Formed in 1980 from the ashes of 2 Tone’s The Bodysnatchers, seven-piece, all singing, all playing, all female combo The Belle Stars signed to the legendary Stiff Records label in 1981. Between 1982 and 1984 they enjoyed seven UK singles chart entries with the label, and their sole studio album also reached the UK Top 20. All this, and much more are included on this new 3CD collection.
Disc 1 kicks off with that self-titled debut album in full, which itself gets off to a roaring start with the monster hit ‘Sign Of The Times’ – a UK No. 3 smash in early 1983. A heady mix of percussive, post-punk and shiny new pop, the album brings together radically updated covers of classic R&B standards – ‘Iko Iko’, (a huge US hit after it was included in the film ‘Rain Main’) ‘The Snake’, ‘Harlem Shuffle’, ‘Mockingbird’, ‘Needle In A Haystack’ – with strong self-penned material, including the aforementioned ‘Sign Of The Times’ and breezy later single ‘Indian Summer’. Extras on CD1 are made up from the band’s standalone singles, plus their B-sides.
CD2 includes more single A’s and B’s, including the storming follow up to ‘Sign Of The Times’, ‘Sweet Memory’, plus the band’s extended 12” mixes including not just the original ‘Iko Iko’ 12” but the ‘Bonus Beats’ club version too. CD3 continues with a full 18-song live concert recorded on the 29th April 1983 and the collection signs off with a tantalising glimpse of what might have been with three tracks recorded with Anne Dudley (Art Of Noise, ABC, Electronic etc.,) but which remained unreleased for many years.
This new 3-disc edition – art-directed by the band’s original graphics man Simon Ryan – is presented in deluxe 7” packaging.
CD1
CD2
CD3
