Absolute- Demo K7
Here’s an extra special rarity in demo form. Here we have a series of cassette demos recorded by Absolute, known for their handful of tracks on Vince Clarke and Eric Radcliffe. You can hear their officially released tracks over yonder, as part of the Reset Records collection that has been unofficially compiled. A handful of those Reset Records tracks appear here in demo form, so it’s interesting to see how they differ from their studio counterparts. I’m also quite fond of the exclusive tracks here, especially “Take Her Away,” a killer synthpop gem that should feel right at home for fans of mid-period Depeche Mode.
That said, I still can’t seem to find much in the way of information about Absolute (aside from a little connection to the great John Fryer, who produced their second 7”), but someone uploaded what seems to be a promotional photo of the band on discogs. If the above image is correct, that might shed a skint of light on the subject. If there’s anyone out there that can chime in with more, please don’t hesitate! Otherwise, here’s the info:
Absolute- Demo K7
1. Take Her Away
2. Can’t You See
3. Does Anybody Want Me
4. T.V. Glare
5. Love In My Heart
6. Friend or Enemy
7. Club Boys
8. Only Time Can Tell
9. Doofa on 45
10. Merry Go Doofa
May 10, 2011 at 6:53 am
Thank You, very nice indeed!
May 11, 2011 at 10:00 am
..just discovered this blog..thank you for everything, feels like being younger again…
long live to Systems of Romance!
May 27, 2011 at 4:49 pm
A nice rarity this. A real shame though that someone has felt the need to get heavy handed with the noise reduction software. Please leave the hiss and allow us to do it ourselves please.
May 27, 2011 at 4:53 pm
You say that as if it was my choice to rip it that way ;). I personally do very little to my rips aside from remove some glaring pops and skips.
Gotta work with what you're given, sometimes! If a better version surfaces, I'll be glad to update this post!
July 17, 2020 at 6:09 pm
Did you have the tape to rip? Who does it belong to or do you have information about it?
June 26, 2011 at 9:51 pm
oh wow!, my uncle was the songwriter and keyboard player in Absolute – he's the one on the left in the photo you've got there, his names Paul Johnson, i am going to the 80's here and now tour gig at the 02 on friday with him, will tell him about this! 🙂
June 28, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Hi, I'm Paul Johnsons daughter, if you want any information I'd be happy to help 🙂 let me know!
February 27, 2017 at 3:07 pm
I would like some info on what year(s) these were recorded; the only info I can find about them is the 2 singles listed on Discogs…thanks!
January 2, 2012 at 12:31 am
I wuld love sme info. I spent a short summer with the band at blackwing. Played some guitar on some tracks. Never new what happened to the band? Stan. sleake7@yahoo.ca
January 2, 2012 at 9:52 am
Stan's email typo: It's sleake007@yahoo.ca
January 18, 2020 at 12:04 am
Thank you so much!
May 10, 2020 at 9:54 am
Absolute were Taf, Dave Thomas and Paul Johnson
http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/absolute-precision/3854
July 7, 2020 at 9:01 pm
This is actually their album, not a demo tape, but remained unreleased.
There’s three tracks that are missing in this version: Now You Are Gone (an extended mix is only available) and two mixes of Take Her Away, which are quite different to the original version, I can provide them if you want.
It was produced by John Fryer between early 1986 to mid 1987, but it was shelved after they split up, and failure of their two singles, it was planned to be released after the release of “Can’t You See” but the single had no promotion at all, even there was a 12″ mix planned, and it was produced weeks after the 7″ came out, but there was no point to press it, because it was commercial failure and a financial flop for Reset Records.
At this point Vince Clarke was not in the label anymore, he left after he produced T.V. Glare and went to form what would be Erasure. So the only left was Eric Radcliffe and he was the one who ran the label until late 1987 and gave the funds to produce Absolute and be their manager.
After the flop of Can’t You See, the idea was to sell the album to another label, since Sonet was about to pull the plug to Reset, and they didn’t want to invest, so while the band went on tour around the UK they got interest of EMI, who gave them the chance, and let them produce two mixes of Take Her Away with EMI supervising them, but it sounded so awful to them, so EMI pull the plug.
Then RCA (Who ironically licensed Reset from 1983 to 1984) got interested, and even offered them to fund new track to produce, but they hadn’t produced or written anything new besides the abum so they split up before accepting or declining the deal.
The masters may be in hands of Eric Radcliffe since he cleaned up Blackwing Studios for Robert Marlow’s album masters to be remastered in Sweden, and before the studio closed in 2005 or simply destroyed or deteriorated, if anyone can confirm that please let know.
Absolute were:
Taf (Colin Taaffe), misnamed as Taffe on the T.V. Glare single
Paul Johnson
John Thomas (He left the band in early 1986)
August 25, 2023 at 12:12 am
this is sooooooooooooooooooo good