C90 / Various C90 / Various CD

Three CD set. Over a decade now since punk rocked the British musical scene to it's foundations and caused an eruption of independently produced records, the scene and a new generation of figurehead artists began to let ambition in and head overground, playing to increasingly large crowds, working with bigger budgets and selling more copies, finding a footing in the UK's Top Forty, venturing into the USA and, ultimately, creating a mainstream audience now primed for credible, guitar-tinged pop. Meanwhile, an underground revolution in clubland began to push towards the commercial same space, resulting in an inevitable fusion of songcraft and dancefloor aesthetics. C90 captures perfectly the moment these tribes began to coalesce. From the opening, club-friendly rendition of The Charlatans' 'Polar Bear' to The La's knowingly backward looking 'Timeless Melody' and all in-between, this is the sound of a scene dropping the raincoats, dropping acid and aiming for domination. 1990 was the start of a new decade when the Indie scene was dominated by Madchester and the arrival of Shoegaze and with nods towards grunge and what would become known as Britpop, plus hints of a proto-laddism peering out from between the cracks in a post-Smiths aesthetic, the sound of 1990, it could be argued, set the tone for the remainder of the decade.

1. Polar Bear 2. Sway 3. Perfume 4. The Storm 5. Only Love Can Break Your Heart 6. It's on 7. Get Higher 8. My Rising Star 9. Wonderment 10. Thoughtforms 11. Anyway That You Want Me 12. Swansong 13. Juggernaut Rides 14. Avalyn I 15. Half-Life, Remembered 16. Something More (Ambient Version) 17. Can't Be Sure 18. She Sings Alone 19. Please Let Me Go 20. New Art Riot 21. Aim 22. Pop Song 23. Beam Me Up 24. To Kill a Slow Girl Walking 25. Welcome to Dead Town 26. Listen 27. Seems to Me 28. Big City (Waves of Joy) (Demo) 29. I Fell in Love Last Night 30. Sean Connery 31. Take 32. Noah's Ark 33. Amnesia 34. Earthwheel 35. If I Could Shine 36. Mad As Love 37. Crazy Mixed Up Kid 38. These Things Happen 39. Strange 40. I Know 41. Timeless Melody 42. Highrise Love 43. Everything About You 44. Sleep 45. Potboiler 46. Dead Like You 47. Twenty-Fifteen 48. Beside the Sea 49. Little Valley Town 50. Sunday Never Comes Around 51. Good Morning 52. Learning to Keep My Mouth Shut 53. Lovesville USA 54. She Made Everything Groovy 55. Out of My Mind 56. Darkest Blue 57. My Heart Is Where My Home Is 58. When I Find You 59. Nothing in Your Heart 60. What Is More Than Life 61. I Really Do Love You Penelope 62. Missing You 63. Cheat on Me