Mange Tout

This album has been a long time coming on cd. A top 10 hit upon release its long been unavailiable and this massively expanded edition finally puts things right.

Blancmange were that particularily 80's phenomenon of the "synth duo". However unlike the likes of Soft Cell, Erasure and the Pet Shop Boys they were musical collaborators from day one. Their debut album, Happy Families, didnt simply rely on vocals and keyboards but contained a whole slew of guest musicians and vocalists. This follow up is more of the same - musical collaborators run well into double figures and there is a real drive to create an expansive sound and widescreen palate.

This was too much for some (including some fans of the debut) and may explain why the band never kicked on from here and their third album went almost unnoticed before the band faded away. Tracks like Murder, All Things Are Nice and See The Train are hard to classify. The first two are noisy semi instrumentals and the latter an acapella folkish number. These album tracks are wildly at odds with the poppy singles (Dont Tell Me, The Day Before You Came) and some people found this just too much to handle.

But, playing this album again so many years on, its amazing how well its aged. In fact I was shocked how good it all is and alot of that is down to the sympathetic remastering. Suddenly the second half of the album makes alot more sense as the sound isnt so sludgey as the analogue version. The layers and textures sound great and it gives the album a more cohesive feel.

Its an incredibly strong set of songs (including 4 top 40 singles) and Id forgotten how good the sequencing was - playing all 10 album tracks in one sitting has a nice symmetry about it and I'm glad the extra tracks are all confined to a second disc (apart from one which seems to work in the context of the original running order).

The extras disc varies slightly in quality (the b sides of Dont Tell Me really are awful) but when its good - its very, very good. Vishnu (live favourite from the Mange Tout tour) has the epic full seven minute version that I reckon you could drop into a DJ set now and nobody would guess it was from the mid 80's. Add this to the extended (and more funky) versions of Blind Vision and Thats Love That It Is and you have a trio of real floor fillers. In addition there is the excellent All Things Are Nice (Version) which is social realism meets backwards synth pop and the full, epic and utterly gorgeous 12" mix of The Day Before You Came.

All this for a mid price album remastered with extensive sleeve notes. It really is a real bargain.

Highly recommended.

Why did they remove the more subdued and less upbeat version of The Day Before You Came and replaces it with the perked up single version? Surely the album rerelease should be that - a re-release of the original album ? Call me Mr Picky, but......

GRRRRR

Great album though.

Blancmange- Mangetout 2xcd 2008 (remaster)
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here it is again, my favorite album from them..
it was a masterpiece when it came, and has
survived the test of time...

although blancmange did not seem to last very long
(3 albums), what they did put out, had a nice impact
at the time, at carved out a niche for them, that no
other group can really fill...

granted, not every track is a winner('my baby','see the train'),
but the majority of them , 'game above my head', 'dont tell me',
'thats love that it is', 'blind vision', and 'the day before you came',
are so strong they carry the album to the great heights
that it deserves...

So lets talk about specifics: for the album

I'm listening through altec-lansing speakers, and also through headphones
====================================================
1) the album tracks themselves are well preserved,
and sound clear, and full of details/instrumentation..

2) listen to 'thats love that it is' to hear the loud
frantic sections.

3) for the softer parts, a song like 'the day before you came'
has a lot of dynamics in it.

4) overall tracks are click free/no skips with
a few variations in tracks .. 'blind vision', and 'the day before you came'
are the single mixes and not the album tracks though..

The bonus tracks/disc:
(note the quality of these tracks vary from very good
to average)..
===================================================
1) we got an extended version of 'game above your head'
at the end of disc one, fine, where's the other remix version
of it? (the uk one)

2) most of the extended tracks are represented on
the bonus disc, 'blind vision', 'dont tell me',
'thats love that it is' (both versions), and 'the
day before you came', these are welcome inclusions

3) there's most of the b-sides, and instrumentals also,
these are of more dubious nature, and have been on the
many, many compilations that have been previously released

4) there's one live track 'feel me' included

5) it would have been more complete to include a lot of
the 7" edits for tracks, to fill out the first disc, but
none are here..

6) lastly 'don't tell me' is missing the alternate mixes
===================================================

i'm torn about this, because it IS a great album,
and it does look like this is as good an attempt
at ever getting these tracks released that we fans
will get..

however, there just seems to be a rather haphazard
approach to the tracks, and they are missing some
major releases..and filling them with tracks of
questionable value..

i do recommend it, but i don't give it very high
marks, because it seems the care given to other
releases (like the 'thompson twins), wasnt used
here..

later
-1