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With Mothercare going down the pan, let's take a quick look at their musical impact on the world. Yes, you didn't misread that last part, get comfy...
Mothercare founder Selim Zilkha had a son, Michael, who in the late 70s moved to NYC where he co-founded ZE Records with French Record producer Michel Esteban who was also new in town.
An early ZE release was by Estaban's former business partner and girlfriend Lizzy Mercier-Descloux's duo Rosa Yemen who made skeletal no-wave inspired post punk. It didn't quite reflect the label's direction but the NY taxi cab label was already in place
Lizzy would go on to reinvent herself as a disco-chanteuse, and ZE would coin the term Mutant Disco which unless you lived under a rock in the 00s became the backbone of a LOT of great music from that era from the DFA etc etc etc
Kid Creole & The Coconuts should need no introduction. Wedding discos across the world would be deprived of such degenerate madness if it wasn't for Zilkha's dad's nappies funding such things
Godfathers of no-wave, Suicide released their 2nd studio LP on ZE in 1980. It's fucking wicked
Vega dropped a solo LP too, and contributed two miserable songs to ZE's infamous A Christmas Record
And let's not forget A Christmas Record also featured one of the all time greatest Christmas song by The Waitresses. Again, no nappies, no Christmas Wrapping. A different world it would be
And if you can't spare 3 minutes and 15 seconds to watch the I Know What Boys Like video, well, you might want to rethink your life right now
Sorry, lunch break...
Anyway, another mutant disco classic from Material featuring Nona Hendryx Having made the omnipresent Lady Marmalade in the 70s, Nona became Downtown NY royalty in the early 80s with Talking Heads and Bill Laswell's Material
Anyway, another mutant disco classic from Material featuring Nona Hendryx Having made the omnipresent Lady Marmalade in the 70s, Nona became Downtown NY royalty in the early 80s with Talking Heads and Bill Laswell's Material
If for some reason you're not familiar with dub-funk-noise maestro Bill Laswell, by name at least, you almost definitely know him from his work on tracks like Rockit by Herbie Hancock and the iconic bassline on PiL's Rise
Another not-so-household name from the ZE catalogue was Davitt Stigerson who released a brace of LPs which didn't quite fit with anything, not even with the other mutants on ZE
But you might know him from his previous work with the Disco Dub Band (one of my all time favourite records!)
And no doubt you know Eternal Flame by the Bangles which he co-wrote and produced. Again, no nappies, no flames, not even finite flames
And no doubt you know Eternal Flame by the Bangles which he co-wrote and produced. Again, no nappies, no flames, not even finite flames
ZE had close ties with Island Recs at the time, thanks to Estaban's relationship with Anna "Vogue" Wintour who knew Chris Blackwell.
In 84, ZE & Island released the 4th & Broadway comp, spawning the sub-label and featuring Junie Morrison's Techno Freq
In 84, ZE & Island released the 4th & Broadway comp, spawning the sub-label and featuring Junie Morrison's Techno Freq
On an unrelated personal note, my ex lived in an apartment on Mercer St many years ago. The living room was on the corner of 4th & Broadway. I'd often look out the window thinking of my favourite releases on the imprint, being the record bore I am. Here's a pic I took of the view
Again, if you think you don't know 4th + B'way, I'm pretty sure you do: NWA, Eric B & Rakim, Stereo MCs, Dodge City (pictured, featuring a young IG Culture before spearheading the broken beat movement) and not forgetting this banger by Womack & Womack
Back to ZE and A Christmas Record for a moment because I can't not mention the Xmas disco-blues of Christina's Things Fall Apart
Christina married Zilkha, briefly becoming heir to the Mothercare fortune til they divorced in 1990
Christina married Zilkha, briefly becoming heir to the Mothercare fortune til they divorced in 1990
Her first single Disco Clone was also the first release on ZE Records. Produced by John Cale, it's great!
Things Fall Apart and her 2nd LP were produced by Was (Not Was) who really shouldn't need an introduction either but, just in case...
Things Fall Apart and her 2nd LP were produced by Was (Not Was) who really shouldn't need an introduction either but, just in case...
Was (Not Was) joined ZE in 1980after the release of their 1st single. Their early days were filled with new-wave funk oddities like "Hello Operator... I Mean Dad... I Mean Police... I Can't Remember Who I Am"
And after the demise of ZE, in 1987 they topped the charts with Walk The Dinosaur
Once again, there would be a huge dinosaur shaped hole in a lot of our lives if it wasn't for Zilkha's dad's nappies
Once again, there would be a huge dinosaur shaped hole in a lot of our lives if it wasn't for Zilkha's dad's nappies
No doubt mentioned this before but on a school trip to Kent in 1987, I was part of a chorus of kids all chanting the boom "boom acka-lacka-lacka boom" which went on for so long that the coach driver stopped the bus on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It must still drive him nuts
I'll leave this thread here... I recently discovered Don Was now runs Blue Note Records which means, once again, no Mothercare = none of the current slew of fantastic represses like Freddie Hubbard's Hub Tones or Lonnie Smith's Think
And that's all I know
And that's all I know
The obligatory "well this blew up" tweet...
I do have a soundcloud but you'd be better off going to my @Bandcamp page https://wrongtom.bandcamp.com/
And heres my Never Ending Top Ten playlist which is now almost 24 hours long! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1U4s9SRvg4MTToRLQaRlrv?si=gjVU6M8AQSur818hRP8MJw
I do have a soundcloud but you'd be better off going to my @Bandcamp page https://wrongtom.bandcamp.com/
And heres my Never Ending Top Ten playlist which is now almost 24 hours long! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1U4s9SRvg4MTToRLQaRlrv?si=gjVU6M8AQSur818hRP8MJw
Also, on the off chance you're reading this and happen to think it'd be worth commissioning some kind of Mothercare/ZE magazine piece, I actually write now and then too... https://thevinylfactory.com/author/wrongtom/
