Music For Pleasure - Fuel To The Fire

Originally formed in Leeds in 1979 and heavily influenced by New Wave and Krautrock, Music For Pleasure signed with Rage Records and released their debut single The Human Factor in 1980. Their minimal synthpop is filled out with flourishes of rhythm and synth that reflects Tubeway Army and the pop punk sensibilities of the era. With the second Rage Records single Fuel To The Fire in 1981 a more post punk frame is drawn that shows influences from The Sound. Eventually picked up by Polydor Records the debut album Into The Rain was co-produced by the band and Polydor “In House” production guru Mike Hedges. The album was preceded by the 7” single Switchback/I Recall, showing the bands true post punk imagery with big Comsat Angel drums and guitar phrases, filled out with bass lines that pop and break into danceable swatches of colour. Throughout the album there are glimpses of Killing Joke, Duran Duran, The Cure, the Chameleons and Comsat Angels. The band moved gracefully between all of their influences, never having too much of one to overpower the other. Slowly finding that their sound developed in similar ways that The Passions were on Michael & Miranda.

Two final singles released by Polydor in 1983, Time and Dark Crash, signaled the end of the recording deal with Polydor. Two further singles were released on the indie Whirlpool label with their final release in 1985 of the album Blacklands. Eventually splitting up in 1986 Chris Oldroyd went on to join Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Chris Whitaker joined Danse Society.

All the rips are taken from blogs long ago where the files are no longer hosted. All are now in MP3 @ 320kbps with cover art taken from Discogs. I’ve listed the releases below in approximate date order starting with the debut 7” single The Human Factor.

Click for the album here

Click for the singles here

The Human Factor 7” (Rage Records [Rage 1] 1980)

A.     The Human Factor

B.     Madness At The Mission

Fuel To The Fire 7” (Rage Records [Rage 2] 1981)

A.     Fuel To The Fire

B.     Debris

Switchback 7” (Polydor [POSP 464] 1982)

A.     Switchback

B.     I Recall

Into The Rain LP (Polydor [POLS 1070] 1982)

A1.  Light

A2.  Switchback

A3.  Nostalgia

A4.  Time

A5.  New Day

B1.  Lost Detail

B2.  Winterscene

B3.  Aim To Life

B4.  Warehouse

B5.  Underworld

Light 12” (Polydor [POSPX 533] 1982)

A.     Light [Extended]

B.     Nostalgia

Time 12” (Polydor [POSPX 553] 1983)

A.     Time [Extended]

B.     Slide [Extended]

Dark Crash 12” (Polydor [POSPX 594] 1983)

A.     Dark Crash

B1.  Urban Poison

B2.  Black Festival