BEATS OF LOVE 

141. Blue – 80s Extended Unreleased Vocal Mix by Wham!

ORIGINALLY, A b-side track, the result of the eleven spare studio hours left after recording the mighty debut album Fantastic, and an obsession of mine in 2018. 

Its dubby synths evoke the DIY spirit and not the work of students of the chart takeover. Footage of George replete in his Borg Elites on The Russell Harty Show put him centre stage in a more intense pose.   

You forget it was basically Nothing Looks the Same in the Light with less production but instead get seduced by a melodic charm and hushed vocals. A tentative delivery by someone who has all but shut down the creative input of his partner to make their band massive. These were the last songs of theirs that felt like mine. Consequent releases would happily transfer into the cassettes my father would play in his car. My sister's. 

Its release coincided with the last time I felt naturally happy, so when I play their earliest records, it touches me personally. I can taste the fresh orange I drank before leaving the kitchen and picture my father's outstretched arms as I ruffled his neatly combed hair on my way to school. Life felt warm and playful, and I loved going to school and church. When their sophomore Make it Big album came out, I didn't. 

This edit works wonders with the vocals and turns this notion I have of it being a DIY tune on its head. It sounds crispy fresh and not unlike a smash. I love the tactile cover and the Lovevinyl bullshit that accompanies the release on their website. Especially the lie about it being a hundred only pressing. After two failed attempts, I've finally got a copy. 

There's nothing bullshit about ECLA, their mighty edit rocks, and like a nice pair of heavy duty velvet curtains, it shuts out the world today brilliantly.

BEATS OF LOVE 

140. Looking Glass by The La's

USED TO go to Liverpool Poly to catch bands occasionally. Getting there early to watch the soundcheck but when The La's played there in 1990 was a different vibe. It was already busy.

Ordinary, expectant people were milling around the bar with thick scouse accents. This was their band and with my deep monotone North Manchester accent, I was wary of speaking. After all, I'd been obsessed with most of their songs for just over a month whilst many of the crowd had lived with them for years. They were an incredible live force with a fiery spark, and the tunes were just dripping out naturally. 

Hearing from folk who'd heard Maver's demos for a follow-up album was a regular part of post-clubbing in the 90s. The stuff of legend, yet when they surfaced online decades later, they actually surpassed the crazy high expectations. Tears in the Rain slowed down, sounds sublime. The band hated their recorded output. However, despite their harsh criticism, it's still much loved. Their only album's closer, this effortlessly poetic epic helps give the band verisimilitude. Making it more resonant with age. It's the music that The Verve strove to eclipse. 

A diversion towards the experimentation and space found on the twelves, it actually states with a wholly arresting conviction that the change is cast. The change being this direct but more soulful form of expression and not the vastly inferior band Power formed in frustration at Mavers overworking the demos. Essentially, keeping him to the same songbook since 1986. The conundrum now is which version to share. Since Mavers hated the final version, other sessions and alternate takes have since surfaced. 

For today, at least, I'm going with the one that has served me longest. The one Mavers hates the most. It's still one of the best songs ever recorded.