Being Half Awake
In the eighties, a 'new' breed of sensitive young singer/songwriters and bands appeared alongside the noisier indies - mainly centred around the British Cherry Red label.
At the time I particularly liked Ben Watt, Tracey Thorne, Eyeless In Gaza, and In Embrace (though I've hated everything EBTG have ever done, their solo albums were crackers - and so was the Marine Girls ramshackle beauty). I also liked The Passage, but they'll have to wait for a later post 'cos they ain't that sensitive ;-)
In Embrace seem to have vanished completely, which is a pity. The first record, a 5-track 12" called The Initial Caress, was fragile & pretty, and the first full album (Passion Fruit/Pastels) developed that fragile prettiness into something more substantial and tangible. The next thing I heard from them was a couple of singles that (like Eyeless 'Welcome Now') should both have catapulted straight to numero uno - pure, perfect pop - and then, nothing. Mind you, I probably had my eyes on other things by then - I never have been able to tolerate fragile prettiness for too long.
You can read more about In Embrace on the Eyeless In Gaza pages at http://www.eyelessingaza.com/inembrace/hist1.html.
In Embrace - The Initial Caress, Your Heaven Scent (Plays Hell With Me) & This Brilliant Evening (plus B-sides)
01 - Clutching
02 - The Air Inbetween
03 - Precious
04 - Breathless With Passion Explicit
05 - For Lovers
01 - This Brilliant Evening
02 - The Darkest Horse
03 - Your Heaven Scent Plays Hell With Me
04 - This Brilliant Evening (Instrumental Mix)
http://rapidshare.com/files/89032277/InitialBrillHeaven.zip
In Embrace - Passion Fruit/Pastels
01 - Half Awake (Mountains)
02 - Our Star Drawn Through Panes
03 - We Fail Each Other
04 - The Ball Rolling
05 - Tears Turn Fresh
06 - Sun Brings Smiles
07 - At East
08 - (Sigh)
09 - Tickling The Ivories
10 - To Friends (An Open Letter)
02 - 11 - Caroline Beginning
http://rapidshare.com/files/89032736/PassionPastels.zip
posted by Witchseason at 9:31 am
9 Comments:
There is something missing from todays music that was not in it in the 80's.
Back then they cared about the lyrics and what was said in the songs.. Now the only thing kids are interested in is "Where'd you get that Body From" and other questionable lyrics like that..
Bring back the 80's minus the clothes and the hair LOL!!!
www.spotinheaven.com
what's missing in today's music is melody.
i'm looking forward to hearing these recordings. i too liked the cherry red label, but these titles slipped past me. thanks for bringing them to my attention.
Have you ever heard the In Embrace album "Too"? It's one of my favorites. When I finally digitized it last year, I couldn't stop kicking myself for taking so long. Anyone who's interested, contact me.
itchybluebeard
at
gmail
dot
com
Thanks for these. I've only ever heard the "Shouting In Cafés" single and "Wanderlust." Nice share.
....so I was lying in bed last night thinking about my much thought about yet still unwritten autobiography, and I got to thinking of friends of yore Gary and Claire and how I ought to digitalise their records to put on the iPod....mooching online tonight and via a link from another blog, here's yours and all this hard work done for me.....thanks - looking forward to hearing it again after all these years....chris 17
I had a second hand record shop during the 80s in Berlin, and I remember that no one ever would buy The Initial Caress EP even for little money. I was not too fond of it either back then. Which I do not understand today. Thank you very much for sharing these gems!
thanks for this one, especially the a brilliant evening, ive been looking for this...........thanks again
Thanks for the share, been looking for this for ages....
Well I know I'm late to the party, just doing some stuff on my digital record collection, adding record covers, dates etc and allmusic.com still has nothing on In Embrace (Even though personally I sent them information on no fewer than three occasions). I believe I found In Embrace through Pillows and Prayers - I actually had the 99p album, the cassette and also the £1.99 picture disc! - Anyway three years after you posted it I found this, thank you, I guess I had better start reading your blog and see what gems you can point me at.
In Embrace are a sadly neglected band who almost seemed to have been wiped from musical history, what I would give to hear them on the Radio today pushing most of the autotune shit down the drain with it's beauty and sparseness.
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