V/a - Electrical Language - Independent British Synth Pop 78-84

• A repackaged clamshell edition of Cherry Red's popular 4CD / 80-track set exploring the independent side of the UK’s post-punk synth-pop boom.

• From household names and scene legends to underground outsiders and bedroom experimenters.

• Key tracks and hidden gems from Mute Records, Rough Trade, 4AD, Survival Records, Cherry Red and a host of essential independent players.

• Produced by the team behind the critically acclaimed ‘Close To The Noise Floor’ series and a number of other essential box sets.

The year – 1978. The mood – revolution. The latest addition to the musician’s sound palette – the synthesiser. And so a new sound was born, and one which would free pop music from its guitar dominated tradition into something with a bright new future which would write itself. Almost overnight, via a handful of key single releases, the big bang of punk produced something the kids called ‘synth-pop’. The clue was very much in the name.

A broad church from the outset, this synth-pop movement wasted no time in embracing players from all corners of the musical dressing up box. From guitar groups drafting in a keyboard playing friend and the progressive rockers using their expensive banks of electronics in new ways to the modernists and the Thatcherists, full of unabashed aspiration, and the punks – arguably the purest punks of them all – who discarded the guitar and the drum kit overnight in their pursuit of something fresh that their generation could truly call their own. All were welcome, and all contributed to the many different directions synth- pop would mutate in over the coming five or six years.

‘Electrical Language’ captures this time and place in microscopic detail. The uptempo would-be hits with suburban nightclub aspirations, the science and technology enthralled proto-techno workouts and the otherworldy experiments are all here, sitting comfortably amongst each other in some cases, jostling for position in others. This was a post-punk revolution of another kind, played out on a stage free of the traditional boundaries and limitations, entirely alien to anybody over twenty-five and enthralled by the new and the exotic. For the first time in a while, the future looked bright, albeit illuminated with electric light.

CD 1

1. Windpower - Thomas Dolby
2. Science Fiction - Alan Burnham
3. Warm Leatherette - The Normal
4. Stay With Me Tonight - Alex Fergusson
5. Tarantula - Colourbox
6. Fantasy - 100% Manmade Fibre
7. Bandwagon Tango - Testcard F
8. Electrical Language - Be-Bop Deluxe
9. The World - Dalek I
10. Honour Among Thieves - Chain Of Command
11. Red Frame/White Light - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
12. Red Castles - The Legendary Pink Dots
13. Lifes Illusion - Ice The Falling Rain
14. The Human Factor - Music For Pleasure
15. She's An Image - Poeme Electronique
16. I'm Thinking Of You Now - Box Of Toys
17. The Planet Doesn't Mind - New Musik
18. Hope Deep Inside - Schleimer K
19. The Distance From Köln - Native Europe
20. Technical Miracle - Voice Of Authority

CD 2

21. Circus Of Death - The Human League
22. Xoyo - The Passage
23. Crowds - A Popular History Of Signs
24. October (Love Song) - Chris And Cosey
25. Feel So Young - Laugh Clown Laugh
26. Croatia - Basking Sharks
27. Mr Nobody - Thomas Leer
28. Ricky's Hand - Fad Gadget
29. Hypnotic Rhythm - Local Boy Makes Good
30. Drowning In Berlin - The Mobiles
31. Even Now - Edward Ka-Spel
32. Lying Next To You - Passion Polka
33. Rabies - Naked Lunch
34. Do It - The Limit
35. Work Song - Robert Calvert
36. Baby Won't Phone - Quadrascope
37. It Happened Then - Electronic Ensemble
38. In The Morning - Jeanett
39. Nightlife - Those Attractive Magnets
40. My Coo Ca Choo - Beasts In Cages

Cd 3

41. Your Love Is Like A Slug - The Bodhi-Beat Poets
42. Veil Like Calm - Eyeless In Gaza
43. Destitution - Camera Obscura
44. Good Times - Drinking Electricity
45. Happy Families - Zoo Boutique
46. Feels Like Winter Again - Fiat Lux
47. Falling Downstairs - Colin Potter
48. Our Little Girl - David Harrow
49. It Never Rains In Outer Space -Futurhythm
50. Zennor - Goat
51. Videomatic - Final Program
52. Taddy Up - Pink Industry
53. You Don't Look The Same - Play
54. Children Of The Revolution - The Fast Set
55. Trace Of Red - Two
56. Lying Here - Shox
57. Daytime Assassins - The Builders
58. Beating Heart (12" Version) - Section 25
59. Absent Friends - Joe Crow
60. Jamaica Day - Faction

Cd 4

61. Generator (Laserbeam) - Tim Blake
62. Touch - Lori And The Chameleons
63. The Secret Affair - Jupiter Red
64. I'm Your Man - Blue Zoo
65. Even Roses Have Thorns - Jesus Couldn't Drum
66. Paint It Black - Techno Pop
67. Chase The Dragon - Kevin Harrison
68. Other Passengers - Thirteen At Midnight
69. Your Voice - Freeze Frame
70. Stay With You - Time In Motion
71. Live Wires Kill - The Toy Shop
72. Surface Tension - Analysis
73. Time - Paul Haig
74. Contemplation - Solid Space
75. Committed To Vinyl - Martin O'cuthbert
76. Look Don't Touch - Science
77. The Wishing Tree (Megatree Mix) -Charlie's Brother
78. Working Model - The Quarks
79. There's Someone Following Me - Eddie ; Sunshine
80. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - Hybrid Kids

Label : Cherry Red CRCD4BOX77
Barcode :5013929107793