Steve bronski – DJTim:E's Pop Music Journal

My eyes are pretty rubbish because the Royal Glamorgan Hospital don’t think I have a squiggly line in my left eye…

Anyway, it turns out that when I sorted the wheat from the chaff in my original post on the best picks ahead of this year’s Record Store Day, I missed LOADS! So, here’s the best of the rest….

Bananarama: Remixed Volume 1/Drama/Viva

The English girl group who started at the beginning of the 80s and have gone on to be one of the biggest girl groups ever, consolidate with the success of their reunion tour of 2018, with a trio of special vinyl releases this RSD, before the release of their next album as a duo, “In Stereo”(out end of April).

“Drama” and “Viva” were 2 of the albums Bananarama released during their noughties renaissance. Played to death at gay bars across the world, these packages include the amazing Buzz Junkies remix of their cover of Three Degrees hit, “The Runner”, along with “Love Don’t Live Here” and “Hypnotic Tango”. The remix 12″ is a selection of new mixes of pre-SAW-era tracks “Aie a Mwana” and “Cruel Summer”. One to look out for!

Brian May New Horizons

This latest solo track from the greatest mainstream guitarist of all time (in my opinion), is a little bit lacking in structure. Maybe one for the hardcore lovers of the poodle-haired one.

Fatboy Slim Right Here Right Now

Fab new remix collection of the 1999 top 2 hit!

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac Alternative

As per the last couple of deluxe Fleetwood Mac re-releases from the Warner Bros. years, a special release of the alternative takes from their eponymous 1975 album, has been extracted from 2018’s deluxe editions. The phenomenal set preluded “Rumours” and features classics like “Rhiannon”, “I’m So Afraid” and “Say You Love Me”. Someone’s got to keep Lindsay Buckingham’s income going now that he’s been sacked from the group he helped become megastars.

John Lennon Imagine Raw

Just like the Fleetwood Mac, the bonus disc from 2018’s rerelease of Lennon’s 1971 solo album, is separated for a special Record Store Day vinyl release of its own.

Kaiser Chiefs Oh My God

This is a special rerelease of the original version of a track which would become a top 10 hit 2 years after its original 2004 unveiling. Mark Ronson would have a hit with the track in 2006, with Lily Allen on vocals.

Purple Disco Machine The Soulmatic Remixes

I’ve featured his tracks on Tim’s Top 20 regularly since I discovered his reimagination of Man2Man’s “Male Stripper” upon release in September 2018. A selection of remixes from the Italian DJs 2017 album get a special purple vinyl release on 13th April!

South Park The Movie: Bigger, Longer and Uncut OST

21 years after the release of the cultural phenomenon at the cinema, the superb soundtrack to “Bigger, Longer and Uncut” is being released in a super deluxe vinyl format, including a book and postcards featuring 2 of the 4 main characters (a fab money-spinning tactic there…) 10 of the copies will also have a signed photo from South Park’s creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. They’re going to kill my bank balance, you bastards!

Antoine Dodson ft. The Gregory Brothers Bed Intruder

Remember the guy who was interviewed in 2010 for a news report on a girl from the “Projects”, who was almost sexually attacked? He was the brother and he advised viewers to hide their kids and hide their wives. Some clever dick over at the Autotune the News team turned the interview into YouTube gold and the track, along with several other selections from the team are being released on physical media for the first time this Record Store Day!

OK, I don’t think I’ve missed any of the highlights from the 500+ selection of records out especially for the UK’s Record Store Day’s participating stores. There are a few locations around me where I may be able to get my hands on some of these records. There’s the Red House in Aberdare, Diverse Vinyl in Newport and of course, the supposed oldest record store in the world, Spillers in Cardiff.

If you’d like to look at the records I mentioned in my original post, click here.

Tim’s Top 20 has been uploaded. See if Jess Glynne has made it 2 weeks at the top by clicking here.

COMING SOON:SMASH OR GASH #002. I’ll review the new single releases later today, with a special review of Marina’s new digital album “Love”.

The history of Record Store Day goes back to 2008, at a time when the vinyl medium for recorded music was reserved for indie snobs and audiophiles who could tell the difference between digital and analogue, preferring the alleged warmth of sound, and flaws that come with the material used to create the discs.

Every April since, Record Store Day has celebrated and, particularly at the time of its inception, provided a lifeline to the vinyl record. 2008 saw sales of mp3s increase exponentially while, the hard copies of records were left to supermarket shoppers and those willing to travel further afield to the last remaining record shops. 11 years later, not only have sales of CDs and downloads collapsed, with Amazon gobbling up every HMV shopper in its midst, the one medium that has skyrocketed in revenues is the vinyl record! So, it’s probably unsurprising that there are more cash-ins from major record labels releasing special editions of massively popular artists’ discography, than at the event’s conception.

I can’t say I’ve been averse to buying the aforementioned cash-in releases, after all I am a pop kid and, as a former radio colleague of mine once said, us pop kids of the 90s/00s golden era of manufactured artists, have been “brainwashed” into what music we like. But, generalising aside (this topic is for a blog posting of its own some day), the records that have piqued my interest/I’ve bought over the last couple of years have included:

Little Mix Glory Days (pink vinyl album)

The Beatles Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever (50th anniversary remix)

Frankie Goes To Hollywood Welcome to the Pleasuredome (singles box set)

ABBA Summer Night City (40th anniversary edition)

Madonna You Can Dance (Japan edition replica)

Madonna Madonna (Japan edition replica)

Although most of the 500 special releases on Saturday 13 April will pass me by here are the ones I’ll be hoping to nab in the 2019 event (subject to price):

Queen Productions Ltd have never been shy to rerelease material featuring the sorely missed Freddie Mercury. Now, a 7″ single of “Bohemian Rhapsody”/”I’m In Love With My Car” is being reissued. The twice-million-seller was recently announced as the most streamed song of the 20th century. The new disc is dual-coloured, featuring the pink and yellow shades used for the promotional fliers and home media covers of the movie. The soundtrack also gets a double picture disc release for Record Store Day as well. I can’t imagine this will be a limited edition though…this is Queen after all.

Steve Bronski and I almost collaborated when he was recording material in the early 2010s. Sadly nothing came of it. If you still want an angelic voice, Steve, drop me a line 😉

The Scottish face of mainstream gay pop in the 80s, along with his once-bandmate Jimmy Somerville, releases a new collection of remixes of Bronski Beat’s pension pot song “Smalltown Boy”.

Sweden has provided most of my favourite artists and/or writers: ABBA, Max Martin, Bloodshy and Avant to name but a few. 2 of my Scandinavian faves have a place on the shelves of the mostly-independently-owned shops eligible to take part in Record Store Day 2019. Robyn releases a 2-LP edition of her 2010 album/3-EP collection “Body Talk”, home of the classic “Dancing On My Own” as well as fan favourites “Call Your Girlfriend”, “Hang With Me” and “Time Machine”(co-written by Martin). Also, Max Martin’s dearly departed colleague from the 90s Denniz Pop’s production “The Sign”, a number 1 in the US for Ace of Base also gets the rerelease treatment.

2019’s replicas of Japanese Madonna EPs are for “True Blue” and “La Isla Bonita”.

Also getting the RSD exposure will be Greatest Hits collections long out of print for the Rolling Stones (Big Hits volumes 1 and 2). Supergrass’ 1999 smash hit “Pumping On Your Stereo” gets a picture disc release and, finally, Status Quo’s 2010 album, once a Tesco exclusive release “Quid Pro Quo”, is out on vinyl as well.

I’d be a hyprocrite if I didn’t say I now bought most of the music I still get hard copies of, from Amazon. However, I still love the bricks and mortar record shop and can spend hours in them, leaving with a nice big bag of goodies. I can’t wait to see what now happens to HMV following its change in fortunes over in Canada, where vinyl is pushed big time. I also love buying from smaller, independent record shops. I will therefore be supporting Record Store Day once more on 13 April 2019. Visit http://www.recordstoreday.com to find out where your nearest participating store is and, to find out what special performances will be going on at each store in celebration.

I give it another 12 months before we get Cassette Day….

No?

Tag: Steve bronski

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