Electrical Language: Independent British Synth Pop Electrical Language: Independent British Synth Pop CD

2019 four CD set that explores 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. The year - 1978. The mood - revolution. The latest addition to the musician's sound palette - the synthesizer. And so a new sound was born, and one which would free pop music from it's 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.

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 11. Chain of Command 12. Red Frame/White Light - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 13. Red Castles - the Legendary Pink Dots 14. Lifes Illusion - Ice the Falling Rain 15. The Human Factor - Music for Pleasure 16. She's An Image - Poeme Electronique 17. I'm Thinking of You Now - Box of Toys 18. The Planet Doesn't Mind - New Musik 19. Hope Deep Inside - Schleimer K 20. The Distance from K?LN -Native Europe 21. Technical Miracle - Voice of Authority 22. Circus of Death - the Human League 23. Xoyo - the Passage 24. Crowds - a Popular History of Signs 25. October (Love Song) - Chris and Cosey 26. Feel So Young - Laugh Clown Laugh 27. Croatia - Basking Sharks 28. Mr Nobody - Thomas Leer 29. Ricky's Hand - Fad Gadget 30. Hypnotic Rhythm 31. Local Boy Makes Good 32. Drowning in Berlin - the Mobiles 33. Even Now - Edward Ka-Spel 34. Lying Next to You - Passion Polka 35. Rabies - Naked Lunch 36. Do It - the Limit 37. Work Song - Robert Calvert 38. Baby Won't Phone - Quadrascope 39. It Happened Then - Electronic Ensemble 40. In the Morning - Jeanette 41. Nightlife - Those Attractive Magnets 42. My Coo Ca Choo - Beasts in Cages 43. Your Love Is Like a Slug-The Bodhi-Beat Poets 44. Veil Like Calm - Eyeless in Gaza 45. Destitution - Camera Obscura 46. Good Times - Drinking Electricity 47. Happy Families - Zoo Boutique 48. Feels Like Winter Again - Fiat Lux 49. Falling Downstairs - Colin Potter 50. Our Little Girl - David Harrow 51. It Never Rains in Outer Space 52. Futurhythm 53. Zennor - Goat 54. Videomatic - Final Program 55. Taddy Up - Pink Industry 56. You Don't Look the Same - Play 57. Children of the Revolution 58. The Fast Set 59. Trace of Red - Two 60. Lying Here - Shox 61. Daytime Assassins - the Builders 62. Beating Heart (12" Version) -Section 25 63. Absent Friends - Joe Crow 64. Jamaica Day - Faction 65. Generator (Laserbeam) - Tim Blake 66. Touch - Lori and the Chameleons 67. The Secret Affair - Jupiter Red 68. I'm Your Man - Blue Zoo 69. Even Roses Have Thorns 70. Jesus Couldn't Drum 71. Paint It Black - Techno Pop 72. Chase the Dragon - Kevin Harrison 73. Other Passengers - Thirteen at Midnight 74. Your Voice - Freeze Frame 75. Stay with You - Time in Motion 76. Live Wires Kill - the Toy Shop 77. Surface Tension - Analysis 78. Time - Paul Haig 79. Contemplation - Solid Space 80. Committed to Vinyl - Martin O'Cuthbert 81. Look Don't Touch - Science 82. The Wishing Tree (Megatree Mix) - Charlie's Brother 83. Working Model - the Quarks 84. There's Someone Following Me 85. Eddie ; Sunshine-Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - Hybrid Kids