Its 1988, we're all E'd up, shaking maraccas, and white man-dancing like idiots;but there were small oasis's of sanity to be found.One of those places of solace was Color Tapes, and probably the most well known Color Disc/Tapes compilation is dis (sic).
It's got the usual array of Gary Ramon,Lives Of Angels collaborations, and the usual mix-up of Neo-Psych and minimal synth tracks. There are few tracks that i haven't already featured elsewhere on the Blog, but it makes a fine introdustion to one of the founding father labels of British Independent music culture.
Tracklisting:
A1 –Modern Art - Golden Legend
A2 –Modern Art - Forbidden Universe
A3 –Modern Art - Cutting Water
A4 –Mystery Plane - Snakebite
A5 –Mystery Plane - Burning Desire
A6 –Mystery Plane - Crazy Bombs
B1 –Lives Of Angels - Look Out Kid
B2 –Lives Of Angels - Red Suit
B3 –Lives Of Angels - After Dark (Intended Version)
B4 –WeR7 - Bread
B5 –WeR7 - Caped Crusader
B6 –WeR7 - Now Wash Your Hands
Remember when all those 'Indie bands', like The Beloved, Primal Scream,Soup Dragons, Mock Turtles, and shit like that, turned Electro-Disco,or, 'Rave', overnight in 1988?...well the Color Tapes roster were doing that in the year of C86 (1986). Bands that were previously neo-psych VU wannabes, were now churning out minimal cold wave synth numbers. Mystery Plane were not excluded from this phase, as is evident on this retrospective compilation of their work up to 1986.
In fact when all those Madchester idiots were rattling their Tambourines, most of the Color Tape crew reverted to guitar based neo-psych, best represented by The Sun Dial's rather excellent output from 1989 onwards. Always do the antithesis of the accepted norms....and be careful what drugs you take.
Tracklisting:
A1 Fractured
A2 Curse Of The Body Snatcher
A3 Snakebite
A4 That Will Be The Day
A5 Crying Again
A6 Vampire
A7 Death Rattle
A8 Weird Science
B1 These Cities
B2 Evil Eye
B3 Find Some Body
B4 Zero Curse Missile
B5 The Curse
Despite 'Color' being a glaring spelling error, (The american spelling!), there are very few errors on any of their compilations.
Purple Twilight being one of them.Although the title would suggest that it may have been one of those Bam Caruso Brit-psych/Freakbeat compilations, if one didn't know better.
There are some Neo-Psych tracks within however, but scattered among the Minimal Synth, proto-Indie tchoons, and Cold wave classics.The Duke Of Disrespect also makes another, but welcome, appearance with the samplerdeclic non-hit hit, "You Tell Lies".
Experimental improv combo,'New 7th Music', featuring Paul Keldays brother ,Phil, also makes a very rare outing on vinyl.
A smogasbord of excellence.
Tracklisting:
A1 –Mystery Plane - Red Slime Creepers
A2 –Eye See - Evenings
A3 –Space Brothers - Sixteenth Avenue Atmosphere
A4 –The Duke Of Disrespect - You Tell Lies (Banging Away)
A5 –The Teamtones - Build A House And Marry, Tom
A6 –WeR7 - Revolve Her
A7 –Timothy London And The Soho Sisters - Hold Me Down
B1 –Modern Art - Death Wish
B2 –New 7th Music - Hibakusha
B3 –Omming For Works - Change Of Intention/The Punished Animal
B4 –Face In The Crowd - How Much Do You Know?
B5 –Andy Boot Quartet - Is That Close Enough?
B6 –The Ordinary - Wessex Tales
The incredibly high standard of stuff from Color Tapes continues with volume 3 of the 'An Hour Of Color' series of compilations.I've said it all before, you know what you're gonna get, so get on with it.....its good.
Tracklisting:
A1 –Space Brothers - Lost Civilisation
A2 –Modern Art - Monument Of Heaven
A3 –Lives Of Angels - Lives Of Angels
A4 –WeR7 - The Hearts Outstanding
A5 –Kata Kolbert - Poor Poor Thing
A6 –Cleaners From Venus - Ilya Kuryakin Looked At Me
A7 –Moisten Before Use - Where To Now
A8 –Bill Pritchard - Fact Or Fiction
B1 –Space Brothers - Purple Twilight
B2 –Modern Art - She Cannot Yet Be Seen
B3 –Lives Of Angels - Green On Black
B4 –Kata Kolbert - Marriage Of Inconvenience
B5 –Shadow Of Light - Play Your Joker
B6 –Cleaners From Venus - Follow The Plough
B7 –3D5 - Special Fx
B8 –Face In The Crowd - Somewhere, Sometimes
B9 –Mystery Plane - Madame Sin
Another one of the many compilations released on cassette by Color Tapes in the eighties, this one is from 1985....not a vintage year elsewhere, but on the Color label, it was as if the 'New Romantics' had never happened.
We are treated to two melodic classix from the cruelly ignored 'Cleaners From Venus', worth the admission money all by themselves.This is countered by the truly awful 'That It', with some over-clever lounge jazz for the discerning pseudo intellectual.
The rest is populated by the usual Color crew, normally involving Gary Ramon somewhere in the mix of Minimal Synth, Cold Wave, and Proto-Indie ditties...really rather marvellous.
Tracklisting:
A1 –Cleaners From Venus - Soul Monday
A2 –Lives Of Angels - Red Suit
A3 –Take-It - Fallen Out
A4 –Modern Art - Confrontation
A5 –Berserk In A Hayfield - Pulse
A6 –WeR7 - I Was Not A Jew
A7 –Space Brothers - Lodore
B1 –Cleaners From Venus - Julie Profumo
B2 –Take-It - I'd Like To Talk To You
B3 –Berserk In A Hayfield - Fear
B4 –Mystery Plane - Dungeon Blues
B5 –Timothy London - Mission Impossible
B6 –The Teamtones - She Says No
B7 –Lives Of Angels - Threatened
B8 –Andy Boot Quartet - Perfectly Perfunctory
B9 –WeR7 - I Pray To A Moving God
Yet more minimal synth cold wave classics from Color Tapes' classic early eighties period. All the usual suspects are here again.....most of them involving Gary Ramon (latterly of The SunDial). All previously available only on the medium of cassette, and have now been expertly remastered from the original masters to appear sparkly and as crisp as newly born babe. Its almost incomprehensible that these babes are now approaching forty years old; but they are!
Tracklisting:
A1 –Beatmixer - Danse Electrique
A2 –Silicon Valley - Going Out
A3 –Berserk In A Hayfield - Start Of Something
A4 –Disintegrators - Transmissions Unknown
A5 –Silicon Valley - ZX
A6 –WeR7 - Word Perfect
B1 –Mystery Plane - I'll Get You For This
B2 –Echophase - Train
B3 –Berserk In A Hayfield - Optical
B4 –Lives Of Angels - Gateway
B5 –Beatmixer - The Beatmixer
A third volume of lost or forgotten classics of the minimal electronic genre from the Color Disc archives.
Starts off with the sample fest classic of "You Tell Lies" by the mysterious Duke of Disrespect...or in other words Gary Ramon who'd just bought an Ensoniq Mirage.Then it gets even better from there.
Tracklisting:
1 –Duke Of Disrespect - You Tell Lies (Banging Away) 3:10
2 –Silicon Valley - X-Cell 4:00
3 –The Lord - Universe 3:30
4 –Disintegrators - Oscillations 4:00
5 –Lives Of Angels - Green On Black 3:09
6 –Silicon Valley - Holborn Station 3 am 3rd January 1982 1:50
7 –Stereo Machines & Kinesis - Excerpt From Cassette No.7 2:24
8 –Disintegrators - Filter Reactor 3:39
9 –Berserk In A Hayfield - Club Paris 3:29
10 –Echophase - Destination 4:29
11 –Mystery Plane - When The Money Runs Out 3:31
12 –Lives Of Angels - Red Suit 5:20
13 –Modern Art - Opaque 4:28
14 –Stereo Machines & Kinesis - Excerpt From Cassette No.6 2:54
15 –Disintegrators - Disintegrate (Edit) 7:09
Color Disc, previously Color Tapes, was once a vehicle for a bunch of Neo-Psych and Proto Indie bands from 1980 onwards, and it was mainly these same groups of musicians who also produced some of the best underground minimal synth of the early eighties. Electronic music is, in my opinion, a superior form of Psych, both in classic and Neo versions, so the leap in style is not as great as it would first seem. A form which would eventually haunt us all as 'Acid House', which then evolved into that bloody awful 'club culture' when the proletariat wrestled it from the grasp us elitist types.It always happens,mass acceptance leading to a generic indolence of a particularly unattractive kind.
The gorgeous analogue beauty of these timeless pieces of minimal electro-psych in that short window of time from 1980-85 when synthpop, or synth wave was almost impossible to do badly.Just look at that equipment list, perfect.
Tracklisting:
A1 –Disintegrators - Elixir Vapor 3:31
A2 –Void - Transvision 3:06
A3 –The Lord - Out Of Space & Out Of Time 6:15
A4 –Body Electric - Undercurrents 3:17
A5 –Space Brothers - Lodore (Purple Twilight remix) 3:30
B1 –Void - Radio 3:44
B2 –Berserk In A Hayfield - Pulse 5:11
B3 –WeR7 - Masterful Of Ceremonies 5:13
B4 –Lives Of Angels - Experiment 1 2:29
B5 –Mystery Plane - Find Some Body 3:53
B6 –Lives Of Angels - Experiment 2 2:44
A recent series of compilations of UK electronic cold wave and minimal synth from the legendary Color tapes label. Featuring many previously neo-psych bands, mostly including DIY legend Gary Ramon as a member. All of these tracks were previously only available on cassette, either/or previously unreleased. They could have been recorded yesterday such is the quality and future leaning inventiveness of all of these tracks.
Tracklisting:
1 –Berserk In A Hayfield - Tease
2 –Modern Art - Alternative Universe (Edit)
3 –Lives Of Angels - Lives Of Angels
4 –The Lord - Winds Of Space
5 –Berserk In A Hayfield - Code
6 –WeR7 - Don't Surrender
7 –Mystery Plane - Pigsty Cafe
8 –Stereo Machines And Kinesis - Excerpt From Cassette Number 10
9 –WeR7 - Volt Air
10 –The Lord - Space Is The Bass
11 –Disintegrators - Beyond Reason Beyond Time
12 –Lives Of Angels - Threatened
13 –Modern Art - Age Of Lights (Instrumental Version)
Another group with Gary Ramon (Gary Gipps) in it, augmented by the
complete Lives of Angels line-up, and someone called Doctor Zero(?) on
vocals.
Again, not as psychedelic as you would expect,and more in line with the
alternative charts of 1983.No great innovations here,but still an
interesting listen for anyone sick of their Echo and the
Bunnymen/Teardrop Explodes records(ie everyone)..Beat box bedroom
Psych,for the discerning early eighties teen.
Though truly made in the DIY spirit, Ramon will not find his real mojo
until The Sun Dial's first album;then lose it,incidentally, for the
second Sun Dial album,which was absolutely dire Ecstasy
inspired/uninspired,baggy beat crap!But the Mystery Plane ain't bad, as
it was made before 'E' fucked pop music up forever.
Track Listing:
A1 Burning Desire
A2 Find Some Body
A3 Nosedive
A4 Food For Him
A5 Death Sentence
A6 Pigsty Café
B1
When The £ Runs Out
B2
My Obsession
B3
This Is Your Life
B4
New Bride
B5
Punishment Block
B6
Hello Dummy
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