10-18-11
This Heat
CD THIS HEAT (1979) PIANO UK THIS IS 1 1979 11 TRKS (’06 issue)
LP THIS HEAT (1979) PIANO UK THIS 1 1979 11 TRKS original UK issue
CD3 HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY THESE RECORDS THESE 12 1980 1 TRK CD Single CD3, ’98 issue
12″ HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY PIANO UK THIS 1201 1980 2 TRKS with pic sleeve
CD DECEIT THESE UK HEAT 2CD 1981 11 TRKS (’91 issue)
LP DECEIT ROUGH TR UK ROUGH 26 1981? 11 TRKS original UK issue
CD LIVE 80 / 81 ReR US THIS IS 6 2006 11 TRKS Live ’80 – ’81
There were a lot of new records to buy in 1979. I do not remember how I was made aware of This Heat – likely because of drummer Charles Hayward being on the Quiet Sun LP? I was not overly impressed by the This Heat debut – but I kept it. I felt vindicated when their next release was amazing, “Health & Efficiency” (1980). It has a very ‘Canterbury’ sound to it, almost like Caravan! Yet more experimental than Caravan had been. And the original 12” B-Side was “playable at any speed” – and fairly “noisy”. Please note that “Health & Efficiency” was released on David Cunningham’s (Flying Lizards) label Piano Records (was the only other thing ever released at that time by Piano the debut Michael Nyman LP?
So, the 2nd This Heat LP is announced, and, having loved “Health & Efficiency”, I bought it as soon as it came out. However, it was more or less in a similar vein to the debut LP – not as focused as “Health & Efficiency” had been. But I kept it.
The CD age arrives. The 80’s and 90’s come and go. The new century arrives. I still own my original UK Rough Trade This Heat LP’s. In Tokyo, I happened across a CD3 of “Health & Efficiency” – fantastic, but lacking it’s amusing B-Side. Long about ’06 or so – there are suddenly lots of CD’s in the This Heat bin @ the 3 x Amoeba stores. Then their original albums get re-issued, supposedly with “better sound” (I couldn’t tell…). I found that their original albums sounded better to me in 2006 than they had in the early 80’s.
I found a used copy of “Live 80 / 81” on CD. Pretty good, but not all of it professional recordings, there’s some audience cassettes here. But – never having had the chance to see them play live – this CD did demonstrate their stage ability – in a variety of settings.
Charles Hayward solo releases that I have found:
CD SWITCH ON WAR SUB ROSA BE SUBCD017-40 1991 5 TRKS
CD TRIBUTE TO MARK ROTHKO, A SUB ROSA EU SUBCD010-33 1990? 5 TRKS
