Back in the ’80s, the recording studio was a cesspool of collaborations, mostly fueled by mounds of cocaine, wads of cash, and clouds of ego. However, one of the more intriguing and oft-forgotten pop music partnerships of that era is Zee.
The one-off collaboration between Pink Floyd’s late keyboardist Richard Wright and former Fashion singer-guitarist Dave Harris produced some incredible, groundbreaking electro-pop that’s mostly been lost to rock ‘n’ roll history — that is, until now.
On May 24th, Burning Shed Records will be issuing a deluxe box set of Zee’s 1984 album, Identity. The set will include a new remaster of the album, bonus tracks, unreleased mixes and demos, a lyric book, and reproduced promotional 10″ × 8″ photos.
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Those with a flair for history and studio wizardry may appreciate the album for its technical accomplishments alone, namely how Wright and Harris were able to harness the Fairlight Computer, which could recreate the sound of any musical instrument.
“We spent hours and hours just experimenting with it at first,” Wright recalled upon the album’s release. “The great thing about the Fairlight is that every time you go back to it you learn something else. We had to get control over it though because it would have been very easy just to have ended up making funny noises. We spent several weeks sequencing and scripting everything but it was all worth it in the end.”
For a preview of the magic, revisit Zee’s original single “Confusion” below, which is followed by the complete tracklisting. Those looking to grab it yourself should head over to Burning Shed as pre-orders are currently on-going.
Or try to pick up an original copy over at Reverb.
Identity Tracklist:
CD 1:
01. Confusion
02. Voices
03. Private Person
04. Strange Rhythm
05. Cuts Like A Diamond
06. By Touching
07. How Do You Do It
08. Seems We Were Dreaming
Bonus Tracks:
09. Confusion 7″ edit
10. Eyes of a Gypsy 7″
11. Confusion 12″ re-mix
12. Eyes of a Gypsy 12″re-mix
CD 2:
01. Cuts Like a Diamond (early mix / demo)
02. Private Person (early mix / demo)
03. Strange Rythm (early mix / demo)
04. Voices (early mix / demo)
05. Confusion (early mix / demo)