Post-punk band from Greater Manchester, UK. 1976 to 2018.

"Feel the wrath of my Bombast!" exhorts Smith on this follow-up to their groundbreaking Wonderful and Frightening World of… the Fall, and this collection is ample proof of the pure confidence the group had at this time. Stompers like "Barmy," "What You Need," and the mighty "Gut of the Quantifier" are all led by Brix Smith's twanging lead hooks, filled by distorted guitars and bludgeoning drums, on top of which Smith rants with conviction. But it's the departures from this sound that mark the real interest here: The synth-driven "L.A." looks ahead to the Fall's experiments with electronica; "Paint Work" is an impressionist piece interrupted by Smith accidentally erasing over some of the track at home; and "I Am Damo Suzuki," a tribute to Can's lead singer, which borrows its arrangement from several of that group's songs. The Fall sound mysterious, down-to-earth, and hilarious all at the same time. The CD reissue adds the singles "Cruiser's Creek" and "Couldn't Get Ahead" as well as their B-sides making this an essential purchase.

It goes without saying that a five-CD box set of the Fall live in one of their tumultuous eras is for the hardcore only. The set contains three shows from April 2001 and two from November 2001. The sound quality goes from flat soundboard recordings to a handheld somewhere in the rowdier part of some acoustically poor venue.

Irish singer Bob Geldof's third solo set, The Happy Club, finds him again being produced by Rupert Hine, although he and Pete Briquette lend a hand. Geldof eschews the guest star-laden turns of his prior albums and settles with a set band line-up, with World Party's Karl Wallinger the only name guest. While not quite the triumph of his previous outing, The Happy Club is still an engaging release through and through. Drawing on his love for Motown, the album is an often upbeat, ebullient affair starting with the lead track "Room 19," complete with "sha la las, " hand claps, and comical lyrics about cryogenics. Other standouts include the gentle, lovely "The Soft Soil," the singalong slice of neo-psychedelic pop "My Hippy Angel," and the catchy title track. Thought-provoking lyrics wrapped in some great melodies, The Happy Club is mature, adult pop/rock that doesn't forget to have a good time.

Disco Not Disco 2 is a compilation album from the Disco Not Disco series released by Strut Records in 2002. As with the first compilation, this album is a probe to experimental side of disco and punk genres and underground music scene in general. The second volume is more electro and dance oriented and features electro pioneer Alexander Robotnick ("Problèmes D'Amour"), post-punk and dance-rock music groups like Laid Back, Material and The Clash, Can, and Arthur Russell.

Originators of the "Hoboken Scene" The Lost Live Album from 1985 is released for the first time. Available only on CD, it captures their sound that took them everywhere from "Drums Along The Hudson" to "Beat Hotel."

NOW Music is very proud to present the second of our ‘Now That’s What I Call An Era’ releases. ‘The Albums 1980 > 1984’ celebrates 72 iconic albums that were released between 1980 and 1984, featuring a magnificent track from each - and none of them UK hit singles! Most of the albums being highlighted produced huge hit singles that have become both synonymous with the decade and enduringly popular – but these albums are of such a high quality – forever part of the artist’s legacy - that other tracks could have equally become hits – and some have become as well-loved by fans as the singles, and have for many artists always been an established part of their live shows.

Limited four CD set exploring the evolution of the 'new pop' movement, 1979-1983. Featuring The Human League, Fun Boy Three, Soft Cell, Scritti Politti, The Style Council, Heaven 17, The Cure, Eurythmics, Tears For Fears, Altered Images, Art Of Noise and countless other big names and lesser-known gems. A term forever associated with tastemaker NME scribe turned Svengali Paul Morley, 'New Pop' came to describe any forward-thinking British music of the early 1980s which wasn't 'rockist' (macho men with guitars, etc.) or overtly punky and anti-establishment in outlook. New Pop was an aspiration. Punk had shaken up the UK music industry - and more importantly, had inspired a generation of art students, budding musicians and others with a sense of what was possible.

The Fall are an English post-punk band, formed in Manchester in 1976. The band has existed in some form ever since, and is essentially built around its founder and only constant member Mark E. Smith. Initially associated with the punk movement of the late 1970s, the group's music has gone through several stylistic changes over the years, but is often characterised by an abrasive guitar-driven sound and frequent use of repetition, and is The band is noted for its prolific output having released over 25 studio albums, and more than triple that counting live albums and other releases. They have never achieved widespread public success beyond a handful of minor hit singles in the late 1980s, but have maintained a strong cult following. The band were long-associated with BBC disc jockey John Peel, who championed them from early on in their career and cited The Fall as his favourite.

The Red and the Black is the debut album by American musician Jerry Harrison, who rose to prominence as a member of the Modern Lovers and Talking Heads. It was released in 1981 by Sire Records. The track "Slink" was performed live by Talking Heads in 1982.

Featuring Ultravox, Duran Duran, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Devo, Yello, Peter Baumann, Richard Bone, Japan and many others.
Following 2020’s ‘Musik Music Musique’ set, we present the sequel, this time looking at the electronic pop scene as it evolved from curio and novelty into a major movement and began to dominate the airwaves. Featuring a plethora of acts who would quickly become household names (many of which endure today) and exploring the wide variety of directions electronic instruments took both the mainstream and independent music in. ‘Musik Music Musique 2.0’ embraces both the pure pop aesthetic of a new generation of aspirational, defiantly polished artists and those who embraced electronic music in the aftermath of the post-punk explosion…

3cd set celebrating the music played at legendary late 70s and early 80s clubs such as the wag in london, pips in manchester and the rum runner in birmingham – a night-time culture centred around fashion-obsessed individuals, which inspired a youth movement, the new romantics. From the glam, rock and pre-punk of the 1970s through synth pop, punk funk, disco and other groovy dancefloor favourites. Featuring iggy pop, lou reed, roxy music, donna summer, japan, gary numan, human league, omd, grace jones, spandau ballet, tom tom club, visage, a certain ratio, new order and many more!

Why mess with a great formula if there's no need to change? The Pretenders espoused this winning philosophy on the magnetic Pretenders II, a spectacular sophomore record that lived up to the promises of its breakthrough debut and replicated the 1979 effort's distinctive, can't-miss musical and lyrical flair. Part pop, part new-wave punk, part R&B, part soul, and 100% pure melodic rock n' roll, Pretenders II continued to send the quartet on its quick rise to the top and still serves as an admitted inspiration for bands ranging from Kings of Leon to Garbage. The key to the record's enduring appeal lies in the chemistry between iconic frontwoman Chrissie Hynde and inventive guitarist James Honeyman-Scott. Akin to legendary pairings like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, or Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the male-female duo operates as an inseparable team, with one member rousing the other and driving them to greater heights.

UK three CD set. Following the demise of The Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren formed Bow Wow Wow in 1980 from former members of Adam And The Ants and a 14-year-old Myint Myint Aye (Burmese for "High High Cool"), who was spotted singing while working a Saturday job at her local dry cleaners, and soon renamed Annabella Lwin. Bow Wow Wow found early success with their Burundi-style drumming, pop melodies, surf instrumentals and Annabella Lwin's screams, chants and girlish squeals. But their notoriety soared due to the controversy surrounding Lwin's age, and the fact that she was featured naked on the band's first LP in 1981. Soon to be touring the States and opening for bands of the likes of the Pretenders and the Police, Bow Wow Wow soon released a plethora of singles, many of which came in numerous formats including cassettes, 7 inches, 12 inches and flexi-discs, with many containing alternative versions, b-sides, and remixes - all of which are included here on Your Box Set Pet: The Complete Recordings 1981-1984. Contains the albums See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy! (1981), When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going (1983), the EP Your Cassette Pet (1980), plus all of the band's singles, b-sides, remixes and rarities.

Two-Piers brings you their latest killer compilation in the shape of Richard Norris Presents 'Weird Scenes from the Hangout (Psychedelic & Freakbeat Dancefloor Anthems 1967-1982). An album curated by Richard Norris (The Grid, Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve, The Time and Space Machine, and more) and centered around Richard's Liverpool Club Night 'The Hangout' in the 1980's. Richard Norris on how The Hangout came about after being inspired to go to University in Liverpool… For a place with a distinctly psychedelic tinge, Liverpool was missing one thing in the mid-eighties. A full-on psychedelic club night. I'd been schooled in all things psychedelic, a result of working at Bam Caruso, a label steeped in psych who lovingly reissued many lysergic greats.