Second Hand News / June 2014
The Blow Monkeys / Animal Magic 1986 CD
An original RCA pressing of The Blow Monkeys‘ second album Animal Magic. PD 70910 was made in Germany and RCA did what they always did which is ruin the front cover artwork by insisting their logo go on the front. No one escaped this including David Bowie and the Eurythmics. PRICE PAID: £2.49
David Bowie / Never Let Me Down 1987 CD
Talking of Bowie, here’s the original CD version of 1987’s Never Let Me Down. Not much to see here you may think, but a close look at the back reveals Too Dizzy as track 10. Bowie convinced EMI America to remove this from future pressings as he’d apparently decided he didn’t like it, so this is the only place you can find the song. Bad news for co-writer Erdal Kizilcay who regularly incorporates the song into his concerts. In fact another Kizilcay co-write also missed out on album inclusion; Girls (previously recorded by Tina Turner) ended up as the B-side to the second single Time Will Crawl. PRICE PAID: £2.49
Curiosity Killed The Cat / Getahead 1989 CD
Curiosity‘s forgotten second album is notable for Name And Number, an excellent single that was a top twenty hit for the band but became better known for being appropriated by De La Soul for their 1991 hit Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey).
In truth, this album deserved better than to sound the death knell for the band. It was a looser, more chilled effort than their debut and a fairly convincing slice of pop-funk with songs like Cascade and We Just Got To Do It (For Us) [produced by Allen Toussaint]. However, the band seemingly ‘forget’ to write some hit singles and their faith in First Place as a follow-up to Name And Number turned out to be misplaced and the song didn’t even make the top 75. The old-bloke-on-the-cover may have worked for The Cure with Standing On A Beach, but where that photo seemed to fit with Robert Smith’s band’s image, it was perhaps rather more contrived here and certainly wouldn’t have helped when it came to moving product off the shelves back in 1989. PRICE PAID: £1.99.
Eurythmics / Would I Lie To You UK 12″ 1985
A US top ten hit, Would I Lie To You was the first single from Be Yourself Tonight and was fairly unusual in that it had two remixes on the one twelve-inch. Side one contained the ‘main’ remix an Eric ‘ET’ Thorngren Mix while the B-side contained an Extended Mix (as well as excellent album track Here Comes That Sinking Feeling). The ET mix is listed as a bonus track on the 2005 expanded reissue of Be Yourself Tonight, but it actually plays the Extended Mix (groan), which is a shame since the Extended Mix just has a longer fade by about 30 secs, whereas the ET version is actually a remix (although, it’s a very ‘light’ and short mix). Triva: The ET Mix was on 1985 compilation NOW Dance (LP and Cassette only). PRICE PAID: 50p.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood / Relax 12″ ZTAS 1
‘It doesn’t get more common than the twelve-inch of Relax‘, I hear you cry. Well yes, and no. The ‘Sex Mix’ of Frankie‘s first single famously was something of a ‘catch all’ with the seven minute New York Mix and the 16 minute version (the true ‘Sex Mix’) having the same name and sleeve art. Diehard fans know about runout groove codes but I’ve always forgotten what I’m supposed to look for and ‘take a risk’ on a purchase. Up until now it’s always been New York Mix, after New York Mix (oh, the disappointment!) but FINALLY a few weeks back I came up trumps. Very happy, and as it turns out if you hold both vinyl records side-by-side the 16 minute mix is easy to determine simply because the grooves go in quite a bit further. “Simples”, to use an annoying phrase. PRICE PAID: 50p
Genesis / I Can’t Dance CD Single 1993
Always been a bit of a sucker for an elaborately packaged CD single and this Genesis release from ’93 fits the bill being a six panel digi-pack, with card insert front cover and and “Band History and Discography” booklet. It’s not exactly in great condition, as you can see from the images, but for £1.50 it’s in the collection! PRICE PAID: £1.50
Nik Kershaw / When A Heart Beats 1985 seven-inch single
“Following the success of Wide Boy and Don Quixote Nik aims for his eighth consecutive top 20 single with ‘When A Heart Beats'” – this was the blurb on Now That’s What I Call Music 6 which included the first single from Kershaw’s then unreleased third album Radio Musicola. It turned out to be the kiss of death, since the song peaked at number 27 and Nik was never to have another top twenty hit in his career (under his own name). PRICE PAID: 50p
Tina Turner / Better Be Good To Me 1984 12″ single
Despite the mega-hit status of Tina Turner‘s Private Dancer album only a couple of singles (Let’s Stay Together and What’s Love Got To Do With It) were top ten singles in the UK. Better Be Good To Me was the fourth 45 and didn’t even make the top 40 although somehow this rather insubstantial track got to number 5 in the US. B-side When I Was Young is a melody-free piece of drivel. PRICE PAID: 50p
Robert Palmer / Clues 1980 vinyl LP
Palmer goes new wave! This fine record clocks in at only 31 minutes, but contains some great work including singles Looking For Clues and the classic Johnny And Mary. The latter proved good for Robert Palmer’s wallet since Renault used it for years in their TV advertisements. This UK Island record has a very interesting and quirky label design. PRICE PAID: £2.00.
Prefab Sprout / The Sound Of Crying 1992 CD single
Released to promote the Life Of Surprises best of, this Prefab Sprout two-part CD single set includes the edited version of The Sound Of Crying as well as the album version, Looking For Atlantis, The Golden Calf, Nightingales, One Of The Broken and the ‘Truckin’ Mix’ of Faron Young. PRICE PAID: £2.00
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16 thoughts on “Second Hand News / June 2014”
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Checked my Bowie CD and there it was! TOO DIZZY! LOL. Horrible record, though.
Great finds Paul. Curiously I also paid 50p (Irish) for Tina Turner’s Better Be Good To Me 12″ in January 1985.
Maybe “Better Be Good To Me” was a hit in the US because of the production by Rupert Hine and involvement of members of The Fixx, a UK band that the UK (inexplicably) didn’t care about but the US loved quite a bit. This was co-written by professional songwriter Holly Knight and was originally recorded in 1981 by her then-band, Spider (who also recorded “Change,” eventually recorded by John Waite).
I have to stick up for The Fixx – they’re one of my all-time favorite bands!
Thank you for featuring “Animal Magic” by The Blow Monkeys, too!
Ah The Fixx! Their first album ‘Shuttered Room’ is a stunner from start to finish. Track down a copy on vinyl for real audio nirvana. Great songs and a stella recording. Good shout sir!
My favourite recurring feature on SDE!
Some nice finds (curiously I also saw that Genesis CD-single this weekend, albeit one in much better condition…I didn’t bite though). I did get an original 1986 German Maxi-CD of Depeche Mode’s Question Of Lust for 25p though….a bit marked, but perfectly playable.
I’ve never seen a blue-faced RCA CD before!
Interesting Justin, I remember reading about the 8 min variant back in 1984 but never saw one and it never seems to be mentioned these days.
I managed to get the 16 min version when it was rereleased in the company sleeve back in 84, but never saw the original one in the pic sleeve until today. Great find!
I am currently playing my Canadian pressing of Clues which I bought a few months ago for $1 in Vancouver. Bought so many dollar records lately, mainly of 80s groups and singers. So glad I started buying vinyl again after so many years.
Radio Musicola cd and cassette have When a Heart Beats, never worked out why Don Quixote was top ten (its dull and 3rd single) and this only got to 27, three months later. The post live aid freezeout….
Rob- i used the same method to track down the 8 minute variant of the original sex mix ztas1 (edited and slightly remixed from the 16 min version)!
Thanks for including the prices you paid. Although it just fills us more with envy. :)
Re: Clues – “This UK Island record has a very interesting and quirky label design” Several Island albums used this design (albeit briefly) after the “dark blue” labels and there are repressings of catalogue titles (Nick Drake, Grace Jones, Ultravox, Bob Marley etc etc etc) before the following pressing (if any) used the “skyscraper” logo.
Just when you thought you had all the UK variations…
Bargain price for the FGTH 12″
Wow. so much here.
Some comments:
– Curiosity Killed the Cat is one of my guilty pleasures. Getahead is better than the first and features the great track ‘Do your Believin’. Love it!
– When a Heart Beats – I don’t think that made it onto Radio Musicola (Nik’s best album I think) – it’s certainly not on the vinyl copy I have which is an original.
– Robert Palmer’s Clues : fantastic album which weirdly features a Gary Numan cover (and a co-write with him too).
– The sound of Crying : a great single by a great great band!
– Annoyingly my copy of Never Let me Down doesn’t have Too Dizzy on it so I guess I’ve never heard it. Having said that, apart from the title track, I don’t have much time for the album.
– Animal Magic : not my favourite album by the band (I prefer their third and fourth ones) but it does feature my favourite Blow Monkeys track, namely ‘Forbidden Fruit’.
Great stuff Paul!
Not sure if you realized… “When I Was Young” is a cover of The Animals. Considering that, I always found it to be a pretty interesting b-side.
Nice finds!
I have the original Bowie release – to be honest Too Dizzy is poor, and people aren’t missing anything by having that gone. Mind you, I could say that about a few tracks on that album. :D
Haha! Yes, I too know the pain of getting the Relax 12″ mixes! ;-)
I would contact any seller, querying the matrix codes and either get non-descript replies or an admission that they had wrongly posted it on Discogs, etc. Thankfully, a short while back, an eBay seller who clearly knew his stuff, advertised the 16+ minute mix as such, showing photos of the run-out grooves for confirmation.
So I now own every version of that 12″ and only have one duplicate copy in the rack.
It may seem anal, but I find the investigation half of the fun, and let’s face it, ZTT and their arbitrary cataloging in the early days makes it even more so ;-)