sunsonic - the rundown
a duo comprising of ben watkins and adam peters, who were originally called the flowerpot men before they ended up signing to polydor as sunsonic in 1990.
the music is a combination of cinematic ambience, 4 to the floor electro, ibiza harmonies, klf styled twaNG guitars, goa trance and so much more.
basically : yello + underworld + klf = sunsonic.
which was weird considering that underworld were yet to happen, so in actual fact it should be noted that sunsonic were well ahead of the game.
subsequently, i loved everything i could find. the covers were all heavily stylised all being executed by laurence dunmore/simon watkins in which the artwork matched the robo-techno grooves with the images being composed out of elements of machines but the whole was to be in the shape of a female (see here for example). despite the basis for the music was technology based, the results aren't cold hearted detroit styled machine music, instead ben and adam pulled in all manner of other influences from classic rock, the doors, album closer 'shay shay' has some seriously excessive melodrama and recalls 'riders of the storm' type of drawn out ambience, full on pop via the radio friendly 'roll my body' with the mad for it horn samples, harmonica frenzy on the pounding second single 'drive away' etc etc all wrapped up within some off the wall lyrics sung in a lazy laid back male vocal style that became synonymous with smash hit 'hello' by the beloved.
it's a classic 'everything but the kitchen sink' production from 1990, ben and adam obviously loved having access to the full range of sounds available via themajor label budget, but not only that they were obviously very well connected, as various remixes spread across the 3 singles were done by high profile names such as 808 state, jim cauty and paul oakenfold, and guests such as sam brown, gary barnacle, appeared on the album to give everything a much more full sound than 2 blokes with a few keyboards.
as to be expected, the remixes are mind expanding and of the time. ambient, techno, trance, pop
they couldn't fail.
but of course they did.
ben went off to become 'juno reactor' and helped make traci lords proto-electroclash (© simon price) album, '1000 fires' the future classic that everyone ignored upon its release, and adam?
no bloody idea.
original snapshot review posted several years ago : here
so now onto the extra details.
for all releases :
laurence dunmore : design and art direction
simon watkins : illustration
all produced/mixed by sunsonic unless stated otherwise.
kind of loving
vinyl 12" (pz 76) :
kind of loving (land of oz remix) - remix by paul oakenfold
innocent man
kind of loving (7" mix)
cd single (pzcd 76):
kind of loving (7" mix) - mixed by glenn skinner : 3.56
kind of loving (land of oz mix) - remix by paul oakenfold : 5.08
innocent man : 5.08
kind of loving (sunsonic mix) : 4.26
roll my body
vinyl 12" (pz r 92) : 'roll my body - the remixes'
roll my body (precinct 13 mix) - remixed by steve proctor
roll my body (gris gris mix)- remixed by j cauty
cd single (pzcd 92)
roll my body (7" mix) : 3.06
roll my body (northside mix) - remixed by youth : 6.22
rolling joe : 4.22
driveaway
vinyl 12" pz 103 : 'the mixes'
driveaway (masseymix) - remixed by graham massey
man2ray
vinyl 12" pz r 103 : 'the primate and vendetta remixes'
driveaway (primate remix) : 6.30
driveaway (primambient mix) : 4.50
cd single (pzcd 103)
driveaway (7" 808 state mix) co-produced with zeus b held, remixed by graham massey
driveaway (12" 808 state mix) co-produced with zeus b held, remixed by graham massey
man2ray
melting down on motor angel
1. crazy
2. kind of loving
3. driveaway
4. roll my body
5. memories
6. hot
7. dream baby dream
8. watch that man
9. head of sand
10. shay shay
written recorded produced by sunsonic @ bowl court
mastered by kevin metcalfe @ townhouse
sunsonic are ben watkins and adam peters
(released 1990 on polydor : 843 538 - 2)
other musicians :
sam brown margot buchanan - backing vocals
the bell tops andy caine leroy osbourne tony jackson - backing vocals
the phantom horns gary barnacle john thirkwell pete thoms
evil graham lee slide guitar shay shay
stef holweck bass guitar shay shay dream baby dream
mark feltham harmonica driveaway
if there are more records that were released - let me know - thank you.