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Tanita Tikaram / Ancient Heart limited edition 30th anniversary clear vinyl

By Paul Sinclair

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41

Music On Vinyl will issue Tanita Tikaram‘s 1988 album Ancient Heart as a special coloured vinyl 30th anniversary edition in December.

The album was a huge success in the UK and Germany in particular and spawned four singles: Good Tradition, Twist in My Sobriety, Cathedral Song and World Outside Your Window.

Remarkably, Warner Music have chosen never to reissue and expand the album, which sold around 4m copies worldwide, but at least the 30th anniversary doesn’t go completely unmarked. This new vinyl edition is a numbered CLEAR vinyl pressing and limited to just 1500 copies worldwide. It’s a gatefold package and features an insert with a new note from Tanita.

At the same time, a modest 30th anniversary expanded CD will be issued with two bonus tracks: ‘Friends’ and ‘I Love The Heaven’s Solo’. The former was the B-side to ‘Twist in My Sobriety’ while the later is likely to be the demo/acoustic version that was the B-side to the the ‘Little Sister Leaving Town’ (a single from the second album). This track could well date from the Ancient Heart era, despite not having been released during that period.

Ancient Heart is reissued on 2 December 2018. The limited edition clear vinyl (not available via Amazon) can be pre-ordered from the SDE shop via this link or using the button below. For CD and bundle options head over to the store.

SIDE A
1. Good Tradition
2. Cathedral Song
3. Sighing Innocents
4. I Love You
5. World Outside Your Window
6. For All These Years

SIDE B
1. Twist In My Sobriety
2. Poor Cow
3. He Likes The Sun
4. Valentine Heart
5. Preyed Upon

CD bonus tracks

Friends
I Love The Heaven’s Solo

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41 Comments

41 thoughts on “Tanita Tikaram / Ancient Heart limited edition 30th anniversary clear vinyl”

  4. I dearly love my Ancient Heart CD. I bought it new in 1988 for playing in my new CD Hi Fi, my 18th Birthday/Christmas present from my parents.

    I have played, played and replayed this album to death over the years. I also loved the follow-up sequel The Sweet Keeper, which seemed to be written and arranged in the same style. I’ve bought all Tanita’s subsequent albums but nothing can ever compare to this collection. She seemed to be singing about things that I couldn’t quite interpret but managed to relate it to all the teenage angst going on in my life…

    When people talk about albums being ‘the soundtrack to their lives’, this, Ancient Heart , was and still is mine – transporting me back to the dying embers of secondary school and the slow dawning of adulthood…

    Bittersweet memories for me but couldn’t ask for a better album. Pity about the lack of a SDE although I bought all the singles too for the other tracks.

  5. Jussi nails it above. It is a great album and I (ancient) heartily recommend it, but it would be even better to see all the b-sides issued with this, and the concert film on DVD. Perhaps there are two just bonus tracks here to avoid spoiling a future comprehensive reissue. Fingers crossed!

    1. Yes, a future comprehensive reissue or (even better) a double-CD anthology of her Warner years – a career-spanning set would be better, probably, but she’s changed record labels over the years (Mother Records, Naive, earMusic…). Music Club Deluxe released so many great sets (also decently priced) and it’s pity they didn’t consider Tanita among the other artists. There was a “best of Tanita” set in 1996 but it wasn’t very good – too many songs from Eleven Kinds of Loneliness and Lovers in the City, also chosen at random, and just one song from each The Sweet Keeper and Everybody’s Angel. I didn’t like the new remix for “Twist in My Sobriety”, it’s hardly essential IMHO and I can live without it.

      So, a collection with the correct single versions (including songs with Mark Isham), key album tracks and b-sides would probably have a larger audience than expanded remasters for her following records, which weren’t exactly best-sellers and I’ve frequently seen them as cut-out items in bargain bins in the last twenty years. She’s in need of a good presentation of her best work.

  8. I had this on cassette when it first came out. It went to the charity shop years ago and I’ve never bought it on CD or anything else by TT except a download of ‘Cathedral Song’ a few years ago. Such a beautiful song – I doubt she ever bettered it.

  9. It’s a great album. Still have the original CD version which was a DDD release. It sounds fantastic. Don’t know if a remastering will make it better. I bought all the CD singles second hand last year. Except for the “fireflies in the kitchen” song, I had to buy the 12” vinyl single Cathedral Song. That would have been a great bonus track for the CD because it’s never released on CD. Buy the original CD single versions, some have a nice cardboard packaging (with pictures) that you won’t get when all the bonus tracks are put together on a second CD. Now that’s an idea for a super-de-luxe version. Reproduce all the original CD single releases and put that in a box with the album!

  10. This is a fine album that still holds up. Seems to be a bit forgotten these days but it was of course a big record when it came out. However, it is hard to get excited about only 2 bonus tracks in 2018 when fans are used to one or two extra discs of material. Such material is not always available or aplenty but hard to believe there is not a bit more that could be dug out. Pretty much just a re-press really.

  11. It’s not impossible but I doubt “I Love the Heavens Solo” (not “Heaven’s” btw) is from the Ancient Heart era. I’ve followed her career quite closely and I don’t remember the track being mentioned anywhere before it appeared on the “Little Sister” single. Whatever ‘new’ tracks she was recording or what covers she performed live were quickly reported in the snail-mail Information Sheets she put out frequently, I witnessed “Over You All” and Cohen’s “Ain’t No Cure For Love” live myself. I’ll have the go through the sheets to confirm.

  13. I loved this album but can never not laugh about it now thinking of Dawn French doing Star Test as Tanita. The questions build up to the classic…’What DOES Twist in my Sobriety mean” followed by much fluttering eyes of confusion! Ha. Will pubs but vinyl as having just looked its not in its place – I think someone nicked it when I was in a band and we covered Twist…

  14. Saw her in Cologne at the Philharmonie somewhere in 89/90 I think. Great concert, wonderful musician, never understood why all of a sudden her career went downhill.

  15. Here’s my message from 2/17:
    http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/feature/saturday-deluxe-25-february-2017/#more-129866

    These are the tracks officially released on the “Ancient Heart” album and it’s singles:

    Ancient Heart (43:44)
    1. Good Tradition 2:49
    2. Cathedral Song 2:51
    3. Sighing Innocents 3:31
    4. I Love You 2:45
    5. World Outside Your Window 4:52
    6. For All These Years 5:13
    7. Twist In My Sobriety 4:50
    8. Poor Cow 1:56
    9. He Likes The Sun 5:26
    10. Valentine Heart 4:04
    11. Preyed Upon 5:03

    bonus tracks (53:58)
    12. Valentine Heart (Guitar & Vocal) 3:52 [B-side of “Good Tradition”]
    13. Twist In My Sobriety (Edit) 3:54 [the single version]
    14. Friends 2:16 [B-side of “Twist In My Sobriety”]
    15. The Kill In Your Heart 3:42 [B-side of “Twist In My Sobriety”]
    16. Fireflies In The Kitchen (Live) 3:32 [B-side of “Cathedral Song”]
    17. Let’s Make Everybody Smile Today (Live) 3:38 [B-side of “Cathedral Song”]
    18. Over You All (Live) 3:35 [B-side of “Cathedral Song”]
    19. World Outside Your Window (Remix) 3:38 [the single version]
    20. Good Tradition (Live) 3:01 [B-side of “World Outside Your Window”]
    21. For All These Years (Instrumental) 5:11 [B-side of “World Outside Your Window”]
    22. He Likes The Sun (Live) 5:30 [B-side of “World Outside Your Window”]
    23. Twist In My Sobriety (Live) 4:50 [B-side of “Little Sister Leaving Town”, 1990]
    24. Cathedral Song (Live in Norway) 3:23 [B-side of “Thursday’s Child”, 1990]
    25. Cathedral Song (Instrumental) 2:52 [B-side of “Only The Ones We Love”, 1991]

    That is way over 80 minutes. Without the live versions (which in my opinion aren’t that great anyway), it comes to 79:54. There are no studio versions of the live tracks 16 & 17, so those should be kept. I believe the live tracks 20, 22, 23 & 24 all come from the Norway live VHS – which of course could be included as a bonus DVD, which should obviously include all four promo videos as well! No Tikaram video collection has ever been released (in any format), as it happens.

    If a 2-CD version were to be made, a few more tracks could be included:

    That’s Why I’m Leaving Here [from the 1989 Brendan Croker & The 9 O’Clock Shadows album, Tikaram on b-vox] 2:24
    Loving You 2:14 [from NME 1990 benefit release “The Last Temptation Of Elvis”]
    I Never Will Know [from Mark Isham 1990 album “Mark Isham”, written by & vox by Tikaram] 6:03
    Blue Moon [from Mark Isham 1990 album “Mark Isham”, vox by Tikaram] 4:22
    I Never Will Know [single edit] 4:23

    There was also a great video for “I Never Will Know”.

    2. I love the “Sobriety” remixes (other than the SFX)… but I’m an odd one.
      https://www.discogs.com/Tanita-Tikaram-Twist-In-My-Sobriety/release/363848

      Twist In My Sobriety (Tikaramp Vocal) 6:47
      Twist In My Sobriety (Tikaramp Dub) 6:35
      Twist In My Sobriety (Phil Kelsey Vocal) 9:37
      Twist In My Sobriety (Tikaramp Radio) 4:22
      Twist In My Sobriety (Extended Bumps Fluidity Mix) 5:12
      Twist In My Sobriety (SFX Sobriety Mix) 6:52
      Twist In My Sobriety (Phil Kelsey Instrumental) 9:37
      Twist In My Sobriety (Bumps Fluidity Radio Mix) 4:10

  16. What a shame it doesn’t include the instrumental version of For All These Years, which really highlighted Mark Isham’s wonderful contribution.

  17. Tanita has always been criminally underrated, and this just continues the trend, with a paltry two tracks added on. How very depressing. Am currently on the fence as to whether to buy or not, despite being a big fan. I can echo other comments that those who haven’t heard it are in for a treat.

    Paul, any information on whether the audio is remastered?

  19. When this album was released, I went to a signing in Dublin’s Virgin MegaStore in Aston Quay (good times!!).

    Tanita filled the entire back cover with a message and autograph in beautiful script with a wide blue marker. Good album too.

  20. I much prefer her albums from ‘Lovers in the City’ until now, than her previous albums, which I find a bit too ‘poppy’.
    Nonetheless, I would have thought that such a big-selling album would have deserved at least a CD+DVD reissue.

  21. Considering there’s currently 465 copies of the UK/Europe first pressing available for sale on discogs from 0.44p, I can see why they haven’t re-released it sooner.

  23. When I saw this my (ancient) heart skipped a beat.
    Then I read the details. No remastering, no bonus disc with all the b-sides, no unreleased material.
    May have to wait until 40th Anniversary edition.

  24. ONLY 2 Bonus Tracks for a 30th Anniversay Edition – What a bloody insult to her and those that purchased the orignal! I may buy it just to get the 2 Bonus Tracks but I would have preferred much more considering it was her debut album and included her biggest hit single “Good Tradition”.

  25. I was intrigued at first then disappointed that it isn’t deluxe/expanded! Great album and as it was very successful i think it deserves the deluxe treatment. I seem to remember some extra stuff on single releases that could have been included. Can anyone list them?

    1. I recall hearing an instrumental version of Cathedral Song which I believe was available on a 12”. Loved her first couple of albums before my radar reset itself.

  26. I’m not the world’s biggest TT fan but to me I Love the Heavens Solo is a very odd track to add as a bonus, coming as it does from her third album. Unless this is an early version? Can anyone shed some light and alleviate my confusion please?

    2. This will probably be the acoustic/demo version that was issued on the B-side of Little Sister Leaving Town. I imagine it probably dates from the Ancient Heart era, even though it didn’t appear commercially until 1990. Post updated to reflect these thoughts!

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