Thursday 21 May 2015

Portion Control ‎– "Private Illusions No.1" (In Phaze Records ‎– POR CON 005) 1981

Before Portion Control became a  proto-EBM band,or even worse,'Electropunk(?)', they made some fine DIY minimal synth cassettes. This being one of the most obscure. Twenty minutes of quality unsequenced,non-computerised analogue electronics shrouded in tape hiss. This sounds far  more futuristic than their later efforts (later = after 1984). To forget the past is to forget the future?

Tracklist:

A1Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
A2Double Vision
A3White Cubes
A4Power Studge And Crust
A5The Mote In Gods Eye (The Arm That Was Cooked Good)
A6Go For The Throat
A7Slim Waters
A8Experimental Stress Project
A9Torrid Tale
A10Rouge Trooper

DOWNLOAD your first private illusion HERE!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

YES!

Portion Control

greatly appreciated!

Jonny Zchivago said...

Hope you've clicked on the Portion Control Tag,as there's lots more on this blog.

Tim 'Space Debris' said...

To forget the past is to forget the future?

Love that!

Is that a quote or did you make it up?

If it's the latter fucking good on you because it's a classic.

Jonny Zchivago said...

I own up to creating this phrase myself. I suppose its kinda DICK-ensian,as in Philip K. Dick, inspired.There's also an element of 'If you forget the past you are doomed to repeat it' about it too.
It can also be translated as "If you remember the past you are doomed to repeat all the good bits.".....which is pretty apt.

the saucer people said...

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The original line is by the Italian writer George Santayana and comes from his 1905 book The Life of Reason. The only reason I know this is I have always been into the CIA mind-control experiment that was the Jonestown story (as a result of that PTV picture disc that came out with the camp death recordings in the eighties) and of course the slightly re-phrased line appears on a banner in Jonestown, namely 'Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it'.

Yes it definitely has a PKD quality to it - in my view, you can never ever have enough Dick in your life (it has taken me about six months but I am half-way through the Exegesis of Philip K Dick, just another 450 pages to go!)

Here's one from me, how about -
"those who do not remember the past are condemned to consume it"

Back on topic - I agree, far better than anything Portion Control did later on - one of those bands I could just never get into - but I know plenty of people that did, so what do I know.

Tim 'Space Debris' said...

Yeah we all know that first quote. It's a cliche now.

"those who do not remember the past are condemned to consume it"

I'm loving that though. Nice work. It's almost as good as Jonny's quote.

the saucer people said...

Space Debris - please forgive me if it appeared I was suggesting that any member in the DIEORDIY audience didn't know the origin of the quote - I was simply drawing attention to the fact that some people (including myself at one point) assumed it was a Jonestown quote and not in fact a slightly misquoted line by George Santayana.

By the way, thank you for your kind words - "It's almost as good as Jonny's" - ah, the story of my life! *smiley face emoticon*

Jonny Zchivago said...

Mmm I'm beginning to Hate this Jonny character! Sounds like a total smart arse to me!.......on a more serious note, is satirising your alter-ego in the third person an early sign of creeping megalomania???

Tim 'Space Debris' said...

Jonny you write a blog so you must be fairly aware of your megalomania already surely.

Hey The Saucer People I've learn't something from you this week. I didn't realise that quote was even a part of the whole Jonestown debacle. I did once see a doco on it years ago. Must have forgotten that part. Any suggestions for a good documentary on Jonestown?

Jonny Zchivago said...

Are Megalomaniacs aware of their megalomania?
Talking of Megalomania....
"If we forget the past we are condemned to not remember it"(Jonestown 2:the Sequel,starring Benedict Cumberbatch as David Cameron) 2017.

Tim 'Space Debris' said...

"If we forget the past we are condemned to not remember it"

Me and the Mrs laughed out loud at that or as as the kids would say an acronym.