Various - Musik, Music, Musique 3.0: 1982 – Synth Pop on the Air’

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 26 / 4 / 2023

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In 2020, the first instalment in Cherry Red’s synth pop series, ‘Musik, Music, Musique’ came out, focusing on ‘The Dawn of Synth Pop’ in 1980, and the year after it was time for 1981 to shine, as ‘The Rise of Synth Pop’ on the second compilation. Now we have arrived in 1982, or ‘Synth Pop on the Air’, as the label chooses to define the stage that electronic pop was at in that year, with many acts from the scene finally making it big for real. There are lots of household names on the track list – like OMD, Ultravox, Tears For Fears, The Human League, Kim Wilde, Dead Or Alive and New Order – but there are of course far more obscure names on here as well, so don’t worry about this being yet another ‘Best of Synth Pop’ compilation. If you listen to the previous two compilations in this series, the music on them are experimental, and the sounds are often rudimentary, made with early synthesizers and home-made drum machines. But for this one, the sounds have changed a bit, which is also reflected in the subtitle for this third volume – as soon as the production became better and better, the radio stations began playing the songs more often. And if the songs can be heard on the radio, they will surely be climbing the charts… But even though 1982 might have been the year synth pop became more polished, that didn’t mean that musicians stopped experimenting, not at all. There are lots of experimental pieces among the more than fifty tracks on the three discs that makes up this box set, for example Arthur Brown’s ‘Conversations’ and Thomas Leer’s ‘Mr Nobody’, and there are also lots of examples of bands that were really influenced by the synth pop stars of the time, but maybe didn’t have quite the same technical knowledge or conditions needed to make it big time. So what about the big stars on this compilation then? As usual on Cherry Red’s marvellous box sets, they have chosen to not go for the hits, but instead opts for the hidden gems. In this case, Tears For Fears are represented by the excellent single ‘Pale Shelter’, Dead Or Alive by a demo recording of ‘What I Want’ (re-recorded for their debut album ‘Sophisticated Boom Boom two years later), Kim Wilde by the single ‘Child Come Away’, and The Human League by ‘You Remind Me of Gold’, taken from their ‘Fascination’ album. A brilliant way to showcase the lesser-known sides of these superstars! This is a great addition to the already amazing compilation series, and the label is also hinting at forthcoming volumes covering 1983 and 1984. We’re looking forward to that!

Track Listing:-

1 Thomas Dolby – Radio Silence
2 The Passage – XOYO
3 Talk Talk – Mirror Man
4 100% Manmade Fibre – Green For Go
5 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – She’s Leaving
6 Poeme Electronique – V.O.I.C.E.
7 Colourbox – Breakdown (1982 Single Version)
8 Blancmange – I’ve Seen The Word
9 Fashiøn – Streetplayer (Mechanik)
10 Japan – European Son
11 Greeting No 4 – Condition
12 Richard Bone – Digital Days
13 Paul Haig – Justice
14 Tears For Fears – Pale Shelter
15 Arthur Brown – Conversations
16 Die Krupps – Goldfinger
17 Planning By Numbers – Lightning Strikes
18 Faith Global – Coded World
19 Aerial FX – Instant Feeling
20 Ultravox – Monument
21 Dramatis – The Shame
22 Fiat Lux – This Illness
23 New Order – Temptation
24 Kevin Coyne – Tell The Truth
25 Dead Or Alive – What I Want (Demo)
26 Toyah – Ieya 1982
27 Fad Gadget – Life On The Line
28 Thirteen At Midnight – Climb Down
29 Soft Cell – Sex Dwarf
30 Yello – Heavy Whispers
31 Zoo Boutique – Happy Families
32 The Human League – You Remind Me Of Gold
33 Moebius – Pushing Too Hard
34 Passion Polka – Juliet
35 Endgames – First-Last-For Everything (Club Version)
36 Leisure Process – Love Cascade
37 Drinking Electricity – Good Times
38 Section 25 – Hold Me
39 Heaven 17 – Let Me Go!
40 Voice Farm – Beatnik
41 Telex – Sigmund Freud’s Party
42 Thomas Leer – Mr Nobody
43 Kim Wilde – Child Come Away
44 Communication – Future Shock
45 Berlin – Sex (I’m A….)
46 Local Boy Makes Good – Hypnotic Rhythm
47 Mikado – Par Hasard
48 Falco – Maschine Brennt
49 Those French Girls – Sorry Sorry
50 Nick Nicely – Hilly Fields (1892) + 6 Others

Label Links:-

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/CherryRedRecords
https://twitter.com/cherryredgroup
https://www.youtube.com/CherryRedRecords

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