hippie_chick | Entries tagged with cassingle

Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over) - Duran Duran (1990, Capitol / EMI)

This is from their album "Liberty". I kinda like this one. Bouncy, poppy and catchy with the band's typical synth-heavy sound. It's not badly arranged at all. It's another one we played to death at the store when the single came in.

No not their absolute best, and not as successful as some of their other singles, in fact only moderately so, but hey, whatever. It was another freebie I got to take home, so SCORE. Haha!

The flip side? "Yo Bad Azizi" which is really pretty much a throwaway that opens with Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy birthday, Mr. President..." going on to "Nuclear war! Nuclear war! Yo bad Azizi has a nuclear war!". It rocks harder than "Violence" I think, but is again, just plain weird.

Duran Duran are still rocking. They are slated to play at the Princess Diana memorial concert as well as the Live Earth event the first week of July.

Violence Of Summer...

Current Mood: blah
Current Location: home
Current Music: Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over) - Duran Duran

Dug into my cassingle shoe box again, and randomly came out with this nice little gem from 1992. A cover of the Dusty Springfield classic.

Am I The Same Girl - Swing Out Sister (1992, Mercury Records)

Swing Out Sister were a British pop music duo consisting of Corrinne Drewery and Andy Connell. They are probably best known Stateside for their only U.S. top ten hit, 1986's "Breakout". Their sound is really poppy yet with a jazzy sort of sensibility. Heavy on horns. Lead singer Corinne Drewery's voice is quite smooth and serviceable and works with the material.

Completing the first side of the cassingle, after "Same Girl", is a little preview sampler including the songs "Notgonnachange", "Who Let The Love Out" and "Understand". The flip side of this single was a remixed version of "Breakout" that clocks in at almost seven minutes.

What made me buy this one? Simply the fact that I so liked "Breakout". And I thought Corinne's look was really cool, and uber sophisticated.

Swing Out Sister still make music and continue to enjoy a rather ardent fan base outside the U.S.

I hope you enjoy this one, it'll get your toes tapping.

Am I The Same Girl...

And I hate LJ... they block flash so the little handy widget won't be here for you to click on and hear. Clicking on the block will take you to where you can listen.

Current Mood: okay
Current Location: home
Current Music: Breakout - Swing Out Sister

I haven't decided what day I want to do my flashbacks. I was going to do them every Tuesday but decided that Wednesday would be better. After today, watch for my flashbacks each Wednesday.

This week:

"Hippychick" by Soho.
(Atco, 1990)

If this one starts out sounding familiar to you, it's probably because the Smiths song "How Soon Is Now" is sampled.

This is another from my record store days, I'd always play this one during my shift. :) And yes, it's partly why I chose my LJ user name. I've just always dug it.

Soho were a pop trio out of England featuring two sisters, Jaqui and Pauline Soho, with Timothy London. They enjoyed sort of a "one hit wonder" status with this song, about a woman confronting her policeman ex- lover after having been arrested.

It's hard to tell you how I feel without hurting you
So try to think about yourself the way that I see you
Your life revolves around a force of oppression
And I won't deal with true blue devils of correction
Got no flowers for your gun, no hippychick
Won't make love to change your mind, no hippychick
No hippychick, no hip hip hip hip hip

The "B" side was the song "Taxi". I actually like this one too... it's kinda groovy. Didn't fare as well as the more popular "A" side did though.

Listen / download here:

Hippychick

The notes on the back cover included the following: "Hippies roll over ... Yippies fight back!"

They also did a cover of the song "Whisper To A Scream", originally by Icicle Works for the soundtrack to the movie "Scream". I like both versions but sway towards the Icicle Works original more often than not.

Current Mood: okay
Current Location: home
Current Music: Hippychick - Soho

Remember the cassingle (cassette single)? I just went in my closet and found a couple of shoe boxes full of them. I thought it might be interesting to make this a regular feature, go back and look at the stuff I collected and maybe share a single with you each week. And yes some of this stuff I'm like WTF was I thinking?

To wit:
This week's offering. The first cassingle at the top of the first shoe box I grabbed.

The Girl I Used To Know by Brother Beyond.
(EMI 1990)

I was heavily into my pop phase then, and into songs on Top 40 radio I will admit. Much of this has to do with being influenced by working at Sam Goody and hearing this stuff every day. And getting free promo cassingles / cds was a boon as well.
This song is a little piece written by Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers, the writing and producing duo that brought together Donny Osmond's 1989 self titled "comeback" album. They went on to form their own short lived group Rhythm Syndicate of which I liked a song or two as well, even have the debut album.

The "B" side to this one was the "merely okay" song "Universal" which wasn't nearly as groovy and infectious as the "A" side.

Brother Beyond were a British pop group that saw a bit of success in the late 80s. This song was their final foray into the top 40. Damn it's catchiness, it's infectiousness! Damn my soft spot for "boy bands" ... even though these guys weren't "boys", rather, they are my age. And damn my manager at the time for playing this one to freaking death at the store so that it ingrained itself upon my brain!

Listen / download here:

The Girl I Used To Know - Brother Beyond

Annnnd... you guys don't even really remember it do you? It went away as fast as it hit #27 on the charts taking the group with it, disappearing into the ether.
It was fun to revisit though.