Returning to a theme we have not explored for quite some time, KajaFax again ventures into the Japanese vinyl collectors area with this duo of special editions. KajaFax holds many Kajagoogoo and Limahl Japanese editions in its archive and we have made it our goal to bring each and every one to you!
The Never Ending Story was a massive global success. Helped no doubt by several influencing factors, the song is as popular now as it was back in ’84. At the time of release, Limahl was a massive household name and with the benefit of being featured in a hit movie and being produced by the legendary Giorgio Moroder, Never Ending Story was destined to be a huge hit. Of course, being a great song also helped!
Ultimately included on Limahl’s debut album ‘Don’t Suppose….’, the Never Ending Story was not featured on early pressings in favour of alternate track ‘The Greenhouse Effect’, but was soon added when it became apparent what a monster hit it was destined to become.
The history of the songs’ origins is well documented. Limahl had been invited to perform at the 1984 Tokyo Music festival where he had a chance meeting with Giorgio Moroder. He was sent a demo of the song shortly after, and despite being hesitant about the song at first, it was not long before he headed to Moroder HQ in Munich to cut the track.
“When I arrived at Giorgio’s Munich studios in the mid afternoon, I’d already learned the basics of the song back in London, so we just did a few run through’s as a warm-up and then he hit the red button….I had been up late the night before and was a little tired, so Giorgio suggested an early dinner with more recording later. After some good food, conversation, and a little wine, we recorded again but this time it felt like it was really gelling and the reactions were really positive. It all happened very quickly once I started locking into the vocal, and he just kept hitting that red button….”
The female vocalist you hear on the track is that of Beth Andersen although her parts were not recorded in Munich, but separately in a recording studio in Los Angeles.
Such was the success of the song that it was later re-recorded in the French language for marketing in the French speaking territories of Belgium, Canada, and of course France!
This version did not feature Andersen on female vocal but French based American singer/songwriter Ann Calvert.
Here are the images:
**click on each image to open a large version in your web browser**
12″ Edition:
and the 7″ promo edition:
Special thanks to Gold Legion records and Beth Anderson for their assistance with this article.
Thank you for visiting KajaFax.
2014 KajaFax
Limahl: Live Performance Update
Here we are again with our second (and we have to say most unexpected) article of the day! KajaFax have within the last hour been contacted by Limahl with some great photographs taken during last weekend’s arena performance in Oslo. These images are exclusive to KajaFax – enjoy!
Taken during Saturday’s performance, the photos came with a personal message from the man himself….. To all those KajaFax readers who attended, he sends a huge “thank you” 🙂
The audience were absolutely fantastic and Limahl thoroughly enjoyed performing in front of so many appreciative people! The arena was at its 23,000 capacity for the event and it seems to be universally agreed that the night was an incredible success!
The really great news is that the concert was also recorded, and there is a suggestion that it may go to DVD in the near future. As always, we will keep you updated with any news as and when we are made aware of it!
Thanks for visiting KajaFax!
2014 KajaFax
Kajagoogoo Comic Strip
We have hit May already which is absolutely astounding! To begin the month, we have a simple scan of a cartoon feature with the Kajagoogoo boys. You may remember our article from 2012 featuring the original sketch boards from a Mike Noble ‘Limahl’ cartoon strip. If not, check it out HERE.
Today’s comic-strip comes courtesy of Barrie Mitchell and is called ‘The Show Goes On’.
If you missed it first time around, here it is!
**Click on the image to open a large version in your browser**
We hope you enjoyed that 🙂 See you next time!!
2014 KajaFax
Steve Askew – Mike Read’s Pop Quiz 1983
Probably every forty-something’s favourite pop show, Mike Read’s Pop Quiz originally aired on BBC Television from 1981 to 1984. The Kajagoogoo boys appeared on the show on several occasions, and today’s clip features ‘goo guitarist Steve Askew.
This episode was first broadcast on BBC1 on April 9th 1983.
Many thanks to ‘Durchhaltenbis70’ for the extremely scarce upload.
Enjoy the show! KajaFax returns on Thursday with more archival goo!
2014 KajaFax
Kajagoogoo….On This Day in History III
Today continues our series of anniversary posts that will be featured on KajaFax throughout 2014, as we look back at important events in the group’s history.
Released on this day in 1984, ‘Turn Your Back on Me’ was a late addition to the Islands album, being conceived relatively late in the writing process. The lyrics of the song, as written by Nick Beggs, tell an interesting and very personal tale, as Nick explains:
“I wrote the lyrics to this song after a close friend of mine used my identity in a fraud. It all came to a head when the Police knocked on my door one night and wanted to arrest me for checking out of a Hotel and not settling the room bill. However, it became clear that this individual had used my name and address without my consent, run up a hefty bill, and then disappeared. The perpetrator was finally tracked down by the authorities. I never spoke to him again!”
The single is also notable for its success both here and overseas – claiming the #2 position on the ‘Billboard Dance Charts’ in America, and also contributing to the gold sales figures achieved by the ‘Islands’ album in Japan.
Single sales were boosted by the issue of the standard 7″, an extended 12″ single, and this lovely 12″ picture disc:
There are also two versions of the video….here is one of them!
2014 KajaFax
Kajagoogoo…..On This Day in History II
Welcome to the second of our retrospective ‘On This Day in Kajagoogoo History’ articles, which today has a unique twist, as it also features items emailed to us by Swedish KajaFan Richard. Always happy to see items from the personal collections of our readers, I was pleased to see these images pop through the KajaFax ‘virtual letterbox’ a week or two ago and thought that now would be a great time to showcase them.
First of all….you can never have too much of a good thing, right? The White Feathers album has been the subject of many a KajaFax article, and not without good reason, as it is such a great record!
It was on this day in 1983 that ‘White Feathers’ was released.
The band were by this time the proud owners of two hit UK singles (soon to be three) and were about to embark on their first major tour as headline act. ‘Hang on Now’ was soon to follow in the June to complete the trio of hits from the album, and a live video release of the tour was just around the corner. If that was not enough, this hectic schedule was all preceded by a personal appearance at the Virgin Megastore in Oxford Road, London on April 21st.
White Feathers went on to climb to #5 in the UK Album Charts, spending 20 weeks on the hot 100 listings. It was also globally successful, attaining top 10 status in many major territories, crucially making in big in the lucrative American and Japanese markets.
It is testament to the longevity and popularity of the album that only a couple of years ago, title track White Feathers was given a modern day twist and reissued as a rather special remix single by Manhattan Clique.
There are many regionally unique pressings of the album in circulation, and collecting them all would take quite a while! With foreign variations containing differences such as gatefold sleeves, varied track listings and alternate cover art as well as modern re-issues and club editions, there are lots of different examples out there for the dedicated collector to track down.
We have featured a few such releases in previous articles – see the official Korean issue HERE, and the Korean bootleg edition HERE. A full list of our other previously published articles featuring the album can be found HERE.
Richard’s pressing is from Portugal, and as you can see from the photographs he has so kindly sent, this version has different front cover and inner sleeve imagery.
A huge thanks to Richard for taking the time to photograph and email these in to us!
To finish this article, here is some great musical content. Sit back and enjoy the Manhattan Clique remix of White Feathers. See you next time for more of the very best in all things Kajagoogoo!
2014 KajaFax
Nick Beggs: Limited Edition Vinyl Release
Hot on the heels of Sunday’s article, KajaFax bring more news that will be of particular interest to fans of Kajagoogoo bass guitarist and Chapman Stick maestro Nick Beggs.
Record label Burning Shed are to issue Nick’s Lifesigns album as a 180g double vinyl edition.
The album is housed in a luxurious gatefold sleeve, and features bonus track ‘Telephone’ (single edit).
Visit www.burningshed.com to be taken to the label’s website, or for a direct link to the album pre-order page, click on the below cover art.
A true collector’s item and a fabulous addition to your Kajagoogoo vinyl collection.
The Lifesigns vinyl LP is available to pre-order now, for a release date of May 26th.
2014 KajaFax
Kajagoogoo – An Online Retrospective
All of us here at team KajaFax welcome comments from our readers, and our inbox has a regular turnover of emails from fans of the band, which is of course how we like it 😉
What we bring to your attention today goes one step further than a written comment on a webpage – it’s a podcast. Recently uploaded to the internet by American fan ‘John Ginder’, this is a verbal retrospective of the bands career thus far as seen through the eyes of the listener. John has an obvious preference for the White Feathers album, and although a little bit mixed up with his band history clearly has a love of the band and an interest in their full catalogue of song and not just the ’80s ones.
Why not set a few minutes aside and give the broadcast a listen?
Click on the ‘play’ button below to listen to what John has to say….
We would appreciate your comments 🙂
2014 KajaFax
Limahl – Live Arena Show
Those of you who explore KajaFax’s many pages on a regular basis will have seen the forthcoming Arena show, detailed in the Live section of the site.
Limahl will be performing at the Telenor Arena in Oslo on Saturday 26th April in front of 23,000 fans as a part of the We Love The 80’s tour. Our man takes to the stage alongside contemporaries Bananarama, Kim Wilde, Rick Astley, Nik Kershaw, and many more. The event is compèred by DJ Pat Sharp. With a huge sound system, a spectacular light show, lasers, pyrotechnics and other special effects, this night of great 80’s music is sure to be an unforgettable evening.
The Arena is huge and in recent times has hosted Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, and love it or loathe it – the Eurovision Song Contest.
Massive stage + huge audience = great show!
Full information (including the purchasing of tickets) can be found HERE.
This really is sure to be a fabulous gig – if you are due to attend the event, don’t forget to share your thoughts (and indeed your photographs) with all fans right here on KajaFax!
For now, here’s a taster of what is to come….recorded in 2013 for Italian broadcaster Rai 1.
2014 KajaFax
BBC Summer of ’84 Rock Hour Broadcast
Team KajaFax love vintage footage, and it doesn’t get better than this, as we present audio from the BBC Summer of ’84 Special featuring Kajagoogoo.
Recorded during the ‘Islands’ Tour, this clip features two live tracks as well as the introduction by BBC DJ Richard Skinner. The clip has been lifted from an American transcription album which in its full form includes Thomas Dolby and Wang Chung amongst others, as well as lots of US radio advertisements!
We hope that you enjoy the clip! 😉
See you again next time for more news and updates from the world of Kajagoogoo!
2014 KajaFax
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