Saint Etienne "Hug My Soul" Promo Postcard September 1994

Won't you hug my soul? No? Not even if I wrapped a feather boa round my neck and swayed like Sarah Cracknell? Don't run away...

Anyway, here's a rarity - a postcard sent out to publicise a Saint Etienne release (or maybe they just didn't send me anymore... sob). A top release it was as well. "Hug My Soul" was the third single from their third album "Tiger Bay", and a definite improvement chartwise after the number 41 placing of "Like A Motorway", as it reached the giddy heights of 32.  Minus points for the card advertising that very Nineties scam, the premium rate phone number message. Spend a small fortune listening to Steve Lamacq talking to the band and also hear the new single! You know, the one that's on the album you've got already.  The money you'd save not ringing could be spent actually buying the bloody CD. It made Dial-a-Disc seem such a loooong time ago.  Thank you marketing department of Creation Records.   

Kylie Minogue "Did It Again" Promo Postcard November 1997

Kylie's back! A typical oversized postcard for the postie to deliver advertising the forthcoming release of her brand new single "Did It Again". This was the second single from her second album for the deConstruction label "Impossible Princess". Not that you'd find that album in the shops at that time...

"Impossible Princess" had the misfortune to be scheduled for release shortly after the lead single "Some Kind Of Bliss", a single which was Minogue's worst performing single yet, stalling at number 22. To release a single in the week following the funeral of Princess Diana is bad enough - most single sales dropped as a Nation bought Elton John's dirge of a tribute "Candle In The Wind" instead - but to name your album "Impossible Princess" was disastrous. So the release of the album was postponed, and it would eventually see the light of day in the UK early in 1998, renamed simply "Kylie Minogue" (like her previous album), by which time any momentum of publicity had long since died out, and reviews were mixed but mostly unfavourable. A shame really, as this was the first (and last) album where Kylie would be given her head and be in control of everything, and this was the first real glimpse of the real Miss Minogue. History has been kind to this era of Kylie's pop career, with many of the songs becoming fan faves, and a re-release of the album some years later (with it's proper title reinstated) earned a more positive critical reappraisal from certain quarters of the press. Maybe she was just a little bit ahead of her time.

"Did It Again" turned out to be one of those singles which everybody seemed to like but didn't buy, only reaching number 14 in December of 1997, despite a great video, tons of publicity and some fab remixes across the formats.  Still, the story wasn't over for Kylie, because from this career low, a renaissance was to come just two years later...     

Orbital "Satan Live" Promo Postcard December 1996

"Daddy?"
"Yes son?"
"What does regret mean...?"

It's Orbital again with a revamp of their number 31 hit from 1991... altogether now... "SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN!!!!"

By the end of 1996 Orbital were probably as massive as they would ever get, with their most successful album yet "In Sides" and a reputation as one of the best live electronic bands in the UK if not the World. So why not build upon that success by releasing one of their most popular live tracks as a single? Ker-ching. Number 3 hit, and their joint biggest single (alongside the aforementioned "Saint" later that Spring). Of course releasing this in the New Year of 1997 didn't harm it's chart position (see the earlier entry for PSB's "Drunk" for more sneaky Iron Maiden-esque release tactics). Tons of live classics over 3 CD singles. Thank you very much I'll have those.

Orbital "The Saint" Promo Postcard April 1997

Doo doo do doo doo doo doooooo..... dum-de-dum-de-diddly....

What's this? Orbital doing a film theme? Yup, following on in a long tradition of old TV shows remade as shite Hollywood blockbusters, here's "The Saint", a film that was almost but not entirely unlike any of the old series of the show you may remember. Charisma-vaccuum Val Kilmer sleepwalks his way through the film as Simon Templar. I can't tell you anything else about the film as I never stayed awake long enough to know what the hell it was about. The only good thing about it was the revamped theme tune from the Hartnoll brothers, who were obviously dragged in following their "Ipcress File" sampling film noir-ish single "The Box" twelve months earlier. They'd go on to have some form in this area, with good soundtracks for the movies "Event Horizon" and "Beached" from errr.. "The Beach". Oh and their valiant efforts to get the Doctor Who theme gig. "The Saint" was their joint biggest single, reaching number 3 in April 1997. Nice postcard - should have been a t-shirt.       

Dannii Minogue "Everything I Wanted" Promo Postcard 1997

Woof! It's the lesser Minogue sister! Dannii drops her surname for 1997's "Girl" album campaign, and this postcard was sent out to promote the second poptastic single from it, "Everything I Wanted", an early Xenomania produced effort. The two CD singles featured stacks of remixes along with a poster of a half dressed Minogue, which is always a winner. A half decent single though not as good as the preceding top 5 smash "All I Wanna Do", which was a fantastic pop record on par with Kylie's output.

Inspiral Carpets "Uniform" Promo Postcard 1994

It's the start of the end. The last "proper" single from the original reign of ver Carpets. "Uniform" was the final single from their final album "Devil Hopping", before they broke up the following year, and it's lowly position of number 51 reflects the diminishing popularity of the band. It's not as if the single wasn't value for money with a great cover of "Paranoid" and several mixes and versions of tracks from the album. Bloody foul sleeve design though.

Erasure "Erasure" Promo Postcard October 1995

Oh dear. Erasure exit their "Imperial Phase" and enter the "difficult mid career dip". It's never good when a band who have been going for a while release an album with the same name as the band. It's either a lack of new ideas, or "this is the real us" and what follows is an album of self indulgent turgid toss. Erasure fell somewhere inbetween with this eponymously titled release, complete with odd cover painted portrait. The dance floor stompers of the past were mostly absent, apart from the sublime "Fingers and Thumbs", replaced with thoughtful ballads and slowies like "Sono Luminous" and the lead single "Stay With Me". Most tracks clocked in over 5 minutes and Vince has long passages of synth noodling throughout. It's probably a fan fave but didn't really grab me. Like Pet Shop Boys' "Release" album, "Erasure" was probably an album they had to get out of their system, and if it had sold in great quantities we would have had more of the same, but it didn't, so it was back to the stompers, albeit with less commercial success than before.

Pet Shop Boys "I Get Along" Promo Postcard

A great little card reproducing the artwork from PSB's second single from "Release", the album that now seems to be the anomaly in their recorded output. It's almost their "mid-career crisis" record, a low key traditional sounding (for any other band) affair, and appears to be something which they had to get out of their system. It's certainly odd looking as regular designer Mark Farrow wasn't involved in any way for the first and last time during their years recording for the EMI label. The song "I Get Along" is an Oasis-a-like plod-along, it's lyrics alluding to the then fraught relationship between Tony Blair and his New Labour colleague Peter Mandelson after the latter resigned from the Cabinet following a major scandal. All a bit dull truth told.

Of more interest on the CD singles are the fab live tracks from a Radio 2 gig, with a blistering "Love Comes Quickly" and a fantastic more traditional sounding (for this band) Blank & Jones remix of  their preceding single "Home and Dry". The UK tour advertised was an interesting affair also, reflecting the stripped back sound of it's parent album by being PSB with real musicians, and no silly costumes. It worked brilliantly, but it's interesting they haven't repeated this since. An experiment with only partial success.