Hip Hip Hurrah(!)

If you're throwing a party for our twenty year old birthday boy (or perhaps girl is more appropriate?) C. Eighty-Six, you've just a soundtrack for it! Against my expectations, Fopp actually had CD86 in the racks already on the day of release! It's a stunning collection of indiepop hits - I got 15 great tracks I hadn't before. No one can listen to this and say: "This is no good! I'll stick with Oasis, thank you." What satisfies me the most is the inclusion of "Around and Around" by Hurrah!, my favourite Hurrah!-song - which is to say a lot. That's easily the best track on the double cd. But woe! They forgot the exclamation mark that goes with Hurrah and This Poison...! And the "i" in Chesterfields is the wrong way round. But no matter. The first nine tracks pretty much conform with the best nine bands of the period, in my opinion. Other selections that makes me nod my head in ecstatic approval are "Just Too Bloody Stupid" by The Close Lobsters and "Sign On the Line" by The Fizzbombs.

But I do have some objections to the selection (of course): 1. Either they should have done a complete reissue of NME C86, or chosen only tracks that are not on it. (It doesn't reflect the tape anyway as only Big Flame are included from the "shambling bands".) 2. They should have chosen other tracks by artists who were also on the two year old Rough Trade comp. (Why can't anyone see that The Clouds' "Tranquil" is several dimensions better than "Get Out of My Dream"?) 3. And lastly I would have had a slighty different set of bands on it if I'd compiled it. The omissions that most make me cringe are: 1000 Violins, Jesse Garon & the Desperadoes, St. Christopher and James Dean Driving Experience. Also they've got a few songs released by Sarah Records though I see Sarah as following on "the birth of indiepop". Then why not include Brighter, The Orchids, The Springfields and The Field Mice and other late eighties bands on other labels too? I guess many an indie aficionado will propose their own tracklisting to this comp, so here my suggestion:

I would keep all the bands, except: JAMC (who everyone knows anyway, I mean, they haven't included The Smiths or Housemartins), BMX Bandits (early Bandits were nowhere near as good as they got later), TVPs (who are as much associated with other "scenes" and are considerably older than the other bands on the comp), Pop Will Eat Itself, Laugh, Weather Prophets, Jasmine Minks, Boy Hairdressers, The Raw Herbs, Half Man Half Biscuit, Meat Whiplash, Age of Chance, The Bachelor Pad, Revovling Paint Dream, Soup Dragons, Mighty Lemon Drops, Groove Farm, The Dentists, The Bodines, The Pooh Sticks, and even The Flatmates and The Shop Assistants. Of course I love most of these bands, but they just can't compete with the bands that I would have replace them:

Jesse Garon & the Desperadoes, James Dean Driving Experience, 1000 Violins, Emily, The Mayfields, The Springfields, St. Christopher, Brighter, Even As We Speak, The Orchids, Friends, Hey Paulette, The Desert Wolves, The Brilliant Corners, The Visitors, Remember Fun, The Church Grims, Reserve, Rodney Allen, Love Parade, Fat Tulips and Bubblegum Splash!.

But that all depends on your taste, I guess. The compilers certainly haven't stuck to "the most important bands". In that case they would've had The Smiths on it - the only band people Actually Listened To.