BOXSET REVIEW: Music For New Romantics (Cherry Red Records)
With Thatcherism taking hold after a depressing decade, the late ’70s and early ’80s proved to be an enormously creative time in British music.
The new romantic movement, like many of those which followed punk, began in London, but soon its influence spread far and wide.
This 59-track set, spread over 3CDs, is one of those retrospectives Cherry Red do so well, harvesting the fringes of a scene rather than just cherry-picking the hits.
It celebrates the music played at places like the legendary Blitz in London, but also clubs in Manchester and Birmingham, and, quite quickly, everywhere else too.
Centred around fashion-obsessed individuals, new romanticism inspired a whole youth movement, as well as celebrating those who paved the way for it.
Compiled by boy-about-town and DJ Chris Sullivan (of Blue Rondo A La Turk), and featuring a pick ‘n mix collection of glam rock, proto-punk, electronica, disco, funk and camp 60s curios, it’s certainly eclectic.
Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way: presumably for licensing reasons there’s no David Bowie or Kraftwerk, despite the fact that one or the other probably influenced most of those who ARE included.
The set does kick off with Mott The Hoople’s version of Bowie’s song All The Young Dudes, while his Spiders From Mars guitarist Mick Ronson is present with Only After Dark, clearly influenced by his old boss.
There’s Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Roxy Music, and well-chosen cuts from early electro acts like Tubeway Army, The Human League, John Foxx, Thomas Dolby and Visage.
The Sweet’s 1973 single Ballroom Blitz might seem an odd inclusion, but apparently went down a storm in The Blitz, and I understand why – it’s possibly still my favourite single of all time, nearly 50 years after it was released.
Other classic cuts include Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (whose Electricity is one of the standout songs here), Japan (whose Life In Tokyo is another), and The Cure’s never-bettered The Forest. There’s also a fine 12in mix of Spandau Ballet’s To Cut A Long Story Short that might make even me dance!
Donna Summer’s Love To Love You Baby is absolute filth – no wonder it was never played on the radio – but a floorfiller in the clubs, while Sister Sledge’s Lost In Music might seem another odd inclusion, but is a disco banger.
Things go a bit odd with the theme tunes for ’60s TV shows Stingray and Captain Scarlet, and continue in that vein with Landscape’s Einstein A Go-Go and The Normal’s Warm Leatherette.
There are also early cuts by groups who went on to be huge – Simple Minds, New Order and Nightmares In Wax (who had a No 1 after changing their name to Dead Or Alive).
There’s even room for some of that horrible punk rock the new romantics disliked so much – or was it post-punk, who cares? – with Magazine’s magnificent Shot By Both Sides and Siouxsie And The Banshees’ Hong Kong Garden.
Throw in contributions by the disparate likes of The Associates, Throbbing Gristle, M, Tom Tom Club, Blue Ronda A La Turk, A Certain Ratio and Glaxo Babies and there’s something for most palates here. 8/10.
