I learned to LOVE ebb head, and the odd singles not from the album, then later got into Big Hit as well, such a fantastic group (duo), a top fav of mine.
Chris Wareham same! I actually have a CD called "So Bright, So Strong", German import on TELDEC Records iirc, and i thought it was the 1st. I can't locate it atm but it has 4 mixes of "Warsaw Ghetto", which for reasons unknown is omitted from my CD of That Total Age. However in the 80s i had That Total Age on cassette and Warsaw Ghetto was on it. Also on the So Bright So Strong CD are the early tracks, Get Clean (a personal favorite), Isn't It Funny How Your Body Works, Cold War. Crane, and i think 2 mixes of the title track. It's a great album if you can find it. Hell it might be found in entirety here on RU-vid. It's AWESOME to be able to download directly off RU-vid if you know how..
'star' owes debt to sucide. diffo sound tho. singer redolent of j. fox and p.murphy but with something his own tho none of these singers would exist without bowie. cool sounds, surfeit of angst.
"That Total Age" is officially regarded as their debut album via Mute - the earlier POV/NEP singles made betw. 1984-86 were released on a few compilations around 1988 (a year after "That Total Age"). "Basic Pain Procedure" may seem like a demo but it is their first-ever official release. The cassette format which it originally was, may have contributed to the obscurity factor thus considered a "demo"... however, the very quality of the recording (both, studio and live) is rather good for a demo, rough on the edges yes - but already heading in their own direction, transforming the DAF idiom into their own blend of hardcore and electronics with raw, emotional vocals... From the studio side, "Crane" resurfaced in slightly different version on the group's debut single from 1985 ("Isn't It Funny How Your Body Works" and also on the 1987 12" EP that combined bits from "Isn't it funny..." + "Warsaw Ghetto"). Other (studio) tracks here are exclusive to the very cassette, not sure if any of them were re-recorded for later releases... Interesting to hear the early live versions of "Violent Playground" and "Smear Body" (both re-recorded for "That Total Age"), while their amazingly perverse version of "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" also exists in video form somewhere on YT, documented from one of Nitzer Ebb's earliest live shows (probably this one?) - also reminiscent of die Neubauten's merciless take on Serge Gainsbourg ("Jet'm")... Also besides their more audible influence, this early NE work slightly reminds also of the very early In the Nursery stuff (think of "Iskra" / "A to I" )...
"Passage" is really beautiful. On this tape there is so much of what they lost on "that total age" which is not as good as people always claim. Except "let beauty loose" which is their best song ever. Thank you for the Upload. This is really impressive
It's like DAF (same analog synths, same mix of machines and live drums with the cymbal accents), but...just not that good. I've tried with this a few times, but anything from the first five DAF albums is light years better.
They were 18 years old....intense for young people....but stop with this "IT'S SOOOO much better than THAT TOTAL AGE!!!!" bs...it's good, but no...it's not
