SOME BIZARRE ALBUM Depeche Mode Soft Cell The The RARE

$

40

SOME BIZARRE ALBUM compilation LP. Released as Celluloid CEL6595 in 1981.

Sleeve and Vinyl are in MINT MINUS condition.

This is super rare. This is the first issue of the label Some Bizarre Records and contains the first Depeche Mode recording - a version of "Photographic" that you can't find anywhere else.

Illustration "Tidal Flow"

Depeché Mode "Photographic"

The The "The The"

B Movie "Moles"

Jell "I Dare Say It Will Hurt A Little"

Blah Blah Blah "Central Park"

Blancmange "Sad Day"

Soft Cell "The Girl With The Patent Leather Face"

Neu Electrikk "Lust Of Berlin"

Naked Lunch "La Femme"

The Fast Set "The King Of The Rumbling Spires"

The Loved One "Observations"

One of the earliest examples in the label's history, 'Some Bizzare Album' collects various artists of which Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, Blancmange and The The proved most accessible later on. The rest however remains forgotten either in time or on this compilation. Still it indulges the listener as much as it indulged the artists - synthesizers of all sorts pierce through, sometimes irresistably catchy and sometimes irritatingly repetitive... Here is a small reminder:

Blancmange - Sad Day; a nice moody instrumental owing much to Kraftwerk's 70s ambiental pieces.

Soft Cell - The Girl With the Patent Leather Face; a song continuing more in the avant-garde fashion of the duo's previous, self-distributed 'Mutant Moments' EP rather than the likes of 'Tainted Love'.

Neu Electrikk - Lust of Berlin; whether it is intentional or accidentally identical to Bauhaus, Neu Electrikk so desperately want to be another Bowie/Peter Murphy clones.

Naked Lunch - La Femme; albeit the most intriguing by the choice of name and starting a promising race of sequencers and melodies, 'La Femme' is the most pretentious of the lot in here. By the time you counted it one minute it develops into a track similar to the likes of Ultravox/John Foxx.

The Fast Set - King of the Rumbling Spires; the choice of covering Marc Bolan's song was explained by The Fast Set's Pete Farrugia that when they were going through a recording process, they weren't sure they trusted Stevo - The Fast Set gave respectable gigs but it was Soft Cell Stevo decided to manage so The Fast Set felt deserted in the promotion area. For those who didn't know, The Fast Set were the first EVER band releasing a record for Ivo Watts-Russell (a pre-4AD single as Axis1 - 'Junction One').

The Loved One - Observations; respectfully, one of the darker sides to 'Some Bizzare', the group using found objects rather than standard instruments to list.

Illustration - Tidal Flow; rather conventional quasi-New Romantic but equally as charming piece of music. Somewhere between Modern English, Ultravox and Our Daughter's Wedding attempts.

Depeche Mode - Photographic; for years this was a real obscurity. It's obviously a demo..

The The; an untitled song of which legend has it Matt Johnson hates it's guts - well, artists sometimes aren't the great judges of their work, this is a confusing piece indeed, makes you wonder what the hell it's supposed to be about but that's also the beauty of the experiment.

B-Movie - Moles; B-Movie were about to become another of the successful UK acts in the wake of New Romantics but appearently their sound seems somewhat a copycat of already established bands I mentioned here and plan of mentioning them no more.

Jell - I Dare Say It'll Hurt a Little; probably a project by session musicians of sorts, Jell features Eric Random, who collaborated regularly with Cabaret Voltaire and Clock DVA. I cannot say for certain the same regarding Lynn Seed, although Richard H. Kirk's girlfriend named Lynn guested on his solo cassette 'Disposable Half Truths'. But this is one of the tracks that sends shiver down the spine - much in the same category as The Loved One's, Jell sound desperate and apeealing at the same time. Albeit slow, the song is exploding with lethal drum programs and deep resonating bass sound along dreamy, erotic female voice.

Blah Blah Blah - Central Park. A strange story, and probably the most conceptually inaugurated song on this album - about a guy walking in the park in an 18 century clothes. A possible hint of travesty? Maybe. Musically it is quite at random, synthesizer noise while the only thing that keeps it in some order is the bass and clock-ticking percussion in the background. In itself, Blah Blah Blah seem interesting enough to be explored elsewhere although at this moment I am not sure of any other of their record whereabouts.