Universal have been steadily re-releasing a string of albums over the last couple of years as Deluxe editions with lots of extra material thrown in. They’ve covered a wide range of artists across a range of genres, but now it’s the turn of 80’s pop band Transvision Vamp with their two hit albums, ”Velveteen” and ”Pop art” getting the deluxe edition treatment. Unlike many of the 80s pop acts, Transvision Vamp weren’t a polished result of the Stock-Aitken-Waterman hit factory, but instead combined a punk sound with pop to make some great music which had a lot more of a kick than most of the other music in the charts.
Pop art was the band’s first album and it reached number four in the UK album charts. Four singles were released from the album, but only two made the top 30 – ”Revolution baby” made it to number 30, but only ”I want your love” got into the top ten, reaching number 5 in the charts.
The Deluxe edition is a 2CD release, with the first disc containing the original album. It sounds great, and is just as listenable now as it was when it first came out. Despite only having one hit single (I want your love), it’s got some great songs – alongside ”I want your love”, ”Trash city”, ”Andy Warhol’s dead”, and ”Psychosonic Cindy” are some of the best. Also on the first disc is the first of the bonus material – four songs from the Andy Kershaw session.
The second disc contains the bulk of the bonus material though – 17 tracks of it. There are extended versions and remixes of tracks from the album along with B sides from the singles that were taken from the album.
OK I might be slightly biased as I’m a big fan of the original album, but I think this is an excellent release. Fans of the album are going to love this new version with all the bonus material – there’s just so much new stuff here that it’s a purchase that most Transvision Vamp fans are going to want to make. Of the two deluxe editions I think ”Velveteen” has the stronger bonus tracks, but the ones here are definitely worth listening to.
Pop Art Deluxe edition will be released on 25th March 2013
Track listing:
CD1:
1. Trash city
2. I want your love
3. Sister moon
4. Psychosonic Cindy
5. Revolution baby
6. Tell that girl to shut up
7. Wild star
8. Hanging out with Halo Jones
9. Andy Warhol’s dead
10. Sex kick
11. Trash city – Andy Kershaw session
12. Andy Warhol’s dead – Andy Kershaw session
13. Sweet thing – Andy Kershaw session
14. Sex kick – Andy Kershaw session
CD2:
1. Vid kid vamp – B side, Revolution baby
2. Revolution baby – Electra – Glide mix
3. No it U lover – B side, Revolution baby
4. God save the royalties – B side, Tell that girl
5. Tell that girl to shut up – Extended mix
6. Tell that girl to shut up – Knuckle duster mix
7. Sweet thing – B side, I don’t want your money
8. Evolution Evie (acoustic version) – B side, I don’t want your money
9. I want your love – I don’t want your money mix
10.Evolution Evie (electric version) – B side, I don’t want your money
11. Honey honey – B side, Revolution baby
12. Long lonely weekend – B side, Revolution baby
13. Vid kid vamp – remix – B side, Revolution baby
14. Oh yeah – B side, Sister moon
15. Walk on by – B side, Sister moon
16. Sex kick (Ciao Portobello) – B side, Sister moon
17. Sister moon (Groove on) – B side, Sister moon
