So like the proverbial London Bus scenario, here comes No. 3 in the Bustin’ Out series of compilations dedicated to the post-punk, new wave and new beat scenes.
Following on from Bustin’ Out (New Wave To New Beat Vol. 2: 1982) and the original Bustin’ Out (New Wave To New Beat: The Post Punk Era 1979-1981), Vol. 3 delivers another 14 hot tracks .
Kicking off with Anne Clark’s ‘Sleeper In Metropolis’, it’s possibly the first ever track that mentions Heath & Safety in the lyrics? Being a homage to Fritz Langs’ film (and Janelle Mon?°e’s favourite), you’d never guess that Clark was from Croydon; now known as the birth place of dubstep, the Croydon tram network and property hot spot; then, back then it was just another London suburb that happened to have the biggest second hand record shop in the land (that’s now closed).
On the other side of pond in NYC, Liquid Liquid’s ‘Optimo’ was a big track that went onto spawn a 1000 bands and it’s still an influential tune (remixes most recently release on Domino a couple of years ago) and mixing it up with some Clinton-esque electro is ‘Salsa Smurf’ which is not suitable for dancing blue cartoon characters.
On a similar tack, ‘Electric Kingdom’ by Twilight 22 (aka former Stevie Wonder synth programmer Gordon Bahary) is a re-imagined ‘Planet Rock’, ‘Hip Hop (Don’t Stop)’ et al first wave funking up the Kasbah and the back streets of Hong Kong with J. Arthur Rank aplomb (this should have been the theme tune to some Kurt Russell film?) whilst is the scary areas of synth dominated pseudo disco, you’ll find John Carpenter with the theme to Assault On Precinct 13.
Taking a side step from go-go to Afro funk, there’s The Unknown Cases’ ‘Masimba Bele’ that’s out of Germany whilst in Denmark, Laid Back were riding on a ‘White Horse’ (?).
Front 242 make a welcome comeback with arguable the more imaginative ‘Take One’ that could have equally been a pop hit as gay anthem as underground neo-industrial disco. And on the subject of the London gay community, Heaven was the venue for New Order’s first London gig (attended by John Peel and yours truly) and with the World International John Peel day coming up next weekend, it seems appropriate the this album should have a New Order track, ‘Your Silent Face’ (as an aside, it’s hard to imagine what an impact ‘Blue Monday’ made when it come out and continues to do so) and on the same tip, Xmal Deutschland were regular sessionists on Peel between 82 and 85 and their ‘Qual’ was one of the tracks played on their first Peel session (the 1983 Festival 50, ‘Qual’ was No. 32 and ‘Blue Monday’ came in at No. 1).
Continuing the Peel connection, the CD ends a Cocteau Twins track (they of 4 Peel Sessions ’82-’84) and arguably they were at their mid-period peak with ‘Sugar Hiccup’ a track that No. 14 in that year’s Peel Festive 50 (along with another 3 of their tracks).
Bustin’ Out is compiled by DJ Mike Maguire (I bet he’d be a good guest on Jonny Trunk) this is the year where Kraftwerk were cited as everyone’s favourite band no matter what genre and sub-genre of music that were being produced in bedrooms from LA to Salford and beyond; 1983 was a very good year that busted out!
Reviewed: V/A – Bustin’ Out 1983: New Wave To New Beat Volume 3 (Year Zero) Cat. No. YZLEP005 Release date: 4th October 2010
Tracklisting:
1 Anne Clark – Sleeper In Metropolis
2 John Carpenter – The End (Sound Version)
3 Special Request – Salsa Smurf (Vocal Version)
4 Twilight 22 – Electric Kingdom (Kingdom Version)
5 Neon Judgement – Fashion Party
6 Front 242 – Take One
7 The Unknown Cases – Masimba Bele
8 New Order – Your Silent Face
9 Laid Back – White Horse
10 Koto – Chinese Revenge (12″ Dub Version)
11 Jonzun Crew – We Are The Jonzun Crew
12 Liquid Liquid – Optimo
13 Xmal Deutchland – Qual (12″ Remix)
14 Cocteau Twins – Sugar Hiccup
Links:
www.futurenoisemusic.com
Jonny Trunk – The OST Show 104.4 Resonance FM 2nd October 2010 with Carlos Slazenger “That’s 2 John Peel Session tracks that you’ve played today that I like”.
resonancefm.com
Gilles Peterson :: Worldwide – Janelle Monae talks ‘music and movies’ Hear her talk about her cinematic approach to making music. And her favourite films including ‘The Fall’ and ‘Metropolis’ Wed, 15 Sep 2010, 02:00 on BBC Radio 1 bbc.co.uk
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(film)
The World International John Peel Day @ Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, Bedford Way, London with Bearsuit, Nedry, Horowitz, Superman Revenge Squad, Ice, Sea, Dead People, Susie Hug, cove, Mary Epworth and The Jubilee Band, Nitkowski, Model village, SmallGang, vatican cellars, Hyrst, Cosmic Shenngy, Baaneex and Stereolab (DJ) Saturday 9 October 2010 at 2:00pm www.bloomsburybowling.com
