I’m quite bad for buying records with the intention of posting on the blog and then forgetting all about it.
It was way back in September 2018 that I last visited Toronto, and I did come home with a few bits of second-hand vinyl, one of which was a 12″ Blancmange single, with b-sides that were sort-of unique to the North American market.
mp3 : Blancmange – Living On The Ceiling (extended version)
mp3 : Blancmange – Feel Me (extended vocal version)
mp3 : Blancmange – Feel Me (instrumental)
I know from the one previous occasion when the duo featured on the blog that there’s a fair bit of love, particularly for the early material.
Living On The Ceiling was the huge hit over here, reaching #7 in the singles chart. It was the band’s third 45. with Feel Me having been their second (it had reached #46)
Over in the States and Canada, it appears that Catalogue# LDSX202, from which these three tracks are lifted, was the first single by the band.
Doing a bit of research, it does seem that this version of Living On The Ceiling is the same as the UK 12″ and the two versions of Feel Me are those which were on the UK 12″….but it’s handy to have them rolled up on to one piece of plastic.
The apology is for the delay, and also that there are slight skips on occasion towards the end of the lead track (not too surprising given the vinyl is 37 years old!!). I hope it doesn’t detract too much from your enjoyment.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Blancmange; a vastly under-rated band and one of my absolute favourites. Happy Families is, by anyone’s standards, a remarkable debut and one of my all time favourite LPs.
Living on the Ceiling didn’t open the door for Blancmange it knocked the door from its very hinges. The style of the song did fall into the lazy category-of-the-day synth pop but it was considerably more expansive musically than many other synth pop offerings.
Neil Arthur is one of the very best observational lyricists I’m aware of. Feel Me is a fantastic example of Blancmange’s lyricism and singular vocal delivery.
Blancmange remain a musical tour de force and I would whole-heartedly recommend later and more recently released LPs. What Blancmange commits to vinyl it transfers with style to a live setting.
Recently I watched a new synth pop documentary only to find that Blancmange did not appear but worse was not even mentioned.
Thanks to JC.
As JC might remember I am of the same opinion as filmflamfan, that Blancmange is the one synth duo not ever (or hardly) mentioned in the ‘Eighties Synth Documentaries’.
Soon I shall endeavour to put together a ICA for them – maybe two, covering early and late periods. 🙂
Blancmange has always received much love from me. They endeavored to play NYC a few times in those early days and were a massive hit in the big city. That Extended Mix of Feel Me, by John Luongo was always massive for me. I remember playing it right after Talking Heads Crosseyed And Painless at one of my “Summer Garden Parties” way back then and keeping my friends throwing shapes on the grass without missing a beat…
I’d be most keen on hearing those ICAs, CZ.