45 years ago, on the 4th of December 1978 Industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle released their second studio album D.o.A: The Third and Final Report on their own label Industrial Records. Although, like the previous album The Second Annual Report, this album is also a mixture of recorded live and studio material, albeit more stylisticly varied.

From the first pressing of 3000 copies, the first 1000 mail-order copies came with a wall calendar featuring a little girl sitting on a bed (IR0004). In 1979 there was a reprint of another 1000 copies that were recut in such a way that it looked as if the album seemed to have 8 tracks of equal length on side one and 7 tracks of equal length, plus a very short eighth track, on side two. But patterns that appear in the groove do not match the actual song beginnings and endings so it was nicknamed ‘The DJ Confusion edition”. However it’s has been called 'Structuralist Spirals' edition in TG's official discography.

Another striking example of TG's contrarianism and anti-commercial attitude is that they put their first, and also one of their most accessible and successful singles, “United” on this album... but applied fast forward making the song last barely 16 seconds.

Nevertheless, the overall reception was positive and the album got from 3 to 4 star ratings by most renowned music magazines like, for instance, All Music and even a 9.5/10 score from Pitchfork Magazine. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

D.o.A: The Third and Final Report (LP - IR00004)

Throbbing Gristle:

Genesis P-Orridge (†14.03.2020) – vocals, bass guitar, violin, effects, production

Cosey Fanni Tutti – lead guitar, effects, tape, production

Chris Carter – synthesizer, electronics, tape, production

Peter Christopherson (†24.11.2010) – tape, electronics, production

DISCOGS

FG 2021

This month it's 36 years since Canadian industrial band Front Line Assembly released their first official album The Initial Command (December 1987) on the since discontinued Belgian cult label KK Records. In fact it was also the first KK record release bearing the catalogue number KK001.
Before this album the band released only two demo tapes called Nerve War and Total Terror. The music on this release was mainly composed by Bill Leeb, but also with help from his future partners in crime Rhys Fulber and Michael Balch on some tracks.

On The Initial Command we can hear a very dark and deep EBM sounding Front Line Assembly which may remind you of the sound of Cabaret Voltaire during their Crackdown era but even more deep and dark. The tracks Black March and No Control are certainly a sort of forecast of the harder tracks they were about to release in the following decades.

Since the 1987 release of The Initial Command, the album has been re-issued twice. The first re-release, in 1992 by Third Mind Records, contained no changes. The second re-release, in 1997 by Cleopatra Records, contained two new tracks and new cover art.

The Initial Command (1987)

The Initial Command (1997)

DISCOGS

This month it’s 39 years ago Canadian industrial act Skinny Puppy released their very first EP Remission, a six track record, on Nettwerk Records (December 1984). In 1986, after their first full album Bites was released, Skinny Puppy released a cassette version of Remission with additional tracks expanding the release to a full-length album. In 1987 both albums Remission and Bites ended up together on one single CD album called Bites And Remission containing 17 tracks while the European PIAS version named Remission & Bites had only 14 tracks on it.

Besides the already recognizable and typical Skinny Puppy style the EP is filled with vocal samples taken from, amongst others, the 1943 Hitchcock movie Shadow Of A Doubt and even a sample of president Ronald Reagan’s speech about pornography as art.

The original release already contained some of Skinny Puppy’s classics songs like Smothered Hope, Far Too Frail and Solvent, tracks that still can be heard at many underground parties today.

Remission (original 12" vinyl version)

Back (Side A)
A1 Smothered Hope
A2 Glass Houses
A3 Far Too Frail
Side B -

Forth (Side B)
B1 Solvent
B2 Sleeping Beast
B3 Brap...

DISCOGS

On this day, 53 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

Today it's exactly 43 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