This edition of Six Degrees was, as often seems to be the case, prompted by hearing a record on the radio that I hadn't heard in a while.
This time, it was an early 80s pop classic that got me thinking...
So, we will meander our way from early 80s pop to early 90s indie, via the usual random selection of musical links - this time will see quite a bit of post-punk, some quirky pop and classic synths.
Antonio Basilotta (aka Toni Basil) is a dancer and choreographer from Las Vegas. She was dancing professionally from the early 1960s and early credits include in Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas (1964) and the Monkee's movie, Head (19868). Her work as a choreographer includes working on Bowie's Diamond Dogs tour in 1974 and again on the Glass Spider tour in 1987. She worked on films including American Graffiti, Peggy Sue Got Married and Legally Blonde. She had also signed as a singer to A&M Records in 1966. Her best known track, Mickey in 1982, was a cover of Kitty by Racey (from 1979), which had been written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, with some extra chants added in. In the music video, a staple of early MTV, she is wearing her old cheerleader's uniform from Las Vegas High School. She also did some work choreographing the music videos for Once In A Lifetime and Crosseyed And Painless for Talking Heads.
Toni Basil: Mickey - https://youtu.be/0aqLwHP4y6Q
These were two singles from Talking Heads fourth album, Remain In Light, which came out in October 1980. The records was mostly recorded at Compass Point Studios, just outside Nassau in the Bahamas. Working with producer Brian Eno, this album started off with instrumental jams and developed in a much more communal way than previous records. Eno had introduced them to the work of African musician Fela Kuti and particularly his 1973 album, Afrodisiac. This allowed them to introduce some African 'polyrhythms'.
Talking Heads: Crosseyed And Painless (Live) - https://youtu.be/gyDb4szpWmc
Compass Point Studios were founded by Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, in 1977. He created a studio with its own set of in-house musicians, producers and engineers, and artists including Grace Jones, Joe Cocker, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, David Bowie and Dire Straits all recorded albums there. Jones and Cocker recorded with the house band, which included the legendary Sly & Robbie rhythm section. The B52s also produced their debut album at the studios.
The B52s had formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. Drawing influences from pop culture of the 50s and 60s, and mixing dance and surf music (and with some unusual tunings by guitarist Ricky Wilson), they made their live debut at a friends Valentine's Day party the following year. After Wilson's death in 1985, Keith Strickland who had done most of the drumming, switched full-time to guitar. They used a variety of session drummers over the years, including two spells from Stirling Campbell (who had also played with Duran Duran) and two spells using Zack Alford.
The B52s: Love Shack - https://youtu.be/9SOryJvTAGs
Alford's first spell with the band, from 1989 to 1992, included their mini comeback with Cosmic Thing, which included the big hits Love Shack and Roam. He also played with them between 2000 and 2007. Aside from that, he was in much demand all over the place. He worked with Bowie on a number of occasions, including the albums Earthling in 1997 and The Next Day in 2013, as well as three tours. In 1993 he had been brought in by guitarist Danny Kortchmar to play on six tracks on Billy Joel's River Of Dreams album. He has also drummed with Bruce Springsteen and Japanese artist Tomayasu Hotei. Then, in 2021, he filled the vacancy with English post-punk veterans, the Psychedelic Furs.
The Psychedelic Furs formed in West London in 1977 and were based around brothers Richard and Tim Butler. Starting out as RKO, and then just Radio, they spent a while choosing between the Europeans and the Psychedelic Furs (and in fact played live under both names). Their art-rock, post-punk sound was augmented by Richard Butler's gravelly 60-a-day sounding voice. The Butler's, with Roger Morris (guitar) and Duncan Kilburn (saxophone), were joined in 1979 by John Ashton (guitar) and Vince Ely (drums) - and that became their first classic line-up. Debut album Psychedelic Furs came out in 1980 and was followed swiftly by 1981s Talk Talk Talk and 1982s Forever Now. Later line-ups of the band included Richard Fortus and Frank Ferrer, who have both had extensive spells with Guns n Roses, and Knox Chandler.
Knox Chandler is a well respected guitarist who has worked with Depeche Mode, the Golden Palominos, The Creatures and Ultra Vivid Scene, and completed two tours with Siouxsie and the Banshees. He became friends with Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan and was a collaborator on his first solo record, 2003's Paper Monsters, which grazed the low end of the UK Top40 (#36), but not trouble the Billboard 100 (making #127). Chandler also worked on Gahan's 2007 solo album Hourglass, and was involved, like Gahan, on the Mirror project of Thomas Anselmi (of Canadian bands Slow and Copyright).
Despite those other solo works and collaborations, Dave Gahan is obviously best known as the lead singer of Depeche Mode. Q magazine once voted him #73 on the list of the 100 Greatest Vocalists of all time, and #27 on the list of Greatest Frontmen. Another collaborative side project for Gahan has been to provide vocals for duo Soulsavers. He first sang on their fourth album The Light The Dead See in 2012 and came back for their most recent release, 2021's Imposter.
Soulsavers are an Anglo-American duo, Rich Machin and Ian Glover, who mix electronica with elements of rock, gospel, soul and country. They have released six albums over the years, working with quite a few famous faces along the way, including Dave Gahan. Their second release - 2007's It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land, featured vocalists including Mark Lanegan (founder of the Screaming Trees). He would also feature on 2009's Broken, with other vocals coming from Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr Bungle), Richard Hawley, Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) and Jason Pierce.
Soulsavers: Take Me Back Home - https://youtu.be/EIjbxNtTpCk
Spiritualized were formed in 1990 by Jason Pierce, who just left Spacemen 3, bringing with him bassist Will Carruthers and drummer Jonny Mattock. Joined by Steve Evans, they released debut Lazer Guided Memories in 1992, before embarking on tour in support of Jesus & Mary Chain. 1995s Pure Phase followed and then in 1997, Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. The title for the latter coming from the philosophical novel Sophie's Word by Jostein Gaardner. Pierce's girlfriend and suddenly former bandmate, Kate Radley, had run off and married the Verve's Richard Ashcroft before the album was made, although Pierce denied that any of the lyrics were about that situation. The second stage of recording this album took the band to The Church Studios in London, where they worked with producer and engineer Dave Allison on laying down vocals, guitars, keyboards, gospel singing and brass. Allison would also help later with mixing the album.
Spiritualized: Electricity - https://youtu.be/ZVKXnWDeNr8
Dave Allison had moved down from his native Northumbria to London, at the age of just 17. He got a job at The Firehouse Studio, which was managed by Dave Young (John Cale's guitarist). Having worked with Dave Stewart, Allison moved across London to The Church Studios, which were owned by the Eurythmics. There he worked on some of Stewarts projects with the likes of Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, but also got to work on indie classics like Loveless.
By the time Allison got to work on the mixes for Loveless, the record was being worked on in its nineteenth different studio. Loveless is, of course, the second album by My Bloody Valentine, fronted by KEVIN SHIELDS!
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