Thursday, 15 March 2018

Day 15 - White Lion Radio's Favourite Vinyl 12 Inch Singles From The 80s

Day 15.....


Blancmange - Living On The Ceiling (Extended Mix)

What a track this is, and in the extended format it sounds even better. It is rightly regarded as a classic 80s track, its fun, unusual and such an upbeat track. One thing about Blancmange, is they definitely had a unique sound in those days that no one has captured since, the rhythm section in the track is one of the best I have heard and who would have thought a sitar would produce the main melody hook in the song......brilliant!

The single is taken from their equally impressive debut album “Happy Families”. Before Blancmange hit the big time I was already a fan after hearing the beautiful and melancholic track “Sad Day”, which was featured on the Some Bizarre Album Compilation, that also featured other unknown bands at the time, including Depeche Mode, The The, and Soft Cell, who all went on to bigger and better things.

The 12 Inch Vinyl of “Living On The Ceiling” featured the customary extended version, on the A side, which had a running time of 5.37, whilst the B Side featured 2 BBC Radio session tracks,  “I Would” and “Running Thin”, the latter being a gem of a track.

It was released in October 1982 and reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart.

When Blancmange performed the single on Top Of The Pops they had to change the line “Up The Bloody Tree” to “Up The Cuckoo Tree”, even back then the Beeb were very PC!!

Some years ago I actually recorded my own version of “Living On The Ceiling”!

12 INCH VINYL TRACK LISTING

A1 Living On The Ceiling (Extended Mix) 5:37
B1 I Would 4:02
B2 Running Thin 2:19

You will find the Extended Mix of “Living On The Ceiling” and both the B Sides on the recently issued deluxe 3 CD set of “Happy Families” that is available from Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-Families-Blancmange/dp/B071JR8NLP/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1519834610&sr=1-4&keywords=Blancmange

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