Europe in Colour get reanimated for one last assault on a frigid pop landscape, their final two singles being made available via grateful blogs such as these. Rather appropriately Cold Reaction begins with icy smooth “ohhs” and pitch perfect Cold-Wave sythns before a disco romantic begins to serenade you upon a flotilla of ice shelves bobbing along with the synth waves. That is before the arpeggiated 8-bit hordes descend and boil the sky above melting all below in steam and red-needled bliss. Calmly descending through the deep it all somehow seems ok.

Europe in Colour – Cold Reaction

British Electric Foundation were formed from the schism that ripped through The Human League (mk1) which saw Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh leave Phil Oakley to it. While their first (cassette) release kept with the instrumental purity of Synth-Wave their second release (once they’d formed Heaven 17) was an album comprising famous folk of the time covering famous songs with BEF producing. Not to be sidetracked by Gary Glitter covering Suspicious Minds (your humble scribe does not want to countenance the revisionist headfuck writing about that would be) their most immediately successful track was their collaboration with Tina Turner on her cover of The Temptations classic Ball of Confusion.

Perfect icy synths are joined by post-apocalyptic guitar stabs before Aunty Entity grabs the mic and rests control of the grinding monster truck she finds herself atop. A reanimated horn section are prodded into life dramatic tension before the siren-song synth once again descends from above whipping everyone into shape. That head bobbing, dancefloor filling synth. A powerful beast wielded here with mutually assured efficiency.

British Electric Foundation ft. Tina Turner- Ball of Confusion

As a bonus treat Lucas Varga was kind enough to get in touch with 20JFG and share his (extensive) rework of Turner’s We Don’t Need Another Hero. Replacing all but the melody with his own reverb drenched vision of post-apocalyptic dirge. No childrens choir or sax solo in sight, just the relentless nuclear winter of lethargic drum machines and Geiger counter sythns. Like Jan Hammer being fed nothing but Throbbing Gristle.

Lucas Varga – Turn Hero

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Next Saturday we’ll be playing records all evening downstairs at The Old Blue Last.  Feel free to drop by and say ‘hi’.  It’s free!