Frro Delavega Ton Visage

2009 two CD live set from the Classic Rock guitar great, recorded in 2008. Following on from the successful Seven Moons (a collaboration with Cream's Jack Bruce) Trower presents this double disc dose of live recordings capturing Robin in action last year in America…

Polydor/Universal’s The Face: The Very Best Of Visage collects 15 tracks from the early-'80s synth pop supergroup (featuring members of Magazine, Ultravox, and The Rich Kids), including four versions of their international smash, "Fade to Grey." Longtime listeners who picked up 1993’s Fade to Grey: The Singles Collection will find much of the same here (minus fan favorite “Beat Boy”), but the remixes – which range from excellent (“Fade to Grey" [Michael Gray Mix 2009]) to just passable (“Fade to Grey" [Lee Mortimer Remix 2009]) – and the ultra-hot, club-ready mastering job should entice those who have yet to add these over the top electro-pop legends to their MP3 collections.

This 2013 anthology of the British synth pop group Visage is essentially an expanded edition of 1983's Fade to Grey: The Singles Collection. In 1993, it was rebranded under its current title Fade to Grey: The Best of Visage with the addition of two more tracks ("Love Glove" and "Fade to Grey [Bassheads 7" edit]"), both of which have been jettisoned from the 2013 version, along with the fantastic new romantic album cover and a handful of other tracks. So what makes the updated set noteworthy? Well, there are a couple of BBC versions of "The Anvil" and "Can You Hear Me?" and dance mixes of the sleek "Mind of a Toy," the guitar-heavy "We Move," and their early post-disco single "Frequency 7."

Visage - The Anvil (1982) {Polydor}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 259 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 102 Mb
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© 1988 Polydor / PolyGram | 800 022-2
New Wave / New Romantic / Synth Pop

When they recorded the follow-up to their surprisingly successful debut, the members of Visage appeared to be dealing from a position of strength. But the dance club-fueled, style-obsessed new romantic movement that had propelled the group to success in England was already crumbling, and frontman Steve Strange had begun to take his role as the movement's figurehead a little too seriously. The Anvil, rumored to be the subject of a multi-million dollar feature film (a project that never materialized), emphasizes Strange's penchant for melancholy and melodrama.

With two successful albums and seven well received singles over the previous several years, the time was ripe for a Visage album compiling highlights from that accomplishment. Originally released in late 1983, Fade To Grey - The Singles Collection was a milestone for a band who brought New Romantic to the singles chart and the dance floors. Those who bought the cassette edition were in for a surprise to find not only a number of dance mixes not on the LP, but the album segued from one track into the next for a non-stop Visage experience. The popularity of this 'Special Dance Mix Album' led to a very limited vinyl pressing, which has since become a sought after collector's item.

When they recorded the follow-up to their surprisingly successful debut, the members of Visage appeared to be dealing from a position of strength. But the dance club-fueled, style-obsessed new romantic movement that had propelled the group to success in England was already crumbling, and frontman Steve Strange had begun to take his role as the movement's figurehead a little too seriously. The Anvil, rumored to be the subject of a multi-million dollar feature film (a project that never materialized), emphasizes Strange's penchant for melancholy and melodrama. Where the band's debut undercut such pretensions with humorous tracks like the twangy "Malpaso Man," only one tune here - "Night Train," with a rubbery bassline and blasts of brass backing a tongue-in-cheek tale of intrigue - dares to take liberties with Visage's moody image…