Blue Mercedes - See What Must Have

Blue Mercedes is a pop music duo from London, England, made up of David Titlow and Duncan Millar. Titlow was infamous for wearing purple shorts with the words "Funk Ass" printed on them, whilst Millar played a large portable synth with double keyboards — they dubbed their musical style 'Street Latin Wolff'. Their only Hot 100 hit was "I Want To Be Your Property," which climbed to #66 in 1988 and spent four weeks at #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. They had two more dance chart entries in 1988.

After releasing the single "That Beauty Is You", they evolved into indie dance band, Nixon, and released 'The Rolling Stones gone baggy' sound of "Sweet Temptation". A second single was recorded and manufactured by MCA records, a cover version of the Sex Pistol's "Submission" with trippy cover artwork by Designers Republic, however this was never released and seven inch copies of this track are an extremely rare find. Nixon also remixed the Blur song "Bad Day" from their first album for Food Records, whilst the mix was rejected by the band a mislaid DAT of the song was picked up by unscrupulous bootleggers and released as a white label twelve inch, also very rare.

David Titlow then went onto form indie rock band Heave who signed to Warners subsidiary Radar Records in the early nineties releasing the singles "Suna/12XU" and "Pig Pretty" (on 7 inch pink vinyl) they followed this with the album "Scaramanga" which was produced by Bryce Goggin and released in both the UK and Japan.

Today's post is the follow-up to the #1 dance single "I Want To Be Your Property". This one didn't do as well as it barely reached the Top 20 on the Dance Singles chart. I still like this song anyway.

Taken from the original 12" single on MCA 23857
See What Must Have (Funk Ass Mix) - 6:55
Song charted on April 30, 1988. Spent 8 weeks on the chart and reached #18

Fixx - Less Cities, More Moving People

The Fixx is a British new wave band formed in 1980. The group was formed by college friends Cy Curnin (vocals) and Adam Woods (drums). The pair placed an ad for additional members. Jamie West-Oram (guitar), Rupert Greenall (keyboards) and Charlie Barret (bass) joined the band as a result. Barret left just after the recording of the first album and was replaced by Alfie Agius. However, Agius' stint in the band was short-lived, as he left in the middle of sessions for the following album. His bass work is featured on the album's two hit singles "Saved By Zero" and "One Thing Leads to Another" though. The bass spot was then filled by Dan K. Brown, who remained with the band until 1994.

The band is best known for the smash hit, One Thing Leads to Another. Todays post is one of the lesser known songs. Taken from their third LP, the 1984 release Phantoms. This has to be one of my favorite Fixx songs along with Red Skies.

Taken from the original 12" single on MCA 1230
Less Cities, More Moving People - 7:10
Song charted on November 24, 1984. Spent 3 weeks on the chart and reached #68

Ministry - Cold Life / I'm Falling / Primental

The following information was stolen from discogs.com....
"Ministry is the brainchild of Alain Jourgensen. The band started in 1981 playing a sugar-filled synth pop in the vein of Depeche Mode and Human League. The first changing arrived in 1986 when Ministry's second LP "Twitch" was produced by Adrian Sherwood. The music shifted to an heavy and menacing EBM/electro sound. The third album "The Land Of Rape And Honey" (1988) was a revolution, with the arrival of Paul Barker and other new members Ministry started to play a crossover bewteen EBM, industrial and heavy metal. The formula was perfectioned with the following "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste" (1990), where the rock elements became more relevant. Ministry's masterpiece is considered "" (1992), a very dark, powerful and violent album, where the band experiments a wide range of combining thrash metal with techno, industrial and noise. The following records have progressively abandoned the experimental side. Paul Barker left the band in January 2004, leaving Al to put together a new line-up for "Houses of the Molé". After 2004 Evil Doer Tour few members left and new came - besides Jourgensen & Scaccia new members are Tommy Victor on guitar and Paul Raven on bass. Band started to work on new album, which finally came out in May 2006 titled "Rio Grande Blood". Following album release Masterbatour 2006 will include John Bechdel on keyboards and Joey Jordison (from Slipknot) on drums."

This is one of my favorite groups of the 80's. Since then they have gotten to political for me. Hey Al...if you don't like living here I have one word for you...MOVE!!!!

Taken from the original 12" single on Wax Trax 110072
A1. I'm Falling - 4:04
A2. Primental - 5:13
B1. Cold Life - 6:11
All songs charted on May 22, 1982. Spent 13 weeks on the chart and reached #45

Advance - Take Me To The Top

Been wanting to post this for a long time - Oh, sorry, going just under two months.

Advance seemingly put out no other song than this there was one released a few years later called "Take It To The Top" which I have never had a listen too, but as names do not differ much I expect it to be close to the original. Nevertheless this song is fantastic with its surplus vocals, groovy synth lines, dreamy pads and classic muted guitars it for sure is one of my all time favourites. It was produced by Alvaro Ugolini and Dario Raimondi I would have never subsumed it under the term Italo Disco, but hey lets compromise: An All Time Dance Classic.

Taken from the original 12" single on Polydor 811539
Advance - Take Me To The Top (Vocal) - 6:15
Song charted on April 30, 1983. Spent 6 weeks on the chart and reached #55

Bonzo Goes To Washington - 5 Minutes

While I was searching through my classic vinyl, for something to post today, I came across this little classic jem. I thought that I lost this song a long time ago. I was so excited when I found it that I thought it would be great to share it with everyone.

This group was a one-time collaboration of Jerry Harrison (of the Talking Heads) and Bootsy Collins of Parlament. This song contains several samples of President Ronald Reagan's infamous joke statement: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

Taken from the original 12" single on Sleeping Bag 13
5 Minutes (C-C-C Club Mix) - 5:33
Song charted on December 8, 1984. Spent 10 weeks on the chart and reached #36