Cherry Red Records is putting out a 4CD 80 track set that celebrates the independent side of the UK’s post punk synthpop boom that took place between 1978 and 1984. The collection is called Electrical Language and it also comes with a booklet featuring the sleeve notes from many of the recordings and words from the artists themselves. The collection includes several household names such as OMD, The Normal , Human League, Thomas Dolby and Fad Gadget in addition to underground artists from the era.

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This collection also contains some hidden gems from Mute Records, Rough Trade, 4AD, Survival Records and of course, Cherry Red. Cherry Red Records say this about the collection

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

WINDPOWER – Thomas Dolby SCIENCE FICTION – Alan Burnham WARM LEATHERETTE – The Normal STAY WITH ME TONIGHT – Alex Fergusson TARANTULA – Colourbox FANTASY – 100% Manmade Fibre BANDWAGON TANGO – Testcard F ELECTRICAL LANGUAGE – Be-Bop Deluxe THE WORLD – Dalek I HONOUR AMONG THIEVES – Chain Of Command RED FRAME/WHITE LIGHT –

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark RED CASTLES – The Legendary Pink Dots LIFES ILLUSION – Ice The Falling Rain THE HUMAN FACTOR – Music For Pleasure SHE’S AN IMAGE – Poeme Electronique I’M THINKING OF YOU NOW – Box Of Toys THE PLANET DOESN’T MIND – New Musik HOPE DEEP INSIDE – Schleimer K THE DISTANCE FROM KÖLN – Native Europe TECHNICAL MIRACLE – Voice Of Authority

DISC TWO

CIRCUS OF DEATH – The Human League XOYO – The Passage CROWDS – A Popular History Of Signs OCTOBER (LOVE SONG) – Chris And Cosey FEEL SO YOUNG – Laugh Clown Laugh CROATIA – Basking Sharks MR NOBODY – Thomas Leer RICKY’S HAND – Fad Gadget HYPNOTIC RHYTHM – Local Boy Makes Good DROWNING IN BERLIN – The Mobiles EVEN NOW – Edward Ka-Spel LYING NEXT TO YOU – Passion Polka RABIES – Naked Lunch DO IT – The Limit WORK SONG – Robert Calvert BABY WON’T PHONE – Quadrascope IT HAPPENED THEN – Electronic Ensemble IN THE MORNING – Jeanette NIGHTLIFE – Those Attractive Magnets MY COO CA CHOO – Beasts In Cages

DISC THREE

YOUR LOVE IS LIKE A SLUG – The Bodhi-Beat Poets VEIL LIKE CALM – Eyeless In Gaza DESTITUTION – Camera Obscura GOOD TIMES – Drinking Electricity HAPPY FAMILIES – Zoo Boutique FEELS LIKE WINTER AGAIN – Fiat Lux FALLING DOWNSTAIRS – Colin Potter OUR LITTLE GIRL – David Harrow IT NEVER RAINS IN OUTER SPACE – Futurhythm ZENNOR – Goat VIDEOMATIC – Final Program TADDY UP – Pink Industry YOU DON’T LOOK THE SAME – Play CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION – The Fast Set TRACE OF RED – Two LYING HERE – Shox DAYTIME ASSASSINS – The Builders BEATING HEART (12″ VERSION) – Section 25 ABSENT FRIENDS – Joe Crow JAMAICA DAY – Faction

DISC FOUR