Men at Work Business as Usual

    In the "I always wondered what was up with that" file; today we look at the color of Men at Work's million selling debut album Business as Usual. It was originally one of my first records that I bought, and the version I had was black and yellow, but over the years I have seen copies that were black and white..so what's the deal? Well it turns out the black and white version is the original Australian release…so there ya go, a useless fact that you can amaze and astound your friends and family members with.
    Also did you also know that it was Canada that first helped them break into the North American market…it's a fact.

Joe Cornelisse-SMM


Men At Work - Who Can It Be Now by Dan_of_the_Land

CFNY "The Spirit of Radio" – Best of 1983

    Back when Toronto radio station CFNY "The Spirit of Radio" was worth its weight in music I listened to it religiously, but as the years went on and they played the same song 6 or 7 times a day I lost all interest. Now thanks to the The CFNY Spirit Of Radio Fan Page I have been compiling videos off of YouTube to go along with the year end "Best Of" lists that they have gathered and displayed on the website. So if you want to have your very own "Retro Night" press play on this Best of 1983 list and enjoy.

Joe Cornelisse-SMM

My Concert Ticket Stubs Howard Jones – Maple Leaf Gardens – 1985

   I think in total I saw Howard Jones (HoJo) four times but this was the most memorable out of all of them.

Joe Cornelisse-SMM

Desert Island Songs – Furniture – "Brilliant Mind"

     Again, Furniture's "Brilliant Mind" is just one of those tracks that I can listen to over and over again and not get bored to tears of. I first heard it on the "Brilliant" soundtrack to the 1987 film Some Kind of Wonderful, I was 17 when it was released and not only the film but the music spoke to me as a teenager growing up in the '80's…..to this day it conjures up memories that will stay with me forever.

Joe Cornelisse-SMM

Digging for Vinyl - Listen to the City – Interview with Gordon Deppe of The Spoons

    So Tuesday I made my way down to Alleycats Music & Art here in Orillia as I do most weeks to dig through the bins of vinyl and see what catches my eye, and see which one (or two) I might want to add to the collection. As I was unearthing a few pieces of choice vinyl here and there that I had not come across before (I like that) I then notice a milk crate on the floor filled with black gold, as I begin flipping through the crate the usual suspects start rearing their heads, you got your Boston's, your Kim Mitchells (did you ever go for that soda?) but then a few PRINCE records jump out and slap me right back into consciousness, they've got a copy of 'Around the World in a Day' right now that's in near mint shape (you better snap it up before I do). 

    As I resumed digging I notice a copy of 'Arias & Symphonies' the second album from The Spoons, I was a little shocked to see it there (how could anyone part with this record? I thought) but then just behind it their 1983 album 'Talkback' makes its debut, again I'm stunned to see more Spoons…but then I notice it, the record I've been combing the bins year after year for; the soundtrack to the 1984 Ron Mann film 'Listen to the City'. Now I don't know if this is really that hard to find in the vinyl circles (for all I know someone might have 5 copies in their collection) but to me this was one of those records that has had a spot waiting for it these many years. Of course 'Listen to the City' came home with me, and after I had placed it on the old reliable Technics I got to finally hear it like it was meant to be heard. As I was relishing my latest (greatest?) find I started putting together in my head the post that would be wrapped around this record, I wanted it to be something a bit different, then it struck me; I'll interview Gordon Deppe (lead vocals and guitar) of The Spoons about 'Listen to the City'….So I did, read the complete interview below.

The following is an interview with Gord Deppe talking about 'Listen to the City'

SMM-Hi Gord, thanks' for agreeing to talk Sonic More Music about Listen to the City, the 1984 soundtrack to the film of the same name. How did this project get its start? 

GD: We were approached by Ron Mann to do the soundtrack for his new film. I'd always thought our music lent itself to cinema, especially the dramatic instrumentals like Trade Winds and Unexpected Guest At A Cancelled Party. He also approached Sandy about acting in the movie. We were between albums, so it was a good time for a different kind of project.

SMM: How long did it take for you to complete it?

GD: The new instrumental tracks for the soundtrack were written and recorded over a two month period, as I recall. Romantic Traffic and Tell No Lies had already been released on an extended play dance record. It was decided later to add them to the movie, since they hadn't appeared on a proper full length album yet.

SMM: As far as direction went with Listen to the City, how much influence did Director Ron Mann have? Or did he just give you free rein?

GD: Ron Mann gave me free reign. I would receive scenes every week and pretty well compose spontaneously to the footage. I decided to stay primarily with keyboards, not my first instrument, as well as a lot of ambient sounds.

SMM: Were you working on Listen to the City during the recording of the Talkback album?

GD: The TalkBack album had already been out some time when I commenced with writing the Listen to the City soundtrack.

SMM: During the film Sandy is shown singing the track "Take Me Walking", was the music recorded before or after filming?

GD: The song Sandy performs in the movie is "Sundown". It was written before the movie was filmed.

SMM: Other than the two Nile Rogers produced tracks (Romantic Traffic and Tell No Lies) and Rob Preuss and Sandy Horne playing and singing on Sundown and Take Me Walking Listen to the City is pretty much regarded as a Gordon Deppe record, at the time of its release do you think it confused Spoons fans ?

GD: I don't think Listen to the City confused many people. It was pretty clear that it was a soundtrack to a movie with a couple of Spoons singles in it. It also filled the gap between changing record companies and the release of the next proper Spoons album. That would be Bridges Over Borders. It would also be with two new band members on board.

   Just want to say a big thank you to Gord Deppe for taking the time to answer a few questions regarding 'Listen to the City', hope that gives a bit of insight into a record that in my opinion never got the recognition it deserved.

See you next Wednesday in the Vinyl Bins

Joe Cornelisse-SMM

 You can find Alleycats Music & Art on Facebook

Some other unique finds that I came across this week 

at Alleycats were:

 

The Doughboys -  'Happy accidents' on purple vinyl

Tom Waits - 'Swordfishtrombones'

Sex Pistols - 'Better Live Than Dead'

Pete Shelley - 'Homosapien'

Jimi Hendrix - 'Good Times' 

Gordon Lightfoot - 'Best of Vol 3' (I added this in because for as long as I can remember all I have ever seen is either 'Gord's Gold' or the 'Best of Vol 1' )

  

Alleycats Music & Art

95 Mississauga St. E, Orillia, Ontario

Hours   

Tue - Sat: 11:00 - 5:00 PM

Sun: 12:00 - 4:00 PM

The Smiths-Everything you ever Wanted and Needed....Sweetness, Sweetness

       Rhino Records UK announced today some news that is going to make the Smiths fan in all of us very very happy, well at least the U.K. fans, on the 3^rd of October they will release The Smiths Complete - Deluxe Collectors Boxset. 

        The collection includes all four of the band's studio albums – ‘The Smiths’ (1984), ‘Meat Is Murder’ (1985), ‘The Queen Is Dead’ (1986), ‘Strangeways, Here We Come’ (1987) and their sole live album ‘Rank’ (1988) as well as firm fan favourite compilations ‘Hatful Of Hollow’ (1984), ‘The World Won’t Listen’ (1987) and ‘Louder Than Bombs’ (1987).

      Each has been taken back to original tape sources and remastered by Johnny Marr and Frank Arkwright at the world famous Metropolis Studios in London.

Here is the breakdown for the Deluxe Set

DELUXE COLLECTORS BOXSET

**INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED & STRICTLY LIMITED TO JUST 3000 COPIES WORLDWIDE**

A heavyweight trunk boxset including:

> All eight album releases taken back to original tape sources and remastered by Johnny Marr and Frank Arkwright

> All eight albums on Mini LP replica style CDs in gatefold card wallets

> All eight albums on 180g 12” vinyl LPs (5 singles, 3 doubles)

> 25x 7" Singles (the entire The Smiths Singles collection) inc. specially reproduced rarities

> A 36" x 24" Poster of all album and single cover artwork

> ‘The Complete Picture’ DVD of the band's music videos

> An 8 page 12" booklet feat. expanded liner notes

> 8x 12" art prints of each album cover artwork

> An Exclusive Code to download the whole catalogue as high quality MP3s (320k)

    The Deluxe set will set you back almost $400 Canadian, and that doesn’t included the shipping costs, and because this set is very heavy those costs will be astronomical, so I think I will be waiting for it to be made available on this side of the pond, but if you have that kind of dough laying around here is the link to the Rhino UK Site.

Joe Cornelisse-SSGS