2008 Year In Review

Once again, another great year in music has passes us by. Here's a re-cap of the best releases that came out in '08! (Listed in alaphabetical order)

If ya like these artists, check out my radio show "Living In the '80s" Saturdays on http://www.kzsc.org. Happy New Year!

The B-52's "Juliet of the spirits" Funplex
The Breeders "Overglazed" Mountain Battles
David Byrne & Brian Eno "Strange Overtones"
The Cure "The Perfect Boy" 4:13 Dream
Joe Jackson "Citizen Sane" Rain
Cyndi Lauper "Into the Nightlife"
Madonna "Give It 2 Me" Hard Candy
Aimee Mann "Freeway" @#%&! Smilers
Morrissey "That's How People Grow Up That's How People Grow Up"
The Pretenders "Boots of Chinese Plastic" Break Up the Concrete
REM "Supernatural, supeserious" Accelerate
Yazoo "Nobody's Diary (Andy Bell JC remix)" RECONNECTED

Boomtown Rats: Up All Night - Long Version

The album Mondo Bongo by The Boomtown Rats originally released back in 1980 and produced with Tony Visconti, the U. S. track listing on Columbia Records included "Up All Night," written by Bob Geldof.

The V Deep 1982 UK release included this "Up All Night - Long Version"

Naked Eyes: Always Something There To Remind Me

One of my favorite mixes of a cover tune of an old Burt Bacharach song from the '60s. Great tune with lots of heavy sounding production.

This track was recorded from the EMI 12" single Always Something There To Remind Me (Long Version).

Edelweiss: Bring Me Edelweiss (12 Inch Club Mix)

Found this old fun tune on a great blog at Retro Wonderland - jam packed with lots of great 12 inches. The yodeling is so crazy.

From Austria it's Edelweiss "Bring Me Edelweiss (12 Inch Club Mix)"

The Cure: The Drowning Man (Live Berlin 2008)

Here is a juicy tid bit I found on YouTube while looking for the new song, The Only One. It's The Drowning Man live from Berlin 2008. The Cure in Berlin live at the Velodrom during their "4 Tour". Great rare performance of a classic track. The audio was edited to fix the volume level and the cut off intro.

Depeche Mode: Master & Servant (US Black & Blue Version)

This month's classic comes from one of Depeche Mode's early albums, "Some Great Reward". With this hit, Depeche Mode made it big in 1984 on the American charts after releasing the wildly popular People Are People.

Here is the first 12 inch single for Master & Servant (US Balck & Blue Version) and the catchy b-side (Set Me Free) Remotivate Me (12" Remix).

The production and mixing process of Master and Servant are remembered by Alan Wilder, Daniel Miller, and Gareth Jones, as among the longest that Depeche Mode ever endured. One famous story about the song includes a mixing duration of seven days, and after all the reworking and final mastering of the mix, they realized they left the channel with the snare drum muted during the last chorus.

The overtly sexual, BDSM-themed lyrics of Master and Servant - complete with synthesized whip-and-chain sound effects - reportedly got the song banned by many radio stations in the United States (although the song reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart anyway, albeit only at #87 and for only a three-week chart stay).

Human League: You Remind Me Of Gold

From a Japanese print of a 45 on the Virgin label. I found this gem in a record shop down in my old haunt in Ocean Beach, CA. It's the b-side of Mirror Man. From 1982, the hard to find "You Remind Me Of Gold." I've never seen it anywhere before.

There may be an American tour this summer with ABC and Belinda Carlisle and maybe a few others like A Flock Of Seagulls and Naked Eyes. OMG!!

Fun Boy Three: The End (live)

During a Solstice Celebration last month, my friend and I were talking about Fun Boy Three. He had complained about going on a trip to the UK with the idea of hunting down rare live recordings and finding out that there were not many (if any) Fun Boy Three shows. He was told that back in the day, portable cassette recorders were still kind of new and that not many fan recordings were ever made.

When he finally got see Fun Boy Three perform years later in the US, in the early '90s, he told me they did this cool rendition of The Doors classic "The End."

I thought maybe, by now, somebody must have posted some TV footage ans sure enough -- here it is! I recorded the audio, fixed the beginning with some editing and now we have and audio track for "The End (live 1983)."