The Cars picture disc singles

The Cars - My Best Friend's Girl b/w Moving In Stereo
1978, Elektra Records, K 12301

As above - removed from PVC sleeve - notice the discolouration
to the parts of the record which were exposed to the light

As above - the B-side of the record and a rather uninspired image, basically an oversized record label

The Cars - Just What I Needed b/w I'm In Touch With Your World
1979, Elektra Records, K 12312

The Cars - Let's Go b/w That's It
1979, Elektra Records, K 12371 P

The Cars - Double Life b/w Got A Lot On My Head
1979, Elektra Records, K 12385(P)

The Cars - Shake It Up b/w Cruiser
1982, Elektra Records, K12583P (1st version)

The Cars - Shake It Up b/w Cruiser
1982, Elektra Records, K12583P (2nd version)

My first ever picture disc record purchase was "Just What I Needed" by The Cars (the blue one), purchased in 1979. A friend at school talked me into buying his copy of their first single, "My Best Friend's Girl" which was also on a picture disc featuring the same design in a different colour scheme. The way he explained it to me was that they'd be more valuable as a pair. Of course, after that I had to buy subsequent Cars picture disc singles as they became available, just to complete the set.

The final two picture discs - those featuring the orange and pink cars - are actually the same single released in 1982. For some reason Elektra records had decided to release it in two colour versions. Probably so people like me who'd been trying to collect them all would have to buy two copies of the same record. The content of the records - and the catalogue number - are identical.

The whole set of 7" Cars picture discs ... I think...

I always quite liked the simplicity of the design. It was quite clever how a letter "A" was incorporated into the car's design to denote the A-side of the record, and also that the exhaust output was the record's centre hole. However, I always thought they copped-out on the flip-side of the disc as it could have had another image but Elektra Records just opted for a giant label on the b-side of each record in the series. One thing I've only just tonight noticed is that the sides of each record are referred to not as A-side/B-side or Side 1/Side 2 but as the "off side" and "near side" - a motoring metaphor that I'd not picked up on before.

However, to get finally to the reason I've compiled this blog post, what I'd like to know is: Do I have a complete set of these Cars picture disc singles or were there other releases also featuring this design?

The Cars - Since You're Gone b/w Best Friend's Girl / Let's Go - 12" single
1982, Elektra Records, K 13177PT (side A)

The Cars - Since You're Gone b/w Best Friend's Girl / Let's Go - 12" single
1982, Elektra Records, K 13177PT (side B)

I do also have a 12" picture disc single by The Cars, "Since You're Gone" backed with previous singles "Best Friend's Girl" and "Let's Go", but this release departs from the car design as seen on the 7" singles.

Note that the first single, "My Best Friend's Girl" has suffered from some discolouration over the years, and that the PVC sleeves haven't always survived too well.

If anyone has any further info, please leave a comment below.

Tom Verlaine - Cover

1984, Virgin Records, V2314

A1: Five Miles Of You
A2: Let Go The Mansion
A3: Travelling
A4: O Foolish Heart
B1: Dissolve/Reveal
B2: Miss Emily
B3: Rotation
B4: Swim

I was thumbing through my record collection yesterday and stopped at this all-but forgotten LP (at least by me, anyway), Cover by Tom Verlaine. I originally bought it back in 1984 having heard Verlaine interviewed on the radio with a couple of the songs from the album being played. I didn't really appreciate who he was, although obviously I was aware of the band Television and had heard their supposedly seminal Marquee Moon, an album which never really made an impact on my consciousness. However, this solo outing for Verlaine, I absolutely loved and it was in frequent rotation on my turntable for quite a few years. Cover is actually Verlaine's 4th album of 10, but I confess I've never gotten around to listening to anything else by him.

"Five Miles of You kicks" off side 1 with a barrage of chiming guitars and a strong well-rounded bassline from former Television colleague Fred Smith. Verlaine's unassuming vocals are instantly recognisable from his Television days. My favourite part of this song is the guitar solo, which always feels somehow devastating and unexpected - no matter how many times you've heard it before. "Let Go The Mansion" is a nice little piece with sparse verses - just Verlaine's vocals with some minimal guitar riffs and keyboard, before a more confident chorus kicks in. Things take off a notch with "Travelling" with its intro of crazily scraped strings on a fuzzed-out guitar, funky bassline and chugging rhythm guitars. "O Foolish Heart" slows down the tempo again, over a simple drum machine backing and on a chorus played on what sounds like a cheap 1980s Casio keyboard, Verlaine croons "O foolish heart / Silly thing / You hear any old toon / And you sing ... you sing". Simple lyrics but ever so catchy. What with these, the jazzy guitar solo, and the aforementioned Casio keyboards, it sounds like a recipe for a 1980s song that could not stand the test of time, but somehow manages to still sound fresh all these years later.

Side 2 opens with "Dissolve/Reveal", a tapestry of little guitar riffs and keyboard parts which combine together with increasing complexity towards the songs end. It's "math rock" before anyone ever thought of the term. And just for good measure a thunder sound effect is thrown into the mix. The song contains another gorgeous twangy/trebley/jazzy guitar solo from Verlaine - I'd quite forgotten how good his playing was. "Miss Emily" begins with more of that scraped string sound and then chugs along nicely with a driving bass, layers of chiming guitars and a strident fuzz guitar solo. "Rotation" is underpinned by a lazy jazzy riff, washes of keyboards, and features another - short but sweet - guitar solo, upon which I can't decide if Verlaine is playing slide or else using the guitar's vibrato arm to create a pitch-shift - it has a glorious pedal steel effect to it. Bringing the album to a close, "Swim" starts with Verlaine's spoken-word recitation of an excerpt from his "I Am Daylight" monologue from 41 Monologues over a minimal background of a simple guitar line and drum beat before the song itself begins. And quite lovely it is too with the repeated chorus of "I could swim / I could swim / I could swim in your love / In your love / In your love / I could swim in your love..."

Throughout the record are Verlaine's slightly nerdy, not altogether confident sounding vocals, which work beautifully with the instrumentation and the lyrics themselves.

Although I've owned this record on vinyl since 1984, someone gave me a CD copy of it about 15 years ago (I didn't have a record deck at the time). For some reason Virgin Records decided to use the extended 12" single version of "Five Miles Of You" in place of the original album version, but - on my copy at least - the song is abruptly and rudely cut off at the 4:20 mark over a minute before it was due to finish. To me, this managed to spoil the whole release. I couldn't tell you if this problem is common to this CD release or if just mine was faulty, but I can't believe the record company would have been content to release the CD in this condition. Surely someone would have listened to the final masters before reproduction?

I've really enjoyed revisiting and listening to this record again. I'll try not to leave it so long before I give it another spin. By the way, I have no idea why the album is titled Cover, it's not as if it contains any cover versions, but - on the subjects of covers - the cover artwork is worthy of note featuring a photo looking down at Verlaine who is holding onto a street lamp while standing on a road traffic island at a street junction (somewhere in UK). The photo makes it look almost as if he is sailing a small yacht - a theme that is reinforced by the car turning at the same junction and which has a windsurfing board strapped to its roof. This has to be the best record art featuring the performer on a street crossing since Abbey Road!

Dub Syndicate - Tunes From The Missing Channel

1985, ON-U Sound Records Ltd, ON-U LP 38

A1: Ravi Shankar Pt.1
A2: The Show Is Coming
A3: Must Be Dreaming
A4: Over Board
A5: Forever More
B1: Geoffrey Boycott
B2: Wellie
B3: Jolly
B4: Out And About

This LP was a purchase I made about four years ago based solely on a friend's recommendation. Dub Syndicate are basically a project of producer Adrian Sherwood and Style Scott, former drummer with Roots Radics and Creation Rebel, plus of course a whole bunch of friends and session musicians. Stylistically, while it owes much to reggae and dub, this album back in the mid 1980s was pushing the envelope of the whole genre. Drums and percussion are featured prominently, which should come as no surprise seeing as one half of the nucleus of Dub Syndicate is a drummer.

Predictably enough, side 1 opener, "Ravi Shankar Pt.1" features a (faux) sitar melody line which sound surprisingly effective over a dub bass backing and what sounds like a motorbike being kick-started into action. "The Show Is Coming" features spoken vocals courtesy of Fats (so it says on the record cover) and has a much more urgent beat, a staccato bass guitar solo, and the repeated refrain "something nice is going to happen to your ears" which could be subtitle to this album. The next track, "Must Be Dreaming", slows things down again and showcases a lazy melodica courtesy of Doctor Pablo. "Overboard" is of a more experimental nature and features former Public Image Ltd member Jah Wobble providing one of his signature repetitive basslines plus he plays keyboards here too. For the most part Tunes From The Missing Channel is an instrumental record; other than the previously mentioned "The Show Is Coming", the only track featuring vocals is side 1 closer "Forever More", a stripped back dub affair which allows Bim Sherman's vocals to sit prominently in the mix.

Side 2 opens with Dub Syndicate's tribute to a legendary Yorkshire cricketer. "Geoffrey Boycott" is an uptempo little number with a simple but effective synth hook. "Wellie" (featuring a second ex-member of PiL, Keith Levene on guitar) is another synth-led piece which unfortunately makes no great impact on the listener, while "Jolly" at least manages to live up to its name being indeed a jolly little tune. I don't feel that side 2 really takes off until the final track, "Out And About", which manages to recapture the vibe established by side 1 before the whole record comes to an end.

I feel that Tunes From The Missing Channel is most definitely a record of two halves. You listen to side 1 and think, "Wow! that's amazing!", then flip it over to side 2... which isn't bad, but then again isn't astonishingly great or particularly groundbreaking. Additionally, on side 1 the tracks either segue into one another or else have no silence between them and so effectively create one seamless piece of music that takes up the entire side of the record. Side 2 has definite track breaks and it feels like these are the not-so-good tracks, those which may have been b-sides on a single record.

All in all, Tunes From The Missing Channel is a very enjoyable album for fans of reggae and dub music, but a couple of lacklustre tracks on side 2 stop it from being a truly great album. If only side 2 had been up to the standard of side 1 it could have been a classic!