Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Eight-X (48)

Hello, midweek and that means more eighties music coming up, first up Tom Tom Club..i have to admit back then i was rather taken aback by these Talking Heads members coming up with such lighthearted commercial sounding music..even harder to swallow was that they had this tongue in cheek megahit Wordy Rappinghood, therefore (being a big TH fan) i never bought the album at the time..i picked it up sec hand some years ago..oh well it isnt that bad after all...partly because of the presence on it of Adrian Belew, who almost directly went on to join King Crimson and revived the Crimson glory in what was to be a trio of high quality albums on which he sang, wrote lyrics and guitar duelled with maestro Fripp..3 years ago i made an eighty minute show of these three albums, each had a unicolor cover, Red, Blue and Yellow....btw I mixed up those covers aswell....the result should be released on CD ( i wink)...finally another band from Rotterdam , after Kiem three weeks ago, Spasmodique are somewhere between postpunk and goth and were rather popular at the time...


If you hop over to my defunct mirror blog you will find a page with all 324 Rhotations (1--36) update links in one scroll...this weekend i will post the rest of the updates there aswell ...

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Tom Tom Club - I (81 ^ 87mb)

Originally established as a side project, the Tom Tom Club comprise a loose aggregate of musicians and artists that got together to record an album. This resulted in, a collection of funky, sprightly little tunes recorded in Barbados with Weymouth's sisters, hubbie and drummer Chris Frantz, and several of the members of the Remain in Light tour group: Adrian Belew, guitar, and Steven Stanley, percussion. Ironically, hoping to toss off a fun album under the radar, the group came out with an album, the best tracks of which, "Genius of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood," became enormously influential throughout the '80s and '90s, eventually getting ripped off wholeheartedly by many artists.

The following year, the group released a follow-up, Close to the Bone, which was similar in style to its first album but didn't fare as well despite songs such as "Pleasure of Love" and "The Man With The Four Way Hips," but the former song was a minor hit on urban radio in the US. The album was released on vinyl but never reissued on CD. The original British vinyl was put out in six different colors.There was then a 4-year gap until the band's next album, the first version of Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom. On the album, the group adapted a more conventional rock style with a harder edged sound and a hint of menace in the lyrics of some songs. Whereas the previous two albums had been recorded by a loose collective of a dozen musicians, the Tom Tom Club was now reduced to the trio of Weymouth, Frantz and Weymouth's sister Laura Weymouth. There were, however, a number of prominent guest musicians on the record, including Lou Reed and Talking Heads' front man David Byrne on a cover of Reed's "Femme Fatale". The fourth member of Talking Heads, Jerry Harrison, also featured on some tracks. As with Close to the Bone, the album was not a commercial success. The following year, the group and Sire decided to issue a radically altered version of the album in the US, replacing four songs with four others, one of which, "I Confess," was a total overhaul of the original album's "Mighty Teardrop." The running order of the rest of the album was shuffled while the artwork was revamped. However, the changes had little effect on the album's US commercial success.

The group's next album, The Good the Bad and the Funky, was released in 2000 and featured cover versions of Donna Summer's "Love to Love You, Baby" and Lee Perry's "Soul Fire." Among the musicians on The Good the Bad and the Funky are Jamaican singer Mystic Bowie, Pettigrew and Toots of Toots & the Maytals. The album's release was followed by one European, and several American, tours.
In 2002, Frantz and Tina Weymouth, along with their former Talking Heads bandmates, were inducted at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2007, the band released a special Christmas single called "Mistletunes," containing two specially recorded Christmas songs: "Il est Ne" and "Christmas in the Club," which features Mystic Bowie and scratcher/turntableist Kid Ginseng (Weymouth and Franz's son).



01 - Wordy Rappinghood (6:27)
02 - Genius Of Love (5:34)
03 - Tom Tom Theme (1:25)
04 - L'Elephant (4:50)

05 - As Above, So Below (5:23)
06 - Lorelei (Remix Version) (6:20)
07 - On, On, On, On... (Remix Version) (3:44)
08 - Under The Boardwalk (5:44)

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King Crimson - Red, Blue & Yellow ( 81- 84 ^ 179mb)

King Crimson have typically been categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, although they incorporate diverse influences ranging from jazz, classical and experimental music to psychedelic, New Wave, hard rock, gamelan and folk music. King Crimson have garnered little radio or music video airplay, but gained a large cult following. Their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, is widely regarded as a landmark in progressive rock. Their later excursions into even more unconventional territory have been influential on many contemporary musical artists. Bands such as Genesis and Yes were influenced by the band's initial style of symphonic mellotron rock.Tool are widely held to have been heavily influenced by King Crimson. Nirvana are known to have been influenced by King Crimson as a result of Kurt Cobain having mentioned the importance of the Red album to him. The band Porcupine Tree is influenced by King Crimson, and as with Tool, King Crimson (in the form of ProjeKct Six) has been the support band at their shows. The angular, dissonant guitar patterns associated with Fripp’s distinctive approach are also evident in the music of Alt-Metal pioneers, Voivod, Primus is heavily influenced by the King Crimson sound, and Iron Maiden members credit the band as a reference for them....

King Crimson's membership has fluctuated considerably throughout their existence, with eighteen musicians and two lyricists passing through the ranks as full band members. Fripp, the only constant member of King Crimson, has arranged several distinct lineups, but has stated that he does not necessarily consider himself the band's leader. The new King Crimson that evolved in July 1972 (again with some personnel changes) marks a turn toward a heavier progressive sound, with experimental and fusion overtones, that climaxes mostly on their unique semi-improvisatory live performances throughout the whole 1973 with the release of Starless and Bible Black, January 1974. Most of that album was recorded from live performances with the live factor dismissed.

David Cross left and so John Wetton, Bill Bruford and Robert Fripp were left to record the new album, Red, be it with the help of musicians from previous KC albums.(David Cross - violin, Mel Collins - soprano saxophone, Ian McDonald - alto saxophone, Robin Miller - oboe, Marc Charig - cornet). Red has been described as "an impressive achievement" for a group about to disband, with "intensely dynamic" musical chemistry between the band members that resulted in a record "aggressive and loud enough to strip the wallpaper off your living room wall". Fripp, increasingly disillusioned with the music business, was turning his attention to the writings of the mystic George Gurdjieff, and did not want to tour as he felt that the "world was coming to an end". The Red line-up never toured, and two months before the album's release Fripp announced that King Crimson had "ceased to exist" and the group disbanded on September 25, 1974

Early in 1981, Fripp considered forming a new group, with no intention of reforming King Crimson. However, a step that led to this was contacting Bill Bruford to ask if he wanted to join the new band.Bruford agreed and the pair recruited Tony Levin, he brought a new sound with the use of the Chapman Stick, described as an "utterly original style" created by "one of New York City's most sought-after studio musicians". Fripp also contacted guitarist Adrian Belew, who was on tour with Talking Heads Fripp had never been in a band with another guitarist before so the decision to seek a second guitarist was indicative of Fripp's desire to create a sound unlike previous incarnations of King Crimson. Belew, who also became the band's singer and lyricist, joined following his tour with Talking Heads. The four played live in the first half of 1981 using the name Discipline.

By October 1981, the band had begun using the name King Crimson. The group released a trilogy of albums: Discipline in 1981, Beat in 1982, and Three of a Perfect Pair in 1984. Beat marked the first King Crimson album to have been recorded with the exact same band members as the album preceding it. After Three of a Perfect Pair, King Crimson disbanded for around a decade, during which time Fripp formed the record label Discipline Global Mobile for King Crimson and related projects, besides starting the Guitar Craft music school in 1985.

Ten years after (May 1994), King Crimson start rehearsing again, this time as a double trio (added to the four above, are Pat Mastelotto on percussion, and Trey Gunn on stick). It is in this time that the Discipline Global Mobile label is started, enabling for the first time Mr. Fripp and associates to release their own music by their own (high) standards. This "double trio" formation released the EP VROOOM in 1994, followed by the studio album THRAK in 1995, and the challenging avantgarde live album THRaKaTTaK in 1996. The new King Crimson sound featured elements of the interlocking guitars on Discipline and the heavy rock feel of Red

The double trio scheme will only release two full albums and various ep’s, yet it will lead to its “fractalization” to groups of three (or four), thus forming the ProjeKcts. Five such ProjeKcts will live and flourish (One, Two, Three, Four, and X), and their live and studio sessions will be released by DGM, along with numerous other recordings from all periods of King Crimson (some under the King Crimson Collector’s Club; bi-monthly releases for members only). In the hands of DGM, the King Crimson back catalogue (most late additions only on FLAC/MP3 format) grows enormously, making it one of the biggest for any rock group ever. By the time the ProjeKcts were complete, Bruford and Levin had ceased to be involved with King Crimson, Belew, Fripp, Gunn, and Mastelotto remained, releasing the studio album The ConstruKction of Light (2000), accompanied by the album Heaven and Earth released under the name ProjeKct X in the same year.

The band continued their activity throughout the decade. In 2002 the EP Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With was released,[51] and in 2003 the studio album The Power to Believe came out with the band touring in support of it. November 2003, Trey Gunn announced his departure from the band. Levin would become the active bassist of King Crimson again, with the subsequent line-up scheduled for rehearsals in 2008 and consisting of Fripp, Belew, Mastelotto, Levin plus a second drummer, Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree, who joined King Crimson in November 2007. They began rehearsals in March 2008.

Sourced from my vinyls Red = Discipline, Blue = Beat, Y = Three of a perfect pair, compiled with continuity and respect for maximum enjoyment of 80 minutes of King Crimson in topform. Fripp and Bruford really get fired up by new entries Adrian Belew and Tony Levin and together they delivered a stunning run of three albums winning over many new fans in the early eighties. Njoy...



01 - Elephant Talk (Red) (4:45)
02 - Frame By Frame (Red) (5:08)
03 - Lark Tongues In Aspic (Yellow) (5:21)
04 - Heartbeat (Blue) (3:54)
05 - Matte Kudasai (Red) (3:49)
06 - Man With An Open Heart (Yellow) (3:05)
07 - Neal And Jack And Me (Blue) (4:24)
08 - Thela Hun Ginjeet (Red) (6:28)
09 - Nuages (Yellow) (4:51)
10 - Model Man (Yellow) (3:45)
11 - Neurotica (Blue) (4:32)
12 - Sartori In danger (Blue) (3:35)
13 - Sheltering Sky (Red) (8:26)
14 - Three Of A Perfect Pair (Yellow) (4:15)
15 - Sleepless (Yellow) (5:18)
16 - Two Hands (Blue) (3:23)
17 - Waiting Man (Blue) (4:23)

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Spasmodique - EP + North ( 89 * 141mb)

Spasmodique was formed in 1982 by singer/guitarist Mark Ritsema, guitarist Arjo Hijmans, bassist Martin Doctors van Leeuwen and drummer Reinier Rietveld (formerly of Quando Quango). They released a self-titled five-song ep in 1986. The same year, they recorded songs for an opera that were later released on their album North. In 1987 Spasmodique released their full-length debut From the Cellar of Roses and toured with Umberto di Bosso e Compadres. The next year they released another album with three new studio tracks and five live tracks, Start to Believe/Someone's Out There to Get You. In 1989 they finally debuted a single, "The Square", and released another full-length album, North. By the end of the decade, the band had grown more popular internationally, with growing audiences in Germany and Austria.

1990 would see the birth of Spasmodique's master work, the album Haven. Upon completion of the recording sessions, Hijmans left the band. The band prompltly replaced him with Niek den Brave and Hans Brusse and released the non-album single "Spilling". The next year saw more personnel changes when the two new members were replaced by guitarist Raymond Gerrits. Spasmodique almost came to an end then, and embarked on a farewell tour, but the public's enthusiastic response convinced them to stay together. They released Who's Afraid, a compilation of demos and outtakes. In 1992 the band took a break from live performances that would stretch over a decade.
Singer /guitarist Mark Ritsema got together with multi-instrumentalist Willem Cramer of East Meets West and eventually founded Cobraz to which former Spasmodique members, Willem Cramer (gitar) and Martin Docters van Leeuwen (bass) joined and released Sato Bar where they amalgamated the western music with African/Latin music. The well recieved album produced by Jean Marie Aerts(TC Matic) launched a series of great live shows in 93/94 but somewhere the energy disappated and by 96 Cobraz was no more.

The Spasmodique members decide to get bback together in 98 and by 2000 they began work on what would become a new album Villa Delirium. It was released in 2002. That same year the book 20 Jaar Spasmodique, From the Cellar of Roses was published, detailing the band's history and discography. In 2005 singer Ritsema left the band, effectively ending Spasmodique. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Ritsema has continued to record and perform with his new band Raskolnikov.



01 - Kiss On Your Scars (3:25)
02 - The Small World (2:37)
03 - Your Boyfriend (3:48)
04 - Spirit Of A Stranger (5:01)
05 - He's On Fire ! (4:53)

06 - North (Intro) (2:16)
07 - You'll Be Mine (4:45)
08 - Marcus Was (5:23)
09 - Beating Up The Child (3:40)
10 - As You Wake Up (4:37)
11 - Retreat (In Anger) (4:22)
12 - Bloodbrothers (5:33)
13 - The Split Up (A Farce) (3:53)
14 - The Longest Day (7:17)
15 - Letter From An Asylum (4:10)
16 - Morning Dew (3:21)
17 - Town Of Failing Parties (3:20)
18 - Start To Believe (3:40)
19 - The Square (4:12)


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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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