On this day, 54 years ago, Kraftwerk released their self-titled debut studio album (1 December 1970). The album was produced by Konrad "Conny" Plank and is often refered to as 'Kraftwerk 1'.

On this album Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider used two drummers, Andreas Hohmann and Klaus Dinger. Their drumming provides the album a rock-ish edge, making it sound quite distinctive from Hütter and Schneider's previous work. The album contains instrumentals only.

The cover design, credited to Ralf Hütter, is a curious nod to the influence of Andy Warhol and the then contemporary pop art movement, featuring a fluorescent-coloured traffic cone drawn in a Warhol-esque manner.

No material from this album has been performed in the band's live set since the Autobahn tour of 1975 and, to date, the album has not been officially reissued. The band is seemingly reluctant to consider the album a part of its canon and in later interviews, Schneider referred to the first three Kraftwerk albums as "archaeology".

In 1971 the album peaked in the German album charts at position 30.

KRAFTWERK

All tracks are written by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider-Esleben.

Kraftwerk (1970)

• Ralf Hütter – organ, guitar, tubon, cover design
• Florian Schneider-Esleben – flute, violin, percussion
• Andreas Hohmann – drums on "Ruckzuck" and "Stratovarius"
• Klaus Dinger – drums on "Vom Himmel hoch"

DISCOGS

You may have noticed there's a lot to discover at this year's Bimfest (Belgian Independent Music Festival). As the BIMFEST tradition want's it, there are also couple less obvious and therefore maybe a bit less well-known names on the bill. One of those names is undoubtedly the Swedish act Emmon, the solo project of Emma Nylén, founded already in 2001. Her debut album “The Art & The Evil” was released after a number self-released singles / EPs on Wonderland Records and was preceded by the “Wake Up Time” EP. Latert, a number of albums were released, which were especially successful in their home country, until a long break was taken after 2014. 2022 saw Emmon resurface, which was sharply highlighted by the new album “Recon” (Icons Creating Evil Art). Inn Sweden the album won the prize for "synth album of the year" (Manifest Awards) and "electro album of the year" (Gaffa Awards). This year the EP “Xception” (Icons Creating Evil Art) was released and was again very well received. Both releases (and a few more) will be presented to the Belgian public at Bimfest. Emmon is scheduled to play on Saturday 21 December at 21:40 just before top act and living legend Clock DVA. Musically, the long forgotten term electro clash is often used to characterize Emmon's electronic music. The sound is danceable, modern, with an EBM backbone but partly due to the feminine approach (sometimes read a more 'poppy feel') of Emma Nylén, Emmon transcends this genre. Below you can already get acquainted with a number of tunes. After all, a well-prepared man/woman is worth...

20 + 21.12. BIMFEST 2024 @ De Casino, St- Niklaas, B (Click for more info & tickets)

[KI]

www.bodybeats.be/en/bimfest

Today it's exactly 44 years since Siouxsie and the Banshees released 'Israel' (28.11.1980 / Polydor Records) as a stand-alone single in between the albums Kaleidoscope (1980) and Juju (1981). The track was written by the band while touring in Europe in the autumn of 1980. The band wanted to write a Christmas song to be released in time for December of that year.

It peaked at No. 41 on the UK Singles Chart and it was the band's first single to also be released on a 12-inch, although the tracks are identical on both releases.

Even though it reached No. 73 on the US National Disco Action Top 100 chart as an import, 'Israel' did not appear on a Siouxsie and the Banshees album until the release of the Once Upon a Time: The Singles compilation (1981).

In 2002 the song was remastered for the The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees compilation CD album and in 2006 it was also featured as a bonus track on the Kaleidoscope reissue.

Israel (Track listing)

A. Israel
B. Red Over White

DISCOGS

Israel (Lyrics)

Little orphans in the snow
With nowhere to call a home
Start their singing, singing
Waiting through the summertime
To thaw your hearts in wintertime
That's why they're singing, singing
Waiting for a sign to turn blood into wine
The sweet taste in your mouth, turned bitter in its glass

Israel, in Israel
Israel, in Israel

Shattered fragments of the past
Meet in veins on the stained glass
Like the lifeline in your palm
Red and green reflects the scene
Of a long forgotten dream
There were princes and there were kings
Now hidden in disguise, cheap wrappings of lies
Keep your hearts alive with a song from inside
Even though we're all alone
We are never on our own when we're singing, singing

Home, home
There's a man who's looking in
And he smiles a toothless grin
Because he's singing, singing
See some people shine with glee
But their song is jealousy
Their hate is clanging, maddening

In Israel, will they sing Happy Noel
In Israel, in Israel
Israel, in Israel

In Israel, will they sing Happy Noel

Songwriters: Susan Ballion / Steven Severin / Peter Clarke / John McGeoch

© BMG Rights Management, Domino Publishing Company

On this day, 43 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")

1. "Don't You Want Me" – 3:57
2. "Seconds" – 4:59

Don't You Want Me (12")

1. "Don't You Want Me" – 3:57
2. "Seconds" – 4:59
3. "Don't You Want Me (Extended Dance Mix)" – 7:30

DISCOGS

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]