The Associates: Have the years been kind?

That voice is still annoying as fuck though.

Listening to this now and indeed, I keep forgetting how enjoyable this is -- the later demos from the aborted reunion are too stiff by half but otherwise all the earliest demos (Mackenize, Rankine and hired backing band) plus a dozen or so from the 'classic' lineup with Dempsey on bass are total treats. The earliest ones are great for being such obvious Sparks knockoffs, but fantastic nonetheless.

After a brief interview, Billy M. and Paul Haig perform "Amazing Grace" on STV's Hogmanay show in 1986. The opening of the song doesn't accurately convey what happens next.

A lovely performance of "Kites," the Simon Dupree song that he first did under the 39 Lyon Street guise with Christine Beveridge singing -- this is from French TV around the time of the Perhaps promo tours.

Billy gets interviewed by Leslie Ash for The Tube pre-Perhaps and merrily takes her for a ride.

The tragically awful B. A. Robertson interviews Billy and Alan for Friday Night, Saturday Morning following a mimed performance of "Party Fears Two"

I haven't heard anything after Sulk, though Waiting For The Love Boat is alright. I think. I can't really remember it very well, to be honest. Should I look into it?

"Skipping" from that Friday Night Saturday Morning show

The Creatures did a similar tribute with "Say" -- and knowing Siouxsie, she probably complained about how Robert ripped her off again. ;-)

We owe a debt of gratitude to Nigel Reeve at EMI (who, as it turns
out, also looks after Bowie's reissues), who, once he'd made his mind
up to go with the reissues, spared no expense and cut no corners.
Remastered on the very Abbey Road desk that was built by Mike
Batchelor for the original "Dark Side of the Moon" sessions... it was
quite an experience... No one was in this for anything other than
love. Becky, who has done the artwork "remastering" even dug out some
old Associates magazine articles that she'd kept since the early 80s,
proving that she was anything but a mere hired hand.

For myself, the real triumph is that I honestly believe that the
original CD masters never even came close to reproducing the sound of
the mix tapes, basically meaning that other than Billy, Julian
Mendelson, and very few others (probably including Blair), none of us
were actually hearing these albums in their full glory. This has now
been rectified with bells on.

It is unlikely that any of Billy's work will ever be reissued in any
physical format ever again, the future of music archiving is almost
certainly downloading. This made it all the more important to get
these albums out there in the sound quality that will henceforth
always be available in. Anything less would have been less than they
deserve.

I've said it before, but I cannot wait for you guys to hear Wild &
Lonely. At the moment you only think you know it. It'll knock your
socks off... I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it...

Thank you all. Again.

Jude

TOTP performance of "Club Country"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEWkNoKxTUg&search=Associates

Meantime, I finally picked up Holger Hiller's Oben Im Eck, which I know Momus praised as containing Billy M.'s best thing ever, "Whippets," IIRC (though I can't seem to find the comment on this thread). It really *is* something bizarrely wonderful, and for the first time the idea of him as a proto-Bjork makes total sense in terms of sheer 'WTF.' And the fact that he named it after/wrote it about his 'spirit animal,' as the bio put it, makes it even better!

also - just picked up the "club country" 12" - fuck, had no idea there was an extended version! though, just looking now, it was mentioned upthread. if if if only the latin rascals had been around!

Meantime another YouTube treat -- "White Car in Germany" on Dutch TV in 1982.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI9lqh0Dwho