Tag: UK

December 7, 2023

Scritti Politti – Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) (UK 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1984

“Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)” is the seventh single released by British pop band Scritti Politti, issued in the UK on 24 February 1984 by Virgin Records. It later appeared on the band’s second studio album Cupid & Psyche 85 (released in June 1985) and was produced by Arif Mardin. The song’s subtitle is a reference to “I Say a Little Prayer”, Aretha Franklin’s biggest UK hit; Mardin had also produced Franklin.

The single was Scritti Politti’s breakthrough hit on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at No. 10 in a 16-week chart run. It was also a Top 30 hit in Australia and New Zealand. In the United States it reached No. 4 on the Billboard Dance Chart.

Two music videos were shot for the song. The first, shot in 1984, was directed by John Scarlett-Davis, who also directed the videos for “Absolute” and “The Word Girl” and features the dancing of Michael Clark. A second music video was released for the US in 1986, directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino and featuring model Veronica Webb (who also appeared in the video for “Perfect Way”). Both versions were featured on a video compilation simply titled “Scritti Politti”, released on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc by Virgin Music Video in 1986. The 1984 version is simply titled “Wood Beez”, while the 1986 version is titled “Wood Beez – USA”.

SIDE A:
Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) 4:48

SIDE B:
Wood Beez (Version) 5:57

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1984	Wood Beez	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music Club’/Play	#4

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin – VS 657-12
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: Feb 20, 1984
Genre: Electronic
Style: Electro, Synth-pop

CREDITS:

Arranged By – David Gamson, Green*
Backing Vocals – B.J. Nelson, Fonzi Thornton, Tawatha Agee*
Drums – Steve Ferrone
Guitar – Paul Jackson Jnr.*
Management – Bill Gerber, Lookout Management, Partisan Management Ltd., Robert Warr
Mixed By – Jason Corsaro
Producer, Edited By – Arif Mardin
Synthesizer – David Frank, David Gamson, Robbie Buchanan
Synthesizer [Fairlight Assistance] – Ned EBN*
Vocals, Written-By – Green*

NOTES:
Artwork:
1984
273cm x 273cm
Honeycomb, copper, cotton, acrylic, photo, beeswax, wood.

Recorded + Mixed at: Power Station + Atlantic Studios, New York.

Manufactured in the UK.

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.

December 6, 2023

The Dream Academy – The Love Parade (UK 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1985

NEW 2023 Transfer!
NEW Meticulous Audio Restoration!

Originally posted March 26, 2012

“The Love Parade” is the fourth single released by The Dream Academy. It was a more “edgy” song than their previous singles, made so by the inclusion of implied themes of adultery and erotic temptation in the lyrics, and was arranged to a brisk bossa nova-esque beat which was in stark contrast to the style of the group’s first single Life In A Northern Town. There were two additional singles released in the UK by Blanco y Negro, a 7″ shaped picture disc and a second limited edition release.

The Love Parade is the only song on The Dream Academy’s eponymous album not to be produced by David Gilmour. Instead, the band recruited Alan Tarney to work with them on the track. Tarney was brought in at the suggestion of Rough Trade Records founder Geoff Travis to work on “The Love Parade”. “What happened was, we had a pretty good demo for “Love Parade,” and we loved it, and when we made the record with David, somehow we never got ’round to it”. Lead vocalist Nick Laird-Clowes noted that Tarney brought some “real special techniques” to the table: he tracked the vocals “12 or 15 times” during certain portions of the song.

There were high hopes for the single, especially from Warner, and there was some degree of promotion of the song (such as a live performance on American Bandstand). However, the single failed to live up to the expectations of their debut single, “Life in a Northern Town”, just making the top 40 (#36) in the US and reaching #68 in the UK.

SIDE A:
The Love Parade (12″) 6:16
Engineer, Mixed By – John Hudson
Producer – Alan Tarney

SIDE B:
The Love Parade (7″) 3:46
Producer – Alan Tarney

Girl In A Million (For Edie Sedgwick) 3:47
Producer – Paul O’Duffy*, The Dream Academy

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1985	The Love Parade	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#36
1985	The Love Parade	U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary Tracks	#13

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Blanco Y Negro – NEG16T, Blanco Y Negro – NEG 16(T), WEA – 920363-0
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop, New Wave

CREDITS:

Artwork By [Screened By] – Art-O-Matic
Design – Peter Saville Associates
Written-By – Gabriel*, Laird-Clowes*

NOTES:
From the LP “The Dream Academy”

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

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.

December 5, 2023

Frankie Goes To Hollywood – The Power Of Love (UK Cassette Single)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1984

“The Power of Love” is a song originally recorded and released by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It was written by Holly Johnson, Peter Gill, Mark O’Toole and Brian Nash, four of the five members of the band. It was released by the group as their third single.

Initially issued as a single in November 1984, and taken from the debut album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1984), “The Power of Love” followed its two predecessors, “Relax” and “Two Tribes”, to the top of the UK singles chart. It scored the band an early December number-one. “The Power of Love” was also a top 10 hit in several European countries, in Australia and New Zealand, and in Canada. “The Power of Love” is often regarded as a Christmas song, despite having no reference to Christmas within the song lyrics. However, the accompanying video features the Nativity of Jesus, and the single cover was The Assumption of the Virgin. The single spent just one week at Number One in the UK, outsold by the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid, which until 1997 was the best selling single ever in the UK.

Holly Johnson, who co-wrote the song, later reminisced: “I always felt like ‘The Power of Love’ was the record that would save me in this life. There is a biblical aspect to its spirituality and passion; the fact that love is the only thing that matters in the end”.

**I have chosen to leave this cassette un-edited to keep the integrity of the original cassette. I did clean up the audio manually removing clicks/pops along with adding fade-in at the beginning and end of the cassette. This was recorded with DOLBY NR enabled.

SIDE A: 22:43
The Power Of Love
The World Is My Oyster (Scrapped)
Holier Than Thou (The First)
The World Is My Oyster (Trapped)
Holier Than Thou (The Second)
The Power Of Love (Instrumental)

SIDE B: 22:43
The Power Of Love
The World Is My Oyster (Scrapped)
Holier Than Thou (The First)
The World Is My Oyster (Trapped)
Holier Than Thou (The Second)
The Power Of Love (Instrumental)

CASSETTE GRADE:
Cassette: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: ZTT – CTIS 105
Series: Action Series – 5, Incidental Series – 153
Format: Cassette, Single, Partially Mixed, Rough Edge
Country: UK
Released: Nov 1984
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Pop
Style: Pop Rock, Synth-pop, Ballad

CREDITS:

Arranged By [Strings] – Anne Dudley
Artwork By [Packaged By] – XLZTT
Composed By – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Engineer [Assistant] – Bobby The K*
Producer – T.C. Horn*
Producer [Assistant] – Steve The Lippo*
Vocals – Holly Johnson
Written-By – Nash* (tracks: A1, A6, B1, B6), FGTH* (tracks: A2, A3, A5, B2, B3, B5), Johnson* (tracks: A1, A6, B1, B6), O’Toole* (tracks: A1, A6, B1, B6), Gill* (tracks: A1, A6, B1, B6), ZTT (tracks: A2, A3, A5, B2, B3, B5)

NOTES:
Issued in a standard case with a double-sided fold-out j-card inlay.
Shell is grey with a rough edge pattern and red on-body printing.
Recorded in Dolby.
Plays same on both sides.
Track listing in the liner notes is vague.
“This cassette is not a ‘cassingle’ anybody who calls it such will be shot. In combination with ZTAS 5 and 12 ZTAS 5 it forms number 5 in ZTTs movement-less Action Series. On it’s own it is number 153 in Zang Tuum Tumb’s sunshine Incidental Series.
What would you put in it’s place.”

Buy the Cassette at DISCOGS

CASSETTE TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Cassette Deck: Nakamichi BX-300 Discrete 3-Head Cassette Deck
DAC/Phono Pre-amp Line In Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
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:
Cassette transfer was recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at

**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.

November 2, 2023

Endgames – Love Cares (UK 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1983

“Love Cares” was the fourth overall and second single on Virgin Records by Scottish pop band Endgames. The song was taken from their debut LP “Building Beauty” (1983).

“Love Cares” charted on Billboard, reaching #47 on the Disco/Dance Chart, but MCA Records in the U.S. didn’t promote the band enough so the actual sales weren’t strong with the parent album failing to chart. Meanwhile, Endgames toured as a support act for Howard Jones during his sold-out first tour of the UK in March–April 1984. Shortly thereafter Virgin Records ended their contract and Endgames disbanded.

SIDE A:
Love Cares (Extended Version) 6:01

SIDE B:
Love Cares 3:20
Ready Or Not 3:47

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1983	Love Cares	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	#47

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin – VS 617-12
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Single, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1983
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop, New Wave

CREDITS:

Art Direction – Peter Hill (4)
Engineer – Howard Gray (tracks: B2)
Lacquer Cut By – Timtom* (tracks: A), TY* (tracks: B)
Photography By – Jamie Morgan
Producer – C. Campsie* (tracks: A, B1), Endgames (tracks: B2), G. McFarlane* (tracks: A, B1)
Written-By – End Games*

NOTES:
From the LP “BUILDING BEAUTY”

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

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.