Vice Versa - Aspects Of Vice Versa (1980)

Vice Versa was formed in 1977 by Stephen Singleton, Mark White, Ian Garth and David Sydenham, with Singleton and Sydenham on synthesizers, Garth on guitar and synthesizer, and White on vocals. Their first concert took place at the Doncaster Outlook club supporting Wire, and their first major Sheffield gig was with the Human League at the Now Society at Sheffield University, called "Wot, no Drummers", in reference to the fact that drum machines were used by all participating bands in place of real drums. In 1978 they supported Human League on tour, and later that year White and Singleton founded their own independent record label called Neutron Records, in order to release their music, as synth-based music was still being ignored by the major music labels. Their first release on their label was 1979's 'Music 4' EP, which was followed up by the release of a set of prints and a manifesto. In 1980, the band released a six-sided fold-out EP named '1980: The First Fifteen Minutes', featuring one song apiece from Sheffield bands Clock DVA, The Stunt Kites, I'm So Hollow, and Vice Versa themselves. This was the first proper vinyl exposure for all of these group, and eventually led to individual record deals for all of them. Around this time Sydenham decided to leave the band, and was eventually replaced by Martin Fry, who at that time was writing for his fanzine Modern Drugs, for which he interviewed White and Singleton, and then stayed on and joined the band. During 1980 Vice Versa recorded more music, releasing the cassette-only album '8 Aspects Of', followed by their only single release, 'Stilyagi'/'Eyes Of Christ', which were taken from the cassette album and remixed. While touring in the Netherlands they were invited to jam in a studio in Rotterdam, where Fry started to improvise on vocals, and after the initial surprise at the quality of his voice, they decided to make him the lead singer of the band. They then spent about a year writing new songs and thinking of a new name and concept, eventually resulting in the change of name from Vice Versa to ABC. But that's a whole other story, and this post expands the original eight track '8 Aspects Of' album by adding in the four songs from the 'Music 4' EP, one of them an extended take, plus their contribution to '1980: The First Fifteen Minutes', and one other recording from the same period, to make up a 46-minute album of superb electronic pop from 1979/1980. If you liked my earlier posts of the embryonic Human League and The Future then you'll love this, as it's very much in the same style of Sheffield-based synth-pop.  

Track listing

01 Genetic Warfare
02 Democratic Dancebeat
03 Riot Squad
04 Stilyagi
05 Jazz Drugs
06 Body Sculpture
07 Camille
08 Artists At War
09 New Girls Neutrons
10 Eyes Of Christ
11 Chainsaw Pop
12 Idol
13 Science Fact
14 Trapped In Celluloid