Listening to the Koishii & Hush mixes today it got me left with an itch to dig out some of the old Other Two stuff.

Always found the 2 albums they did a bit hit and miss, some great songs but a few that really shouldn't have made it out of the studio.

From the first album Selfish is by far the stand out track for me and was a great single, an all time pop classic (seriously!).A cracking, straightforward pop song with a lovely melody and a great vocal from Gillian.I probably like it so much still as it reminds me of great times around late 1993 when i jacked in a shit job to go and live on a Kibbutz in Israel for a while.It just brings back great memories of that time.Great vid for Selfish too.Tasty Fish was alright, maybe not sounding quite as good these days however as it did back in 91.There was one or two good remixes on the CD and vinyl.Think it may have been the O.T. Mix 12" on the CD single i preferred from the original mix (the Pascal Gabriel mix?) back then and liked the Almond Slice mix also.Can't recall if there was another mix on the 12" vinyl that wasn't on the CD single but haven't dug out my vinyl copy, only the CD.Looked up the video to Tasty Fish, kind of funny to see it again- a young Gillian walking all through the sped up video of a journey around what i assume are the roads around Macclesfield.Of the rest of the songs on the first album only The Greatest Thing, Movin' On and Loved It(the other track) did much for me.Loved It was a wry look back on Factory i always thought, with a lot of samples from the Play At Home tv doc about Factory from 1984.


I think i'd rate the second album above the first.Opening track You Can Fly still stands up fairly well. Looking up the sleeve notes i see it's Melanie Williams singing on the track, I don't remember realising it was her , i just remember it wasn't Gillian.Wasn't Melanie Williams the lady singing on Sub Sub's big hit Ain't No Love? Think it's her also on One Last Kiss but i'm not a big fan of that track.Superhighways is a top tune, really really like it.Kind of melancholic summery vibe with the " Along the Superhighways of July" lyric.Video was quite funny if i recall, doesn't it start with a bloke stuck in his car in the carwash and the windows won't wind up or something? Of the rest of the tracks The River, Unwanted and Cold Feet i like.

IMHO you could just about make one good album from the two.A bit harsh on our favourite musical couple but sorry, there yer go.

Of all the side projects i think the only one that i could see possibly doing another album sometime in the future would be The Other Two and i think Steve and Gillian could still come up with a few great tunes.Can't see Bernard and Johnny Marr ever doing more Electronic stuff, i think that's been and gone now really and i don't have any particular desire for new Electronic material anyhow.As for Revenge and/or Monaco, well.... Hooky doesn't seem particularly interested in writing any new songs whatsoever anytime soon and can't say i'd be that desperate to hear them anyway.But yeah, i'd be interested to hear some new stuff from The Other Two at some point one day though that won't be soon what with New Order being pretty full on for the foreseeable future, or this year at least.

Edited by user 06 February 2016 17:56:49(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I'm sure years ago i had an mp3 of The Other Two's theme tune for America's Most Wanted or something but can't for the life of me find it now


Don't recall ever seeing this before.Zoe Ball interviewing (and chasing around Paris) Steve and Gillian.Must have been around the time of the first album.

Yes! Found it on YouTube - The Other Two's old (from 1988 to 1996) theme tune for America's Most Wanted.Knew i hadn't imagined it.Lost the mp3 years ago it seems but i've just clip grabbed it from this.

Yes.
Sub Sub and Bernard Sumer's 'This Time I'm Not Wrong' pisses all over Raise The Pressure, too. Funny old world innit.
Too Crazy Cowboys, anyone? https://www.youtube.com/...QWlJRDj6KHQfb51WRMtD0W_v

Edited by user 08 February 2016 03:50:34(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks for the Head's Up, as the man with two dicks said to the prostitute.
I remember hearing the la-la-la bit of Innocence in Cold Feet and pointing it out to my sister. I don't remember her exact words. Something about me needing to get out more. (This reminds me of the NME review of Best Of: If you can tell between R+R 94 and the origial, you need to get out more. And I could and I did.)
I don't have much info on the soundtracks. Their official page used to add instrumental bits occasionally and include info for train spotters, but it's disappeared. You can find some (maybe all) of them - without the info - at https://soundcloud.com/the-other-two. There was also Crackers, shortly after WFTSC.
MC is far dancier than BL (more searing, in-depth analysis from Bob's bastard son) but after NCAT Bernard said he wanted to do an EP as BL but it was too synthy. More bollocks from Bernard, and even more bolocks to me for remembering.

Edited by user 08 February 2016 04:40:11(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Yeah I recorded that off the Beeb with VHS. Well as long as I was happy.
The difference is the drums are removed from the last chorus break on '94. And yes, they're all Hague's ''''''''''''work'''''''''''' and they all sound almost exactly the same as his originals - BLT OST (Factory cassette too), True Faith / 1963, R+R. Well worth the salary.
I'd only dig out the sountracks if you're an obsessive. Quite honestly I was hoping for some gem (in terms of rarity if not quality) on the LTM rereleases but maybe there were copyright problems.
I've spent more time talking about the Other Two today than in the last 5 years put together. This is offensive to Melanie C.

MONEY.

I remember at the time ('94) Hague speaking about the new versions having less reverb. Tastes had changed since the '80's and a dryer sound would bring the songs more "up to date".

Now you say that i think i know what you mean, i think i did notice an overall difference in sound on R&R 94.Same with True Faith 94.Personally i found that dryer sound a bit shit really.

Edited by user 08 February 2016 11:24:59(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I like the instrumentals on the albums, but agree that, with hindsight, the first album needed a few more songs.

I want a third album now… or even better, Gillian's vocals on a few more New Order songs.

I've never been a collector.That's just a ridiculously impossible job/hobby.I mean, on Discogs there's about 16 different releases for The Other Two's Selfish alone- London releases, Qwest releaes, Promos, various different CDs, 12"s, cassettes..... the list is endless, well nearly endless, it ends at 16.Some of the New Order albums have 50+ different variants.Feck's sake, who on earth has the time and money to collect all these? Feck that.

1984, yeah that's around the time i started buying New Order stuff.I'll tend to just buy the standard releases, for example with Tutti Frutti i bought the Mute UK cd single and the Mute UK 12" and that's it.I'm not going to piss about tracking down promos, one- track radio CDRs or imports with a different code if it's got the versions i've already got.Wouldn't have minded grabbing one of those Republic Limited Run things in the orange soft pak back in the day but i never saw one or if i did at a Record Fair or something it was too pricey to remotely justify buying.

Out of interest did you sell some of your stuff because you needed the money or did you have problems with storage space? I don't get why some people ( i don't mean you but some people do) sell a lot of their old cd, vinyls etc if they don't need the money and don't have a problem with storage space.Even if you'll never listen to the stuff again, if you don't need the money or the storage space why part with the stuff?