I was playing a box of 7" singles and came across the Essential Logic "Eugene" 7". I played the B-Side as I couldn't quite remember the song, and to me it sounded like a theme tune, a them tune to a 1970's sit-com off the telly, so I played "Tame The Neighbours" as this broadcasts' theme tune.
Going through the diaries and I find that 'on this day' in 1980 4AD Records released two singles. "You & I" by Mass and "Gathering Dust" by Modern English. I realise that this is 40 years ago, and this was the first year of 4AD Records. Back in 1980 I was 18/19 years old and an avid collector of the 7" single, usually going by what John Peel played on his radio programme, or collecting releases by such labels as Small Wonder Records, Rough Trade Records, Mute, Factory Records (etc). Coming from a history of buying the 7" single from about 1971 the format has always been (or certainly was until the onslaught of Punk/New Wave/DIY) disposable. From the throwaway singles by the likes of Lieutenant Pigeon, Geordie and Gilbert O' Sullivan to the Glam Rock of David Bowie, T-Rex and Roxy Music to the Candy Glam of Mud, Gary Glitter and Hello I bought them all (it's what the pocket money was for and the prices ranged from 27 pence to 45 pence). There was a brief period when I was 'into' rock music and the 7" singles by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Judas Priest were something to treasure as they were a rarity in themselves. Sanctuary Records in Lincoln had their 7"s for sale in an old shoebox on the counter - it was like they were a novelty item to the serious rock record collector. Of course punk changed that, punk changed everything and made the 7" single cool and collectable again.
I was in like Flint with 4AD Records. They began in 1980 originally as Axis Records releasing a quartet of 7" singles by The Fast Set, Bearz, Bauhaus and Shox. I remember grabbing the Bearz and Bauhaus singles on release. I thought The Bearz were an off shoot from the band Fruit Eating Bears whose "Cheavy Heavy" single I loved at the time. (But No as Colin Newman once said). It was then realised by owners Peter Kent and Ivo Watts-Russell that there was always a label called Axis Records and a probable court case was on the horizon they changed the name to 4AD Records and re issued the first four singles as 4AD Records Releases. For the next couple of years 4AD Records released some of the most important and influential records of the time, also presenting 4AD Records live nights around London. Groups and projects such as Mass, Rema Rema, The Wolfgang Press, In Camera, Modern English, My Captains, Gilbert & Lewis, Past 7 Days, Dif Juz, Bauhaus, Psychotik Tanks, Cocteau Twins and The The to name but a few. For me the label fell by the wayside and became less collectable / listenable in (around) 1983 by releasing records by the likes of X Mal Deutschland, Colourbox, Dead Can Dance and Clan Of Xymox. Strange circumstances found me thirteen years later spending a week at the ICA in London attending the 4AD Records "13 Year Itch" festival. (I was on the guest list) and watching the then current slew of 4AD groups like Throwing Muses, Brendan Perry, The Breeders, Underground Lovers and Red House Painters. I thought they were all awful but the performance by His Name Is Alive was interesting as was The Wolfgang Press covering Rema Rema.
I have played the Mass single "You & I" a couple of times on MuhMur Radio and those times can be found on the MuhMur Radio MixCloud Archive page, and I don't like playing the same records over and over so I played the A Side to the Mass album "Labour Of Love". Released in May 1981 Mass were the fallout from The Models and Rema Rema and in 1983 developed into The Wolfgang Press with members Gary Asquith and Danny Briottet emerging in the late 1980s as Renegade Soundwave.
4AD Records was the perfect home for BC Gilbert & G Lewis with Rough Trade Records supporting their Dome project and Cherry Red Records releasing the collaborative work with visual artist Russell Mills, 4AD released three Gilbert + Lewis records, the LP "3R4" the 12" single "Like This For Ages" (as Cupol) and the 7" "Ends With The Sea" and later in 1988 released the CD "8 Time" a compilation of 4AD Records releases. "Hung Up To Dry Whilst Building An Arch" is the B Side to "Ends With The Sea".
Modern English's first release on 4AD Records was in May 1980 with the single "Swans On Glass". They had already put out the 7" "Drowning Man" on the independent Limp Records label a year earlier. "Gathering Dust" was their second 7" for 4AD Records. Both songs in this programme are from this single. Little known and totally irrelevant fact is that my brother in law auditioned for Modern English whilst at university in Colchester. He later became the bass player in Appliance.
My Captains released their only 7" on 4AD Records in 1981. My Captains were a quartet from Oxford, little is known about them, sometime in the early 1990's I got in touch with the drummer Richard Tarver who was then a councillor for the Labour Party in Oxford. I asked him if there were any studio outakes or unreleased material but the question drew a blank - he did mail me the EP though..forever grateful.
I was very happy to receive a package from Slavek Kwi from Artificial Memory Trace that included the four way split album "Frogoroth". The LP features tracks from Slavek alongside Sylvain Van Iniitu, Yannick Dauby and Dave Phillips. Mainly featuring sounds created by amphibians from around the globe the Dave Phillips and Slavek Kwi tracks are from this album. The LP was released in 2017 and I'm not too sure if it still available but the Frogoroth Concert can be downloaded here : https://dave-phillips.bandcamp.com/album/the-z-rich-concert
It has been a busy 12 months for Alice Kemp, with the release last November of the album "Fox" on Tochnit Aleph, the track for the lockdown on the Amplify 2020 project "Your Bones Will Be My Home" (which is available for free here : https://amplify2020.bandcamp.com/album/your-bones-will-be-my-home). And now the C20 cassette on Fragment Factory called "Songs In The Key Of NO". Packaged in an old 1990's TDK cassette case with individual art card the cassette is limited to 50 copies only and I think sold out from source but the digital version is still available from Fragment Factory. https://fragmentfactory.bandcamp.com/album/songs-in-the-key-of-no for only €3.50. Alice has also released a tryptich of pamphlets through Wrathful Flower Press and contributed (alongside Dieter Müh) to the compilation cassette in aid of funds for Skylark FM, a new Dartmoor (Devon) based radio station. Like I said ... a busy year.
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