Tag: 1982

Wide Boy Awake – Chicken Outlaw (US 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1982

“Chicken Outlaw” is the first single by Adam & the Ants bassist Kevin Mooney’s band Wide Boy Awake. The single did manage to chart on the US dance chart peaking at #12.

SIDE A:
Chicken Outlaw 5:18

SIDE B:
Slang Teacher 5:25

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1982 Chicken Outlaw U.S. Billboard Dance Music/Club Play #12

 

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: RCA Victor ‎– PD-13503
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1982
Genre: Electronic
Style: Electro, Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Producer – Nick Glennie-Smith, Trevor Spencer
Written-By – Kevin Mooney

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

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 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard:
ESI Juli@
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
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

The Human League – Mirror Man (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1982

“Mirror Man” is a 1982 song by the British synthpop group The Human League. It was released as a single in the UK on 8 November 1982 and peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart. It was written jointly by lead singer Philip Oakey with keyboard players Jo Callis and Ian Burden, and produced by Martin Rushent.

“Mirror Man” was the first track written and recorded by the Human League after they returned from their World Tour, conducted in the wake of the enormous international success of their album Dare. “Mirror Man” was conceived and written as a celebration of Oakey and Wright’s love of Motown records. It has been described as electronic northern soul, with Oakey’s main verses delivered in deliberate sentences with emphasis on the last word of each sentence. Vocalists Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall feature prominently throughout the song but have no lyrics, providing backing vocals of “oohs” and “ahhs”. Recording and production was overseen by Martin Rushent, who had produced the band’s album Dare.

Speculation about who was the titular ‘Mirror Man’ was ended in 1988 when, during interviews to promote the band’s Greatest Hits album, Oakey revealed that it was about Adam Ant. Oakey had become concerned that Ant was starting to believe his own publicity, and was in danger of losing touch with reality. Oakey had avoided revealing this at the time for fear of offending the song’s subject. The song could be viewed as a reference to the 1971 Japanese TV series Mirrorman.

The song was released as a single in the UK in November 1982. It was the first new single the band had released since the phenomenal success of “Don’t You Want Me” almost a year earlier. The single was tipped by the media as their second Christmas number-one single in the UK, but peaked just short, at number two. The single did however reach number one in Ireland earlier that month and also reached the Top 10 in Canada the following February.

Its release in the U.S. was delayed until May 1983 where it was incorporated into the stop gap EP Fascination!. A&M Records, the band’s record company in the US, had refused to release it as a single “unless there was to be an album hot on its heels”. The track peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1983.

SIDE A:
Mirror Man (Extended Version) 4:22

SIDE B:
You Remind Me Of Gold 3:38
You Remind Me Of Gold (Instrumental) 3:54

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1982 Mirror Man U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #30

 

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin ‎– VS522-12
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: 08 Nov 1982
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Photography By – Rob*, Simon Fowler (2)
Producer –The Human League, Martin Rushent
Written-By – Burden* (tracks: A), Callis* (tracks: A), Oakey*

NOTES:
1982 Virgin Records Ltd.

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

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 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard:
ESI Juli@
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
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

Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf (Night Version) (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1982

35 years of “RIO”!

“Hungry Like the Wolf” is a song by the British New Wave band Duran Duran. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Colin Thurston for the group’s second studio album Rio (1982). The song was released in May 1982 as the band’s fifth single in the United Kingdom. It reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart, and received a silver certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

“Hungry Like the Wolf”‘s Russell Mulcahy-directed music video was filmed in the jungles of Sri Lanka, and evoked the atmosphere of the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Although the band initially failed to break into the U.S. market, MTV placed the “Hungry Like the Wolf” video into heavy rotation. Subsequently, the group gained much exposure; the song peaked at the number three spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1983, and Duran Duran became an international sensation. The video won the first Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 1984.

“Hungry Like the Wolf” was written and recorded on a Saturday in the spring of 1982 at the basement studios of EMI’s London headquarters. Rhodes started the song’s demo in the morning with a sequencer; the song was built throughout the day as each band member arrived, and by the evening it was essentially complete.

“That track came from fiddling with the new technology that was starting to come in”, guitarist Andy Taylor said in an interview with Blender magazine. This refers to the rhythmic backing track they came up with by joining a Roland TR-808 drum machine with a sequencer and a Roland Jupiter-8 keyboard.

Rhodes came up with an idea for the backing track in the car while he was going to the studio. He started playing with the Roland Jupiter 8 keyboard, while singer Simon Le Bon was working with the lyrics. The lyrics were inspired by Little Red Riding Hood, and the repeating of the word “do” at the end of each verse, is an inspiration from Gordon Lightfoot’s song “If You Could Read My Mind”. Andy Taylor worked out a Marc Bolan-ish guitar part, a very Marshall-sounding Les Paul guitar lick that was added to the track. Then the bass and drums were added, and the whole track was finished that day, including Le Bon’s vocal melody and lyrics. The laugh at the beginning of the song and the screams during the song’s fade-out were performed and recorded live by Rhodes’ girlfriend at the time.

The group re-recorded the song for the Rio album a few months later at London’s AIR Studios with producer Colin Thurston, who also recorded the hits “Too Shy” for Kajagoogoo, and “I Want Candy” for Bow Wow Wow. Andy Taylor remembers: “He was a great organizer and arranger, we gave him far more ideas and music than the track actually needed, and he was important in the process of whittling them down to the essential elements.” Thurston and the band decided to keep the demo’s original electronic backing track and just re-record the other instruments and vocals.

“Hungry Like the Wolf” was released in the United Kingdom on 4 May 1982; the next week the song debuted at number thirty-five on the UK Singles Chart, six weeks later it reached its peak at number five, remaining six weeks in the top ten, and twelve weeks in total. The release of the single helped the band’s album Rio reach the second position of the albums chart. In Ireland the single entered the chart on 23 May 1982; reaching the number four position on the Irish Singles Chart, becoming the band’s first top ten hit in that country. Despite achieving commercial success with several top hits in the United Kingdom, the band failed to enter in the U.S. market. Their first album did not chart and failed to yield a hit single. “Hungry Like the Wolf” was released in the United States on 7 June 1982 but did not chart. At first, U.S. radio were reluctant to play the song, but when the newly emerging MTV began playing the accompanying music video in heavy rotation, the exposure pushed “Hungry Like the Wolf” onto AOR playlists. The song entered Billboard’s Top Tracks chart in August 1982 and reached the top of the chart in January 1983.

Following the release of the Carnival EP in September and the David Kershenbaum remaster of Rio in November, the Kershenbaum remix of “Hungry Like the Wolf” was released as a single on 3 December 1982. “Hungry Like the Wolf” entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 25 December 1982 at number seventy-seven, peaking at number three on 26 March 1983, and remaining twenty-three weeks on the chart. Ten years later in March 1993, the single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In Canada, the song debuted at number forty-eight on the RPM singles chart on 22 January 1983, reaching the top of the chart for one week on 19 March 1983, staying on the chart for nineteen weeks and ending at the tenth position of the 1983 year-end chart. It was certified gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) in April 1983.

SIDE A:
Hungry Like The Wolf (Night Version) 5:17
Producer, Engineer – Colin Thurston

SIDE B:
Careless Memories (Live Version) 4:12
Producer – Pete Dauncey
Recorded By, Engineer – Paul Nickson

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

CHARTS:

Year Single Chart Position
1983 Hungry Like The Wolf U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #3
1983 Hungry Like The Wolf U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks #1
1983 Hungry Like The Wolf U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play #36

 

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: EMI ‎– 12 EMI 5295, EMI ‎– 12EMI 5295
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 04 May 1982
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: New Wave, Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Arranged By, Written-By – Duran Duran

NOTES:
Track A from the album “RIO”
Track B recorded at Hammersmith Odeon (December 1981).

Manufactured in the UK by EMI Records Limited.

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

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 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard:
ESI Juli@
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
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

Duran Duran – Save A Prayer (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1982

35 years of “RIO”!

“Save a Prayer” is the sixth single by Duran Duran, released on 9 August 1982. The song was the third single from the band’s second album Rio. It became Duran Duran’s biggest hit to date (at the time) in the UK Singles Chart, reaching #2, held out of the top spot by Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”. The track opens with a somewhat eerie synthesizer riff which plays in the background throughout the song.

It was not originally issued as a single in the United States, although the music video was very popular on MTV. A special US single version was finally released in January 1985 and reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

As well as being a commercial success, the song has received critical acclaim. AllMusic journalist Donald A. Guarisco described the song in a retrospective review, as being “a lilting epic”. He wrote: “The music maintains the stormily romantic quality of the lyric by combining meditative verses with an aching chorus that swells and ebbs in a way that perfectly captures the song’s heartbreak.”

The UK release of “Save a Prayer” was backed with a remix of “Hold Back the Rain”.

SIDE A:
Save A Prayer 5:25

SIDE B:
Hold Back The Rain (Remix) 7:04

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: EMI ‎– 12 EMI 5327
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Single, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: Aug 1982
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Style: Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Producer – Colin Thurston
Sleeve – Assorted Images
Written-By – Duran Duran

NOTES:
Manufactured in U.K.

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

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 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard:
ESI Juli@
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
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