In 1981 the weekly British music newspaper, NME, released in conjunction with Rough Trade a cassette, remember those, called C81. Readers of the paper collected coupons to be able to make the purchase. Its success meant that others followed including, in 1986, C86.
Both of these cassettes collected together music from indie labels released in the years of the title.
C86 was reissued by Cherry Red in 2006 as an expanded CD with 50 bonus tracks. Since then Cherry Red have issued 7 CDs in the "C" series including a prequel to C86 called C85. The others being C87, C88, C89, C90, C91, and now the latest C92.
1992 laid the ground for a big explosion in British music that would lead to the phenomena of Brit-Pop. You really can't argue about the quality of the music on this release. It contains 61 tracks among them names well known to all, like Radiohead, The Charlatans, Ride, Lush, Inspiral Carpets, Dodgy, Boo Radleys, The Auteurs, The Stairs, Levitation, Sultans of Ping FC, plus some long lost treasures from lesser known acts.
The first CD opens with a rocking number from Radiohead, Prove Yourself, originally appearing on their debut EP Drill. It continues rocking along with The Auteurs with Show Girl, and Wonky Alice with Sirius among the 18 tracks. Other stand out tracks are Gallon Drunk doing Bedlam, Fading Fast from Blind Mr Jones, and White Town with Bewitched.
CD two opens with The Cranberries second single Dreams, written and sung by Dolores O’Riordan. We also get to hear The Charlatans sing Weirdo, The Boo Radleys are represented by Lazy Day from their Adrenalin EP. My favourite track on CD two being Ground Zero from the wonderfully named The Hair & Skin Trading Co. Sounding like a cross between The Jesus and Mary Chain and Front 242.
Dragging Me Down from Inspiral Carpets opens the third CD in this collection with its marvelous organ riffs. Sultans Of Ping FC bring something different to our ears with U Talk 2 Much, a delightful Punk tinged Rap, followed immediately by Daisy Chainsaw and the raucous sound of Pink Flower. But it is not all noise induced rock. The Telescopes come in, and slow things down with the lovely You Set My Soul, and the whole compilation finishes with the pseudo-disco rhythm of Amelia Fletcher asking Can You Keep A Secret.
This CD is a must for collectors of the "C" series, and an excellent starting point for those new these compilations from Cherry Red.
You can hear some tracks from C92 in The Groove Yard visit 149
For a full track listing and other information go to the Cherry Red Records website.
#Compilation #Anthology #C92 #Pop #Rock #Music #CD