Dead Or Alive: Let Them Drag My Soul Away - Singles, Demos And Live Recordings 1979-1982, 3CD Edition

• 3CD SET EXPLORING THE EARLY YEARS OF LEGENDARY PETE BURNS FRONTED DEAD OR ALIVE.

• FEATURING EARLY SINGLES, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED DEMOS, PEEL SESSIONS AND LIVE RECORDINGS. WITH 16 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS!

• SLEEVENOTE ESSAY INCLUDES CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BAND MEMBERS WAYNE HUSSEY AND JOE MUSKER, AND MANAGER FRANCESCO MELLINA.

• A LONG OVERDUE SHOWCASE FOR THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF ONE OF THE POST-PUNK AND 80S POP SCENE’S MOST MEMORABLE FIGURES.

• OUT, PROUD, AND VERY, VERY LOUD!

Having been ‘discovered’ working in Liverpool’s Probe Records during the punk rock explosion, Pete Burns found himself fronting his own band, Nightmares In Wax who mutated into the more familiar Dead Or Alive, eventually bringing Pete into the UK pop mainstream, and a star was born.

Bringing together early singles by both Nightmares In Wax and Dead Or Alive, Peel sessions and previously unheard demos and live recordings, ‘Let Them Drag My Soul Away’ shines a light on the pre-fame Burns and a revolving cast of bandmates and collaborators, many of whom were mainstays of both the Liverpool and broader British post-punk scene.

From the disco punk funk of ‘Black Leather’ through proto-Gothic singles ‘It’s Been Hours Now’ and ‘The Stranger’, and into early versions of hi-NRG tracks which would eventually find their way onto the band’s debut album, this is both an invigorating exploration of an emerging talent and a valuable time capsule of an important figure in both the 80s pop and gay club scenes. While so many pop stars hid their homosexuality for the sake of record sales and middle America, Burns stuck up two fingers and sang loudly about both his own inner world and his desire for large, leather clad boys!

Featuring sleeve notes by Electronic Sound magazine’s Mat Smith (with new interview contributions from Wayne Hussey, Joe Musker and Francesco Mellina), and a plethora of previously unheard recordings, this is a must for fans of Pete Burns, post-punk and pop enthusiasts and those with an interest in British pop culture in the aftermath of punk’s liberation.

Track Listing

DISC ONE

THE SINGLES
Nightmares In Wax
1 Black Leather
2 Girl Song
3 Shangri-La
4 Girl Song (1985 Mix)
5 Shangri-La (1985 Mix)

Dead Or Alive
6 I’m Falling
7 Flowers
8 Number Eleven
9 Namegame (Live version)
10 It's Been Hours Now
11 Whirlpool
12 Nowhere To Nowhere
13 It's Been Hours Now 2
14 The Stranger
15 Some Of That

DISC TWO

THE DEMOS
Nightmares In Wax
1 Black Leather (4-Track Demo)*
2 Girl Song (4-Track Demo)*
3 I’ll Turn Away (4-Track Demo)*
4 Shangri-La (4-Track Demo)*

Dead Or Alive
5 Selfish Side (Demo)*
6 Far Too Hard (Demo 2nd Mix)*
7 Misty Circles (Demo)*
8 What I Want (Demo)*
9 Give It To Me (Demo)*
10 Selfish Side (Alternate Early Mix) *
11 Untitled Instrumental #1*
12 Untitled Instrumental #2*
13 Untitled Instrumental #3*
(*previously unreleased)

DISC THREE

THE PEEL SESSIONS & LIVE RECORDINGS
1 Nowhere To Nowhere (Peel Session)
2 Running Wild (Peel Session)
3 Number Eleven (Peel Session)
4 Flowers (Peel Session)
5 Number Twelve (Peel Session)
6 The Stranger (Peel Session)
7 Misty Circles (Peel Session)
8 Misty Circles Pt 2 (Peel Session)
9 Gilded Splinters (Live In Manchester)*
10 Don't Tell Me (Live In Manchester)*
11 Flowers (TV Version)*
(*previously unreleased)