Music Review: Stephen Emmer, International Blue

By Melissa Bratcher

It is difficult to categorize Stephen Emmer’s International Blue (produced by Tony Visconti). It’s an orchestral chamber pop album that showcases some of the finest baritone singers currently in the UK (Ultravox’s Midge Ure, Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory, Furlined’s Neil Crossley, and Cousteau’s Liam McKahey). It’s not exactly orchestra music, and it’s not exactly pop, but what it really sounds like is a soundtrack for a moody mid-1960s film, the kind where the actors wear amazingly fashionable clothes in primary colors and stare seriously off into the distance. It’s a fine album to mark the slide from late summer into autumn.

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Music Review: British Electric Foundation, Dark – Music Of Quality And Distinction, Volume 3

By Emily Carney

BEF’s first volumes were released in the halcyon days of white-boy soul, respectively in 1980 (Music for Stowaways, 1982—Volume 1) and 1991 (Volume 2). BEF’s excursions into the world of pop-music covers encompassed Tina Turner (who did a version of “Ball of Confusion” in 1982 which pretty much still blows everything out of the water) and Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory covering Glen Campbell’s country chestnut “Wichita Lineman.” Oh yeah, this “collective” is also basically Heaven 17, now sans Human League founder and legendary disappear-er Ian Craig Marsh.

Now it’s 2013, and BEF is back with a set of new covers. Dark pretty much mines old material with the same players, including Kim Wilde (who covers “Every Time I See You I Go Wild”), Andy Bell from Erasure (who covers Kate Bush’s “Breathing”), and Boy George (who does The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog”), among others. There are a few newer artists on the disc, including Shingai Shoniwa of the Noisettes (whose version of “God Only Knows” is a godsend), but I wish the disc included more new artists and perhaps newer songs.

Dark is essential for BEF and Heaven 17 completists, but those interested in being introduced to this family of music should check out 1981’s Penthouse and Pavement and 1982’s Music of Quality and Distinction Volume 1 which remain amazingly undated. While some of the versions of songs on Dark are standouts (Kim Wilde’s song contains all the electronics snaps and beeps we expect from BEF), don’t expect an epiphany here.

Dark, the British Electric Foundation’s third volume, is out today through The End Records. For ordering information, visit the BEF website.

The Power & The Glory: White Lies Live

By Less Lee Moore

The Mod Club, Toronto ON
January 29, 2010

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Rare is the band that I like immediately upon hearing them; rarer still is the one that can sustain that feeling in a live setting. White Lies have accomplished both.

Hugely popular in Britain, White Lies played just four dates in North America this time around—actually three, since their New York show at the Highline Ballroom was canceled at the last minute due to bad weather. Luckily, Toronto residents did not have to miss them at the Mod Club last weekend.
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Hitting The Penthouse And Pavement: Whatever Happened To Ian Craig Marsh?

By Emily Carney

Confession: I am a massive fan of the early output of the Human League (Reproduction and Travelogue era) and Heaven 17. I still have my vinyl copies of Penthouse and Pavement, The Luxury Gap, and How Men Are at my disposal. If anyone needs some surprisingly undated anti-capitalistic-fat-cat synthesizer masterpieces, please locate these albums right now.

At any rate, the small contingent of Heaven 17 fans which still linger to this day are well aware that the group still exists with two of its iconic three-man lineup—Glenn Gregory, the Rutger Hauer-esque, smooth-as-hell lead singer; and Martyn Ware, the mustachioed evil synth genius who had an ax to grind with one Phil Oakey (you know, the asymmetrically-haired one from the Human League).

But my question is, what the hell ever happened to my personal favorite member of H17, Ian Craig Marsh?
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Hungry For Love & Hard Boiled Eggs: Eleven Obscure Yet Hilarious Videos

By Jim R. Clark

“Can you just turn the thermostat down, please?!”

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Soundtrack For The Perfect Girl

By Jim R. Clark

Why do you insist on listening to music that you don’t even like? Is it because you’re afraid what the others will think of you? Them, and their damned taste police. No? Well, I know the real reason. Really, I do. Listen, I’m going to tell you what’s going on inside your head. Consider this a free counseling session.
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Top Five Music Scandals Which Never Actually Happened

By Emily Carney

Author’s note: This piece is almost entirely fictionalized. Enjoy.

5. Midge Ure’s Backstage Throwdown With Bob Geldof, 1985

In the 1980s Midge Ure was best known as the lead singer of mope rockers Ultravox, while Bob Geldof was best known as the husband of Paula Yates and a guy who really, really liked money. He also did some philanthropist work. In 1985, both men mobilized their talents for the massive rock concert known as Live Aid.
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Nothing Can Stop Us: Anti-Thatcherism and Anti-Conservatism in Music, 1980 – 1987

By Emily Carney

With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls
—Elvis Costello, “Shipbuilding” (performed by Robert Wyatt)

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The Sepia Tint of Doom: Worst Ideas for Rock Photography

By Emily C.

5. The band wearing way too much leather

Whenever a vulnerable, slightly introverted band wants you to KNOW that they, in fact, mean business and are hardcore as all hell, they are encouraged to bust out the leather jackets and surly looks. The worst offender of this trend is one of my favorite bands, Depeche Mode. In the early 1980s they wore a little bit of leather, but generally their image was that of sensitive synth-poppers who did sweet songs like “See You” and “Just Can’t Get Enough.” Around 1984, their music took a darker turn into the world of bondage and domination (while still remaining its optimistic poppiness—see “Master and Servant”), and all this leather began to appear in their press photographs. By 1990, when Violator exploded into mass popularity, the band really wanted people to know that yes, they were actually total badasses, and would cut you up with a switchblade outside of whatever local Goth club you were hanging out at. Above is one example of Depeche Mode’s leather-induced surliness.

Notice the one member who is not wearing leather, and who therefore was NOT a team player.
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Top Five Most Inadvertently Hilarious Rock Books

By Emily Carney

5. Kraftwerk: I Was A Robot, by Wolfgang Flür (2000)

Wolfgang Flür is best known as being Kraftwerk’s drummer from 1974 to 1991, during their “golden years” when they turned out seminal albums such as Radioactivity (1975) and Trans-Europe Express (1977). This memoir by Flür details his various escapades within the workings of the “Düsseldorf Beatles.”

Flür’s liquored-up memories encompass shameless groupie-guzzling, getting surreally and seriously ill while on tour, and being sexually attacked by an aging alcoholic male German film actor. They climax when Flür is unceremoniously ousted from the band, who have become increasingly obsessed with cycling (to Flür’s utter dismay). Who would have believed the inner workings of Kraftwerk could be so scandalous and sex-soaked? The book was greeted with anger from Kraftwerk’s remaining members, who sued Flür; apparently Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider were not amused by photographs depicting the Kraftwerk robots in various homosexual activities.
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