Smarting from Dazzle Ships' commercial failure, the band had a bit of a rethink when it came to their fifth album - happily, the end result showed that the group was still firing on all fours. While very much a pop-oriented album and a clear retreat from the exploratory reaches of previous work, Junk Culture was no sacrifice of ideals in pursuit of cash. In comparison to the group's late-'80s work, when it seemed commercial success was all that mattered, Junk Culture exhibits all the best qualities of OMD at their most accessible - instantly memorable melodies and McCluskey's distinct singing voice, clever but emotional lyrics, and fine playing all around…
For all intents and purposes, Frank Tovey was best known as the man behind Fad Gadget, one of the most significant cult acts of the post-punk boom. As Fad Gadget, Tovey and his revolving door of conspirators released several singles and four full-length albums that stretched the boundaries of pop music during the late '70s and early '80s. And after Tovey started making records under his own name in the mid-'80s, he continued to remain as unpredictable as ever, working within the realms of Cajun, blues, and folk, in addition to furthering his journey into experimental electronics.
Frank Tovey's best and most cohesive album, including his work with Fad Gadget, and his last electronic album before making a hard left turn into protest-folk…
Three years after his solo album The Wildest Wish to Fly, pop producer and songwriter Rupert Hine came back under the disguise of the pseudo-group Thinkman. The three musicians who accompanied him in interviews and lip-sync performances were actors, the whole project becoming a concept revolving around media manipulation. The Formula, Thinkman's first album, sticks close to this idea (the title track begins with the lines "It's an interview/But it's a second take"). During the early '80s, Hine followed an evolution that led him from disturbing art pop to intelligent but more commercial songs. The Formula is pretty much middle-of-the-road but has a harder edge than the singer's previous LP. Songs like the title track "The Ecstasy of Free Thought" and "The Days of a Champion" are fueled by newly found energy and feature the hook-filled melodies that made Hine an important part of England's '80s pop music…
By bringing together the traditional instrumentation of exotic countries with a new age-style sense of self-exploration and a broad palette of electronic ambient sounds, producer/multi-instrumentalist Anugama garnered enough of a small cult following to sustain a prolific, long-winded career. Though born in Cologne, Germany, where he first developed his exceptional interest in music, Anugama's curiosity took him to far and distant lands. He spent his teens in Hamburg, where he played drums and worked in a music store, before traveling to Asia in his twenties for a life-changing five-year period. While in Asia, he developed a strong interest in spiritual philosophies and meditation. These interests soon crept into Anugama's music, which had expanded to comprise his multi-cultural interests: the beats of African and Caribbean music, the rhythms of Hawaii, the meditations of India, and so on…
For the 30th birthday of INA, the GRM has decided to present in this CD box some of his archives. INA - GRM (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel - Groupe de Recherches Musicales) in Paris, France, is the pioneering organisation of electroacoustics, acousmatics and musique concrète, with a history going back many decades, as active today as ever, recording and releasing a long string of historically important, but also new and innovative, electracoustic works, while also engaging in research into new techniques and teaching. The Acousmonium of the GRM is utilized giving renowned concerts of electroacoustic music.
This would have a better set overall had Sylvester Levay's contributions been left off. Edgar Froese and company were in fine form for this set, giving a muscular and biting edge that was lacking in many TD soundtracks. Levay's material, stuck in the middle, weakens the show considerably, while the closing songs are simply de rigueur.
Marc Cerrone is an Italofrench disco drummer, composer, record producer and creator of major concert shows. Cerrone is considered as one of the most influential disco producers of the 70s and 80s in Europe. He has sold over 30 million records worldwide, including over four million copies in France alone and eight million copies of Supernature, which is considered his magnum opus. The single "Love in C Minor" (1976) reached No. 3 and stayed on record charts for over two months, chalking up sales of three million copies. With "Supernature" (1977), Cerrone merged symphonic orchestrations with the rigid sounds of synthesizers.