Pande-reviews: 2009.0 (FSOL - EBS Vol.4)

Feel free to talk about anything and everything FSOL related in this board.
User avatar
Pandemonium
Pale Moon
Posts: 2071
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:15 pm
Location: Never, Neverland
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Pandemonium »

Guys, remember that bad review I gave the Global album when I was starting my Dougans/Cobain chronological journey?

Well I talked about it with Brian, and it turns out a GREAT movie-like story is behind it:
Pandemonium wrote: I can't wrap my head around the Global album... - I can't compare it with - say - Humanoid sessions 84-88 -- Global sounds weaker and dated compared to them, and compared to the Stakker Humanoid single...
I feel like Global was the only thing you did that wasn't ahead of its time.
Brian Dougans wrote: - I just read your Global review - yes, that's fair - you should include my comments to balance things out.

Humanoid - Global. Now there's a story never told. In short, some tracks are not written by me - I never finished the album I was working on. I lived in a rat infested squat with drug addicts and prostitutes. The record company (West Side / Street Sounds) were FUKIN me - £££ and stitched me right up in contracts. I got very ill - legal stuff - rats - and had to escape. I returned to Glasgow and hid and got well.

In the mean time the record company brought in PETER BLACK who completed the album and wrote several tracks. He was paid off - simultaneously I was arming myself with a lawyer and took West Side to court. In the end I won and own Humanoid and catalogue - but that's why it doesn't sound like either STAKKER Humanoid / FSOL / ZEEBOX.

I worked on Stakker Humanoid / Tonight / Slam / Crystals / Sunshine and Brick - which was an original TWITCH track [remember, I mentioned TWITCH here as the first band Dougans/Cobain formed with Ian McArthur in 1986/7 in Manchester].
- The rest of the tracks are by PETER BLACK. Interestingly, TONIGHT (The Original) had Gaz singing - it was much better, sounded like THE BELOVED - The Sun Rising - but they (Street Sounds) changed it to some dodgy female...

There's a lot more to that story including Stakker Communication, a separate company, also not playing ball - very messy time.
- I'm really somewhat relieved that I gave Global a bad review :)

PS - links and technical text editing done by me.

PPS - this will be added to the Humanoid - Global album review to complete the picture.
You're doin' too much, do less.
User avatar
Ross
Environmentalisations Se7en
Posts: 4483
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:03 pm
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Ross »

Will have to update the page in the discography with that - makes much more sense now. Glad that Crystals is one of his though, always loved that!

With new material in the works it looks like we might be finally getting the first 'proper' Humanoid album at last then, ha.
User avatar
Tito Lozano
Ill Flower
Posts: 586
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:38 pm
Location: Yunie
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Tito Lozano »

I LIKE THE " TONIGHT "VOCALS BY GAZ,PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very interesting washing to real history of "Global", and well as i love the first albums by bands cause always have more stories than people thought,Thanks Pande for share and Brian for open loft of memories :)
Crystals for me is the top of the album too
Noisesurfer
Fsolboard
Not bad for a Human
User avatar
Blu Mar Ten
Hardhead
Posts: 91
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:15 am
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Blu Mar Ten »

fascinating, and it makes sense
Online
User avatar
mcbpete
Far-out Son of Lung
Posts: 1341
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:25 pm
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by mcbpete »

Good fact hunting Pande - that's an ace document about the release !
User avatar
Pandemonium
Pale Moon
Posts: 2071
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:15 pm
Location: Never, Neverland
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Pandemonium »

Brian Dougans wrote: A final point on Humanoid
- All lyrics are actually by Gaz.
- The drums on Crystals are by Dave Ruffy of THE RUTS.
- Sunshine and Brick was theme music to a BBC youth programme and released (illegally under the name HOMEBOY).
- Sunshine and Brick is taken from "Bacteria from a Baboons Stomach" by Twitch - there is also a video for this track.
PS - Explanation about TWITCH:
- Is the very first band that Dougans and Cobain formed, called Twitch. It happened in Manchester in 1986/7. The band consisted of three people, the third member was Ian McArthur, a Scottish guy who played bass. The release they recorded was called Bacteria from a Baboons Stomach, they even sold a few cassettes in Manchester, but this ultra-rare release has never surfaced on the net, yet... I can only assume this band played some hybrid of industrial experimental electronic stuff. Also a few videos from those sessions are in existence. Twitch soon fell out, McArthur left and Dougans/Cobain moved to London - and the rest, as they say, is history.

PPS - more cool stories from the ancient past coming soon :)
You're doin' too much, do less.
User avatar
Ross
Environmentalisations Se7en
Posts: 4483
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:03 pm
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Ross »

The Twitch thing goes a long way to explaining why Sunshine & Brick sounds so much more industrial than the rest of the Humanoid material.
User avatar
Concept
Tingler
Posts: 123
Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:59 am

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Concept »

Without Brian and Gaz explicitly stating, where do you generally find a lot of this information, Pandemonium?
User avatar
Pandemonium
Pale Moon
Posts: 2071
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:15 pm
Location: Never, Neverland
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Pandemonium »

Everywhere they can be found really :)
We've contacts with other musicians, friends...
magazine interviews, bits 'n pieces of information all over (the internet)...

Logical conclusions and listening to the music also helps a lot :)
Also we have a few people here with incredible (sample-spotting) ears and VAST knowledge of real music in general.
You're doin' too much, do less.
User avatar
seedy
Antique Toy
Posts: 1378
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:41 pm
Location: The Space Between Your Ears

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by seedy »

well that's a cool back story we otherwise would have never heard :)
User avatar
dell1972
Spineless Jelly
Posts: 718
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:50 pm
Location: The edge of time

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by dell1972 »

Indeed, interesting story, and it makes a lot of sense with the generic nature of some of those tracks. I need to give it all another listen sometime, especially now I've kind of come to terms with the relentless nature of the Eurotechno soundtrack!
I am the eye that looks within
User avatar
Pandemonium
Pale Moon
Posts: 2071
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:15 pm
Location: Never, Neverland
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Pandemonium »

Hey guys, more cool stories from the 'ancient' past coming up, the Stakker - Eurotechno post also got expanded with this:

25 years later and exactly 12 years after the remaster came out (early 2015), Dougans shed some additional light on this project.

They actually did about 20 stings for MTV back in 1988/89. The stings were 10 seconds / 30 seconds / 1 minute long.
"MTV - Your TV - Blows Your Screen" - they ran these from 1988 till 1994 (maybe beyond), basically they were MTV station logos done by Stakker.

Stakker Communication was the name for Marc McLean (aka Buggy G Riphead) & Colin Scott which was basically the video guys (without Dougans). They worked on a few more (acid) video projects. The one called Ultratech was a longform piece made for MTV. And of course The Evil Acid Baron, which was made for Rhythm King Records (Baby Ford etc etc). Buggy and Colin went to college together. Dougans met them in The Haçienda in Manchester, where they decided to team up as Stakker visuals, with Dougans on sound for the Eurotechno project.

And here's what Dougans had to say about his AFX experience back in 2003:
Pandemonium wrote: Well, how did the 2003 Rephlex re-releases (of Stakker Eurotechno & Humanoid Sessions 84-88) happened? Did you meet Aphex Twin? Have you ever talked to him?
Brian Dougans wrote: He (RDJ) phoned me and said he wants to talk about Stakker. How much of an influence on him and Grant it had been, and could he put it out on Rephlex. Of course 'Yes' was the reply.

I spent several weeks pulling on old reels of tape. The whole track at one point was hanging of my wall on pieces of tape - about 300-400 little pieces of 1/4 inch tape; which we then randomly grabbed and re-pieced together - that's why it keeps changing mad frantic cuts!

I sent everything to Grant and him, and Richard formed the Stakker session album. Then they also licensed the EUROTECHNO soundtrack from MGM in USA. When it came to mastering and cutting the album I met with Richard and Grant in south London. We spent several hours mastering, and then Richard said: I live around the corner, lets go back for some recreational activities. He at that point lived in a 5 store office block, the basement was flooded, the ground floor was like a building site. He lived at the top, in between were his studios - piano room - synths - etc - very cool. I spent the rest of the day with Richard and Grant, indulging... Lovely guy, very serious, lives for ART...

PS - Pete, maybe you can share this on the WATMM forums, they'll love more RDJ news - he's killing the SoundCloud these days :)
You're doin' too much, do less.
User avatar
dell1972
Spineless Jelly
Posts: 718
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:50 pm
Location: The edge of time

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by dell1972 »

Good story, I'm assuming that answerphone message sample on EBS 6 (?) was from around that era then. The Eurotechno soundtrack really is quite a tough listen, on the one hand it's very acidic, and on the other hand you have to brace yourself for it changing every 60 seconds or so for the entire record.
I am the eye that looks within
Quiller
Tingler
Posts: 117
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 1:26 am

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Quiller »

Do we have an explanation for why the Twitch recordings haven't become available on FSOLdigital? Are they locked up by the label they were working with at the time? From interviews it sounds like they were heavily influenced by Chakk and Cabaret Voltaire at this time. Be interesting to hear these.
User avatar
Pandemonium
Pale Moon
Posts: 2071
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:15 pm
Location: Never, Neverland
Contact:

Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.4 (Heads / Part-Sub-Merged / Polemic

Post by Pandemonium »

Good question Quller, but I don't think the label is the problem...
Maybe they'll float on fsoldigital some day - I'll ask.

I already asked re-release of an EP that we all here know and love - and it's coming - on fsolboard demand - with bonus tracks :)
(I mean, it's not 100% sure it will be released, but the answer was very positive)
You're doin' too much, do less.
Post Reply