39 Lyon Street Kites 12"

The 39 Lyon Street Kites 12". 

Released in 1981, it features Christine Beveridge on a whispery lead vocal with Billy taking the back seat until the choruses. The Associates were allowed to release singles on other labels as long as Billy didn't sing lead vocals on the A-side. Recorded in the midst of the Situation 2 stream of singles, Kites is an atmospheric musical delight. The twelve inch version has a rolling piano intro which slides effortlessly into an utterly groovy version of Simon Dupree And The Big Sound's biggest hit.

It was released on RSO Records in a one single deal. The B-side A Girl Named Property is credited to The Associates and is the same version released on Fourth Drawer Down.

39 Lyon Street is behind the blue car (centre picture).

Billy explained some of the background to this record in a Smash Hits interview in May 1981 "Around 1976 a lot of us (including Alan Rankine, the other founder member of The Associates) were living in a flat at 39 Lyon Street in Dundee. We used to hold parties almost every night and the kind of music we used to play was sophisticated club-style music. Some of us even used to sell 1920's clothing. Christine was one of the people who lived there. When me and Rankine played the cabaret circuit we used to play the 'Kites' number. The next thing to be released by 39 Lyon Street will be a quasi-Neil Sedaka song called '18 Carat Love Affair'."

Of course things changed and we never got another 39 Lyon Street song nor did we get the projected Orbidoig album John Peel informed us that MacKenzie was producing back in October 1982.

Enjoy what we have

Sid Law

Fire In Da House!

August 1990 and Circa were keen to recoup. April's single Fever had not delivered and pressure to prise a hit out of the Wild and Lonely album was mounting. Fire to Ice was next up for release as a single. Again a multiple slew of formats gushed out of the corporate machine in the form of cassingle, 7”, 10”, 12”and a CD single.

The UK 12” claims to be an "extended remix version" but at 4.34 it clocks in at the same length as the original album version. Maybe there is a wee bit of tweaking the knobs or re-EQ-ing in the 12" production but not much of a difference. The many formats yielded a few non-album songs which were collected for the CD re-issue and you can find them all there.

Across the pond in the USA, where Wild And Lonely was released by Charisma, the Fire To Ice single was remixed by house and nu-groove supremo Bobby Konders and released on a 12” single. Featuring no less than six clubby Konders mixes, the 12” takes the listener on a pleasant ramble through some tinkling, jazz-infused piano house.
In addition, the US release of Wild And Lonely has a different version of Ever Since That Day which features a trumpet/ sax solo (at 3.11 – 3.34) which didn’t appear on the UK Circa release.

All the best

Sid Law

Just Cant Say Goodbye

It was Summer 1990. Glasgow was European City of Culture. In May Luciano Pavarotti had performed his hit single “Nessun Dorma” to 12,000 ticket holders at the SECC. A month later on the 3rd of June, somewhere between a quarter and half a million music fans ground Scotland to a halt, attempted to drink Glasgow dry and later that evening bottled Sheena Easton off the stage at Glasgow Green. Yup I’m talking about The Big Day - Glasgow’s Year of Culture nod to the masses. A free concert featuring everyone from Maria McKee, Texas, Aswad and The Associates to Big Country, Deacon Blue and – briefly - Sheena Easton
The Big Day was massive. There were stages dotted all around the city. The Associates played the George Square stage in the afternoon. It was packed and Billy and his 1990 band of Associates performed a great wee four-song set featuring Fever, Give, Club Country and Just Cant Say Goodbye. The sound was great. A Scottish television channel was broadcasting it and I had my very first video recorder running back at my flat taping it. I had taken out a rental package for this very purpose from Glen’s, Robertson’s, Hutchison and Stepek.

Later that night, after Big Country and Deacon Blue had blown the stage away on Glasgow Green, myself and my cronies staggered back to the flat only to find that my footage of the Associates set had been cruelly cut short by an advertising break. One of the adverts was for Glen’s, Robertson’s Hutchison and Stepek. The irony was not lost on me.
When the station had gone to an advertising break the stage cameras were just put down and left running. Luckily the live audio feed was saved so twenty years on we can see most of and hear all it. The Associates play what later (in Jan 1991) would be their last ever single at their last ever gig. As far as I am aware this was Billy MacKenzie's last public stage performance too.

The song had been a live favourite since 1985 and is on a few mid eighties bootlegs. When the single appeared it arrived on cassette single, 7", CD and two 12" ers. Aside from the regular 7" mix and b-sides like 1,2,3 and I'm Gonna Run Away From You (which were collected on the Wild And Lonely CD re-issue) we had exclusive mixes. And yes, once more it was those Teutonic techno knob-twiddlers Thomas Fehlman and those Marathon chaps AKA Time Unlimited AKA Moritz Von Oswald and Ralf Hertwig. All three (Fehlman, Von Oswald and Hertwig) were members of Palais Schaumburg alongside Holger Hiller (who recorded the "Whippets" single with Billy) . Those Krautrock connections and Germanic leanings just keep turning up.

On the first 12"
1. Time Unlimited Mix (7.23) Remixed by Marathon/Thomas Fehlman
2. Time Unlimited Piano Mix (6.57) Remixed by Marathon/Thomas Fehlman
3. US Mix (4.59) Remixed by Julian Meddlesome
On the second 12"
1. Time Unlimited Instrumental Mix (7.09) Remixed by Marathon/Thomas Fehlman
2. Karma Mix (6.04) Remixed by Marathon/Thomas Fehlman
On the CD single
1. Time Unlimited Piano Mix (6.42) Remixed by Marathon/Thomas Fehlman
2. US Mix Remixed by Julian Meddlesome
Despite being a very respectable sounding single and having the slew of dance remixes and formats, the single stiffed. It was played in the background during an argument in the Queen Vic on Eastenders one dark night in January 1991.
It was an ironic yet fitting title for the Associates to bow out on. Then that was it. Goodbye. No more Associates.

All the best

Sid Law

A Few That Slipped Through The Net

Okay maybe if I’d planned this blog properly it would run effortlessly from A to Z via all points in between, creating a spiders web of posts and links chronologically snaring and cataloguing everything the re-issue schedules missed. But I’m afraid I don’t work like that. So here are a few things which none of us should really be without.
I was listening to the V2 CD re-issue of “Fourth Drawer Down” last night and I realised that The “Original Version” of Q Quarters remains forever shipwrecked on the B-side of the Q Quarters 12”. With a weird beat driven intro it is a sparse, haunting version which has somehow managed to add even more paranoia and at the same time prove that less is more. This is a gem from a time when Billy and Alan were pumping out the Situation Two series at a rate of knots while sustaining levels of quality, experimentation and sheer sonic brilliance which no other band has (in my ever so humble opinion) approached.

On a more mundane note… and just before we all get over-excited… the version of “A Girl Named Property” on the original vinyl of “Fourth Drawer Down” (which claims to be 5.25 on the Sit 2 record label) is exactly the same length as the version which appears on the V2 re-issue (which comes in at 4.56). It is a 1981 labelling error so we can all calm down.

Leap ahead to the “Perhaps” era. Lurking on the B-side of “Those First Impressions” 12 incher is a great instrumental version of “13 Feelings”. Totally different to the instrumental version which came on the cassette version of “Perhaps”, this one has the feel of the original “Perhaps” recordings. It has a BIG sound – edgy, shiny and shimmering with something which got lost in the endless re-recording and remixing which eventually produced the “Perhaps” we all know and… errr... are familiar with. Production credits are to Billy MacKenzie and Mark Arthurworry. Steve Reid gets the sole writing credit. I wish “Perhaps” could be rammed back through the mixing desk and come back out sounding like this.
Then there is the “Breakfast” 12” package. The title track has a slightly different mix to the album version. We also get “Breakfast Alone” - an instrumental version. Then the blistering version of “Kites”- I wonder why Warners didn’t slap this on the “Perhaps” re-issue as an extra. But they didn’t.

All the best

Sid Law

Unique Promo Tracks

By summer 1988 "The Glamour Chase" recording was completed, the pressure was on, the multi-formatted "Heart of Glass" single had stiffed badly and Warners were looking for some way to recoup around a million quid which had been poured into MacKenzie's lavish recording schedules. Billy delivered the record company "Country Boy" as the next single.

Perhaps the most off-the-wall recording in all of MacKenzie's lush career. Powered by an elastic band bassline, an echoey beatbox and featuring some exotic Tyrolean close harmony barbershop backing vocals by Die Zwei (who also wrote and produced the track) the song has a heart wrenching vocal performance form Billy.
Die Zwei consisted of Gerd and Udo Scheuerpflug who had released "Countryboy" as a single back in 1985.

Hear Die Zwei in full action here, performing "Western Union" a track on their "Countryboy " 12".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO3BnEdlHts

I dont think for one minute Billy thought of "Country Boy" as a contender for a top ten single for the Christmas of 1988 (though it would have been a thing of wonder to see Billy and Die Zwei performing on the same bill as Angry Anderson knocking out "Suddenly" and Cliff Richard doing "Mistletoe and Wine" ). The charts had been bouncing all year with SAW's Hit Factory and the emerging UK house scene was throwing the likes of Inner City, Yazz and S'Express some credible chart action. My suspicion is that Billy could see the way the wind was blowing at Warners and was throwing an elaborately wrought and beautiful spanner in the works on his way out of the swing doors. Five thousand promo 12"ers and CDs were pressed up for a December 1988 release.



Nestling on the promo "Country Boy" CD was a unique version of "Just Cant Say Goodbye". Classified as the "12" Mix" the song had not been featured on any Associates records up till then - although it had been a regular live favourite from 1985 onwards. The song eventually turned up on "Wild and Lonely" and became the last ever Associates single in January 1991. This early version of the song has only seen the light of day on the 1988 "Country Boy" promo 12" and promo CD. It has a real charm, its basic production at odds with the later Julian Mendelson uber production and the Marathon/Fehlman housey techno remixes.
In the end Warners never released the single, shelved "The Glamour Chase" and dropped Billy from the label, leaving him to take the infamous taxi ride back to Dundee. The "Country Boy" track did eventually appear on the "Popera" compilation a few years later and "The Glamour Chase" album in its complete and finished form was slipped out fourteen years later as a freebie in the "Perhaps" CD re-issue.

In late 1992 "Outernational" was busy not selling and a third single from it was planned - a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise". Promo CDs were issued but then Circa folded and the single was never officially released. The promo featured a mostly instrumental mix of "Outernational" called "Outernational II". It has never appeared anywhere else since.


All the best



Sid Law

Some Remixes and a unique Promo-only vocal

Having said goodbye to Warners, Billy MacKenzie had quickly secured a deal with Circa (a Virgin offshoot) with "Wild and Lonely" being the first of two albums MacKenzie would record and release for his new label. Warners had licensed the old Associates material to East/West in order to release "Popera" - a collection of Associates singles from 1981 up to 1988.

Billy had never really liked the results of attempts to remix old Associates material before (both the remixed Affectionate Punch and the US Sulk remixes being cases in point). However, when Billy heard the four remixes which had been commisioned for an EP to accompany the Popera collection he was thrilled. Those responsible for the work were none other than Thomas Fehlmann and Marathon, some very up-to-the-minute remixers and producers who were riding the 1990 techno wave and twiddling the knobs! With two remixes each of "Club Country" and "Waiting For The Loveboat", the Popperetta EP was released to help promote the Popera compilation.

Of course Billy knew all these teutonic remixer and producer dudes from waaaay back, they had been founder members of Palais Schaumburg along with Holger Hiller (see "Whippets" post). Marathon (also known as "Time Unlimited") were Moritz von Oswald and Ralf Hertwig. Moritz von Oswald had performed drumming duties for the Associates since 1985 and played on Wild and Lonely. Fehlmann went on to become an integral part of The Orb and continues to share duties at the starship Orb controls with Dr Alex Paterson to this day. During a Radio Tay interview in 1992 Mackenzie referred to his Krautrock leanings, namechecking Kraftwerk and confessed to "even listening to Neu!". "Popperetta" was released in December 1990 on 7" and 12" (there are as yet unconfirmed reports of a CD issue as well but no-one has seen one!). 

Oh yeah... and also... the unique vocal on this promo only 12"

Back in the day, in 1987, when Yello were just slipping out "One Second" they gave away a free 12" with the first 2,000 copies of the album. The version of "Call It Love" on the 12" is unique and has an utterly beautiful mix. From Billy's multi-harmonied hums on the intro... to the amazing lead vocal he contributes... from Boris Blank's immaculate production... to the seagull noises... I love it. It is a really, really groovy track. The verse Billy sings turned up later on Outernational's "Feels Like The Richtergroove" but this stonking version of "Call It Love" gives a tantalising hint as to what might lie in that mysterious box of goodies Boris Blank has hidden under his bed.

I will be sipping a glass of champagne or two over the weekend. Billy would have been 53 tomorrow. It is my birthday too!


Cheers



Sid Law

Take Me To The Girl

Aaah late 1985... autumn came. I was studying in another country. My best pal sent me over a couple of cassettes of various stuff. Paul Haig, Armoury Show, Skids, Aztecs, Orange Juice and the contents of the latest Associates 12 incher. I wasn't sure what to make of it. My best pal didn't either. We'd kept waiting for Billy and whoever his Associates were now, to produce a blinder, off the wall, Ice Cream Factory meets Skipping album. Instead we got a glossy, very slickly produced single which kinda hinted at the european tinge which made "Breakfast" so great. . It was given a twelve inch mix in the only way 1985 knew how. The B-sides were interesting, a different take on the song called "The Girl That Took Me" a very jazzy, laid back arrangement of the single track. "Perhaps Perhaps" was next, a clubbier mix of the "Perhaps" track. I was then treated to an instrumental version of the single edit of "Take Me To The Girl" and that was it. It was great to get more stuff but it wasn't exactly what I thought I was waiting on...

1985 was my first time living away from home. Of course, I loved it and greatly enjoyed going out drinking late in strange bars and partay-ing. Though granted it was in Northern Ireland and it was the mid 1980's. More peaceful times for Ulster were still a bit further down the road, and the wearing (in downtown Ballymena) of the black Mackenzie-style beret (my best pal had thoughtfully given it to me on my departure) was an ill advised one-off.
Christmas found me arriving back in Glasgow for some partay-ing, fearlessly wearing my beret and "Breakfast" T-Shirt on Byres Road.

I found myself grabbing a groovy looking ten inch version of "Take Me To The Girl" from the first record shop we entered. It had the regular "Take Me To The Girl" single version and "Perhaps Perhaps" (the remixed version from the 12") but I was gobsmacked to find three of the Ronnie Scott's gig tracks from 9 December 1984 on the B-side. They were "God Bless The Child" "Even Dogs In The Wild" and "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot"! The quality was superb! Played unplugged with brushed snare drum, piano, bass and sax, it was a legendary set.
A wee seven inch single then plopped out of my pal's issue of Sounds. It was the "Christmas Cracker" featuring - yup- "Breakfast" live at Ronnie Scotts 9 December 1984. All we needed now was "The Crying Game" and "No" and we had the whole set! Those particular missing tracks never materialised (but they were recorded by Warners) a pity the whole batch didn't make their way out. I saw the whole film of the gig and still have a copy, but the sound fidelity is not as good as the vinyl record releases.

So anyway now having plunged myself back to the strange places my life took me in late 1985 I can tell you that the soundtrack to that autumn and winter was taken up a great deal by these songs. None have been collected on the re-issues. 

All the best

Sid Law