Saturday, May 03, 2008

The legendary c81 tape



This cassette (and yes, I mean cassette) was utterly, utterly seminal, perhaps even more so than its sister release, the c86 cassette, also compiled by NME, in summing up the music and mood of an era. In his book Rip It Up And Start Again, Simon Reynolds calles it 'Post-Punk's Swan Song.' Over the course of the next twelve months, the post-punk landscape continued to shift, change and develop into what became known as 'New Pop'. On the one hand New Pop gave us the Human League, ABC, Depeche Mode, and incorporated a few of the acts on this tape (Scritti Politti, Wah!), but it also gave us acts that ruined classic songs, had big haircuts and egos, and still inspire people to go on about how much the eighties was good for cheese. Lord save us from those who buy into the 'so rubbish it's good' myth.

Anyway, for more on this tape check out these entries at Indie-mp3 and at Wikipedia. In fact, if you like great music make sure you check out indie mp3 anyway for proper indie music.

Side One

1. The "Sweetest Girl"" – Scritti Politti
2. "Twist and Crawl Dub" – The Beat
3. "Misery Goats" – Pere Ubu
4. "7,000 Names of Wah!" – Wah! Heat
5. "Blue Boy" – Orange Juice
6. "Raising the Count" – Cabaret Voltaire
7. "Kebab Traume Live" – D.A.F
8. "Bare Pork" – Furious Pig
9. "Raquel" – The Specials
10. "I Look Alone" – Buzzcocks
11. "Fanfare in the Garden" – Essential Logic
12. "Born Again Cretin" – Robert Wyatt

Side Two

1. "Shouting Out Loud" – The Raincoats
2. "Endless Soul" – Josef K
3. "Low Profile" – Blue Orchids
4. "Red Nettle" – Virgin Prunes
5. "We Could Send Letters" – Aztec Camera
6. "Milkmaid" – Red Crayola
7. "Don't Get in My Way" – Linx
8. "The Day My Pad Went Mad" – The Massed Carnaby St John Cooper Clarkes
9. "Jazz Is the Teacher, Funk Is the Preacher" – James Blood Ulmer
10. "Close to Home" – Ian Dury
11. "Greener Grass" – Gist
12. "Parallel Lines" – Subway Sect
13. "81 Minutes" - John Cooper Clarke

Enjoy folks!

9 comments:

DR said...

Hi, nice blog, just downloaded Senser Eject, 'Talk like a sitcom, eat yr wopper, I won't be another Happy Shopper' how good is that, 1993 is surely the best of all festive 50's. Also I was looking for a track that was on Peel some time ago, (anytime between '91 - '97) a drum and bass thing that sampled Walk on by, the Isaac Hayes version found on Hot Buttered Soul, do you or anyone else out there know who did it?

Ed said...

Hi, glad you like the blog, no idea on the track, try Steve at Teenage Kicks blogspot!

Ed

One of the Dads said...

C81 - where is my copy now that I've got an FM transmitter for the car...

Wikipedia lists a host of samples of the Isaac Hayes "Walk On By" - could it be the MF Doom version you're after. Search by song title.

Off to the cupboard, knowing I'll get sidetracked by the other NME cassettes when I get there. Thanks, 17".

Ed said...

Thanks Michael - let us know if you post any of those cassettes!

Ed

So It Goes said...

Immortal post, Eduardo. Immortal. Simply confirms my opinion of 17 Seconds as one of the all-time classic blogs.

Ed said...

Cheers -and happy first anninversary to teenage Kicks too!

ed

Anonymous said...

Ed, you're spoiling us. It's great to have this cracking version of Misery Goat in a format I can actually play.

Thanks very much, you've made an old man very happy :)

cheers, Craig

Ed said...

Glad to make folks happy, Craig. Believe me, I was ecstatic to be able to have this on my iPod, so had to share it with readers.

Ed

david said...

Thanks very much Ed - you've made two old men very happy!

Cheers :D
LSI