Breakdown

Colourbox - Breakdown (First Version)

Originally released as a 12" vinyl single on 4AD Records (BAD 215) in 1982. Recreated here from lossless high quality digital media. Recorded by the original four member Colourbox line up in 1982 and subsequently re-recorded by the Young brothers with Lorita Grahame as 'version two' in 1983. You can make your own  minds up about which version you prefer, but the fact that this was a very out of genre 1982 4AD release makes it highly special in its own way. Tarantula is just superb.

A1 Breakdown
B1 Tarantula

Jimmy Hill's Chin

Colourbox - The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme

Originally released as a 12" vinyl single on 4AD Records (BAD 605) in 1986. Recreated here as high resolution digital lossless audio files because my vinyl version is a tad worn through regular play. It should have been used by the BBC through it is unclear if ever offered for World Cup 1986. If my memory serves me correctly both this and Baby I Love you So were released on the same day in a bizarre plot to diminish the finances of any poor student fan at the the time. ;-)

A1 The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme
B1 Philip Glass
B2 The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme

Just Give 'em Whiskey

Colourbox - Colourbox

Originally released as a vinyl double album on 4AD Records (CAD 508/MAD 509) in 1985. Ripped here from a mixture of compact disc resources to high quality lossless flac audio. One of the soundtracks of my youth (and likely many of my friends and peers at the time), Colourbox is a sample laden, multi-genre box of delights to be savoured by everybody. To this day,  Arena (in either version) remains timeless and evocative, the retro sixties kitsch of The Moon Is Blue (b/w You Keep Me Hanging On on the single) is just superb. Gawd knows what my parents thought as the somewhat orgasmic album version of Punch blew out from my bedroom speakers. 

A1 Sleepwalker
A2 Just Give 'Em Whiskey
A3 Say You
A4 The Moon Is Blue
A5 Inside Informer
B1 Punch
B2 Suspicion
B3 Manic
B4 You Keep Me Hanging On
B5 Arena
C1 Edit The Dragon
C2 Hipnition
C3 We Walk Around The Streets
C4 Arena II
D1 Manic II
D2 Fast Dump
D3 Sex Gun

Box Of Tricks

Colourbox - Baby I love You So

Re:ripped from a 12" vinyl single released on 4AD Records (BAD 604) in 1986 to high resolution 24-bit flac audio. If you grabbed this a few years back when I upped the first rip, please ditch that and help yourself to this far superior transfer from vinyl to needle to megabyte, complete with it's plethora of samples from Escape From New York.

A1 Baby I Love You So
B1 Looks Like We're Shy One Horse
B2 Shoot Out

Not So Shy Horses

Colourbox - Mini LP

Originally released as a 12" vinyl mini-album on 4AD Records (MAD 315) in 1983. Ripped here from the 1986 compact disc version to high quality lossless flac. 23 Envelope pushed the  ...err envelope with their sleeve design on this quite remarkable four track journey through heavily dubbed soulful synthpop. Sorry, but we don't really do genres here and there is no other way to describe what the Young brothers with Ian Robbins and Lorita Grahame were doing on their debut long'ish player.

A1 Shotgun
A2 Keep On Pushing
B1 Nation
B2 Justice

Punch

Colourbox - Punch

Re:ripped from a 12" vinyl single released on 4AD Records (BAD 406) in 1984 to high resolution 24-bit flac. Here's a new rip of the classic Punch single featured here years ago - it should have been a massive disco hit but maybe 4AD didn't know how to make it a hit? Enjoy!

A1 Punch
B1 Keep On Pushing
B2 Shadows In The Room

Shy Horses

Colourbox - Say You

Re-ripped from a 12" vinyl single released on 4AD Records (BAD 403) in 1984 to high resolution 24-bit flac audio. I was saddened to hear of the passing of Steven Young, one half of innovative synth-dub duo Colourbox. Colourbox always did their own thing from mixing dub reggae with synthpop to the pioneering use of samples. Their final release was the huge MARRS single Pump Up The Volume single, but last night I just played each of their singles in chronological order as a tribute to the two brothers who were so incredibly influential on my musical taste. They quit quietly at their peak and   this cover of the reggae classic Say You says everything about the way they mixed their influences across the musical spectrum to release a damn fine catelogue of work. 

A Say You
B Fast Dump

Needle Times

Various - Funky Alternatives

We all bought this didn't we? This classic compilation brings back superb memories of the heady days of my youth. It is a bit worn out and there are many scratches on my copy, but now seems about the right time to attempt a rip. It has come out fine though the eager eared will hear the evidence of wear on a few tracks. John Peel was right, "real life must have some surface noise". As compilations go, this was immense at the time but for me at least, the concept had worn a but thin by Funky Alternatives Three. 

I ripped to 24/96 this time and then down sampled a copy to standard 16/44 for those who value their hard drive space, so you have a choice of resolutions. Enjoy!

Ripped from a vinyl album released on Concrete Productions (CPRODLP 001) in 1987 to high resolution flac audio.

A1. 23 Skidoo - Shugyosha Step
A2. Tackhead - King Of The Beat
A3. New Order - Evil Dust (Remix)
A4. 400 Blows - Needle Time
A5. Cultural Thugs - Christians To The Lions
B1. D.A.F. - Brothers (Gabis' Mix)
B2. Colourbox - Manic (Instrumental Remix)
B3. Chris & Cosey - October (Love Song)
B4. Empty Quarter - Crucial Lover
B5. Nocturnal Emissions - No Separation

Colourbox - 3x12" Singles

Breakdown (Second Version) : lovingly re-ripped from a 12" vinyl single released on 4AD Records (BAD 304) in 1983 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A. Breakdown

B. Tarantula

Punch : lovingly re-ripped from a 12" vinyl single released on 4AD Records (BAD 406) in 1984 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A. Punch

B2. Keep On Pushing

B3. Shadows In The Room

Say You : caressed from a 12" vinyl single released in 1984 on 4AD Records (BAD 403) in 1984 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A. Say You (Extended)

B. Fast Dump

Links removed due to forthcoming reissue boxset on 4AD

Various Artists - Abstract Magazine : Volume 5

A lossless treat in flac. A few other sites have posted rips of this highly collectible series, so here at ESWA we set the bar higher and post a lossless audio rip.

Rob Deacon's excellent Abstract Magazine focused on indie electronic and industrial sounds, and his own love of The Wolfgang Press, who had more coverage that others. The first three were in print only and the fourth featured mostly Third Mind Records artists on an album Life At The Top. He then got a bank loan and set up his own label which was to become Sweatbox Records.

The magazine featured articles and interviews of the the bands on the records alongside numerous album and single reviews. Regrettably, I haven't included scans as my flatbed has just decided that it is no longer compatible with Windows 7.

Abstract Five is a complex and at times difficult listen with obscure alternatives by Test Department (featuring a Scottish miner and a pipe band live), experimental samples and loops by 400 Blows, as well as obscure interpretations of sound by Swans and Cindytalk (with bonus skips). Highlights have to be the slightly different working of Colourbox's Manic, the demo Nyam Nyam track and the pounding beats of In The Nursery (though unlabelled as such). Those of a more doomy disposition will find the Gene Loves Jezebel, And Also The Trees ...oh and of course The Wolfgang Press entertaining.

Abstract 5 : ripped from a 12" vinyl LP self-released (AMO 5) in 1985
A1. Fuel Foundation Of The Nation (Live) - Test Department
A2. Fire Eater (Remix) - The Wolfgang Press
A3. Fire And Water - 400 Blows
A4. Sealed In Skin - Swans
A5. Playtime - Cindytalk
B1. Manic (Remix) - Colourbox
B2. Flame - Gene Loves Jezebel
B3. Maps In Her Wrists And Arms - And Also The Trees
B4. This Is The Place (Demo) - Nyam Nyam
B5. Leaving It Up To You (Live) - The Jazz Butcher
B6. Sentient - In The Nursery

Re:Upped

Colourbox - The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme

Released on a 12" vinyl single on 4AD Records (BAD605) in May 1986. This and Baby I Love You So were both released on the same day.

A. The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme
B. Philip Glass

Links removed due to forthcoming reissue boxset on 4AD

Colourbox - Baby I Love You So

From a 12" vinyl single released on 4AD Records in May 1986 (BAD604)

A1. Baby I Love You So
B1. Looks Like We're Shy One Horse / Shoot Out


Links removed due to forthcoming reissue boxset on 4AD

Colourbox - MAD509 Mini LP

From a 7 track mini-album given away with the first pressings of the band's debut (and only) full LP "Colourbox" - released in August 1985

A1. Edit The Dragon
A2. Hipnition
A3. We Walk Around The Streets
A4. Arena II
B1. Manic II
B2. Fast Dump
B3. Sex Gun

Links removed due to forthcoming reissue boxset on 4AD

Colourbox - Breakdown (Original Recording)

I posted the re-recorded version of this Colourbox classic here, but I've now decided that the original pre-Lorita Grahame version deserves to be dusted down for the masses, backed with the first version of Tarantula.

Ripped from a 4AD Records 7" single (AD215) released in 1982.

A. Breakdown
B. Tarantula

Links removed due to forthcoming reissue boxset on 4AD

Colourbox - Early 12" Singles & Radio Session

4AD Records have always been associated with groud breaking acts, mostly releasing music of a darker (slightly gothic) nature. This lot were slightly different and certainly surprised those who would pick up one of their records, purely because it was on the 4AD label.

Colourbox were London-based brothers Martyn and Steven Young, who recruited vocalist Debian Curry to sing on their 1982 4AD debut "Breakdown". Radio One DJs John Peel and David Jensen picked up on the release and gave it regular airplay. The same year Jensen offered them a session on his Radio One evening show (included here). The B-side of Breakdown was the stunning Tarantula which would be later covered by 4AD "house band" This Mortal Coil.

Curry was replaced by Lorita Grahame in time for the trio's 1983 re-recording of the same track. Colourbox's self-titled debut EP was a collection of dub and scratching experiments heralding their first plunge into sampling technology, edited down from three hours of studio sessions - appeared later that same year, with the single Say You following in 1984. After another 12-inch, Punch, the group issued 1985's The Moon Is Blue, a teaser for their upcoming full-length LP, Colourbox. The album didn't disappoint as a collection of superb, glossy, electronic pop with Lorita's stunning and soulful vocals.

A dubby cover version of Baby I Love You So and The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme followed both being released as singles on the same day in 1986. (the latter single relating to the World Cup in Mexico in 86, which was allegedly offered to the BBC for its TV coverage). Colourbox would metamorphosise into MARRS and hve a massive worlwide hit in 1987 with Pump Up The Volume.

BAD304:

1. Breakdown (Version 2)

2. Tarantula

BAD406:

1. Punch

2. Keep On Pushing

3. Shadows In The Room

BBC Radio:

1. Punch

2. Keep Pouring Me Like Water Up The Tap

3. Bleach

Links removed due to forthcoming reissue boxset on 4AD