Tune #81: Simple Minds - A Brass Band In African Chimes

In 2001 Beachwood Music, a label notorious for its crappy compilations, assigned Nick Bracegirdle to create a compilation of tracks which represent the sound of Ibiza. Nick was enjoying his G.O.A.T. years with his Chicane & Disco Citizens aliases at the time, so he seemed the appropriate person for the job (Offshore is still regarded as one of Ibiza's anthems).

Like most 2-CD compilations, the classic formula is also applied here: The 1st CD is the chillout interpretation of the project, consisting of downtempo tracks with mellow melodies and breakbeats. The 2nd CD is the more club-friendly, with some of the most famous house & trance tracks of the 90's.

The non-electronic (or the least electronic!) track of the compilation is A Brass Band In African Chimes by Simple Minds:

SIMPLE MINDS - A BRASS BAND IN AFRICAN CHIMES


Simple Minds are a famous Scottish band of the 80's. Initially found success in the UK, the band achieved international fame with the song Don't You Forget About Me (which was included in the film The Breakfast Club). Although they are mostly known for their new wave/synth-pop productions (Alive & Kicking, Someone Somewhere In Summertime, Waterfront), three tracks distinguished them from the other new wave bands:
·         Belfast Child: an expression of empathy for the people of Northern Ireland after the                               Remembrance Day bombing (possibly an answer to U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday?)
·         Mandela Day: a freeing cry for the then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela
·         Today's posted track

A Brass Band In African Chimes was released in 1984 by Virgin, firstly as a B-side to Up On The Catwalk, and one year later (as a B-side again) in Don't You Forget About Me. Composed by Simple Minds and produced by Steve Lillywhite (who was the driving force behind the first 3 albums of U2), this lush instrumental can perfectly fit as a closer in a DJ set. Although the composition does not bear strong resemblance with the classic Simple Minds sound, an association can be found through the distinctive guitar riffs of Charlie Burchill.

An interesting trivia for the track is that it was actually a reconstruction of a demo version for Shake Off The Ghosts, which appeared in album Sparkle In The Rain (1983):

SIMPLE MINDS - SHAKE OFF THE GHOSTS (DEMO VERSION)


Simple Minds have deeply influenced the electronic music with their tracks: Some representative examples are:
·         Latour - Blue (featured in movie Basic Instinct) sampled the intro of Theme For Great Cities.
·         U.S.U.R.A - Open Your Mind (an Italo progresssive house anthem) is largely based on                         track New Gold Dream.
·         CJ Bolland - Golden Dreams (one of the first rave tracks) uses a sample from Big Sleep.

Simple Minds are one of the most underrated bands in the history of music. While their beginning was pretty much in parallel with the Irish U2, they former never reached the fame status of the latter. The band faced a commercial decline in the 90's, only to revive in mid-00's. However, their contribution to the music of the 80's is undisputed.

Tune #80: 141 G - What You Gonna Do (Dub)

Just what the Youtube commentator said: More (808?) cowbell!

141 G - WHAT YOU GONNA DO (12" DUB)


In 2012 Tako Reyenga and Ilias Pitsios (a.k.a. DJ Dynamons) compiled the collection Into The Light: A Journey Into Greek Electronic Music, Classics & Rarities (1978-1991), a finest mixture of obscure & classic Greek electronic tracks that were released a long time ago... I am starting to think that an alternate title of the collection could be After Vangelis, Before Stereo Nova!

The collection includes tracks of different genres, varying from Ambient & Experimental to Synth-Pop & Italo Disco. According to Discogs, only 750 copies of the compilation circulated in the market (this fact could explain the high prices in market places 5 years later).

One of the standout tracks (and possibly the most club-friendly) is the dub version of What You Gonna Do?, a rework of an Italo Disco song by 141 G, consisting of Costas Charitodiplomenos & Marina Skiadaresi. Needless to say, Costas was a prominent figure of the 80's, as he was dominating the Greek music scene of this era with classics such as Lost In The Night, Fill Me Up and Talk About Love. Concerning Marina, I was not aware that her career had already started so early, since he gained more fame during the 90's in the Greek Folk Rock genre.

WYGD? was originally released in 1984 by EMI in Greece. While the original is (in my opinion) pretty much forgettable, the dub version is rather interesting. Twangy bass, playful piano and (more) cowbell blend together to form an electrified psychedelic result. The highlight of the track is undoubtedly the distorted vocals (the benefits of the vocoder!), which are sounding like Costas was replaced by his robotic equivalent!

Besides WYGD?, the compilation by Into The Light Records is a must-have for listeners interested in the Greek experimental music of this era, curated by masters such as Akis Daoutis, Dimitris Petsetakis, George Theodorakis (son of the legendary Greek composer Mikis) and Lena Platonos (a major influence on Stereo Nova's music)...

What can we except from Into The Light Records in the future? Hopefully, a repress of the compilation!

Tune #79: C.M. - Dream Universe

A forgotten gem from the past:

C.M. - DREAM UNIVERSE


C.M. stands for Crystal Manoeuvres, the birth child of Belgians Crisci Mauro & Marino Stephano. Little information can be found for Mr. Crisci, so the spotlight belongs to Mr. Marino.

Marino's first exposure to electronic music dated back to 1995, when he partnered with Meo Lorenzo to form Zodiac and M.Zone. Their first works were released in Belgium by Rhythm And Groove Records, an offshoot of Mackenzie Records. The latter has long served as a musical home for many young Belgian artists (even for the relatives of Marino & Mauro!).

In 1996 Marino teamed up with Mauro as C.M., in order to produce their first EP After Dream/Dream Universe. The presence of DU in the B-side of the EP indicated that the duo possibly believed more in the potential of the first track. However, Dream Universe was the track that captured the interest of trance community, so in the next year it was released as a maxi single in German label Fog Area. In 1998, it was presented to UK crowd by Hooj Choons, one of the most famous progressive labels. Remixes of the track were performed by DJ George's (resident DJ of Belgian club La Bush), Tilt, Taucher and Man With No Name (an essential curator for Goa trance). According to Discogs, 34 releases of the maxi can be found throughout the years (mainly by Fog Area & Hooj Choons), while the different versions of the track were featured in dozens of DJ mixes and compilations!

Marino had a great talent in crafting melodic trance tracks, being melancholic and blissful at the same time. Other known tracks produced by him are Eternal Rhapsody, Dream's Harmony (a collab with Stephane Kalpakidis aka DJ Kalpa) and Good Shot as Hand's Burn (another alias of Marino & Crisci).

Unfortunately, on 8 September 1999 he found a tragic death at the age of 25 years. On his way to meet fellow producer Dirk Dierickx (most known for his M.I.K.E. and Push aliases), he was involved in a fatal car accident. Dierickx's track Till We Meet Again is dedicated to memory of Marino, whose sudden passing was a tremendous loss for the electronic music community.

It is really a shame that none of his works appears in the retrospective collection TSOB - The Sound Of Belgium, which focused more on Belgium's EBM/New Beat era (1988 - 1991) and featured only the most famous tracks of other genres (like Joey Beltram - Energy Flash, T 99 - Anasthasia and others). In my opinion, his tracks were a proper interpretation for the melodic side of trance, compared with the anthemic Dutch sound, which ruled the EDM industry in late 90's - early 00's.

P.S. I definitely found another reason why I like the track so much (except that it is great!). The background bassline is similar to that of the legendary Odyssey To Anyoona!