Retro chart for stowaways – 5 March 2005

These were the top ten singles on the chart for stowaways, an amazing fourteen years ago this week!

1. Kings of Convenience – Know-How
2. Girls Aloud – Wake Me Up
3. Moby – Lift Me Up
4. The Chemical Brothers – Galvanize
5. Client – Pornography
6. Erasure – Breathe
7. Tears for Fears – The Closest
8. Duran Duran – What Happens
9. Bent – Comin’ Back
10. Mylo – Destroy Rock & Roll

Record Store Day 2016

Backlash aside, I always feel as though we should try and stir up a bit of excitement for this weekend’s Record Store Day, as we did in previous years. Here are some of the releases that caught my eye…

• a-ha – Hits South America – five previously unreleased live tracks (12″ EP, 3,000 copies in the US, also in the UK and Germany)
• Air – Casanova 70 – four remixes including two by Brendan Lynch (12″ “maxi transparent splatter vinyl”, Canada, UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• David Bowie – The Man Who Sold the World (12″ picture disc, 5,000 copies in the US, also Canada, Germany and Netherlands), TVC15 (7″ picture disc, 5,000 copies in the US, also Canada, Germany and Netherlands), and I Dig Everything – The Pye Singles (12″ EP, 7,500 copies in the US, also Canada)
• Cassius – Action EP and 8 Beats (both 12″x2, Germany only – the latter also in Canada)
• Chvrches – Every Open Eye Remix EP (12″ EP, 5,000 copies in the US and Canada)
• John Cooper Clarke – Ou est le Maison de Fromage (180g coloured vinyl, UK only)
• Étienne de Crécy – Super Discount 1, Super Discount 2, and Super Discount 3 (all UK only, format not stated)
• Dead Can Dance – Anastasis (2xLP, 1,500 copies in the US, also Canada, Germany and Netherlands)
• 808 State – Pacific – three remixes (12″ EP, 2,000 copies in the US, also in the UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• Europe – The Final Countdown 30th Anniversary – three tracks including new remix (12″ electric blue vinyl, UK only)
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Rage Hard (The Making of a 12″) (12″ EP, 2,500 copies in the US, also in the UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• The Future Sound of London – Accelerator plus Andrew Weatherall remix of Papua New Guinea and Stolen Documents (black heavy weight LP in printed inner bag with hand-numbered 7″ vinyl, UK and Germany only)
• Heaven 17 – (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (repressed 12″, Canada, UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• Jean-Michel Jarre & E.S. – Exit (7″, Canada, UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• Kings of Convenience – Quiet is the New Loud, Versus, and Riot on an Empty Street (LPs, UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• Madonna – Like a Virgin & Other Hits (12″ pink vinyl, reissue of 1984 Japanese EP with Obi Strip, 4,500 copies in the US, also in Canada, the UK and Netherlands)
• Mike Oldfield – Nuclear (7″ picture disc, Canada, UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• The Orb – The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (4xLP, UK and Netherlands)
• The Residents – This is a Special DJ Record of The Residents’ Alleged Music. Please Do Not Steal It! Keep it at Your Station – We Need the Radio Airplay (LP, 1,500 copies in the US, also in Canada, the UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• Soft Cell – Sex Dwarf – including remixes by The Grid (12″, Canada, UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• Alan Partridge – Knowing Me, Knowing You (picture disc, UK only)
• Doctor Who – Genesis of the Daleks (LP blue vinyl, 2,500 copies in the US, also in the UK,  Germany, and Netherlands)
• Dr. Who and the Daleks / Dr. Who – Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (LP box set, UK only)

Good luck trying to find any of those. More information for the US here, the UK here, Germany here, and various other countries here.

Beginner’s guide to Kings of Convenience

We’ve covered Erlend Øye‘s latter career already, but when he started out he was merely a member of a rather good acoustic duo, Kings of Convenience.

Key moments

They managed a number of minor UK hits, with Failure, Toxic Girl, and I’d Rather Dance with You, but they’re definitely an album band.

Where to start

Start at the beginning with the brilliant Quiet is the New Loud (2001). If you never buy anything else, you do at least have a great chillout album.

What to buy

Follow up the debut with its companion remix album Versus (also 2001) for a very different perspective on many of the same tracks. That leaves the second and third albums Riot on an Empty Street (2004) and Declaration of Dependence (2009), neither of which quite has the charm of the first, but both have some great moments.

Don’t bother with

Any of the singles. Also, if you weren’t too sure about the second album, you might want to give the third one a miss – each one is marginally less memorable than its predecessor.

Hidden treasure

Velferd‘s free 2013 remix of unreleased Rule My World is great, if you can still find it floating around anywhere.

For stowaways

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Music for the Masses 31 – 9 February 2005

It’s always a pleasure to be able to hide the odd nine-minute gem in the middle of a radio show, such as the brilliant Virus Mix of Everything But The Girl‘s Lullaby of Clubland. Surprisingly, the webcam shows me looking relaxed in the extreme.

Show 31: Wed 9 Feb 2005, from 6:05pm-8:00pm

Broadcast on LSR FM, online only. Artist of the week: Massive Attack.

• The Grid – Heartbeat
• Trance Atlantic Air-Waves – Chase
• Sylver – Take Me Back
• The Human League – Love Me Madly?
• Everything But The Girl – Lullaby of Clubland (Virus Mix)
• The Postal Service – We Will Become Silhouettes
• Inspiral Carpets – Saturn 5
• Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy
• Camouflage – The Great Commandment
• Visage – Fade to Grey
• Pet Shop Boys – How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously? (Ragga Zone Remix)
• The Orb – Once More
• Massive Attack – Karmacoma
• Mirwais feat. Craig Wedren – Miss You
• Lemon Jelly – The Slow Train
• Moby – Lift Me Up
• Mylo – Destroy Rock and Roll
• Ron Grainer – Doctor Who Theme
• Massive Attack – Butterfly Caught (Paul Daley Remix)
• Kings of Convenience – Know-How

Retro chart for stowaways – 24 July 2004

Here’s another singles chart from ye oldene dayse!

1. Front Line Assembly – Vanished
2. Faithless – Mass Destruction
3. Rachel Stevens – Some Girls
4. Girls Aloud – The Show
5. Client – In it for the Money
6. Basement Jaxx – Good Luck
7. Kylie Minogue – Chocolate
8. Kings of Convenience – Misread
9. Air – Cherry Blossom Girl
10. Orbital – One Perfect Sunrise

Music for the Masses 30 – 2 February 2005

For the seven-week Spring term of 2005, Music for the Masses returned with a Wednesday slot, and was an entirely relaxed affair, with the presenter sitting back and operating the controls with his legs crossed. Or maybe I was just posing for the webcam – it’s difficult to know for sure.

Show 30: Wed 2 Feb 2005, from 6:05pm-8:00pm

Broadcast on LSR FM, online only. Retrospective of 2004, with predictions for 2005 (no artist of the week).

• Kings of Convenience – Misread
• Delerium feat. Zoë Johnston – You & I
• Goldfrapp – Strict Machine
• Depeche Mode – Enjoy the Silence (Ewan Pearson Extended Remix)
• Dirty Vegas – Human Love
• Bent – I Can’t Believe it’s Over
• Air – Another Day
• Zero 7 – Home
• Duran Duran – (Reach Up for the) Sunrise
• Mylo – Drop the Pressure
• Basement Jaxx – Good Luck
• Télépopmusik – Love Can Damage Your Health
• Röyksopp – So Easy
• Lemon Jelly – Only Time
• Moby – Lift Me Up
• Daft Punk – Around the World
• New Order – Ruined in a Day (K-Klass Remix)
• Erasure – No Doubt
• Faithless – Why Go?
• Client – It’s Rock & Roll
• Sohodolls – Prince Harry
• Ladytron – Seventeen
• Deep Forest – Will You Be Ready?

Random jukebox – Kings of Convenience

In a slightly unpredictable sidestep, this week’s random jukebox brings us the lovely I’d Rather Dance with You by Kings of Convenience.