Various EP reviews (including XTC Home Demos)...I've been a read-only member of mod.music.gaffa for some time now.You may not recognize the name, but I hope the following info is ofinterest. I recently celebrated a paycheck by spending a chunk ofit on some new vinyl and ended up with a bunch of 12" singles (EPs?).Brief impressions of the lot are included; if you want more infodrop me E-mail.Stranger to Stranger/The Child in Me 1985 SMI Records This song got a fair amount of airplay locally on WHFS so I guess it fits into the "alternate mainstream pop" mindset. The album contains two versions of "The Child in Me", 3 other tracks and a short instrumental not listed on the sleeve or the label. The title track is a slow paced/dreamy "angst pop" comment on life with subdued percussion, pained vocals and warbley/twangy guitar riffs. If you like somber, and slightly depressing, ballads you might want to check this one out. Of the other songs, "One World" and "Give it Everything You Can" are above average filler material while "Courageous Cat" adds something new to the EP. It's a jazz inspired pick-me-up effectively placed following the extended version of the title song.Stranger to Stranger/Don't Stop 1986 SMI Records Another EP from this group. This time around there's a lyric sheet and "direct metal mastering". That guitar is still there, holding everything together, and their message is more coherent. The four songs here fit together better than on the 1985 offering. All are moderately fast paced and have the same level of production trickery (fairly minimal). The percussion is more demanding and the vocals work better than the faster songs on "The Child in Me"; it all makes for fairly interesting EP with tasty guitars and a nice under-produced feel.Colourbox/Baby I Love You So 1986 4AD Records (BAD604) I'm quite a Colourbox fan but even non-fanatics will probably like this 12" single. This single follows nicely after the debut LP, with Lorita Grahame providing sumptuous vocals over top of a slinky reggae instrumental track. As on the album, there is some interesting editting work used to introduce strange sound effects (like Hollywood spagetti Wetern style gun shots) and off the wall vocals. For example, a quote from an Ernest Borgnine(sp?) movie pops up from out of nowhere offering "You can't meet the duke

[James A. Jones <ecf_ujaj%JHUNIX.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu>]

! Nobody gets to meet the duke! You
   meet him once then your dead!".  Hmmm...  These guys are masters of
   pop absurdity, and I for one buy into it.  BTW -- If anyone can figure
   out where the phrase "We're going down! We're going to *crash*!" used
   here comes from please send E-mail (or post).  It's sounds like June
   Lockheart from a Lost in Space episode. :-)  The B-side consists of
   "Looks Like We're Shy One Horse" and "Shoot Out". LLWSOH is more fun
   with strange phrases editted in (even more so than the A-side) with
   stinging/fuzzed out guitars stabbing the mix on and off.  "Shoot Out"
   is a wonderful instrumental heavy on texture.
 
 Colourbox/Keep on Pushing    1983 4AD Records (BAD315)
   I'm not sure what this EP is called, but the track "Keep on Pushing"
   seems to be in line with the cover art :-).  I thought about sending
   Tipper Gore a copy of this one; the cover show two horses getting to
   know each other *real* well.  The music isn't as immediately appealling
   as their best material but it's still interesting.  Lorita Grahame
   has a great voice especially when featured against the insistent rhythms
   conjured up by Steve and Martyn Young.  There are four songs on the EP,
   "Shotgun", "Keep on Pushing", "Nation" and "Justice".  Each is quirky
   but interesting overall.  "Keep on Pushing" is my favorite here. Aside
   from an overly long recorded phone call in the middle of the song,
   it's a bouncy pop tune that never bogs down.
 
 Colourbox/The Official COLOURBOX World Cup Theme    1986 4AD (BAD605)
   Yow!  This is the hottest dance tune I've heard in a long time.
   I can't believe title is on the level, but this song would make a
   great official world cup theme.  There's an infectious percussion
   backing up keyboard riffs that insist you at least tap your foot,
   if not hop around like a, well...  member of team that just won the
   world cup.  There are no vocals and no strange effects, straight
   forward "move your butt" music.  The B-side is drastically different;
   the first track is called "Philip Glass" and sounds like Philip Glass
   only less precise.  It works rather well and then a shorter version
   of "The Official COLOURBOX World Cup Theme" starts threatening your
   feet again.  Try to imagine being at a football (soccer) game and
   getting caught up in the excitement.  Then imagen that Philip Glass is
   in the stadium and you are suddenly in his head watching the game from
   his point of view for a few minutes before going back to the general
   hysteria.  That's how this 12" single plays, interested yet?
 
Dead or Alive/Brand New Lover      1986 Epic Records
   Alright, it's disco; I'll admit.  Dead or Alive makes musical junk
   food.  Sometimes the ultra-processed, no-longterm-benefit stuff is
   appealing.  If you like to dance, you'll like this tune (probably
   only for about a month at which point you'll be sick of it).  But,
   never, *never*, NEVER play the second track on the B-side "In Too
   Deep (Live)".  It's revolting and you'll not forgive yourself; don't
   say you weren't warned.
 
Cicone Youth/Into the Groove(y) b/w Burnin' Up    1986 Blast First Records
   I know this is probably been around long enough for most folks to
   already know about it.  But still, I had heard about it and didn't own
   a copy.  Well, I'd recommend getting a copy.  The A-side "Into the
   Groove(y)" works very well as satire (complete with snips of the real
   thing intersperced throughout) and as a nasty drag-guitar-licks-through-
   the-mud noise piece. The B-side doesn't work as well for me, I miss the
   grungy guitar work.
 
XTC/The Meeting Place b/w XTC Home Demos     1986 Virgin Records
   This EP contains two songs from the LP Skylarking as well as four
   non-LP songs.  The album tracks "The Meeting Place" and "The Man
   Who Sailed Around His Soul", I believe, appear exactly as on the LP
   and weren't the reason I bought the EP.  The B-side contains the
   so-called "XTC Home Demos" which are 4 non-LP songs.  To quote the
   album jacket, "The four tracks that make up the B side of this record
   are demos of songs that were never recorded in the studio for various
   reasons.  Producers preference, group preference, no time, lyrics not
   quite right, etc, whatever.  They were recorded at the repective writers
   homes on four track cassette machines and later, cleaned and 'tarted
   up a bit' as crescent studios, bath, for pressing on vinyl.  We
   thought that you might be interested to hear them as normally, nobody
   outside of the group or record company would ever be exposed to these
   'rough sketches'."  Sorry for the length of the quote, I thought it
   was interesting enough to post nonetheless.  The four tracks are
   "Terrorism", "Let's Make a Den", "Find the Fox" and "The Troubles".
   "Terrorism" features driving percussion, energetic accoustic guitar
   work, choruses of backing vocals and synthesizer twiddlings that give
   the song a middle eastern flavor (how appropriate).  I found this
   song very appealing, even on the first listen; the guitar work was
   especially effective.  As you would expect the lyrics are just as
   devout XTC fans would have them, pointed, nasty and highly political.
   "Let's Make a Den" reminds be of some Beatles tunes, I guess it's the
   bouncy guitar work (sounds like "Lovely Rita, Meter Maid" -- pardon
   me if I butchered the title).  It's got marvelous horn parts (baratone
   parhaps?) and the lyrics concern growing up with little choices to
   look forward to in this ugly society.  Nasty lyric in a bouncy happy
   tune, I love it.  "Find the Fox" starts out with brandished guitar
   (electric this time) and evolves into a lovely song that all hangs
   around the guitar work.  "The Troubles" has a great rhythm track
   which churns strongly along with slick guitar work hanging off the
   edges.  Bass lines are more evident here than on the other tracks
   as well.  This is also a very nice song (four out of four isn't bad
   folks!) and is more like other XTC I've heard than the other three
   tracks.  In conculsion, if you like XTC, then I'd recommend checking
   out this EP.  For me, it was well worth the import EP price to get
   my hands on the "XTC Home Demos".
 
 Enough already!  There's a new Souxsie and the Banshees EP but I'm
 tired of typing.  Capsule impression of Souxsie's latest would be
 "not bad, but not great", I'll save the review for another day.
 Comments or questions can be sent to the any of following addresses.
 
 -jj
 
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