On this day, 41 years ago, Frank Tovey performed as Fad Gadget at the Amsterdam Meervaart Theatre (29.01.1983), as part of the second anniversary of the monthly Vinyl magazine. The event was given the name 'The Voice Of Mute' as reference to the, at that time, booming Mute records. Besides Fad Gadget, Mute also had artists like Yazoo and Depeche Mode signed to their label. But also because Fad Gadget was the first artist signed to Mute Records in 1979. Cocteau Twins and local Rite de Passage also performed at this event.

Frank Tovey, born 8 September 1956, died due to heart failure on 3 April 2002 at home, just days after returning from a European come-back tour.

It is mainly thanks to Hotel Suburbia, a music program of Dutch TV channel VPRO, that this historical remembrance exists.

The program interviewed Frank Tovey and recorded four tracks of his performance which they broadcasted one week later, on February 6th 1983.

Hotel Suburbia (1983 broadcast)

Life On The Life
For Whom The Bells Toll / Interview
Lady Shave
Back To Nature

These videos were later added to the 2006 post-mortem 2 x CD + 2 x DVD release Fad Gadget by Frank Tovey (Mute ‎– CDMUTEL13).

Watch and enjoy this incredibly talented man in this musical history document below.

On this day, 42 years ago, the B52's released their Mesopotamia EP (27 January, 1982). It was produced by David Byrne of Talking Heads and was originally planned to be the band's third studio album. Due to conflicts with Byrne and record label pressure, recording sessions were aborted prematurely and only six of ten songs to be completed were released as a shorter than originally intended LP. Three of the abandoned tracks, 'Queen of Las Vegas', 'Big Bird' and 'Butterbean' were re-recorded for the following album, Whammy!(1993).

Mesopotamia is considered as a departure in style for the B-52's; Byrne and the band added plenty of additional instruments, vocal overdubs, horns, synthesizers, layered percussion and an altogether richer sound. It also resulted in a more polished sound than the raw sound of their self-titled debut album The B52's(1979) and the slightly more polished and second album Wild Planet (1980).

Remarkably the European LP release contains vastly different versions of 'Loveland', 'Cake' and 'Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can' sounding more raw and electronic than the ones found on the US releases.

The album reached the 18th position in the 1982 UK album charts and 35th position in the US Billboard 200 charts.

Mesopotamia (LP - 1982)

A1. Loveland 5:00

A2. Deep Sleep 3:30

A3. Mesopotamia 3:51

B4. Cake 5:48

B5. Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can 4:30

B6. Nip It in the Bud 3:32

DISCOGS

With KÆLAN MIKLA from Iceland (for example known from the tour together with Ville Valo), the US electro project RUINED CONFLICT, and the Berlin-based Dark-Wave formation DEUS EX LUMINA, the current AMPHI festival line-up is complete.

In addition, day tickets for Amphi 2024 are now available in presale. As always, you can get them at the Amphi Shop www.amphi-shop.de, at all known CTS/EVENTIM presale outlets, and at www.eventim.de!

On the Amphi website (www.amphi-festival.de/2024/bands.html), you can find all bands sorted by days (subject to short-term changes).

Today, exactly 46 ago, Joy Division made their live debut at the Pips Disco in Manchester. Only a few years later it became clear they would become one of the most influential British bands in music history.

Originally, the gentlemen Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris were announced as Warsaw, their original band name, taken from one of Ian Curtis’ favorite albums, Low by David Bowie. However, when the concert was announced, it became clear there was already another band that called themselves Warsaw Packt. So to avoid confusion, a new name was quickly sought and it was singer Ian Curtis who came up with the name Joy Division. He found the name in a book that he was reading at the time. The book was called 'The House Of Dolls', written by Holocaust survivor Ka-Tsetnik 135633 alias Yehiel De-Nur. The number in the author's name refers to the number that was tattooed in his arm by the Nazis during the second world war. In this book, the author describes a brothel the Nazis installed in the concentration camp and wherein Jewish women were forced into prostitution to serve the camp guards and the nearby stationed and passing German troops. The Nazis called the brothel mockingly the Joy Division.

As a matter of fact, The House of Dolls topic is also mentioned in the Warsaw song No Love Lost, a song that would later be featured on the Joy Division debut EP ‘An Ideal For A Living'.

This sudden change of name right before their first performance on 25 January 1978 did not help the draw for this show. The public therefore mainly consisted of friends, something common for debut show. Witnesses described the atmosphere as very intense, even so intense Ian Curtis himself was thrown out of the venue, for breaking some beer glasses, and this happened even before their show had started. So the other band members had the greatest difficulty convincing the security people to let their singer back in. When they started playing eventually the tension was so high a massive pogo broke out which, according to witnesses, ended in one big fight.

During their short existence the band managed to build a bridge between 70's Punk and the emerging 80’s electronic music. Joy Division is also one of those few bands who still sees their fanbase grow and still appeal to the younger generations.

After the suicide of singer Ian Curtis (RIP 18.05.1980), the remaining band members, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris continued as New Order with Sumner becomming their singer. Bass player Peter Hook left New Order in 2007 to found his own band Monaco but in 2010 he changed the name to Peter Hook & The Light. With this project he successfully paid tribute to Ian Curtis & Joy Division since, playing Joy Division albums in their entirety, live.

Below the setlist of Joy Division's debut performance on 25 January 1978

• Exercise One
• Leaders of Men
• Warsaw
• Failures
• Reaction
• Inside the Line
• Ice Age
• Day of the Lords
• Novelty

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Het is vandaag precies 46 jaar geleden dat Joy Division zijn live-debuut maakte in de Pips Disco te Manchester. Enkele jaren later zou blijken dat zij één van de meest invloedrijke Britse bands uit de muziek geschiedenis zouden worden.

Oorspronkelijk werden de heren Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook en Stephen Morris aangekondigd als Warsaw, hun oorspronkelijke band naam. Die naam hadden ze genomen van één van Ian Curtis favorite platen, Low van David Bowie. Maar toen het concert werd aangekondigd bleek er al een band te bestaan die Warschau Packt heette. Om verwarring te voorkomen werd dus snel naar een nieuwe naam gezocht en het was alweer zanger Ian Curtis die met de naam Joy Division op de proppen kwam. Deze keer haalde hij de naam uit een boek dat hij op dat moment aan het lezen was. Dit boek was ‘The House Of Dolls’, geschreven door holocaust overlever Ka-Tsetnik 135633 alias Yehiel De-Nur. Het nummer in zijn auteursnaam verwijst naar het nummer dat in zijn arm werd getatoeëerd door de Nazi’s tijdens de tweede wereld oorlog. In dat boek beschrijft de auteur een bordeel dat de Nazi’s hadden opgericht in het concentratiekamp waarin Joodse vrouwen tot prostitutie werden gedwongen ten dienste van de kampbewakers en voor de nabij gelegerde en doortrekkende Duitsers. De Nazi’s noemden het bordeel spottend de Joy Division.

Het House of Dolls topic wordt trouwens ook aangehaald in het Warsaw nummer No Love Lost, een song die wat later ook op Joy Division's debuut EP ‘An Ideal For A Living’ zou prijken.

Deze plotse naamsverandering net voor dit eerste optreden op 25 januari 1978 droeg natuurlijk niet bij aan de opkomst voor deze debuut show. Het publiek bestond dan ook voornamelijk uit vrienden zoals dat meestal bij een debut optreden gaat. De sfeer was zeer gespannen, zo gespannen dat Ian Curtis zelf al uit de zaal gegooid werd voor het breken van enkele glazen, nog vóór het optreden moest aanvangen. De andere bandleden hadden de grootste moeite om de veiligheidsmensen te overtuigen hun zanger terug binnen te laten. Al van bij de eerste noten brak een massale pogo uit die, volgens getuigen, eindigde in één grote vechtpartij.

Met hun muziek slaagde de groep er in een brug te leggen tussen 70’s Punk en de opkomende elektronische muziek van het volgende decennium. Joy Division is één van die weinige bands, die postuum haar aanhang nog steeds ziet groeien en het ook nog steeds zeer goed doet bij nieuwe en jongere generaties.

Na de zelfmoord van Ian Curtis (18.05.1980) gingen de overgebleven bandleden Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook en Stephen Morris verder onder de naam New Order en werd Sumner de zanger van de groep. Bassist Peter Hook verliet in 2007 New Order en richtte zijn eigen band Monaco op.

In 2010 doopte diezelfde Hook zijn band om naar Peter Hook & The Light waarmee hij sindsdien succesvol een hommage brengt aan Ian Curtis & Joy Division door alle albums in hun volledigheid live te brengen.

Hieronder de setlist van Joy Division’s debuut optreden op 25 Januari 1978

• Exercise One
• Leaders of Men
• Warsaw
• Failures
• Reaction
• Inside the Line
• Ice Age
• Day of the Lords
• Novelty

Mark E. Smith was born in the UK 1957 and founded The Fall in 1976 together with Tony Friel and Martin Bramah. Smith remained the only original member of the band to this day. During the 38 years of their existence, the group seemed to be more of a pigeon-loft than a coherent rock band as Smith hired and sacked musicians as if it was a sweet delight, so more than sixty musicians passed through The Fall.

It was already clear for a while now the singer had serious health problems since a number of planned shows were cancelled late 2017. Still, he didn’t seem willing to give up and even performed one of their latest shows in a wheelchair.

One of the hallmarks of The Fall was the unmistakable voice and manner of singing by Mark E. Smith. He rather mumbled his lyrics through the microphone than he was singing and therefore it was not always clear what he was singing.

The Fall was a very productive band, releasing nearly 80 albums in less than 39 years. Probably one of their most influential albums is the Hex Enduction Hour, released in 1982. To date, the band has been cited as a source of inspiration by musicians around the world.

A message on The Fall website was posted on January 24, 2018 …

RIP Chief - "The Only Band in the world"

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Mark E. Smith, zanger van de legendarische post-punk The Fall overleden op 60 jarige leeftijd

Mark E. Smith werd geboren in UK in 1957 en richtte The Fall op in 1976 samen met Tony Friel en Martin Bramah. Smith bleef het enige origineel lid van de band tot op vandaag. Gedurende de 38 jaar van hun bestaan leek de groep ook eerder op een duiventil dan op een coherente rock groep want Smith huurde en ontsloeg muzikanten alsof het een lieve lust was, meer dan zestig muzikanten passeerden zo de revue bij The Fall.

Het ging al een tijdje niet goed met de gezondheid van de zanger en mede daardoor werden een aantal geplande shows in het na jaar van 2017 afgelast. Toch wist hij van geen ophouden en werkte zelf een show af gezeten in een rolstoel.

Eén van de kenmerken van The Fall was het onmiskenbare stemgeluid en manier van zingen van Mark E. Smith. Hij mompelde zijn teksten eerder door de microfoon en daardoor was niet altijd duidelijk wat hij precies zong.

The Fall was een zeer productive groep en bracht bijna 80 albums uit op nog geen 39 jaar tijd. Waarschijnlijk één van hun meest invloedrijke albums is het in 1982 verschenen Hex Enduction Hour. Tot op heden wordt de band aangehaald als inspiratiebron door muzikanten over heel de wereld.

Op de The Fall website werd er op 24 Januari gepost - RIP Chief - “The Only Band in the world”