Cabaret Voltaire
It is 1974. I am 13. Chart music is my life. I can identify a song in the first bar of hearing it on the radio. I can identify different mixes - believe you me, they existed then. I took this, at the time, as being what every kid did and could do. It was what _we_ did. I was surprised though that not everyone could do it. Still am.
[As an aside, I am 46 now and am surprised that not all of my peers know what Northern Soul is or are interested in it or even have a long-standing desire to get into it...]
Anyway, as a kid I have always wanted a VCS3 having seen (and heard) Eno with one with Roxy Music. Desperately. In the 70s, as a kid, I devised a barmy scheme whereby I would buy a synthesiser kit (a kit for a relatively sophisticated piece of kit) and build it and then flog it for a vast profit, and then use the money to build one for me (I actually wanted to own one). I had no idea if there was a second-hand market for these things but I imagined that there was. And in those days the only place you could sell anything was Exchange & Mart.
Somehow, I had a 10% voucher from Minisonic, the makers of the kit, and my mate Simon (long separate story) convinced them that he needed a voucher too. He got one. We both embarked on the project to build the synth. I even built mine into an attache case so that it looked like a portable VCS3. Needless to say, the thing never worked (about the only sound I ever got out of it was some swoshing noises from the VCFs). Eventually, my mother and father stopped talking about the money they had invested in the scheme... It was painful. Sort of failed entrepreneurialism. I'm not even sure what happened to the thing.
Anyway, what's this got to do with the Cabs?
I'm sitting here being reminded of all of this prompted by listening to "Methodology '74 / '78" by Cabaret Voltaire.
Yes I wanted it the CD (it was referenced somewhere and that was all I needed to be convinced that I wanted it), but as with many things (especially things that are musically experimental), I didn't know what to expect exactly. This despite being a Cabs man for 30+ years. This is a CD of demos and experimental stuff. Beyond their mainstream. Potentially, it could be weird even by my standards.
I am freaked out about how, to my ear, this early 70s Cabs is so totally and easily assimilated. I can hear how it was done. It is where I was at (or rather where I wanted to be with that Minisonic kit, had it worked). But I didn't know they were there back then. TG changed all that, but several years later.
It is amazing to think that CV were making this sort of music back in 1974 when Mud etc were in the charts.
I am enthralled and inspired by the Cabs '74+ tapes. Tapes!!!!!
[As an aside, I am 46 now and am surprised that not all of my peers know what Northern Soul is or are interested in it or even have a long-standing desire to get into it...]
Anyway, as a kid I have always wanted a VCS3 having seen (and heard) Eno with one with Roxy Music. Desperately. In the 70s, as a kid, I devised a barmy scheme whereby I would buy a synthesiser kit (a kit for a relatively sophisticated piece of kit) and build it and then flog it for a vast profit, and then use the money to build one for me (I actually wanted to own one). I had no idea if there was a second-hand market for these things but I imagined that there was. And in those days the only place you could sell anything was Exchange & Mart.
Somehow, I had a 10% voucher from Minisonic, the makers of the kit, and my mate Simon (long separate story) convinced them that he needed a voucher too. He got one. We both embarked on the project to build the synth. I even built mine into an attache case so that it looked like a portable VCS3. Needless to say, the thing never worked (about the only sound I ever got out of it was some swoshing noises from the VCFs). Eventually, my mother and father stopped talking about the money they had invested in the scheme... It was painful. Sort of failed entrepreneurialism. I'm not even sure what happened to the thing.
Anyway, what's this got to do with the Cabs?
I'm sitting here being reminded of all of this prompted by listening to "Methodology '74 / '78" by Cabaret Voltaire.
Yes I wanted it the CD (it was referenced somewhere and that was all I needed to be convinced that I wanted it), but as with many things (especially things that are musically experimental), I didn't know what to expect exactly. This despite being a Cabs man for 30+ years. This is a CD of demos and experimental stuff. Beyond their mainstream. Potentially, it could be weird even by my standards.
I am freaked out about how, to my ear, this early 70s Cabs is so totally and easily assimilated. I can hear how it was done. It is where I was at (or rather where I wanted to be with that Minisonic kit, had it worked). But I didn't know they were there back then. TG changed all that, but several years later.
It is amazing to think that CV were making this sort of music back in 1974 when Mud etc were in the charts.
I am enthralled and inspired by the Cabs '74+ tapes. Tapes!!!!!
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