Les Disques Du Crepuscule
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:05 am
I wrote here earlier in the posts that Josef K’s single “Sorry for Laughing” didn’t actually come out on Postcard but was a co-operation with Les Disques Du Crepuscule.
For the obsessive then: Disques Du Crepuscule had an interesting association with UK Indy music in the late 70’s/early 80’s, particularly with Scotland and Manchester (in the shape of Postcard and Factory records). A Factory package tour hit Benelux around this time. My own band played at au Plan K in support of a Richard Jobson gig in 1981. Crepuscule started in 1980, when A Certain Ratio's Shack Up 7" was released, carrying a double label identity: Factory Benelux/Les Disques Du Crepuscule. The 7" was followed by the even rarer (I’ve got one!!!) and exquisitely beautiful The Durutti Column's Lips That Would Kiss Form Prayers to Broken Stone 12" in October.
The first true Crepuscule product, the cassette compilation From Brussels with Love was put together between July and October 1980, appearing in the UK in November. Its release marked the parting of Factory Benelux and Crepuscule, although both labels kept operating from the same offices! Even in early 80's independent music circles, From Brussels with Love, originally packed in a clear PVC pouch including a 16-page booklet, was something of a stranger. It was an unusual mixture of pieces from well known and less well known artists -Thomas Dolby, Richard Jobson, Michael Nyman, Vini Reilly, Brian Eno- all that despite just being an 'aural magazine'. Crepuscule's first proper record, in January 1981, was Mozart, a 7" (previously released as In Re Don Giovanni on Piano in 1980) containing three short pieces by the then unknown Michael Nyman, who'd already contributed to From Brussels With Love. Being an odd choice for a single, Mozart now is a sought after record.
As a company they released records by Manchester’s 23 Skidoo and Cabaret Voltaire and their publishing company put out Richard Jobson’s book of poems, “A Man for All Seasons”. They recorded a 12” for Bourgie Bourgie which never came out and the Jazzateers LP, released in the UK through a deal with Rough Trade.
Brussels being an international city, Crepuscule soon spread its tentacles abroad. In 1982 Operation Twilight (UK) and Crepuscule America were launched. Both were short lived and the US section (run by Factory US supremo Michael Schamberg) issued only one record: Paul Haig's Running Away 12", which is now rare and desirable. (I’ve got one folks!!!!)
The Pale Fountains “Thank you” was recorded for Crepuscule although it came out on Virgin. Same goes for their album.
In 1983 Crepuscule signed a UK/Benelux distribution deal with Island for Paul Haig. As a result of this deal Paul Haig's Rhythm of Life LP went into production in New York. Island and Crepuscule released 3 singles from the album: Heaven Sent, Never Give Up and Justice. They all failed to chart, maybe because the sound of Rhythm Of Life didn't appeal to the people who liked Josef K. The album itself sold rather well though in all European markets, so the US market seemed to be a logical next step but Island decided not to release the album over there. In 1990 Crepuscule proposed to release Rhythm of Life and the New York Remixes album together on one CD but apparently Haig vetoed the idea.
There were further Haig records on Crepuscule that I know about, The Only Truth and The Warp of Pure Fun EP. He left to sign for Circa but there is a “sort of available” compo of his DDC stuff called European Sun.
The Associates Allan Rankin also put out two solo albums on the label, The World Begins To Look Her Age and She Loves Me Not. Their was talk that Billy McKenzie would be collaborating with ZTT’s Trevor Horn for the label on a version of the Associates Reach The Top but it came to nothing.
My association with Crepuscule ended around this time although I know the label continued in one form or another till the mid 90’s cos around that time Paul Haig returned to Crepuscule with Coincidence Vs Fate, containing most of the tracks from his (probably rightly) unreleased 1991 Circa album Right On Line. The remaining tracks from the Circa album can be found on the Surrender CD-EP which I must say I’ve neither heard nor seen. A search online suggests the label folded in 1997.
For the obsessive then: Disques Du Crepuscule had an interesting association with UK Indy music in the late 70’s/early 80’s, particularly with Scotland and Manchester (in the shape of Postcard and Factory records). A Factory package tour hit Benelux around this time. My own band played at au Plan K in support of a Richard Jobson gig in 1981. Crepuscule started in 1980, when A Certain Ratio's Shack Up 7" was released, carrying a double label identity: Factory Benelux/Les Disques Du Crepuscule. The 7" was followed by the even rarer (I’ve got one!!!) and exquisitely beautiful The Durutti Column's Lips That Would Kiss Form Prayers to Broken Stone 12" in October.
The first true Crepuscule product, the cassette compilation From Brussels with Love was put together between July and October 1980, appearing in the UK in November. Its release marked the parting of Factory Benelux and Crepuscule, although both labels kept operating from the same offices! Even in early 80's independent music circles, From Brussels with Love, originally packed in a clear PVC pouch including a 16-page booklet, was something of a stranger. It was an unusual mixture of pieces from well known and less well known artists -Thomas Dolby, Richard Jobson, Michael Nyman, Vini Reilly, Brian Eno- all that despite just being an 'aural magazine'. Crepuscule's first proper record, in January 1981, was Mozart, a 7" (previously released as In Re Don Giovanni on Piano in 1980) containing three short pieces by the then unknown Michael Nyman, who'd already contributed to From Brussels With Love. Being an odd choice for a single, Mozart now is a sought after record.
As a company they released records by Manchester’s 23 Skidoo and Cabaret Voltaire and their publishing company put out Richard Jobson’s book of poems, “A Man for All Seasons”. They recorded a 12” for Bourgie Bourgie which never came out and the Jazzateers LP, released in the UK through a deal with Rough Trade.
Brussels being an international city, Crepuscule soon spread its tentacles abroad. In 1982 Operation Twilight (UK) and Crepuscule America were launched. Both were short lived and the US section (run by Factory US supremo Michael Schamberg) issued only one record: Paul Haig's Running Away 12", which is now rare and desirable. (I’ve got one folks!!!!)
The Pale Fountains “Thank you” was recorded for Crepuscule although it came out on Virgin. Same goes for their album.
In 1983 Crepuscule signed a UK/Benelux distribution deal with Island for Paul Haig. As a result of this deal Paul Haig's Rhythm of Life LP went into production in New York. Island and Crepuscule released 3 singles from the album: Heaven Sent, Never Give Up and Justice. They all failed to chart, maybe because the sound of Rhythm Of Life didn't appeal to the people who liked Josef K. The album itself sold rather well though in all European markets, so the US market seemed to be a logical next step but Island decided not to release the album over there. In 1990 Crepuscule proposed to release Rhythm of Life and the New York Remixes album together on one CD but apparently Haig vetoed the idea.
There were further Haig records on Crepuscule that I know about, The Only Truth and The Warp of Pure Fun EP. He left to sign for Circa but there is a “sort of available” compo of his DDC stuff called European Sun.
The Associates Allan Rankin also put out two solo albums on the label, The World Begins To Look Her Age and She Loves Me Not. Their was talk that Billy McKenzie would be collaborating with ZTT’s Trevor Horn for the label on a version of the Associates Reach The Top but it came to nothing.
My association with Crepuscule ended around this time although I know the label continued in one form or another till the mid 90’s cos around that time Paul Haig returned to Crepuscule with Coincidence Vs Fate, containing most of the tracks from his (probably rightly) unreleased 1991 Circa album Right On Line. The remaining tracks from the Circa album can be found on the Surrender CD-EP which I must say I’ve neither heard nor seen. A search online suggests the label folded in 1997.