BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1984
David Austin (born 14 July 1962) is a professional songwriter from the United Kingdom, who first had a hit single in 1984 called “Turn to Gold”, released on Parlophone. It entered the UK Singles Chart on 21 July 1984. It remained in the chart for three weeks, reaching #68. The single featured backing vocals from George Michael, who called Austin his best friend in the documentary film, A Different Story.
As co-writers Austin and Michael have been collaborating since 1983. Their joint work includes the download-only single “John and Elvis Are Dead”, their biggest hit “You Have Been Loved” and “Look at Your Hands” from the album Faith, which also appeared on the US CD single of Michael’s number one hit “Father Figure”. Listen Without Prejudice, is the only original material studio album of Michael’s which does not feature any collaboration with Austin.
SIDE A:
Turn To Gold (Extended Swing Mix) 5:19
SIDE B:
Turn To Gold (Swing Mix) 2:29
Turn To Gold (Instrumental) 3:42
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Parlophone – 12R 6068
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1984
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Style: Synth-pop
CREDITS:
Producer – George Michael
Written-By – David Austin, George Michael
Find The 12″ On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Speed Control: Pro-Ject Speed Box S
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removeal: ClickRepair (DeClick Level 3)
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
This would be one to request a re-up for, if possible (I’ve only just now heard the song and can’t buy it legally)! Sorry that the host has put such restrictions on this invaluable resource.
Funny thing watching vh1 classic channel and the music video came on for Wham! “Edge of Heaven” and David Austin is in this video too playing guitar ! How funny never knew who he was until this week. Thanks again for this post.
Amazing that all these years I never heard this song or even knew it existed … great to hear the background vocals by GM you can hear how the song sounds like something Wham! might have done. Great stuff thanks so much for bringing this to our attention. Any other David Austin works would be curious to hear in the near future thanks again!!
YES! Another welcome surprise!
I have the 12″ on vinyl and the 7″ version on some 80s compilation.
This is the first time I see this anywhere on cyberspace!
Kudos Paul!
It indeed a catchy tune, but I guess the difference is that his name is not George Michael (by association just won’t do), and the masses only wanted that in the mid 80s. A shame, because it is a sprightly Motown-inspired jam!
Thank you for giving us another gold nugget!
One of my forgotten faves of the eighties. Definitely one that got away.
Paralaphone/EMI messed up on promoting this and securing a high chart position.
Even with David’s best friend (George Michael) writing, producing and, even introducing him on TV, the single only managed to reach #.68 in the UK – disappearing after 3 weeks.
Check out the TV performance > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gusIVyLwVFA
thank you..great
waiting for thompson twins sugar daddy 12, thanks
Very cool song that I’ve never heard before. I can definitely sense the GM connection in the sound (besides the vocals). Thanks!
You’re welcome Woz!
Thank you dear Paul for this single!
Great to have it now in our collections. David Austin is the best friend of George Michael who was near him through all his life on stage since Wham! till nowadays.
He is a bright person!
You’re welcome Spring 🙂
Ahh, nothing like a song with a powerful brass section. 🙂
One glitch, though: Track #2 and #3 both have the same ID3 tags; they both claim to be “track 03”, “Turn To Gold (Instrumental)”.
Thanks for letting me know about the glitch Doctor. I have re-uploaded the files with the correct ID3 tags 🙂
No worries. 🙂 However, speaking of ID3 tags, it does bring up a question I’ve been mildly curious about… how come you always put the “Electronic” genre tag on everything? (Except for the “Disco” postings, that is.) That seems an odd choice, at least to me; “Electronic” seems like it’d be more appropriate for stuff like Isao Tomita, “Switched-On Bach”, or other things which are purely electronic-synthesizer creations with no actual vocals or acoustic instruments at all. Most of the stuff here would be more appropriately tagged as “New Wave”, “Synthpop”, “Funk/Soul”, or just plain “Rock.” 🙂 Not that it’s… Read more »
I usually just go by what is listed on Discogs most of these records are listed as “electronic” with new wave, funk/soul etc listed as the style.
Hm. I’m not sure how Discogs arrives at that distinction, but apparently, their scheme considers something to be “electronic” if any electronic instrument was involved in its production in any way whatsoever. Under that scheme, The Allman Brothers Band’s Whipping Post would be considered “electronic” because of the presence of a Hammond B3 organ — but that’s hardly what most people would normally think of as “electronic music.” 🙂 It seems to me that what Discogs calls “style” is what should really be in the ID3 “genre” field, especially since ID3 doesn’t have any field called “style” which could be… Read more »
Hmm, do I know this one? The title doesn’t ring my bell. Let’s find out…
Enjoy!
Thanks so much for this one! 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂
Great post! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Would you happen to have David Austin’s “This Boy Loves The Sun”?
I have the 12” Single, but the vinyl is very snap crackle pop! lol
Thanks Tony this is the only one I have at the moment I will try to get the other one 🙂
thank you so much as always very grateful
You’re welcome Hugh 🙂
can you do Hard Day Please..includes the Radio Mix Of Hard Day…please