Sunday, December 28, 2008

MI-SEX - Castaway / Young Maniacs (7" Single)



I previously posted a 1984 LP, "Where Do They Go," by New Zealand new wave act Mi-Sex, which was the band's final album and represented a shift from quirky synth pop to more straightforward new wave pop. One of the album's strongest tracks, "Castaway," was actually a single two years prior.

The song is one of the catchiest new wave tunes you'll never hear on flashback radio, and one that belongs on any list of the best 80s songs the world forgot (or maybe never knew in the first place). The 1982 single version is quite different from the version that appeared on "Where Do They Go," offering a much less polished take of what would eventually become the album cut.

The B side, "Young Maniacs," is an album track taken from the 1981 LP "Shanghaied."

Mi-Sex - "Castaway" / "Young Maniacs" (7" Single, 1982)


Track listing:
1 - "Castaway"
2 - "Young Maniacs"

2 comments:

John McClellan - 4 Minutes Of Fame said...

It seems when bands "cover" their own songs, (The Psychedelic Furs with "Pretty In Pink and David Bowie with "Cat People" are 2 that come to mind) the second version always will have a bunch of extra "hitmaker" gloss on it. You can really hear the spit shine on the different versions here.

This has been a guilty pleasure of mine from the first time I played this on the air in college and I still own a vinyl copy of it now. I never knew the earlier version existed! The difference in the New Wave sound of 1982 and 1984 can be aurally explained very clearly by listing to both adaptations back to back.

"Young Maniacs" features a Southern Hemisphere rawness that I did not realize Mi-Sex possessed... very cool.

footyvision said...

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