PERFECT VISION: Discography

Well, my earlier post of Perfect Vision's Tongues Out mLP caught the eye of the band, and the synth player & singer (and sleeve designer) of the band, Steve Xerri, gave me recordings of all of the rest of the band's output and asked me to share them. He also geve me a bit of info about each release:

First off is the band's debut EP, ...Our Broken Crown... It was released by Backs and recorded in various studios: Hamster Studios was
a friend's home-based set-up (and the track recorded there, Drive Me,
was the first one John Peel played). Hyperion Studios was owned
by hippie band The Enid, and Spaceward, where Laugh At
Breakage and This Hook were recorded, was the haunt of The Stranglers.


The demonstration tape was recorded mostly on 4-track (Portastudio) in rehearsal rooms, friends' bedroom studios, etc. All the material was laid down before the band released anything on vinyl through Backs. The artwork is from an inlay to the cassette. Repetition is a Bowie song, the rest the band wrote themselves. At one time the band would open their live set with the song Great Figure, its long taped intro, complete with clarinet, played in the dark before they went on stage - heady stuff! It was released on In Der Tat Records and originally distributed by Peeved. Special thanks go to Steve Hartwell, who ran Peeved and was very generous in letting the files be shared.

The Coincidence 12" was financed by Backs; they were all recorded at
Spaceward studios.

If you like the Tongues Out mLP I posted a while back (or, hell, even if you don't), download these here. This is a truly underrated band who played some of the best minimal synth, new wave, electro, and post punk songs of the early to mid 80s.

Perfect Vision:

...Our Broken Crown... EP
1984, Backs Records
A1 Laugh At Breakage
A2 Drive Me
B1 This Hook
B2 Swim To Me


Demonstration single-sided tape
1985, In Der Tat Tapes, originally distributed by Peeved
A1 Play Red
A2 Worksong
A3 This Hook
A4 Bite The Bullet
A5 Repetition
A6 Labour Like This
A7 On Edge
A8 Great Figure

Coincidence EP
1986, Backs Records
A1 Coincidence
A2 Dream Ship
B1 Crossing Borders

Download everything here!

Perfect Vision: Tongues Out mLP

Okay, I just want to say this right away: If anyone has anything else from Perfect Vision (especially their demo tape release), I would be eternally grateful if you would share it. Now that that's out of the way, I just want to give a quick intro to this UK band. They were one of the many excellent bands on the Backs label (Venus in Furs, Testcard F, Gee Mr Tracy, Gothic Girls, etc). They played bouncy, somewhat dark electro - in my mind, a perfect mix of electronics and guitar-based post punk. Some of these songs are truly ahead of their time, and this record has aged better than 99% of records from the mid-80s. Hole in the Soul is a great danceable guitar-based track, and the next song Scratch & Howl comes out of the gates with an immediate electro beat that gets darker and darker. THe throbbing electronic "Engines" should please the minimal synth fans, and "Kick" has one hell of a great danceable synth line... Just download this one already!

Perfect Vision: Tongues Out mLP

1985, Backs Records

Tracks:

A1 Hole In The Soul

A2 Scratch & Howl

A3 Engines

B1 Kick

B2 Impossible Blue

B3 Damnation

B4 ...Like Engines

Click here to download this mLP!