Rema Rema - Fond Reflections [2019 Repress]

40 years after disbanding comes 'Fond Reflections', the debut album that never was from cult 4AD band Rema-Rema.

Rema-Rema featured former members of The Models and Siouxsie and The Banshees, and their much-loved 'Wheel in the Roses' EP (1980) was among the first records to be released on 4AD. Their only contribution to the label’s storied history, they split-up before its release, going on to form or join bands as diverse as Renegade Soundwave, The Wolfgang Press, Mass, and Adam and the Ants.

Culled from the band’s rich archive of reel-to-reel and cassette recordings, with member Gary Asquith and mixing engineer Takatsuna Mukai painstakingly working on them to make the album as cohesive as possible. The ten tracks pretty much reflect the band’s live set and is the closest to what their debut album could have sounded like. Worth noting too that although all their 1980 EP tracks are present on the album, they are all come from different recordings.

The CD edition comes with a second disc entitled Extended Wheel in the Roses. As its title suggests, it’s the four EP tracks as they were plus ‘Entry’ (taken from the same studio session as the EP’s A-side of ‘Feedback Song’ and ‘Rema- Rema’) and ‘No Applause’ and ‘Murdermuzic’, two more tracks recorded at the same Albany Empire, London show in 1979 as the EP’s B-side, ‘Instrumental’ and ‘Fond Affections’.

Double LP tracks;
A1 Feedback Song (Halligans Live Rehearsal Version)
A2 Rema-Rema (Halligans Live Rehearsal Version)
B1 Gallery / Oh Rock ‘n’ Roll
B2 Lost My Way
B3 Short Stories
C1 International Scale
C2 Fond Affections (Portobello Road Version)
C3 Why Ask Why
D1 Instrumental (Halligans Live Rehearsal Version)
D2 Entry (Halligans Live Rehearsal Version)

CD Tracks, including bonus disc;
Disc One: Fond Reflections
1 Feedback Song (Halligans Live Rehearsal Version)
2 Rema-Rema (Halligans Live Rehearsal Version)
3 Gallery / Oh Rock ‘n’ Roll
4 Lost My Way
5 Short Stories
6 International Scale
7 Fond Affections (Portobello Road Version)
8 Why Ask Why
9 Instrumental (Halligans Live Rehearsal Version)
10 Entry (Halligans Live Rehearsal Version)

Disc Two: Extended Wheel in the Roses
1 Feedback Song
2 Rema-Rema
3 Entry
4 Instrumental
5 Fond Affections
6 No Applause
7 Murdermuzic