I’ve had “Sunkissed” by Friends Again stuck in my head… again. It’s easily one of my favorite 80s pop singles and tends to get lodged in my brain for lengths at a time (“You’ll be calling for ACTION STATIONS”). For the completist side in you, I’ve posted every version I have in my collection.

“Sunkissed” from the “Sunkissed” 7″ (Moon 2)

“Sunkissed (Extended Version)” from the “Sunkissed” 12″ (Moon 212)

“Sunkissed (New Version)” from “The Friends Again EP” 7″ (FAEP 1)

Lyrics:
And from the embers (oh yeh my my)
Hold it like an outlawed fawn honey
You thought it finished (oh yeh my my)
You’ll be calling for ACTION STATIONS
Now’s your chance to radio soul city
And lose yourself in her special words
If ever I have a dollar again
I’m going ot hold on ’til that eagle grins
(Let’s just cruise along now baby)
Miles and miles I’m melting in your sun
Miles and miles I’m melting in your smile
I’m melting in the glare of your sun
Melting in the glare of your sun

And in the chambers (oh yeh my my)
You’ve got to pull that sword right out of that stone honey
And when you’re finished (oh yeh my my)
You’ll be calling for ACTION STATIONS
Now’s your chance to radio soul city
And lose yourself in a special world
If ever I have a dollar again
I’m going to hold on ’til that eagle grins
(Let’s just cruise along now baby)
Miles and miles I’m melting in your sun
Miles and miles I’m melting in your smile
I’m melting in the glare of your sun
Melting in the glare of your sun

Friends Again on Last.fm

The Slaves released their “Save Me From Yesterday” album in 2006 and while I thought most of those songs were just okay, the title track has really stuck with me. They didn’t really break out of Sweden at the time the album was released, so I figure it’s worth mentioning here.

Listen to The Slaves – Save Me From Yesterday

Buy from iTunes

www.myspace.com/theslavesswe

I recently purchased a new cassette deck (Tascam 122 mkIII – yes, Merry Christmas to me!). My old Denon deck was busted and worn and played everything at helium speed. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with tapes — at one point I just wanted to dump them all and be done trying to find places to store them. Luckily that didn’t happen and now I’m enjoying mixtapes I made back in the 90s. I also found some crazy Autocollants demos, some rare indiepop comps, and a tape simply titled “Dope Rap” (probably from my junior high days – ha!). Long story short, I’m going to start digitizing and posting the stand-out stuff here.

For this post, I thought I’d start off with something good… a song from the “Everlasting” tape compilation by A Riot of Colour called “Put To Sleep,” which I believe is exclusive to this release. I was hoping we’d see their retrospective cd on Egg Records released this year, but for now, have a listen to this song here. More cassette tape posts to come…

Listen to A Riot of Colour – Put To Sleep

Here’s a flyer that was included with the tape:

(click to view)

www.eggrecords.co.uk
twee.net/bands/r/riotofcolour.html

I finally won the “Sense Sickness” 7″ off eBay for a semi-reasonable amount. Funny thing is that I used to give my friend Victor a lot of shit for liking Del Amitri, but I have to admit this song is quite good! It’s like night and day compared to the band’s later material.

“Sense Sickness” was released in 1983 and was the first single from Glasgow’s NoStrings Records (who also released excellent singles by the Suede Crocodiles and The Incredible Blondes).

Listen to Del Amitri – Sense Sickness

Here’s the video (quality isn’t so great, but it’s worth seeing just for the shirts):

www.nostringsrecords.com
www.myspace.com/nostringsrecords
www.myspace.com/delamitri

The Big Outdoor Type is one of those rare 80s singles that sells for $$$ on eBay. I forget where I purchased this (Amoeba, SF maybe), but I remember it being around $4 and not having any clue to what it was. “Call You On Sundays” is a nice track that doesn’t get too “big band” for my taste. The flip “Seventeen” isn’t as fortunate. Released on 7″ by Havasac Records (SAC 1) in 1984.

Listen to Big Outdoor Type – Call You On Sundays

The second 12″ by Always, “Metroland,” was released on él Records in 1987. Another fantastic single. The second track, “The Arcade,” gets the nod here. Still one of my all time favorite tracks from the él catalog.

Listen to Always – The Arcade

Buy Always “Thames Valley Leather Club” from Boomkat or direct from Cherry Red.

www.myspace.com/thamesvalleyleatherclub

This week I’m working on my 2008 top 10 list (which I’ll be posting on the blog soon). I’ve also been reminiscing over my past year-end playlists. One release on the 2006 list stands out in particular… The Sound Movement “Ichi Go Ichi E.” I was certain this band would be HUGE by now! I haven’t seen or heard anyone talking about them in ages, so it’s time for a refresher…

The Sound Movement are Andrew Day (vocals/guitar), Kat (bass) and Graham Brown (drums). They started off in Melbourne, then moved to Tokyo, then Manchester, and finally to Camden. The excellent “Ichi Go Ichi E” was released on Truck Records (UK) in 2006 and looks like it will see a re-release on Pharmacy Records (Australia) next year. Pharmacy also released a few singles taken from the album this year, but I don’t see anywhere you can actually purchase them online. I hope a vinyl issue is also forthcoming.

Truck Records closed shop, but looks like Cargo UK still carries the CD. Order it here!

Listen to In Dark Sunlight

Here’s the video for “Modern Condition”

Links:
www.thesoundmovement.co.uk
www.myspace.com/thesoundmovement
www.myspace.com/pharmacyrecordsmusic
www.allmusic.com