You’ve Got The Power, a single released by Win back in 1985, has previously had a couple of mentions on the blog. It’s a tremendously upbeat, catchy and fun number, admittedly very much of its era in terms of production, but anytime I hear it, I’m taken back to dancing around at various house parties across Edinburgh, as everyone seemed to have a copy.
I was delighted to learn a few weeks back that …Uh Tears Baby, the debut album by Win, is going to be re-released on Past Night From Glasgow in the near future, with a bit of remastering work involved, and it may well also come with a few bonus items such as demo versions, b-sides and re-mixes that went out as 12″ releases.
I thought I had everything from the era, but it turned out there was a 12″ remix out there which wasn’t present and correct in Villain Towers. Thankfully, it was available via Discogs for what I would describe as a bargain price.
mp3: Win – You’ve Got The Power (Chocolate Thrills Mix)
It’s the simple things that often make me the most happiest.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Every time I hear this, I’m taken back to watching the 86 World Cup punctuated by
TennentsMcEwans lager adverts, soundtracked by this tune. Have a Pavlovian urge to crack open a tin of the product, which is strange as I hate the gassy fluid. Hope Win made a few quid from the deal. I like the record, although Super Popoid Groove was maybe even more addictive.chaval
Oh my! I haven’t thought about this song in decades. But the second it popped up! Yep. Remember remember remember
I was completely oblivious of the existence of Win at the time, but my tangentially related factoid on offer today is that I knew of guitarist Mani Shoniwa from his days in an unsuccessful Edinburgh band called New Apartment, a funky guitar-bass-drums trio whom I saw a couple of times at the Nite Club. I still have a solitary single by them, a 1980 release on Demon Records called Catch-22, with Them and Us on the B side (although the track titles appear on the ‘wrong’ sides of the outer sleeve). Multi-instrumentalist and future Win bassist Ian Stoddart is co-credited with both compositions, so he may also have been the drummer for New Apartment, although he also played drums for Everest the Hard Way, another of my favourite local bands at the time, and since I saw both bands on the same bill one night he may already have decamped. I know he wasn’t the bassist because a girl I knew from school was going out with him, a cute lad he was who fronted the band.
As a final even more tangential aside, if you have ever seen the schmaltzy rom-com Chocolat with Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche, in the scene where Depp first arrives at the village and performs at a little music festival, the drummer in his band is none other than Ian Stoddart.
Quite proud I got the lager brand wrong. Shows the mental adblocker is functioning.
I think I ended up with the 1986 (US Dance Remix) 12″, with Unamerican Broadcasting as one of the extra tracks. I say “think” purely because I’ve no idea where it is.
I’m giving my niece my old vinyl collection. I have this on 12” single three times. I’ve no idea how I have so many copies. Although one of them has a blue background on the cover and is a remix.