Rifling through a box of CDs recently which included a load of CDs I made back in the 00s and early 2010s (when I was in the habit of making compilation CDs of songs downloaded from music blogs and printing off pictures for front covers and handwriting or typing out the tracklists and putting them in plastic wallets) I found one with a C60 Agfa cassette on the cover and this title- Planet Mondo Side 1 Sound Of The Crowd/ Planet Mondo Side 2 Creatures Of The Night. I'm guessing it dates from the late 00s. The tracklist looked good and I had a dim memory of it so I took it to the car for playing while we were driving around this week.
Side 1 Sound Of The Crowd starts with a typically 80s Radio 1 style jingle- then Soft Cell's drums kick in and over the top a robotic voice says,'You are about to experience a Planet Mondo mix for The Vinyl Villain', as the sax starts wailing and Marc begins to sing. Which surprised me- I didn't remember this being a Vinyl Villain tie in. Maybe either JC at The Vinyl Villain or Planet Mondo remember more than I do.
This is a really good, one side of a C90 set, well selected and sequenced, mixed into one file, perfect for a trip back to a dark, electronic 80s dancefloor.
Planet Mondo Side 1 Sound Of The Crowd
- Soft Cell: Memorabilia
- Simple Minds: I Travel (Remix)
- Pete Shelley: Homosapien
- Divine: Love Reaction
- The Human League: Empire State Human
- Cabaret Voltaire: Nag Nag Nag
- Fad Gadget: Back To Nature
Memorabilia came out in 1981 on Some Bizarre, Marc Almond and Dave Ball at their best- slightly over the top, drum machines and synths a go go and Marc doing his on- the- edge lyrical thing. Their minimal synthwave aesthetic was pretty groundbreaking, art crossed with pop, and made them massively famous and successful for a while.
I Travel was from Simple Minds' Empires And Dance album, a 1980 single that is as good as anything they did in that period. Moroder- esque synthlines and Derek Forbes' bass pushing everything on.
Pete Shelley's Homosapien is a banger, released as a single in 1981, the former Buzzcock going electronic with The Human League's Martin Rushent on production. The lyrics made it a gay club favourite, a song that celebrates same sex love and stands against homophobia- 'The world is so wrong/ That I hope you'll be strong enough/ But I don't want to classify you like an animal in the zoo/ But it seems good to me to see that you're a homosapien too...'
Divine's 1983 Love Reaction single starts out sounding like/ borrowing from Blue Monday (out earlier in 1983). Love Reaction's producer Bobby Orlando was a huge fan of New Order's famous single. Love Reaction turns into a Divine single with Blue Monday bursting through the seams.
Empire State Human- early Human League, recorded in Sheffield in 1979 and the only single from their album Reproduction, an intersection of art, glam, synths and post- industrial modernism. Oakey's lyrics have been seen as outlining his pop star ambitions- 'I wanna be tall, tall, tall... fourteen stories high (at least)'.
Nag Nag Nag was Cabaret Voltaire's 1980 calling card, uncompromising and industrial but futuristic. The group saw it as 60s psyche garage updated, Nuggets groups like The Thirteenth Floor Elevators and Red Krayola retooled for early 80s northern England. One of those records which captured the zeitgeist.
Fad Gadget's Back To Nature is one of those songs too- utterly brilliant, compellingly bleak, minimal analogue synths and deadpan vocals, Cold War vibes on Canvey Sands.
'Back to nature - burning bodies in the sun
Back to nature - just like lemmings, every one
Back to nature - capitalist aircraft fill the air
Back to nature - aerosol sun breaks on air
It's gonna rain all night
But we'll be alright
Under the geodesic dome
Infrared heater, just like home
Sitting in the shade of a rubber tree
I'll kiss you and you'll kiss me'
Side 2 Creatures Of The Night will follow next Sunday.
