The FSOL Message Board

Kiss Transmission 5

Kiss Transmission 6

Glad they're over, they get a bit tiring after a while.

Essential Mix '93

And, finally, rounding out 1993 with some remixes
Bryan Ferry - I Put a Spell on You (Yage Mix)
Bryan Ferry - I Put a Spell on You (Yage Mix Long Version)
Curve - Rising (Headspace Mix)
David Sylvian and Robert Fripp - Darshana (Re-constructed by The Future Sound of London
The Shamen - Re:Iteration (FSOL Mix)

1994 is on its way, and with it, possibly the band's finest run of releases.

Bootleg time to start the 3D Headspace Tour.

Mixing It 09/05/94.

ISDN Transmission The Kitchen New York 11/05/94.

Essential Mix '94
“These things are going to rule in the future, though. They’ll completely blank out record companies. We can just advertise our music on the Internet, which has a million subscribers and send it straight to them.”

ISDN Rome 16/05/94

I hadn't heard the 1994 bbc essential mix in a while, and after reading your write up I thought I'd revisit it. This time around the Frippertronics really stuck in my head, quite jarring actually. Cool they did it though, but I'd rather it wasn't there now.

And interesting to read your write up of Rome 94, and how much you rate it. I haven't actually heard it yet, although I have it and all the ISDN transmissions, I've never given them much attention, but I'm going to give the Rome broadcast a go now.

Thanks again for your insightful reviews/info on the blog, it's really good.

Rome is the closest thing to Essential Mix '94 minus the Frippertronics really, a lot of similar passages.

Well that took long enough. Song-by-song later, I think.


The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms

Great write up. Really enjoy seeing the personal, autobiographical elements too, as I relate it to my own experience discovering FSOL and Lifeforms. The imagery and artwork was so tied to the album experience (one of the main reasons i moved back to vinyl from digital). And the idea of it having a geography and being a place is very much how i feel about FSOL in general. I don't think i have any other albums that have that power as strongly as Lifeforms and Dead Cities. These are albums you inhabit. I remember buying the VHS of the Lifeforms accompanying video from somewhere in Manchester, and getting it home, and it blew my mind. For me Lifeforms has elements of planet earth - the jungles, the deserts - which made it feel within grasp and actually inspired me to be interested in other ecological habitats on earth. But then it also had elements of alien landscapes. In fact looking back, Lifeforms really had a huge part in me adopting more global, outward facing interest in different places in the world as a young person!

Love the write up. I can imagine that was a mountain to climb. Lifeforms really hit me and my mates by surprise after Accelerator & Tales. I remember many evenings listening to it, stoned or coming down, just trying to get our heads round it. Then for a while I found it difficult to listen to, a real challenge, almost scary and impenetrable. Once I got over that and became familiar with it it became my favourite album of all time, and is certainly my most listened to album. Thanks again for the blog, I do enjoy reading each post and am looking forward to the next instalment, whenever it drops.

Thanks everyone. Yeah, I think personal experiences with albums - especially albums like Lifeforms! - are often as interesting as facts about the music.

Disc 1
Cascade
Ill Flower
Flak
Bird Wings
Dead Skin Cells
Lifeforms
Eggshell
Among Myselves

Disc 2
Domain
Spineless Jelly
Interstat
Vertical Pig
Cerebral
Life Form Ends
Vit
Omnipresence
Room 208
Elaborate Burn
Little Brother