CRC Retro Mix #38

1. Visions Of You - Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
2. Life's What You Make It (Extended Mix) - Talk Talk
3. Birthday (Justin Robertson 12" Mix) - The Sugarcubes
4. Feel Every Beat (DNA Remix) - Electronic
5. Hallelujah (Club Mix) - Happy Mondays
6. Big In Japan (Remix '88) - Alphaville
7. Transition - Renegade Soundwave
8. Notorious (Extended Mix) - Duran Duran
9. Prisoner To Desire (Razormaid! Mix) - Psyche
10. Love Comes Quickly (Dance Mix) - Pet Shop Boys
11. Policy Of Truth (Beat Box Mix) - Depeche Mode
12. Walking Away (Space Age Mix) - Information Society
13. True Faith (Shep Pettibone Remix) - New Order
14. Subversion (Razormaid! Mix) - Tanz Waffen
15. Machines (LP Edit) - Red Flag

Notes and other random things:

Somebody slap me if I try to take several years off from podcasting ever again. I had to pretty much relearn everything I had known about my cheap mixer and recording software from scratch. Not only that, new updates to software means new interfaces and having to learn where all the navigation features are all over again. You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but at least he can relearn old tricks since forgotten. Anyway, on to the music.

Starting everything off is sort of a forgotten gem by John Joseph Wardle, also known as the inimitable Jah Wobble. The track peaked at #10 on the US Modern Rock charts back in 1992. Featuring the unmistakable backing vocals of a young Sinead O' Connor, the song was a staple on college radio back in the day. But it almost never happened. Following his stint as the original bassist for Public Image Ltd.,
Wobble formed Invaders of the Heart in 1983, but sometime in the mid-80s became disillusioned with the commercialism prevalent in the music industry. That and his penchant for drunken brawls let to a hiatus from music. Thankfully, a friend and former bandmate convinced him to return. A live recording he made led to a new contract with a small European label, which propelled him to further success with subsequent Invaders albums. Since the early 90s, Wobble's world music leanings and unique dub-style bass playing has shown up in numerous collaborations with a wide range of musicians of all musical backgrounds.

Talk Talk hasn't appeared a lot in CRC, but that's mainly due to the freeform nature of their later music and their lack of "hits" if you will. That's not at all a slam on the group or their style. In my honest opinion they were one of the more original groups coming out of the 80s. And that's not to say they didn't have their share of chart success, but like some other well-respected bands, as their popularity ebbs, their critical acclaim skyrockets. Mixed by producer extraordinaire Tim Friese-Greene, who co-produced Thomas Dolby's "Golden Age Of Wireless" album and has done work with another of my favorite bands, Catherine Wheel, this Extended Mix appeared in February of 1986. According to the band, there was also another 12" mix of this track, by Dennis Weinrich, that was omitted from the "Asides Besides" compilation where this track was taken to "stop the listener from being driven crazy". Seems like I'm going to have to find that one now ...

Although the original version of "Birthday" by The Sugarcubes is one of my favorite Sugarcubes tunes, and although I got to see them live back in 1989 opening for Public Image Ltd. and New Order, and although Bjork has attained a level of success whereby she needs only one name, I think the more interesting persona involved with the remix is Justin Robertson. It's unprecedented for me to write about remixers in CRC, but to any music lover at the turn of the 90s Justin's name has probably surfaced many, many times in record collections everywhere. Turned on to music by the burgeoning acid house scene while a student in Manchester, Robertson quickly jumped headlong into the club scene, taking the record store to DJ to club owner route. Erasure, Bjork, Happy Mondays, New O(continued)