Yesterday I was listening to a bit of Pete Shelley's solo LP from 1981, Homosapien. Produced by Martin Rushent, it melds the mighty synth-pop and Linn drum programming of The Human League's Dare with Pete's punk-rocker leanings - altho' it's miles away from the Buzzcocks. It's amazing how distinctive Martin's production touch is - if you know the Human League album you'll hear the similarities - and it is his production "sound" that made me search this out back in the day. Of course, Pete's record has guitars on it, which the League were still avoiding at the time. Qu'est-ce Que C'est Que Ca? is one of my faves on the album - a perky beat, bouncy synth bass, catchy melody and a nice guitar solo all make it work for me. It's mostly interesting to me because it's so different from what he had been doing with the Buzzcocks - from punk rock to synth-pop. It hasn't aged as well as the Buzzcocks stuff, but it's still a pretty fun listen.
2 comments:
-Producer Martin Rushent
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-Artist Pete Shelley
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-Song Qu'est-ce Que Ca
Great choice
There was a dub instrumental version of Witness The Change that got just a bit of airplay when I lived in Dallas in the 80's. I think it made the CD of Homosapien. Perhaps a bit dated but still a good tune.
Bizarre, been listening to Homosapien a bit too lately, and was going to do a post on it with the same track and Homosapien too.
Good call.
Simon
x
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