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This compilation is like a condensed ZE 30 (ZE Records 1979-2009) and Bob Blank: The Blank Generation (Blank Tapes NYC 1975-1985) if Wire magazine were compiling it. If that sounds as good to you as it does to me, these 14 tracks are going to more than just a memory jerker.

As mentioned in the past (The Rebel Yell and Big Chill ‘09), that I’m a bit of a fan of early Gary Numan and there’s no doubting his influence post Tubeway Army and its a fitting tribute to the man that this CD starts with the classic ‘Replicas’ from the seminal 1979 album of the same name (including ‘Are Friends Electric?’, ‘Down In The Park’ et al). And to show what a strange time it was, another influential post-punk band Killing Joke (in industrial metal) started their career with a synth disco (as in Donna Summer ‘I Feel Love’) new wave dub monster that’s ‘Almost Red’.

So after those two ‘English’ openers, why don’t flip it to pure disco-punk with singer/journalist/Aural Exciters Lizzy Mercier Descloux’ version of Arthur Brown’s 60s anthem ‘Fire’ that was originally released on ZE (for more on ZE see ZE30 (ZE Records 1979-2009) and Zevolution: ZE Records Re-Edited).

It was strange how club/punk came together as girls got rougher, basslines bigger and drums loader and guitar riffs were cut-up chops. The Bush Tetras were prime examples of the punky ‘ESG’ style and this side of the pond, Peel favourites from Postcard, Josef K were more art school influence (via Velvet Underground, Television et al), but ‘Sorry For Laughing’ was their best but they could have been so much more (also see Edwyn Collins).

Talking of Art Schools/Wire Magazine, Chris & Cosey are instantly recognisable as half of electronic music innovators Throbbing Gristle which instantly create a sense of fear and loathing for some (but who could resist the cover of their 1979 album, 20 Jazz Funk Greats?) Their legendary status was recently acknowledged by C&C’s recent appearance on BBC’s Synth Britannia documentary and it was only a couple of years after 20 Jazz Funk Greats, Chris & Cosey were laying the foundations of minimal in a post-synth pop way with their Heartbeat album.

And at the industrial dance, the Electronic Body Electric from Belgium Front 242 (you may recall that featured on Sub Club 20 Years Underground almost mix up all that’s gone before on the track ‘Body To Body’.

The album ends on with ‘transition tracks’ like the post-punk poet-rap ‘Desire’ of an avant-garde Tuxedomoon’, 4AD’s Dead Can Dance and Suicide Commando.

The big one for me is Loose Joints’ ‘Is It All Over My Face’ that came out on the classic NYC disco label West End Records that was closely linked with the Paradise Garage club (and, of course, it’s Arthur Russell - also see Arthur’s Landing HERE) and the album is named after the Material track with ‘Disco Lady’ Nona Hendryx belting out ‘Bustin’ Out’. This is the one with the heavy rock guitar riff but what would you expect from a punk-jazz-punk-noise-electro band from the time? At least you can always rely on Bill Laswell’s bass.

A high proportion of the tracks chosen for this compilation are taken from first singles/albums when bands are at their most break-thorough innovative and whist some of the selections here have gone on to bigger and better, some have slipped into obscurity. Whatever, these 14 tracks are testament to a fantastic couple of years in music history and on a personal note, a period I mostly spent in Small Wonder Records’ shop in Hoe Street where you’d have heard most of these bands (and loads of dodgy hippy stuff). And they end the set with the culmination of my first exposure to ‘world’ music with 23 Skidoo who merged Burundi and Kodo drumming and William S. Burroughs into ‘The Gospel Comes To New Guinea’ - fantastic stuff.

Compiler/DJ Mike Maguire has a music ethos as wide as that at ‘FLY Global Music’ and it’s an impressive collection that’s topped off with the cover designed by Mike Coles (of Killing Joke artwork fame) and the 12-pages info packed booklet written by Kris Needs.

Reviewed: Various - Bustin’ Out (New Wave To New Beat: The Post Punk Era 1979-1981 (Year Zero) Cat. No: YZLCD002 Release date: 2nd February 2010
Tracklisting:
1. Tubeway Army - Replicas (5:04)
2. Killing Joke - Almost Red (3:51)
3. Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Fire (5:17)
4. Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps (4:03)
5. Loose Joints - Is It All Over My Face (6:59)
6. Material feat. Nona Hendryx - Bustin’ Out (6:38)
7. Josef K - Sorry For Laughing (3:16)
8. Chris & Cosey - Heartbeat (5:53)
9. MOEV - Cracked Mirror (6:14)
10. Front 242 - body To Body (3:51)
11. Tuxedomoon - Desire (7:10)
12. Dead Can Dance - Frontier (1981 Demo) (3:03)
13. No More - Suicide Commando (3:36)
14. 23 Skidoo - The Gospel Comes To New Guinea (10:11)

Links:
www.theblankgeneration-blanktapes.com
www.ZERecords.com
www.MySpace.com/zerecords
www.futurenoisemusic.com