Tag: UK
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U2, Two Hearts Beat As One, 12″ Single, 1983 on Island
This has long been one of my favorite U2 songs whether in this “Club Version” or the Francois Kevorkian remix or the original. I love the photo here of the lads out in a wheat field. My copy—via Music DNA in Methuen MA—is a UK pressing 12″ 45 rpm on the vibrant Island labels.
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U2, Pride (In the Name of Love) (single), 1984 on Island
One of my favorite U2 singles from the early 80s, released as the lead single just ahead of The Unforgettable Fire. Also has one of my favorite mistakes, when they sing “Early Morning, April 4.” I always figured the lads were not used to the American habit of not using 24 hr time. (They fixed…
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Modern English, Mesh & Lace, 1981 on 4AD
Debut album from Modern English on the 4AD label. This wasn’t released in the US formally until the 2012 CD reissue and then 2016 on vinyl. The debut is a bit darker and more derivative of Joy Division than some of the later work but still a really strong collection of songs. I always loved…
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Bauhaus, 4AD, 1983 on 4AD
Yes, I did save this one for halloween. This was a compilation EP of the singles versions of “Dark Entries,” “Telegram Sam,” and “Terror Couple Kill Colonel.” Love that back cover photo. I was today years old when I realized that John Cale wrote “Rosegarden Funeral of Sores,” the opening triplet of which is burned…
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Sting, Bring On The Night, 1986 on A&M
Sting’s first solo live album, a 2xLP set recorded over multiple nights of a tour in 1985. Sting was touring here with Branford Marsalis, Darryl Jones, Kenny Kirkland, Omar Hakim and others – basically a killer jazz band. The band is incredibly tight and the energy of the shows is wonderful – even on songs…
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Fleetwood Mac, The Pious Bird of Good Omen, 1969 on Blue Horizon
This is the earlier, Peter Green led, British Blues Fleetwood Mac, and collects their first four non-album UK singles and their B-Sides. It serves as a pretty good intro to what that first-stage Fleetwood Mac was all about. Eddie Boyd guests on “The Big Boat” and “Just the Blues” – and there are covers here…
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The Clash, Sandanista!, 1980 on CBS Records
The Clash’s fourth album, released in 1980 on CBS Records, distributed by Epic in the US. Sprawling, six-sided 3xLP collection that truly is all over the map, including a cover of Mose Allison’s “Look Here.” The FSLN catalog number on the labels is a nod to Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, the name of the…
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Billy Bragg, The Million Things That Never Happened, 2021 on Cooking Vinyl
This is Bragg’s COVID album, the title referring to all the events that didn’t take place due to social distancing and stay-at-home protocols. It was produced by The Magic Numbers’ Romeo Stodart and ends with a track co-written with Bragg’s son, Jack Valero: “”Ten Mysterious Photos That Can’t Be Explained.” I particularly like “I’ll Be…
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The Housemartins, The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, 1987 on Elektra
On this record the Housemartins were Norman Cook, Dave Hemingway, Stan Cullimore, Pete Wingfield, and P.D. (Paul) Heaton. Heaton & Hemingway went on to form The Beautiful South, while Norman Cook went on to form Beats International (and also was Fatboy Slim). The Housemartins were Christian Socialists from Hull (in the UK, not Massachusetts), which…
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Shame, Food for Worms, 2023 on Dead Oceans
My membership in Secretly Society actually introduced me to shame, a post-punk band from the UK (who style their name in lower case). This was their third LP for Dead Oceans, recorded at Assault and Battery studios in London, and produced by Flood. My copy in red/blue split vinyl via Secretly Society where it was…
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Simple Minds, Empires and Dance, 1980 on Zoom / Arista.
Simple Minds, Empires and Dance, 1980 on Zoom / Arista. My copy is a UK pressing on Zoom though I picked it up locally at Deep Thoughts in Jamaica Plain Faux Cyrillic does not imply support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Third album from Simple Minds, very European inspired album of kind of early synth…
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Yazoo, Upstairs At Eric’s, 1982 on Mute
Yazoo, Upstairs At Eric’s, 1982 on Mute My copy s a UK pressing, thus the Yazoo instead of Yaz, as the US Sire pressings had it. Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode cofounder) and Alison Moyet – such a fantastic album. “Only You” and “Don’t Go” on a debut LP?
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Ella Fitzgerald, Ella, 1959 on Verve.
Ella Fitzgerald, Ella, 1959 on Verve. This is a mid-seventies reissue of what was originally released in 1959 as “Ella Fitzgerald Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers” in a UK Verve pressing (Did “swingers” have the wrong connotation by the mid seventies, or did they just want a less tongue twisting title?) Part of the “Polydor…
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Art Tatum, The Genius, 1973 on Black Lion
Art Tatum, The Genius, 1973 on Black Lion Conpilation of recordings from 1944 and 1945 UK label founded in the late 60s that did a lot of reissues
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Human League, Lebanon, 1984 on Virgin.
Human League, Lebanon, 1984 on Virgin. 12″ single with an extended Lebanon om the A side and “Thirteen” plus an instrumental version on the B side EMI Records pressing from the UK
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Various Artists, Life In The European Theatre, 1981 on WEA.
Various Artists, Life In The European Theatre, 1981 on WEA. Apparently a UK pressing – the US version opted for “theater” in the title, and subbed The Doors’ “Peace Frog” in for Ian Drury and the Blockheads. (I say apparently because this version has none of the country-specific price codes or rights societies that other…
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UB40, Live, 1983 on DEP International.
UB40, Live, 1983 on DEP International. UK pressing, recorded on tour in Ireland in 1982. Love these early tunes: Burden of Shame, Tyler, One in Ten, Sardonicus. (Dont get me wrong, i also love Red Red Wine and later cover song UB40, but they were a killer political reggae band in the early 80s).
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Robyn Hitchcock, Groovy Decay, 1982 on Albion.
Robyn Hitchcock, Groovy Decay, 1982 on Albion (original UK pressing). Hitchcock’s second solo album with Sara Lee from Gang of Four and Anthony Thistlewaite from the Waterboys, produced by Steve Hillage