The Indie Scene was the title attached to a number of CD compilations via the Connoisseur Collection label, an imprint whose speciality was in the reissue market.
There were, as far as I can tell, ten such compilations, each covering a particular year between 1977 and 1986.
Indie Scene 80 contains 22 songs, many of which are by perennial favourites of this blog such as Associates, Bauhaus, Dead Kennedys, Echo & The Bunnymen, Fad Gadget, The Fall, Joy Division and Wah!
Track 5 is this rather wonderful number:-
mp3: Nightmares In Wax – Black Leather
Nightmares In Wax were a short-lived group from Liverpool, gigging and recording in 1979/80. They would record just one EP, entitled Birth Of A Nation, released on the Inevitable label. Black Leather was the lead track on the EP.
The musicians who played on the EP were Pete Burns (vocals), Phil Hurst (drums), Martin Healy (keyboards), Pete Lloyd (bass) and Mick Reid (guitars), although quite a number of other musicians were involved in what was a constantly-changing line-up from the very outset.
By April 1980, just Burns and Healy would remain of those who had made the EP. The next time they went into the studio to record a new single called I’m Falling, again for the Inevitable label, they would be accompanied by Adrian Mitchley (guitars), Sue James (bass) and Joe Musker (drums). Oh, and they had changed their name to Dead or Alive…….whose first Top 20 hit eventually came in 1984, thanks to a cover of KC and The Sunshine Band‘s disco smash from 1975, That’s The Way (I Like It).
And if you do find yourself listening through the five minutes of Black Leather, you’ll spot that KC’s song making an appearance around the three-minute mark.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Life is peculiar. Or, at least my wants in life could be peculiar, or so I thought, in the early 80s. When I bought the EP It’s Been Hours Now – thinking it to be the debut release – I was hooked. I’ve no idea how or why I bought the EP? It could’ve been because the cover art intrigued me – although unlikely as it was bought new.
I was a little miffed to realise that other earlier releases existed. Bah! Records Fares, second-hand shops, the Barras unearthed only The Stranger with the first two releases evading me to this day – not that I’m too bothered… I’m sure they’re available online.
Dead or Alive were my band. I stayed with them until Youthquake and all associated singles. The band had carried out a staggering reinvention – losing Wayne Hussey in the process – they were now a pop band. With Burns’s voice it wasn’t ever straight up pop.
With musical historians it seems the short-lived Nightmares In Wax dominates Dead or Alive? I’m not sure why?
It was nice to see this appear. Burns succumbed to the fame he always craved. I for one think that a bit of a shame.
Flimflamfan
Yes, ‘Black Leather’ is fantastic – if the 7″ weren’t so expensive, it surely would have found a place in my 111 singles – box!