sound of the suburbs

Wow I seem to be on a bit of a roll here, 5th post in as many days, I think my keyboard is starting to tire! Not only do I spend my time writing and researching my posts but I pass many an hour checking out other peoples blogs. The other day I read a post on The Face of Today about an album called 'Stg Pepper Knew My Father' a straight cover version rerecording by hip artists at the time of the Beatles original put together by those nice people at NME. This got me thinking as the NME has a fair track record for putting compilations of various sorts together, it was indeed the title of one of these that gave the name to the C86 movement.
I've since had a little search in my rather disorganized record collection, I still stay record even if 90% is now on CD or heaven forbid digital format, and came across several of these audio gems. Today we're going to be looking at Viva Eight which was a series of gigs organized by the NME at Londons Town & Country Club. As in with many of these type of records it serves very much as a snap shot of a particular time ie what was cool, so this concerns the year 1992. Certain acts such as Balloon and Revolver can only keep the majority of us guessing, but there are certainly hidden treasures to be found, am I the only person who can remember the Tyrell Corporation's classic piece of Hi NRG house but with rock sensibilities 'the Bottle' (nothing to de with Gill Scott Heron). Sadly the version recorded here does not do the original justice. So you may ask is there anything worth listening to, for your entertainment I have chosen 'Don't Shilly Shally' and 'the Golden Egg' strangely enough both are track 4. The first is a beautiful solo rendering of Edwyn Collins first solo single after splitting Orange Juice. Little reminder; Edwyn was the mastermind behind this wonderful Scottish beat combo releasing 4 classic 45t on Postcard, recently recompiled as 'the Glasgow School' by Domino, followed by 4 albums after signing with Polydor. Edwyn's solo career got off to a rocky start, label going bust and falling record sales until he was taken on by the Irish independent Setanta as a sort of Godfather figure. It was here that he delivered his biggest smash hit 'A Girl Like You'. Lest we forget Edwyn suffered a brain hemorrhage in February 2005, thankfully he is well on the road to a full recovery.
The second track 4 is by Eat a London Indie band signed to the Cure's Fiction record label, for whom they delivered 2 albums 1989's 'Sell Me A God' and 1994's 'Epicure'. Can't really say much more about them excepting that I like the song.
If the record does tickle your fancy there are a few going on eBay for around 7 dollars if not you can always try Gemm a great sourcing network for used and rare recordings.