Dirty

Hard Corps - Dirty [SUR 12 026 UK 1984 24-Bit FLAC]

I only ever ripped my well worn 7" version for the old ESWA blog, so how's about a high resolution rip of penguinflight's 12"? I think I've featured just about everything Hard Corps ever released across both of the ESWA sites. This particular rip debuted on ESWA 2.0 during April 2018.

Hard Corps were not French, they were actually from Brixton, South London. Hugh Ashton, Robert Doran and Clive Pierce, were introduced to  Regine Fetet (a part-time sex worker), who although having never sung before, had an enigmatic, fragile, human voice which brought alive the cold, pounding machined music the three British sound engineers were creating. With influences as far and wide as Mozart and Kraftwerk working in unison with a heavily accentuated French vocal, the result was magnificent and unique. A 12" white label containing the hammering rhythmic attack of Dirty and the softer, melodic, Kraftwerkian pulse of Respirer (To Breathe) was circulated around London's dancefloors.

Their ill-fated dealings with major label giants Polydor which followed, gave the band a chance to work with a couple of their most most favoured and respected producers, Martin Rushent and Mute supremo, Daniel Miller. These sessions provided the public with just one single due to the labels non-promotion, Je Suis Passée, likely their finest work, emerged in an array of major league formats; seven and twelve inch extended mix and elongated beats and pieces of the Hard Mix. Oddly enough it was the French Vocal version on Rushent's own Immaculate label which trickled into the shops just before the familiar logo-sleeved chart contender. The band went on a major tour with Depeche Mode in 1988, before finally disintegrating. Regine sadly died of cancer in 2003.

A1 Dirty
AA Respirer (To Breathe)