I thought I’d end this short series with a look at what I reckon could be as fine a free CD giveaway as there’s ever been. It came with the October 2012 edition of MOJO magazine.
1982: It was the year marked by UK unemployment topping three million…the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina…the sale of over 400,000 council houses under the right to buy scheme…the IRA bombings of Hyde Park and Regents Park…the collapse of Laker Airways…and the privatisation of the British National Oil Company.
Meanwhile, in Manchester, May of that year saw two major events: the launch of the Hacienda Club and the meeting of Morrissey and Johnny Marr. In the five years that followed, the pair would lead The Smiths with a sense of fierce ambition. Joined initially by Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, their uniquely British sound – a mixture of forward-looking musical dexterity and mordant lyricism – also established them as the standard-bearers for the independent music scene. This compilation brings together a number of The Smiths’ contemporaries and provides a snapshot of the scene they dominated during their brief five-year tenure.
From the glorious jangle-pop of Felt through to the post-Velvets vibes of The Weather Prophets and on to the insurrectionary spirit of Billy Bragg and Television Personalities, this collection recalls a period in indie rock when the intentions were pure and the music mattered.
We invite you to enjoy 15 tracks whose spirit remains intact. The light shines on…
mp3: Felt – Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow
mp3: The Weather Prophets – Almost Prayed
mp3: Hurrah! – Sweet Sanity
mp3: The Woodentops – Well Well Well
mp3: Close Lobsters – Nature Thing
mp3: The Nightingales – Crafty Fag
mp3: The Flatmates – I Could Be In Heaven
mp3: The Go-Betweens – Cattle and Cane
mp3: Billy Bragg – Levi Stubbs’ Tears
mp3: Martin Stephenson and The Daintees – Crocodile Cryer
mp3: Television Personalities – How I Learned To Love The…Bomb
mp3: The La’s – Open Your Heart
mp3: The Blue Aeroplanes – Action Painting
mp3: The Dentists – Strawberries Are Growing In My Garden (And It’s Wintertime)
mp3: The Chesterfields – Completely and Utterly
The CD can be had for 95p plus P&P over at Discogs. An absolute bargain.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 