Eurythmics - Revenge - 1986

 

I must apologize for not posting last night.  Yesterday, I had to drive about 12 hours round trip to pick up my new company car from our corporate headquarters.  It made for a very long drive, and by the time I got home, it's all I could do to check the blog and answer a few comments made.  I do have note, though, that for about 2 hours yesterday, my blog was hit about 4,000 times from mainly Italy, but some Russia (who never has any visitors.)  I find it funny that someone would be trying to hack this blog, as I've put no personal information about myself in the blog or in my profile, shy of a shadow e-mail address.  Hilarious.

I've never been a HUGE fan of Eurythmics, but I DO love Missionary Man.  Not one of their most known or popular, even though it was a single, I don't know why I love it so much.  Maybe because it's so strong and fast, and the melody is catchy.  Maybe because it reminds me a bit of INXS and Midnight Oil and Big Pig, who all released albums about the same time.  It's the harmonica, dude.  Plus, that video for it kicks ass.

As for the rest of the album, it is a quality, well written and performed album.  I'm just not huge on the melodies.  They're good, don't get me wrong.  They just don't capture me like MM, and the album tends to start sounding a little too Adult Contemporary for me.  Maybe if I had been ten years older when I started listening to it, it may have grabbed me more.  But, if that was the case, I may not have liked the rest of the music released at that time as much, due to age.  Isn't it weird how your age can determine how much you like specific types of music regardless of how well they are?

Anyway, this may or may not be the only Eurythmics album I post, not counting the Tourists.  I might post 1984 or one of their first three albums, but we'll have to wait and see.  More than likely, as I mentioned in my housekeeping post, I'll get to them eventually.

Eurythmics - Revenge - 1986     Eurythmics - Revenge MIXES - 1986

Revenge - Gun World Porn - 1991-92

When this baby came out, I was still riding high on One True Passion and Electronic's first release.  Getting this in my hot sweaty hands, I was excited beyond belief.  And, I was not disappointed.  Whereas One True Passion seemed like a harder version of New Order, this one took a totally different approach that was a real ripper.  It paced a little quicker, pounded a little harder, and was a definite improvement on melody.  I thought so highly of it, I included it in my radio hour during college with State Of Shock.  Solid solid shit.

Rumor has it, and I can find no evidence to support this, but some say these tracks were all recorded during the OTP sessions.  Is this true?

I've read reviews online trashing this EP as junk (as well as OTP) and I don't understand.  Why can supposed music pros not see the value and quality of Revenge?  Were they expecting a New Order rip-off?  Was it too masculine for them?  I could sort of see the too sexist slant, though.  Regardless, Hooky does deserve some kudos for this one as it is definitely crafted very well.  From the cover to the lyrics, to the melodies, to the execution, to the voicemail.  It has it all.

Mind you, some of the remixes from this album suck, so be prepared.  There is some great material here, but not every mix is a winner.

This EP, along with OTP, should be considered NO canon.  I most certainly think it is.  State Of Shock's interlude with Hooky's solo and the keys and the horns scream early NO, you can't see it any other way.

Anyway, I love it.

Revenge - Gun World Porn - 1991-92

Untitled - A Compilation

This is the track listing from the very first time I sat down to make a real mixtape.  I was probably 18 or 19, and had dabbled with taping my favorite songs off of the radio or other tapes.  But those other tapes were cobbled together with no rhyme or reason, just a hodge podge of miscellaneous tracks that I had put onto tape so I could listen to them in my Walkman when I was out.  I mean, you can't very well take a record player out with you.

At the time I made this tape, you can look at the track listing and see that a lot of fantastic material had been released pretty much all at once.  I had my favorite tracks from every album release by these artists, and I wanted to listen to them all, without having to haul 10-12 tapes/CDs around with me, trading them out as each track ended.  So, I pulled my favorites, and sat listening to them, then arranging them in a way that sounded good.  Back then, you didn't have any music on your computer (if you even had a computer), so it wasn't like you could load the tracks in your WinAmp and hit shuffle.  No, this was a very careful and deliberate process that took a while for me to come up with the right arrangement.

I made the tape, though, and used it in my car, listened to it while I mowed the yard, and played it when I went to friends' houses.  It was pretty good.

I've rearranged some of the tracks as years have gone by - only added the Ian McCulloch about 1998 and traded the Cocteau Twins track from Heaven Or Las Vegas to Dials (and then plugged it on the end of the mix).  But, as for the rest, this is the same setup I made back in 1990-91.  And, I still listen to it about every other month or so, to this day.  To me, this comp represents the best these groups had to offer, at the peak of their popularity.  Every song is quintessential to what these groups/artists are.  They are all lush, romantic, and full of emotion.  They are perfectly written, and perfectly performed.

To this day, I still don't have a name for this collection.  It's still, to this very moment, Untitled.  But, to me, that might be the best way of describing it, too.

Untitled

Revenge - One True Passion - 1990

SO, this here is the original front exterior cover.  My wife never did like this cover, I wonder why?  I stuck with the cover because despite my feelings and her feelings over it, it best expresses the music that lay within.

People may not have the best reviews for this album, but I really really liked it.  I see things like "tedious" and "inconsequential" and "mediocre".  I find it far from that.  I understand that it IS the darker side of New Order, and leaned heavier on the gothic/industrial edge, but I think that was of more relevance at the time than Electronic or the Other Two.

The synth is heavy.  Yes, Hooky's bass gets lost.  The song titles are weird and the melodies are thin.  But, I feel a lot of the energy and depth that you find in those early New Order albums.  He focuses it like a freeking laser and pulls out what I think could be considered the last great New Order album.

Therefore, the cover truly reflects the feel of the music within.  It is sensual, dark, powerful, and NOT gentle.  Don't expect it to be.

Revenge released the one album, and two EPs, along with 2 singles in a variety of formats.  The material to pull from was voluminous as it is, but then they released One True Passion 2.0 with more material.  What sucks, is 2.0 didn't even include the tracks from the original album as it was.  So, you still have to have 1.0 to get it all.  They also claimed that the material from the second EP, which was released 2 years later, was supposed to be from the same batch of sessions.  No way.  They don't even sound the same.  So, I've pulled those out all together.

So, in my version of OTP, I included track one from the very first EP, and then the entire original CD release of the album as "Disc One"  Disc Two has all of the B-sides and unreleased tracks from the same sessions.  I could've plugged some remixes in there, but I have enough that I want to plan a later disc of just mixes.  Sorry!

Anyway, turn it up loud, loud as you can handle it, and ENJOY.

Revenge - One True Passion - 1990