1980s Vinyl 342 Items

The Dark Entries Italo drop continues with Garland’s “Heartbeat”. Like the Alex Molo reissue, this is another 1986 dancefloor bomb produced by Claudio Corradini along with Massimo Filippi. Art Déco singer and songwriter Claudio Valenti conceived of Garland as an outlet for his more dancefloor-oriented material. Inspired by Valenti’s time spent in London seeing Steve Strange (of New Romantic group Visage) DJ at Heaven, “Heartbeat” is an epic Italo number with a heavy New Wave stamp. Déjà vu comes over the listener with melodies evoking Debarge and Bronski Beat, but this passes when the fist-pumping, sing-along-worthy chorus hits. Both the “Song Version” and the “Dance Version” are included on this reissue, with the latter featuring an extended intro and stripped down arrangement.

The Italo connoisseurs at Dark Entries have unearthed another hard-rocking jam. Alex Molo’s “Look At Me” was released in 1986 on Rainbow Records. Produced by Claudio Corradini and featuring Mauro Spagnolo and Steven Stefani, “Look At Me” delivers everything you want from latter-period Italo: propulsive digital synth basslines, anthemic chords, and reverb-washed orchestra hits. The “Dancing Mix” is engineered for DJs and dancefloors, with a heavier low end and a clearer mixdown, while the “Radio Mix” is more midrange-heavy and features additional synthesizer work. With original copies fetching a hefty sum on the second hand market, this reissue will excite both die-hard collectors and fledgling Italo-enthusiasts alike.

After Belgian electro-samba wunderkinds Antena split at the end of 1985, singer Isabelle Antena immediately shed her cold wave crown for a sophisticated pop princess tiara. On 1986's Martin Hayles-produced En Cavale, echos of Madonna and city pop abound, with a lipstick stain of L80s Euro dance and spilled cosmopolitan's worth of bossa nova stirred in for good measure. This elegant second chapter of a French pop diva has been expanded to include Antena's shelved Island Records demo, adjacent B-sides and rarities, plus an expansive essay and previously unpublished photographs.

After Belgian electro-samba wunderkinds Antena split at the end of 1985, singer Isabelle Antena immediately shed her cold wave crown for a sophisticated pop princess tiara. On 1986's Martin Hayles-produced En Cavale, echos of Madonna and city pop abound, with a lipstick stain of L80s Euro dance and spilled cosmopolitan's worth of bossa nova stirred in for good measure. This elegant second chapter of a French pop diva has been expanded to include Antena's shelved Island Records demo, adjacent B-sides and rarities, plus an expansive essay and previously unpublished photographs.

180 gram audiophile vinyl / 1986 ALBUM WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY THE TWO-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER AND ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME LEGEND / FEATURING THE SINGLE “WHAT ABOUT THE LOVE” / LIMITED EDITION ON PINK & PURPLE MARBLED VINYL

Billy Preston was an American musician, who encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk and gospel. He worked as a top session musician during the Sixties, backing artists such as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, The Rolling Stones and the Beatles amongst others. He is even the only non-Beatle musician to be given a credit on a Beatles recording at the band’s request. His solo career took off during the first half of the Sixties, but it was his early Seventies soul work that put him on the permanent musical map. You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down was one of Preston’s final studio albums and originally came out in 1986.

Reissue of this italo disco rarity from 1986 with remixes by Flemming Dalum and Rey David Diaz.

Originally released by Virgin Records, Manfred Mann's Earth BAND's Criminal Tango is now available for the first time in 20 years!

LP+CD edition with 140g black vinyl in printed cardboard sleeve. Printed inner-sleeve. After being unavailable on vinyl for several decades, the second album of iconic French duo Les Rita Mitsouko is made available for the first time with audio re-mastered from the original tapes by Bernie Grundman Mastering. The original packaging has been strictly reproduced along with the original tracklist featuring the hits ‘Andy’, ‘Les Histoires d’A’ and ‘C’est Comma Ça’.

Bananarama’s second album cemented the band as International pop superstars – with no less than 5 hit singles and a Top 10 with Cruel Summer in both the UK & USA The album includes the singles: ‘Cruel Summer’, ‘Rough Justice’, ‘King Of The Jungle’, ‘Hot Line To Heaven’, ‘Robert De Niro’s Waiting’. Bananarama are often cited as the UK’s most successful ever girl group with 5 UK singles and 10 top 10’s. They were the girl group that defined the eighties with their run of pop hits which soundtracked the lives of fans around the world. The news of Bananarama’s reunion, after nearly 30 years, was met with universal approval and saw the band celebrated all over again.

Finally, this classic Peter Gabriel album is back in print.

This 33 1/3 RPM Half-Speed Master Edition is pressed on 180gram vinyl!

Founded in December 1984, they started to make a name for themselves (the name comes from Stanly Kubriks classic "Clockwork Orange" and stands for a special drink which was available at the Korova Milkbar. In the russian translation "Moloko +" means "milk with knives"). At the same time in Great Britain bands like Bauhaus, Dead Can Dance, or Southern Death Cult started a new era in music: Gothic Underground.

Moloko + with its singer Martin Holm gave great concerts and got a well known name in the scene in Southern Germany. TV, Radio and the press followed closely the rise of the band from Landshut. The 1986 published first record is still an admirable jewel and should not be missed on any searching list. They got prepared to record a second album when "suddenly a comet burned out, near the sun, on distant skys".

"In meinen Taschen die Sterne wie Staub" (Translation: In my pockets the stars like dust) - The song from the first album and our thoughts are dedicated to our leadsinger Martin Holm, who left our world much to early.

Mastered 2014 by Yves Roussel.
Edition of 400 numbered copies. Hand printed with photoengraving (each cover is different). Comes with DIN A3-sized poster printed double sided.

SOURCED FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES AND LIMITED TO 4,000 NUMBERED COPIES:

MOBILE FIDELITY'S 180G SUPERVINYL LP PRESENTS 1985 BLOCKBUSTER IN AUDIOPHILE SOUND, PLAYS WITH EXCEPTIONAL CLARITY
PCM digital master to analogue console to lathe



Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut album has few parallels. Viewed solely through the lens of sales numbers, Whitney Houston is a watershed statement on par with the most commercially successful and culturally dominant LPs ever released. Having sold more than 14 million copies in the U.S. and upwards of 25 million units worldwide, the 1985 LP became the equivalent of the television show or blockbuster film that everyone collectively experiences and discusses. Nearly four decades later, it’s lost none of its appeal or magnetism — and its artistic significance and historical import have only grown.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, and strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's 180g SuperVinyl LP of Whitney Houston presents the breakthrough in audiophile sound for the first time. The signature traits Houston exhibits on every song — her three-octave range, radiant warmth, personal conviction, impossibly controlled register — come across with exceptional clarity, focus, and presence. Free of artificial ceilings and constricted dynamics, this reissue plays with an openness, airiness, and balance that put the singer’s once-in-a-lifetime instrument and immortal artistry into proper perspective.

It does the same for the songs’ cascading melodies and captivating arrangements. Individually produced by one of four renowned industry veterans — Kashif, Micheal Masser, Jermaine Jackson, and Narada Michael Walden — each composition feels grander, closer, more genuine. A vocal spectacular, Whitney Houston benefits from the high-end characteristics of SuperVinyl, which include a nearly inaudible noise floor, superb groove definition, and dead-quiet surfaces. This is how an album that changed the direction of popular music — opening previously inaccessible doors for Black artists; bringing smooth-singing vocalists back into the mainstream; kickstarting a movement that soon included several “divas” who would command the charts through the early 21st century — should look and sound.

Though Houston’s seemingly effortless performances suggest otherwise, creating the record Rolling Stone ranks as the 257th Greatest Album of All Time wasn’t easy. Nearly 18 months were required to identify songs suitable for a still-unknown singer who did not fit into the conventional frameworks of the mid ‘80s. Confident, powerful, and prodigiously talented, Houston would forge her own parameters with Whitney Houston. In the process, she obliterated the stubborn lines between R&B and pop, Black and white radio. She dared to reimagine who could be a superstar and then went out and defined the role. Recorded for nearly $400,000 and released on Valentine’s Day, the LP exceeded the wildest expectations of those most closely associated with it — save for Houston and her family.

Having made her first public appearance at the age of 11 singing at a Baptist church, Houston understood pressure and knew her way around, inside, and through a song. The invaluable guidance and support she received from her mother, Cissy, an accomplished gospel vocalist who backed Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, are on display throughout Whitney Houston. They arrive in the types of authoritativeness, discipline, and diction rare for even most seasoned veterans — and unheard-of for a 21-year-old newcomer. Houston brings a soulful elegance, understated glamour, and in-the-moment rapture to every note. Moving up, down, or staying in the middle of the vocal ladder; channelling softness or sweetness; showing restraint or increasing the volume, she is a marvel of emotionalism, a dynamo who can seamlessly transition from one mood to another within a verse.

Though the 10-track LP largely concerns itself with the ballad tradition, Houston covers the bases, getting into an R&B groove on the fleet “Thinking About You,” turning up the heat on the duet “Take Good Care of My Heart,” and investing the contagious dance-pop confection “How Will I Know” with all the anxiety, hope, energy, and enthusiasm its lyrics demand. Featuring her mom on background vocals and Houston’s pitch-perfect tone, uncanny precision, and skyscraper highs (no AutoTune here, friends), the synth-based anthem propelled Whitney Houston into the stratosphere, the vocalist into regular MTV rotation, and the term “crossover” into popular parlance. The double-platinum single reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, Hot R&B, and Adult Contemporary charts — a trifecta that foreshadowed accomplishments that would ultimately crown Houston as the most-awarded female artist of all time.

Whitney Houston became the first album by a Black female performer to top the Billboard charts. It remained there for 14 non-consecutive weeks en route to claiming the title of the best-selling LP of 1986. It stands as the first debut and first album by a solo female artist to spawn three No. Hits, as well as the first album by a Black female artist to top the year-end charts in Australia and Canada. These are just a handful of the accolades — along with four Grammy nominations — that surround a set that also contains the unforgettable ballad “Saving All My Love,” string-accompanied “Greatest Love of All,” and sensual “You Give Good Love.”

As TIME observed in an article written two years after the album took the world by storm: “This is infectious, can't-sit-down music, and her performance dares the listener not to smile right back.” We’re still smiling.

SACD

Sourced from the original master tapes and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's hybrid SACD of Whitney Houston presents the breakthrough in audiophile sound for the first time. The signature traits Houston exhibits on every song — her three-octave range, radiant warmth, personal conviction, impossibly controlled register — come across with exceptional clarity, focus, and presence. Free of artificial ceilings and constricted dynamics, this reissue plays with an openness, airiness, and balance that put the singer’s once-in-a-lifetime instrument and immortal artistry into proper perspective.

A trailblazing amalgam of e levator-friendly R&B and synth-forward smooth jazz, Tony Palkovic's 1986 debut goes down easy as a huff of dentist-issued nitrous. Born With A Desire's silky grooves and bursts of drum machine 1.0 endure as an '80s vision of future earth where 8-bit graphics and pastel palettes swath a synthesizer Shangri La.

A trailblazing amalgam of e levator-friendly R&B and synth-forward smooth jazz, Tony Palkovic's 1986 debut goes down easy as a huff of dentist-issued nitrous. Born With A Desire's silky grooves and bursts of drum machine 1.0 endure as an '80s vision of future earth where 8-bit graphics and pastel palettes swath a synthesizer Shangri La.

In Menstrual Night was recorded in 1985 by Current 93, who could never be: David Michael Tibet, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steven Stapleton, Diana Rogerson, John Balance, Ruby Tathata Wallis, Keiko Yoshida, Rose McDowall and Bee. The album was mixed by Steven Stapleton, and was originally released as a picture disc on United Dairies / Maldoror (ud022/m) in 1985.

Chris Carter & Cosey Fanni TUTTI’s remastered limited edition vinyl series continues on 4 August 2023 with the release of Technø Primitiv (1985), Trust (1989) and Pagan Tango (1991) – all available on vinyl for the first time since their original release. The remastered albums will be available on Colored Vinyl, each with a printed inner sleeve of archival photos, via CTI. Elemental 7, Muzik Fantastique!, and Feral Vapours of The Silver Ether were released earlier this year, and the series has seen many of Chris & Cosey’s influential albums available on vinyl for the first time, giving listeners a new opportunity to revisit some of their celebrated catalogue.

The remastered releases for August includes 1985’s Technø Primitiv, originally released on Rough Trade, the album is from Chris & Cosey’s whiplash minimal ‘80s icy synth period. Listen to the proto-techno of ‘Morning’: https://youtu.be/b6hrytWxNi8 Trust, originally released on Play It Again Sam / Nettwerk in 1989, is collection of electro-pop, rinsed through with Chris & Cosey’s unique erotic vision – “Seldom have electronics this glaciated and deep-frozen exuded so much warmth” wrote Dele Fadele in NME – watch the video for the 12” version of ‘Rise’: https://youtu.be/Vns8_-X9B_k Pagan Tango – described by Melody Maker as “c&c formulating perfection” - followed in 1991 on Wax Trax!, and sees the pair once follow their own hypnotic beat in new directions.

The first analog reissue of Piper's 5th album 'lovers Logic' released in 1985 has been decided!

The 5th album 'lovers Logic' released by Moon Records in 1985 by Piper, led by guitarist Keisuke Yamamoto, who worked as a backup for Kazuto Murata, will be reissued for the first time!

Massimo Morini, has been technical director and conductor of San Remo festival for over 30 years. On his conducting debut in 1995 he was only 26 years old. Before his big hall music adventure started, back in 1985 he formed his first italo disco group – J.F & Hitwave, later to be transformed into Love Kills (I want to Become). A forgotten and highly demanded among obscure 7″ italo collectors tune titled “Dance Floor Girl” is now brought back to the light of day on a 12″ vinyl. The reissue contains previously unreleased 12″ version as well remixes by Flemming Dalum, Italoconnection and Also Playable Mono.

Limited edition of 100 copies on blue wax. Only available at HHV.

Disco Segreta sets your summer on fire with the official reissue of two killer obscure italo-disco masterpieces! Out of the catalog of the no longer active cult Savona-based label Disco In, this 7” released in 1985 in 1000 copies sung by the mysterious Laura Angel, is probably one of the most elusive, with original copies hardly ever showing up ! “Summer Time” carries all the fascinating stylistic elements of italo-disco: romantic struggle, summer-inspired ital-english lyrics sung by a catchy female voice, over minimal 80s drums and arpeggiated basslines; while “If You Want” is possibly one of the finest examples of that all-Italian peculiar mixture of darkwave, synth-pop and italo-disco. Two superb melanchol-italo tearjerkers, with a masterful use of three classic italo disco fetish synths: E-mu Drumulator, Juno 106, Korg Poly 61. As usual with us, the first ever 12” reissue of this 45 - in a limited edition on 180g. high-quality vinyl - will be lovingly remastered, respectful of the actual tracks’ 80s lo-fi vibe, and will feature the original 45 versions.

Fully remastered and licensed, ltd to 500 copies on clear vinyl Yet another chapter in the ongoing Alexander Robotnick saga. Electronic wizard Maurizio Dami licensed his second single in 1983 on Materiali Sonori ‘club series’ Fuzz Dance. After the surprising and astonishing success of the debut - Problèmes D'Amour – Robotnick became a sort of cult figure even in the United States and soon was labeled as a forerunner of the electro movement.

Super rare album now reissued on BBE!