Compulsion
Once upon a time, at dawn we went down to the beach at Hayling Island, near Portsmouth and made some pictures for the cover of a single Cherry Red were releasing. The water was freezing. Martin Gore of Depeche Mode covered the song ‘Compulsion’ on his 1989 ‘Counterfeit’ EP – Gore chose six of his favourite songs and recorded his cover, and this is the version of ‘Compulsion’ that most people know. Until, that is, Josh Cheon of Dark Entries records decided to re-release the original in 2015 as a 12-inch. He came looking for some additional material and found it on an old reel to reel tape in my loft, containing a bunch of a originally titled ‘Ken Blagdon Swings’* with music by Joe Crow and lyrics by yours truly, recorded at more or less the same time. You’ll find out some more here…
As Mr Crow himself says: “compulsion 12" vinyl 5-track e.p. out now on dark entries records. available here through juno, rough trade (ironically) et al. picture sleeve, insert with notes and lyrics. mastered from the original tapes. utter collector's item. you'll be so hip you'll blur as you walk as if unstuck in time. play it, mix it, frame it, do what you will, loving it won't be a problem.”
The song may now be considered a standard as it has recently been covered by Russian pop band Primrose, into stadium pleasing anthem. You can listen to that version here...
* Editors Note: Those were songs for a dear girl who was born on Christmas Day and for her 21st birthday I gave her a record of original songs that I wrote with Joe Crow. I had ideas and lyrics and Joe composed the music and put it all together. We recorded eight songs overnight at a studio in Mark Rowson’s house in Moseley, a bohemian pile, in the front room converted to studio, huge swathes of thick velvet curtains keeping out the light and the sound in. Joe played all the instruments with occasional help from Mark’s sister on saxophone on one track and Eamon Duffy playing bass on another. The master tape was mixed down a C-90 cassette; on the other side was a set of demos from Duran Duran, including ‘Girls on Film’ with Andy Wickett on vocals, and other songs by Stephen Duffy.