Track Listing

1. Being Boiled - Human League
2. Computer Game - Yellow Magic Orchestra
3. Always Crashing In The Same Car - Bowie, David
4. Sister Europe - Psychedelic Furs
5. Changeling - Simple Minds
6. Only After Dark - Ronson, Mick
7. Underpass - Foxx, John
8. Warm Leatherette - Normal (1)
9. In Crowd - Ferry, Bryan
10. True Wheel - Eno, Brian
11. Are Friends Electric - Tubeway Army
12. Robots - Kraftwerk
13. I Feel Love - Summer, Donna (1)
14. I Am The Fly - Wire (1)
15. Shot By Both Sides - Magazine
16. Private Life - Jones, Grace
17. Passenger - Iggy Pop
18. Slow Motion - Ultravox

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104287 in Music
• Released on: 2006-05-08
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Roots and branches
What an amazing album!!! Over the years classic electronica and it's roots have not been serviced well by compilation albums. Landscape! Buggles! Ultravox with Midge! Human League with girls! Spandau Ballet! This compilation made me realise how quickly this style of music moved away from it's dark/punk roots to be a commercially acceptable and chart friendly music form. The compilers of this compilation were themselves guilty, pretty boy pop stardum replaced great mood music. Yes, it has always been a fashion statement music; Bowie, Roxy, etc, but not at the expense of great emotional music. It became all feel good and not an expression of a great and dark time of life.

What do we find? Classic Kraftwerk, Human League (before girls), Bowie, Tubeway Army, John Foxx- if these were the roots why were the branches so jolly? Grace Jones, Donna Summer from the electronic/disco era and Magazine and Wire from the post-punk days. Totally different in style but they all fit together, reminding us that the first electronic artists came out of punk and not out of fasion magazines. A double album would have been so appreciated as this seems so short. Then we could have had other pioneers like Can, Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Giorgio Moroder, Space, Sparks, Japan etc.

I cannot recommend this album enough. This is history, the roots of rave and dance music. See where the Killers and the Bravery descend from and enjoy a dark beginning that just lights up your speakers one song after another.

Mixed bag but some real lesser known classics
A great choice of opening track sets the tone. A lot of casual electro fans probably won't have heard the Human League do such a raw and stripped down number. But it's a great sound and a great song. And this continues all the way down. There are some absolute classics that have featured on every synth collection ever, but then there is Daniel Miller in his pre Mute days and John Foxx in his post Ultravox days. There is New Wave, New Romantic, pure synth and post punk all thrown into the mix. This diversity and the presence of some lesser known numbers might put you off, but that is what makes this album in a rather congested compilation market. You don't expect early Simple Minds or Iggy Pop to turn up on a Duran collection. In fact, the only thing missing is an early Duran number that I'm sure they would have forgiven been for.

The mix is OK, nothing particularly special but it doesn't get in the way. The sleeve notes and art is OK, but not sensational. I'm sure there are plenty more compilations that can come out of the Rhodes mix box though, and if they are as good as this then I'd go along for the ride. Recommended.

The Rum Runner
This is the real thing. I used to frequent the Rum Runner at that time. I can close my eyes now and still see Nik Rhodes standing in the doorway as the people came in checking everybody out. Duran Duran played some of their first gigs there.

More importantly this was the music that WAS played there.

Great times..great friends....