This is one of those records I like just because. It's an EP - not an album - and the standout track is Calling You. It’s a pretty song featuring Asha Bhosle, a well-known Indian singer with an airy, angelic voice. This EP, and that song in particular, stood out from the barrage of synthesized pap that was dominating the airwaves at the time. I last listened to the four songs on this EP not too long ago. An obscure gem that still sounds wonderful.
If you see it in a used record store buy it. It won’t be expensive and it’s a real ear treat.
You'll especially like this record if you're a Blancmange fan. Having already incorporated Indian music into Blancmange's new wave grooves, keyboardist and band founder Stephen Luscombe took that sound even further. Teaming with Vince Clarke (who had played with Depeche Mode, Yaz and Erasure) on synthesizers, vocalist Asha Bhosle and percussionist Pandit Dinesh (who had worked with Luscombe in Blancmange), the West India Company was formed and released this recording in 1984. They released their debut LP, titled Music From New Demons, in 1989. Blancmange had broken up by then and Luscombe took his new band on a U.S. tour, performing in 13 cities in 20 days. They then flew to Stockholm, Sweden, for another gig, but just before the show was to start Bhosle became stricken with colitis. Instead of canceling the concert she somehow summoned the strength to get through it and then spent a month in bed recovering.
The West India Company wasn't intended as a long-term project. I'm not sure how or when they disbanded, but Luscombe teamed back up with Blancmange co-founder Neil Arthur to reform that band in 2011. They would release the Blanc Burn album later that year, but Luscombe had to bow out after suffering an abdominal aortic aneurism. Arthur soldiered on and is still playing, sometimes live, and recording new music under the Blancmange name.
This record sounds sweet and catchy, and even (somehow) avoids sounding dated. It's always a pleasant listen. I've seen it in the bins from time-to-time, and always for next to nothing. Worth your while to pick it up if you see it and need just a touch of something a bit different.
This is one of those records I like just because. It's an EP - not an album - and the standout track is Calling You. It’s a pretty song featuring Asha Bhosle, a well-known Indian singer with an airy, angelic voice. This EP, and that song in particular, stood out from the barrage of synthesized pap that was dominating the airwaves at the time. I last listened to the four songs on this EP not too long ago. An obscure gem that still sounds wonderful.
If you see it in a used record store buy it. It won’t be expensive and it’s a real ear treat.
You'll especially like this record if you're a Blancmange fan. Having already incorporated Indian music into Blancmange's new wave grooves, keyboardist and band founder Stephen Luscombe took that sound even further. Teaming with Vince Clarke (who had played with Depeche Mode, Yaz and Erasure) on synthesizers, vocalist Asha Bhosle and percussionist Pandit Dinesh (who had worked with Luscombe in Blancmange), the West India Company was formed and released this recording in 1984. They released their debut LP, titled Music From New Demons, in 1989. Blancmange had broken up by then and Luscombe took his new band on a U.S. tour, performing in 13 cities in 20 days. They then flew to Stockholm, Sweden, for another gig, but just before the show was to start Bhosle became stricken with colitis. Instead of canceling the concert she somehow summoned the strength to get through it and then spent a month in bed recovering.
The West India Company wasn't intended as a long-term project. I'm not sure how or when they disbanded, but Luscombe teamed back up with Blancmange co-founder Neil Arthur to reform that band in 2011. They would release the Blanc Burn album later that year, but Luscombe had to bow out after suffering an abdominal aortic aneurism. Arthur soldiered on and is still playing, sometimes live, and recording new music under the Blancmange name.
This record sounds sweet and catchy, and even (somehow) avoids sounding dated. It's always a pleasant listen. I've seen it in the bins from time-to-time, and always for next to nothing. Worth your while to pick it up if you see it and need just a touch of something a bit different.
BONUS TRACK
Asha Bhosle is almost 90-years-old as I write this, but in 1984 she was an unlikely new wave pop sensation. Best known for her singing in Hindi cinema, her career - which so far has spanned more than six decades - included a prominent role as singer for The West India Company, a short-lived project put together by Blancmange co-founder Stephen Luscombe.
Bhosie's singing appeared in more than 1,000 Bollywood movies. In addition to this work, she released several albums under her own name. In 2006, Asha Bhosle stated that she had sung over 12,000 songs in her career and was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history.
The Indian government honoured her with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008.
Female singing is a Bollywood staple, and in the early 1960s prominent Indian singers like Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum dominated the industry. Bhosie accepted the assignments they refused, and in the 1950s had sung more songs than anyoine else in Bollywood.
She became more popular with time and by the 1980s had developed a more pop-oriented style, which caught the attention of Stephen Luscombe, of Blancmange, who asked her to join a new band he was forming called The West India Company.
Asha Bhosle is almost 90-years-old as I write this, but in 1984 she was an unlikely new wave pop sensation. Best known for her singing in Hindi cinema, her career - which so far has spanned more than six decades - included a prominent role as singer for The West India Company, a short-lived project put together by Blancmange co-founder Stephen Luscombe.
Bhosie's singing appeared in more than 1,000 Bollywood movies. In addition to this work, she released several albums under her own name. In 2006, Asha Bhosle stated that she had sung over 12,000 songs in her career and was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history.
The Indian government honoured her with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008.
Female singing is a Bollywood staple, and in the early 1960s prominent Indian singers like Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum dominated the industry. Bhosie accepted the assignments they refused, and in the 1950s had sung more songs than anyoine else in Bollywood.
She became more popular with time and by the 1980s had developed a more pop-oriented style, which caught the attention of Stephen Luscombe, of Blancmange, who asked her to join a new band he was forming called The West India Company.
