RetroAktiv - A Darker Vision of the 1980s

[BONES]

I've been talking about doing all these 80s covers for ages now and I reckon I must have more than 60 of them done and at least sort of ready to go. It's only recently, though, that I've been able to string together a full set of songs that I am really enthusiastic about playing/singing so I've decided the time has come to shit or get off the pot. To that end I have come up with a name for the project, RetroAktiv and, of course, a logo -

RetroAktiv_Banner.jpg

I've been doing some tests with my vocals, with mixed results, so there are a few songs I'd love to add to the set list that I just don't think I can pull off, like Ultravox's I Remember (Death in the Afternoon). But I've got a solid list of 20 songs, with plenty of options for encores, should things get to that stage.

When I started, I had envisaged a band-like project, with my bandmate playing keys and maybe his son on bass, but I've decided to go more in the direction of the solo guitarist who plays at the local pub on a Saturday evening, only with synths instead of guitars. It will make the process of getting it off the ground much simpler and I can always expand the line-up if it goes OK.

So here's the set list I've come up with. You might not recognise a couple of local Aussie/Kiwi hits but I am hoping most of it will be familiar enough to anyone 40 or older. I mention the "Darker Vision" thing in the title because it's me doing this, so the songs all sound a lot more full-on than the originals and I'll be singing them at least an octave lower than the original artists.

Mad World (Tears For Fears)
Sweet Dreams... (Eurythmics)
Fade to Grey (Visage)
Send Me an Angel (Real Life)
True Faith (New Order)
Safety Dance (Men Without Hats)
Living On The Ceiling (Blancmange)
Cars (Gary Numan)
Computer Games (Mi-Sex)
Love My Way (Psychedelic Furs)
I Got You (Split Enz)
So Long (Fischer-Z)
I Hear Motion (Models)
Beautiful World (Devo)
Kids in America (Kim WIlde)
Tainted Love (Soft Cell)
Just Can’t Get Enough (Depeche Mode)
I Ran... (A Flock of Seagulls)
To Cut A Long Story Short (Spandau Ballet)
Planet Earth (Duran Duran)
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ENCORE______________________________

Mexican Radio (Wall of Voodoo)
Enola Gay (OMD)
Whip It! (Devo)

I'm keen for any feedback on the song choices. I know they'll go down OK here in Sydney but I wonder how much of it might translate to a more global audience, as I intend to release a few EPs on BandCamp. e.g. Fischer-Z's So Long was very popular here but I understand that Marliese is their best known song in Europe (I can do that one as well). For all the bigger artists in this list I have multiple song choices. e.g. I had planned on using Blue Monday until I heard True Faith on the TV one night and realised that I like it a lot more than I used to, whereas Blue Monday seems almost cliche. Anyway, my bandmate is sick of hearing about it so I thought I'd annoy you guys instead.

[AnX]

True Faith is a bad choice imo, as I fukin hate that song. It's easily the most played song on the radio here by NO, and gets on my tits (and I like 80s NO)

Some surprising choices in that list, not the stuff I was expecting...there is also a couple of bands and songs I've never heard of....

Look fwd to hearing them

[BONES]

I was sort of the same with True Faith and definitely with Blue Monday. I hadn't thought about it in years until it came on the telly, so it doesn't get overplayed here AFAIK, and it surprised me how much I actually liked it. And there is a really cool little synth part in the MIDI file I used, that I don't think is in the original, but works really well. The first New Order song I did was Touched By The Hand of Dog, which I really like but is a bit obscure, and I've also done a version of Chosen Time (from their first album) that we'll probably do as a NOVAkILL cover at some point. So I've got a few songs to choose from and I think True Faith is most likely to go down well live. If I get around to releasing any of them, though, it will most likely be Touched by the Hand of Dog, so hopefully less annoying for Brits.

Anyhoo, I've set up a Soundcloud account to share a few WiPs with you lovely people. One of them has a rough vocal mix in there but they are all still a fair way off finished. I included I Remember (Death in the afternoon) because it's my favourite of all the covers I've done so I've probably put a bit more work into it than the others. Feel free to get stuck in, I'd be really interested to hear if you think they are too full-on or too dark or whatever -

https://soundcloud.com/user-365521

[experimental.crow]

closing out the evening w/ a little stan ridgeway ...
how can that be a bad thing ?..

[BONES]

It can't. It just can't. The Big Heat was one of the first covers I did but it was never popular enough here that I could put it in a live set and expect anyone to know what it was. I've actually met him couple of times and he's a really nice guy. He has a quick wit and a great sense of humour, one of nature's gentlemen.

[vurt]

as a darker vision, i find the song choices odd in some cases.
tainted love for example, definitely the better known track the world over, but there are darker on the album and imo better songs (say hello wave goodbye is my fave track, although not dark as such)
for dark/sleaze frustration or sex dwarf would be more fitting.

that said, all great tracks (there's a couple i don't know off the top of my head) but the very mainstream of the genre.

look forward to hearing more of them.

[BONES]

I hadn't listened to Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret for decades until a couple of years ago and I had never realised how properly Punk it is. Even Tainted Love, when you listen to the lyrics, is quite dark. But yeah, Sex Dwarf would be way better, except no-one would recognise it over here. I'm also constrained by my laziness and I can't find a MIDI file for Sex Dwarf.

I will do some vox for Once In A Lifetime for you, though. Eventually. But if I was going to do a more alternative set, it might look something like this -

Planet Claire (B-52s)
A Forest (The Cure)
Israel (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
The Big Heat (Stan Ridgway)
Safety Dance Men Without Hats)
Being Boiled (Human League)
Blockhead (Devo)
P-Machinery (Propaganda)
Fade to Grey (Visage)
To Cut A Long Story Short (Spandau Ballet)
Underneath The Radar (Underworld)
I Hear Motion (Models)
I Travel (Simple Minds)
Underpass (John Foxx)
Love My Way (Psychedelic Furs)
Mexican Radio (Wall of Voodoo)
We Are Glass (Gary Numan)
Chosen Time (New Order)
All Stood Still (Ultravox)
Holiday in Cambodia (Dead Kennedys)
Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones)

Whip It! (Devo)
Grip (The Stranglers)
The Wait (Killing Joke)

But this set would have to be for a Goth club or something. Some of them will end up as NOVAkILL covers, as we are planning a series of EPs, each with two re-worked versions of old songs and two covers. And just to prove I can do full-on guitar music, I've added the Ramones classic Blitzkieg Bop to the SoundCloud page.

[BONES]

BTW, if anyone wants any of these Studio One projects, I am more than happy to share them.

[AnX]

I'll listen at the weekend, I did quickly on my phone, but the sound is poor.

[kritikon]

Have to say that's a pretty good range of covers without being too cheesey. I thought Kids in America was an odd choice - you have to have a perm to get away with that one. It always seemed more straight-up US pop than classic 80s to me.
Nice mixture of classic 80s with some of the less mainstream but nevertheless memorable tunes.

Killing Joke - I had to look up The Wait, didn't remember it at all. Love Like Blood would be right up your street I'd think but more likely punters would know that one? Spear of Destiny even though TBH I remember him shouting more than the actual tunes...
Anyway - nice to see some real musical ones in there as well as some shouty ones. And the tracks seem fine - even if some are more aggro sounding than the originals I think that translates well.

[kylie]

There's a lot of great stuff on both lists. Thinking about New Order, my choice would rather be Bizarre Love Triangle than True Faith (which is still a great song). I enjoyed seeing P-Machinery on that list, as well a A Forest. Would suggest Never Never by The Assembly in addition. Ah yes, and I would swap Just Can't Get Enough with Photographic. In my opinion that would fit the darker vision much better, and probably your voice.

[BONES]

I was never a fan of Bizarre Love Triangle. Like Blue Monday, it tends to waffle on without any real structure. At least True Faith is a proper pop song. In terms of what an audience might get into, I think they are probably at about the same level.

Photographic is a good call. It's not something I could play here but it's a great song that I'd be keen to do and there are MIDI files for pretty much every song DM ever released. But Just Can't Get Enough is one of the songs that has turned out best and here in Australia it is easily their best known song. And some of the songs definitely turn out better than others.

The Assembly were never big here (Erasure had even less success) but I have a natural vibrato when I sing so I could do a decent job of sounding like Feargal Sharkey. I have done a version of Don't Go, though. It's one of my favourites to belt out but I need to work on the vox a bit more before I'd perform it in front of anyone.

I thought Kids in America was an odd choice - you have to have a perm to get away with that one. It always seemed more straight-up US pop than classic 80s to me.

I dunno, it's a song I've always liked, although it is one of the more recent things I've added to the repertoire. And my version is a LOT heavier. I think I Ran is probably the cheesiest song in the set but that's another song I really like. I really like that whole first album, in fact.

Killing Joke - I had to look up The Wait, didn't remember it at all. Love Like Blood would be right up your street I'd think but more likely punters would know that one?

It's weird but I got the MIDI file for The Wait from a Metallica website. They covered it as a B-side a long time ago and, apparently, they used to play it live regularly. I tried playing around with Love Like Blood but I couldn't get it working and gave it up. It would definitely be another one for the Goth crowd, not the pub.

Spear of Destiny even though TBH I remember him shouting more than the actual tunes...

Perfect for my vocal style, then! Do You Believe in the Westworld is the only one of his songs I rate at all and I'm not sure anyone would remember any of the SoD stuff (I don't).

Anyway - nice to see some real musical ones in there as well as some shouty ones. And the tracks seem fine - even if some are more aggro sounding than the originals I think that translates well.

It's an interesting journey for me, too, as I've never really tried to sing anything properly before. The problem is, I think my voice is actually better suited to Gilbert & Sullivan than pop or rock so I'd probably find doing HMS Pinafore a lot easier.

[raiderpdog]

as others have said, some excellent choices on both lists. I could even see mixing songs from both lists to make other lists, as you see what works for you too as you perform them, as well as the crowd, venue, etc.

It's always interesting when a band I like does a cover version of a song they love, and to see just how they approach it:

sometimes very reverential and staying very true to it
sometimes getting it mostly close, but adding new things to it
or at the other end, a cover version basically in name only, almost re-writing a song to sound totally different.

but having said that, there are also a lot of shades in between the steps above.

What I always liked about cover songs is, that there is a huge area to enjoy and have fun with some songs that you enjoyed, or were important to you, an influence, etc., but then also seeing how another artist would approach them.

Will be interested to hear all these, sound good so far.

[BONES]

I love making lists!! This is what the page I use for making them looks like at the moment (and it's about the fourth iteration since I started doing this a bit over a year ago).

Screenshot 2022-01-07 155637.jpg

[raiderpdog]