Standstill to Motion: Live at the Melkweg, 19-03-1981 (LTMCD-2566)
Release date: January 2012
"I never wanted to be in a band," recalls Wally van Middendorp, "and my plans were for Minny Pops to be a project with a strictly limited lifespan. I wanted to make a statement, I wanted to release records, and I wanted audiences to hear and face our music - and whether they danced and clapped or got confused and hostile almost didn't matter..."
Recorded live on 8-track with the same lineup that toured North America and recorded the band's Peel session, this 15-track audio CD captures a group of performers who, despite van Middendorp's best intentions, sound like a powerful, provocative and compelling unit. Like a band.
A 17-track bonus DVD, Live in Amsterdam and New York, includes video footage from performances at New York's Hurrah and Peppermint Lounge, from Amsterdam's Filmacademie, and from the Melkweg gig featured on the audio CD.
Personnel: Wally van Middendorp (vocals, drum machine); Wim Dekker (synthesizer); Gerard Walhof (guitar); Lion von Zoeren (bass). Mixed and mastered by Reinier Rietveld.
CD: Wong \ Lights \ Trance \ Mountain \ Blue Roses \ Kogel \ Jets \ Mental \ Time \ Island \ Son \ Vital \ Tracking \ Dream \ Crack
DVD: Kogel \ Stralers \ Time \ Mono \ Dream \ Wong \ Lights \ Trance \ Een Kus \ Crack \ Goddess \ #2 \ New Muzak \ Total Confusion \ Mono \ M.D. Mania \ Dolphin's Spurt
Buy physical from LTM Recordings, Rough Trade, Bol.com or Play.com.
Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement (LTMCD-2384)
Minny Pops' debut album, originally released in 1979, was reissued in 2004 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original release. The LTM re-release is digitally restored and remastered. Additional material includes the band's debut EP Kojak; Dolphin's Spurt (2003 remix) by Zip and DJ Smacker; and Distant Feelings video footage with 5 live tracks.
Personnel: Wally van Middendorp (vocals, drum machine); Stef Emmer (guitar); Dennis Duchhart (guitar); Frans Hagenaars (bass). Produced by Minny Pops.
Springtime I \ Minny Pops \ Hologram \ Total Confusion \ Dolphin's Spurt \ Motor City \ Springtime II \ Monica \ Flash Goes The Eye \ MD Mania \ R.U. 21 \ Mono \ New Muzak \ Kojak \ Footsteps \ Nervous \ Dolphin's Spurt (remix)
"One of those enjoyable albums that is at once of its time and just slightly out of it. Minny Pops here slot into more of an early Human League / Cabaret Voltaire approach of minimal melodies and murky, crumbling noises shot through with murmuring keyboards" (All Music Guide, 10/04)
Buy physical directly from LTM Recordings.
Buy digital Nederland US UK
Sparks in a Dark Room (LTMCD-2351)
Produced by the band in late 1981, Sparks in a Dark Room was originally released by Factory Benelux the following year and saw the band at the zenith of their powers as creators of driving modern electronic dance music, redolent of DAF, Simple Minds and Moroder-era Sparks. Outstanding tracks include the motorik rhythms of Dream, Tracking, Trance and A Feeling, and eerie, twilit essays such as Black Eye and Vital. All feature Wally's literary, darkly humorous lyrics and ironic ‘Gregorian’ vocal style. In addition to the entire Sparks… album, this extended CD includes all tracks from the Time and Een Kus singles, the spin-off Smalts EP from 1982, exclusive compilation album tracks and previously unheard demos such as Kogel and Body Language.
Personnel: Wally van Middendorp (vocals, drum machine); Wim Dekker (keyboards); Pieter Mulder (guitar). Produced by Minny Pops.
Mountain \ A Feeling \ Tracking \ Crack \ Vital \ Blue Roses \ Black Eye \ Wong \ Experience \ Dream \ Night Visit \ Trance \ Time \ Lights \ Een Kus \ Son \ Secret Story (demo) \ Schitterende Ogen (demo) \ Time (demo) \ Werktitel #7 \ Werktitel #5 \ Werktitel #1 \ Werktitel #8
"The Interpol of their day, and it's aged surprisingly well" (Q Magazine, 4/03); "The cold menace of the album sounds remarkably fresh 20 years on, bearing favourable comparisons with contemporaries such as Simple Minds and Tubeway Army as well as the current crop of analogue pretenders" (Uncut, 5/03); "Fascinating. If you can keep a straight face while listening to Interpol, you'll love it" (Muzik, 5/03); "A real lost electropop classic from a time when minimal synth-pop crossovers were rightly lauded as being pioneering. Minny Pops established a firm identity as purveyors of fine, hypnotic Euro trance pop, and SIADR is a lost classic of a kind" (Whisperin' and Hollerin', 2/03); "This places Minny Pops squarely within the realm of an early 80s interface that pitched accessible pop conveniences and electronic experimentation in the same arena" (Tangents, 3/03)
Buy physical directly from LTM Recordings.
Buy digital Nederland US UK
Secret Stories (LTMCD-2353)
This compilation brings together material recorded by several incarnations of the band, and is led by the four tracks released on their two Factory singles, Dolphin's Spurt and Secret Story. The CD also features four tracks from an unreleased 1980 demo, rare compilation album tracks such as Possessed by the Stars and She Said Go-Go-Go, and four tracks each from the Poste Restante and 4th Floor albums.
Dolphin's Spurt \ Goddess \ Island \ Secret Story \ Ice Cube Wall \ Mono \ Jets \ Goddess \ Time (12" mix) \ Kogel (demo) \ Body Language (demo) \ Last Drink In The Lounge \ Possessed By The Stars \ Vreemde Dagen, Vreemde Nachten \ Left Behind (Achtergelaten) \ Wandering (Wandelen) \ Cool (Koel) \ Fighting Man \ West Desert Shore \ Back Home \ Palm Beach \ She Said Go Go Go
"Post-punk electro pioneers" (Uncut, 5/03); "The two Factory singles are excellent" (Muzik, 5/03); "They still sound challenging, occasionaly wayward and often bafflingly brilliant" (Tangents, 3/03); "The two Factory singles are among their finest achievements, with Dolphin's Spurt spurred on by some nicely bleached Keith Levene-ish guitar" (Whisperin' and Hollerin', 3/03)
Buy physical directly from LTM Recordings.
Buy digital Nederland US UK
Poste Restante (VR 22436)
Poste Restante, a play on the theme of travel featuring the actresses Marianne Boyer, Ditha van der Linden and Heleen Verschuren, was first presented by the theatre collective Exota in Haarlem in December 1982. Minny Pops composed and recorded the music for play, and this album was released in 1983.
Personnel: Wim Dekker (synthesizer), Wally Van Middendorp (vocals, lyrics), Pieter Mulder (bass, guitar), Rubin Ootes (drums), with guest appearances by Denis Duchhart (piano), Ruud Junge (horns) and Mathilde Santing (vocals). Produced by Wally van Middendorp.
Koel \ Wandelen \ The Sea \ Drom \ Achtergelaten \ Vreemde Dagen, Vreemde Nachten \ On Our Side \ Piano \ Raag \ White Wings
Fourth Floor (MD 7990)
Recorded and written by Minny Pops and produced by Wally Van Middendorp, the band's final album was released in 1985. It features guest appearances by Mark Tegefoss (guitar), Andre Bach (guitar), Ad van Meurs (guitar) and Karin Nyuhuis (vocals).
Personnel: Wim Dekker (synthesizer), Wally Van Middendorp (vocals, lyrics), Pieter Mulder (bass, guitar).
Palm Beach \ Touch \ Fighting Man \ Back Home \ Wave of Flames \ Secure \ West Desert Shore \ East Cairo \ State of Mind