Name: Torch Song - ‘Wish Thing’ Pre-Release Cassette (Numbered 253/350)
Brand: Chris Allison
SKU: LDN_CA_020
Price: 15.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Torch Song - ‘Wish Thing’ Pre-Release Cassette (Numbered 253/350)

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Torch Song was the London group William Orbit formed with singer Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert in the early ’80s, years before he became one of the most sought-after producers of his generation. Orbit went on to co-produce Madonna’s Ray of Light (1998), which won Grammys for Best Pop Album and Best Dance Recording, and to co-write and produce her “Beautiful Stranger.” He produced Blur’s 13 (1999), including “Tender” and “Coffee & TV,” and All Saints’ U.K. No. 1 “Pure Shores”; worked with Beth Orton; and reached No. 4 in the U.K. with his own version of Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”

Wish Thing, Torch Song’s first album, came out in 1984 on I.R.S. It isn’t on Spotify and is rare on any format. This copy is a limited pre-release on a Maxell C46 metal cassette. Its inlay reads: “A Torch Song Guerilla Production. Recorded at Guerilla Studio.” It explains that the tape was “real time copied without noise reduction onto a Nakamichi cassette deck directly from the PCM digital master,” and the copy number is written in by hand: 253 of 350. The card is printed “With Compliments” from Torchforce Limited at 16 Blomfield Road, London W9, in Little Venice—the neighborhood where Orbit, Mayer, and Gilbert set up the first Guerilla Studios.

The tracklist runs “Don’t Look Now,” “Telepathy,” “Ode to Billy Joe,” “Another Place,” “Prepare to Energize,” “Tattered Dress,” “Sweet Thing,” “You Said You Were Coming,” and “Water Clock Secrets.”

Key details & collectability

Maxell C46 metal cassette of Wish Thing (1984)
Limited pre-release, hand-numbered 253 of 350
Real-time copy direct from the PCM digital master, with no noise reduction
Inlay printed “With Compliments” from Torchforce Limited, Little Venice, London
Early work from William Orbit, later producer of Madonna, Blur, and All Saints
Album not on Spotify and rare on any format

Provenance

From the archive of London producer and engineer Chris Allison.

A percentage of Chris Allison’s proceeds from this collection will be donated to Restore The Music, a social impact charity that addresses systemic inequality in music education by providing capital grants to state schools in areas of high socio-economic deprivation.

Pairs well with

Provenance

From the archive of London producer and engineer Chris Allison.

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