The 'Various Artists' releases, filed under 'Compilations' at the local record shop. The compilation has always been a favourite of mine. In my youth (the 1960s) there was always music in the house. We did not have a record player but the radio was on all the time. The BBC Light Programme that was later to become BBC Radio 1, Radio Luxembourg (Fab 208) and Radio Caroline. A continual compilation of music. The chart topping pop programme 'Top Of The Pops' was essential family viewing on a Thursday night. The Top 40 chart rundown on a Sunday evening with Alan Freeman meant it was bath time .. anyway, I am just trying to figure out why I like the compilation albums / singles so much. I do know people who don't like them at all, too varied and not enough time to get in to what's being played etc. I know people who don't like 'Live' albums either, I wasn't there, so what's the point of listening to it? You know these people .. fools.
Christmas 1969 and we moved house. A house-warming present from the grandparents was a radiogram. I can't remember if it was stereo or mono .. but it was big, chunky and loud. It came with a few of my grandparents old records too .. I remember being given the Gene Vincent single "Pistol Packin' Mamma" and some Thunderbirds (The Puppets) 7" singles. This meant pocket-money was now spent at Woolworths and/or Boots The Chemist record counter. I used to go for the 'Top Of The Pops' compilation albums. A selection of recent chart toppers performed by session musicians, not the real artists, but session musicians and the BBC Pop Orchestra. I imagine it was something to do with copyright but my ten year old ears couldn't tell the difference and indeed, did not care. Besides the covers of all 'Top Of The Pops' albums came with a glamour model proactively posing on the front sleeve. Win Win.
Another selling factor for the 'Top Of The Pops' albums was that they were cheap. Cheaper than your average album. I don't remember much about compilation albums in the mid 1970s. I know that Charisma Records and Virgin Records released label samplers, but I think they were full price and who wants to listen to Henry Cow, Van Der Graff Generator, Capability Brown, Genesis and Hatfield And The North tracks when there's a whole lotta Black Sabbath and Deep Purple to listen to for the same price .. I remember in the 1980s my friend Tim having the compilation album "The Age Of Atlantic", he bought it cheap just so he could use it as a rolling mat. Never played it. Then there were the compilation albums you could get by collecting vouchers in Record Mirror and Sounds magazines. They can't have been very good as I never collected the vouchers.
1977 / 1978 and I was brought back into the world of the compilation. The various artists albums ... and singles. The rise of the independent, the surge of the New Wave, and discovering John Peel's radio show on Radio 1. I taped each programme and then edited the broadcast to the tracks I like best and stuck them on a separate cassette, it was like compiling my own compilation album. The John Peel Sessions were on a separate C90 naturally. I still have a couple of those C90 cassettes with John Peel Sessions and play them often, there is a great JPS compilation double CD called "Movement : BBC Radio 1 Peel Sessions 1977-1979" released by BBC/EMI in 2011. Recommended. I bought the "Streets" and "Business Unusual" compilations when they came out. Mainly a collection of singles released by independent albums from 1977 - 1978. There was a "Business Unusual" tour in 1978, it came to Lincoln. UK Subs, The Outsiders and Skunks played AJ's. One of my favourite gigs of '78. There were also Rough Trade Records tours, some visited Lincoln, Robert Rental & The Normal, Essential Logic & Stiff Little Fingers being the most memorable. Spizz Energi, Kleenex and The Raincoats was a good one too.
What then followed was a slew, a plethora of compilation albums, cassettes and singles highlighting various independent label releases, various live venues, cities, towns and regions.
Here's a few examples ...
'We had a great deal of fun working on 'Hicks from The Sticks' compilation LP which we released through Rockburgh Records last year. The album may have well had its flaws but it was generally well received and seemed to be followed by similar records, most of which were lumped together under the generic heading of Hicks-Like LPs. We had ideas about a follow up compilation even before Hicks was released and we have spent the past few months putting it together. We have widened the catchment area for the bands, deliberately including several from the London area (Paul Brown)'.
Needless to say, the LP is not anywhere near in quality of sound or interest, but I had to buy it! It features Airkraft, Eyeless In Gaza, Cuban Heels and a queue of wannabes who were never heard of again.
The compilation album, and 7"EP that was dedicated to a town, city, region (and sometimes country) always interested me. Lincoln had its' own compilation. "East" features bands from Lincoln and its' surrounds and all the tracks were recorded at The Playground Studios in Wragby, a small town about 8 miles east of Lincoln. If memory serves, the guy that ran the studio also worked part-time at Sanctuary Records (in Lincoln). He was locally known as 'Tramp'. I went to Playground Studios in 1979 to assist Collide on their "Demo Tape". Admittedly "East" has bands from Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, but it was a representation of the Lincoln based label Company Records and Dead Good Records. It was released in 1980 and featured bands such as The Cigarettes, Whizz Kids, Fatal Charm, Half Life and B Movie amongst others (Unfortunately no Collide). There is a band called Vick Sinex & The Nasal Sprays. I have a feeling this was an 'in-house studio band.
The album has probably one of the worst sleeve artwork I have in my collection, done by Martin Patton of Dead Good Records / X.S. Energy. "Aylesbury Goes Flaccid" is another 'local area' compilation made up of artists from the Buckinghamshire town. I like this LP mainly as it features bands that only appear on this record ... they didn't make a single or cassette, just one track on this album. It does feature Aylesbury giants Vice Creems as well as Wild Willy Barrett and reggae artist The Man Ezeke but what of The Speedos, Clumsy, The Haircuts and Anal Surgeons? I picked this beauty up from Discovery Music 2 in Barnstaple, Devon for a tenner about 20 years ago. If you see it .. buy it!
A few more local area / towns & cities compilation that are recommended ... "A Manchester Collection" on Object Music. Released in 1979 and featuring Grow-Up, Vibrant Thigh, Mediators and I.Q. Zero amongst others. Compiled to promote the Manchester Musicians Collective. "Bouquet Of Steel" on Aardvark, compiled by Sheffield label boss and promoter Marcus Featherby features bands from in and around Sheffield. Artery, Disease, Comsat Angels, De Tian, Negatives, I'm So Hollow and Shy Tots (Doncaster's finest) are all on there, it comes with a fanzine like booklet too. Great album. "Where The Hell is ... Leicester?" is pretty similar to the 'Aylesbury Goes Flaccid' album as it features a few bands that only appear on this compilation. Bands like The Danceable Solution, Tribal Games, Modern Living and Last Resort, it also has great tracks by Deep Freeze Mice and The Amber Squad. The Amber Squad also released a single on Lincoln label Dead Good Records but didn't make it to "East". "Street To Street - A Liverpool Album" from 1979 is basically that .. with tracks from The ID (a pre-Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark project), Big In Japan, Echo & The Bunnymen, Jaqui & Jeanette and Modern Eon. There is a "Street To Street" Volume 2 album, but I've yet to see a copy.
The label compilation was always a good way to delve in to new sounds. Cherry Red Records put out "Pillows And Prayers" in 1982 suggesting not to pay more than 99p for the album. A year earlier they had released the (less commercial) compilation "Perspectives & Distortion" which was full price. (about £3.99 in those days).
"The Crap Stops Here" is a great sample of the output of Manchester's Rabid Records. Rabid Records was started in 1976 by the recently departed Tosh Ryan and John Crumpton. The album is a compilation of early singles on the Rabid label and features Slaughter & The Dogs, John Cooper-Clarke, Gyro, Jilted John and The Nosebleeds amongst others. A great sampler for the time. In the mid 1980s I appeared on the compilation album "Songs For The New International" on Recloose Organisation. An album to promote the upcoming 'New International' label featuring Bourbonese Qualk, Muslimgauze, Het Zweet and I.B.F. amongst others. As part of I.B.F. we recorded our track at Recloose Org studios which were then based in New Cross (London). We did record a couple of other tracks whilst down there but we never got to release them, I.B.F. folded in early 1986.
1982, two years after forming, 4AD Records released the compilation "Natures Mortes - Still Lives" for the Japanese market. Now a highly collectable and essential album. It features Rema-Rema, Sort Sol, Bauhaus, Mass, The The ... all the early 4AD artists, again, a great marker of the time. The 7"EP is an ideal format for the label sampler. There are plenty but a couple of favourites of mine are "1980 : The First Fifteen Minutes" (1979) and "The Soft Volcano Erupts" (1986). 7" Flexi-Disc on Broken Flag Records which originally appeared in the fanzine 'Distant Violins' and features Controlled Bleeding, Nails Ov Christ and Uncommunity amongst others.
As this is the 13th Anniversary Broadcast (#285) I thought I would share my love of the compilation / various artists releases and dedicate the programme to sounds that are from this genre. Is it a genre? I couldn't think of a better description.
Also as a rule when I arrive in the studio and dump my pile of records, tapes, CDs on the desk, Chris says "what's the theme Steve" ... so this time I thought I'd have one ...
The programme is archived on Mixcloud in to 2 digestible parts for easier aural pleasure.
Part I :
Part II :
Part Two begins with Minny Pops.
Playlist.
01: Current 93 : "I'm The One" (Dom) 1985.
(From the LP "Ohrenschrauben").
02: Za Siódma Górạ : "Odejście Golema" (90% Wasser) 2005.
(From the CD "Archive I").
03: Cranioclast : "N 43 Breezy Le Ramier" (Kaon) 1997.
(From the double CD "Régénération - Dégénérescence").
04: Dieter Müh : "Wood Land" (Wholeness Recordings) 2010.
(From the CDR "Squeezing Being Issue #2").
05: AmPh : "Werken Der Hand" (Release The Bats Records) 2021.
(From The LP "Sverige").
06: Dusa : "Märkliga Timmar : Nattslut" (Segerhuva) 2008.
(From The LP "Höga Nord").
07: Cabaret Voltaire : "Raising The Count" (New Musical Express/Rough Tapes) 1981.
(From the cassette "NME/Rough Trade C81").
08: Johnathan Coleclough & Tim Hill : "Beech" (The Ajna Offensive) 2002.
(From the 4xCD+Book "Infernal Proteus").
09: Militia : "A Kite Of Glass In A Blood Red Sky" (DPRK) 2008.
(From the CD "Juche").
10: Richard Jobson : "The Armoury Show" (Les Disques Du Crépuscule) 1980.
(From the cassette "From Brussels With Love").
11: Kallabris : "No, My Dear, It's Only The Heating" (EE Tapes) 2003.
(From the CDR "The Walls Are Whispering").
12: No Festival Of Light : "Divide Et Impera Pt. II" (The Releasing Eskimo) 1998.
(From the 2x7" "Disco-Mortem").
13: Terre Blanche : "Still Brilliant" (New Strength) 1988.
(From the LP "The Decay Of The Angel (New Strength Recordings International Compilation").
14: Genocide Organ : "Viva La Guerre" (MSBR Records) 2004.
(From the CD+Magazine "Noise #8").
15: Inade : "Kraak JP.V (A Stitch From Nowhere)" (Stateart) 1997.
(From the double LP "Natural Order").
16: Homicide Society : "Death Machinery 1" (Stateart) 1997.
(From the double LP "Natural Order").
17: First Law : "Holy War" (Stateart) 1997.
(From the double LP "Natural Order").
18: Aaron Dilloway : Untitled" (Hanson Records/Chondritic Sound/RRRecords) 2009.
(From the 6xLP "Michigan").
19: Himukalt : "Don't Go" (Helen Scarsdale Agency) 2019.
(From the 10xcassette box "On Corrosion").
20: Minny Pops : "She Said Go Go Go" (Les Temps Modernes) 1985.
(From the LP "Heures Sans Soleil").
21: Thursdays : "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of A Bay" (Fast Product) 1979.
(From the 12"EP "Earcom 2").
22: Kutzkelina : "Es Fährt Ein Zug Nach Nirgendwo" (Edizioni Passarotto) 2013.
(From the 2xcassette "36 Aus 430 Von 30").
23: MNEM : "Genocide Mobile" (Negative Foundation) 1999.
(From the CDR "Halogen Ball").
24: Frieder Putzmann & Genesis P-Orridge : "Tales Of Death" (90% Wasser) 2001.
(From the CD "90% Wasser").
25: Tho-So-Aa : "Missing Link" (Neo-Form) 2006.
(From the CD "Salon Décadence").
26: Dieter Müh : "Let Him To Sleep" (Licht Und Stahl) 2010.
(From the CD "Stählerne Lichter").
27: Edward Sol : "Thoughts Of Endless" (Sentimental Productions) 2023.
(From the CD "Tomorrow Is A Big Distance").
28: Ochu : "Förnuftsflimmer" (Styggelse) 2018.
(From the cassette "Stadsbranden 3").
29: Frans de Waard : "Punch" (Helicopter) 2010.
(From the CD+Book "Drilling A Hole Through The Sky").
30: Alice Rabbit / Airworld : "De Stijl Est Là" (NPH) 2017.
(From the cassette "De Stijlphone").
31: Maninkari : "Enstase 1&2" (Drone Records) 2014.
(From the LP "Drone-Mind // Mind-Drone Volume 3").
32: Marikan Volkov : "Battle Ritual" (Drone Records) 2017.
(From the LP "Drone-Mind // Mind-Drone Volume 6").
33: Die Form : "Are You Before" (Strut) 2013.
(From the double CD "Mutazione (Italian Electronic & New Wave Underground 1980-1988").
34: Roma Amor : "Der Treue Hussar" (Old Europa Café) 2008.
(From the 7xCD Box "The Old Europa Café Box Set").
35: Nurse With Wound : "The Strange Play Of The Mouth" (Vinyl On Demand) 2013.
(From the 5xLP "Rising From The Red Sand Volumes I-V").
36: I.B.F. : "Ka" (Nihilistic Recordings) 1986.
(From the double cassette "Wolfsangel").
37: They Must Be Russians : "Glory Of God" (Office Box Records) 1983.
(From the 7"EP "Four From The Floor").
38: O Yuki Conjugate : "Sedation" (Cherry Red Records) 2016.
(From the 4xCD "Close To The Noise Floor (Formative UK Electronica 1975-1984").
39: D.A.F. : "Ich Und Die Wirklichkeit" (Fast Product) 1979.
(From the 2x7"EP "Earcom 3").
40: Art Vs Filth : "The Ostracised Man" (Not On Label) 1989.
(From the unreleased CDR "Carnifex").
41: Starfuckers : "Dear Prudence" (Bananafish Magazine/Tedium House Publications) 1996.
(From the CD "Vidas Ilustres").
A couple of notes on the broadcast ... one or maybe two tracks might have been played at the wrong speed. The track by Die Form is by the Italian project that became Tasaday, not the French project operated by Phillippe Fichot.
Art Vs Filth was a short lived project from 1985. It was created for a live performance at Lincoln Music Festival. Members on this studio recording are Dave Uden and myself. The track was to appear on a Carnifex Recordings compilation, a project that was never realised. Tim Bayes kindly remastered the cassette and transferred it to CDR for me.
Thanks as ever to Chris and Tamsin for being there .. and also to Alice Kemp who popped in to say hello. Always welcome.
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