Flashback: The Official Lenn Tapes—Japan Survival Series (Summer 1985)

A “Larger than life itself…”
Ringo Starr – “Oh My My” (Apple)
Rod Stewart – “Dock of the Bay” (from Motown Returns to the Apollo)
Go West – “Call Me” (Chrysalis)
The Human League – “Fascination (extended remix)” (A&M)
The Style Council – “The Lodgers (or She Was Only a Shopkeeper’s Daughter)” (Polydor)
Phil Collins – “Don’t Lose My Number” (Atlantic)
Donna Summer – “I Feel Love” (Casablanca)
Elton John – “Your Starter For…” (MCA)
Stevie Wonder & George Michael – “Love’s in Need of Love Today” (from Motown Returns to the Apollo)
Kajagoogoo – “Too Shy (Midnight mix)” (EMI)
Apollonia 6 – “Sex Shooter” (the only performance in Purple Rain that isn’t interrupted by dialogue or cutaways) (Warner Bros.)

B “A 2 x 4’ll do it…”
The Style Council – “Shout to the Top!” (Polydor)
Paul Young – “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” (CBS)
Band Aid – “Do They Know It’s Christmas? (12″ version)” (Columbia)
Thomas Dolby – “The Search for Truth” (the first 30 seconds or so of one of the “Dissidents” remixes played at 33-1/3 rpm instead of at 45) (EMI)
Go West – “Goodbye Girl” (Chrysalis)
The Jam – “Absolute Beginners” (Polydor)
Elton John – “Philadelphia Freedom” (from The Superior Sound of Elton John 1971-75) (DJM)
Spandau Ballet – “Lifeline” (Chrysalis)
Earth, Wind & Fire – “Touch” (Columbia)
John Lennon – “Ya Ya” (Apple)
The Style Council – “Council Meetin’” (Polydor)

“It’s a keeper…” Continue reading

Flashback: 1987 (Part 2)

The 24th Birthday State of Mind Tapes
March 16, 1987

Part 1:
A
David Sylvian – “Gone To Earth” (Virgin)
Kate Bush – “Running Up That Hill” (EMI)
The Style Council – “My Ever Changing Moods” (Polydor)
Joe Jackson – “The Verdict” (A&M)
Prince – “Sometimes it Snows in April” (Paisley Park)
Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Ballet Mécanique” (School/Midi)
Supertramp – “The Logical Song” (A&M)
Simply Red – “Holding Back the Years” (Elektra)
David Sylvian – “The Healing Place” (Virgin)
The Style Council – “Blue Café” (Polydor)

B
Robbie Nevil – “C’est La Vie” (EMI Manhattan)
The Style Council – “(When You) Call Me” (Polydor)
Boz Scaggs – “Hard Times” (Columbia)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “Tokyo Storm Warning” (Columbia)
Japan – “Oil On Canvas” (Virgin)
David Sylvian – “Nostalgia” (Virgin)
Jimmy Buffett – “Wonder Why We Ever Go Home” (live) (ABC)
Koji Ueno – “Adagietto (remix)” (¥EN)
Epo – “Harmony” (Dear Heart/Midi)
David Sylvian – “Upon This Earth” (Virgin)

Part 2:
A
Ike & Tina Turner – “Nutbush City Limits” (United Artists)
Rachel Sweet – “B-A-B-Y” (Stiff/Epic)
Rachel Sweet – “Who Does Lisa Like?” (Stiff/Epic)
Mick Karn – “Buoy” (featuring David Sylvian) (Virgin)
John Lennon – “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” (Apple)
John Lennon – “Mind Games” (Apple)
John Lennon – “#9 Dream” (Apple)
Elton John – “Roy Rogers” (MCA)
Thomas Dolby – “Weightless” (EMI)
Plastics – “Diamond Head” (Island)
Joe Jackson – “You Can’t Get What You Want (Til You Know What You Want)” (A&M)
Nick Heyward – “Whistle Down the Wind” (Arista)

B
Elvis Costello – “Hoover Factory” (Columbia)
Wynton Marsalis – “Melancholia” (Coumbia)
Culture Club – “Time (Clock of the Heart)” (Virgin/Epic)
The Style Council – “It Didn’t Matter” (Polydor)
Sade – “Punch Drunk” (Epic)
Supertramp – “Just Another Nervous Wreck” (A&M)
Warren Zevon – “Ain’t That Pretty At All” (Asylum)
Japan – “Sometimes I Feel So Low” (Hansa)
The Art of Noise – “Love” (ZTT)
David Sylvian – “Silver Moon” (Virgin)
David Sylvian – “Where the Railroad Meets the Sea” (Virgin) Continue reading

Flashback: 1987 (Interlude)

The Beatles

  • Please Please Me  CDP 7 46435 2
  • With the Beatles  CDP 7 46436 2
  • A Hard Day’s Night  CDP 7 46437 2
  • Beatles for Sale  CDP 7 46438 2
  • Help!  CDP 7 46439 2
  • Rubber Soul  CDP 7 46440 2
  • Revolver  CDP 7 46441 2
  • Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band  CDP 7 46442 2

all Parlophone
1987 Continue reading

Flashback: 1987 (Part 1)

Prince – “Sign “☮” the Times”*
Paisley Park 0-20648 (12-inch single)
1987

U2 – The Joshua Tree
Island 7 90581-2 (CD)
1987

Amidst all the anxiety and pathos swirling around inside my head, these two records were released. Prince’s new single, “Sign “☮” the Times”, came out in February (the album of the same name wouldn’t hit the shops until the end of March); The Joshua Tree came out in March, one week before my birthday. Continue reading

Flashback: Elton John—Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Part 2)

Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
MCA MCA2-10003 (double LP)
1973

Since I bought this album in the spring of 1974, a couple of the things I remember about the time are lots of sunny days, and the introduction of Mr. Pibb, Coca-Cola’s Dr. Pepper wannabe soda. Continue reading

Flashback: David Bowie—Pin-Ups (8-track edition)

Because I haven’t posted anything new for a couple of years now, I’m going to delete my other blog (The Lifelong Mixtape) soon. I don’t want to lose everything, though, so I’m going to re-post some of the entries here. First up: my reminiscences around David Bowie’s 1973 album Pin-Ups. Continue reading

Somewhere faraway (a poem)

Yesterday morning, I arrived early for an appointment. For my in-car listening that morning, I had chosen a mixtape I made in 1987 (the CD player in my car stopped working back in February). One of the songs on the tape, included as an instrumental interlude, was ‘Somewhere Faraway’, from Melon’s 1987 album Deep Cut. (Club-goers may remember Melon from dance track ‘Hardcore Hawaiian’.) Seeing that title on the j-card started me thinking, and I began to write…
Continue reading

27 November 2009

Happened upon this today while going through a personal project from a few years ago. If I’m recalling correctly, it’s from a day when I was driving a few blocks from home while listening to Ruby Throat. It had rained the day before, but this particular day was sunny (or perhaps cloudy yet warm). As sometimes happened in that particular neighborhood, the heat from the sunlight caused steam to rise from the wet pavement. Continue reading