Salaried Man Club - Gray Cross Cassette (Vanity VAT 1) 1981

Now that the computer situation has been sorted out, I'll get back to business with a Vanity label post!

This is the first of six cassettes released on the Vanity label. I am not exactly sure about the history of these tapes. The six were released as a boxset in an edition of 70 copies. I have also seen them sold individually. So, the mystery is - did they release these as a boxset first and sold off the extra copies, or did they release them individually first and later packaged unsold copies as a boxset??

I've seen this boxset labeled Noise Box and Working on a Plan, which is taken from the inscription on the front flap: "Working on a Plan 1981 Agi Yuzuri". Agi was the founder of the label as well as the music editor for the Japanese magazine Rock Music, where Vanity artists and others were featured across twelve flexi-discs.

I will probably not post all six of these cassettes consecutively. There are a few other tapes archived just about ready to go as well which may be sprinkled in here. Included in this first post are a few extra photos of the box itself, which, as can be seen in the picture, has seen better days.

To be honest, until preparing this post, I haven't listened to these tapes in a long time. This first one is better than I recall, perhaps due to hearing for the first time and rediscovering so many other early 80's minimal electronic releases via Mutant Sounds and the like over the last several months.

The only other recorded appearance I know of from Salaried Man Club is on the compilation Foam posted here a few months ago. That track appears here in a different and extended form as the first track on side B (the entire side (4 tracks) is titled Gray Cross). I hear early Cabaret Voltaire & Throbbing Gristle at times, particularly in the bass lines.

The initial standout track (and the most melodic) is 'The Though of Y' (mis-titled in the zip file), featuring a nice combination of synth & human vocals.

Another crucial Vanity label release from the early 80's - contemporary with, and predating even more of some of the best of this genre.

Enjoy.