid of that third of my collection, I really cannot enjoy or even access much of it in my small home. It’s an existential dilemma. Watch this space.
-30-
p.s. – I just listened to Fluid Japan’s “Always” one more time and I was crazy to place it at #17. It just got bumped up five spots on the singles list.
p.p.s. – When poring over the purchase lists to make the rankings I somehow forgot to include two singles by René! Mea Culpa!
p.p.p.s – I was just in my Bandcamp account and saw a DL single by Head Noise missing from the rankings and my purchase lists! This is what happens if I wait even a moment after buying something!
![steven jones + logan sky voltage [2024v]](https://postpunkmonk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/voltage-cover.jpg)
Post-Punk Monk 