Moodswings
Moodswings is the brainchild of Grant Showbiz and James F.T. Hood (The Pretenders), probably best known for their 3 track epic re-working of Vangelis' State of Independence, featuring the voices of Chrissy Hynde and Dr Martin Luther King.
CD Single/12": Spiritual High
[74321 127712]
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Released 1992 on Arista Recordings. (P) 1991 BMG Eurodisc Ltd. (C) 1992 BMG Eurodisc Ltd. One of my favourite Moodswings tracks ever. Released in '92 as a 12" and CD single, this track comes in all shapes and forms. Apart from the original album mix, only the Crunch and Technoprisoners mixes really hit the mark. Chrissie Hynde adds vocals, along with the "I have a dream.." speech by Dr Martin Luther King. Spiritual High (State of Independence) featured in the film "Single White Female". (State of Independence was originally written by Vangelis and recorded with Donna Summer back in 1982. Further Donna Summer remixes were release in 1999).
12": Spiritual High
[MOOD16]
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I've also got this promo 12" of this track, which has got a brilliant remix titled Well Hard Spiritual Adventure Mix. This remix is probably the best out of all the various other mixes.
12": Spiritual High
[MOOD1]
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From the catalogue number of this 12" I assume this was the first 12" from Moodswings. All three remixes play on the same theme - i.e, all are excellent!
CD Single: Spiritual High
[664 528]
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Released 1991 on Arista Recordings. (P) 1991 BMG Eurodisc Ltd.
(C) 1991 Eurodisc Ltd.
Single: The Rainsong EP Part I
[MOOD10]
![[Rainsong EP1]](images/moods_rs.jpg) |
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The first part of the promo EP which features a couple of interesting mixes of 100% Total Success. The Madsters at Work mix is quite housey, although it sounds a little dated now, whilst the Do What You Want mix is trancier and in my humble opinion, the better of the two mixes. Wombtones is only marginally different from the Moodfood album version, leaving the lovely Rainsong to tie up this rather rare EP.
Single: The Rainsong EP Part II
[MOOD11]
![[Rainsong EP2]](images/ms_rsep2.jpg) |
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This is another promo 12" that I found, which is the second part of the Rainsong EP. It features three rather hectic mixes of Skinthieves, which features on the Moodfood album. Skinthieves was actually the second vinyl offering from Moodswings, following Spiritual High. I'm not sure if it ever appeared on CD, but I've also got a promo 12" of Skinthieves (MOOD7) featuring the following mixes: Tiger Mix, Murder at the Rave Mix and Angry Guitar Mega Mix. The Tiger Mix is absolutely wicked - don't ask me to describe it because I can't, but in my humble opinion its better than any of the above mixes and the album mix. According to the promo information that came with this second 12", the extra heavy riff guitars in the Megamix is that of the rock guitarist Jeff Beck.
CDS: The Taste EP
[74321 118572]
![[The Taste EP]](images2/ms_taste.jpg) |
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Released 1992 on BMG. This is a double CD single release. Thanks to Brian Harris for this information.
Album: Moodfood
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As the album cover states, this is Aural medication for tired minds. That probably sums this album up in a nutshell. Recorded back in '92, this album hasn't aged one bit. Vangelis' State of Independence gets a glorious reworking, woven into Spiritual High, a powerful, moving 3 part track which includes the I have a dream... speech by Dr Martin Luther King. It works brilliantly in a tasteful fashion. The album continues to cover a variety of styles of ambient dance music, which is guaranteed to appeal to all.
Album: Moodfood
[07822-18619-2]
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Released 1992 on BMG Eurodisc. See above for review. Note that this release has been rearranged and is minus the Reprise and Wombtones. Thanks to Brian Harris for this information.
Album: Live At Leeds
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While their album Moodfood will appeal to all, the more upbeat 'Live at Leeds' recording will probably suit those with a preference to dance music. Recorded, obviously enough, in Leeds at Back to Basics, this CD/LP was their live set back in '94 which was storming, with the climax of 'Brutal' being one of the best tribal stompers I've ever heard. I first experienced the sound of Moodswings live at WOMAD '94 (picture about 2000 people stomping in unison - wicked!), and have just seen them for the second time at WOMAD '96. With a stage crammed with drums, Djumbies, congos and anything else hitable, their set opened with a new track (which i haven't a clue what it is called, but I'll find out soon) which was on the same stomping level as 'Brutal', and resulted in the crowd going absolutely mental. The rest of the set contained their older material, State of independence etc. and finished with the almighty Brutal ...what else!
Album: Live At Leeds - Basic Mix Up1
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As far as I know this was only released as a DJ promo on vinyl and never got a formal release. Therefore you will probably only find it in second hand record shops. Two other remixes of Brutal, neither of which compare to the Live album version, but nonetheless, are still banging tracks. The Back to Basics remix is also pretty good too.
Album: Live At Leeds - Basic Mix Up2
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The second in the Basic Mix Up series, and like the first, it's only on vinyl as a promo to my knowledge. I'm not even sure of what the tracks on the A side are called on this either, since I found this second hand and the record is only labelled A and B! Still, the first track on side A is a great track, fairly orchestral and flies along at a brisk pace, whist the second track on side A is a much slower ambient version of the same track. I recently spoke to Grant from Moodswings, and when I played the track to him he didn't even know what it was called! Side B features Tabla Motown, which is also on the CD version of Live at Leeds.
Album: Psychedelicatessen
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Released in June '97, Psychedelicatessen sees the long overdue follow up to Moodfood. Last time it was Aural medication for tired minds, this time its an Edible Broadcast. Following in much the same format as Moodfood, the new album is a glorious mixture of ambient dance and trance. Dancing Is Important, full of Jamaican drums and sounding very Whirl-Y-Gig'ish, is probably my favourite track here. Sugarush is an extended version (or a very similar sounding track) of Hoxanna, from the Live at Leeds album. Hinkenlooper's Eclipse is very dark and ambient, building slowly. God Knows What I Want is a beautiful vocal track, which is great for when you are feeling a little blue, which just leaves Happy Piano, another of those lovely, almost classical, Moodswings piano pieces.
Album: Psychedelicatessen
[07822-18785-2]
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Released 1997 on Arista. Same tracklisting as above but a slightly different cover. Thanks to Brian Harris for this information.
Single: Together as One (luminous)
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One of the few vocal tracks from the Psychedelicatessen album. The ambient version is a lovely laid back version of the track, but doesn't actually differ that much from the album version, with its glorious vocals and floaty piano melody. The World mix is more uplifting and bouncy, losing the vocals. The Mad mix is a nutty drum and bass excursion, with the odd bleep thrown in for good measure...hmmmmm....Beat Foundation add their talents for the House mix, just is pretty average stuff really. The Drum and Bass and Trip Hop mixes aren't really my cup of tea (but I'm not saying that they aren't good). All in all this is an average single from the new album. Whist this is a lovely tune, it wouldn't be my first choice of a track for a single.
Album: Horizontal
[302-060-223-2]
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Released 3/02 on Water Music Records/Universal Music. Its now five years on from 'Psychedelicatessen' and, following the departure of Grant Showbiz from Moodswings, James Hood has released 'Horizontal'. As the title suggests, this double CD album features wonderfully chilled down-tempo electronica, sounding very much like all the spacey tracks featuring on the previous albums.
For further information on Moodswings see their official web site.
