Life were Graham, Rita, Terry & Andy with a little help from Gillian & Steve! Their short lived career produced just two UK 7" singles (with 12" versions in Europe) and a handful of live gigs. I was lucky to see them support The Fall at The Hacienda and remember them actually being rather good, or was it that Rita was in fact rather fit, I can't really recall. ;-) From memory they performed about 6 songs as a three piece with backing tapes and a drum machine. Steve Morris worked the tape machine from the left of the stage & Peter Hook acted as guitar roadie! Andy is in fact Andy Robinson, former New Order manager, I've no clue where Rita and the rest of Life have ended up.
Here is their rather limited discography ripped from various sources: the original Tell Me 7", the Better/Optimism UK 7" , both released on Factory Records and the Factory Benelux released Dites Moi. The live track was from a 1983 demo recorded live at Brixton Fridge in 1983, it is bloody awful but I've included it for completeness.
Choose Life!
Choose Life!
Another treasure, thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI think I may still have a live set on cassette that I recorded on my walkman, likely a New Order support slot and quite possibly at The Fridge.
ReplyDeleteHi Miles
ReplyDeletePlease get in touch regarding that live recording. I know quite a few others who may well be interested too. See the contact me link on the right hand side.
Okay, but first I need to check through the few remaining tapes I didn't throw in the bin before I left the UK over a decade ago, and see if it's there. Sadly my post prized live recording somehow didn't make it over here.
ReplyDeleteChecked the box; no Life - did I really throw all those tapes away? There was some Stockholm Monsters in there though!
ReplyDeleteHi Miles,
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know which Stockholm Monster shows you have. I list mine here ....
http://factorytrades.blogspot.com/
Woah, great list of ACR shows. I went to so many of those, and taped a load of them as well. Sadly, only a have a few left now...aargh, I still remember the day I chucked all those TDK D-90's away!
ReplyDeleteOkay, the three SM ones I seem to have left are:
Birmingham Powerhouse 3/6/84
Nottingham Palais 4/6/84
Birmingham Tower Ballroom 9/4/85
Thought I would still have the Walthamstow one, where they supported ACR, but seems it. I remember going backstage after their set and complaining about the lack of appreciation for them from the audience, to which Jez Kerr replied that it wasn't surprising as they were crap! Different strokes, I guess.
If you are interested in live recordings, I know that Andy Robinson recorded everything ever performed live by Life. Unfortunately I don't have contact details for him.
ReplyDeletethanks - haven't hear these for decades
ReplyDeleteMiles: heartbreaking :( Still would love to hear what you have left...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: I actually do have contact info for Andy, but I somehow suspect he may find it a bit embarrassing after all these years.
Thanks for this one!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know Andy Robinson is still living in South Manchester and yes, he did record everything on cassette tapes. I wouldn't be surprised if he has them stashed away somewhere.
ReplyDelete