Difficult things take a long time – impossible things a little longer. It’s been a long time in the making but ‘Touring Skyward’ will eventually see its release on January 2022. The Covid pandemic, technical and manufacturing issues all of that contributed to the frustrations of putting this together but now is your chance to get your hands on the blu-ray. An in-depth behind the scenes view of life on the road with us. A good and honest insight into how it all works and the team of people who make it happen.
“Touring Skyward – A Tour Movie” will be released on January 28, 2022 as 60-page hardcover book edition including the blu-ray with 3 ½ hours playing time and 2 CDs with 23 live-tracks among other items.
Gothic/Post-Punk band CYBORG AMOK has just unveiled their new video for the song, "Burden Away." The song appears on CYBORG AMOK's self-titled album.
Greg Bullock (synths/vocals) says about the song: "Burden Away" was one of those songs that came together start to finish in a few hours one afternoon. I recorded all of the music and vocals. We felt that "Burden Away" best represented the direction CYBORG AMOK is going in. So, it was chosen for the video. We let Nick and Pete at Howl Peak depict the song as they interpreted it for themselves.
As for CYBORG AMOK, we prefer to allow the audience to find their own meaning in our music."
For fans of: goth, industrial, post-punk
On this day, 40 years ago, The Human League released probably one of their most iconic and commercially successful singles ‘Don't You Want Me’. It was released on 27 November 1981 as the fourth single from their third studio album Dare which was released just one month earlier. It became the Christmas number one in the UK, where it has since then sold over 1,560,000 copies, making it the 23rd-most successful single in the UK Singles Chart history.
Apparently head and voice Philip Oakey was inspired after reading a photo-story in a teen-girl's magazine. Initially they recorded and composed the song with only Oakey singing. Inspired by the film A Star Is Born Oakey decided to turn the song into a conflicting duet with one of the band's two teenage female vocalists. Susan Ann Sulley was then asked to take on the role. Until then, she and the other female vocalist, Joanne Catherall, had only been assigned backing vocals. The initial versions sounded harsher than the version that was actually released, but Virgin Records assigned producer was unhappy with them. They remixed the track, giving it a softer, and in Oakey's opinion, "poppy" sound. Oakey hated the new version and thought it would be the weakest track on Dare. In fact he disliked it so much that the track was placed as last track on the album.
The album Dare had already three of its tracks preliminary released. Each of them, ‘The Sound of the Crowd’ (April 1981), ‘Love Action (I Believe in Love)’ (July 1981), and ‘Open Your Heart’(September 1981), being relative successful singles. Virgin decided to release one more single from the album ‘Don't You Want Me. Much to the dislike of Oakey, who did not want another single to be released because he was convinced that "the public were now sick of hearing The Human League”. Oakey is also at pains to point out another misconception; “It is not a love song, but "a nasty song about sexual power politics."
Interesting tech fact, according to its creator, Roger Linn, this was the first hit song to use the LM-1 drum machine. Introduced in 1980, the LM-1 was the first programable unit that sampled real drums rather than creating them synthetically.
The promotional video, was like the song, loosely inspired on the film A Star Is Born, making Oakey, Sulley and Catherall visual icons of the early 1980s.
Don't You Want Me (Lyrics)
You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar
When I met you
I picked you out, I shook you up
And turned you around
Turned you into someone new
Now five years later on you've got the world at your feet
Success has been so easy for you
But don't forget it's me who put you where you are now
And I can put you back down too.
Don't. Don't you want me?
You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't see me
Don't. Don't you want me?
You know I don't believe you when you say that you don't need me
It's much too late to find
When you think you've changed your mind
You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh!
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh!
I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar
That much is true
But even then I knew I'd find a much better place
Either with or without you
The five years we have had have been such good at times
I still love you
But now I think it's time I lived my life on my own
I guess it's just what I must do
Don't. Don't you want me?
You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't see me
Don't. Don't you want me?
You know I don't believe you when you say that you don't need me
It's much too late find
When you think you've changed your mind
You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh!
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh!
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh!
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh!
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh!
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh!
Don't you want me, baby?
Don't you want me? Oh!
Don't You Want Me (7")
- "Don't You Want Me" – 3:57
- "Seconds" – 4:59
Don't You Want Me (12")
- "Don't You Want Me" – 3:57
- "Seconds" – 4:59
- "Don't You Want Me (Extended Dance Mix)" – 7:30
As debut albums go, Soft Cell hits the ground running, on 27 November 1981 the duo of Marc Almond and Dave Ball had released the ground-breaking, synth-wave ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’, an album which gained a cult-following in its own right, at the same time defying the boundaries of taste in early nineteen-eighties.
This was an album strewn with the stench and sin of the nighttime jungle (Entertain Me), porn theaters (Seedy Films) and prostitution (Sex Dwarf), the single that should have been;
“Luring disco dollies
To a life of vice”.
What we have is an examination of the reality under the microscope of Almonds soulful delivery and Ball with his electronic wizardry.
In the midst of these themes was the classic track “Tainted Love” the song that gained them a number-one and introduced the world to them. This obscure Gloria Jones track was perfect to sculpt a creature with hit making material, however there is more to
‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ than one song and the downside of that massive hit was the over-shadowing of what Soft Cell had on offer.
The track “Bedsitter” was released in conjunction with the album, breaking the top-five single charts, this was a self-penned track, making all the more worthwhile and laced with the flamboyant-sleaze that was part of the band’s makeup.
The final track and final release “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” again broke the top-five, proving the talent of the duo not just for the electro-experimentation but as songwriters in their own right.
Bedsitter (Lyrics)
Sunday morning going slow
I'm talking to the radio
Clothes and records on teh floor
Memories of the night before
Out in clubland having fun
Now I'm hiding from the sun
Waiting for a visitor
But noone knows I'm here for sure.
Dancing
Laughing
Drinking
Loving
And now I'm alll alone in Bedsit land,
My only home
I think it's time to cook a meal
To fill the emptiness I feel
Spend my money going out
I've nothing left, I'm left without
Clean my teeth and comb my hair
Look for something new to wear
And start the nightlife over again
And kid myself I'm having fun.
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (Original 1981 Track List)
1.”Frustration'
2.”Tainted Love'
3.”Seedy Films'
4.”Youth'
5.”Sex Dwarf'
6.”Entertain Me'
7.”Chips on My Shoulder'
8.”Bedsitter'
9.”Secret Life”
10.”Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”
[Kevin Burke, November 2018]
HerrNia is a one man band from Gent, Belgium. Though Jonas is from origin a drummer around 2016/2017 he broadened his musical horizon to synthesizers. This resulted in a bunch of demo's of which 6 were released as a cassette on the Wool-E Tapes imprint early 2018. This resulted in a high demand for live gigs and the urge to write and record even more songs.
From about 20 demotracks 12 were chosen to make up the "Takkewereld" album, all lovingly remastered by Dries De Vreeze (aka Guytalo and one half of Karl Hefner & Hugh Lagerfeld).
Scheduled to be released early to mid 2020 some dirty virus came and as with so much (independent releases) spoiled everything. So now one and a half year later we're finally proud to present HerrNia's debut album on delicious black 180g vinyl.
wool-e-discs.be/album/wed080v-takkewereld-electro-ebm-darkwave
