Tag: 1985

October 17, 2013

Nightmares In Wax (Dead Or Alive) – Nightmares In Wax (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985

Re-Rip Newly Remastered!

Originally I posted this one on October 12, 2010. But for those who may have missed it or if you are a new reader just discovering BTG. I decided to give this one a new rip with my newer Ortofon Super 30 stylus. This 12″ is also being posted in 24 bit flac for the very first time!

Nightmares in Wax released only one EP during its brief existence, but that sole release was unforgettable. Neither did the band truly die, rather it evolved into the even more memorable Dead or Alive.

Singer Pete Burns already had one failed group behind him when he formed Nightmares in Wax. The Mystery Girls also included Pete Wylie, Julian Cope, and Phil Hurst, and managed to play their first and final show on the same night. That gig, opening for Sham 69 at Liverpool’s legendary punk club Eric’s, took place on November 4, 1977. The group folded immediately after, with the members going their separate ways.

Pete Burns returned to the music scene with Nightmares in Wax, in February 1979, alongside an interminably shifting lineup that even the most devoted fan could barely keep track of, had the band actually had such loyal creatures. They didn’t, and Burns himself later claimed the group was deliberately attempting to be the worst in history. Regardless, Nightmares in Wax did slowly gain a following, mainly comprising “real loonies,” as the singer himself described them.

One of these hardy souls was Pete Fulwell, head of the local Inevitable Records label. The band’s lineup still hadn’t solidified, but Inevitable offered them a deal all the same. Burns was joined at the session by his former Mystery Girls’ compatriot, drummer Phil Hurst, keyboardist Martin Healy, bassist Walter Ogden, and guitarist Mick Reid. The ensuing EP, Birth of a Nation opened with “Black Leather,” a roaring homage to motorcyclists and musically a tribute to Iggy Pop’s “Sister Midnight.” The song also contained a hint of things to come, when halfway through, the group suddenly broke into K.C. & the Sunshine Band’s “That’s the Way” — subsequently revived by Burns for Dead or Alive’s first hit single.

The EP was released in February 1980 and sold respectably, but the lineup had already splintered. Bassist Ogden was first to go, replaced by a new member named Ambrose, who subsequently followed his predecessor into Hollycaust, an early incarnation of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Reid, too, left, and filling in the now considerable gaps were ex-Upsets Sue James, the singularly named Mitch, and music vet Joe Musker, formerly drummer with Merseybeat legends the Fourmost. Nightmares in Wax now continued to exist more as a concept than as a functioning band; still, in May 1980, the group was offered a local radio session. There, without warning and mere minutes before recording began, Burns decided to change the group’s name to Dead or Alive. This, he claimed, was because he didn’t want to be associated with the arty bands now permeating the Liverpool scene: Echo & the Bunnymen, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Dalek I Love You, and so forth. Nightmares in Wax was dead, Dead or Alive was born, and Burn’s rise to stardom was now beginning in earnest.

In 1984, the Nightmares In Wax EP was re-released on 12″ with Black Leather and Shangri-La. The 12″ was issued with a Blue sleeve and again in 1985 with a ‘melting-monster face’ sleeve. Both re-releases appeared on the KY label.

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Cover: Near Mint

SIDE A:
Black Leather 5;05

SIDE B:
Shangri-La 3:32

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: KY Records – KY 9
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Reissue
Country: UK
Released: 1985
Genre: Rock
Style: Goth Rock
Credits: Bass – Pete Lloyd
Drums – Phil Hurst
Guitar – Mick Reid
Keyboards – Martin Healy
Producer – Noddy Knowler
Vocals – Pete Burns
Written-By – Healy* , Reid* , Burns*

NOTES:
1st of 2 separate 1985 UK Reissues using only 2 tracks of the original 1980 “Birth Of A Nation” 7″, 3 track E.P. on Inevitable Music label.

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Pro-Ject Speed Box S
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

October 10, 2013

David Bowie/Mick Jagger – Dancing In The Street (US 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985

DONATION RECEIVED, REQUEST FILLED!

“Dancing in the Street” is a 1964 song first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas and is one of Motown’s signature songs.

In 1985 the song was recorded by Mick Jagger and David Bowie as a duo, as part of the Live Aid charity movement. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at John F. Kennedy Stadium, until it was realized that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible unless either Bowie or Jagger mimed their contribution, something neither artist was willing to do. In 1968 Jagger and Keith Richards had already “borrowed” a line from the song in “Street Fighting Man” – “Cause summer’s here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy.”

In June 1985, Bowie was recording his contributions to the Absolute Beginners soundtrack at Abbey Road Studios, and so Jagger arranged to fly in to record the track there. A rough mix of the track was completed in just four hours, at which point the pair went straight out to London Docklands to film a video with director David Mallet. Thirteen hours after the start of recording, this also was completed. Jagger arranged for some minor musical overdubs with Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero in New York.

The video was shown twice at the Live Aid event. Soon afterwards the track was issued as a single, with all profits going to the charity. “Dancing in the Street” topped the UK charts for four weeks, and reached number seven in the United States. Bowie and Jagger would perform the song once more, at the Prince’s Trust Concert on June 20, 1986. The song has been featured since on several Bowie compilations.

It was also shown in movie theaters before showings of Ruthless People, for which Jagger had recorded the theme song. It was the first instance in which a promotional clip was used outside of MTV or broadcast television.

SIDE A:
Dancing In The Street (Extended Dance Mix) 4:40

SIDE B:
Dancing In The Street (Dub Mix) 4:41
Dancing In The Street (Edited Version) 3:24

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1985	Dancing In The Street	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#7
1985	Dancing In The Street	U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	#3
1985	Dancing In The Street	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	#4

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: EMI America ‎– V-19200
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
Credits: Alto Saxophone [Alto Sax] – Stan Harrison
Artwork [Back Cover Logo] – David Bell (9)
Backing Vocals – Helena Springs, Tessa Niles
Baritone Saxophone [Baritone Sax] – Lenny Pickett
Bass – John “Skinny” Regan*, Matthew Seligman
Drums – Neil Conti
Engineer – Bob Clearmountain, Mark Saunders, Stephen Benben
Engineer [Assistant] – Alexander Haas*, Ira McLaughlin, Richard Sullivan, Steve Boyer
Guitar – Earl Slick, G.E. Smith, Kevin Armstrong
Keyboards – Steve Nieve
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Mixed By – Steve Thompson, Michael Barbiero*
Percussion – Jimmy Maelen, Pedro Ortiz
Photography By [Front Cover Photograph] – Jon Hoffmann
Producer – Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley*
Producer [Additional Production] – Michael Barbiero, Mick Jagger, Nile Rodgers, Steve Thompson
Tenor Saxophone [Tenor Sax] – Lenny Pickett, Stan Harrison
Trumpet – Mac Gollehon
Written-By – I. Hunter*, M. Gaye*, W. Stevenson*
Vocals – David Bowie, Mick Jagger

NOTES:
Back cover logo © LIVE-AID Foundation 1985.

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

September 6, 2013

A Taste Of Honey – Boogie Oogie Oogie (Extended Re-Mix) (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985

DISCO FRIDAY!

“Boogie Oogie Oogie” is a song by disco group A Taste of Honey. Released from their self-titled album in 1978, it became an extremely popular “crossover” song. The lyrics urge listeners to “boogie oogie oogie till you just can’t boogie no more.” It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the Hot Soul Singles chart, and the Hot Dance Club Play chart. It would eventually sell over two million copies and has become one of the most recognizable songs from the late 1970s disco era. It would also help the group win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1978. It also reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart.

SIDE A:
Boogie Oogie Oogie (Extended Remix) 7:24
Producer – Larry Mizell & Fonce Mizell
Remix – John Luongo
Written-By – P. Kibble*

SIDE B:
We’ve Got The Groove 5:46
Producer – Al McKay
Written-By – A. McKay*

Boogie Oogie Oogie (Original Full Length Version) 5:35
Producer – Larry Mizell & Fonce Mizell
Written-By – P. Kibble*

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1978	Boogie Oogie Oogie	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#1
1978	Boogie Oogie Oogie	U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles	#1
1978	Boogie Oogie Oogie	U.S. Billboard Hot Disco Songs	#1

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Capitol Records ‎– 12CL 357
Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul
Style: Disco
Credits: Executive-Producer – Varnell Johnson
Written-By – J. Johnson*

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

August 28, 2013

Queen – One Vision (US 12″ Promo)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

“One Vision” is a song written and recorded by British rock band Queen, first released as a single in November 1985 and then included on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic. The song was alson included on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Iron Eagle. It was originally conceived by Roger Taylor.

The song has been speculated to be inspired by either the band’s “show-stopping” performance at Live Aid earlier in 1985, or by the life and exploits of Martin Luther King, with the lyrics recounting a man battling and overcoming the odds. In the 2011 BBC documentary, Queen: Days of Our Lives, Taylor stated his lyrics were “sort of half nicked off Martin Luther King’s famous speech.

“One Vision” contains mysterious and distorted beginning vocals (which on the album and extended versions, also appear throughout Roger Taylor’s drum section and in the end), most prominently the vocals retained in the single version.

The most prominent distorted vocals relay new lyrics when played forwards—they say, “God works in mysterious ways… mysterious ways…”. It is clearly shown during the portions of the studio recording session of “One Vision” on both the Magic Years documentary and the DVD Greatest Video Hits II that Freddie Mercury sings the line.

The final line of the song (in the studio, live, and “Blurred Vision” versions, in the album and extended versions the line before the final God works in mysterious ways… Mysterious ways…) is “fried chicken”, although the lyrics say “one vision”. This was the result of trying to come up with the proper wording of the song, and since it was not working, Mercury at some point introduced words that had nothing to do with the song for fun. The “fried chicken” survived, as a humorous note within the deep and inspired contents of the song.

An extensively remixed version of the song, titled “Blurred Vision” appears as the B-side of both the 7″ and 12″ single releases. It is exactly the same version on both formats. This is primarily an extended and completely different (but not in structure) version of Taylor’s drum section from the A-side. However, it retains the original ending, albeit with a longer version of the music from the end of the original’s intro plus an additional non-distorted sound over the final vocals “Vision vision vision vision…” (which are like those in the single version). It also repeats the existing famous distorted vocals, and adds new, less-prominent distorted vocals.

“One Vision” became another hit single for Queen in many countries, usually reaching the Top 40, where it did in the Netherlands (#21), Switzerland (#24), and Germany (#26). It also had very minor chart success on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #61. It became a big hit in the band’s native UK, peaking at #7 in the singles chart, a strong showing for a rock band at a time when pop music was by far the more dominant genre in Britain. It also made #10 on Australia’s ARIA Chart.

SIDE A:
One Vision (Extended Vision) 6:28

SIDE B:
Blurred Vision 4:40

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1985	One Vision	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#61
1985	One Vision	U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	#19

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Capitol Records ‎– V-15210
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Promo, Single
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Rock
Style: Hard Rock, Arena Rock
Credits: Artwork By [Design] – Queen Created By The Artful Dodgers
Engineer – Mack (2)
Photography [Cover] – David Bailey With Thanks To Live Aid
Producer – Mack (2), Queen
Written-By – Queen

NOTES:
From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack “Iron Eagle”

Recorded at Musicland, Germany & Maison Rouge, London.

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

SIDE A: Black Leather 5;05

SIDE B: Shangri-La 3:32

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

SIDE A:
Black Leather 5;05

SIDE B:
Shangri-La 3:32