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80s 12" singles

T

tiggers

pfm Member
These are my guilty pleasure and always have been. Prompted by a comment in another thread around the LP12's difficulty in playing 45s I decided to start a thread. What I love about the 80s 12" mixes were that unlike a lot of modern remixes they (for the most part) keep the essence of the song intact and enhance upon it by reworking it in a structured way. When this worked the versions ended up (for me at least) as the go to versions. I still have around 400 12" singles from the time, but I may be missing some good ones so what are your favourites? Here is my top 12 to give you a hint of where I'm at :D

Soft Cell - Torch
Furniture - Brilliant Mind
Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia
Human League - Sound of the Crowd
New Order - Temptation
Blancmange - Blind Vision
Altered Images - I COuld be Happy
B-Movie - Nowhere Girl
Propaganda - Duel
Talk Talk - It's My Life
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribe (Annihilation)
 
Great list. The 12" single almost invariably sounded better. Better dynamics, bigger sound imo. I always put this down to the faster movement of the stylus through the groove, but it may have also been the different mixing.
 
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax (Sex mix)

I love 80's 12" but most of my favourites are from Oz, however Relax is unbelievable.
 
tiggers said:
These are my guilty pleasure and always have been. Prompted by a comment in another thread around the LP12's difficulty in playing 45s I decided to start a thread. What I love about the 80s 12" mixes were that unlike a lot of modern remixes they (for the most part) keep the essence of the song intact and enhance upon it by reworking it in a structured way. When this worked the versions ended up (for me at least) as the go to versions. I still have around 400 12" singles from the time, but I may be missing some good ones so what are your favourites? Here is my top 12 to give you a hint of where I'm at :D

Soft Cell - Torch
Furniture - Brilliant Mind
Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia
Human League - Sound of the Crowd
New Order - Temptation
Blancmange - Blind Vision
Altered Images - I COuld be Happy
B-Movie - Nowhere Girl
Propaganda - Duel
Talk Talk - It's My Life
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribe (Annihilation)
Click to expand...

Some great choices there!

B-Movie - Nowhere Girl is a belter!
 
Weirdly, I played the 12" of Nowhere Girl by B-Movie on Monday!

One of my favorites is My Perfect Cousin by the Undertones. Mix is not so different to the single but it sounds fantastic.

Greg Khin, Jeopardy 12" is fun too.
 
Loads of ‘80s 12” stuff that sound amazing. The ones that come instantly to mind:

Joy Division - Atmosphere (original US black label cut is much better than UK, just astonishing drums).
The first two Factory A Certain Ratio 12” singles.
23 Skidoo - Gospel Goes To New Guinea.
Grandmaster Flash - The Message.
OMD - Messages (10”).
UB40 - Madam Medusa 12” (from the Signing Off album).
New Order - Ceremony (green cover mix), Everything’s Gone Green and Blue Monday.
FGTH - Relax (1st 16 minute mix would be my pick).
Propaganda - Dr Mabuse.
The The - Infected.
Grace Jones (anything).
I guess I can have PIL Metal Box too!

Later on loads of early techno and house stuff:

The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds, Perpetual Dawn etc.
808 State - Pacific State.
LFO - LFO (I’ve heard this one blow up nightclub PAs it has so much bass!).
Tons more of this stuff, but likely not the right thread for it.

PS I’m always astonished just how good the Trevor Horn/ZTT stuff sounds considering it was mainly 8 or 12bit Fairlight & Synclavia stuff plus a low bitrate Linn Drum. Your smartphone is exponentially more powerful than the computer tech that made those records!
 
I like a 12” Single as much as a 7” :)

The 7” Singles Thread

Dipping in the 12” box >

Grace Jones ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’ U.K. A1

M/A/R/R/S - ‘ Pump Up The Volume’

Patrice Rushent - ‘Forget Me Nots’

Beastie Boys 3 Track 12” - ‘Fight For Your Right’

The Jacksons - ‘Can You Feel It’

B-Movie - ‘Marilyn Dreams’ (local lads)

Leon Hayward - ‘ Don’t Push It Don’t Force It’

Japan - ‘The Art of Parties’. - far superior to the album version and the 7”

Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holgar Czukay ‘How Much Are They?” - bought when I was 16.

Bauhaus ‘Telegram Sam’ - did pick up Bela… to list but that is 1979 o_O

Eric B & Rakim - ‘Follow The Leader

:):):)

Killing Joke - “Follow The Leaders” cheating as it is a 10”… this came out in 1981! Holy Moses.

Stopped now, need a wee

Got a lot more but got distracted, surprised how many are 1970’s 12” records, or 1990’s.
 
With ‘As featured in the film Breakdance’ on the cover, I admit I only got this around when I got Der Katalog. Sounds amazing when up loud enough to feel it, especially this François Kevorkian mix...


(The extra breathy vocals are apparently Ralf after running up and down the Kling Klang stairs a few times.)
 
Alex N said:
With ‘As featured in the film Breakdance’ on the cover, I admit I only got this around when I got Der Katalog. Sounds amazing when up loud enough to feel it, especially this François Kevorkian mix...
Click to expand...

I still need to grab a copy of that mix. I bought the 12” when it first came out, i.e. before the film, and I didn’t realise it had been remixed until quite recently when it was mentioned on another thread here. The original is great too!
 
Tony L said:
Loads of ‘80s 12” stuff that sound amazing. The ones that come instantly to mind:

Joy Division - Atmosphere (original US black label cut is much better than UK, just astonishing drums).
The first two Factory A Certain Ratio 12” singles.
23 Skidoo - Gospel Goes To New Guinea.
Grandmaster Flash - The Message.
OMD - Messages (10”).
UB40 - Madam Medusa 12” (from the Signing Off album).
New Order - Ceremony (green cover mix), Everything’s Gone Green and Blue Monday.
FGTH - Relax (1st 16 minute mix would be my pick).
Propaganda - Dr Mabuse.
The The - Infected.
Grace Jones (anything).
I guess I can have PIL Metal Box too!

Later on loads of early techno and house stuff:

The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds, Perpetual Dawn etc.
808 State - Pacific State.
LFO - LFO (I’ve heard this one blow up nightclub PAs it has so much bass!).
Tons more of this stuff, but likely not the right thread for it.

PS I’m always astonished just how good the Trevor Horn/ZTT stuff sounds considering it was mainly 8 or 12bit Fairlight & Synclavia stuff plus a low bitrate Linn Drum. Your smartphone is exponentially more powerful than the computer tech that made those records!
Click to expand...

Tony, how do I identify the US pressing of Atmosphere? I have a 12" single but I suspect it's the UK pressing as it sounds good, but not great.

808 State and The Orb are both fantastic btw.
 
mondie said:
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax (Sex mix)

I love 80's 12" but most of my favourites are from Oz, however Relax is unbelievable.
Click to expand...

That sounds utterly epic on my system. As Tony said those early ZTT releases produced by Trevor Horn sound so so good even today.
 
Big Tabs said:
I like a 12” Single as much as a 7” :)

The 7” Singles Thread

Dipping in the 12” box >

Grace Jones ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’ U.K. A1

M/A/R/R/S - ‘ Pump Up The Volume’

Patrice Rushent - ‘Forget Me Nots’

Beastie Boys 3 Track 12” - ‘Fight For Your Right’

The Jacksons - ‘Can You Feel It’

B-Movie - ‘Marilyn Dreams’ (local lads)

Leon Hayward - ‘ Don’t Push It Don’t Force It’

Japan - ‘The Art of Parties’. - far superior to the album version and the 7”

Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holgar Czukay ‘How Much Are They?” - bought when I was 16.

Bauhaus ‘Telegram Sam’ - did pick up Bela… to list but that is 1979 o_O

Eric B & Rakim - ‘Follow The Leader

:):):)

Killing Joke - “Follow The Leaders” cheating as it is a 10”… this came out in 1981! Holy Moses.

Stopped now, need a wee

Got a lot more but got distracted, surprised how many are 1970’s 12” records, or 1990’s.
Click to expand...

Marilyn Dreams is another great track by B-Movie. Love Pull up to the Bumper too.
 
tiggers said:
Tony, how do I identify the US pressing of Atmosphere? I have a 12" single but I suspect it's the UK pressing as it sounds good, but not great.
Click to expand...

It’s got a dark label, US-style tip-on sleeve and Atmosphere is actually the B side. Pics in Discogs here. The drums are just insane on it, right in the room with you. Crazy dynamic. The UK copy sounds blunted in comparison which is really surprising as IIRC it’s a Porky cut. For some reason the US copy pre-existed the UK copy, I remember it being around but being very hard to get hold of. I eventually found a copy second hand years later.

PS Same thing with New Order’s Ceremony, though that has two different mixes not just mastering. If you’ve only heard the one with the blue and cream sleeve you’ve just not heard it. The original mix in the green sleeve packs a hell of a punch.

The mix on Substance is the less good one.
 
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