The soundtrack to Julien Temple’s 1986 film Absolute Beginners, which featured memorable contributions from a number of artists including David Bowie, Ray Davies, The Style Council and Sade, will be reissued on July 17 and will appear on CD in its entirety for the first time.

David Bowie’s title track (here in its full eight minute version) was an enormous hit in 1986, reaching number two in the UK of March of that year and providing the filmmakers with valuable publicity for what became a rather ill-fated project.

Producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley produced the album, working with not only the pop stars of the day (including Eighth Wonder and Smiley Culture) but also legendary jazz arranger Gil Evans.

The album features a number of tracks unavailable elsewhere. David Bowie contributed three numbers, none of which appeared on any of his studio albums and likewise Sade’s ‘Killer Blow’ can only be found on the soundtrack. The full version of The Style Council’s ‘Have You Ever Had It Blue’ also features and in edited form was a top 20 UK hit.

Beyond these pop tracks, Absolute Beginners includes an eight-minute Jerry Dammers jazz instrumental called ‘Riot City’, ‘Ted Ain’t Dead’ by Tenpole Tudor and plenty of instrumentals from Gil Evans including ‘Absolute Beginners (Refrain)’ which closes the album.

Back in the day, most of side four of the 2LP vinyl never made it to CD, but this 2020 reissue offers Absolute Beginners as a 2CD set and comes with a 24-page booklet which features track-by-track analysis with annotations from a few key players, such as Clive Langer, Mick Talbot, etc.

https://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/absolute-beginners-soundtrack-reissued/

DEAD OR ALIVE have sold more than 30 million albums and 25 million singles worldwide and gave Stock Aitken Waterman their first #1 single. Respected US magazine Billboard, ranked them in their all-time Top 100 most successful ‘dance artists’ chart.

This SPECIAL 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION of ‘FAN THE FLAME (PART 1)’, is the first time that the album has been commercially released in its original configuration on Vinyl, with the original playing durations and will be pressed on 180g white colour vinyl.

‘FAN THE FLAME (PART 1)’ is Dead Or Alive’s fifth studio album and was only released on CD in Japan in 1990, where it reached #27, until a re-worked version was included within the ‘Sophisticated Boom Box MMXVI’ box set in 2016. ‘FAN THE FLAME (PART 1)’ contains the singles ‘Your Sweetness (Is Your Weakness)’ (Japan #3), ‘Unhappy Birthday’ (Japan #14) and ‘Gone 2 Long’ (Japan #18). Renowned and in-demand singer, Tracy Ackerman performed all backing vocal duties, with Londonbeat and the London Community Gospel Choir appearing on ‘Total Stranger’ and ‘Unhappy Birthday’, respectively. Also featured is Billy Currie, better known for his work with Ultravox, Visage and Gary Numan.

https://www.demonmusicgroup.co.uk/catalogue/releases/fan-the-flame-part-1-white-vinyl/

Released on special coloured vinyl exclusively for https://recordstoreday.com Black Friday, this 7” single features two of the best-loved tracks from Thomas Dolby. Originally released in 1982, “She Blinded Me With Science” reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and then spent two weeks at #2 in Canada In 2002. Side B features “One Of Our Submarines” another knock-out track that’s a firm favourite among Thomas Dolby fans.

"She Blinded Me With Science"/"One of Our Submarines"