BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985
“19” is a song by British musician Paul Hardcastle released as the first single from his self-titled third studio album Paul Hardcastle (1985).
The song has a strong anti-war message, focusing on America’s involvement in the Vietnam War and the effect it had on the soldiers who served. The track was notable for early use of sampled and processed speech, in particular a stutter effect used on the words “n-n-n-n-nineteen” and “d-d-d-d-destruction”. It also includes various non-speech samples such as crowd noise and a military bugle call.
“19” features sampled narration (by Peter Thomas), interview dialogue (“I wasn’t really sure what was going on”) and news reports from Vietnam Requiem, an ABC television documentary about the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by veterans. In 2009, the song placed at 73 on VH1’s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s.
“19” topped the charts in the UK for 5 weeks, and reached the top 20 in the US, where it also topped the dance chart. For a while, it was the top selling single in 13 countries (helped by the fact that versions of the song were recorded in French, Spanish, German and Japanese), and it received the Ivor Novello award for Best-selling single of 1985. The song’s English language release came in 3 different 12″ versions (“Extended Version”, “Destruction Mix” and “The Final Story”), each with an alternative cover design.
SIDE A:
19 (Extended Version) 5:14
19 (Extended Japanese Mix) 5:12
Narrator – Kango Kobayashi
SIDE B:
19 (Destruction Mix) 7:07
19 (The Final Story) 8:31
King Tut (U.S. Remix) 5:22
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
OBI: Near Mint
Insert: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 19 | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #15 |
| 1985 | 19 | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play | #1 |
| 1985 | 19 | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | #1 |
| 1985 | 19 | U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles | #8 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Chrysalis – WWS-63050
Series: British Invasion ’85 –
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: Japan
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic
Style: Electro
CREDITS:
Producer – Paul Hardcastle
Translated By – Landy Takeuchi
Written-By – J. McCord* (tracks: A1 to B2), M. Oldfield* (tracks: A1 to B2), P. Hardcastle*, W. Coutourie* (tracks: A1 to B2)
NOTES:
In World War Two The Average Age Of The Combat Soldier Was 26. In Vietnam He Was 19
Find the 12″ on DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
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 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
