Altered Images CDSD

I'll do a S/D later today (assuming we've not done this lot before).

I saw them in 1981 at Reading Top Rank supported by Vic Godard. They just seemed *wrong* in a large hall, so I didn't enjoy it much. I never saw them in a small venue though.

"Leave Me Alone" off the first LP has a really twisted girl-to-girl sexual jealousy thing going on, a subject which I will start a thread about some day.

Destroy: the Pinky Blue version of "Song Sung Blue".

Oh God yes, Norm. yes!

I was having a rather dull pub lunch with work colleagues a couple of years ago when SHE WALKED IN!! I talked to her for a little while - VERY nice and as you say, ultra-rowr. I behaved oddly for months afterwards.

And of course Johnny McElhone went on to join Hipsway and then Texas.

"I saw them in 1981 at Reading Top Rank supported by Vic Godard. They just seemed *wrong* in a large hall, so I didn't enjoy it much. I never saw them in a small venue though."

How did I manage to miss that one Dr. C.?! I do remember seeing them at Hammersmith Palais in (I think) very early '80 'though, supporting Siouxsie & The Banshees (also on the bill that night were The Yachts and The Associates!) and actually I thought they were pretty good in a less-threatening-Banshees-lite kind of way.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00007FOL0

* "Bring Me Closer" reminds me of the Wonder Woman theme song - in particular, the backing singers singing "You took me nowhere!" (Am I smoking crack, or can you hear the similarity?)

* Ugh, so now there are *four* AI best-of collections (and only three studio albums)?! For crying out loud, just release a 3-CD boxed set, PLEASE, and that should cover everything. In the very least, re-release Pinky Blue.

* I actually like the "Song Sung Blue" cover. But yes, it is perhaps their most twee moment.

* "Don't Talk to Me About Love" - love it...what a great chorus! "Yesterdays shatter, tomorrows don't matter" But, the most sublime song from Bite for me is "Love to Stay."

* The single versions for "I Could Be Happy" and "See Those Eyes" are better than the album versions (which are the 12" remix versions also, if I'm not mistaken).

* Regarding Bite - what were they thinking? That is, the cover photo, "Stand So Quiet" (bleh), "Now That You're Here" (double bleh)..."Change of Heart" is cute, but it doesn't fit on the album at all. And...why a disco throwback, especially right in the middle of the new wave?

* "Sentimental" could've been a lost Factory Records gem.

* The album cover for Pinky Blue is sooo 80s, it's unbelievable.

* Apparently, they played several live shows in December 2002 for the "Here and Now Christmas party" in Britain - did anyone see them?

* "Sentimental" could've been a lost Factory Records gem.

I agree with both of those.

And Bite, remember, came out in summer 1983 - new wave had been dead for ages then.... thePolice were number one at the time if I remember correctly! I remember buying Bite the same time as Yazoo's 'You and Me Both'. They've remained two of my favourite albums.

"Bring Me Closer" is one of the ten greatest singles of the '80s. Boring fact: only got to #29 because there was a pressing plant strike at CBS and shops ran out of copies. Otherwise, probably would/should have gone all the way to the top.

really great band, twee or not
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXL20PtSkjQ

"love and kisses" is miles and away their best song, i think..

I've never heard a single Altered Images song before today. I ordered this and I'm taking in Happy Birthday right now. It's good. Like, pretty damn good.

Fucking Caesar from the Wake plays on some of it, too! How in the hell how have I dismissed this band for so long?

There's been a lot of Altered Images turning up on Dime recently. Not sure what's triggered it. Seems to be over the last couple of months so wonder if the February released set was a trigger for it. Actually seems to have started mid March and is about 25 or 30 dates since then.
Hadn't realised there was a reunion in 2002 but there's a set up from then.

Apologies for my ignorance, but what is Dime?

S: love and kisses

Pinky Blue is absolutely classic. I just discovered it about 3 years back, and it's been in pretty steady rotation ever since. The Martin Rushent production on the I Could Be Happy remix is definitely one of the better things he ever did.

Pinky Blue >>> Bite > Happy Birthday

That's how I'd rank them too, though I'd probably keep Bite and Happy Birthday on equal footing instead of ranking one over the other.

Dime = Dimeadozen, private torrent site for live recordings.

Ahh, that makes sense now.

Just gave Pinky Blue a run and I like it even more than the first album. Kinda late right now, but I'll definitely give Bite a run-through tomorrow.

So weird, I bought Pinky Blue today on a whim because the cover was cool. Never heard of them before. Good record.

The last couple of minutes of Don’t Talk To Me About Love from the guitar solo onwards are just sublime. That song is up there with the best of the 80s, their Rip It Up moment if you like. The one other really good song on Bite is Stand So Quiet, could probably live without the rest of it though.

Put my iPod on shuffle for the first time in quite a while on the drive to work this morning and 'Love to Stay' was one of the first songs to pop up. What a fantastic song.

All these years and I never had a proper comp or album, until I picked one up used the other day for $3. That was overdue.

!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgbA7ACpHU8

when i began the year with the philosophy of expecting anything to happen, even i didn't think "2022 was also the year that altered images finally reunited" could possibly have become a true statement.

The Martin Rushent 12 inch mixes mentioned at the beginning of this thread are fantastic. This must have bern just prior to him remixing the Human League for the Love & Dancing album and the Fascination! EP and he takes a similar approach. The guitars sound so good when they finally show up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgvmpucPqbw

xp So it isn't a full reunion, but I'd say the new hired hands are at least age-appropriate lol

In December 2021, Grogan announced that the first Altered Images album in over 38 years would be released in 2022 and would be called Mascara Streakz.[19][20] The album has been recorded for Cooking Vinyl Records[21] by original Altered Images members Clare Grogan and Stephen Lironi, along with Bobby Bluebell from number one chart toppers The Bluebells and Bernard Butler, formally of Suede and McAlmont & Butler. It is expected that the album will be issued in August 2022[22] and will have tracks co-written with Texas member Johnny McElhone (who was the band's original bass player).[23]

i wish them every success but that new song is very much not my thing

That is quite the supergroup!

Bobby Bluebell's a stealth national treasure to a certain demographic in Scotland. He's the mascot of the post-Postcard scene. Butler is ok isn't he? I have no idea what that guy does but people dig him apparently. Grogan sings the same. And McElhone is at least successful. Perhaps this will be good.

I so wanted to love the new single but they forgot the chorus and I got bored half way through.

That new video is giving me "Women Laughing Alone With Salad" vibes.

I always thought AI were great despite the singer, not because of her, but this reunion definitely reckons it's the other way round.

I kind of love the new album. The first single is easily the worst thing on it.

The "I Could Be Happy" single version is infinite leagues better than those corny remixes that are being praised upthread, I always seem to forget how wrong ILM was/is* until I start posting again and find these chronicles of goofy takes.

*anyone else remember the Brooks & Dunn guerilla-street-team years, gee I wonder how those guys have weathered the past couple decades...

The band themselves preferred the remix, that's why that's the version on the album (though this is according to Martin Rushent, who knows if he was a reliable narrator).

Altered Images *is* corny. If you like your post-punk more serious, there are plenty of other, better options. If you want 1982 distilled in a bottle, that remix is where it's at.

S: love and kisses

I just found out about this new album today randomly and ordered it before I could reconsider. I wasn't into the title track/first single (which kitchen person called "easily the worst thing on it," a few posts back) but "Glitter Ball" is better (and its music sounds like it could've been on Destroyer's "Kaputt") - I didn't listen to anything else on it so far. But I did listen to the 4-song EP "Clara Libre" that they put out at the same time (apparently it's a bonus disc if you ordered the new album from their U.K. webstore), which is comprised of new versions of old AI tracks done in a MIDI-Cuban style:
https://www.discogs.com/release/24368120-Altered-Images-Clara-Libre-EP
If you're curious, the whole EP is on the band's YT channel: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiyz6fpbq5joG1W1PzZQPIFS6TFDiCyWl