Wishful Thinking (Propaganda album)

Wishful Thinking
Remix album by Propaganda
Released	November 1985
Genre	Synthpop
Length	41:22
Label	ZTT
Producer	Trevor Horn, Stephen Lipson
Propaganda chronology
A Secret Wish (1985) Wishful Thinking (1985) 1234 (1990)

Wishful Thinking is a 1985 remix album by the synthpop band Propaganda.

Overview

Originally released November 1985, Wishful Thinking was put together initially as a promo for the American club market, composed of remixes of tracks from the album A Secret Wish. It was compiled by Paul Morley and tape operator Bob Kraushaar^[1] without input from the group themselves, who objected to its release in Europe.

The track titles are pretty self-explanatory: "Abuse" (in two parts) are remixes of "Dr. Mabuse", "Machined" is a remix of "P:Machinery", "Laughed!" is a remix of "Sorry for Laughing", "Loving" and "Loved" are remixes of "The Murder of Love", "Jewelled" is a hybrid remix of "Duel" and "Jewel", and "Thought" is a short instrumental remix of the group's unreleased cover of Throbbing Gristle's "Discipline".

The painting on the cover was created by the group's singer, Claudia Brücken.^[2]

The album's liner notes contain a quote by the German writer and philosopher Goethe: "Und umzuschaffen das Geschaffene, Dass sich's nicht zum Starren waffne, Wirkt ewiges lebendiges Thun." Which translates as follows: "And refashioning the fashioned, lest it stiffen into iron, is work of endless vital activity."

"Abuse" (in a slightly edited form) was used as the opening titles theme for the 1987 John Hughes film Some Kind of Wonderful. The track is noticeably missing from the film's soundtrack album, however.

"Jewelled" was used for many years as the theme music for the BBC's Lombard/RAC Rally coverage. The Seven Network in Australia also used the piece as the theme music for all of their motor sports coverage in the late 1980s.

Releases

"Wishful Thinking" was not officially released on CD in the UK until 1994, when ZTT were reissuing their 80's back-catalogue to celebrate their 10th anniversary as a label. However, the CD originally made a brief, unpromoted appearance at UK retail in limited quantities in the summer of 1988. Distributed by Island Records, they were marked "For Export Only" and carried the catalogue number ZCIDQ20. Island were responsible for manufacturing and distributing ZTT's output between 1983–88, before ZTT moved to WEA. It is most likely that this version of the CD was originally intended for release in the wake of the vinyl and cassette versions in 1985, but was pulled due to the poor initial sales of the album in those other formats (only reaching no. 82 in the UK album chart). This low-key release could therefore simply have been a result of Island Records purging their stock of ZTT releases once their relationship with the label was at an end. As a result, the ZCIDQ20 version is a true rarity and highly collectable.

The CD was reissued on the German Repertoire label in 2000 (catalogue number REP 4901), and contained an expanded 6 page booklet featuring an essay by Jerry Ewing on the history of the band.

A remastered CD of Wishful Thinking was released on 4 June 2012, as part of ZTT/Salvo's Element series. It contains six bonus tracks, five of which appear to be "previously unreleased".^[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link

Track listing

Original track listing

A - HERE

1. "Abuse" – 3:26
2. "Machined" – 6:45
3. "Laughed!" – 8:42
4. "Loving" – 0:47

B - THERE

1. "Jewelled" – 7:44
2. "Loved" – 6:42
3. "Abuse" – 4:17
4. "Thought" – 2:39

2012 Reissue

1. "Abuse"
2. "Machined"
3. "Laughed"
4. "Loving"
5. "Jewelled"
6. "Loved"
7. "Abuse"
8. "Thought"
9. "Strength to Dream (Outtake 04.02.84)"
10. "p:Machinery (The Beta Wraparound)"
11. "The Murder of Love (Murderous Instrumental)"
12. "Dr Mabuse (Outtake 24.04.85)"
13. "Frozen Faces (A Secret Sense of Rhythm)"
14. "p:Machinery (The Voiceless Beta Wraparound Edit)"

References