VA - The Bristol and Bath Pop Explosion - The 80's (2025)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 518 MB | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 173 MB
1:13:41 | Pop, Rock | Label: Bristol Archive Records
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 518 MB | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 173 MB
1:13:41 | Pop, Rock | Label: Bristol Archive Records
There has always been a broad picture in general of the scope of music that has come out of the Bristol and Bath areas at the west/south west end of the M4 and M5. The boys (and girls) from the region have always made a right old variety of noise! It hasn’t always been accompanied by mainstream acceptance with the resulting sales. It may surprise observers that some of that heady creativity included the more commercial end of straight up pop music and the ‘take’ that could be put on it, with the hope that acclaim and more could follow. The ‘take’ could also take the genre into new dimensions. Did it lead anywhere, or have any merit? Were they, the acts, any good? Did they get any exposure and recognition? If not, why not?
This questioning prompted the long-time music industry creative and journalist, Dave Massey and Bristol Archive Records owner, Mike Darby, to go through their extensive archive of local music and see if there was an album that could be compiled of those pop acts tracks that could be regarded as ‘lost hits’. From their archive trawl Massey and Darby uncovered pop gold. Bristol Archive has done a similar exercise with ‘lost gems’ by reggae, punk, post-punk, mod, goth and rock acts from the west and released several well researched and beautifully presented themed vinyl ‘Explosion’ compilations. Now is the time for the pop acts.
All kinds of strategies were used by acts and their managers to promote themselves. Tracks were circulated on cassette tapes in order to solicit interest from an industry drowning in pop. Some went further and actually got as far as putting out independent releases. Gigs were done in ‘unusual’ venues. Videos were made in whatever surroundings would work. These acts have stories of ‘got so close’ and ‘what might have been’. Many of the acts were seen live, reviewed and interviewed for the weekly music press by Massey and other local journalists, featured on local, and in some instances national radio, and some made it on to local and national TV. Utilising the industry contacts Massey had built up through his writing he even ended up managing a couple of them for differing periods of time.
It would see an end product for some of the musicians down the line. Several of those in or contributing to a given acts’ recordings had gone on to work or have links with major mainstream icons such as Queen, Bros, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Lisa Stansfield and Simply Red, or influential and acclaimed successful acts such as Goldfrapp, Portishead and PJ Harvey. Many of the creators of these great tunes were involved as writers, producers or session players, or new career directions led to them running their own prosperous businesses, and even down to one of their number chairing and running a local Championship level football club!
Dig a little deeper into the western region’s musical history and the acts from the area weren’t alone in ploughing a furrow into the field marked ‘80’s Pop’. It was no wonder. The ground in that decade was fertile for sowing the seeds of possible pop perennials. Even down the road in and near Bath, they had plenty of music emigres who settled there and in the West Country having seen major league national and international success. The likes of Peter Gabriel, Midge Ure and even Stranglers front-man Hugh Cornwall made their homes and mark in the area.
But the most prominent of the acts to have been born, raised and emerged from, and later lived more opulently in or near the city of Bath itself, were Tears for Fears in the 1980’s. It begged the question for Massey and Darby in their initial considerations that if Tears for Fears could ‘make it’ big, did any other pop-orientated acts from the region come through, and if so what happened to them?
Dave Massey was right in the thick of it when this West Country pop was being made in the 1980’s. He was covering this and the many genres of music in his capacity as a Bristol and West country regional correspondent. As the decade progressed, somewhat uniquely, he did so for each of the weekly music papers in turn – firstly the NME, then Sounds, followed by Melody Maker. These papers all had massive readership and circulations at the time.
In the end the 18 tracks on the CD and 11 on the vinyl editions of the compilation do the ‘talking’. They are worthy contenders to be heard on day-time radio, in a top line club, blasting out of a TV screen or from in a car with the windows wound down on a sunny summer’s day, and just listened to by any pop fan through whatever means they choose to enjoy their music.
It’s a treasure trove of glorious commercial, but savvy and sexy pop music. Get into the groove of this wonderful west of England sonic pleasure feast!
Tracklist
1. Bush and Clarke - I'm Satisfied (3:46)
2. Wadi Vision - The Place To Be (4:25)
3. Umo Vogue - Just My Love (6:56)
4. Vicious Circle - Sorry (3:31)
5. Hey Belaba - Can't Stop Running (3:10)
6. Tania Lloyd - New Boy (At Number 48) (2:53)
7. The Various Artists - Unlucky in Love (2:24)
8. The Sidneys - Rage (4:43)
9. Automatic Dlamini - Me and My Conscience (3:31)
10. Great Naked - Narrow Bed (5:04)
11. Frame By Frame - Promise Me This (4:24)
12. Bush and Clarke - Glassy Avenue (5:31)
13. Wadi Vision - Second Take (3:40)
14. Lovetrain - The Way of All Flesh (2:54)
15. Heartland - Keep My Distance (4:27)
16. Hey Belaba - Crying Boy (4:43)
17. Shrine Of 8 - Perfect Crime (We All Hurt Inside) (3:01)
18. Richard Hall - It's a Crime (4:48)
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PERFORMER: auCDtect Task Manager, ver. 1.6.0 RC1 build 1.6.0.1
Copyright © 2008-2010 y-soft. All rights reserved
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ANALYZER: auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2
Copyright © 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved.
FILE: 18 - It's a Crime (demo).flac
Size: 33669163 Hash: F599E34F9C41398C51046F69FC386388 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 955A4E196A82463BC76EF812FA530AC33DEC44AC
FILE: 17 - Perfect Crime (We All Hurt Inside).flac
Size: 24265220 Hash: 0B561D1374276382697E78D30C3906F7 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: DF3CA09BC7EF0116A9B46B7298015255F1538768
FILE: 16 - Crying Boy.flac
Size: 26155362 Hash: BA3353350F10517D1B4A996B26260A0E Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: D205864C2C859929F8523880B8CE5EC348E3A2E0
FILE: 15 - Keep My Distance (demo).flac
Size: 35484844 Hash: 0811274A0DB7AC7B60A8883290F0ADAC Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 9A44AD824FD909C250526DA601B75FA610686CCB
FILE: 14 - The Way of All Flesh (demo).flac
Size: 19166356 Hash: 90C80F50F56A5636D15C8AB0A868B90E Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 48D58B547E01796D69C8AB126DB99C5A4BF6136F
FILE: 13 - Second Take (demo).flac
Size: 25688703 Hash: 5021120FC1CB0DC2454C667A5C872AF6 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: MPEG 95%
Signature: 7173F54887E11EED593105368E34381BAEB1A811
FILE: 12 - Glassy Avenue.flac
Size: 40815409 Hash: A874D23893D04302FA4BEAA45F8BBDCC Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: MPEG 95%
Signature: EE1C235A755AE0F5BC5F544683626FB2446348D9
FILE: 11 - Promise Me This (demo).flac
Size: 35571496 Hash: D92E01DFEE6DCF76BC1FEC548F094D3A Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: D1937FD1E336E7E325E52B56AF1551CF35E7DA78
FILE: 10 - Narrow Bed.flac
Size: 36115324 Hash: AE4142C3FF8A0313FB1453BF35ED93F5 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 47E1BD846825642B57720C87D7D79AFD10AC4455
FILE: 09 - Me and My Conscience.flac
Size: 20944464 Hash: 41F25EB30D75E787E903AB2A9B0091D2 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: FA521A711CB0191A9A253E4D304035C2465F6151
FILE: 08 - Rage (demo).flac
Size: 38302179 Hash: BE5D1DA75DCA6A3AF02563AEBE358A62 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 99%
Signature: BCD07FA2537A435981AAD201D27ECF2F7244118C
FILE: 07 - Unlucky in Love.flac
Size: 16217136 Hash: 1EF585C0C015B3BB00B7DDAD88D56529 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: MPEG 100%
Signature: E85ED7873F2830FC24B3A5FB16410C829B72447F
FILE: 06 - New Boy (At Number 48) (demo).flac
Size: 22897497 Hash: 43D5DA4E84D4B119B523EC6BC4833C9F Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: AD0E0396C7404ADDFA0AEFE62BAD5DC879055865
FILE: 05 - Can't Stop Running (live).flac
Size: 25288268 Hash: A1B58781FEDFA60D68470EFE7F9560D1 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 8C3BB17519CC849973BBD6A094C700FF42D7857C
FILE: 04 - Sorry (demo).flac
Size: 25001968 Hash: F5477676E31274D6D02B59A10E29770D Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: F4952A33FD848D1E7F39DD43F002F9197F201C5B
FILE: 03 - Just My Love (demo extended version).flac
Size: 53673394 Hash: 8837A794406AD18ED4265DEC8E396773 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 40F952B92BA4BD9489254A55BC90A23A2F91737F
FILE: 02 - The Place To Be.flac
Size: 33221498 Hash: 7E5B7918F51CBA635D29656FA9DBB1E6 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: BEB0F828ADED8428D276658D545E510984C06E43
FILE: 01 - I'm Satisfied.flac
Size: 28599252 Hash: 7F70BDE89AA6387D4E48C9C05EA83985 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 1C5E306154222AD3CB255A438405186F4A3D9FD1
DON'T MODIFY THIS FILE
–––––––––––-
PERFORMER: auCDtect Task Manager, ver. 1.6.0 RC1 build 1.6.0.1
Copyright © 2008-2010 y-soft. All rights reserved
http://y-soft.org
ANALYZER: auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2
Copyright © 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved.
FILE: 18 - It's a Crime (demo).flac
Size: 33669163 Hash: F599E34F9C41398C51046F69FC386388 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 955A4E196A82463BC76EF812FA530AC33DEC44AC
FILE: 17 - Perfect Crime (We All Hurt Inside).flac
Size: 24265220 Hash: 0B561D1374276382697E78D30C3906F7 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: DF3CA09BC7EF0116A9B46B7298015255F1538768
FILE: 16 - Crying Boy.flac
Size: 26155362 Hash: BA3353350F10517D1B4A996B26260A0E Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: D205864C2C859929F8523880B8CE5EC348E3A2E0
FILE: 15 - Keep My Distance (demo).flac
Size: 35484844 Hash: 0811274A0DB7AC7B60A8883290F0ADAC Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 9A44AD824FD909C250526DA601B75FA610686CCB
FILE: 14 - The Way of All Flesh (demo).flac
Size: 19166356 Hash: 90C80F50F56A5636D15C8AB0A868B90E Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 48D58B547E01796D69C8AB126DB99C5A4BF6136F
FILE: 13 - Second Take (demo).flac
Size: 25688703 Hash: 5021120FC1CB0DC2454C667A5C872AF6 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: MPEG 95%
Signature: 7173F54887E11EED593105368E34381BAEB1A811
FILE: 12 - Glassy Avenue.flac
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Conclusion: MPEG 95%
Signature: EE1C235A755AE0F5BC5F544683626FB2446348D9
FILE: 11 - Promise Me This (demo).flac
Size: 35571496 Hash: D92E01DFEE6DCF76BC1FEC548F094D3A Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: D1937FD1E336E7E325E52B56AF1551CF35E7DA78
FILE: 10 - Narrow Bed.flac
Size: 36115324 Hash: AE4142C3FF8A0313FB1453BF35ED93F5 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 47E1BD846825642B57720C87D7D79AFD10AC4455
FILE: 09 - Me and My Conscience.flac
Size: 20944464 Hash: 41F25EB30D75E787E903AB2A9B0091D2 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: FA521A711CB0191A9A253E4D304035C2465F6151
FILE: 08 - Rage (demo).flac
Size: 38302179 Hash: BE5D1DA75DCA6A3AF02563AEBE358A62 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 99%
Signature: BCD07FA2537A435981AAD201D27ECF2F7244118C
FILE: 07 - Unlucky in Love.flac
Size: 16217136 Hash: 1EF585C0C015B3BB00B7DDAD88D56529 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: MPEG 100%
Signature: E85ED7873F2830FC24B3A5FB16410C829B72447F
FILE: 06 - New Boy (At Number 48) (demo).flac
Size: 22897497 Hash: 43D5DA4E84D4B119B523EC6BC4833C9F Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: AD0E0396C7404ADDFA0AEFE62BAD5DC879055865
FILE: 05 - Can't Stop Running (live).flac
Size: 25288268 Hash: A1B58781FEDFA60D68470EFE7F9560D1 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 8C3BB17519CC849973BBD6A094C700FF42D7857C
FILE: 04 - Sorry (demo).flac
Size: 25001968 Hash: F5477676E31274D6D02B59A10E29770D Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: F4952A33FD848D1E7F39DD43F002F9197F201C5B
FILE: 03 - Just My Love (demo extended version).flac
Size: 53673394 Hash: 8837A794406AD18ED4265DEC8E396773 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 40F952B92BA4BD9489254A55BC90A23A2F91737F
FILE: 02 - The Place To Be.flac
Size: 33221498 Hash: 7E5B7918F51CBA635D29656FA9DBB1E6 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: BEB0F828ADED8428D276658D545E510984C06E43
FILE: 01 - I'm Satisfied.flac
Size: 28599252 Hash: 7F70BDE89AA6387D4E48C9C05EA83985 Accuracy: -m40
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 1C5E306154222AD3CB255A438405186F4A3D9FD1