BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1983
“Kinetic” is the debut and only release by Hilary Blake, known professionally as Hilary, a singer-songwriter/performer from Los Angeles. She was born in 1950 and died in July 2007.
Blake sang with madrigal groups at Shakespeare festivals in England and studied acting with Agnes Moorehead at age 11.
In 1978 she matched free verse poetry with synthesizers and drum machines to produce her signature sound.
In 1982 she met up with producer Steve Hague and pressed 1000 copies of 12″ vinyl “Kinetic b/w “I Live” for Sirus Records. Kinetic was voted “Screamer of Week” by listeners of Long Island radio station WLIR on January 2, 1983. and received modest airplay on her hometown station KROQ-FM. Kinectic was also played in New York dance clubs. I Live was played on college radio stations.
Later in the year, Blake released a 4-song EP entitled Kinetic for Backstreet Records which was also produced by Hague. The song Kinetic was about her hopes that awareness of changing cellular structure would help the human species to survive. Drop Your Pants was Blake’s attempt to show how “ridiculous” the fear of sex in the United States was. On August 4 it became her second song to be named “Screamer of the Week” by WLIR listeners. This song was also mentioned in an edition of The Guide to Getting it On by Paul Joannides.
I Live was a song about “the ordinary – living in the house of your own making” which Blake found to be profound. Goose Step reflected Blake’s fear that the Nazi Party would reemerge. She was buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
SIDE A:
Kinetic (Extended Remix Version) 5:14
Drop Your Pants 3:31
SIDE B:
I Live 4:27
Goose Step Two Step 3:41
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Backstreet Records – BSR-36004
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Mini-Album, Pinckneyville Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1983
Genre: Electronic
Style: New Wave, Synth-pop
CREDITS:
Cover [Detail From “Woodpecker Blues” By] – Michael McCall (2)
Design – Tommy Steele (2)
Engineer – Stephen Hague
Lyrics By – Hilary (3), Stephen Hague (tracks: A1)
Photography By [Photo] – Eugene Pinkowski
Producer – Hilary (3), Stephen Hague
Written-By – Hilary (3), Stephen Hague (tracks: A1 to B1)
NOTES:
Mini LP 4 Songs Special price
Find the 12″ at 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
DAC/Phono Pre-amp: Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
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/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
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)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
Username: btg
Password: burningtheground
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Gracias tio Paul, es un Single muy interesante!
So great to listen to this in the quality you ensure. This is excellent, as well as Underworld and the obscure Boys Don’t Cry 12”. Thanks as always!
Totally new to me Paul. Probably didn’t get a UK release which would explain it. So 100% a “Totally Obscure 80s” for me!
Puts me in mind of Laurie Anderson…but a tad more mainstream. Will add my voice to those saying it’s a shame she didn’t do more.
AWESOME!!!! I love Drop your Pants!!! They played it all the time on KROQ
Oh, fun! I never heard this or *of* this. But it’s fab! Thanks. And with Stephen Hague … awesome.
What an extraordinary find!
Still with Hague as producer it’s hardly suprising that unearthed treasures await.
(Oh for Inside a Dream…)
This is gold, a Stephen Hague synthpop production just before the Pet Shop Boys! Thank you so much for this one Paul.
Debo reconocerlo, desconocía totalmente a esta interprete, pero la escuchare a partir de ahora, ya que si lo aportaste debe ser una delicadeza para el paladar musical, gracias
Respetá las reglas y escribí en inglés como lo hacemos todos, supongo que no te gustaría encontrar comentarios en chino, árabe, alemán o ruso. ¿Sabés por qué no pasa? Porque todos respetan las reglas… Rescatate chabón.
Si el mensaje es corto no veo el problema….
What happened to her?
She passed away some years ago, unfortunately.
Hi Paul 🙂 This is completely unknown to me. Checked it out on YTube.. What a gem !!!
Thank you very much for introducing this to my ears. I love it !!
You have me rejoicing Paul and I’m screaming at the top of my lungs!! I was always hoping you’d get to this someday and here it is. I love “Kinetic” so much and “Drop Your Pants” is such a hoot! Thank you so very much for this entire EP.
Grateful once again!
Jeff
This is such a cool record Stephen Hague is an awesome producer. It is a shame that Hilary never went any further great songwriting talent. A true synth-pop cult classic.
WOW. What a gem, and a tragedy she is no longer with us.
Also another great example of the work of Stephen Hague. The god of synthpop producers.
Thanks Paul!
You’re welcome Goodguy 🙂