Side Projects, Solo Albums & 'Other' Bands
 

In this thread I hope to look at various albums by what the title says.. Side Projects, Solo Albums & 'Other' Bands.

What do I mean by that? Well.

Side Projects - Self explanatory really side projects of people in existing bands.

Solo Albums - Again self explanatory, I will be doing my best to avoid well known solo artists. A few might slip in if they made albums before they became fully fledged solo artists or if their solo career largely remains forgotten about, but other than that it'll be kept to people who make albums while still in bands.

'Other' Bands - 'Other' bands basically means bands who became well known but under a different name and released material under a different name. A perfect example of this would be someone like Boys Next Door who later became known as and found success as The Birthday Party, Or a band like Dome, who were basically a reformed Wire with a more electronic sound. Or to give you another example the band The Wolfgang Press were made up when the bands Mass & In Camera merged together, so both those bands would also be included under this.

First album coming up soon.

Cool idea for a thread. I'm really looking forward to this.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l99/urbanH/19529.jpg
Pete Shelley - Homosapien - 1981

If you are a Buzzcocks fan looking for a punk rock album then you may as well stop reading now because this isn't one. On the other hand if it's the Buzzcocks pop hooks that really draw you into them and you can handle that done as electronica then read on.
The early 80s was stuffed to the brim with ex punk & rock musicians jumping on the electronica bandwagon. To label Pete Shelley one of these would be grossly unfair. Back in 1974 long before the Buzzcocks ever realeased a note Pete was experimenting with electronic music recording two 20 minute peices of music for a proposed film made by Howard Devoto. these recordings were finally released in 1980 as 'Sky Yen'.

But i'm not here to talk about that album...

Homosapien while sounded rather dated in the cold harsh light of 2010 really has a certain charm to it and if you are of a certain age brings back memories of Spectrum & Commodore computers, Episodes of Tomorrows World where they were telling us in the year 1995 we'll all be wearing jetpacks or something and quantel effects on TV. This album is an early 80s vision of the future.

But don't let that put you off. This is Pete Shelley we're talking about. a man who could shit out pop hooks like someone could fart after eating a years supply of beans. The title track, while the original sounds a little dated with a little remix sound ultra modern and just as good , if not better than the retro stuff being put out today.

Favourite songs? Well there are far far too many to mention. The only real disappointment is the rather slow Keat's Song & the final track It's Hard Enough Knowing which seem really out of place on the album. Also Just One Of Those Affairs sounds totally out of place being a standard Rock n Roll song but I guess if you're going to include it stick it near the end to offer something a bit different and give the album some more legs. But when this album hits, it really does hit with songs like Yesterday's Not Hereand and Qu'est-Ce Que C'Est Que Ca is basically a song by The Buzzcocks with layers & layers of synth added to it.

So if you're into that 80s retro indie or synth pop in general or even if you like the Buzzcocks and want to hear something a bit different you really do need to check out this album.

I've always loved that song "Homosapien" but never knew who it was by. So thanks! I'll have to check this album out.

I've only heard two of Pete Shelley's solo song but Homosapien is one of them and I love it. I remember seeing the video for years ago.

I've heard a lot of good things about Homosapien there, but never really done anything to follow the hype up - one of those albums that's been on my amazon wishlist since practically the dawn of time. I love the soundof the song in the vid.

Good thread, and I can't wait for the Tin Machine entry :D

Liked the song, am downloading the album. Always up for some catchy synth pop.