Put The Needle On The Record - Week #61

Put The Needle On The Record Week #61 John Foxx - In Mysterious Ways

For this weeks feature we go back to September 1985 and the John Foxx album "In Mysterious Ways".

"In Mysterious Ways" was the 4th album released by John Foxx and is quite a departure from his usual sound and the album has more of a pop feel, and mixes synthesizers and acoustic guitars for its core sound, it is also an album John distances himself from, probably due to its "pop" overtones, however, I think it is a fabulous album. The album has some really strong songs, such as, "Stars On Fire", "Enter The Angel", the brilliant title track "In Mysterious Ways", "What Kind Of A Girl" and "Morning Glory". I rate this as my 2nd favourite album by John from his 80s catalogue, "Metamatic" will always be my favourite John Foxx album!

Two singles were released off the album, "Stars On Fire" (which reached number 89 in the UK Singles chart) and "Enter The Angel", (which failed to chart).

The album reached number 85 on the UK Album chart.

Track Listing

Stars on Fire
Lose All Sense of Time
Shine On
Enter the Angel
In Mysterious Ways
What Kind of Girl
This Side of Paradise
Stepping Softly
Enter The Angel II
Morning Glory

If you have this album in your collection, dig it out and give it a spin!

i-Select #115 (Part 2)

 White Lion Radio have released Part 2 of Edition #115 of i-Select.

This is a series of shows dedicated to electronic/synthpop bands that are unsigned, signed to a small independent label or self release their material.

Listen to the show on Mixcloud here

Playlist

AC83 Ft Chelsea Wraithchild - Cruel Summer
Soft Cotton County - Blue On Blue
Memory Design - You're Gonna Like Us
O.a.G.- All the Money in the World (Geoff Pinckney Remix)
Retrograth - Shine
Proletarian Poetry - To the End
Kraftman - Pocket Calculator (7 Inch Version)
Of What Remains - In The Fire
J26 - Setella Drift
Neon Capital - Open Water (Digimax Remix)
Just Scott - Just Breathe
Ralphy Grey & James Knights - Win The Race
Soft Cotton County - Coward Of The Country Fair (Radio Mix)
Seth Duncan & Mayah Camara - Wings
Memory Design - More Alive Than Ever Before
eLxAr - Framing
Xennon - The Wish
B De Carey ft Jessica Gelinas - Guiding light
Proletarian Poetry - Darkness
Soft Cotton County - The Future’s Not What It Used To Be
AC83 - Falling For You

Put The Needle On The Record - Week #60

Put The Needle On The Record Week #60 Blancmange - Mange Tout

For this weeks feature we go back to May 1984 and the Blancmange album "Mange Tout".

"Mange Tout" was the 2nd album released by Blancmange, the follow up to the excellent debut "Happy Families" and features some of the duo's best tracks, "Don't Tell Me", "Game Above My Head", "Blind Vision", "That's Love That It Is" and their sublime cover of the ABBA track "The Day Before You Came", I also think "Time Became The Tide" is a brilliant track, the rest of the tracks on the album aren't that good if I am being honest, fortunately the good stuff makes it a very listenable album. The other good thing about this album is that they released fabulous 12 inch extended versions of the singles all of which are brilliant, my favourite track on the album is probably a toss up between "Don't Tell Me" and "Blind Vision".

The album became the best selling album for the band and is probably the peak of their career.

Four singles were released off the album, "Blind Vision", which is my favourite track on the album (which reached number 10 in the UK Singles chart), "That's Love That It Is" (which surprisingly only reached number 33 in the UK Singles chart), "Don't Tell Me", (which reached number 8 in the UK Singles chart) and "The Day Before You Came" (which reached number 22 in the UK Singles chart).

The album reached number 8 on the UK Album chart.

Track Listing

Don't Tell Me
I'll Fly For YouGame Above My Head
Blind Vision
Time Became The Tide
That's Love That It Is
Murder
See The Train
All Things Are Nice
My Baby
The Day Before You Came

If you have this album in your collection, dig it out and give it a spin!

i-Select #115 (Part 1)

White Lion Radio have released Part 1 of Edition #115 of i-Select.

This is a series of shows dedicated to electronic/synthpop bands that are unsigned, signed to a small independent label or self release their material.

Listen to the show on Mixcloud here

Playlist

Positronic - Glorious Day
Kid Moxie - Creep
Kite - Heartless Places
Split Vision - Dark Delight
ARPRAXIS ft Mia G - Moonlight Slide
Mayah Camara & Micromatscenes - Bring Me To You 2025 (Single Version)
Perpacity - The Void
The Astral Brothers Limited - Broken Feelings
Voith - In The Shadows (We Fall In Love)
Chrom - Agony
Iammilan - let's Make A Pact( Je T_aime) (LorD And Master Remix)
Henric De La Cour - Dead Hank
Positronic - Better Than Life
Rogue FX -Renegades
deZeption - And You Never Hear What I Say (Radio Edit)
Bending Grid & Jolie - Retrospace (Rogue FX Remix)
Kid Moxie - Big In Japan
Church Of Trees - Mystery Boys
Split Vision - Mistress of the Forest
Cold Connection - Save Me Now (P.O. Remix)
Voith - My Shadowblade
Positronic - King of My Heart

Put The Needle On The Record - Week #59

Put The Needle On The Record Week #59 Spandau Ballet - Parade

For this weeks feature we go back to June 1984 and the Spandau Ballet album "Parade".

"Parade" was the 4th album released by Spandau Ballet and features a really solid set of songs and along with "True" is my favourite Spandau Ballet album. As with the album "True" it was produced by Steve Jolley and Tony Swain. The album was recorded in Munich and prior to going into the studio to record the album the band rehearsed the the songs for 2 months to get, what Gary Kemp called an "a big arena sounding", he wanted big production, hence why they rehearsed the songs so much before recording them.

Surprisingly the music critics weren't overly keen with the album, which I think is harsh, yes Spandau Ballet have been very hit and miss with their albums, however, this long player has stood the test of time really well and it also sold over 300,000 copies so it would seem music fans warmed to it.

Four singles were released off the album, "Only When You Leave", which is my favourite track on the album (which reached number 3 in the UK Singles chart), "I'll Fly For You" (which reached number 9 in the UK Singles chart), "Highly Strung", (which reached number 15 in the UK Singles chart) and "Round and Round" (which reached number 18 in the UK Singles chart).

The album reached number 2 on the UK Album chart.

Track Listing

Only When You Leave
Highly Strung
I'll Fly For You
Nature Of The Beast
Revenge For Love
Always In The Back Of My Mind
With The Pride
Round And Round

If you have this album in your collection, dig it out and give it a spin!

Maximum 80s #133

Welcome to edition 133 of Maximum 80s here on White Lion Radio, a show that celebrates the 1980s 12 Inch Single!

This a series of shows that features some of the finest 12 Inch Singles from the 80s all in one continuous mix.

The biggest hits in the 12 Inch format from the greatest decade in music history!

Listen to the show on Mixcloud here

Playlist

The The - Perfect (12 Inch Version)
Kraftwerk - The Telephone Call (Remix)
Taylor Dayne - Tell It To My Heart (Club Mix)
Heaven 17 - Play To Win (Extended Mix)
Jimmy Sommerville - Comment Te Dire Adieu (12 Inch Remix)
Falco - Rock Me Amadeus (Extended Version)
Howard Jones - Look Mama (UK Extended Mix)
Earth Wind & Fire - Boogie Wonderland (12 Inch Version)
D-Train - Walk On By (12 Inch Mix)
Spandau Ballet - Highly Restrung (12 Inch Version)
Kool & The Gang - Cherish (12 Inch Version)
Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again (Extended Version)

Kraftman Releases "Pocket Calculator EP"

Kraftman has released a brand new 4 track EP called "Pocket Calculator" and is a follow up to the previous "Computer World EP".

This is the 2nd EP released by Kraftman showcasing his versions of tracks that appeared on the 1981 Kraftwerk album "Computer World".

The EP features Kraftman's 7 inch version of "Pocket Calculator", a remixed 7 Inch version of "Computer Love", which is based on the version found on the Kraftwerk album "The Mix", an extended remix of "Pocket Calculator", which is also based on the version featured on The Mix" album and a special 12 inch extended arrangement of "Pocket Calculator" called the Casio 12 Inch mix.

Kraftwerk used, the Rolf Harris Stylophone instrument, on their version of the track, and has also been used by Kraftman, on the mixes featured on this release 

The Pocket Calculator EP is available from Bandcamp:

https://kraftman.bandcamp.com/album/pocket-calculator-ep

The Computer World EP is also available from Bandcamp:

https://kraftman.bandcamp.com/album/computer-world-ep

Put The Needle On The Record - Week #58

Put The Needle On The Record Week #58 Alison Moyet - Alf

For this weeks feature we go back to November 1984 and the Alison Moyet album "Alf".

This was Alison Moyet's debut album, her first after Yazoo split and there is quite an interesting story surrounding this, In 1983, shortly before the release of their second Yazoo album "You And Me Both" in 1983, Yazoo announced that they were splitting up. Deciding to pursue a solo career, Moyet soon received various offers from different record companies. Moyet ended up signing to CBS for £1 million later that year. However, after signing the contract, Yazoo's American record company Warner Bros then put an injunction on her. The legal issues took a year to be resolved by settlement in 1984! That was something I never knew, so even I get to learn new things from doing these features! The album was produced by Steve Jolley and Tony Swain, who had previously worked with Spandau Ballet and Bananarama.

The singles released were the obvious highlights but other gems on the album, include "Where Hides Sleep" and "Honey For The Bees", it is an album that has stood the test of time quite well and for me, it is Alison's best album.

4 singles were released off the album, "Love Resurrection" (which reached number 10 on the UK Singles chart), "All Cried Out" (which reached number 8 in the UK Singles chart), "Invisible", my favourite Alison Moyet track, (which surprisingly only reached number 21 in the UK Singles chart) and "For You Only" that was released in Europe and the States.

The album reached number 1 in the UK Albums chart.

Track Listing

Love Resurrection
Honey For The Bees
For You Only
Invisible
Steal Me Blind
All Cried Out
Money Mile
Twisting The Knife
Where Hides Sleep

If you have this album in your collection, dig it out and give it a spin!

Rubik's 80s Mix #133 (February 1981)

Welcome to edition #133 of  Rubik's 80s Mix series, each month we are going to focus on tracks that were in the charts on a specific month in the 1980s, which hopefully will bring back special memories for you, on this show, we feature tracks that were in the charts in February 1981.

Listen to the show on Mixcloud here

Playlist

The Jam - That's Entertainment
The Passions - I'm In Love With A German Film Star
Teardrop Explodes - Reward
Coast To Coast - Do The Hucklebook
Freeez - Southern Freeez
Toyah - It's A Mystery
Roxy Music - Jealous Guy
George Benson - What's On Your Mind
Kim Wilde - Kids In America
Duran Duran - Planet Earth
Status Quo - Something About You Baby I Like
The Human League - Boys And Girls
Sharon Redd - Can You Handle It
Landscape - Einstein A-Go-Go
Shakin' Stevens - This Ole House