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Mange Tout | 
| Artist: Blancmange
Label: Edsel
Category: Music
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £7.98
You Save: £2.01 (20%)
New (26) Used (4) from £6.39
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 9409
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 740155202330
EAN: 0740155202330
ASIN: B001CKZTG2
Release Date: September 1, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Don't Tell Me | | • | Game Above My Head | | • | Blind Vision | | • | Time Became The Tide | | • | That's LoveThat It Is | | • | Murder | | • | See The Train | | • | All Things Are Nice | | • | My Baby | | • | The Day Before You Came | | • | Game Above My Head (Long Version) |
Disc 2
| • | Blind Vision (Long Version) | | • | Heaven Knows Where Heaven Is | | • | On Our Way To? | | • | That's Love That It Is (Extended) | | • | Vishnu (Full Length) | | • | That's Love That It Is (Remix) | | • | Vishnu (Instrumental) | | • | Don't Tell Me (Extended) | | • | Get Out Of That | | • | Feel Me (Live Version) | | • | All Things Are Nice (Version) | | • | The Day Before You Came (Extended) |
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| Customer Reviews:
 Blancmange - Mangetout 2xcd Remaster 2008 October 6, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Blancmange- Mangetout 2xcd 2008 (remaster)
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here it is again, my favorite album from them..
it was a masterpiece when it came, and has
survived the test of time...
although blancmange did not seem to last very long
(3 albums), what they did put out, had a nice impact
at the time, at carved out a niche for them, that no
other group can really fill...
granted, not every track is a winner('my baby','see the train'),
but the majority of them , 'game above my head', 'dont tell me',
'thats love that it is', 'blind vision', and 'the day before you came',
are so strong they carry the album to the great heights
that it deserves...
So lets talk about specifics: for the album
I'm listening through altec-lansing speakers, and also through headphones
====================================================
1) the album tracks themselves are well preserved,
and sound clear, and full of details/instrumentation..
2) listen to 'thats love that it is' to hear the loud
frantic sections.
3) for the softer parts, a song like 'the day before you came'
has a lot of dynamics in it.
4) overall tracks are click free/no skips with
a few variations in tracks .. 'blind vision', and 'the day before you came'
are the single mixes and not the album tracks though..
The bonus tracks/disc:
(note the quality of these tracks vary from very good
to average)..
===================================================
1) we got an extended version of 'game above your head'
at the end of disc one, fine, where's the other remix version
of it? (the uk one)
2) most of the extended tracks are represented on
the bonus disc, 'blind vision', 'dont tell me',
'thats love that it is' (both versions), and 'the
day before you came', these are welcome inclusions
3) there's most of the b-sides, and instrumentals also,
these are of more dubious nature, and have been on the
many, many compilations that have been previously released
4) there's one live track 'feel me' included
5) it would have been more complete to include a lot of
the 7" edits for tracks, to fill out the first disc, but
none are here..
6) lastly 'don't tell me' is missing the alternate mixes
===================================================
i'm torn about this, because it IS a great album,
and it does look like this is as good an attempt
at ever getting these tracks released that we fans
will get..
however, there just seems to be a rather haphazard
approach to the tracks, and they are missing some
major releases..and filling them with tracks of
questionable value..
i do recommend it, but i don't give it very high
marks, because it seems the care given to other
releases (like the 'thompson twins), wasnt used
here..
later
-1
 All You Can Eat, All You Could Want September 8, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Now, THIS is how to do it. From the double disc tracklisting, to the beautifully rendered artwork and packaging, to the price...everything about this reissue of an unheralded mid-80s classic is spot on.
The other two titles in this three-pronged reissue programme from Edsel have much to recommend them, but their treatment of Blancmange's second album is nothing short of amazing.
Mange Tout was easily the highest-charting of the duo's albums, debuting inside the Top 10 and hanging around on the UK chart for 4 months. In a sign of how trends in pop music change, no fewer than 3 of its tracks had already been released as singles by the time of its appearance in May 1984, and two of them ("Blind Vision", "Don't Tell Me") went as far as the Top 10. In effect, the period of summer '83 to summer '84 was Blancmange's commercial apex...they were a quirky, catchy, extremely British strand of Smash Hits-friendly pop. This second LP found them at their least introspective; well, on the surface that is how it would seem. The warm visual textures of the album sleeve, the bubbly and exotic sounds on the hits, the grinning-fools shtick of their TV appearances of the era....all tend to hide Mange Tout's moodier, darker aspects.
It's a record which can be easily divided into *singles* and *other stuff*. The other stuff was where messrs Luscombe and Arthur really let their imaginations run riot; "Murder" is a six-minute brooding cacophony of industrial noises, troubling imagery and frantic vocals, while "All Things Are Nice" (which would have made an appropriate title had they not wished to be cleverly punsome) utilises historical newsreel voiceovers and similarly intense, relentless electronic rhythms as "Murder" (its bizarre but wickedly funny "Version", a B-side to one of the album's singles, is brilliantly included on this 2CD set). "See The Train", a short acappella track, is also strange but wonderful, and further evidence of Blancmange's expanding creative talents.
"Time Became The Tide" is this album's "Waves", a downtempo string-laden ballad. "Game Above My Head" is rescued from B-side obscurity to form what was originally a nigh-on perfect Side 1 with the three existing hits and "Time...". An ever-so-slightly perfunctory tune called "My Baby", and their cover of ABBA's "Day Before You Came" round up the second half of the album. It's refreshing to see the context surrounding the exhuming of a fairly unloved ABBA song in 1984 has not been blighted by revisionism in the sleevenotes, too. At the time the Swedish band were all but removed from pop culture, the name that dared not be mentioned. It would be two years before Erasure first included Gimme Gimme Gimme in their live set, and six more years after that before the ABBA-esque EP. Blancmange effectively made the track their own; a beautifully judged reading with a subtly multi-layered percussive backdrop that, in its extended version on Disc 2 is even more stunning.
Yes, about the second CD....this is the only Blancmange reissue to be granted double-disc status, which itself is a shame, but no matter. Just about everything that could be included - 12" mixes, B-sides, 12" mixes of B-sides, alternate mixes, US mixes - is here. Of course, some of the material is of questionable artistic quality ("Get Out Of That" always comes in for some stick), but it's a delight to find it all included regardless. By keeping (nearly) all the bonus material onto the second disc, it also allows the original 10-track album to remain more or less unspoiled. At 11 and 12 tracks respectively, there's also a degree of symmetry and balance to this particular set, which the incomplete, 75-minute single discs for Happy Families and Believe You Me somewhat lack.
Just one minor quibble is yet another error in the sleevenotes concerning Steven Luscombe's offshoot project. It was the *West* India Company!
Anyway, this is possibly the finest example of a deluxe reissue I have yet to see. Fans will be besides themselves at the amount of care and detail which has gone into every aspect of this double CD.
Classic pop gem unearthed September 2, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This album has been a long time coming on cd. A top 10 hit upon release its long been unavailiable and this massively expanded edition finally puts things right.
Blancmange were that particularily 80's phenomenon of the "synth duo". However unlike the likes of Soft Cell, Erasure and the Pet Shop Boys they were musical collaborators from day one. Their debut album, Happy Families, didnt simply rely on vocals and keyboards but contained a whole slew of guest musicians and vocalists. This follow up is more of the same - musical collaborators run well into double figures and there is a real drive to create an expansive sound and widescreen palate.
This was too much for some (including some fans of the debut) and may explain why the band never kicked on from here and their third album went almost unnoticed before the band faded away. Tracks like Murder, All Things Are Nice and See The Train are hard to classify. The first two are noisy semi instrumentals and the latter an acapella folkish number. These album tracks are wildly at odds with the poppy singles (Dont Tell Me, The Day Before You Came) and some people found this just too much to handle.
But, playing this album again so many years on, its amazing how well its aged. In fact I was shocked how good it all is and alot of that is down to the sympathetic remastering. Suddenly the second half of the album makes alot more sense as the sound isnt so sludgey as the analogue version. The layers and textures sound great and it gives the album a more cohesive feel.
Its an incredibly strong set of songs (including 4 top 40 singles) and Id forgotten how good the sequencing was - playing all 10 album tracks in one sitting has a nice symmetry about it and I'm glad the extra tracks are all confined to a second disc (apart from one which seems to work in the context of the original running order).
The extras disc varies slightly in quality (the b sides of Dont Tell Me really are awful) but when its good - its very, very good. Vishnu (live favourite from the Mange Tout tour) has the epic full seven minute version that I reckon you could drop into a DJ set now and nobody would guess it was from the mid 80's. Add this to the extended (and more funky) versions of Blind Vision and Thats Love That It Is and you have a trio of real floor fillers. In addition there is the excellent All Things Are Nice (Version) which is social realism meets backwards synth pop and the full, epic and utterly gorgeous 12" mix of The Day Before You Came.
All this for a mid price album remastered with extensive sleeve notes. It really is a real bargain.
Highly recommended.
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