Various Artists: Electrical Language-Independent British Synth Pop 78-84, 4CD Bookpack

• 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.

• Hardback book format includes over 12,000 words of sleevenotes (including artist-written pieces), introductory essay by Dave Henderson and period imagery.

• 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.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

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

DISC TWO

1.  CIRCUS OF DEATH – The Human League

2.  XOYO – The Passage

3.  CROWDS - A Popular History Of Signs

4.  OCTOBER (LOVE SONG) - Chris And Cosey

5.  FEEL SO YOUNG - Laugh Clown Laugh

6.  CROATIA - Basking Sharks

7.  MR NOBODY – Thomas Leer

8.  RICKY'S HAND – Fad Gadget

9.  HYPNOTIC RHYTHM - Local Boy Makes Good

10.  DROWNING IN BERLIN – The Mobiles

11.  EVEN NOW - Edward Ka-Spel

12.  LYING NEXT TO YOU – Passion Polka

13.  RABIES – Naked Lunch

14.  DO IT – The Limit

15.  WORK SONG - Robert Calvert

16.  BABY WON'T PHONE – Quadrascope

17.  IT HAPPENED THEN - Electronic Ensemble

18.  IN THE MORNING – Jeanette

19.  NIGHTLIFE - Those Attractive Magnets

20.  MY COO CA CHOO – Beasts In Cages

DISC THREE

1.  YOUR LOVE IS LIKE A SLUG - The Bodhi-Beat Poets

2.  VEIL LIKE CALM - Eyeless In Gaza

3.  DESTITUTION - Camera Obscura

4.  GOOD TIMES - Drinking Electricity

5.  HAPPY FAMILIES - Zoo Boutique

6.  FEELS LIKE WINTER AGAIN – Fiat Lux

7.  FALLING DOWNSTAIRS – Colin Potter

8.  OUR LITTLE GIRL – David Harrow

9.  IT NEVER RAINS IN OUTER SPACE - Futurhythm

10.  ZENNOR – Goat

11.  VIDEOMATIC – Final Program

12.  TADDY UP – Pink Industry

13. YOU DON'T LOOK THE SAME – Play

14.  CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION – The Fast Set

15. TRACE OF RED – Two

16.  LYING HERE – Shox

17.  DAYTIME ASSASSINS – The Builders

18.  BEATING HEART (12" VERSION) – Section 25

19. ABSENT FRIENDS – Joe Crow

20.  JAMAICA DAY - Faction

DISC FOUR

1.  GENERATOR (LASERBEAM) – Tim Blake

2.  TOUCH - Lori And The Chameleons

3.  THE SECRET AFFAIR – Jupiter Red

4.  I'M YOUR MAN – Blue Zoo

5.  EVEN ROSES HAVE THORNS - Jesus Couldn't Drum

6.  PAINT IT BLACK – Techno Pop

7.  CHASE THE DRAGON - Kevin Harrison

8.  OTHER PASSENGERS - Thirteen At Midnight

9.  YOUR VOICE - Freeze Frame

10.  STAY WITH YOU - Time In Motion

11.  LIVE WIRES KILL – The Toy Shop

12.  SURFACE TENSION – Analysis

13. TIME – Paul Haig

14.  CONTEMPLATION – Solid Space

15.  COMMITTED TO VINYL - Martin O'Cuthbert

16.  LOOK DON'T TOUCH – Science

17. THE WISHING TREE (MEGATREE MIX) – Charlie’s Brother

18.  WORKING MODEL – The Quarks

19. THERE'S SOMEONE FOLLOWING ME – Eddie & Sunshine

20.  HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) – Hybrid Kids