The Assembly - Never Never

Sean Feargal Sharkey was born on 13 August 1958 in Londonderry (Northern Ireland) He found fame as the lead singer of the Undertones who was discovered by John Peel and became famous for their hit single ‘Teenage Kicks’, provided some of the best punk-pop of the late 70's. The band eventually fell apart in 1983, after which Sharkey teamed up with Vince Clarke of Yazoo in a one-off project called "The Assembly".

The plaintive "Never Never" single that came out of it was a massive hit which enabled Feargal Sharkey to show the power of his distinctive vocal style reaching number 4 on the UK charts. In 1984 he recorded the underrated "Listen to Your Father", followed in 1985 by his biggest success, "A Good Heart". This insistent tune established him as a potential major act, soon followed by "You Little Thief" and Sharkey's debut album, eventually produced by Eurythmics composer David A. Stewart.

Three years after his successful debut album Sharkey’s released his 2nd album in 1988 called ‘Wish’ The album was found to be somewhat disappointing by the general public so was not as successful as it’s predecessor. ‘More Love’ was the only single to be released in the UK reaching number 46 in the UK charts. However ‘Out of my System’ was released in Germany as a 12 inch single in 1988.

To download the following just click on the link

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2ccb7d0cd98a6267aaca48175a79d1c3a6104c38a382d898b8eada0a1ae8665a

Never Never Single:

Original Video

Live TV Performance

Original Extended 12 inch version MP3

Single Version MP3

Extended Version MP3

Extended Version MP3

Stop Start (b-Side MP3)

Stop Start (Extended Version MP3)

The Associates - Sulk Album

In 1982 the Associates released their critical aclaimed album Sulk. Sulk is by far The Associates best album. It shows the band molding itself from a post-punk band into a band that fuses post-punk influences and synth-pop influences into something beautiful. The album features some extremely upbeat songs, and also some extremely gloomy songs. However, this album is difficult to define and pigenhole but still holds up well today. The following link will take you to the album that includes some additional tracks as it was re-released in 2000. Enjoy.

Track Listing:

1. Arrogance Gave Him Up
2. No
3. Bap De La Bap
4. Gloomy Sunday
5. Nude Spoons
6. Skipping
7. It's Better This Way
8. Party Fears Two
9. Club Country
10. nothinginsomethingparticular
11. Love Hangover
12. 18 Carat Love Affiar
13. Ulcragyseptimol
14. ANd Then I Read a Book
15. Australia
16. Grecian 200
17. The Room We Sat in Before

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2ccb7d0cd98a6267aaca48175a79d1c312c564e4b67a7a73c95965eaa7bc68bc

The Associates - Party Fears Two

The Associates were a know as a Scottish Post Punk and New Wave band of the early 1980s. They were well known for the operatic voice and theatrical antics of the bands singer Billy Mackenzine. MacKenzie and guitarist Alan Rankine met in Dundee in 1976 and formed the cabaret duo The Ascorbic Ones. By the end of 1979 they had changed their name to The Associates.

The band had a couple of early single releases that genarated interest especially their debut single, a cover of David Bowies ‘Boys Keep Swinging’ which was released before Bowies version. The band's breakthrough came in 1982 with the release of the single "Party Fears Two." An unusual song but one that benefited greatly with the high singing style used. The single release was buoyed along by the popularity of synthpop at the time, helping the song make it to number 9 on the UK singles chart. Two other hits soon followed, "18 Carat Love Affair", and "Club Country". That year the band released what is widely regarded as their masterpiece album Sulk, an album which exacted comparisons with Brian Wilsons’s production style. To this day Sulk is impossible to describe genre wise. It was largely conceived in an amphetamine induced frenzy, reflected in its watery and dense production style which is held to be remarkably different from almost any other record from the era. Billy Mackenzine had been suffering clinical depresion for years but shortly before his reputed comback he committed suicide in 1997 aged 39 following the death of his mother.

I dont think there was a video made for the Party Fears Two single. The one that mostly gets played is the performance that the band did on B A Robertson chat show which I think was from the states. I had this but can not find it again. Instead you can see a live performance of the song from Dutch TV.

You can follow the link and download the following
Dutch TV Performance
Live TV Performance
Demo Version
Album Version

Enjoy

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2ccb7d0cd98a6267aaca48175a79d1c388628854b01186895be6ba49b5870170

Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Showing impatience in the wake of the chart failure of "Memorabilia", Phonogram Records allowed Soft Cell to record a second and final single in an attempt to score a chart hit. In July 1981 they release their third single, ‘Tainted Love’ which was backed by "Where Did Our Love Go?". This was an obscure 1964 northern soul track originally sung by Gloria Jones (the girlfriend of Marc Bolan) and written by Ed Cobb of The Four Preps.

The A-side of the 12 inch single of "Tainted Love" actually featured a two-song medley, with "Tainted Love" blending into the Motown classic "Where Did Our Love Go" by The supremes. There was also a version that had "Memorabilia" as the B side (which had been the A side of their second single). The A side appeared on their debut album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The two B sides did not but were added as bonus tracks when the album was re-released on CD.

"Tainted Love" was a number-one hit in seventeen countries, including the United Kingdom, as well as a number-eight single in the United States during 1982, and went on to set a then- Guinness World Record for the longest consecutive stay on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart (43 weeks). Usually, an artist releasing a cover version as a single would opt to write the song that appears on the B-side as this would still entitle the artist to some songwriting royalties stemming from sales of that single. However, as Soft Cell wrote neither "Tainted Love" nor "Where Did Our Love Go" (the 7" B-side track), they lost the opportunity to make a greater sum of money from songwriting royalties stemming from one of the most popular songs of the '80s. Almond expressed regret for this in his book, and chalked the error up to naïveté (1).

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_Cell

You can download the following by clicking on the link

Original Video

2nd Version of the Video relesed in 1991

Album Version

Hot Trax Mix

(Cell Out) DMC Remastered 2007

12" Mix

2xs Remix

Dakeyne Remix

Rare Extended Remix

Single Version

Enjoy

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2ccb7d0cd98a6267aaca48175a79d1c3eaf62ffba21c3a5eb8eada0a1ae8665a