Colourbox - Colourbox

The band's sole full length album was, and is, a lost treasure -- though much about its production and general sound firmly places it as a product of the mid-'80s, it was still a stunning debut which covers any number of sounds and styles with aplomb. The result is a unique fusion, where you can't quite guess what will happen from one track to the next, but the sound still resembles the product of one particular vision. The opening songs set the range and ambition of the group straightaway -- from the instrumental "Sleepwalker," a truly beautiful piano piece with some extra production touches, the band slams into the sampling/guitar/rock/dance masterpiece "Just Give 'Em Whiskey." Crammed with samples from the likes of Westworld and The Prisoner, it's a total winner of beat, sound, and arrangement. Lorita Grahame makes her first appearance on the next number, the previously released cover of U-Roy's dancehall classic "Say You" -- her lovely singing provides the anchor for the album as a whole, matching the multiplicity of Colourbox's approaches with skill. The other cover on the record is often cited as its highlight -- a revamping of the Supremes' tremendous "You Keep Me Hanging On," which makes the near contemporaneous take by Kim Wilde seem like the weedy thing it is. There are plenty of other examples of Colourbox reaching for the skies, though: from the mid-century tearjerker gone modern "The Moon is Blue" and the album-closing gentle drama of "Arena" to the aggressive "Manic," which features a snarling guitar solo from William Orbit. There's a slightly curious discrepancy in the album's varying editions -- the vinyl version featured an extra record with other tracks and some alternate versions, only half of which ended up on CD. Those included were another take on "Arena" and the amusing samplefest "Edit the Dragon."

Ripped here from the vinyl version with the additional record to MP3

Colourbox; Colourbox

A1.  Sleepwalker

A2.  Just Give ‘Em Whiskey

A3.  Say You

A4.  The Moon Is Blue

A5.  Inside Informer

B1.  Punch

B2.  Suspicion

B3.  Manic

B4.  You Keep Me Hanging On

B5.  Arena

C1    Edit The Dragon

C2    Hipnition

C3    We Walk Around The Streets

C4    Arena II

D1   Manic II

D2   Fast Dump

D3   Sex Gun

There’s more from Colourbox here