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Fischer-Z - Word Salad (79 ^ 92mb)
Fronted by the enigmatic John Watts (vocals/guitar), Fischer-Z leaped onto the music scene in 1979 with their quirky debut album, Word Salad. This quartet (also featuring Steve Skolnick on keyboards, Steve Liddle on drums and David Graham on bass) played a rough-and-tumble form of new wave with art-pop and prog-rock leanings. Watts' vocals were extremely distinctive and touchingly manic vocal range irritated some but was entirely original. Their debut didn't set the charts on fire, they did score a few minor hits with "The Worker" and "First Impressions (Pretty Paracetamol)". Their second album, 1980's Going Deaf for a Living, was a far more cohesive effort, less prog-rock and more melodic than their debut. It even contained a bona-fide hit in "So Long" which even drifted over to the U.S. and garnered impressive radio play.
By the time Red Skies Over Paradise was released in 1981, Skolnick was gone and Watts' musical vision was more direct and less arty than before. Although European sales for this album were FZ's strongest yet, it was passed up for release in the U.S.Realising that his musical vision belonged to him and only him, Watts chose to end FZ on a high note and continue as a solo artist. Watts released One More Twist in 1982 then the slickly produced The Iceberg Model the following year, neither living up to the huge sales of the last FZ album.
Reforming Fischer-Z in 1987, FZ hit big in Europe and Australia with the single "The Perfect Day" and the album Reveal. Though the album sounded nothing like the Fischer-Z of old, Watts took his finely tuned talents and presented them to a much wider audience. Fish's Head (1989) was more of the same, albeit a bit heavier. With yet another line-up change, Watts and FZ released the absolutely stunning Destination Paradise in 1992. This touching and beautiful album featured more acoustic guitars than ever before and focused on Watts' songwriting skills and passionate, earthy vocals (which had dropped an octave or so since their debut). Trying to capitalise on the success of Destination Paradise, FZ quickly issued the rougher Kamikaze Shirt in 1993, mixing their softer side with an edge (and, in some cases, a dance beat). Two years later, FZ issued Stream, a close second to Destination Paradise as FZ's finest.
Realising he was at another crossroad, Watts laid FZ to rest again and began pursuing his solo career in earnest. His first solo album under his 'new' monicker, JM Watts, 1997's Thirteen Stories High, continued where Stream left off. With a new solo album due in late 1998 or early 1999,"Bigbeat Poetry". In 2003 he released Ether an ad hoc multimedia roadtrip. It was released later in different form under the Fischer-Z moniker aswell. No news since, whether FZ are gone for good or just on sabbatical, Watts undoubtedly keeps observing and writing songs. The worker soldiers on....
01 - Pretty Paracetamol (3:55)
02 - Acrobats (2:39)
03 - The Worker (3:32)
04 - Spiders (1:41)
05 - Remember Russia (3:25)
06 - The French Let Her (3:16)
07 - Lies (3:55)
08 - Wax Dolls (2:44)
09 - Headlines (3:22)
10 - Nice To Know (2:49)
11 - Billy And The Motorway Police (2:10)
12 - Lemmings (2:58)
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New Musik - Anywhere (81 ^ 129mb)
New Musik were one of the first British groups to come out with a sound that successfully combined synths and "real" instruments.That said, their near-total lack of commercial acceptance is one of the great mysteries of early-'80s pop. Their music, rooted in classic pop songwriting but with a forward-looking interest in shiny electronics, is both instantly accessible and coolly forbidding. This dichotomy is most clearly expressed in the split between group leader Tony Mansfield's melodies, which are hummable, welcoming, and often quite bouncy, and his alienated lyrics.
New Musik formed in 1977, growing out of a casual band of south London school friends who jammed together under the name End of the World; singer and guitarist Mansfield, keyboardist Nick Straker, and bassist Tony Hibbert drafted drummer Phil Towner, who had played on the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star." Rather than hotly pursue a record deal, the newly christened New Musik wisely chose to hone their craft first. Working during down times at a south London studio where Mansfield was informally employed as a session musician and apprentice engineer, the foursome recorded most of what would become their first two albums before approaching the British label GTO Records with the finished master tapes. However, before GTO released the first New Musik single, "Straight Lines," in August 1979, Straker had left for a fusion-oriented solocareer. He was replaced by Clive Gates.
This new lineup completed New Musik's debut album, From A to B, released in April of 1980. Several Singles were taken from it with "Living By Numbers" scoring the best. Early 81 saw the release of from A to B part two "Anywhere", though Mansfield 's production skills obviously had grown, the album unexpectedly didn't do that well. My take on that, looking at the gatefold sleeve..they look like a progband, which they certainly weren't. With hindsight it could be said they lacked a niche, and the broadsky countries, where their music should have done well, didn't pick them up.
After Anywhere's disappointing commercial performance in the U.K., New Musik went through a period of turmoil. Hibbert and Towner both left the band, leaving Mansfield and Gates to record the third and final New Musik album as a duo with a hired drummer. Unlike From A to B and Anywhere, which blended synthesizers with acoustic guitars, live percussion, and other classic pop elements, Warp is almost entirely electronic. One of the first albums to be recorded primarily with digital samplers and emulators, Warp sounds a bit more dated than the first two New Musik albums, but the songs, among the most lyrically pessimistic of the band's career, are quite strong. New Musik split after this album, as Mansfield's sideline career as a producer started taking more of his time. Through the first half of the '80s, Mansfield produced hit singles for Naked Eyes, Mari Wilson, the B-52s, After the Fire, and others.
01 - They All Run After The Carving Knife (5:51)
02 - Areas (4:09)
03 - Churches (4:52)
04 - This World Of Walter (2:54)
05 - Luxury (3:45)
06 - While You Wait (5:01)
07 - Changing Minds (4:51)
08 - Peace (5:11)
09 - Design (3:41)
10 - Traps (4:00)
11 - Division (4:18)
12 - Back To Room One (4:11)
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Pigbag - Favourite Things ( 83 ^ 99mb)
Pigbag was started by Chris Hamlyn in Cheltenham in late 1980. He recruited multi-instrumentalist Roger Freeman, along with Chris Lee (trumpet) and James Johnstone (guitar / alto sax). Later Drew "Chip" Carpenter (drums) and Mark Smith (bass) both old school mates of James and former members of his previous band Hardware, were recruited for informal rehearsals.Simon Underwood, previously of The Pop Group was invited to join, along with his old friend and tenor sax player Ollie Moore. Simon's connections with manager Dick O'Dell landed their first gig, supporting The Slits at Bristol's Romeo and Juliets. Based on the crowd's enthusiastic response to a 20 minute performance of their first song, O'Dell invited them to record the track for his label Y Records the very next day.
Their first single, "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag", was released in 1981 on Dick O'Dell's Y Records, taking inspiration for the title (if not the music) from James Brown's "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag". The instrumental release quickly became an underground dance hit, selling many thousands of copies and appearing high in the independent charts. Feeling that he had created and lost control of a 'monster' with too many egos to contend with, Hamlyn abandoned the band. April 1982 saw the release of their first album "Dr. Heckle & Mr Jive", which was massively successful topping the indie charts for several weeks. A major college tour followed in the spring which put a lot of stress on the band, particularly Roger Freeman, he left(turning up later in Dr. Calculus).
A new lineup, including Brian Nevill and Oscar Verden went on a tour of the UK, Europe, New York and Japan. New York vocalist Angela Jaeger, previously of The Drowning Craze, joined for the next LP, "Lend An Ear," recorded in late summer 1982. In 1983, Angela and Simon Underwood were married at Hammersmith Registry Office with notables from the music scene in attendance.
A single, "Hit The 'O' Deck" and the album "Lend An Ear" were released in 1983, followed by a final tour of UK and Europe. Poorpoor critical reception to the new direction and internal differences, led to the Pigbag split in June 1983, with Angela, James and Simon forming Instinct.
01 - Getting Up (3:15)
02 - Six Of One (4:27)
03 - Hit The 'O' Deck (3:51)
04 - Sunny Day (12inch) (7:12)
05 - One Way Ticket To Cubesville (1:54)
06 - Brazil Nuts (4:28)
07 - The Big Bean (12inch) (4:59)
08 - Wriggling (4:45)
09 - Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag (12inch) (5:51)
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The System - Logic (83 ^ 78mb)
The System members Bob Wilson (Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals), Dave Caroll (Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals) and Bob Lamb ( Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals), latter responsible for the production here aswell. All three were part of the Steve Gibbons band and recorded 4 successful albums with him in the second part of the seventies. This album despite it's futuristic sleeve and inlay design and suggestive name Logic isn't a synthesizer pop album. It has some great tracks but towards the end(after track 5) i get the feeling some members pushed thru their own songs, all of a sudden a couple of blues pubrock songs bash thru..most odd. The choice of label Romantik Records forbodes cheesiness, well they choose the wrong name aswell as vocalist/guitarist Mic Murphy and keyboardist David Frank founded a The System in 1982 in New York. Google turned up no more on this The System and i suspect they split under a cloud. Apart from a discog member giving it 5 stars, a US ebay seller asking 98 dollar for it, in France 5 euros would have satisfied the ebay seller. Which goes to show how important research is before buying anything. Well as i ripped it already, i put it up as an extra today.
01 - Your Love (Will Stay In My Heart) (4:15)
02 - Jenny (4:03)
03 - Vampirella (3:40)
04 - Almost Grown (5:55)
05 - Pendy! You're In Some Awful Danger (4:36)
06 - Styletto (3:21)
07 - Sixty Watt Pearl (2:04)
08 - All Of Us Sinners (4:00)
09 - Feather In The Dust (3:50)
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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !
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