Monday, September 13, 2010

I'm going stupid once again: PARIS ANGELS revisit

Way back in the beginning of time, I blogged this band. Made some noise about posting a complete discography or somesuch.

I lied.

The discography was (relatively) nowhere near complete. Oh, I didn't miss anything "major", but I've since obtained at least another half-dozen tracks that should have been in the previous post.

Don't let anyone tell you The Power of Independent Trucking doesn't fix its errors ;)

So as long as we're fixing errors, we may as well post the 99.9% Complete Discography of this woefully underappreciated Manchester band, but this time we'll do it right and in FLAC no less.

And I'll come clean: The reason this is only 99.9% complete is that there are a couple questionable 7" edits out there that may or may not be relevant, and there is one last track available on some mega ultra rare compilation that they've all probably disintegrated by now (a track called "Don't Fake Mine" - if any reader has it lossless, please let me know!).

If I do locate any additions to this compendium, I will certainly post them, fear not.

So onward. Let's do this Factory Records band (that never was on Factory, but reading the names of persons involved in all aspects of this band's existence you'd sure think they were a classic Factory act) justice as all their records are LONG out of print, and they need to be heard.

It's long been my opinion that that this band, with the right label or anything beyond total label indifference (hello Virgin), could have escaped Madchester intact as the Charlatans did. They weren't simply a product of their time (listen to the music), they had gobs of talent, and the songs to go along with it. They had everything needed to be a mini-New Order (minus Hooky). They had New Order's engineer producing their records (Michael Johnson), their original label came from a strong Factory/New Order background (their initial label Sheer Joy having been started by an ex-Factory Records employee), they had that really nice blend of electronics and acoustics so wonderfully exploited by the best New Order tracks. They received dancefloor play at the Hacienda, and gigged there too (in fact the Hac is the reason I first became aware of this band, when a mate heard "Perfume" there well before release in 1990 and couldn't stop gabbing about it for months upon return to the States). They even had half of Factory's nearly-in-house design team (Craig Johnson of Johnson and Panas, who did a LOT of design for Factory and Electronic in the later years of Factory's existence) which often gave Peter Saville a run for his money (see the "Perfume" 12" cover, nearly iconic in its own right - which I've re-engineered below to serve as the cover for this compilation).

So that this band has been utterly neglected for the past almost 20 years is beyond my simple grasp. It's borderline criminal. Someone needs to step in, license these records, and give them the proper reissue treatment they deserve. Their entire catalog - the whole damn thing - has been out of print for nearly every single one of these past twenty years. It's shameful.

A few key additions to the last post:

1) New mixes "discovered" of their classic, best track "Perfume", including one which very quickly became my by-a-thousand-miles favorite interpretation of the track. I'm speaking of a previously-unknown (to me) mix called, simply, "Perfume (version)" which was tucked away as the extra track on the 12" vinyl release of their debut single. It is, in a word, spellbinding. As brilliant as I believed the "original" mix (simply entitled "Perfume" no modifiers) to be, the "(version)" variant beats it in all possible ways. How? By knifing out the sequenced drums and focusing on the nearly Steve Morris-esque drums buried in the "original" mix. Secondly, the "(version)" variant has a quite lovely harmony/alternate vocal line from other singer Jane starting about midway through the track that all other variants sadly lack. All put together, the "(version)" variant is the perfect "Perfume". And now here it is, in glorious mastered FLAC, mastered from original vinyl, and spotlessly mastered at that. Not a clue at all it's vinyl sourced.

2) The only two *released* BBC session tracks now are included - a track from their first Peel session in September 1990, and a track from a Mark Goodier session in October 1990.

3) Remixes from their last-ever single, "Fade", now included. Also included is another vinyl-only mix, the "Fade (Part 2)" mix, which was the extra track on the "Fade" 12" vinyl single, like "Perfume (version)" spotlessly mastered from original vinyl.

4) And yet another vinyl-only track, an alternate edit of "Perfume" which was titled and released as the extra track on the Virgin re-release 12" as "Perfume (summer version)". This is simply an edit of the Virgin-spawned "Perfume (all on you)" and really here for completist sakes only, I don't see people wanting this as their only example of this track. Again, mastered from original vinyl, and spotlessly mastered at that without a clue of vinyl lineage.

5) All the Virgin-released "Perfume" mixes were mis-pitched. I've fixed them. Specifically, "Perfume (loved up" / "Perfume (all on you)" / "Perfume (summer version)" all suffered from incorrect mastering, at the wrong pitch.

See the prior post for the illustrated discograpy, I'll just run down the tracklisting and at the end, detail out lineage.

- - - - -

PARIS ANGELS
the 99.9% Complete Discography, 1989-1991



00 Don't Fake Mine (recorded for Piccadilly Radio March 1990)
01 Stay
02 Perfume
03 All On You (Perfume)
04 Muffin 2
05 Techno (Live at Subterania)
06 Perfume (version)
07 Stay (Peel session, 27 September 1990)
08 Scope
09 Give Me More...Scope
10 Scope Two
11 GBF
12 Oh Yes
13 I Understand
14 Oh Yes Instrumental
15 Too Easy
16 Oh Yes (Mark Goodier session, 27 October 1990)
17 Perfume (loved up)
18 Pure
19 Perfume (all on you)
20 Perfume (summer version)
21 Eternity
22 Fade
23 Smile
24 Slippery Man
25 What Goes On
26 Perfume (all on you)
27 Louise
28 Breathless
29 Chaos (Stupid Stupid)
30 Purest Values
31 Oh Yes (extended)
32 Fade
33 Fade (Tag mix)
34 Fence
35 Fade (Polo mix)
36 Fade (part two)

00 from Hit The North, various artists (Bop Cassettes, BIP 806 CD)
1 from HOME, various artists (Sheer Joy, Sheer 001CD)
2-5 from the original "Perfume" CD single (Sheer Joy, Sheer 002/CD)
6 from the original "Perfume" 12" vinyl single (Sheer Joy, Sheer 002/T)
7 from New Season - The Peel Sessions, various artists (Strange Fruit, SFRCD205)
8-11 from the "Scope" CD single (Sheer Joy, Sheer 004/CD)
12-15 from the "Oh Yes" CD single (Sheer Joy, Sheer 005/CD)
16 from the best of The Mark Goodier Radio1 Sessions Volume 1, various artists (Nighttracks, MARK 1)
17-19 from the re-released "Perfume" CD single (Virgin, VSCDT 1360)
20 from the re-released "Perfume" 12" vinyl single (Virgin, VST 1360)
21-31 from the Sundew CD album (Virgin, CDV 2667)
32-35 from the "Fade" CD single (Virgin, VSCDG 1365)
36 from the "Fade" 12" vinyl single (Virgin, VST 1365)

All the above in glorious lossless FLAC, gently remastered by your host, here! Warning - it's spread across 12 RAR files.

****** SPECIAL EDIT ******
a kind reader forwarded on a lossless rip of "Don't Fake Mine" from a various artists compilation, could be the rarest Paris Angels track!

grab the FLAC here!

enjoy...

Alternate color combos (click for full-size):


31 comments:

  1. Wow! And I thought I had everything by Paris Angels! This collection is awesome. I wish it was mp3s though, but I still have to say, great collection! (If you have an mp3 version, let me know!) Cheers!

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  2. thank you for this. could you upload arcwelder "pull" in flac? thaht would be great.

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  3. Thanks for posting this but for some reason part 7 & 12 will not download for me. I keep getting an error message - 403 forbidden internet explorer does not have permission to view the page ? Does anyone have any ideas, thanks in advance

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  4. Is part 7 & 12 working for everyone else?
    I am unable to download these two parts

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  5. part 5 will not download in IE, Firefox or Chrome

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  6. Not sure if the first post went, part 5 will not download in IE, Firefox or Chrome

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  7. to all those with download problems:

    Before I hit the grand "submit" button I always download the files as a random user, to ensure I don't have to reupload them knowing Mediafire's penchant for corrupting the *uploads*. Not only do I download them myself, I also fully extract them to ensure not only do they upload *and* download correctly, there is no hidden corruption anywhere in the process that I can control.

    Like all my recent (within the past 9 months) posts, these files - all 12 of them - downloaded and extracted correctly. So I give my standard answer: It's a mediafire problem, not you. Walk away for a bit, come back, clear your cache, and try again. Mediafire's so shady that it may take you a couple days to get a good "connection" - or it may work the second you try again. Just keep trying!

    @amin: I would definitely repost Arcwelder as FLAC....if I had it lossless to post! I am waiting for my own lossless copy.

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  8. cool..but i wish it were in mp3, too...

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  9. thanks a lot Analog Loyalist, you were quite correct the two parts downloaded no problem today, thank you.

    I was always under the impression that Perfume was actually called All On You as I recorded the John Peel festive 50 in 1990 when the track got to #6 and I noted down the title incorrectly so it is great to hear different versions and find out the correct title after all these years.

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  10. To all those seeking mp3...

    One free (and awesome general-purpose utility) for batch-converting FLAC to MP3 is available at dbpoweramp.com. Use it. I believe for cross-conversion to mp3 you get 30 days free use, but then have to pay to license the mp3 codec itself. All other codecs are free and this amazing tool can essentially convert from any audio format to another format. I use it all the time.

    This is the long way of saying if I don't post it as mp3 to begin with, I have my reasons, but the raw lossless files are here for you to do with as you please (and that includes mp3 conversion if you so choose).

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  11. getting errors on the 3rd file in UnrarX...any ideas?

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  12. @surfjim: Keep trying to download. All the files are error-free on Mediafire's server, sounds like one of Mediafire's notorious download glitches. All I can say is try again.

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  13. Part 4 just keeps failing...comes up at zero bytes everytime...

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  14. well, i guess i should have been more specific--i got the original post in mp3 format...it would be extremely time-consuming (and space consuming) to download 12 large files, to pick out one or two songs, and then convert them. since you've already offered most of this up in mp3 form...could you please offer up the "new" additions to the collection in mp3 as well?

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  15. still no luck...rar #4 is just empty...:-(

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  16. found it in "another place, ahem, and all the FLAC files fail under Xact...

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  17. @surfjim: I don't know what's up. I know of many successful downloads. Maybe your setup and Mediafire don't get along?

    Try another browser or another computer, another day. All I can suggest. The file's are up there, they are whole/error-free, just keep trying.

    And where is the "alternate" location for these?

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  18. can i have one more request? bastro albums in flac.:))

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  19. It's incredible to see these up, I've often wondered if anyone else gave two hoots about this lot. The original SheerJoy All On You was my favourite track in college, thanks to a compilation album bought at the time.

    In other news, I have Don't Fake Mine in flac! Let me know the handiest way of getting this to you. The same album also has a version of Lions by New FADs that I think is unique, which I believe may be of interest to you.

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  20. @lookslikemike: thank you for the FLAC Don't Fake Mine/Lions offer!!! If you can sendspace it (or any other online file transfer service), send me the link at analogloyalist at gmail dot com! Any/all help my readers offer is MUCH appreciated...

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  21. Post updated with download for "Don't Fake Mine" FLAC!!!

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  22. I had some trouble with one of the downloads (3 I think), but I tried the next day and it seemed fine. Did clear out cookies, history, reset IP etc. Very much enjoying hearing this band for the first time. Cheers!

    Thanks for adding the extra track too. Love the FLAC format too. Loseless rules.

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  23. Can you please upload the first rar "PA_Discography.part01.rar " it appears to no longer be on mediafire. I've got the all the others. Thanks for sharing!

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  24. Exceptional.

    I re-found this after 20 years of it rattling around at the back of my brain.

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  25. Thanks for this, excellent stuff. Paris Angels shoulda been massive (like New Fads) but for some reason never made it. I'd never actually heard Sundew until recently, I think I let an NME review put me off buying it, and while it's not as strong as their fantastic EPs it's still a good album. Anyone who likes New Order should really listen to this band.

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  26. I found a missing track though... it's not got 'Muffin' (not Muffin 2) from the b-side of the Sheer Joy Perfume 7"! Now I need to track that down to satisfy my obsessive completism...

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  27. Replies
    1. I've been DMCA'd too many times for comfort, and have gone legit with my side mastering business, that any posts or reposts will be done with the explicit permission of the artist. Sorry.

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    2. Ah...
      It's bad, but I understand your position.
      Thanks anyway.

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