1980s Vinyl 331 Items

Record Store Day 2021 Release. LP • Limited Clear Vinyl

Raised from the ashes of eighties new wave (when Materiali Sonori debuted the Fuzz Dance series), Problemes D’Amour soon began a disco and electro classic all over the place. Florence born producer and musician Maurizio Dami - with co-conspirators Giampiero Bigazzi, Arlo Bigazzi and Marzio Benelli – created a mysterious character, a so called “modular structure born out a soviet calculator and promptly runaway". He was singing in french and was supported by primordial digital machine, using at the same time the more classical electric guitars, sax and sensual female voices. A handful of evergreen are still played all over the world by many international deejays, while “Problemes d’Amour” was even featured on influential Strut compilation Disco Not Disco 2. American label Sire (home of Talking Heads and a young Madonna) published a Fuzz Dance Ep in 1985 with the Robotnick masterpiece and several contribution from Mya & The Mirror, Gina & The Flexix and Naïf Orchestra. Maurizio Dami is still performing worldwide as a dj and is still composing new music. After 40 years Spittle Records in joint venture with Materiali Sonori re-issues the mini album and the 12” with its original artwork. "Once I was in Chicago, it was around 2010, I was just finishing my set and went outside the club to light a cigarette. Suddenly a police car stops nearby. I thought the policeman was here to fine me (I was more than 20 meters outside the venue), but he just lifted a poster of mine and asked to sign it. Then I realized that "Problèmes d’Amour" has been for a longtime the opening theme for a popular radio broadcast well-known between the black community (hence the policeman was black)”. Maurizio Dami

180 gram vinyl

Italo disco rarity from 1984 with Also Playable Mono and Longdrink remixes.

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the reissue of Ammar El Sherei's superb instrumental album “Oriental Music” from 1976. Here, the iconic Egyptian musician and composer revisits six classic compositions by another Egyptian legend, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, in his own hypnotic way. This series of great Arabic music reissues, started with the Fairuz and Ziad Rahbani album reissues are curated by Lebanese-born Arabic music expert Mario Choueiry from Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. This reissue has been newly remastered and comes in its beautiful original artwork.

The late musician and composer Ammar El Sherei is one of Egypt's musical giants. Born in Upper Egypt in 1948 into an upper middle class family (his paternal grandfather had been an MP during King Fouad's reign and his eldest brother became the Egyptian ambassador to Australia) El Sherei moved to Cairo with his family when he was five and attended a special school for the blind (he had lost his eyesight in his early childhood). A child prodigy with a unique gift for music, he got noticed by his teachers who recommended him to the Hadley School for the Blind in America so he could perfect his studies by correspondence. El Sherei then quickly learn piano, oud and composition with unparalleled ease. Once he got his BA in English literature from Cairo's Ain Shams University, he decided to become a musician against the will of his family. He began playing accordion in the Cairo bars and clubs and started making a name for himself on the Cairo scene. El Sherei got his first taste of success when he managed to place a song with famed Egyptian singer Maha Sabry. This was the start of a long series of hit he composed for many established Egyptian artists. From then on, his ascension was meteoric and he went to to become a very successful composer for films and TV series especially. A true innovator who didn't hesitate to bring some western influences to traditional Egyptian music and was one of the musicians responsible for ending the lengthy song trend of the 70s. He embraced modern instrumentations and was asked by Japanese keyboard maker Yamaha Corp. to help develop new electronic keyboards that could handle quarter tone. Early in his career El Sherei recorded albums for Soutelphan, including "Oriental Music" celebrating the music of another Egyptian legend, composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab, who had co-founded Soutelphan. Here he masterfully interprets six classics from the Master including "Ana Wehabieby" (aka Ana Wa Habibi), "Ya Wabour Koly" and the classic "Ahwak" made famous by such talents as Abdel Halim Hafez or Fairuz. Using early electronic keyboards like the Steelphon S900 or the Farfisa as seen on the album cover, El Sherei creates beautifully hypnotic instrumentals that blend together traditional melodies with modern instrumentation, adding jazz and pop elements in the mix. Achieving cult status over the years with Arabic music collectors and vinyl diggers, "Oriental Music is now a sought-after album which command high prices on the international scene. Wewantsounds is delighted to make this unique album available on vinyl for the first time since it originally came out in Egypt in 1976.

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

The brilliant 13th Album from Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Masque!

Originally released on Factory in April 1984, the title is taken from the Robert Altman movie "Thieves Like Us". The cover design by Peter Saville is based on a painting by Giorgio de Chirico

Released in May 1984, ‘Murder’ was originally recorded in Winter 1982 during the sessions for the Power, Corruption & Lies album. Peter Saville's cover art is a "night-time" version of the "Thieves Like Us" sleeve.

The band’s sixth single and their first collaboration with DJ Arthur Baker. Originally released in August 1983, this new reissue remastered from the original master tapes at Abbey Road Studios

Released in 1980, late AB’s, Makoto Matsushita and Cassiopeia members participated in the city pop masterpiece reissued on LP! Arranged by Makoto Matsushita and Minoru Mukai, and the participating musicians are Takeshi Ito and Akira Jimbo.

Yumi Murata’s second album with Mariah.
It’s a beautiful, stateless ambient record with its halting vocals, which reflect the sonic experiments of Shimizu Yasuaki.

Mariah, at a time when she was leaning towards hard rock; she used this song as a starting point to steer her into the new wave.

After being unavailable on vinyl for several decades, the third 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 ‘Singing In The Shower (Les Rita Mitsouko & The Sparks)’, ‘Le Petit Train’ and ‘Hip Kit (Les Rita Mitsouko & The Sparks)’.

LP+CD edition with 140g black vinyl in printed cardboard sleeve. After being unavailable on vinyl for several decades, the first 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 ‘Marcia Baïla’, ‘Jalousie’ and ‘Stay With Me’. Tracks 10 to 14 on the CD are exclusive tracks initially released on the three first 7” released by Les Rita Mitsouko before their 1st album came out.

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.

Remastered

Remastered

2018 Remaster

Documenting the unlikely coupling of British free jazz bastion Lol Coxhill and the saucy synth pop don’t-wannabes known as Gerry And The Holograms this rare incognito full-length album bridges the micro-niches of electronic jazz and punk jazz from a band formed in 1979 at an axis where DIY and new wave hadn’t quite collided! With sprinklings of post-punk female vocals worthy of PragVEC and Suburban Lawns, featuring angular art rock paeans to voodoo dolls and closed- circuit TV, this privately pressed LP comes directly from the man who gave Martin Hannett some of his best ideas and wrote the “Blue”print for Manchester’s new musical order.

In 1983, Aviador Dro, the legendary Spanish synth-pop band, are living their best moment: their own record label (DRO) is working full time; they share management with famous Spanish New Wave bands like Alaska & Los Pegamoides, Los Nikis, Gabinete Caligari, etc; their songs are heavily played on the radio and they play numerous gigs all across Spain.
That's when the band decide to create their most ambitious project to date: a deluxe boxset titled “Síntesis: La Producción al Poder”, which will include two LPs, a 7" and a booklet. It's there where "Tesis", their second album, originally appears, along with another album called "Antítesis", which shows the more experimental side of the band. A few months later, "Tesis" is released separately with a slight change on the tracklist. This is the edition we've reissued here.
Subtitled as “eight great stories of science and future”, "Tesis" featured “the most recommended songs for the industrial dance”. This is in fact another minimal wave / synth-pop classic, including anthems like “Baila la guerra”, “Vortex”, “Nestor el cyborg”….

Stone cold Italo classic - reissued from the ZYX Archives!

Stone cold Italo classic - reissued from the ZYX Archives!

Stone cold Italo classic - reissued from the ZYX Archives!

Talk Talk's musical journey took them from early 80s synth-pop to early 90s post-rock resulting in a diverse and stimulating legacy. This 1982 release showcases the synth-pop/new wave side to the band. After supporting Duran Duran on their 1981 tour, they released the single Mirror Man, as well as their two UK Top 40 hits Today and Talk Talk – all of which are included amongst other great songs on the album.

Their debut album, The Party's Over was released in 1982 and produced by Colin Thurston, who was a former engineer for David Bowie but was better known for producing Duran Duran's first two albums.
A product of its time, the album is classic synth-pop teamed with lyrical depth that went on to be synonymous with lead singer, Mark Hollis.

Shoc Corridor was the London post-punk quartet of Paul O’Carroll (Voice, Synth), Andy Garnham (Synth, Drum), Chris Davis (Guitar, Bass, E-Bow) and Nogi Prass (Synth) named after the Sam Fuller film from 1963. Chris met Nogi shortly after moving to London in 1979 – they started playing music together, fell madly in love, and decided to form a band. They recruited Andy, who had previously played in a band with Stephen Luscombe of Blancmange, and lyricist and vocalist Paul. Their influences were wide reaching: Kraftwerk, Neu, Cabaret Voltaire, Brian Eno, PIL, and Joy Division.

The group recorded a 4-song demo during 1981 in a tiny flat Chris shared with Nogi in Notting Hill. As their collection of instruments grew they set up studio a few blocks away in Andy’s flat at 20 All Saints Road. There they re-recorded “Sargasso Sea” along with “On Reflexion” on a TEAC reel-to-reel 4-track machine. In the summer of ’82, the band was booked into Decibel Studios in Stoke Newington for two and a half days with Mark Easton of Shout Records, where they reworked the two songs. The group usually worked through studio experimentation rather than constructing their songs in a conventional way. Their equipment list included a Korg MS-20, Wasp, Pro-One, Roland TR-808, WEM Copicat, guitars, bass, e-bow and an assortment of effects pedals. “On Reflexion” began as a Blancmange backing track, since Stephen Luscombe would sometimes use Andy’s 4-track, Korg MS-20 and drum machine. Chris has memories of Paul disappearing from time to time to the neighboring graveyard for inspiration, where they had to procure him from to lay down vocals. Their debut 3-song 12” single, “A Blind Sign”, was released in October 1982 on Shout Records. For this re-issue we’ve included the original skeletal “Sargasso Sea” 4-track demo from 1981. Evocative and dreamy, the music escorts you on a tour of icy landscapes, with Paul’s rich vocals guiding the way.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each EP comes in an exact replica of the original jacket, designed by Chris Davis with artwork by Paul and Jerry Neal. Each copy includes an 8×11” 2-sided insert with liner notes, lyrics and photos designed by Eloise Leigh.

Rich La Bonte is a musician, writer and editor from upstate New York born in 1946. At age 11 he figured out how to record a piano backwards with his first tape deck and discovered Monk, Mingus and Art Blakey. In 1965 Rich moved to Ithaca, bought an electric guitar and started singing in garage rock band the huns. After the band dissolved, he moved to NYC and played bass and sang in the original cast production of the musical Godspell. In the late 70s La Bonte moved to Hollywood with Shari Famous, released a a few 7” singles as Dada2, and started fLAtDiSk Records, a vinyl subsidiary of Dave Gibson's Moxie Record Company.


Rich released his debut solo album ‘Mayan Canals’ in 1981. The seven songs were recorded between 1973 and 1980 while living in New York, Pennsylvania and Hollywood. Influenced by everything from Apple Records to Zappa, the album veers from oozy psychedelia to synthesized breezy folk. Vocally Rich sounds like a cross between Tom Verlaine and Lou Reed. Some tracks feature an EMS Synthi A synthesizer, known to generate the sci-fi sounds from Dr. Who. Other songs utilize feedback from a Maestro Fuzztone box into a TEAC 4-track SimulSync tape recorder. Lyrically La Bonte tackles themes of dying celestial bodies, the birth of his daughter, and a critique of Bowie's character in The Man Who Fell To Earth. Included on this reissue are two bonus tracks originally released on the double A side 7” single Chance Circumstance/Drums Along The Maple Wood, a tribute to Irwin Chusid, the eminent WFMU DJ, with vocals by Shari Famous.


All songs have been remastered from original tapes by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket features a replica of the original jacket with a Mayan figure screen printed using the original rubber stamps from Rich’s archives. Each copy includes a 6-page xeroxed booklet with lyrics, never before seen photos, and liner notes by Rich La Bonte.