Wednesday, May 2, 2007

What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) (1988)


"What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)," Information Society (1988)

Ah, Information Society. Their first album was a doozy, an eclectic mix of everything that was hip in the 1980s, all rolled into one hell of a tasty burrito. There, I said it. It's as good as a burrito.

This tune, which kicks off the album, was without a doubt their biggest hit. It's not difficult to see why. It's a trip, it's got a catchy beat and you can bug-out to it. It's techno before techno, and considering it came at the back-end of synthpop, its still manages to wrestle with the style's early biggies.

This is the 12" single, which has a different tracklist than the CD single. Overall, it's repetitive, but c'mon... this isn't supposed to be prog. Or an album, even. It's a dance single, for crying out loud.

Enjoy:

1. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) [Club Mix]
2. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) [The 54 Mix]
3. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) [Percapella]
4. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) [Pure Energy Mix]
5. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) [Dub Mix]

Download (25.76 MB)

P.S.

Funny thing happened to this band... they never conquered the world. Sure, they've had a Brasilian fanbase whose scale defies logic, but everywhere else, they're a one-hit wonder. It's a pity, really. Their first album is spectacular. Their later work? Eh, I can't particularly say. Maybe its the poor distribution or the low sales that have kept me from finding their 90s output. But output there was, despite personnel changes. Lead singer Kurt Harland held up the band's banner (and a website, Insoc.org) for longer than one might have expected.

But recently, Kurt amicably relinquished the InSoc moniker to founder Paul Robb. With a new line-up, Robb has reactivated Information Society. They've got some groovy new material coming up, and they've also given their old fans something to slobber over. Informationsociety.us has a hip multimedia section that lets listeners enjoy their uber-rare mid-80s work... for free! Sure, you only get to stream it, but its the only way you'll ever hear it. Some of this stuff was produced in minimal quantities, and no humble blogger could ever hope to have it in his/her possession. So go there, and enjoy.

And be sure to check out their first album, too. Seriously, go out and get it. It's well worth owning. And dig the stuff offered by the current line-up; show 'em you care.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

All the albums except for "Hack" are available on iTunes :)

--Kristin
Designer & Web Admin for Information Society

display said...

Señor Walter,

Just a note to say thanks for adding a Never Get Out Of The Boat link to your blog. Very cool and much appreciated. We've added Ripped Vinyl to our "Friendlies" list. Many thanks again.

Willard

turgut said...

Hi from :
silveraintr.blogspot.com

MadMat said...

I am a huge fan of this group.
I have all the 12" versions but in vinyl.
Do you happen to have ripped the Walking away single?
That was my fav.
BTW they were popular until the Scritti Politti's producer left them after the second album.

Anonymous said...

yo weres the updates at/

Juba.San said...

Really cool blog, with lots of great stuff but, MEGAUPLOAD?!?!?!?! You gotta be kiddin'... I have many friends to whom I recommended your blog before noticied the server you use. Too bad...If there's any way you could you 4shared or RapidShare or anything EXCEPT the horrible Megaupload, it would be great....

harleytexas said...

I was wondering if you are going to continue this blog?????

Bronchial Slime and Chewed Rubber said...

Hmnnn - I wonder how many of you all realise that there was this really cool EP from the first version of the group... Before the male egos took over.

Been wanting to hear that again for ages.

Texas Editor said...

RE: Juba_San said...
Really cool blog, with lots of great stuff but, MEGAUPLOAD?!?!?!?!

Hey, the above moron is saying that until you move over to Rapidshare, he can't bother with any of the treasures you've posted.

Phaota said...

Got this CD years back when it was just a promo. A family friend used to work at Warner Bros. in the poster department where they painted the beautifully detailed giant billboards that were hung on the side of the studio for upcoming movies and such. Got to visit the place one day and they had a box full of promo CDs from artists they were doing album art for at the time. The only one that grabbed my interest was this "Information Society" CD. Looking back, I wish I had snagged some others too, since I have a HUGE archive of 80s MP3 music now. But I still treasure this disc.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love HACK and indeed the first album is a jewel. I wish I had one of those CD-GRAPHIC++ or whatever it was that was needed to see the special stuff on the original CD. I remember some person posted a few of the goodies on a website. Anyway, good little dance band and OH SO STAR TREK. "It's worked so far but we're not out yet." There are MANY references to ST quotes in the first album, even HACK.

Henken Swensen

Arte y Poesía said...

¿querian un blog de rock argentino?... pues aqui lo tienen:

http://fermatamolarvinilos.blogspot.com/ el blog del rock argentino

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Thanks!

Madison
maddie0147@gmail.com

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