I have just found the perfect compilation for that Christmas or New Year's party. Extended Stimulation – 12” Pop Adventures On The Dancefloor is a 4CD collection of 43 tracks amounting to over 5 hours of extremely danceable music. It should even get Grandma up on the floor.
In the UK, during the 1980s, the 12" single became a weapon of chart warfare as labels like ZTT and PWL fought each other to keep their releases in the charts. The 12" became a medium for remixing the songs. Different mixologists would be called in to create new versions of a recording. Often several editions of the same single would be released in different mixes in an attempt to keep the record in the the charts. Perhaps as the booklet included suggests the best example of this would be when "at least four 12” versions of ‘Two Tribes’ propping up the Number 1 spot".
When it boils down to it, the 12" single was just a marketing exercise and us sucker record collectors bought into it. Like the compiler and writer of the notes in the booklet, Jan Burnett, remarks, collectors would scour the many record shops looking for the limited editions of these remixes. And if, as Burnett says she had trouble in Dundee, Scotland, imagine the difficulty this writer had in tracking them down in a New Zealand town. Sometimes the 12" versions would not be released in NZ. But what an enjoyable time we all had searching. That is why I was so pleased to hear the music on these 4 CDS. A lot of it was new to me. This collection gives us all the chance to get a copy of those mixes we missed, either because they were quick to disappear from the record store, or you just didn't know they existed.
So what do you get for your money on this compilation. There are tracks from New Order, Simple Minds, Simply Red, The Thomson Twins, Culture Club, and many more artists who were 80's household names, along with others that didn't manage to achieve that same fame.
To hear some tracks from the collection in visit The Groove Yard visit 182
And for a full track listing, and other information, go to the Cherry Red Records website.