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• Four exceptional hours of music that defines British pop at the end of a tumultuous decade
• Continuing Cherry Red’s yearly overview of the late ‘70s UK “new music” scene
• Housed in a stylish clamshell box, ‘Revolt Into Style’ features the best of a fast-splintering scene, rife with creativity
If 1977 was the year that punk broke, and 1978 saw the UK turn Day-Glo, then 1979 was all about the aftershock of punk, with the redrawn British musical landscape divided between various youth sub-cultures and factions. The release of the film Quadrophenia gave a focal point to the growing mod revival, power pop bands like The Jags similarly sought inspiration from the mid-‘60s, while 2-Tone recalibrated the ska sound of Prince Buster for a new generation of pork pie hat-wearing rude boys.
Running parallel to those developments, a plethora of bands – prominent among whom were Public Image Ltd, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Fall and Joy Division – were demanding the future now with an uncompromising sound and nonconformist approach that would subsequently be labelled post-punk. They were joined by the likes of The Human League and Tubeway Army, who brought avant-garde electronic influences and dystopian lyrical themes into the pop charts.
With the more mainstream Spirit-of-’77 bands now rebranded by the radio-friendly marketing term New Wave, 1979 turned out to be an epic pot-pourri of sounds and styles. The likes of Madness, Echo And The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, Pretenders and Dexy’s Midnight Runners all made their vinyl debuts, while the singles chart boasted instant three-minute classics from The Jam, The Clash, The Skids, Squeeze, The Ruts, XTC and The Undertones.
Naturally enough, all of the aforementioned bands are represented on ‘Revolt Into Style’ alongside more obscure 7” gems and a smattering of key album tracks from some of the most important long-players of the year: Joy Division, The Fall, Madness, Tubeway Army and Ian Dury’s eagerly-awaited follow-up to ‘New Boots And Panties’.
Tracklist
DISC ONE
1 Bill Nelson’s Red Noise – Revolt Into Style
2 Eddie And The Hot Rods – Media Messiahs
3 Andy Arthurs – I Feel Flat
4 Magazine – Rhythm Of Cruelty (single version)
5 The Cannibals – You Can’t
6 John Cooper Clarke – ¡Gimmix! Play Loud
7 Dead Fingers Talk – The Boyfriend
8 The Only Ones – You Got To Pay
9 Glaxo Babies – Who Killed Bruce Lee?
10 Sham 69 – Questions And Answers (single version)
11 Fingerprintz – Night Nurse
12 Siouxsie And The Banshees – The Staircase (Mystery)
13 The Squares – Stop Being A Boy
14 The Fall – Rebellious Jukebox
15 Alternative TV – Graves Of Deluxe Green
16 Patrik Fitzgerald – All Sewn Up
17 Tubeway Army – Me, I Disconnect From You
18 The Outsiders – White Debt
19 The Members – Soho-A-Go-Go
20 Three Party Split – Dubious Parentage
21 X-Ray Spex – Highly Inflammable
22 Jonnie And The Lubes – I Got Rabies
23 Toyah – Victims Of The Riddle (Part 1)
24 Ian Dury And The Blockheads – Sink My Boats
DISC TWO
1 Squeeze – Up The Junction
2 The Clash – Groovy Times
3 The Records – Girls That Don’t Exist
4 The Skids – Masquerade
5 Clive Langer And The Boxes – The Whole World
6 Echo And The Bunnymen – Read It In Books
7 The Faders – Library Book
8 Gang Of Four – At Home He’s A Tourist
9 Joy Division – Disorder
10 The Numbers – Alternative Suicide
11 The Jags – Back Of My Hand
12 The Teardrop Explodes – Bouncing Babies (Zoo version)
13 The Cravats – Burning Bridges
14 Adam And The Ants – Whip In My Valise
15 Fashion – Citinite
16 The Undertones – Here Comes The Summer
17 Cult Figures – Zip Nolan (extended mix)
18 Pretenders – Kid
19 The Quads – There Must Be Thousands
20 The Jam – When You’re Young
21 The Cheetahs – Radio-Active
22 The Ruts – Something That I Said
23 The Teenbeats – I Can’t Control Myself
24 The Stranglers – Don’t Bring Harry
25 The Barracudas – I Want My Woody Back
DISC THREE
1 XTC – Making Plans For Nigel
2 The Revillos – Where’s The Boy For Me?
3 The Monochrome Set – The Monochrome Set (single version)
4 Passage – Taking My Time
5 Swell Maps – Real Shocks
6 The Zipps – Friends
7 Disco Zombies – Disco Zombies
8 The Pack – Number 12
9 The Human League – Empire State Human
10 The Wall – Kiss The Mirror
11 The Mekons – Work All Week
12 999 – Found Out Too Late
13 The Outcasts – Self Conscious Over You
14 Public Image Ltd – Memories (single version)
15 The Monks – Johnny B Rotten
16 The Freshies – Children Of The World
17 The Vapors – Prisoners
18 Madness – Bed And Breakfast Man
19 Secret Affair – Glory Boys
20 Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Dance Stance (demo)
21 The Regents – 7 Teen
22 The Lurkers – New Guitar In Town
23 The Boys – Kamikaze
24 The Carpettes – Easy Way Out
25 Scritti Politti – Messthetics
26 Spizzenergi – Where’s Captain Kirk?
27 Notsensibles – I’m In Love With Margaret Thatcher