THE FAR CORPORATION - Stairway To heaven

This has to be one of the strangest 12-inch singles of the 80's.....and one of the most forgotten. I bought this just out of curiosity in 1985.......at first listen I was thinking .."you GOT to be kidding". it kinda sucks for the first 4 minutes....but then the " Phil Collins "-like drums kick in.....and it then becomes laughably dated.....LOVE IT!!!
so who were the Far Corporation?

Far Corporation is a band created by music producer Frank Farian, who created the bands Boney M. and Milli Vanilli. The name was shortened from "Frank Farian Corporation", which was originally put together to record a cover of the Paul Simon piece "Mother and Child Reunion" as a charity record and reached the top 10 in several European countries. That group's lineup included members of Barclay James Harvest, Trio, Boney M and Force Majeure (Band).
Far Corporation's primary claim to fame is their cover of "Stairway to Heaven". Contrary to public perception, Far Corporation was actually the first group to make the singles charts with this song as Led Zeppelin had never released it as a single. Some of the musicians Farian assembled include vocalist Robin McAuley, drummer Simon Phillips, ex-Saga drummer Curt Cress, and three members of Toto: vocalist Bobby Kimball, keyboardist David Paich, and guitarist Steve Lukather. Far Corporation released its first album Division One in 1985 on IMP/ATCO Records and their cover of "Stairway to Heaven" reached #8 on the UK singles chart. Also included on the album was a cover of Free's "Fire and Water" (the 2nd single).
A second album Advantage was completed for a 1987 release, heralded by the new single "One by One". Both his as well as the second single - a cover of Cockney Rebel's "Sebastian" - failed to reach the charts, and the album was eventually scrapped. Two of the lost recordings, "Make Believe" and "Big Brother", surfaced as Bobby Kimball duets on Farian artist Jayne's Ambush in the Night album (1989) and Milli Vanilli's second album The Moment of Truth (1991). The rest was recycled along a few new recordings on the group's second release, 1994's Solitude on MCI-BMG. This time they were joined by former Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham. Mostly assembled in honour of Farian's 25 years anniversary as a producer, the album failed to repeat the success of "Stairway to Heaven".
THE FAR CORPORATION - STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

Humpe Humpe

How's THIS for Obscure? In 1985, for some reason, Warner Brothers records released the debut album from 2 sisters from Germany that called themselves HUMPE HUMPE. I loved this little bit of strange Lena Lovich / Kate Bush / Frank chickens inspired pop and wave, but I'm sure the rest of the country was confused. Having song titles like "Yama-Ha" and "Gescrien Im Schlaf" sure didn't help them win over the hearts and ears of the states. I can strangely find no information on-line about this band, but IMDB did have this to say about member Annette Humpe:
"One of the most influential artists in the "Neue Deutsche Welle" (New German Wave) era with her projects "Ideal (1980-1983), "Palais Schaumburg" (1984) and "Humpe und Humpe" (1985-1986) together with her sister Inga Humpe."
Has been one half of the successful pop duo "Ich + Ich" since 2004.
Producer of several popular artists such as Rio Reiser, Luci Van Org and Die Prinzen.
Her son Anton was born in 1992"
So......while the rest of this country was eating up crap like Huey Lewis & The News, I was walking the streets of Huntington with my cassette boombox blasting the Art Of Noise, Laurie Anderson and THIS stuff. Somehow I think it all fits nicely together in one neat little package......
HUMPE HUMPE - THREE OF US
HUMPE HUMPE - CAN'T LEAVE THE POOL
HUMPE HUMPE - HAPPINESS IS HARD TO TAKE
HUMPE HUMPE - DON'T KNOW WHERE I BELONG
HUMPE HUMPE - THREE OF US (Fun Girl Three Mix)

Tim Scott - Swear

In that magical year of 1983, Sire Records released an EP by a young man by the name of Tim Scott. The title song was later covered (And BADLY, I Might add...)by Sheena Easton. But Tim's version had just the right amount of creepiness and camp to it. The rest of this 5 song EP doesn't hold a candle to Swear, but it's not terrible either......
FUN FACT: The Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin sings background vocals on "Swear"


On Tim Scott's own website he states the following:
"This was my young and confused record...I wrote the songs over a couple of weeks on a little Casio keyboard...Sire heard it and offered me a deal...no use apologizing for such a thing...my mistake... the good part of it was working with Richard Gottehrer ...really took me under his wing...shame we were working on the wrong kind of music....."
TIM SCOTT - SWEAR

TIM SCOTT - GOOD AS GOLD
TIM SCOTT - THE RULES I BROKE
TIM SCOTT - PLAY THE FOOL
TIM SCOTT - UNCOMMITTED