Tag: 1986

January 27, 2017

New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle (US 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1986

“Bizarre Love Triangle” is a song by the English band New Order, released as a single in 1986 from their fourth studio album, Brotherhood (1986), which reached the top five on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart, and No. 5 on the Australian ARIA Charts (No. 1 on the Victoria state chart) in March 1987.

It failed to make the top 40 in either the United Kingdom (only reaching No. 56) or the US Billboard Hot 100. In the United States, the song also reached the eighth position on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart, but failed to chart on the Hot 100 during its original 1986 release. However, a new mix included on the The Best of New Order was released in 1994 and finally made a brief appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 in the number 98 position in 1995.

In 2004 the song was ranked number 201 in Rolling Stone’s “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

“I Don’t Care” is also known as “Bizarre Dub Triangle”.

SIDE A:
Bizarre Love Triangle 6:43
Edited By – The Latin Rascals
Engineer [Remix] – Steve Peck
Remix, Edited By – Shep Pettibone

I Don’t Care 7:01
Edited By – The Latin Rascals
Engineer [Remix] – Steve Peck
Remix, Edited By – Shep Pettibone

SIDE B:
State Of The Nation 6:33
Engineer – Michael Johnson

Bizarre Love Triangle 3:45
Engineer [Remix] – Steve Peck
Remix – Shep Pettibone

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1986	Bizarre Love Triangle	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play100	#4
1986	Bizarre Love Triangle	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales	#8

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Qwest Records ‎– 0-20546, Qwest Records ‎– 9 20546-0
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Single, ARC Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1986
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Electro, Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Producer, Written-By – New Order

NOTES:
Mastered at Sterling Sound, NYC, metalworks at Sheffield Lab Matrix, pressed by ARC.

“I Don’t Care” is also known as “Bizarre Dub Triangle”.

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: 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

January 24, 2017

Bucks Fizz – New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) (Ian Levine Remix) (US 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1986

“New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)” (often referred to as simply “New Beginning”) is a 1986 single by UK pop group Bucks Fizz. It was a comeback hit (their first release on Polydor Records), achieving their highest chart placing for four years.

The song was written by Mike Myers and Tony Gibber and was produced by Myers along with the group’s regular producer Andy Hill. According to the group, the recording of the song took an unusually long time due to the vocal tracks. As well as the group recording their vocals repeatedly, there was also a children’s choir and gospel choir used on the track. The musicians in the studio also were used on distant back-up vocals. Member Cheryl Baker remembers one version where Hill instructed them to deliberately sing out of tune, which she found difficult. The original mix of the song was completed in February 1986.

“New Beginning” (as it is very often more simply referred) was originally recorded a year earlier by Force 8 – who were actually pop group The Dooleys under an assumed name. The theme of the song is one of hope where the narrator talks about building a happier world, with some parts of the song sung in Swahili and Spanish. The video for the single depicts the group performing the song in a Metropolis-type setting backed by dancers and drummers – due to the heavy drum sound on the track.

The song was released in May 1986 and was seen as a comeback single as it was their first release in eight months and featured new member Shelley Preston who had replaced Jay Aston a year earlier. It was also their first release on new record label, Polydor after their five-year contract with RCA had finished. The song was notable for its full and lavish production and multi-layered vocal work and received much praise from critics as well as becoming very popular on radio. The song became a big hit in the Summer of 1986. After entering at No.55, the song rose sharply to No.24 becoming instantly their biggest hit for three years. Two weeks later the single entered the top 10 at number eight where it stayed the following week. The song remained on the charts for 10 weeks and became the 93rd biggest-seller of the year. “New Beginning” achieved their highest chart position for four years, but was also their last UK top 40 hit. In the United States the single did not chart.

SIDE A:
New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) (Ian Levine Remix) 9:28
Remix – Ian Levine

SIDE B:
New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) (Ian Levine Remix – Dub Version) 8:18
Remix – Ian Levine

New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) 4:07

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Polydor ‎– 885 274-1
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1986
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Producer – Andy Hill
Written-By – Mike Myers (2), Tony Gibber

NOTES:
Special versions from the LP “WRITING ON THE WALL”

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

January 6, 2017

Aretha Franklin & George Michael – I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Netherlands 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1986

I originally posted this 12″ on December 30, 2011. Like many of my older transfers from the period 2010-13 I was using ClikRepair and inferior equipment. So I am happy to be able to give this record a meticulous 2017 re-rip/remaster.

“I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” is a Grammy Award-winning number-one song performed by Aretha Franklin and George Michael as a duet in 1987. It was written by Simon Climie and Dennis Morgan. It also stands as Franklin’s biggest hit at the Adult Contemporary chart, spending several weeks at number two.

The song was a one-off project that helped Michael achieve his ambition to sing with one of his favorite artists, and it reached number-one in both the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100. The song was Franklin’s first and only UK number-one hit, and only her fourth top ten achievement in the country since “I Say a Little Prayer”, nearly two decades earlier. This was also the last of Franklin’s seventeen top 10 hits in the Billboard Hot 100.

For Michael, it became his third consecutive number-one in the UK since going solo, following 1984’s “Careless Whisper” (though the single was actually from the Wham! album Make It Big) and 1986’s “A Different Corner”. In the US, it was Michael’s fourth number-one hit, counting his Wham! days.

The single was the first Michael had recorded (as a lead artist) that he had not written himself. The co-writer, Simon Climie, was unknown at the time, although he later had success as a performer with Climie Fisher in 1988. On the US Billboard Hot 100, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” debuted at number 59, the week of February 21, 1987, reaching number-one in its ninth week, April 18, 1987, and remaining there for two consecutive weeks.

SIDE A:
I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Extended Remix) 7:30

SIDE B:
I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Percappella) 5:14
I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Edited Remix) 5:29

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1987	I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#1
1987	I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)	U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	#2
1987	I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs	#12
1987	I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)	U.S. Cashbox Top 100 Singles	#1

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Epic ‎– EPC 650253 6, Epic ‎– 650253 6
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Maxi-Single
Country: Netherlands
Released: 1986
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul
Style: Synth-pop, Soul

CREDITS:
Keyboards [Additional] – Ed Terry
Producer, Arranged By – Narada Michael Walden
Remix, Producer [Additional] – Steve Thompson And Michael Barbiero*
Written-By – Morgan*, Climie*

NOTES:
Special versions from the LP “ARETHA”
Aretha Franklin appears courtesy of Arista Records.

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

December 21, 2016

Howard Jones – No One Is To Blame (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1986

“No One Is to Blame” is a song by British musician Howard Jones. The song, in its original version, can be found on his second studio album, Dream into Action, which was released in 1985. Following the success of the previous singles taken from the album, the original track for “No One Is to Blame” was re-recorded to give the song a more radio-friendly sound. Phil Collins and Hugh Padgham produced the re-recording, with Collins adding his own backing vocals and drum work. This new version of the song was included on the 1986 US EP Action Replay as well as the CD version of Jones’s 1986 studio album, One to One.

“No One Is to Blame” was released as a single in March 1986 and became Jones’s biggest hit in the United States, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also became the first of his two #1 songs on the U.S. adult contemporary chart (“Everlasting Love” would top this chart in 1989). The song was also a top 10 hit in Australia and a #16 hit in the U.K..

The song is about unfulfilled attractions, saying that they’re normal and commonplace (“We want everyone – no one ever is to blame”). It uses a number of metaphors, such as “You can look at the menu, but you just can’t eat” and “It’s the last piece of the puzzle, but you just can’t make it fit,” to describe the frustration of experiencing attraction but being unable to act on it, for whatever reason. On a deeper level it describes the frustration and pain of unfulfilled desires and dreams inherent in the human condition.

“The Long Mix” is significantly shorter than the single; it is actually not a remix, but an entirely different piano and vocal-only version of the song recorded in session for the BBC Radio 1 Janice Long show.

SIDE A:
No One Is To Blame (Extended Mix) 5:14
Backing Vocals – Afrodiziak
Bass – Mo Foster
Drums, Vocals – Phil Collins
Engineer – Hugh Padgham
Engineer [Assistant] – Paul Gomershal*, Steve Chase*
Guitar – Phil Palmer
Keyboards, Vocals – Howard Jones
Mixed By – Steve Nye
Music By, Lyrics By – Howard Jones
Producer – Hugh Padgham, Phil Collins

SIDE B:
The Chase 2:54
Mixed By – Mike Roarty
Music By – Howard Jones
Producer – Howard Jones

No One Is To Blame (The Long Mix) 3:09
Music By, Lyrics By – Howard Jones
Producer – Barry Andrews

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1986	No One Is To Blame	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#1
1986	No One Is To Blame	U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	#20
1986	No One Is To Blame	U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	#4

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: WEA Records Ltd. ‎– HOW 9T
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: 15 Mar 1986
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Pop Rock, Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Artwork [Hand Colouring] – Tansy Spinks
Design [Sleeve] – Stylo Rouge*
Photography By – Trevor Rogers (2)

NOTES:
Track A: Recorded at The Farm, Surrey, England.
Track B2 produced for Radio 1 Janice Long Show. Released by arrangement with BBC Enterprises Ltd ℗ BBC Enterprises Ltd.

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi