Category: Alan Rankine

Alan Rankine 1958-2023

 

Today we have lost one of my favorite artists from one of my favorite bands Alan Rankine of the Scottish band The Associates has died at age 64.

Alan Rankine, one-half of the celebrated Scottish indie band the Associates, has died aged 64. The news was confirmed on Tuesday by his sons, Callum and Hamish, who wrote on Facebook that their father “died peacefully at home shortly after spending Christmas with his family”, describing him as “a beautiful, kind and loving man who will be sorely missed”.

Born in Stirlingshire in 1958, Rankine formed the Associates in 1979 with singer Billy Mackenzie, having made early recordings with him under the name Mental Torture. Rankine and Mackenzie initially broke through with a cover of David Bowie’s Boys Keep Swinging, which itself had been a hit in the UK mere weeks earlier. The attention the pair got from the cover resulted in a record deal with Fiction, and a year later they released The Affectionate Punch, their debut album. Two years later, they followed it up with Sulk, a surprise success that spent 20 weeks on the UK albums chart.

Shortly after the release of Sulk, Rankine left the Associates and began working as a producer and session musician, collaborating with influential no-wave musician Anna Domino on her albums East & West and Anna Domino, and producing Cocteau Twins’ 1983 EP Peppermint Pig. During the latter half of the 1980s, he also released three solo albums: 1986’s The World Begins to Look Her Age, 1987’s She Loves Me Not and 1989’s The Big Picture Sucks.

In his life, Rankine had an outsized influence on indie music in Scotland and beyond: the experimental, wide-reaching sound of the Associates, as well as of the acts Rankine later went on to produce, proved to be widely influential, with Björk citing Sulk as one of her formative influences. He also helped set up Electric Honey, an in-house label at Glasgow’s Stow College, which went on to release records by Belle and Sebastian and Snow Patrol, among others.

Alan Rankine – The Sandman (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1987

-DjPaulT Recommended 12″

“The Sandman” is the debut solo single by Scottish musician and record producer Alan Rankine best known as keyboardist/guitarist for the new wave band Associates, which he co-founded with Billy Mackenzie in the late 1970s.

“The Sandman” was taken from Rankine’s second studio album “She Loves Me Not”. A very underrated track “The Sandman” failed to chart and ends up as one of my recommended 12″ singles.

SIDE A:
The Sandman (Remix) 7:06
Engineer – Michel Andina

SIDE B:
Can You Believe Everything I See (Part 3) 6:19

The Sandman (7″ Version) 3:44
Engineer – Michel Andina

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin ‎– VST 1003
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Written-By, Producer, Arranged By – Alan Rankine

NOTES:
Original version appears on the LP “SHE LOVES ME NOT”

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

VINYL RESTORATION BY:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck 
Phono Pre-amp:
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube:
Tung-Sol 12AX7 TubeGold Pins
Soundcard:
Novation Audiohub 2×4 Audio Interface
Record Cleaning:
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans:
Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2, ocenaudio
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi