Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Radio & Music >

The Compilations Thread

08:57 / 19.07.06

Why haven’t we got a thread celebrating compilations? Well, we have now.

First up – The Rough Trade comps. They’re so good. So, a few nights ago my partner came home with the new Rough Trade Compilation, Singer Songwriter We’ve got the genre based ones, but I hadn’t really been looking forward to this one in the same way – “Singer Songwriter?” thought me, “bit boring?”. Good God, was I wrong. The first disc contained one track so good that I had to start it again before it had even finished, and another that reduced my partner to tears. If one of you is leaping round the room ecstatically, and the other is demolished emotionally, well that’s some powerful music you’ve been listening to. You could argue my skills of empathy need working on maybe, but that’s a subject for another thread.

They’ve released so far Rock n Roll, Electronica, Post Punk, Indie Pop, Country and every one is fantastic. They’re like the best mixtape you’ve ever been given,, lovingly crafted by a genre obsessive with a couple of classics and a bevy of obscurities. It really revs up that passion to go out and explore music. They’re compiled by the shop staff and In a sense, they’re the best advert for the shop possible. I now want to run in there and spend all my money. Best of all you get two fucking discs – fifty tracks - for £10.99!

The tracks in questions are (respectively) The Bevis Frond “Waving”, and Elvis Costello “I want you”. I cant’ categorise the first tune – it’s lyrical concerns The latter is the sickest, most angry, scariest, jilted love song I’ve ever heard. And that’s before we get onto PJ Harvey, Cat Power, Tom Waits…. And I haven’t even played Disc Two yet!

lord nuneaton savage

10:02 / 19.07.06

Bevis Frond rules.

Soul Jazz are the kings 'ere though, innit? Lovingly compiled in a smashing Older-brother-who-knows-loads-about-obscure-music kinda way. Their New Orleans Funk compilations have barely ever graced my shelf 'cos I listen to them at least once a week.

Their tracklistings are adventurous, but there's always time to put a hit or two on there so the neophyte doesn't feel completely at sea. This, as we all know, is the mark of a great comp.

Anything they put out is worth buying, really. But I definitely recommend the afore mentioned New Orleans comps ("New Orleans Funk" and "Saturday Night Fish Fry"), the recent "Tropicalia" compilation and both volumes of "New York Noise". Also, all the "100% dynamite" comps are frikkin' Don.

I love flipping Soul Jazz.

11:22 / 19.07.06

On seeing this thread i thought i don't really buy compilations- then i realised that actually there are a few that i've loved and don't be such a twit copey!

The Rough Trade Rock n Roll is bloody great- and introduced me to a couple of great bands as well as reminding me of some i'd forgotten about. I seem to remember discovering The Dirtbombs and The Detroit Cobras through this CD. The version of Modern Lovers 'She Cracked' fucking rocks and breaths a completely new breath of life into what i had previously thought of as one of their weeker songs.

The compilations that i've bought pretty religiously are the Soul Jazz ones. Starting with the Studio 1 rockers bought after listening to it at my sisters place i found myself nodding along to every track going 'i know this, but i don't know who it is..' My knowledge of Reggae was (and really still is) pretty limited but when curiousity kicked in this seemed like a good place to start. This record is perfect summer party music from the stomping groove of Prince Jazzbo's 'Crabwalking' to the soft tones of Dawn Penn's 'No No No'- it also kick started me into a quest to find out more about the Studio one sound with all it's genres.

The Studio One soul was an obvious next choice with a selection of soul classics given the Studio One treatment. Leeroy Sibles doing 'express yourself' is a sublime mix of genres familiar and yet new- most of this record has made it onto compilations of my own and always gets dug out whenever anybody is stupid enough to ask me to DJ. I guess for anybody unfamiliar with the record i can only say that this is an essential purchase- my only regret is that i own it on Vinyl so i can't listen on the old ipod.

more later but quickly seconding the Saturday Night Fish Fry and mentioning the Philadelphia Roots compilation (Brenda and the Tabulations 'hey boy' the stand out track that gives the supremes a run for their money) both also on Soul Jazz.

11:48 / 19.07.06

Re: Souljazz, they sometimes get criticised for being a load of johnnycomelately’s but a) their comps are fantastic and b) apparently Coxsone Dodd himself approved all the Studio 1 stuff, because he was aware of how well they’d package and look after his legacy. I do think they come off second best to Trojan, the Big Daddy of comps, to which Soul Jazz are a mere Mick McManus. More on Trojan in a bit when I’ve had time to marshall my thoughts?

And a question for Nuneaton Savage: Do you have any favourite Northern comps?

19:23 / 19.07.06

Shit. That Rough Trade comp has Richard Thompson on it: "1952 Vincent Black Lighting". It is a fucking masterpiece. I'm fucking loving this SO MUCH. Tracey Thorn is a bit awesome as well. Someone else go buy, I need someone to reflect my joy.

Hydra vs Leviathan

12:49 / 06.10.06

IMO, SoulJazz are not as good (for reggae, anyway - i haven't really sampled any of their other stuff) as either Blood and Fire or Pressure Sounds - but to some extent i guess it depends what you're looking for, as B&F and PS generally compile/re-issue the work of a particular singer, group or producer, done with quite an "archivist" mentality and very detailed sleevenotes aimed at the "serious collector" market, whereas the SoulJazz comps tend to be a bit... random (stuff from different producers, eras, production styles etc kind of lumped together without much thematic coherence), which irritates me a bit because i like to understand music in context (tho it's probably better for something to just stick on at a party, if someone isn't doing live selecting)...

Of course, the exception to that is their Studio One compilations, but TBH i have yet to buy any of them because they tend to be very highly priced in most record shops in comparison to the PS, BAF and Trojan releases...

Trojan release a hell of a lot of good stuff (and have masses more in their vaults), but their "quality control" (with regard to both selection of tunes and sound quality) is IMO a lot lower than BAF/Pressure Sounds, and they have an annoying tendency to have masses of overlap between different compilations, so if you try to collect their stuff you end up buying the same tunes several times to get the few killer tunes that are only on one compilation... they also (especially on their (fairly minimally packaged) 3CD box sets) fairly often mis-title/mis-credit less familiar tunes, tho they haven't been so bad at that more recently.

Interested in recommendations for punk/post-punk and (the more political and/or esoteric ends of) soul/funk/jazz compilations...

18:55 / 06.10.06

Lord Savage, if you're into the Funky NO sound, you will like this compilation mp3 (you will probably have it already, as is the way).

16:26 / 07.10.06

I'm currently in love with a compilation called London is the Place for Me: Trinidadian Calypso in London, 1950 - 1956. The title tells you most about what's on there, but to that I'd add that it's all beautifully performed and recorded with some lyrical subject matter that's so clever and diverse that you wonder why other people aren't writing about cricket, Ghanaian Independence Day and their spiteful landlady.

13:08 / 08.10.06

Dude, I have the fourth volume of that, a very astute birthday present. It's similarly excellent. I was a bit startled when I heard it reworking one of the rhythms from a track off of Shango, Shouter & Obeah, but figured the track in question must be a Calypso standard. I think I'll put it on now.

12:06 / 18.10.06

I just picked up Nuggets for a fiver!

What a result, not the megalith box set that'll set you back 40 odd quid but a re-release of the original 27 track double album featuring an assortment of psychodelic classics from the sixties- incluing Thirteenth Floor Elevators "Your Gonna Miss Me", The Electric Prunes "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" and Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction" among many the garage rock classics- the inspitation for many a rock n roll band!

I previously had chunks of the box set downloaded- but this re-release has made me a happy man as i can afford it!

A must for fans of retro rock n roll influincing everyone from The Fall to The White Stripes- this is an absolutely essential purchase

18:27 / 18.10.06

Copey, did you pick it up somewhere in London? If so where? I know it's only £7 on Amazon but then there's P & P...

19:06 / 18.10.06

Sorry forgot to say i got it in Fopp - i think there's a few around London, i got mine on the shaftsbury avenue store.

09:22 / 20.10.06

i think those nuggets comps are just wonderful, i never tire of them to be honest, plus the pebbles and boulders nuggets knock off lps are also as wayward and wonderful.

there are a mass of northern soul compilations out there, and as a 7 inch based genre it is the only way to listen to it unless you have the time and money to track down the originals and i suppose the best of those for me are the Kent series, which were done for more hard core fans before it went overground again in the late 90s and feature a load of stunning tracks, always a coulpe of big floor fillers on each plus a handful of genuine obscurities.

for reggea i would also rate pressure sounds most highly but blood and fire is very good and maybe the only good think mick hucknal has ever done with his time.

15:21 / 20.10.06

Three years or so since I fist got it, and the 4-CD Nuggets box-set is still the alpha and omega of Awesome round these parts.

Souljazz New York Noise and Studio One series are also pretty extraordinary, and the Rough Trade Shops series have all been top notch so far, although their new 'Singer-Songwriter' one looks a bit iffy.

Also some iris-widening, whcked out Psyche comps : "Peace, Love & Poetry: British Psychedelic Music", "The Psychedelic Experience Vol. 1 & 2" and the does-exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin-tastic "60s Punk from Louisiana Vol. 1 & 2" - worth looking out for.

06:32 / 21.10.06

suppose the best of those for me are the Kent series

Ooh yeah. I've been picking up some of the old vinyl compilations - they're all about eight quid - and they are fucking barmstorming. I've also picked up a number of the new Kent reissue CDs, which tend to be big - 26 tracks - and label themed. I picked up the first volumes of the King and RCA comps secondhand - again, eight quid each! Result. In fact, I think I'll post a track.

06:45 / 21.10.06

Okay, bit of Northern for ya. This is "I'm just a Man" by The Insiders, my favourite track off of RCA: Rare, Collectible and Soulful on Kent (put together by soul god Ady Crosdale).

Enjoy

15:19 / 24.10.06

I picked up the Trojan "Motor City Reggae" 3-CD compilation about a month back and, well, I think I'm in love.

First of all, I think the packaging of the set is marvelous. The box is a sturdy cardboard that opens to reveal the three discs in separate cardboard sleeves. The sleeves do double duty: The track listings are on one side and the liner notes are on the other. The sleeves are the booklet are the sleeves. Minmalist! Love it.

Then, of course, there's the music itself. I'm very much a n00b when it comes to Trojan records, so this collection is introducing me to a lot of artists I'm unfamiliar with. Standouts songs for me so far are "Ain’t That Peculiar" by Delroy Wilson, "A Place In The Sun" by Slim Smith, "You’ve Made Me So Very Happy" by Alton Ellis, "Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing" by Busty Brown, "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" by John Holt, "Message From A Black Man" by Byron Lee and The Dragonaires, "Ball Of Confusion" by A Darker Shade Of Black, and "That’s The Way Love Is" by The Uniques. (That last one, by the way, has a wonderfully slamming two-second intro that I hope to the Almighty has been sampled somewhere by someone.)

I've loaded each disc onto my mp3 player so I can listen to them at work, and I've listened to at least half of one disc each night while doing the washing up or feeding the baby. I've started to think of this set as "home music" in a way. It feels intimate, soulful, fun, and deep all at the same time, and each member of my little family enjoys the heck out of it. It's chill-out music. Housework music. Rough-housing with my boy music. Grab the wife for a quick dance music. And let me tell you this: Doing a Shuffle All with "Motor City Reggae" and "I Am The Upsetter" on the mp3 player keeps me going strong through even the worst workday. Balm for the soul music.

It's still early in the relationship but I'm already head over heels, and this compilation has given me so many avenues to explore. The small sampling of artists listed above are my first stops for deeper exploration. I owe the 'lith big time for pointing me in the direction of the Trojan comps. If "Motor City Reggae" is anything to go by, there is much musical happy in my future.