Tag: Japan

George Michael – A Different Corner (Japan 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1986

NEW 2023 Transfer
NEW Meticulous Audio Restoration

Originally posted September 25, 2013

AN 80S AUDITORY ICON

“A Different Corner” is a song written and performed by George Michael that was released on Epic Records (Columbia Records in the US) in 1986.

“A Different Corner” was written by Michael while Wham! were at their peak as a duo, and during a low point in his life:

“I felt like shit. I went in and recorded exactly the way I felt, and that’s the way it sounds. It was partly Wham! and partly the end of a relationship. It was the farthest I’d ever fallen and in a very short period of time. I had to get rid of it somehow, I had to write about it. That’s a really perverse side that I’m sure a lot of writers have—’I feel like shit, but maybe I’ll get a good song out of it.'”

Michael admitted that “A Different Corner” was the “most honest” and personal song he had ever done. He elaborated further on the song’s meaning:

“That was about a very quick relationship, a here today gone tomorrow one. It’s amazing how emotional you can get in a short period of time and how long it can last. Someone can really shake you up and it takes you a long time to get yourself back on your feet; that was what that was about.”

According to Michael, the song took roughly 14 hours to write and record from beginning to end. The synthesizer textures were created with a Roland Juno-60 synthesizer.

At the time of its release in March 1986, Michael was still a member of pop duo Wham! (the song is included on Wham!’s album Music from the Edge of Heaven only released in Japan and North America, as well as their compilation album The Final, released worldwide), though he and partner Andrew Ridgeley had announced that they would split in the summer after a farewell single, album and concert. Michael had already enjoyed a solo number one on the UK Singles Chart in 1984 with “Careless Whisper”, which was credited as Wham! featuring George Michael in the US.

After radio DJ Simon Bates first aired “A Different Corner” on Radio 1, he rated the song so highly that he immediately played it again from the beginning. Michael went back to the top of the UK chart with “A Different Corner”, becoming the first solo act in the history of the UK chart to reach number one with his first two releases, although he was hardly an unknown or new act on either occasion due to his previous hits with Wham!. The song reached number 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100, thus becoming the first single credited solely to Michael to become an American top-ten hit which was enough to make American executives at Epic Records confident that Michael would be viable as a solo artist and helped get the gears in motion for his solo album debut Faith. It was the first song to reach number one in the UK charts to be written, performed and produced by the same person.

The song was also remixed for his compilation Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael. This version omitted the guitar and Michael’s background vocals during the instrumental break.

SIDE A:
A Different Corner (Single Edit) 3:57

SIDE B:
A Different Corner (Instrumental) 4:13

BONUS TRACK:
A Different Corner (Full-Length Version) 4:30

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
ONI: Near Mint
Insert: Near Mint

CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1986 A Different Corner U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #7
1986 A Different Corner U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary #6

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Epic – 12-3P-740
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: Japan
Released: May 21, 1986
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Style: Downtempo, Synth-pop

CREDITS:

NOTES:
Comes with OBI Strip, and Gatefold Lyric Insert.

“This record is dedicated to a memory”

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC:
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:
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

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!


Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.



Sylvester with Patrick Cowley – Do Ya Wanna Funk/Mind warp (Japan 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1983

 

Patrick Cowley was one of disco’s most mysterious figures.

His life was cut short in 1982 when he died of Aids at age 32. He was a key presence in the gay San Francisco disco scene; in the 1970s and early 1980s, when the city had one of the best disco scenes in the world.

Sylvester was San Francisco’s biggest star and Cowley’s muse – a larger-than-life presence around town, dressed to the nines and often carrying multiple shopping bags as he walked down Castro Street. Cowley most famously worked with Sylvester on the ecstatic mega-hit You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and was a pioneer of the genre known as Hi-NRG, a relentlessly uptempo variant of disco that gained serious traction, especially in the UK and Europe.

Cowley was a good deal quieter than Sylvester, and more of a tech boffin, experimenting with music in an apartment in the Castro crammed with electronics, with cables hanging everywhere. “It was a mess of wires,” recalls John Hedges, who ran Megatone Records for many years, the now-legendary record label that Cowley originally started with Marty Blecman in the 1970s.

“It certainly didn’t look very safe,” he adds. “He was always experimenting to get the sounds. They would wire everything in and have tape machines, and the tape would go from one tape machine to another about 10 feet away to create the echo they wanted, or delay.”

Sylvester known as “The Queen Of Disco” died six years after Cowley, of Aids-related complications in 1988. Patrick Cowley and Sylvester were iconic trailblazers not just for queer and androgynous people, but for disco music as a whole, overcoming trauma, prejudice, and stigma to achieve their dreams.

“Do Ya Wanna Funk” is a 1982 dance song recorded by American recording artists Sylvester and Patrick Cowley. It was produced by Cowley, who incidentally died the same year. The song was most successful in Europe, especially in Belgium, Finland, and Norway, where it became a top-10 hit. It also reached the top 20 in the Netherlands and Switzerland and made it to the top 30 in West Germany and Australia, and the top 40 in the United Kingdom. The song was inspired by “I’m Your Jeanie”, a single by Jeanie Tracy, who was a background vocalist for Sylvester. It was also featured in the film Trading Places (1983). In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked “Do Ya Wanna Funk” number 179 in their list of 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time.

“Mind Warp” was the title track from Patrick Cowley’s third and final album.

SIDE A:
Do Ya Wanna Funk (Long Version) 6:57
Performer – Sylvester With Patrick Cowley
Vocals – Sylvester
Written-By – Patrick CowleySylvester

SIDE B:
Mind Warp (Long Version) 6:36
Performer – Patrick Cowley
Vocals – Patrick Cowley
Written-By – Patrick Cowley

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
OBI Strip: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1982 Do Ya wanna Funk U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Disco songs #4

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Victor – VIL-1002
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Maxi-Single
Country: Japan
Released: 1983
Genre: Electronic
Style: Hi-NRG

CREDITS:

NOTES:
Comes with an OBI strip

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC:
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:
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

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!


Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.



Angie Gold – Eat You Up (Japan 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1985

“Eat You Up” is a song by British singer-songwriter Angie Gold, written by Gold and Anthony Baker and released in 1985 by Passion Records (U.S.).

The single peaked at No. 30 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs Chart on August 17, 1985, after spending six weeks on the survey, “Eat You Up” would be Gold’s only U.S. Charting single. It found more success in Japan, where it was titled “Suteki na High Energy Boy” (素敵なハイエナジー・ボーイ, Suteki na Hai Enajī Bōi, “Nice High Energy Boy”) and spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Oricon’s international singles chart in early 1986. Other artists in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea also adapted the song in several languages.

Gold later re-recorded the song with producer Ian Levine for her 1995 compilation album The Best of Angie Gold: Eat You Up.

SIDE A:
Eat You Up (Hi-NRG Mix) 6:43

SIDE B:
Eat You Up (Instrumental) 5:41

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
OBI Strip: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1985 eat You Up U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #30

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Alfa International – ALI-12004
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: Japan
Released: Aug 25, 1985
Genre: Electronic
Style: Hi NRG, Synth-pop

CREDITS:

NOTES:
Released with white obi
Japanese title: Suteki Na Haienajī Bōi (High Energy Boy)

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC:
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:
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

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!


Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.



Miami Sound Machine – Falling In Love (Uh-Oh) (Japan 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1985

REQUEST!

NEW 2023 Transfer!
NEW Meticulous Audio Restoration!

Originally posted May 11, 2015

“Falling in Love (Uh-Oh)” was the fourth single released by the American band Miami Sound Machine led by Gloria Estefan on their second English language album, and ninth studio album overall, Primitive Love. In the US the single peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100.

SIDE A:
Falling In Love (Uh-Oh) (Special Version) 6:08
Remix – Pablo Flores

SIDE B:
Falling In Love (Uh-Oh) (Dub Version) 5:19
Remix – Pablo Flores

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
OBI Strip: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1985 Falling In Love (Uh-Oh) U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #25
1985 Falling In Love (Uh-Oh) U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary #3

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Epic ‎– 12・3P 791
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Single, 45 RPM
Country: Japan
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic
Style: Pop Rock, Synthpop

CREDITS:
Producer – Emilio Estefan, Jr.

NOTES:
From the Epic LP “PRIMITIVE LOVE”

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable:Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
DAC:
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:
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

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!


Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.